Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume One).djvu/28

 four gayly decorated horses, which were harnessed tandem fashion to the wagon; and I have often heard that his counsel about questions of husbandry was frequently sought and highly esteemed by his fellow-farmers.

In his own home, of course, he was king, but a king who was loved as well as obeyed, and whose very faults were accepted by others as a kind of necessity of nature which had to be submitted to, and would suffer no change. At his side, in remarkable contrast, stood my grandmother, a small, slender woman, with a thin, once pretty face; delicate, devout and domestic; always active and full of cares. The household which she conducted was, indeed, sufficiently large and onerous to allow her but little rest. At dawn of day in summer, by lamplight in winter, she was busy superintending the preparation of breakfast for the working people and starting them at their various occupations. They numbered, men and girls, over twenty, without counting the day laborers.

The “Folk,” as they were called, assembled for meals in a hall on the ground floor, which had a vaulted ceiling resting on thick stone columns. On one side was a huge hearth, with an open-mouthed chimney; large pots hung over the fire on iron hooks and chains. This was the “commons” of the house. On the other side of the hall stood a long table, with wooden benches, at which the folk took their meals. Before sitting down—standing with their backs to the table—they all said a prayer; then the “meisterknecht,” or foreman, struck a loud rap with the handle of his knife on the table, which was the signal for all to sit down. They ate their soup or porridge with wooden spoons out of big wooden bowls, which were arranged along the center of the table within easy reach. There were no individual plates or platters; meat and vegetables were served upon long, narrow strips of board, scoured white. The house