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Page 60 text:
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TI-IE COGSWELL 61 Bitte, mein Fraiileiuf' said the gentleman as he drew up the horse. Bitte, mein l'lerrschafter, answered Mariechen, as she made a slight courtesy. Could you direct us to Frau Stemmel's housc-:?'l asked the gentleman. Certainly, answered Marie, giving full directions. In the back seat the two young American ladies were commenting on Mariechen's fresh rosy cheeks. So they were going to Frau Stemmel's, those nice .'Xmericans, Marie thought quickly. She had promised Frau Stemmel a basket of Royal Ann cherries. She would take them there now. She had heard Americans liked nice, delicous cherries. Perhaps she could find out something about America. She would tell them all her hopes and ambitions and her dislike for the narrow village life. Truly she had a good time here. ln summer there were the various dances and in winter, when the XYeser River had frozen. skating was most delightful. That afternoon found Klariechen in Frau Stemmel's garden with a large basket of cherries. Sure enough, there were the nice .Xmcricans admiring all the different flowers. lfariechen walked shyly in. made a slight courtesy and offered her cherries to Frau Stemmel. Frau Stemmel thanked her cordially, introduced her to her guests and before long Nlariechen, amazed at her own boldness, was asking them about America, telling them all her hopes and her ambi- tions. The young ladies admired Rlarieclieirs sweet disposition and healthy good looks, and, after some conversation with the old gentleman, who thought she was a nice German girl, they decided to take Mariechen to America with them and pay her passage on condition that she pay it off by working for them so many months. llariechen, delighted with the proposal, agreed and flew home to tell her mother. At home the news was not taken so joyfully and it took some time to persuade Mariecliens mother that in America the girls could earn more money and better themselves in all ways than in a little village like Schwer- ing, Germany. Finally the day for sailing arrived. Mariechen bade all her friends good-by, among them Albert, who promised to write to her monthly. Wfhen the ship left Hamburg Marie stood on the deck waving her hand- kerchief, with a rather peculiar feeling around her heart, for she was begin- ning to realize that America was farther away than she had thought and that she could not run home when she chose. Mariechen traveled third cabin, her American friends second cabin, but the deck steward, who had already become a slave to Mariechen's roguish eye and merry smile, often gave her the privilege of going on the second class deck. Here the American ladies and Mariechen would play shuffle- board to their hearts' content. Those were happy days for Marie. In the morning she would promenade the deck and enjoy a nice juicy orange before breakfast. The weather could not have been more perfect and there were few seasick people on board.
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Page 59 text:
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60 THE cooswntt illllarivrhvn Chewing meditatively on a piece of grass, Mariechen, the daughter of a German peasant farmer, sat in the little vegetable patch so carefully cherished by her father, whose property in land was scant. On one side of her lay her hoe, with which she had been hoeing weeds, and as she lay there, leaning her hands against a piece of stubble, which had already pressed red marks into her hand, she thought and thought to herself. Here she was, Mariechen Zemler, pretty as a picture, with nut-brown wavy hair, big violet blue eyes and a merry disposition, but what good was all this when she was as poor as a church mouse? Marie's father in his younger days had worked for the railroad as a bookkeeper, but one day, being sent to the small village of Schwering on business, he had met Mariechen's mother, a beautiful peasant girl, or bauer- madchen. They married. Mariechen's mother did not like city life, so the result was Mariechenls father took up farming, and, as he was not skilful at it, the family had got along as best they could, always having enough to live on, but not enough to save. This was the cause of Mariechen's thinking-Mariechen with her mother's beauty and her father's firm idea of freedom and enjoying life. VVhy should she bother doing such hard work as carrying a heavy wooden bracket over her shoulders, from which suspended two heavily filled milk buckets? W'hy should she bother going out into the fields hoeing potatoes and doing all this hard work for the mere sum of sixty marks a year QSZO in American moneyj when other girls had gone to the large cities and obtained employment at better salaries, some even having the luck of reaching America? As she sat there turning these things over in her mind she heard foot- steps in the road nearby and some one whistling softly to himself the latest German melody, namely, Ptippchen, du bist mein Augensternu CLittle one, you are the star of my eyej. Mariechen peered through the hedge and as she looked a rosy blush tinged her fair cheeks and she quickly drew closer to the hedge, murmuring to herself a Gott sei dank that the passer-by had not seen her, for who should it be but Albert, lVfariechen's most persistent admirer, whom she had determined not to care for, as it was one of Marie- chen's most set ideas that she would never fall in love with a German farmer boy and live the remainder of her life in a little German village like Schwering. Finally Marie decided she had better begin working, so picking up her hoe she began l1OC11'1g vigorously. She had been working some time when along came a double seated spring wagon, in which were seated three ladies fl n' I , I and a gentleman. Americans, no doubt, ' said Mariechen to herself as she looked up. ii
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Page 61 text:
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62 THE COGSWELL On the sixth day out the news spread that New York would be reached next morning. Mariechen packed her baggage quickly and when the quar- antine officers came on board she stood in line with the rest of the immi- grants, a roll of bills amounting to 3,200 pressed tightly in her hand fthe American gentleman had lent them to her for the purposej and gazing tremblingly at the officers in khaki uniforms who were inspecting the various passengers. Finally, Mariechen's turn came. VVould she be made to stay back like some of the poor creatures in front of her? Indeed, please God, no! Lifting her eyelids, the officer reported, Good eyes. How much money?'l Mariechen displayed her money. Friends? Mariechen nodded, giving full information. Passed,', said the officer, and Mariechen walked on. The ship steamed into the dock at Hoboken, the gangplanks were low- ered and friends, relations and travelers met once more. The third cabin passengers were not let off until last, and it was some three hours before Mariechen joined her American friends at the dock. How nice they looked, the young fraiilein especially, and Mariechen realized that her stiff little German hat looked rather comical. She soon forgot this, however, in looking at the terribly tall buildings in the distance and the great masses of people about her. Marie was delighted with her first view of America. Marie had been in America six months. The nice Americans who had brought her over treated her Very kindly. She had been given some of the younger Frauleinls cast-off clothing, which she had remodeled, and she was much pleased with the fact that she looked somewhat Americanized. Albert wrote monthly, telling how much money he had made on the last crop, the number of hogs sold, etc. This did not interest Mariechen in the least, for, sad to say, Mariechen's heart was bound in the person of a tall blond German youth whom she had met at night school and who had helped her with her lessons. They had decided that when they had saved enough money they would marry and go to California, where they would buy a nice little farm and raise chickens. Here llffariechen was breaking her set rules, but then California isn't Germany, and, besides, Herman wasn't Albert. ELs1E RIPPE, '14.
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