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安徒生童話故事第70篇：她是一個(gè)廢物She Was Good for Nothing
引導(dǎo)語(yǔ)：廢物大家知道是如何定義的?下面是安徒生童話故事的《她是一個(gè)廢物》，有中英文版本的，我們一起閱讀學(xué)習(xí)。
市長(zhǎng)正站在開(kāi)著的窗子面前。他只穿著襯衫;襯衫的前襟上別著一根領(lǐng)帶別針。他的胡子刮得特別光——是他親自刮的。的確，他劃開(kāi)了一個(gè)小口，但是他已經(jīng)在上面貼了一小片報(bào)紙。
“聽(tīng)著，小家伙!”他大聲說(shuō)。
這小家伙不是別人，就是那個(gè)貧苦的洗衣婦的兒子。他正在這房子前面經(jīng)過(guò);他恭恭敬敬地把帽子摘下來(lái)。帽子已經(jīng)破了，因?yàn)樗S時(shí)可以把帽子卷起來(lái)塞在衣袋里。這孩子穿著一件樸素的舊衣服，但是衣服很干凈，補(bǔ)得特別平整，腳上拖著一雙厚木鞋，站在那兒，卑微得好像是站在皇帝面前一樣。
“你是一個(gè)好孩子，”市長(zhǎng)先生說(shuō)。“你是一個(gè)有禮貌的孩子。我想你的媽媽正在河邊洗衣服吧?你現(xiàn)在是要把藏在衣袋里的東西一定是送給她。這對(duì)你母親說(shuō)來(lái)是一件很不好的事情!你弄到了多少?”
“半斤，”孩子用一種害怕的聲音吞吞吐吐地說(shuō)。
“今天早晨她已經(jīng)喝了這么多。”市長(zhǎng)說(shuō)。
“沒(méi)有，那是昨天!”孩子回答說(shuō)。
“兩個(gè)半斤就整整是一斤!她真是一個(gè)廢物!你們這個(gè)階級(jí)的人說(shuō)來(lái)也真糟糕!告訴你媽媽，她應(yīng)該覺(jué)得羞恥。你自己切記不要變成一個(gè)酒徒——不過(guò)你會(huì)的!可憐的孩子，你去吧!”
孩子走開(kāi)了。帽子仍然拿在手中。風(fēng)在吹著他金黃的頭發(fā)，把鬈發(fā)都弄得直立起來(lái)了。他繞過(guò)一個(gè)街角，拐進(jìn)一條通向河流的小巷里去。他的母親站在水里一個(gè)洗衣凳旁邊，用木杵打著一大堆沉重的被單。水在滾滾地流，因?yàn)槟シ康拈l門已經(jīng)抽開(kāi)了;這些被單被水沖著，差不多要把洗衣凳推翻。這個(gè)洗衣婦不得不使盡一切力氣來(lái)穩(wěn)住凳子。
“我差不多也要被卷走了!”她說(shuō)，“你來(lái)得正好，我正需要人來(lái)幫幫忙，站在水里真冷，但是我已經(jīng)站了六個(gè)鐘頭了。你帶來(lái)什么東西給我嗎?”
孩子取出一瓶酒來(lái)。媽媽把它湊在嘴上，喝了一點(diǎn)。
“啊，這算是救了我!”她說(shuō)。“它真叫我感到溫暖!它簡(jiǎn)直像一頓熱飯，而且價(jià)錢還不貴!你也喝點(diǎn)吧，我的孩子!你看起來(lái)簡(jiǎn)直一點(diǎn)血色也沒(méi)有。你穿著這點(diǎn)單衣，要凍壞的。而且現(xiàn)在又是秋天。噢，水多冷啊!我希望我不要鬧起病來(lái)。不，我不會(huì)生病的!再給我喝一口吧，你也可以喝一點(diǎn)，不過(guò)只能喝一點(diǎn)，可不能喝上癮，我可憐的、親愛(ài)的孩子!”
于是她走出河水，爬到孩子站著的那座橋上來(lái)。水從她的草編的圍裙上和她的衣服上不停地往下滴。
“我要苦下去，我要拼命的工作，工作得直到手指流出血來(lái)。不過(guò)，我親愛(ài)的孩子，只要我能憑誠(chéng)實(shí)的勞動(dòng)把你養(yǎng)大，我吃什么苦也愿意。”
當(dāng)她正在說(shuō)這話的時(shí)候，也一個(gè)年紀(jì)比她大一點(diǎn)的女人向他們走來(lái)了。她的衣服穿得非常寒磣，一只腳也跛了，還有一卷假發(fā)蓋在一只眼睛上。這卷假發(fā)的作用本來(lái)是要掩住這只瞎眼的，不過(guò)它反而把這個(gè)缺點(diǎn)弄得更突出了。她是這個(gè)洗衣婦的朋友。鄰居們把她叫做“假發(fā)跛子瑪倫”。
“咳，你這可憐的人!你簡(jiǎn)直在冷水里工作得不要命了!你的確應(yīng)該喝點(diǎn)什么東西，把自己暖一下;不過(guò)有人一看到你喝幾滴就大喊大叫起來(lái)!”不一會(huì)兒，市長(zhǎng)剛才說(shuō)的話就全部傳到洗衣婦的耳朵里去了，因?yàn)楝攤惏堰@些話全都聽(tīng)到了，而且她很生氣，覺(jué)得他居然敢把一個(gè)母親所喝的幾滴酒，那樣鄭重其事地告訴她親生的兒子，特別是因?yàn)槭虚L(zhǎng)正在這天要舉行一個(gè)盛大的宴會(huì);在這個(gè)宴會(huì)上，大家將要一瓶瓶地喝著酒。“而且是強(qiáng)烈的好酒!有許多人將要喝得超過(guò)他們的酒量——但是這卻不叫做喝酒!他們是有用的人;但是你就算是廢物!”
“咳，我的孩子，他居然對(duì)你說(shuō)那樣的話!”洗衣婦說(shuō)，同時(shí)她的嘴唇在發(fā)抖。“你看，你的媽媽是個(gè)廢物!也許他的話有道理，但他不能對(duì)我的孩子說(shuō)呀，況且我在他家里吃的苦頭已經(jīng)夠了。”
“當(dāng)市長(zhǎng)的父母還是活著的時(shí)候，你就在他家里當(dāng)傭人，并且住在他家里。那是多少年前的事!從那時(shí)起，人們不知吃了多少斗的鹽，現(xiàn)在人們也應(yīng)該感到渴了!”瑪倫笑了一下。“市長(zhǎng)今天要舉行一個(gè)盛大的午宴。他本來(lái)要請(qǐng)那些客人改期再來(lái)的，不過(guò)已經(jīng)來(lái)不及了，因?yàn)椴嗽缇蜏?zhǔn)備好了。這事是門房告訴我的。一個(gè)鐘頭以前他接到一封信，說(shuō)他的弟弟已經(jīng)在哥本哈根死了。”
“死了?”洗衣婦大叫一聲。她變得象死一樣地慘白。
“是的，死了，”瑪倫說(shuō)。“你感到特別傷心嗎?是的，你認(rèn)識(shí)他，你在他家里當(dāng)過(guò)傭人。”
“他死了!他是一個(gè)非常好、非常可愛(ài)的人!我們的上帝是少有像他那樣的人的。”于是眼淚就沿著她的臉滴下來(lái)了。“啊，老天爺!我周圍一切東西在打旋轉(zhuǎn)!——這是因?yàn)槲野岩黄烤坪裙饬说木壒省Ｎ覍?shí)在沒(méi)有那么大的酒量!我覺(jué)得我病了!”于是她就靠著木柵欄，免得倒下來(lái)。
“天老爺，你真的病了!”瑪倫說(shuō)。“不要急，你可能會(huì)清醒過(guò)來(lái)的。不對(duì)!你真的病了!我最好還是把你送回家去吧。”
“不過(guò)我這堆衣服——”
“交給我好了!扶著我吧!你的孩子可以留在這兒等著。我一會(huì)兒就回來(lái)把它洗完;它并不多。”
這個(gè)洗衣婦的腿在發(fā)抖。
“我在冷水里站得太久了!從清早起，我就沒(méi)有吃喝過(guò)什么東西。我全身燒得滾燙。啊，耶穌上帝!請(qǐng)幫助我走回家去吧!啊，我可憐的孩子!”于是她就哭起來(lái)。
孩子也哭起來(lái)。他單獨(dú)坐在河邊，守著這一大堆濕衣服。這兩個(gè)女人走得很慢。洗衣婦搖搖擺擺地走過(guò)一條小巷，拐過(guò)一條街就來(lái)到市長(zhǎng)住著的那條街上。一到他的公館面前，她就倒到人行道上去了。許多人圍攏來(lái)。
跛腳瑪倫跑進(jìn)這公館里去找人來(lái)幫忙。市長(zhǎng)和他的客人們走到窗子面前來(lái)朝外面望。
“原來(lái)是那個(gè)洗衣的女人!”他說(shuō)。“她喝得太多，醉了!她是一個(gè)廢物!真可惜，她有一個(gè)可愛(ài)的兒子。我的確喜歡這孩子。不過(guò)這母親是一個(gè)廢物!”
不一會(huì)兒洗衣婦恢復(fù)了知覺(jué)。大家把她扶到她簡(jiǎn)陋的屋子里去，然后把她放在床上。好心腸的瑪倫為她熱了一杯啤酒，里面加了一些黃油和糖;她認(rèn)為這是最好的藥品。然后她就匆匆忙忙地跑向河邊去，把衣服洗完了——洗得夠馬虎，雖然她的本意很不壞。嚴(yán)格地說(shuō)，她不過(guò)只是把潮濕的衣服拖上岸來(lái)，放進(jìn)桶里去罷了。
天黑的時(shí)候，她來(lái)到那間簡(jiǎn)陋的小房子里，坐在洗衣婦的旁邊。她特別為病人向市長(zhǎng)的廚子討一點(diǎn)烤洋山芋和一片肥火腿來(lái)。瑪倫和孩子大吃了一通，不過(guò)病人只能欣賞這食物的香味。她說(shuō)香味也是很滋補(bǔ)的。
不一會(huì)兒，孩子就上床去睡了，睡在他的媽媽睡的那張床上。他橫睡在她的腳頭，蓋著一床縫滿了藍(lán)色和白色補(bǔ)丁的舊地毯。
洗衣婦感到現(xiàn)在精神稍微好了一點(diǎn)。溫暖的啤酒使她有了一點(diǎn)力氣;食物的香味也對(duì)她起了好的作用。
“多謝你，你這個(gè)好心腸的人，”她對(duì)瑪倫說(shuō)。“孩子睡著以后，我就把一切經(jīng)過(guò)都告訴你。我想他已經(jīng)睡著了。你看，他閉著眼睛躺在那兒，是一副多么溫柔好看的樣兒!他一點(diǎn)也不知道媽媽的痛苦——我希望老天爺永遠(yuǎn)不要讓他知道。我那時(shí)是幫那位樞密顧問(wèn)官——就是市長(zhǎng)的父親——做傭人。有一天他的在大學(xué)里念書的小兒子回來(lái)了。我那時(shí)是一個(gè)粗野的年輕女孩子;但是我可以在老天爺面前發(fā)誓，我是正派的!”洗衣婦說(shuō)。“那大學(xué)生是一個(gè)快樂(lè)、和藹、善良和勇敢的人!他身上的每一滴血都是善良和誠(chéng)實(shí)的。我在這世界上沒(méi)有看到過(guò)比他更好的人。他是這家的少爺，我不過(guò)是一個(gè)女傭人;但是我們相愛(ài)起來(lái)了——我們相愛(ài)是真誠(chéng)的，正當(dāng)?shù)摹Ｋ堰@件事告訴了他的母親，她在他的眼中就像是世上的一個(gè)活神仙。她既聰明，又溫柔。他離開(kāi)家的時(shí)候就把他的戒指套在我的手指上。他已經(jīng)走了很遠(yuǎn)以后，我的女主人就喊我去。她用一種堅(jiān)定的、但是溫和嚴(yán)肅的語(yǔ)氣對(duì)我說(shuō)話——只有我們的上帝才能這樣講話。她把他跟我的區(qū)別，無(wú)論從精神方面或?qū)嵸|(zhì)方面，都清楚地告訴了我。
“‘他現(xiàn)在只是看到你是多么漂亮，’她說(shuō)，‘不過(guò)漂亮是保持不住多久的。你沒(méi)有受過(guò)他那樣的教育。你在智力方面永遠(yuǎn)趕不上他——不幸的關(guān)鍵就在這里。我尊重窮人，’她繼續(xù)說(shuō)：‘在上帝的面前。他們比許多富人的位置還高;不過(guò)在我們?nèi)说氖澜缋铮覀儽仨毊?dāng)心不要越過(guò)了界限，不然車子就會(huì)翻掉，你們兩人也就會(huì)翻掉。我知道有一個(gè)很好的人向你求過(guò)婚——一個(gè)手藝人——就是那個(gè)手套匠人愛(ài)力克。他的妻子已經(jīng)死了，沒(méi)有小孩。他的境遇也很好。你考慮考慮吧!’
“她講的每個(gè)字都像一把刺進(jìn)我心里的尖刀。不過(guò)我知道她的話是有道理的。這使我感到難過(guò)，感到沉重。我吻了她的手，流出苦痛的眼淚。當(dāng)我回到我的房里倒到床上的時(shí)候，我哭得更痛苦。這是我最難過(guò)的一夜。只有上帝知道，我是在怎樣受難，怎樣掙扎!
“第二個(gè)禮拜天我到教堂里去，祈求上帝指引我。當(dāng)我走出教堂的時(shí)候，手套匠人愛(ài)力克正在向我走來(lái)——這好像就是上帝的意志。這時(shí)我心里的一切疑慮都消除了。我們?cè)谏矸趾途秤龇矫娑际窍喾Q的——他還可以算得是境況好的人。因此我就走向他，握著他的手，同時(shí)說(shuō)：
“‘你的心還沒(méi)有變吧?’
“‘沒(méi)有，永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)變!’他回答說(shuō)。
“‘你愿跟一個(gè)尊重和敬服你、但是不愛(ài)你的女子結(jié)婚嗎——雖然她以后可能會(huì)對(duì)你發(fā)生愛(ài)情?’
“‘是的，愛(ài)情以后就會(huì)來(lái)的!’他說(shuō)。這樣，我們就同意了。我回到女主人的家里來(lái)。她的兒子給我的那個(gè)戒指一直是藏在我的懷里。我在白天不敢戴它;只是在晚上我上床去睡的時(shí)候才戴上它。現(xiàn)在我吻著戒指，一直吻到我的嘴唇要流出血來(lái)。然后我把它交還給我的女主人，同時(shí)告訴她，下星期牧師就要宣布我和手套匠人的結(jié)婚的預(yù)告。我的女主人雙手抱著我，吻我。她沒(méi)有說(shuō)我是一個(gè)廢物;不過(guò)那時(shí)我可能是比現(xiàn)在更有用一點(diǎn)的，因?yàn)槲疫�沒(méi)有碰上生活的災(zāi)難。在圣燭節(jié)①那天我們就結(jié)婚了。頭一年我們的生活還不壞：我們有一個(gè)伙計(jì)和一個(gè)學(xué)徒，還有你，瑪倫——你幫我們的忙。”
“啊，你是一個(gè)善良的女主人，”瑪倫說(shuō)。“我永遠(yuǎn)也忘不了，你和你的丈夫?qū)ξ沂嵌嗝春?”
“是的，你和我們住在一起的時(shí)候，正是我們過(guò)得好的時(shí)候!我們那時(shí)還沒(méi)有孩子。那個(gè)大學(xué)生我再也沒(méi)有見(jiàn)到過(guò)——啊，對(duì)了，我看到過(guò)他，但是他卻沒(méi)有看到我!他回來(lái)參加他母親的葬禮。我看到他站在墳旁，臉色慘白，樣子很消沉，不過(guò)那是因?yàn)槟赣H死了的緣故。后來(lái)，當(dāng)他的父親死的時(shí)候，他正住在國(guó)外，沒(méi)有回來(lái)。以后他也沒(méi)有回來(lái)。我知道他一直沒(méi)有結(jié)婚。后來(lái)他成了一個(gè)律師。他已經(jīng)把我忘記了。即使他再看到我，大概也不會(huì)認(rèn)識(shí)我的——我已經(jīng)變得非常難看。這也可算是一件幸事!”
于是她談到她那些苦難的日子和她家所遭遇到的不幸。他們積蓄了五百塊錢，街上有一座房子要賣，估價(jià)是兩百塊錢。把它拆了，再建一座新的，還是值得。所以他們就把它買下來(lái)了。石匠和木匠把費(fèi)用計(jì)算了一下;新房子的建筑費(fèi)要1020塊錢。手套匠人愛(ài)力克很有信用，所以他在京城里借了這筆錢。不過(guò)帶回這筆錢的那個(gè)船長(zhǎng)，在半路上翻了船;錢和他本人都沒(méi)有了。
“這時(shí)候，現(xiàn)在正在睡著的我的這個(gè)親愛(ài)的孩子出世了。長(zhǎng)期的重病把我的丈夫拖倒了。有九個(gè)月的光景，我得每天替他穿衣和脫衣。我們一天不如一天，而且在不停地借債。我們把所有的東西都賣了，接著丈夫也死了。我工作著，操勞著，為我的孩子操勞和工作，替人擦樓梯，替人洗粗細(xì)衣服，但是我的境遇還是沒(méi)有辦法改好——這就是上帝的意志!他將要在適當(dāng)?shù)臅r(shí)候把我喚走的，他也不會(huì)不管我的孩子。”
于是她便睡去了。
到了早晨她的精神好了許多，也覺(jué)得有了些氣力;她覺(jué)得自己可以去繼續(xù)工作。不過(guò)她一走進(jìn)冷水里去的時(shí)候，就感到一陣寒顫和無(wú)力。她用手在空中亂抓，向前走了一步，便倒下來(lái)了。她的頭擱在岸上，但腳仍然浸在水里。她的一雙木鞋——每只鞋里墊著一把草——順著水流走了。這情形是瑪倫送咖啡來(lái)時(shí)看到的。
這時(shí)市長(zhǎng)家的一個(gè)仆人跑到她簡(jiǎn)陋的屋子里來(lái)，叫她趕快到市長(zhǎng)家里去，因?yàn)樗惺虑橐獙?duì)她講。但是現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)遲了!大家請(qǐng)來(lái)了一個(gè)剃頭兼施外科手術(shù)的人來(lái)為她放血。不過(guò)這個(gè)可憐的洗衣婦已經(jīng)死了。
“她喝酒喝死了!”市長(zhǎng)說(shuō)。
那封關(guān)于他弟弟去世的信里附有一份遺囑的大要。這里面有一項(xiàng)是：死者留下六百塊錢給他母親過(guò)去的傭人——就是現(xiàn)在的手套匠的寡婦。這筆錢應(yīng)該根據(jù)實(shí)際需要，以或多或少的數(shù)目付給她或她的孩子。
“我的弟弟和她曾經(jīng)鬧過(guò)一點(diǎn)無(wú)聊的事兒，”市長(zhǎng)說(shuō)。“幸虧她死了。現(xiàn)在那個(gè)孩子可以得到全部的錢。我將把他送到一個(gè)正經(jīng)人家里去寄養(yǎng)，好使他將來(lái)可以成為一個(gè)誠(chéng)實(shí)的手藝人。”
請(qǐng)我們的上帝祝福這幾句話吧。
市長(zhǎng)把這孩子喊來(lái)，答應(yīng)照顧他，同時(shí)還說(shuō)他的母親死了是一樁好事，因?yàn)樗且粋�(gè)廢物!
人們把她抬到教堂墓地上去，埋在窮人的公墓里。瑪倫在她的墳上栽了一棵玫瑰樹(shù);那個(gè)孩子立在她旁邊。
“我親愛(ài)的媽媽!”他哭了起來(lái)，眼淚不停地流著。“人們說(shuō)她是一個(gè)廢物，這是真的嗎?”
“不，她是一個(gè)非常有用的人!”那個(gè)老傭人說(shuō)，同時(shí)生氣地朝天上望著。“我在許多年以前就知道她是一個(gè)好人;從昨天晚上起我更知道她是一個(gè)好人。我告訴你她是一個(gè)有用的人!老天爺知道這是真的。讓別人說(shuō)‘她是一個(gè)廢物’吧!”
①圣燭節(jié)(Kyndelmisse)是在二月二日舉行的基督教的節(jié)日，紀(jì)念耶穌生后40天，圣母瑪利亞帶他到耶路撒冷去祈禱。
她是一個(gè)廢物英文版：
She Was Good for Nothing
THE mayor stood at the open window. He looked smart, for his shirt-frill, in which he had stuck a breast-pin, and his ruffles, were very fine. He had shaved his chin uncommonly smooth, although he had cut himself slightly, and had stuck a piece of newspaper over the place. “Hark ’ee, youngster!” cried he.
The boy to whom he spoke was no other than the son of a poor washer-woman, who was just going past the house. He stopped, and respectfully took off his cap. The peak of this cap was broken in the middle, so that he could easily roll it up and put it in his pocket. He stood before the mayor in his poor but clean and well-mended clothes, with heavy wooden shoes on his feet, looking as humble as if it had been the king himself.
“You are a good and civil boy,” said the mayor. “I suppose your mother is busy washing the clothes down by the river, and you are going to carry that thing to her that you have in your pocket. It is very bad for your mother. How much have you got in it?”
“Only half a quartern,” stammered the boy in a frightened voice.
“And she has had just as much this morning already?”
“No, it was yesterday,” replied the boy.
“Two halves make a whole,” said the mayor. “She’s good for nothing. What a sad thing it is with these people. Tell your mother she ought to be ashamed of herself. Don’t you become a drunkard, but I expect you will though. Poor child! there, go now.”
The boy went on his way with his cap in his hand, while the wind fluttered his golden hair till the locks stood up straight. He turned round the corner of the street into the little lane that led to the river, where his mother stood in the water by her washing bench, beating the linen with a heavy wooden bar. The floodgates at the mill had been drawn up, and as the water rolled rapidly on, the sheets were dragged along by the stream, and nearly overturned the bench, so that the washer-woman was obliged to lean against it to keep it steady. “I have been very nearly carried away,” she said; “it is a good thing that you are come, for I want something to strengthen me. It is cold in the water, and I have stood here six hours. Have you brought anything for me?”
The boy drew the bottle from his pocket, and the mother put it to her lips, and drank a little.
“Ah, how much good that does, and how it warms me,” she said; “it is as good as a hot meal, and not so dear. Drink a little, my boy; you look quite pale; you are shivering in your thin clothes, and autumn has really come. Oh, how cold the water is! I hope I shall not be ill. But no, I must not be afraid of that. Give me a little more, and you may have a sip too, but only a sip; you must not get used to it, my poor, dear child.” She stepped up to the bridge on which the boy stood as she spoke, and came on shore. The water dripped from the straw mat which she had bound round her body, and from her gown. “I work hard and suffer pain with my poor hands,” said she, “but I do it willingly, that I may be able to bring you up honestly and truthfully, my dear boy.”
At the same moment, a woman, rather older than herself, came towards them. She was a miserable-looking object, lame of one leg, and with a large false curl hanging down over one of her eyes, which was blind. This curl was intended to conceal the blind eye, but it made the defect only more visible. She was a friend of the laundress, and was called, among the neighbors, “Lame Martha, with the curl.” “Oh, you poor thing; how you do work, standing there in the water!” she exclaimed. “You really do need something to give you a little warmth, and yet spiteful people cry out about the few drops you take.” And then Martha repeated to the laundress, in a very few minutes, all that the mayor had said to her boy, which she had overheard; and she felt very angry that any man could speak, as he had done, of a mother to her own child, about the few drops she had taken; and she was still more angry because, on that very day, the mayor was going to have a dinner-party, at which there would be wine, strong, rich wine, drunk by the bottle. “Many will take more than they ought, but they don’t call that drinking! They are all right, you are good for nothing indeed!” cried Martha indignantly.
“And so he spoke to you in that way, did he, my child?” said the washer-woman, and her lips trembled as she spoke. “He says you have a mother who is good for nothing. Well, perhaps he is right, but he should not have said it to my child. How much has happened to me from that house!”
“Yes,” said Martha; “I remember you were in service there, and lived in the house when the mayor’s parents were alive; how many years ago that is. Bushels of salt have been eaten since then, and people may well be thirsty,” and Martha smiled. “The mayor’s great dinner-party to-day ought to have been put off, but the news came too late. The footman told me the dinner was already cooked, when a letter came to say that the mayor’s younger brother in Copenhagen is dead.”
“Dead!” cried the laundress, turning pale as death.
“Yes, certainly,” replied Martha; “but why do you take it so much to heart? I suppose you knew him years ago, when you were in service there?”
“Is he dead?” she exclaimed. “Oh, he was such a kind, good-hearted man, there are not many like him,” and the tears rolled down her cheeks as she spoke. Then she cried, “Oh, dear me; I feel quite ill: everything is going round me, I cannot bear it. Is the bottle empty?” and she leaned against the plank.
“Dear me, you are ill indeed,” said the other woman. “Come, cheer up; perhaps it will pass off. No, indeed, I see you are really ill; the best thing for me to do is to lead you home.”
“But my washing yonder?”
“I will take care of that. Come, give me your arm. The boy can stay here and take care of the linen, and I’ll come back and finish the washing; it is but a trifle.”
The limbs of the laundress shook under her, and she said, “I have stood too long in the cold water, and I have had nothing to eat the whole day since the morning. O kind Heaven, help me to get home; I am in a burning fever. Oh, my poor child,” and she burst into tears. And he, poor boy, wept also, as he sat alone by the river, near to and watching the damp linen.
The two women walked very slowly. The laundress slipped and tottered through the lane, and round the corner, into the street where the mayor lived; and just as she reached the front of his house, she sank down upon the pavement. Many persons came round her, and Lame Martha ran into the house for help. The mayor and his guests came to the window.
“Oh, it is the laundress,” said he; “she has had a little drop too much. She is good for nothing. It is a sad thing for her pretty little son. I like the boy very well; but the mother is good for nothing.”
After a while the laundress recovered herself, and they led her to her poor dwelling, and put her to bed. Kind Martha warmed a mug of beer for her, with butter and sugar—she considered this the best medicine—and then hastened to the river, washed and rinsed, badly enough, to be sure, but she did her best. Then she drew the linen ashore, wet as it was, and laid it in a basket. Before evening, she was sitting in the poor little room with the laundress. The mayor’s cook had given her some roasted potatoes and a beautiful piece of fat for the sick woman. Martha and the boy enjoyed these good things very much; but the sick woman could only say that the smell was very nourishing, she thought. By-and-by the boy was put to bed, in the same bed as the one in which his mother lay; but he slept at her feet, covered with an old quilt made of blue and white patchwork. The laundress felt a little better by this time. The warm beer had strengthened her, and the smell of the good food had been pleasant to her.
“Many thanks, you good soul,” she said to Martha. “Now the boy is asleep, I will tell you all. He is soon asleep. How gentle and sweet he looks as he lies there with his eyes closed! He does not know how his mother has suffered; and Heaven grant he never may know it. I was in service at the counsellor’s, the father of the mayor, and it happened that the youngest of his sons, the student, came home. I was a young wild girl then, but honest; that I can declare in the sight of Heaven. The student was merry and gay, brave and affectionate; every drop of blood in him was good and honorable; a better man never lived on earth. He was the son of the house, and I was only a maid; but he loved me truly and honorably, and he told his mother of it. She was to him as an angel upon earth; she was so wise and loving. He went to travel, and before he started he placed a gold ring on my finger; and as soon as he was out of the house, my mistress sent for me. Gently and earnestly she drew me to her, and spake as if an angel were speaking. She showed me clearly, in spirit and in truth, the difference there was between him and me. ‘He is pleased now,’ she said, ‘with your pretty face; but good looks do not last long. You have not been educated like he has. You are not equals in mind and rank, and therein lies the misfortune. I esteem the poor,’ she added. ‘In the sight of God, they may occupy a higher place than many of the rich; but here upon earth we must beware of entering upon a false track, lest we are overturned in our plans, like a carriage that travels by a dangerous road. I know a worthy man, an artisan, who wishes to marry you. I mean Eric, the glovemaker. He is a widower, without children, and in a good position. Will you think it over?’ Every word she said pierced my heart like a knife; but I knew she was right, and the thought pressed heavily upon me. I kissed her hand, and wept bitter tears, and I wept still more when I went to my room, and threw myself on the bed. I passed through a dreadful night; God knows what I suffered, and how I struggled. The following Sunday I went to the house of God to pray for light to direct my path. It seemed like a providence that as I stepped out of church Eric came towards me; and then there remained not a doubt in my mind. We were suited to each other in rank and circumstances. He was, even then, a man of good means. I went up to him, and took his hand, and said, ‘Do you still feel the same for me?’ ‘Yes; ever and always,’ said he. ‘Will you, then, marry a maiden who honors and esteems you, although she cannot offer you her love? but that may come.’ ‘Yes, it will come,’ said he; and we joined our hands together, and I went home to my mistress. The gold ring which her son had given me I wore next to my heart. I could not place it on my finger during the daytime, but only in the evening, when I went to bed. I kissed the ring till my lips almost bled, and then I gave it to my mistress, and told her that the banns were to be put up for me and the glovemaker the following week. Then my mistress threw her arms round me, and kissed me. She did not say that I was ‘good for nothing;’ very likely I was better then than I am now; but the misfortunes of this world, were unknown to me then. At Michaelmas we were married, and for the first year everything went well with us. We had a journeyman and an apprentice, and you were our servant, Martha.”
“Ah, yes, and you were a dear, good mistress,” said Martha, “I shall never forget how kind you and your husband were to me.”
“Yes, those were happy years when you were with us, although we had no children at first. The student I never met again. Yet I saw him once, although he did not see me. He came to his mother’s funeral. I saw him, looking pale as death, and deeply troubled, standing at her grave; for she was his mother. Sometime after, when his father died, he was in foreign lands, and did not come home. I know that he never married, I believe he became a lawyer. He had forgotten me, and even had we met he would not have known me, for I have lost all my good looks, and perhaps that is all for the best.” And then she spoke of the dark days of trial, when misfortune had fallen upon them.
“We had five hundred dollars,” she said, “and there was a house in the street to be sold for two hundred, so we thought it would be worth our while to pull it down and build a new one in its place; so it was bought. The builder and carpenter made an estimate that the new house would cost ten hundred and twenty dollars to build. Eric had credit, so he borrowed the money in the chief town. But the captain, who was bringing it to him, was shipwrecked, and the money lost. Just about this time, my dear sweet boy, who lies sleeping there, was born, and my husband was attacked with a severe lingering illness. For three quarters of a year I was obliged to dress and undress him. We were backward in our payments, we borrowed more money, and all that we had was lost and sold, and then my husband died. Since then I have worked, toiled, and striven for the sake of the child. I have scrubbed and washed both coarse and fine linen, but I have not been able to make myself better off; and it was God’s will. In His own time He will take me to Himself, but I know He will never forsake my boy.” Then she fell asleep. In the morning she felt much refreshed, and strong enough, as she thought, to go on with her work. But as soon as she stepped into the cold water, a sudden faintness seized her; she clutched at the air convulsively with her hand, took one step forward, and fell. Her head rested on dry land, but her feet were in the water; her wooden shoes, which were only tied on by a wisp of straw, were carried away by the stream, and thus she was found by Martha when she came to bring her some coffee.
In the meantime a messenger had been sent to her house by the mayor, to say that she must come to him immediately, as he had something to tell her. It was too late; a surgeon had been sent for to open a vein in her arm, but the poor woman was dead.
“She has drunk herself to death,” said the cruel mayor. In the letter, containing the news of his brother’s death, it was stated that he had left in his will a legacy of six hundred dollars to the glovemaker’s widow, who had been his mother’s maid, to be paid with discretion, in large or small sums to the widow or her child.
“There was something between my brother and her, I remember,” said the mayor; “it is a good thing that she is out of the way, for now the boy will have the whole. I will place him with honest people to bring him up, that he may become a respectable working man.” And the blessing of God rested upon these words. The mayor sent for the boy to come to him, and promised to take care of him, but most cruelly added that it was a good thing that his mother was dead, for “she was good for nothing.” They carried her to the churchyard, the churchyard in which the poor were buried. Martha strewed sand on the grave and planted a rose-tree upon it, and the boy stood by her side.
“Oh, my poor mother!” he cried, while the tears rolled down his cheeks. “Is it true what they say, that she was good for nothing?”
“No, indeed, it is not true,” replied the old servant, raising her eyes to heaven; “she was worth a great deal; I knew it years ago, and since the last night of her life I am more certain of it than ever. I say she was a good and worthy woman, and God, who is in heaven, knows I am speaking the truth, though the world may say, even now she was good for nothing.”
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