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"We have now more than 300 prisoners aboard this ship," declared Captain Koenig; "mostly men. Besides the women who came aboard with you, there are only five." "That's a pretty big load, Captain?" "The Vaterland," said Captain Koenig proudly, "has accommodations for more than a thousand souls." "I knew it was a big ship," said Frank, "but I had no idea it carried so many.
"Some day I will tell you of them, and of the struggle with the troops in the 'Breite Strasse' in March. We lost, as I told you because we knew not how to hold what we had gained. "I left Germany, hoping to make a home here for my poor father. How sad his face as he kissed me farewell! And he said to me: 'Carl, if ever your new Vaterland, the good Republic, be in danger, sacrifice all.
The three moved up the street, Pierre chafing inwardly, but helpless in his Mother's grasp, and at the next crossing the great spectacle burst upon them. A whole regiment of cavalry was passing, singing at the top of their lungs, "Lieb' Vaterland, macht ruhig sein." The sun glistened on their helmets, and the clanking of swords and the jingling of spurs kept time with the swelling chorus.
A most genial host crossed the room to give Mr. Richter a welcome that any man might have envied. He was introduced to Stephen. "We were all 'Streber' together, in Germany," said Richter. "You were all what?" asked Stephen, interested. "Strivers, you might call it in English. In the Vaterland those who seek for higher and better things for liberty, and to be rid of oppression are so called.
The Vaterland, having dropped the secretary by a rope ladder, remained hovering, circling very slowly above the great buildings, old and new, that clustered round City Hall Park, while the Helmholz, which had done the fighting there, rose overhead to a height of perhaps two thousand feet. So Bert had a near view of all that occurred in that central place.
'Lieb vaterland, says I. An' we had a dhrink together. 'We are that, says I. 'But, glory be, who iver thought th' Irish'd live to see th' day whin they'd be freed be th' Dutch? Schwartz, me lieber frind, I says, 'here's a health to th' imp'ror, hock, says I. 'Slanthu, says he; an' we had wan.
Our women wore Parisian clothes, and spoke the language; French immorality and atheism had spread like a plague among us Napoleon the vile had taken the sword of our Frederick from Berlin. The downfall of the fiend Napoleon and the Vaterland united these two his scholars must have written in their hearts.
No; your heritage is liberty you Americans and English; and we Germans must desert our native land to partake of it." "And was it not hard to leave?" asked Stephen, gently. The eyes of the German filled at the recollection, nor did he seem ashamed of his tears. "I had a poor old father whose life was broken to save the Vaterland, but not his spirit," he cried, "no, not that.
Rid of Napoleon, we had another despot in Metternich. But the tree which Jahn had planted grew, and its branches spread. The great master was surrounded by spies. My father had gone to Jena University, when he joined the Burschenschaft, or Students' League, of which I will tell you later. It was pledged to the rescue of the Vaterland.
You will not think of us as foreign swill, but as patriots who love our new Vaterland even as you love it. You must come to our Turner Halls, where we are drilling against the time when the Union shall have need of us." "You are drilling now?" exclaimed Stephen, in still greater astonishment. The German's eloquence had made him tingle, even as had the songs.
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