United States or Papua New Guinea ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
She was discontented with everything, and was always talking of the grave. "My two eldest are overseas, in America and Australia; I shall never see them again. And here at home two menfolk go strutting about doing nothing and expecting to be waited on. Andres, poor fellow, isn't strong, and Jeppe's no use any longer; he can't even keep himself warm in bed nowadays.
His limbs longed for strenuous work with pick and shovel, but his thoughts took another direction. If he walked along the street the industrious townsfolk would turn to look after him, exchanging remarks which were loud enough to reach his ear. "There goes Master Jeppe's apprentice, loafing along," they would tell one another; "young and strong he is, but he doesn't like work.
They were sewn throughout shoes for a grown man, yet sewn throughout! Moreover, the factory stamp was under the sole. In Jeppe's opinion they were not worth a couple of shillings. But he could not get over the fact that they were machine-made. "Then we are superfluous," he said, in a quavering voice. All his old importance seemed to have fallen from him.
She was discontented with everything, and was always talking of the grave. "My two eldest are overseas, in America and Australia; I shall never see them again. And here at home two menfolk go strutting about doing nothing and expecting to be waited on. Andres, poor fellow, isn't strong, and Jeppe's no use any longer; he can't even keep himself warm in bed nowadays.
"I know well enough that I'm a clown compared with you," he said good- naturedly, "but you needn't be so angry on that account. By the way, do you still remember Peter, who was at Jeppe's with your brother Jens and me? He's here, too I I came across him a little while ago. He's always looking into things too, but he can't find any foundation to anything, as you can.
Her last remark was perhaps evoked by a man who had quietly entered the hall, and was now crouching on a bench in the background; for he was not an honorable man. He had lived on a convict's bread and water; he was "Thieving Jacob," who about ten years earlier had smashed in the window of Master Jeppe's best room and had stolen a pair of patent-leather shoes for his wife.
Baker Jorgen was the only one of them who had anything to do. Things would have to be bad indeed before the people stopped buying his black bread. He even had more to do than usual; the more people abstained from meat and cheese, the more bread they ate. He often hired Jeppe's apprentices so that they might help him in the kneading. But he was not in a happy frame of mind.
Now the question was how he himself should slip through the kitchen without arousing the suspicions of Jeppe's old woman; she had eyes like a witch, and Pelle had a feeling that every one who saw him would know what he was about. But he went.
Now the question was how he himself should slip through the kitchen without arousing the suspicions of Jeppe's old woman; she had eyes like a witch, and Pelle had a feeling that every one who saw him would know what he was about. But he went.
"Yes, for beating some one that's nothing so dreadful! My father was too, when he was a young man. That's no disgrace, for it isn't for stealing." But Manna looked at him with an expression exactly like Jeppe's when he was criticizing somebody from his standpoint as a respectable citizen. "But, Pelle, aren't you ashamed of it?
Word Of The Day