Chapter 3
On the second winter Daniel went to the chaplainBut it did not go too great with them this year. Hirsch had come up against the religious people who claimed that he did not promote a pure religious teaching, and this gave him so much to think about that he forgot about Daniel. In reality he had already sown what he had to in this child’s soul; he was not so eager in himself either. And finally he understood that he could not continue his “method”; maybe it was even wrong to make this boy a test case for his own art of upbringing.
Some time around the Christmas season, it was told in the village that the chaplain would be applying for a transfer. He was tired of being here, people said, besides he needs a larger parish because he was going to marry.
Daniel did not want to believe this. The chaplain could not really mean to leave him now, now that he had helped him to go this far along the road. And he was not exactly a food-striver either, who could walk away from a good deed, because he can get enough dalars more in a year’s salary in another place. But the rumor became more and more evident, and at last the question was if the chaplain had received a call to another parish.
Then Daniel was disheartened. All possibilities were closed, he thought, all hopes were like birds whose clipped wings turn the flight down to earth . He sometimes dreamed that he was buried alive; he had thought then that the dream was true. He did not understand this. Was it fair that a soul that has been brought up so high be dropped back to the dirty soil again?Ruth was the name of the chaplain’s fiancee, they said, and was the daughter of a rich landowner out at Austlandet (Eastern Norway). At the beginning of summer, the chaplain would go and get married, and then he would come back but only to prepare for moving on.
The last lesson would, hopefully, come before that time. Daniel felt he was wilting inside and he understood it was serious. “But you should not be discouraged because of this,” said the chaplain, “we shall fix it so that you can continue reading in another way.” So Daniel lightened up. The chaplain saw this and smiled. “Maybe you thought that I might be deceiving you? he asked. “No, no, no,” stammered the boy.
When the chaplain came back from Kristiania (present-day Oslo) that summer, also came Kandidat Massmann, the son of a priest. Massmann has finished his studies and he would stay home and rest until he receives his embætte. (1)
The kandidat (2) was a calm man of few words, pale of face and very serious. People could not make out this man, as he studied neither for the priesthood or to be a doctor, or a solicitor. The only thing they knew was that he had read “a lot of languages”, and that he would become “very learned”. It was for this that Daniel could have his classes with kandidat Massmann during the summer and the autumn.
Daniel was not very happy about this: he was afraid of kandidat Massmann. In addition, he was afraid of the priest’s farm. He remembered how fine and how solemn it was there, and one had a holy respect for the old priest. But also he was thinking of the priest’s dog that scared him more. Even so, he went and thought that he ought to be thankful that he was allowed to go there. In front of the dog he got away with his skin intact, just as he managed to do well before the priest. So he came to the kandidat, who sat pale and calm in a rocking chair with a book and smoked a pipe.
Daniel was almost bowing and was red and afraid. The kandidat stared at him with ice blue eyes through cold bright eyeglasses: “Now, is it Daniel?” – Yes, that is it then. – “Good, sit down,” said the kandidat and pointed at a chair. Daniel went and sat down on the chair. Then Daniel was questioned. What had he read? He answered as well as he can, but he was uneasy all the time and was ill at ease; he could not say whether the kandidat was satisified with his answers or not. Then came the latin test. Daniel wished he was under the ground and began to sweat where he sat. “Therefore, the second book. Open ... open ... open the 18th chapter. Have you read the 18th chapter?” – Yes, Daniel thought so. But it had been a long time since. With trembling, sweating hands he found the page. “Good. Read!” – Daniel read. “Loci natura erat haec, quem locum nostri castris delegerant.” “Good. Translate!” – Daniel knew that he could not translate it. He could not remember a word. Still, he tried it. But he couldn’t. He only sat, trying, hesitating, working with his hands and feet, with the whole body, but stod rooted like a wall. It felt terribly bad. What would the kandidat think? “Now,” he said, “the subject is –?” Daniel guessed. “Natura,” he said. But when the kandidat did not say yes, he thought it was incorrect and changed his answer: “No! loci,” he said. “Is loci also the subject?” asked the kandidat “No,” murmured Daniel. “No, of course not,” answered the kandidat. “The subject is natura. Natura means –?” “Nature” – “Naturally.” Therefore: locis natura – ? An old dim memory came to Daniel, and he made a guess: “Grove - Nature in the grove –?” Still the kandidat said nothing and so Daniel thought it was wrong. “No!” he whispered loudly.
“No,” said the kandidat with infinite calm, so that Daniel felt cold. What kind of word was loci? What was it in the nominitive? “Lo-cus,” guessed Daniel.
“What does locus mean? ”
“Locus, that is ... the same as –”
“Hm. Is it the same as lucus?”
“No.”
“What is lucus?”
“Lucus; lucus – –”
“Lucus is grove. But locus –?”
Daniel pulled at the back of his ears; “Locus that is – ; locus; – hm”
“Locus is place. “What is the case of loci?”
“That is ... dativ –?” No... That is ... genitiv –?”
“Hm, Listen, my boy,” said the kandidat, “have you read grammar?”
“Yes, a little ... but it has been quite a long time since,” said Daniel; he was wet with sweat.
“Yes, it appears so,” said the kandidat. “Now, we shall take the grammmar, man!”
And Daniel got the first and the second declensions for the lesson.
Like a wet dog, he trudged home. He felt himself so peculiarly small. This was an entirely different dance. With a shiver he thought of his new teacher. Here there was no talk about soul and the old nordic poetry; here it was a matter of knowing one’s lessons, knowing the grammar! And for Daniel, this meant being well-prepared. Then he remembered that he had received lessons. An honest to goodness lesson that the should learn; it was wonderful how this idea struck him.
Now he knew what he should should work at. A lesson was something that he knew about; a lesson is something he should master! And the next time he came to the kandidat, that learned man should think differently about Daniel. He almost flew home. And took the lesson likewise. He was completely happy with the lesson; thought excitedly that he would finally study this grammar that had always made him feel hopeless. He would become like one of the latin school boys who would be familiar with Madvig!
He put himself into a storm of reading. he read and read, until the two declensions went like a dance. The next time that he came to the kandidat, he was not afraid; he knew the lesson. And it went well. He came home feeling proud, he had won! The grammar did not seem so soulless as he had thought. At once he threw out his dreams about the hulder and the sprite, for now he would become learned. Learned and serious like the kandidat.
If only the priest’s dog was not there! But that often broke his youthful courage. Every time he went in or out, there came the big, black beast glowering with his red angry eyes that went and sniffed at him as if he were a leg of ham. And the beast was not to be fooled with. Stories went around the village about others who have had it badly with this dog: A tenant farmer had come to the priest’s farm one late evening, and the dog thought he had come to steal, so it had bitten the man in the leg. Several people had complained to the priest over this animal, but the priest always answered that Apollo did not bite decent people. But once it had attacked a man who came to the priest’s farm to pay his tithe. The poor man had long stood on the overdue payments list, both with the church and with other places, and now the man could finally pay. He had sold a cow to pay his tithes and a bank. Yes, he had paid the money without mishap, but when he came to the priest’s garden, the priest’s dog was on him. So, he had to run as fast as he knew how, and got his pants bitten off and torn up.
Then the priest had become angry and put the dog on a leash. But the dog did not want to be tied up. It stood howling and whining the whole day that the priest could not bear listening to it. It was “unchristian maltreatment of animals”, he said finally and set the dog free. Since then the beast went on as before, and they who would come the priest’s farm simply had to manage the best way they could; it helped that the dog never bit “decent folk.” Who could be such decent folk with such a dog that one could never rely on?It was settled afterwards when Apollo became familiar with Daniel who could then go in and out of the priest’s farm as he wished. And he could not help feeling proud that the priest’s dog had put him in the rank of decent folk, so that it never did him any harm; it knew enough to select his people, this dog!
Strangely enough, the kandidat did not like this dog either. He did not like dogs at all. It was a crude custom, he said, a remnant of the wild men’s time, to keep such tame or half-tame wolves wamdering in the farms, frightening the health out of nervous fellow Christians, and one should not in the least expect such wild men’s customs in a priest’s farm. But the old priest merely growled; he did not care about such “modern ideas”, he said.
During the haycutting, Daniel stayed home. But during the autumn, the lessons continued, and it went well. Daniel enjoyed himself; he felt that he learned something. And the kandidat drove him hard with pleasure. But just as things were going very well, Apollo came in the way.It was “reading time” with the kandidat; Daniel sat at the middle of the table and could look out over the whole yard of the priest’s farm. Then he saw a woman who came striding towards the house in such a strange way. She was poorly dressed and was getting along in years, a villager. At her heels was Apollo who was terrible to see and snapped at her dress now and then. She was terribly frightened. She did not dare walk fast, least of all stop or turn, so she went along in short, stiff, unsteady steps as if she were walking in her sleep. All the time she looked around for help, but there were no other people in the place; she was alone with this animal. And Daniel saw how she turned more ashen at each step. The mouth stood open, the eyes stood wide and white out of her head; it looked like she was about to faint, as if she did now how where to set her foot.
The kandidat was watching Daniel and knew that something was going on; he looked out. Then the book dropped on the floor, and the kandidat went to the door; out through the living room, the hall and the front door; there he first brought the woman safely to the house, and then Apollo came sneaking up with tail swishing expecting to find favor with the master, as he thought he had been so clever, but the kandidat took a cudgel he had hidden behind his back and beat the dog so that it ran off far into the yard. And it screamed as if it was a burning devil. It was terrible to hear. Howling, whining, with the tail between its legs and the back twisted over and around itself , and the kandidat after it; – then came the priest. “Henning!” he shouted, “Henning?” – And Henning who saw that he could not reach out for the dog, turned towards his father. His hair had fallen down and covered his forehead and eyes, and his face was white as he stood there before the priest, upright and angry, he looked magnificent in his trembling rage. “Now, there you are, Father,” he said. And he continued, since the beast was not tied, that was what he deserved! – Daniel did not hear more.
But when the kandidat came in, he was in a bad mood, and Daniel had to leave. Soon after, he heard that the kandidat had found a position in Kristiania.
Daniel took this with a heavy heart; it would turn out right, he thought, as a new chaplain would come. And his father was more eager to get his son into the priesthood than Daniel had thought, and so Daniel did not have to be afraid anymore.
– Yes, the soil-slave would really like his son to be a priest.
He talked several times with kandidat Massmann about Daniel. And the kandidat talked highly of Daniel. The boy has a good head, he said; and he managed unbelievably well. But he should go to school. Here there is just a mess of things, as you can see, and he would never finish. – How far can he reach? Oh, he can become a good civil servant; one ... such a one as he can he get; “send him to Fabriken, Ole Johannes!” (3)
When Ole Johannes heard what Fabriken – The Factory– was, he thought it wasn’t a bad advice at all. But when he discussed it with Mari, she plainly said no. If the young boy should go all alone to Kristiana, he could be involved with freemasons and other bad things; they should rather send him to the latin school in the city; otherwise, he could stay home as before; and go to the new chaplain, when he arrives.
Then the new chaplain arrived. He was a small pale red man with light hair and a red beard; the first thing he did was to get acquainted with the grown-ups. When Ole Johannes talked with him about Daniel, he quickly replied that he should write to the rector of the latin school and get all the necessary information; he himself was afraid he would have so much to do with the church’s congregation that he would not have the time for “private tutoring.”
Ole Johannes thanked him. He also asked if the priest could please inquire about the cost and about how long it would take in that school. But, – Ole Johannes at once came up with his big, old doubt; did the priest believe it was of any use to keep the boy in such high studies? Was it possible for a simple farmer’s son to come so high up? The chaplain smiled and said that we had sons of farms who were bishops. Then Ole Johannes shut up. Then big dreams swayed before his eyes; he who does not try, does not win ....
From the rector they received “all the necessary information”. Daniel might be able come in to the 3rd grade in the latin school. It could also be possible to make it in three years, and the school fees was not big. In addition, there was a chance of a scholarship if the boy had been in the school for a year. This, thought Ole Johannes, was not bad at all. He particularly liked the thought of a scholarship. The boy could live with Hans Nerstad and they themselves would help him with most that he needs for food; so that it will not be so expensive. Mari thought likewise. That the money ought to come from a loan was self-evident. But this loan the boy himself would pay for when he gets a tenure.
As soon as they had decided it, Ole Johannes went to the big businessman at Neset, Jens of Larsebakken or Jens Bakke as his name was written, to borrow 100 dalars (dollar) so that he could send his son to the city school. And Daniel believed he had won.
Firstly, he should leave. Secondly, he should go to the city. He had not been there many times. But he had been there often enough to know what a city is. With its high towers, with its beautiful houses in long, glittering rows, with splendid shops full of all that was nice, with gardens and trees, with proud, fine people who strolled in the strees in gold and silk and polished shoes, and knew neither of toil or worries, Daniel thought that the city reminds one of the new Jerusalem. But travelling to the city resembles Paradise. Big, white, stately houses with glass doors, with high porticos resting on a pair of white pillars and decorated with green leaves, with light, wonderful halls with crystal and gold like Solomon’s temple, and all around were great, formal gardens with hedges and stout railings in cast iron, shaded by enormous trees, great and wonderful like the cedars of Lebanon...Daniel could dream about such beauty. Everything was made different than it was at home. Strange, wonderful, grand, meant only to be beautiful. One could see that people here did not need to think about money. King Solomon’s fortune they owned; and King Solomon’s splendor they rebuilt.
And now he would stay in the city. Not for a day, not for two days, but a year; and he himself would be a city boy. Fine clad he would go day after dy and find excitement in the proud cobbled streets and watch the hustle and bustle of life and bright shops and look at the great ships in the harbor, with sails as wide as oat fields and masts as high as church towers. And he sould eat city food and walk on white floors with sheets on it (Daniel has neever seen carpets, so he calls them sheets), and sit on a sofa as soft as a bed, and he would get to listen to music and drums during the day and the night watchman’s song in the evenings, and watch monkeys dancing to the tune of the barrel organ and bears that did tricks in a formal living room and trapeze artists and magicians who ate fire and swallowed big sabres and swords. He would get to meet such great things endlessly; now that life has first begun, he was the most blessed of a farmer’s son on earth.
No, not the most blessed, for then he would not be going to the church at Nes every day and see Inga Holm. But so much nicer it would turn out to come home again, for then he can show himself at church for her and for the whole village to see when he has become a city boy.
He could barely look at children of his age group in the eyes anymore. He felt like a wrongdoer because only he alone could come above all this. And they must not get the impression that he was puffed up with it. In reality, he no longer belonged with this farmer folk. In the autumn, he would become a city man, finely clad and with refined speech, then he would be a different person.
This went about the village as a welcome rumor. Daniel thought that people looked at him with different eyes than they did before. They did so too. But in the farms around, the rumor spread like wildfire. And Ole Johannes Sørbraut was minutely studied and his actions were explained and interpreted such that if he had heard even half of this, he would have been outraged.
Daniel came to the city and was brought to live at Hans Nerstad’s home. But it appeared that he could not go any higher than the 2nd grade of the latin class. That was one year wasted. Even so, Daniel managed in the second class to take back what he had missed.
He had other things to tackle too. “The classmates”, who saw that he was kind, made fun of “the farmer clod”, who ‘talked country speech”. In the end, they made fun of his name.
He was registered in the books as “Daniel Olsen Sørbrøden”. They said that he was named “Surbrød” (sourbread). And these rascals thought that this joke was so excellent that during the free periods, they flocked to him and shouted, “Surbrød”, how much does sourbread cost today?
Daniel was a mature boy and only smiled and was patient. But it got to him so that in the end he almost cried. What harm had he done to them? Couldn’t he just be left alone in peace? But this went from bad to worse. Daniel had thought that it would be nice to get to know city boys, but he had never thought it would be so painful. It was as if he stepped on nails and nettles whichever way he turned.
Finally, there was a boy who had the same bad experience and advised him to approach the rector about getting his name changed. Since his name was Daniel Olsen, he could call himself “Olsen” and that would be end of the taunts about “Surbrød”. Daniel replied that he would like to do so but he was reluctant to go in alone to the recktor. “Yes, if you think so, then I shall go with you,” said the other. They went; and Daniel was allowed to do as he wished; hereafter, he had the moral and legal right to call himself Daniel Olsen. And from that day on, Daniel and Kristian Bliland became friends. The friendship was so much stronger because they were both sons of farmers; Kristian was the son of a bellman in a mountain village.
It greatly helped to have an acquaintance. When they saw that Daniel was no longer alone but stood under the protection of Kristian Bliland, who ws not a pushover, they let him be.But Daniel could never really enjoy himself in this school. The lesson and the reading was repetitious. Instead of walking and enjoying himself in the streets, he sat reading in his cramped room at Hans Nerstad’s and this was so limiting. A old four-legged wooden chair by an old scratched kitchen table; that was all there was in the place. On the wall hung a picture of Karl Johan with an extremely long nose and stared at the door with severe eyes. The worst of it was that the city was not as nice as he had thought. In the autumn it was always wet, and the rain so disgreeable and muddy just like at home. The white house was dirty and sooty with coal smoke and humidity and was not a bit like the grand paradise.
One other thing and not the least that Daniel detested was that his city clothes were not as they should be. When he was with the other boys, it was obvious to him that he was a country bumpkin. It was a tough and long process to change his speech too. It was all due to living with Hans Nerstad. Except for this, he had it good there; he got good food and when he was not reading he could go down to the warm, quiet living room, where Hans’ wife sat sewing the whole afternoon, or he could go down to the shops and listen to the city women, who came in the shop buying a soap for one coin and a half coin for starch and exchanged news about the city, or watch the farmers who came from the country with apples and butter and took coffee and tobacoo in exchange.
But Hans Nerstad was a farmer. He had owned a good and big enough farm that his father had cultivated; and he had inherited money in addition to that. But with this good fortune, Hans Nerstad decided he no longer wished to be a farmer. It was easier and nicer to live in the city; so he sold his farm and became a city man and set himself up in a small business there. In his dark cellar he sat day after day and sold sild (pickled herring) and butter in small retail packs. It was slow and boring, and he did not get free time as he did in his farm; and later, it was noticed that he had gotten fat and was red in the neck and had bags in his eyes; he had taken to the beer bottle as well.
But he was, in reality, still a farmer, and so too was his wife. Daniel was ashamed to talk in a mixed language that was neither dialect nor city speech, so much that they would hear it.
But for him to catch up with what he had missed went slowly, as he could not correctly learn that which he had not had in a lesson. So he took himself more and more to re-reading, and was thankful that he could do “Repetitions”. It worked well in a way. But he went about with a bad conscience and seemed like he did not really belong there, he thought.
That which he held on to and continually sought in his free time, was Kristian Bliland, who didn’t say much, but he had books that he read up, mostly from “The Friend of the People” by Ole Vig and others. Here Daniel found much of the ideas that he had learned with the chaplain. And it was like he still thought more of these ideas, now that he saw several of these which that could be read in print.Since then he often came up with things that the chaplain had said, and those that he thought Kristian would like. It was not always that he said where he got such things from; sometimes he knew they were not clear to himself either.
That which Daniel could find out with his own mind, he seldom dared say aloud; when he would tell it to Kristian, he thought that it was mostly dumb. But sometimes he said it as a joke, so that he could laugh it away if it was not approved; if it happened that it was good enough, Daniel was proud and thought to himself that it was well said.
If he had not had Kristian at this time, he would have forgotten all his old dreams; the school air was not healthy for them both. It was a strange hole, this latin school. All the boys were so intelligent and so grown-up that they could grin and laugh at everything. But they seemed never to dream of anything other than school marks. It seemed that in this world it was all about how to manage oneself, and on this insight they lived accordingly; the knowledge in itself was not their concern. It was only a question of what was easy or difficult to manage; and they did not bother whether they did it in an honest way or not. Yes, they who were skilled in cheating were regarded as real guys; and went about proud of their antics. But they who worked hard and faithful to their reading were alienated and often became the object of ridicule by the leaders of these super Labans. (4)
“Until today I have not read the least of anything!” they shouted to each other when they came to school in the morning. And so they quarelled about who had read the least of all, but when they came up, they still managed themselves well for the most part. Daniel was both puzzled and envious about this.
The boys were not happy in school, they were in a prison, they said; the teachers were the jailers. The least they liked was the rector. They had a lot against the religion teacher, an old dried-out rationalist who was continually talking of the three big heroes: Moses, Jesus, Socrates. Likewise, they disliked the history teacher who was busy with “survey tables” and gave the boys historical nicknames, even if he himself was called “Robert the devil”. All in all, Daniel did not think that the teachers here were what he had thought. Many of them looked like they did not care about the knowledge more than the boys did, and what they seemed to think most of all was how to let the time pass. The day started late, and they ended the day as soon as they dared. And they were often in a bad mood; it was not often that a lesson went by without ruckus and rumpus. Some had their own scapegoats that they they called up everyday and on whom they vented their bad temper; others seemed to want to whip the class into virtue and cleverness with ridicule. Daniel was a stranger to the ways of these strong gentlemen, but he bowed to them with such a farmer’s meek respect and, anyway, he could most of the time learn the lessons such that he nearly managed to survive. Like him, Kristian took it more calmly. All in all the teachrs liked these boys from the country. They were brought up under a more “patriarchal setting”; they had learned to obey and respect their superiors; they did not have this frons urbana, this big mouth that made these city boys so difficult to deal with. They were humble and obedient, easy to control as school boys should be.
But Daniel knew that the chaplain had been right when he was talking about the latin school. Here was so “soulless”, as indeed it was. He was sometimes so tired of it that he dreamed of escaping. Go to America or be a seaman. That which drove him to study was more often the thought about village gossip, and also the thought of Inga.
Once a month Ole Johannes came to the city with food packages for his son; sometimes Mari was with him. “I cannot understand why you want to go to the city,” said Ole Johannes, but Mari must go and see about “poor Daniel”; although there was no reason for her to think so. Daniel was happy when they came, but they obviously looked like farmers. When he walked with them in the city, he would rather not meet any classmates. Except for that, his father had improved.
He could afford a new city wagon that was not ugly; and what was more: he came sweeping into the city in a white collar and a jacket that was not made of homespun. But his mother was just the same as she had always been. She was too old to learn new conventions. Yes, she did not like it either that Ole Johannes spruced up himself. One time that they were in the city, she started complaining and whining to Daniel, out of pure despair, how Ole Johannes had been behaving lately. He would would like to be something more than he was before, as he now had a son in the city in the latin school. He no longer had the same love for work as before, but often went strolling down to Neset or to the village giving himself a good time. (5) At home, he also wanted to live well, brought home fine bread and coffee, and subscribed to a magazine that he sat reading throughout half the working day. He also had liquor in the house now. – Liquor? – Yes, in case someone would come! Eveything should now be so splendid! Mari could not understand how this could go on. Actually Daniel liked this. And to his mother he said that it was definitely not dangerous. Father knew well enough what he was doing, so she should not worry about that. Maybe he could altogether afford more than anybody knew about. Oh, God, protect us from this, moaned Mari; it was definitely money he borrowed that he is using now. Yes, it was not that obvious, Daniel said, that one should not trust a farmer farther than his teeth in this respect. Mari looked at her son, dropped her eyes and sighed. She understood that there was no help to get here.
When Daniel came home for Christmas, he saw that the house was in a different condition and he was happy for that. There were strangers who came to see “the city boy” and everybody lived well; it was like a big holiday. Daniel had to read German and Latin for the strangers and he saw how proud the old man was when they praised the boy and wondered at everything he had learned. But Lias, that clod, went around ill-tempered and sulked as if he were envious of his brother.
Here at the farmers’ village Daniel felt himself a fine lad, and he showed himself whenever and wherever he could; especially when he had a hope that Inga Holm might come to see him. He could not think of having a chat with her, but he made himself visible and when he thought she was looking at him, he made himself stand straight and manly. And he prayed to the Good Lord that she would like him.
The time from Christmas to springtime dragged so infinitely late. He was so tired of plodding through the lessons that he sometimes thought of cheating, but this he could not do. He did not have the touch, nor the easy conscience as the city boys had. If he should attempt it, the teacher would quickly know and catch him at it. It was not seldom that he got Hans Nerstad to write the school an excuse letter for him when his distaste for school became unbearble.
Instead of reading, he sat at home dreaming about Ingar to whom he would like to write a proposal letter as soon as he became a student at the university. (6) And he wrote verses about his great love for her. It was arduous to write verses, but it was delightful to do anything that concerned “Her”.
The school was just as weary at this time. The boys neglected their studies, and sometimes the teachers did too. The lessons they got were so short that they didn’t go anywhere; and so time after time they had to repeat the lessons because nobody learned anything.
In January two new boys came into the class; one of them, Ole Bentsen, was the son of a sheriff; the other, Peter Didriksen, was the son of a small merchant in Neset. With these two, the class tried for a while to make fun, but nothing came of it. They knew knew how to handle themselves, these two. They held themselves well and acted wisely. Ole Bentsen was close-mouthed and indifferent so nothing bit into him; and Peter Didriksen – who was otherwise called Peter Dirk – knew how to answer for himself so quickly and short that nobody could have the last word with him. Daniel and Kristian tried for a while to keep company with these two lads, for they were village folk too after all. But Ole Bentsen and Peter Dirk would rather have finer company. They were boys who know how to manage things. They even took part in more dangerous things like playing cards, yes, if there was a half bottle of beer with cigar, but they always knew how to handle things so that they would not get the blame should anything go wrong. They were reading as hard as horses worked the fields. But they whined about it going so slow, and in the autumn they would finish school and travel to Kristiania; one could take the examination both more quickly and cheaply if they went to the The Factory, they said.
Finally the time for the year’s end examination was nearing. Then it would be a different dance; both the boys and the teacher came alive and woke up again, as if there was unrest in a sheep’s corral when there was a storm coming. Now the books reappeared; and now the knowledge and time for work was honored. How much of this had been read until today, and how much of that had been read? Could Per say? Could Pål say? What did this word mean, and what did that word mean? What were the prepositions that required the use of the ablativ, accusativ, dativ? Could Per describe that? Could Pål construct that polygon? Other things could not be heard from morning till evening; Daniel was almost frightened by all this learning. He could he could not learn anything. He did not have the energy to read anything more than the lesson for the day either. Not before it came as far as the examination day, when he knew that he should pass each subject, that he got back his full reading. capacity. Then he read at full power.
And he passed it. He could not manage so much; and that, he knew, was something he was insecure of because he was unsure about the basics. Even so, he managed himself well enough when he sat at the examination table. He hardly understood it himself; but he had from childhood developed the habit of watching and listening to the teacher, what answer was demanded, and so he used this skill, even if he was unaware of it.
He was number 9. It was the sons of tax collectors, the sons of priests, who ranked below him; this, he thought, was almost unbelievable. Ole Johannes thought likewise when his son came home and told him about this; and the old man could not hide that he was proud of this.
Otherwise he was heavy and quiet again. Daniel wondered at this, but old Mari could tell that his father had used up the 100 dalars he borrowed before he knew it; so that now he only thought about getting a new loan. That was not easy. Ole Johannes had thought the 100 dalars would never end. But when overspent, so –. Daniel twisted himself. It was everlasting punishment with this money.
But he comforted himself that now the old man gone so far that he could not stop. And what did it matter if he took a new loan? Surely, the farm was big enough to carry this and more.
So, he kept distance from his father. The old man misunderstood this; he thought it was a big man’s fixed idea that was showing. And this was so much more annoying now, when Ole Johannes no longer regarded himself as just a simple farmer. He had even spent money to push himself up a bit, so that his own should not be ashamed of him. One day he came out with it. Daniel answered as kindly as he could, that such has never been his thought at all. But the old man believed it was easy to see what the thought was. And he had not expected anything like that, he said. He had certainly done everything he could. And if Daniel thought he was a big guy, then he should not forget who suffered to pay for it. Daniel meant to say that he would manage to repay the money when he gets his tenure, so it was not worthwhile to worry about this now. The old man replied that Daniel would hardly get this tenure within the next 14 days. “No, no, who ever said that? Daniel answered curtly.
So it was again stressful at home as before. And Mari whined incessantly and said that things weredeclining. Much of the work was done by hired help; the farm was beginning to deteriorate. Ole Johannes owed Jens of Larsebakken and so he must trade with him for almost everything; sell cheap and buy at a steep price. He was no longer so faithful to the Bible either as he had been before. He would rather lie and sleep in the morning instead of reading prayers; and so one could not expect anything other than “little blessing with the work”. Daniel no longer cared to reply to these.
He comforted himself by dreaming of the future and about Inga. When he became a student, evertyhing would even out, and then he would offer Inga Holm his heart and hand. She was too good for the farmer boys, and on the other hand she was not rich enough; so she could stand free like a flower on a high mountain before he could come.Daniel did not get a scholarship at the school for the next schoolyear, as he could not give a certification for poverty. But still he went to school; the old man thought there was no other choice. And how badly Daniel liked to be in school, so it was better to be in the city than at home at Sørbraut, anyway. Yes, the old man himself was different when he came to the city. It was like he became younger here, thought Daniel. He could look so rosy and fresh, and have a spark in the eyes, that one could not recognize him at all. Even Hans Nerstad was glad for this, when he saw Ole Johannes so lively; he nodded to Daniel and laughed softly.
But one time during the autum, there was a rainy ad cold day late in October – Daniel thought that the old man was more pallid than was usual. And the look in the eyes that were were almost too dim. Daniel did not himself understand this, how could that happen?
Towards the evening Ole Johannes was on his way home. He was then paler and more silent; but there was a strangeness around him. And when he sat in his new city wagon and exchanged some farewell words with Hans Nerstad, Daniel saw that his eyes were staring and stiff as in a drunken man. Then a heaviness came over the boy. He went up to his room and did not know what he should do with himself. He could only watch his father as he sat down there, staring with those strange eyes; and that brought an ache to his chest. Could Our Lord permit such? His father has always been a decent man and held himself to the Bible. Yes, except recently – yes, but anyway, No, no. Nothing so bad as this could happen. He said this to Our Lord also, that this must not happen! A burning, painful need to weep welled up; but he could not cry. He sat by the window, with his hands under his chin and stared far into space.
Then one day Lias came driving to the city in the new city wagen to fetch the docor. Daniel should also go with him. It stood badly with his father. He had come home from the city terribly frozen; he had most likely fallen asleep on the wagon and had unwittingly taken the wrong way; and so they had to carry him inside. He was thoroughly soaked and quite stiff. And now he lay there with a burning pain in the chest, miserable and pathetic, that he was almost unrecognizable. He failed to regain total consciousness. He only lay and raved, talked nonsense about bishops and priests and a lot other things with no rhyme or reason. There was nothing to think of but that this should come to an end.
Daniel became completely silent. He followed him home, heavy and gloomy as if he were going to his own funeral. Now everything ends. And that this should come in this sad way.
The doctor said it was pneumonia. They should have fetched him sooner; there was nothing more to do here. He wrote a prescription, mumbling. Mari weint in and out and cried; she was so unfocused that it was mostly Judit who had to care for the sick man. Daniel hardly dared to stay inside; it was terrible to watch his father as he lay there, wilted and gray, with wild eyes and hollow cheeks and the jaws overgrown with beard, with a sore rattling breath; but it was worse to listen to his prattle about his “son who should become a bishop”. Mari asked Daniel with streaming tears if his father had gotten something ... more than he could bear ... there in the city. Daniel went pale, but said no. “Oh, thank god for that, then!, cried Mari. The redhaired chaplain came now and then, and wanted to talk about the spiritual needs of the sick man, but in vain. His father could wake up for a little while, but would instantly go off into unconsciousness again. And in that unconciousness, Ole Johannes died.
And thus it stood for Daniel.
It turned out that in the last years the old man had gotten himself into a bigger debt than anybody knew about. Most of it he owed to Jens of Larsebakken. But there were small debts too, both here and there, in the city and in the village. The farm has been burdened with debt as far as it could be.
If they should manage this, they should go to Jens for an agreement. He did not seem unreasonable. He would only want to have Daniel’s signature that he would pay the debt - 5000 dalars - as soon as he got his tenure or position; and so Mari and Lias will guarantee for Daniel themselves, should he die or be incapacitated; the interest should br 5 per cent per year until the money is paid up. Daniel signed the paper immediately. This did not bother him, and so this was then the end of this sad affair. Mari took Tarald Ruste as witness, who was formerly a sheriff and it was agreed that she should remain as the owner of the farm hold.
There was no hidden wealth to find. No buried treasure; no heap of money at the bottom of the chest. If Mari and Lias could, with toiling and saving, find their way through, it would be more than expected.
For Daniel there was nothing. They said he had to try to find work in a shop. He answered “ha” and “yes”. Where should he do in a shop?
He went about as if he were in a heavy fog. It was the end of everything. And the worst was to think about Inga.Inga, Inga. What did she think now? He dared not show himself at the church in Nes during this time. But every Sunday when people were leaving the church, Daniel sat on a stone behind a large mound by the roadside and watched Inga.
This could not go on this way. Some help must come. He would perish if he did not reach his goal; could Our Lord permit that such a soul should go under?
There were many rich folk in the city. There were people who threw away thousand upon thousands on odds and ends. It was published in the newspaper that the grocer Helle had bought a yacht for 500 dalars. 500 dalars for a yacht! With 500 dalars Daniel could have been saved.
Or this brother of ours, who is roaming around in the wide world, and nobody knew where he was; it can happen that he may be in America .... Married himself to a rich lady, was the owner of a million, he comes home, and shall manage this whole bunch.Or this could be received from the mountain king. Or the nisse (6) , or a dwarf, or something or other.... There was enough wealth in the earth and burial mounds; for those who could could find them. And isn’t it strange that old Dagfinn Sørbraut could have hit on a clump of gold! There were so many who found gold in the old burial mounds.
Tarald Ruste! He should be quite rich. How about a chat with him?
But Tarald Ruste, a follower of Jaabæk, (7) had thought a bit about the young “student”. It was unfortunate that all the money should be totally wasted, thought Tarald. Anyway, the boy should be clever. And it would be good if we could have a civil servant from the farmer class. Those we have now were so detached and knew so little of the life of the people that it was exactly as if they should be a different nation. The farmer boys, on the contrary, they knew what the people had to deal with.
He had talked a bit with Daniel; and he seemed to be a kind boy. Tarald came in one day later and talked more with Daniel. He thought that he, a school boy, could have opinions contrary to that of an old sheriff; and they got along well. Only when Tarald came up about Jaabæk and ideas about saving and about the civil servants who had it too rich, did Daniel fail to agree with him But he would not contradict him either; he said he had been too busy at the school to follow up on such things. But then he saw that Tarald Ruste was not quite pleased with this, and he added hastily that, naturally, the habit of saving is a good thing. “Yes, that you would come to understand!” Harald said.
After this Daniel almost hoped that sheriff Ruste was someone who could help him.
And sheriff Ruste had hopes about Daniel. He went about wondering whom he could approach to help the boy go further. In the village there was nobody who had money except the priest, but no one went to the priest to ask for financial help. Perhaps one could try a couple of men in the city. The grocer Hell was a nice guy in some ways, even if he did not agree with Jaabæk’s values. There were those who doubted if grocer Helle was as rich as he appeared. And there was old Finsen. He had helped such a boy before; there was always somebody who wanted to go to the mission school; but who knows; he might very well agree to help too. Tarald Ruste drove to the city one day and talked with these men. And it went well. Grocer Helle said yes upon hearing the first words. Finsen was more difficult, because he had promised Our Lord to use everything that he could spare for the Zulu mission. But finally he gave in. Can it not happen that Our Lord could bend the heart of this farm boy such that he also might become a missionary one day? One has to put everything in the hands of the Lord, Finsen said. So these three men came into an agreement that they would help Daniel Sørbraut further towards finishing school. And Helle wanted to send the boy to Kristiana to The Factory and get him to “graduate quickly”; it was both cheaper and better, he said; and Jonas Didriksen at Neset had done the same with his son, Peter. This they agreed with, the other two.
So one evening Tarald Ruste came proudly driving to Sørbraut with this wonderful message. And welcome he was. The whole house tipped over; Daniel laughed; Marie made coffee; Judit went and looked after the sheriff as if he were a dear old grandfather; even Lias himself smiled. Marie did not like it entirely that Daniel should go to Kristiania, but one could not back out now. She merely asked if it were not risky to send such a young boy there where he could be with so many bad people, freemasons and agnostics and .... “Far from that!” said Tarald Ruse. They send boys younger than Daniel there; in addition to that, it is all nonsense that the freemasons butchered people and sent them to Turkey. There were decent people in Kristiania as there are here. There are people who have gone to latin school, and friends at the civil service, and they may be rotten trash in many ways, but that does not concern Daniel, he can manage himself well enough. With this Marie had to be a bit satisfied
No More did Daniel have the patience to stay home much longer. In Kristiania he would find those which are great and noble and beautiful on earth; and the city rose in his imagination as a foriest of white towers. There a whole new life would begin; but to Inga Holm he would remain faithful always.
After a long wait the great Tuesday arrived last when he would be leaving. His mother and Lias went with him to the town, and at last they all stood at the steamboat’s quay. Mari was so afraid that she might have forgotten something, “Is it not so that you would need another ball of gray wool yarn?” But Daniel said that he had enough wool yarn. As soon as the boat was at the quay, he climbed aboard; and he said goodbye to his mother and his brother with a beating heart and uneasy joy.
The gong sounded three times; the boat rang with a terrible blast and went to work its way out of the quay. Goodbye! Goodbye! can be heard all around, and white handkerchiefs waved in the air like so many small wings. But there was nobody who waved to Daniel. Old Mari had no scarf to wave with; her cotton handkerchief with red roses she had forgotten at home. She stood at one corner of the quay, well away from the fine people, and was biting a corner of her dress collar, looking after Daniel with red eyes; it was so painful to think that he would be so far away. She did not want to cry where strangers could watch her; but the tears were not easy to hold back. It filled her chest like a painful hot flood, and it would go as it would want to go, painful and hot and burning into the eyes; twist itself quivering about the thin mouth. But then the boat had left the quay, then she saw “little Daniel” standing alone at the front deck among all those strangers, and she could no longer hold back her tears. She turned away, dropped her head into her hands and wept; wept so that it shook her old worn out shoulders.
NOTES
(1) embætte - tenure as a civil servant; also used for priests who are considered as civil servants of the Crown, with the King as the head of the Church of Norway.
(2)kandidat - a person who has not finished his university studies or taken the final examinations, but educated enough to be a teacher.
(3)Fabrikken: literally, The Factory. Actually, this refers to Heltberg Private Gymnas (Heltberg’s Academy), which was given the fond name of “the factory” because of the many graduates the school had produce, most of whom were highly capable, some even became famous or national figures, for example: Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Jonas Lie, Alexander Kielland, and Garborg himself.
(4)Laban: idiomatic word that refers to Laban in the Bible, who cheated Jacob; so the word “overlabanar” here means super cheaters.(4) "Student" specifically refers to those who study at university, which is the equivalent of graduate school. "Pupil" is the specific word for those studying at levels below university, i.e., ground school up to high school or gymnasium level as well as to those taking other or special courses like "norskkurs", norsk language course, etc.
(5)nisse: in nordic mythology, these are the little people who lived uder the earth; they are rich and could be either good or bad to humans according to how they are treated.
(7)Søren Jaabæk - member of the Storting (Norway’s Pariliament) for several terms between 1845-1890. He was a teacher by profession and belonged to Venstre (Liberal Party). Convinced that Norway had to save, he habitually voted against almost all proposed legislation about increasing budgets. Eventually, he was nicknamed “Neibæk” because he was always voting “Nei’ (No) .