{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_9482/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_9482","id":"gutenberg_9482","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9482","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Novels","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Children's Literature","Switzerland -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan, and Distributed Proofreaders\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWHAT SAMI SINGS WITH THE BIRDS\n\nBY\n\nJOHANNA SPYRI\n\n\n\n\nTRANSLATED BY HELEN B. DOLE\n\n1917\n\n[Illustration: \"Up in the ash-trees the birds piped and sang merrily\ntogether.\"]\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nCHAPTER\n\n   FIRST OLD MARY ANN\n\n   SECOND AT THE GRANDMOTHER'S\n\n   THIRD ANOTHER LIFE\n\n   FOURTH HARD TIMES\n\n   FIFTH THE BIRDS ARE STILL SINGING\n\n   SIXTH SAMI SINGS TOO\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\nUP IN THE ASH-TREES THE BIRDS PIPED AND SANG MERRILY TOGETHER.\n\nWHERE HAVE YOU COME FROM WITH ALL YOUR HOUSEHOLD GOODS?\n\nSUCH STRAY WAIFS AS YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DO ANYTHING.\n\n\n\n\nWHAT SAMI SINGS WITH THE BIRDS\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER FIRST\n\nOLD MARY ANN\n\n\nFor three days the Spring sun had been shining out of a clear sky and\ncasting a gleaming, golden coverlet over the blue waters of Lake Geneva.\nStorm and rain had ceased. The breeze murmured softly and pleasantly up\nin the ash-trees, and all around in the green fields the yellow\nbuttercups and snow-white daisies glistened in the bright sunshine. Under\nthe ash-trees, the clear brook was running with the cool mountain water\nand feeding the gaily nodding primroses and pink anemones on the\nhillside, as they grew and bloomed down close to the water.\n\nOn the low wall by the brook, in the shadow of the ash-trees, an old\nwoman was sitting. She was called \"Old Mary Ann\" throughout the whole\nneighborhood. Her big basket, the weight of which had become a little\nheavy, she had put down beside her. She was on her way back from La Tour,\nthe little old town, with the vine-covered church tower and the ruined\ncastle, the high turrets of which rose far across the blue lake. Old Mary\nAnn had taken her work there. This consisted in all kinds of mending\nwhich did not need to be done particularly well, for the woman was no\nlonger able to do fine work, and never could do it.\n\nOld Mary Ann had had a very changeable life. The place where she now\nfound herself was not her home. The language of the country was not her\nown. From the shady seat on the low wall, she now looked contentedly at\nthe sunny fields, then across the murmuring brook to the hillside where\nthe big yellow primroses nodded, while the birds piped and sang in the\ngreen ash-trees above her, as if they had the greatest festival to\ncelebrate.\n\n\"Every Spring, people think it never was so beautiful before, when they\nhave already seen so many,\" she now said half aloud to herself, and as\nshe gazed at the fields so rich in flowers, many of the past years rose\nup and passed before her, with all that she had experienced in them.\n\nAs a child she had lived far beyond the mountains. She knew so well how\nit must look over there now at her father's house, which stood in a field\namong white-blooming pear-trees. Over yonder the large village with its\nmany houses could be seen. It was called Zweisimmen. Everybody called\ntheir house the sergeant's house, although her father quite peacefully\ntilled his fields. But that came from her grandfather. When quite a young\nfellow, he had gone over the mountains to Lake Geneva and then still\nfarther to Savoy. Under a Duke of Savoy he had taken part in all sorts of\nmilitary expeditions and had not returned home until he was an old man.\nHe always wore an old uniform and allowed himself to be called sergeant.\nThen he married and Mary Ann's father was his only child. The old man\nlived to be a hundred years old, and every child in all the region round\nknew the old sergeant.\n\nMary Ann had three brothers, but as soon as one of them grew up he\ndisappeared, she knew not where. Only this much she understood, that\nher mother mourned over them, but her father said quite resignedly\nevery time: \"We can't help it, they will go over the mountains; they\ntake it from their grandfather.\" She had never heard anything more\nabout her brothers.\n\nWhen Mary Ann grew up and married, her young husband also came into the\nhouse among the pear-trees, for her father was old and could no longer do\nhis work alone. But after a few years Mary Ann buried her young husband;\na burning fever had taken him off. Then came hard times for the widow.\nShe had her child, little Sami, to care for, besides her old, infirm\nparents to look after, and moreover there was all the work to be done in\nthe house and in the fields which until now her husband had attended to.\nShe did what she could, but it was of no use, the land had to be given up\nto a cousin. The house was mortgaged, and Mary Ann hardly knew how to\nkeep her old parents from want. Gradually young Sami grew up and was able\nto help the cousin in the fields. Then the old parents died about the\nsame time, and Mary Ann hoped now by hard work and her son's help little\nby little to pay up her debts and once more take possession of her fields\nand house. But as soon as her father and mother were buried, her son\nSami, who was now eighteen years old, came to her and said he could no\nlonger bear to stay at home, he must go over the mountains and so begin a\nnew life. This was a great shock to the mother, but when she saw that\npersuasion, remonstrance and entreaty were all in vain her father's words\ncame to her mind and she said resignedly, \"It can't be helped; he takes\nit from his great-grandfather.\"\n\nBut she would not let the young man go away alone, and he was glad to\nhave his mother go with him. So she wandered with him over the mountains.\nIn the little village of Chailly, which lies high up on the mountain\nslope and looks down on the meadows rich in flowers and the blue Lake\nGeneva, they found work with the jolly wine-grower Malon. This man, with\ncurly hair already turning grey and a kindly round face, lived alone with\nhis son in the only house left standing, near a crooked maple-tree.\n\nMary Ann received a room for herself and was to keep house for Herr\nMalon, and keep everything in order for him and his son. Sami was to work\nfor good pay in Malon's beautiful vineyard. The widow Mary Ann passed\nseveral years here in a more peaceful way than she had ever known before.\n\nWhen the fourth Summer came to an end, Sami said to her one day:\n\n\"Mother, I must really marry young Marietta of St. Legier, for I am so\nlonely away from her.\"\n\nHis mother knew Marietta well and besides she liked the pretty, clever\ngirl, for she was not only always happy but there were few girls so good\nand industrious. So she rejoiced with her son, although he would have to\ngo away from her to live with Marietta and her aged father in St. Legier,\nfor she was indispensable to him. Herr Malon's son also brought a young\nwife home, and so Mary Ann had no more duties there, and had to look out\nfor herself. She kept her room for a small rent, and was able to earn\nenough to support herself. She now knew many people in the neighborhood,\nand obtained enough work.\n\nMary Ann pondered over all these things, and when her thoughts returned\nfrom the distant past to the present moment, and she still heard the\nbirds above her singing and rejoicing untiringly, she said to herself:\n\n\"They always sing the same song and we should be able to sing with them.\nOnly trust in the dear Lord! He always helps us, although we may often\nthink there is no possible way.\"\n\nThen Mary Ann left the low wall, took her basket up again on her arm and\nwent through the fragrant meadows of Burier up towards Chailly. From time\nto time she cast an anxious look in the direction of St. Legier. She knew\nthat young Marietta was lying sick up there and that her son Sami would\nnow have hard work and care, for a much smaller Sami had just come into\nthe world. Tomorrow Mary Ann would go over and see how things were going\nwith her son and if she ought to stay with him and help.\n\nMary Ann had scarcely stepped into her little room and put on her house\ndress, to prepare her supper, when she heard some one coming along with\nhurried footsteps. The door was quickly thrown open and in stepped her\nson Sami with a very distressed face. Under his arm he carried a bundle\nwrapped up in one of Marietta's aprons. This he laid on the table, threw\nhimself down and sobbed aloud, with his head in his arms:\n\n\"It is all over, mother, all over; Marietta is dead!\"\n\n\"Oh, for Heaven's sake, what are you saying?\" cried his mother in the\ngreatest horror. \"Oh, Sami, is it possible?\"\n\nThen she lifted Sami gently and continued in a trembling voice:\n\n\"Come, sit down beside me and tell me all about it. Is she really dead?\nOh, when did it happen? How did it come so quickly?\"\n\nSami willingly dropped down on a chair beside his mother. But then he\nburied his face in his hands and went on sobbing again.\n\n\"Oh, I can't bear it, I must go away, mother, I can't bear it here any\nlonger, it is all over!\"\n\n\"Oh, Sami, where would you go?\" said his mother, weeping. \"We have\nalready come over the mountains, where would you go from here?\"\n\n\"I must go across the water, as far as I possibly can, I can't stay here\nany longer. I cannot, mother,\" declared Sami. \"I must go across the great\nwater as far as possible!\"\n\n\"Oh, not that!\" cried Mary Ann. \"Don't be so rash! Wait a little, until\nyou can think more calmly; it will seem different to you.\"\n\n\"No, mother, no, I must go away. I am forced to it; I can't do any\ndifferent,\" cried Sami, almost wild.\n\nHis mother looked at him in terror, but she said nothing more. She seemed\nto hear her father saying: \"It can't be helped. He takes it from his\ngrandfather.\" And with a sigh she said:\n\n\"It will have to be so.\"\n\nThen there sounded from the bundle a strange peeping, exactly as if a\nchicken were smothering inside. \"What have you put in the bundle, Sami?\"\nasked the mother, going towards it, to loosen the firmly tied apron.\n\n\"That's so, I had almost forgotten it, mother,\" replied Sami, wiping\nhis eyes, \"I have brought the little boy to you, I don't know what to\ndo with it.\"\n\n\"Oh, how could you pack him up so! Yes, yes, you poor little thing,\" said\nthe grandmother soothingly, taking the diminutive Sami out of one\nwrapping and then a second and a third.\n\nThe father Sami had wrapped the little baby first in its clothes, then in\na shawl, and then in the apron as tight as possible, so that it couldn't\nslip out on the way, and fall on the ground. When little Sami was freed\nfrom the smothering wrappings and could move his arms and legs he fought\nwith all his limbs in the air and screamed so pitifully that his\ngrandmother thought it seemed exactly as if he already knew what a great\nmisfortune had come to him.\n\nBut father Sami said perhaps he was hungry, for since the evening before\nno one had paid any attention to the little baby. This seemed to the\nsympathetic Mary Ann quite too cruel, and she realised that if she didn't\ncare for the poor little mite it would die. She wrapped him up again\ncarefully in his blanket, but not around his head, and carried him\nupright on her arm, not under it, as one carries a bundle. Then she ran\nall around her room to collect milk, a dish and fire together, so that\nthe starving little creature might have some nourishment. As she sat on\nher stool, and the little one eagerly sipped the milk, while his tiny\nlittle hand tightly clasped his grandmother's forefinger like a\nlife-preserver, she said, greatly touched:\n\n\"Yes, indeed, you little Sami, you poor little orphan, I will do what I\ncan for you and the dear Lord will not forsake us.\"\n\nAnd to the big Sami she said:\n\n\"I will keep him, but don't take any rash steps! In the first great\nsorrow many a one does what he later regrets. See, you can't run away\nfrom sorrow, it runs with you. Stay and bear what the dear Lord sends. He\nis not angry with you. Hold to him still in time of sorrow, then the sun\nwill shine tomorrow! It will be the same with you as it has been with so\nmany others.\" Sami had listened in silence, but like one who does not\nunderstand what he hears.\n\n\"Good night, mother! May God reward you for what you do for the boy,\" he\nsaid then, after wiping his eyes again. Then he pressed his mother's\nhand, and went out of the door.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER SECOND\n\nAT THE GRANDMOTHER'S\n\n\nOld Mary Ann had now to begin over again, where she had left off\ntwenty-one years before, to bring up a little Sami. But then she was\nfresh and strong, she had her husband by her side, and lived at home\namong friends and acquaintances. Now she was in a strange land and was a\nworn-out woman, and felt that her strength would not last much longer.\nBut little Sami did not realise all this. He was tended and cared for as\nif his grandmother wanted to make up to him every moment for what he had\nlost, and she was always saying to him, pityingly:\n\n\"You poor little thing, you have nobody in the world now but an old\ngrandmother.\"\n\nMoreover it was so. Father Sami could not be consoled. As soon as his\nyoung wife was buried he went away, and must have landed a long time ago\nin the far away country.\n\nLittle Sami grew finely, and as his grandmother talked with him a great\ndeal, he began very early to imitate her. His words became more and more\ndistinct, and when the end of his second year came, he talked very\nplainly and in whole sentences. His grandmother didn't know what to do\nfor joy, when she realised that her little Sami spoke not a word of\nFrench, but pure Swiss-German, as she had heard it only in her native\nland. He spoke exactly like his grandmother, who was indeed the only one\nhe had to talk with.\n\nNow every day her baby gave her a new surprise. First he began to say\nafter her the little prayer she repeated for him morning and evening;\nthen he said it all alone. She had to weep for joy when the little one\nbegan to sing after her the little Summer song she had learned in her own\nchildhood and had always sung to him, and one day suddenly knew the whole\nsong from beginning to end and sang one verse after another without\nhesitation.\n\nIn spite of all the grandmother's trouble and work, the years passed so\nquickly to her, that one day when she began to reckon she discovered that\nSami must be fully seven years old. Then she thought it was really time\nthat he learned something. But suddenly to send the boy to a French\nschool when he didn't understand a word of French seemed dreadful to her,\nfor he would be as helpless as a chicken in water. She would rather try,\nas well as she possibly could, to teach him herself to read. She thought\nit would be very hard but it went quite easily. In a short time, the\nyoungster knew all his letters, and could even put words together quite\nwell. That something could be made out of this which he could understand\nand which he did not know before was very amusing to him, and he sat over\nhis reading-book with great eagerness. But to go out with his grandmother\nto deliver her mending and to get new work was a still greater pleasure\nto him, for nothing pleased him better than roaming through the green\nmeadows, then stopping at the brook to listen to the birds singing up in\nthe ash-trees.\n\nThe changeable April days had just come to an end and the beaming May sun\nshone so warm and alluring that all the flowers looked up to it with\nwide-open petals. Mary Ann with Sami by the hand, her big basket on her\narm, was coming along up from La Tour. The boy opened both his eyes as\nwide as he could, for the red and blue flowers in the green grass and the\ngolden sunshine above them delighted him very much.\n\n\"Grandmother,\" he said taking a deep breath, \"to-day we will sit on the\nlow wall for twelve long hours, won't we, really?\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed,\" assented his grandmother, \"we will stay there long enough\nto get well rested and enjoy ourselves; but when the sun goes down and it\ngrows dark, then we will go. Then all the little birds are silent in the\ntrees and the old night-owl begins to hoot.\"\n\nThis seemed right to Sami, for he didn't want to hear the old owl hoot.\nNow they had reached the wall. A cool shadow was lying on it; below the\nfresh brook murmured, and up in the ash-trees the birds piped and sang\nmerrily together and one kept singing very distinctly:\n\n\"Sing too! Sing too!\"\n\nSami listened. Suddenly he lifted up his voice and sang as loud and\nlustily as the birds above, the whole song that his grandmother had\ntaught him:\n\n  Last night Summer breezes blew:--\n  All the flowers awake anew,\n  Open wide their eyes to see,\n  Nodding, bowing in their glee.\n\n  All the merry birds we hear\n  Greet the sunshine bright and clear;\n  See them flitting thru the sky,\n  Singing low and singing high!\n\n  Flowers in Summer warmth delight:--\n  What of Winter and its blight?\n  Snowy fields and forests cold?\n  Flowers are by their faith consoled.\n\n  Songsters, all so blithe and gay,\n  Know ye what your carols say?\n  How will your sweet carols fare\n  When your nests the snow-storms tear?\n\n  All the birdlings everywhere\n  Now their loveliest songs prepare;\n  All the birdlings gayly sing:--\n  \"Trust the Lord in everything!\"\n\nThen Sami listened very attentively, as if he wanted to hear whether the\nbirds really sang so.\n\n\"Listen, listen, grandmother!\" he said after a while. \"Up there in the\ntree is one that doesn't sing like the others. At first he keeps singing\n'Trust! Trust! Trust! Trust!' and then the rest comes after.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes, that is the finch, Sami,\" she replied. \"See, he wants to\nimpress it upon you, so that you will think about what will always keep\nyou safe and happy. Just listen, now, he is calling again: Trust! trust!\ntrust! trust! trust! Only trust the dear Lord.\"\n\nSami listened again. It was really wonderful, how the finch always\nsounded above the other birds with his emphatic \"Trust! trust! trust!\"\n\"You must never forget what the finch calls,\" continued the grandmother.\n\"See, Sami, perhaps I cannot stay with you much longer, and then you will\nhave no one else, and will have to make your way alone. Then the little\nbird's song can oftentimes be a comfort to you. So don't forget it, and\npromise me too that you will say your little prayer every day, so that\nyou will be God-fearing; then no matter what happens, it will be well\nwith you.\"\n\nSami promised that he would never forget to pray. Then he became\nthoughtful and asked somewhat timidly:\n\n\"Must I always be afraid, grandmother?\"\n\n\"No, no! Did you think so because I said God-fearing? It doesn't mean\nthat: I will explain it to you as well as I can. You see to be\nGod-fearing is when one has the dear Lord before his eyes in everything\nhe does, and fears and hesitates to do what is not pleasing to Him,\neverything that is wicked and wrong. Whoever lives so before Him has no\nreason to fear what may happen to him, for such a man has the dear Lord's\nhelp everywhere, and if he has to meet hardship oftentimes, he knows that\nthe dear Lord allows it so, in order that some good may come out of it\nfor him, and then he can sing as happily as the little birds: 'Only trust\nthe dear Lord!' Will you remember that well, Sami?\"\n\n\"Yes, that I will,\" said Sami, decidedly, for this pleased him much\nbetter, than if he had to be always afraid.\n\nNow the setting sun cast its last long rays across the meadows, and\ndisappeared. The grandmother left the wall, took Sami by the hand and\nthen the two wandered in the rosy twilight along the meadow path,\nthen up the green vine-clad hill to the little village of Chailly up\non the mountain.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THIRD\n\nANOTHER LIFE\n\n\nOne morning, a few days later, Mary Ann was so tired she couldn't get up.\nSami sat beside her waiting for her to be fully awake in order to go into\nthe kitchen and make the coffee. His grandmother opened her eyes once and\nfell asleep again. She had never done anything like this before. Now she\nwas really awake. She tried to raise herself up a little, then took Sami\nby the hand and said in a low voice:\n\n\"Sami, listen to me, I must tell you something. See, when I am no longer\nwith you, you have no one else here, and are an entire stranger. But\nthere over the mountains you have relatives, and you must return to them.\nMalon will tell you how to get there. You must go to Zweisimmen. There\nask for the sergeant, your cousin, who lives in the house with the big\npear-trees near it. Tell him your grandmother was the sergeant's Mary Ann\nand your father was Sami. Work hard and willingly, you will have to earn\nyour living. There in the chest is some money in the little bag; take it,\nit is yours; don't spend it foolishly. Sami, think of what you promised\nme. Don't neglect to pray, it will bring you comfort and happiness which\nyou will need. Try to associate with God-fearing people and live with\nthem, then you will learn only good. Go, now, Sami, and call Herr Malon.\nI must talk with him.\"\n\nSami went and came back with the man of the house. He stepped up to Mary\nAnn's bed, and tried to encourage her, as that was his way. But he was\nalarmed at her appearance and wanted to go for the doctor, as he told\nher. But she held him fast and tried with great difficulty to express\nherself in his language, for she had only a scanty knowledge of it. Malon\nnodded his head understandingly and then hurried away. When he returned\nto the room a couple of hours later with the doctor, Sami was still\nsitting in the same place by the bed, waiting very quietly for his\ngrandmother to wake up again. The doctor drew near the bed. Then he spoke\nwith Malon a while, and finally came to Sami. He told him his grandmother\nwould never wake again, that she was dead.\n\nMalon was a good man; he said he himself would go with Sami part of the\nway until he found some one who could talk with him and take him further;\nbut he must put all his belongings together in a bundle. Then the two men\nwent away.\n\nAfter a while the young woman of the house came, for the forsaken boy had\ndeeply aroused her sympathy. She found Sami still sitting in the same\nplace by the bed. He was looking steadfastly at his grandmother and\nweeping piteously. The woman spoke to him, but he did not understand her.\nThen she took everything out of the cupboard and drawers, packed them\ninto a bundle and showed Sami that he was to eat the bread and milk on\nthe table. Sami swallowed the milk obediently, but the woman put the\nbread in his pocket. Then she led the boy once more to the bed, that he\nmight take his grandmother's hand in farewell.\n\nSami obeyed still sobbing, and let himself be led away by the woman. Herr\nMalon was already waiting beside his little cart in which lay Sami's\nbundle. The boy understood that he was to draw the cart, but he knew not\nwhere. He wept softly to himself for it seemed to him as if he were going\nout into the wilderness where he would be wholly alone. Malon went on\nahead of him.\n\nIt was the same way Sami had often gone with his grandmother down to La\nTour. When he came to the wall by the brook, he sobbed aloud. How lovely\nit had been there with his grandmother! He could not see the way because\nof his falling tears, but he heard Herr Malon's heavy step in front of\nhim, and he followed after. At the little station house above the\nvine-covered church Malon stopped. Soon after the train came puffing\nalong. Malon got in and pulled Sami after him, and they started away.\nSami crouched in a corner and did not stir. They travelled thus for an\nhour. Sami did not understand a word that was spoken around him, although\nseveral times one and another tried to talk with him a little, for the\nsoftly weeping boy had indeed awakened their sympathy.\n\nThe train stopped again. Malon got out and Sami followed him. They went a\nshort distance together and then Malon stepped to the left into a large\ngarden and then into the house. Here he talked a while with the man of\nthe house, who from time to time looked pityingly at Sami. Then Malon\ntook Sami's hand, shook it and left him behind alone in the big room.\n\nAfter some time the man of the house came back and a sturdy fellow behind\nhim. The latter began to talk in Sami's own language. He wanted to\nconsole the boy and said he would soon go on in a carriage. Then Sami\nasked if he was his cousin, and if this was the village of Zweisimmen?\nBut the fellow laughed loudly and said he was no cousin, but a servant\nhere in the inn, and the place was called Aigle. Sami would have to\ntravel an hour longer and would not reach Zweisimmen before twelve\no'clock at night. But there was a coachman here from Interlaken, who had\nto go back and would take him along.\n\nThe man of the house had bread and eggs brought for Sami and when he said\nhe wasn't hungry, he put everything kindly into the boy's pocket. Then he\nled the boy out. Outside stood a large coach with two horses and high up\non the top sat the driver. No one was inside. Sami was lifted up, the\ndriver placed him next himself and drove away. At any other time this\nwould have pleased Sami very much, but now he was too sad. He kept\nthinking of his grandmother, who could no longer talk with him and would\nnever wake again. After some time the driver began to talk to him. Sami\nhad to tell him where he came from and to whom he was going. He told him\neverything, how he had lived with his grandmother, how she had fallen\nasleep early that day, and did not wake up again; and that he was going\nto find a cousin in Zweisimmen and would have to live with him. Sami's\nchildish description touched the driver so deeply that he finally said:\n\n\"It will be too late when we reach there, you must stay with me\nto-night.\"\n\nThen when he saw Sami's eyes close with the approaching twilight and only\nopen again when they went over a stone, and the two of them up on the box\nwere jounced almost dangerously against each other, he grasped the boy\nfirmly, lifted him up and slipped him backwards into the coach. Here he\nfell at once fast asleep and when he finally opened his eyes again, the\nsun was shining brightly in his face. He was lying in his clothes on a\nhuge, big bed in a room with white walls. In all his life he had never\nseen such walls. He looked around in consternation. Then the coachman of\nthe day before came in the door.\n\n[Illustration: \"Where have you come from with all your household goods?\"]\n\n\"Have you had your sleep out?\" he said laughing. \"Come and have some\ncoffee with me. Then I will take you to your cousin. Some one else must\ncarry your bundle. It is too heavy for you.\"\n\nSami followed him into the coffee-room. Here the good man kept pouring\nout coffee for the boy, but Sami could neither eat nor drink.\n\nWhen the coachman had finished his breakfast, he rose and started with\nSami on the way to the sergeant's house. It was not far. At the house in\nthe meadow among the pear-trees he laid Sami's bundle down, shook him by\nthe hand and said:\n\n\"Well, good luck to you. I have nothing to do in there and have\nfarther to go.\"\n\nSami thanked him for all his kindness, and gazed after his benefactor,\nuntil he disappeared behind the trees. Then he knocked on the door. A\nwoman came out, looked in amazement first at the boy, then at his big\nbundle, and said rudely: \"Where have you come from with all your\nhousehold goods?\"\n\nSami informed her where he had come from and that his grandmother was\nMary Ann, and his father, Sami. Meanwhile three boys had come running up\nto them, placed themselves directly in front of him, and were looking at\nhim from top to toe with wide-open eyes. This embarrassed Sami\nexceedingly.\n\n\"Bring your father out,\" said the mother to one of her boys. Their father\nwas sitting inside at the table, eating his breakfast.\n\n\"What's the matter now?\" he growled.\n\n\"There is someone here, who claims to be a relative of yours. He doesn't\nknow where he is going,\" exclaimed his wife.\n\n\"He can come in to me, perhaps I can tell him, if I know,\" replied the\nman, without moving.\n\n\"Well, go in,\" directed the woman, giving Sami an assisting push. The boy\nwent in and replied very timidly, where he had come from and to whom he\nhad belonged. The peasant scratched his head.\n\n\"Make quick work of it,\" said the woman impatiently, who had followed\nwith her three boys.\n\n\"I think we have enough with the three of them, and there are people who\nmight need such a boy.\"\n\n\"This is quickly decided,\" said the peasant, thoughtfully cutting his\npiece of bread in two; \"send all four boys out.\"\n\nAfter this command had been carried out, he continued slowly: \"There is\nno help for it. It was stipulated at the time the house was sold, that\nroom must be made in the house if either Mary Ann, Sami or the child\nshould come back. Besides, it is not so bad as it seems. Where three\nsleep together there is room for a fourth, and he can do some work for\nhis food. The parish can do something for his clothes.\"\n\nHis wife had no desire to have a fourth added to her three boys, for her\nown made enough noise and trouble for her. She protested, saying she\nknew how it was with such stray children and they could expect to have a\nfine time!\n\nBut it was of no use; it was decided that Sami should have a place in the\nhouse. The farmer brought in the bundle and carried it up to the oldest\nboy's room, where until now the broad-shouldered St\u00f6ffi had slept in a bed\nalone. He could take Sami in with him, for he was smaller than the other\ntwo; Michael and Uli could stay together as before.\n\nThen the woman opened the bundle. She was not a little surprised, when\nshe found inside not only Sami's clothes, all in the best of order, but\nalso two good dresses, aprons and neckerchiefs. She called Sami up to\nher, and showed him the corner in the chest where she had put his things.\nThen she said she would take the woman's clothes for herself, since he\ncould surely make no use of them. The clothes which his grandmother had\nalways worn were so dear to Sami, that he looked on with sad eyes, as\nthey were carried away, but he thought it had to be so.\n\nHe had already made the acquaintance of the three boys. They had shown\nhim below in front of the house how one of them could best throw down the\nothers, and had demonstrated all sorts of useful tricks. But as each\ntried to outdo the others in showing off his knowledge, a struggle ensued\nand the tricks were immediately applied; one threw another over the\nthird, Sami was knocked and thrown around by all three.\n\nWhen he now came down from his room a voice from the barn called out:\n\"Come here and help pull.\"\n\nSami ran along. There stood the two younger boys, Michael and Uli, with\ngreat hoes on their shoulders, and St\u00f6ffi beside a cart which had to be\ntaken along. They waited for their father, and then all went out to the\nfield. Here St\u00f6ffi and Sami had to rake together the grass, which the\nfather cut, and load it on the cart, and bring home to the cows. Michael\nand Uli had to hoe the weeds in the next field near by. Now it appeared\nthat Sami did not know at all how to use the rake, for he had never done\nsuch work.\n\n\"He shall weed with Uli, and Michael can do this work,\" said the farmer.\n\nBut when Sami tried to do this, the hoe was too heavy for him, and he\ncould do nothing.\n\n\"Then kneel on the ground and pull them up with your hands,\" said\nthe farmer.\n\nSami squatted down and pulled at the weeds with all his might. The ground\nwas hard and the work very tiresome. But Sami did not forget how his\ngrandmother had impressed it upon him to do all his work well and\nwillingly.\n\nAt noon the two weeders took their hoes on their shoulders and Sami had\nto pull the cart, which was now much heavier than on the way there. The\nboy had to use all his strength, for St\u00f6ffi showed him plainly that he\nwould not take upon himself the larger part of the work.\n\nThen when they passed by the field the father indicated to each one the\npiece he would have to weed that afternoon; for he himself would be\nobliged to go to the cattle market. They would find a smaller hoe at home\nfor Sami to take with him in the afternoon, for pulling up the weeds was\ntoo slow work.\n\nAfter the boys had worked several hours in the afternoon, they sat down\nin the shade of an old apple-tree to eat their luncheon, and the piece of\nblack bread with pear juice tasted very good after the hot work.\n\n\"Have you ever seen a bear?\" asked St\u00f6ffi of Sami.\n\nHe said he had not.\n\n\"Then you would be fearfully frightened if you should suddenly see one,\"\ncontinued St\u00f6ffi; \"only those who know them are not afraid of them. This\nevening there is to be one in the village, and, as I am almost through\nwith my piece in the field, you can finish it, so I can go early to see\nthe bear.\"\n\nSami agreed. When all four had begun to hoe again, St\u00f6ffi soon exclaimed:\n\n\"Well, you won't have much more to do now, Sami, but keep your\npromise, or--\"\n\nSt\u00f6ffi doubled up his fist, and Sami understood what that meant.\n\nHe had hardly gone when Michael said:\n\n\"See, Sami, there isn't much left of mine, you can do that too; I am\ngoing to see the bear.\"\n\nWhereupon Michael ran off.\n\n\"Me, too,\" cried Uli, throwing down his hoe. \"You can finish that\nalso, Sami.\"\n\nWhen the twilight came on and the family put the sour milk and the\nsteaming potatoes on the table, Sami was missing.\n\n\"I suppose he will keep us waiting,\" remarked the farmer's wife\nsharply. When all had finished and the milk mugs were empty, the woman\ncleared them away and placed the few potatoes left over on the kitchen\ntable and growled:\n\n\"He can eat here, if he wants anything.\"\n\nIt was quite dark, and Sami still had not come. Just as the other three\nwere being sent to bed, he came in, so tired he could hardly stand. The\nwoman asked him harshly, if he couldn't come home with the others. The\nfarmer assumed that the piece he had told Sami to weed had been too much\nfor him to do, and he said consolingly:\n\n\"It is right that you wanted to finish your work, but you must\nwork faster.\"\n\nSami understood the signs which St\u00f6ffi made behind his father's back,\nthat he was to keep silent about the bear, and he was too much afraid of\nthe three boys' fists to say anything about it.\n\nHe preferred to go straight to bed, for he was too tired to eat. But he\ncouldn't go to sleep. He had received so many new impressions, he had\nborne so much anguish, and had to do so much work besides, he could think\nof nothing else. But now his grandmother came before his eyes again as\nshe had prayed with him at evening and had been so kind to him, and\neverything she had told him. He wanted so much to pray, it seemed to him\nas if his grandmother was near and told him the dear Lord would always\ncomfort him if he prayed, and that comfort he was so anxious to have.\n\nHe was so troubled, when he wondered if he could do his work the next\nday, so that the farmer would not be cross, and how his wife would be,\nfor he was very much afraid of her, and how it would be with the boys,\nwho forced him to make everything appear contrary to the truth.\n\nThen Sami began to pray and prayed for a long time, for he already began\nto feel comforted, because he could take refuge with the dear Lord and\nask Him to help him, now that he had no one left in the world to whom he\ncould speak and who could assist him. When at last his eyes closed from\ngreat weariness he dreamed he was sitting with his grandmother on the\nwall and above them all the birds were singing so loud and so joyfully\nthat he had to sing with them: \"Only trust the dear Lord!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER FOURTH\n\nHARD TIMES\n\n\nThe following morning Sami was awakened by loud tones, but it was no\nlonger the birds singing; it was the farmer's wife ordering the boys\nharshly to get up right away. She had already called them three times,\nand if this time they didn't obey, their father would come. Then they\nall sprang out of bed and in a few minutes were down-stairs, where\ntheir father was already sitting at the table and would not have waited\nmuch longer.\n\nThe day did not pass very differently from the one before, and thus\npassed a long series of days. There was already a change in the work.\n\nSami, little by little, learned to do everything very well, for he took\npains and followed his grandmother's advice carefully. He always had\nsomething to do for the other boys still, so that he never finished his\nwork a moment before supper-time. But he was no longer late. A change had\nalso come about in this. St\u00f6ffi had learned that there was one thing Sami\ncould not or would not do which he himself could do very well: he could\nnot tell a lie.\n\nHe had been late again a couple of times, but had never told the reason.\nFinally, however, the farmer had spoken harshly:\n\n\"Now speak out, and tell why you can't get through your work faster; you\nare quick enough when anyone is watching you.\"\n\nThen Sami had accordingly told all the truth, and the father had\nthreatened to beat the boys if they didn't do their work themselves.\nAfterwards St\u00f6ffi had thrashed Sami to punish him, and had warned him\nthat he would do it every time Sami complained of him.\n\nSami had replied that he had never complained and didn't want to do so,\nbut when his father questioned him he could only tell him the truth.\nSt\u00f6ffi tried to explain to him that it didn't matter whether he told the\ntruth or not, but here he found Sami more obstinate than he had expected,\nand no matter what fearful threats he hurled at him, he always said the\nsame thing in the end:\n\n\"But I shall do it.\"\n\nThis firmness was the result of Sami's sure conviction that the dear Lord\nheard and knew everything and that lying was something wicked, which did\nnot please Him.\n\nSo St\u00f6ffi had to find some other way to get off from his work early and\nmake Sami finish what he left. He found that all three could never dare\nabandon their work and leave it for Sami, but one of them might do so\neach evening, and he threatened to punish his brothers severely if they\nwould not agree to this. Then there would always be three or four\nevenings in succession when St\u00f6ffi wanted to go away early; then the\nbrothers had to stay and work, and this led to many a quarrel, with heavy\nblows which regularly fell upon Sami.\n\nSo he never had any happy days. But every evening he could be alone with\nhis thoughts of his grandmother, of all the beautiful bygone days and all\nthe good words she had spoken to him. Nobody troubled him, or called to\nhim, or pulled him then, as usually happened all day long.\n\nThus the Summer and Autumn passed away, and a cold Winter had come. There\nwas no more work to be done in the fields and meadows, but there were all\nsorts of things to be done to help the farmer in the barn and his wife in\nthe house and the kitchen. This Sami had to do.\n\nMeanwhile their own three boys could go to school, which had now begun\nagain, for they had to get some education. Sami could get that by and by.\nIn the Summer he had acquired a good deal of quickness and now did his\nwork so skilfully that the farmer said a couple of times:\n\n\"I would not have believed it, for in the Summer he was always the last.\"\n\nSami now thought that everything would go easier than in the Summer, but\nsomething came which was much harder to bear than the extra burden of\nwork, which was too much for the others.\n\nEvery day the boys fought in the field outside, and Sami, as the\nsmallest, always came off with the most blows. But that was the end of\nit, and when the boys came home at night no one thought any more about\nit. In the evening the three boys were assigned to the little room with\nthe feeble light of a low oil lamp, to do their arithmetic for school,\nwhile Sami had to cut apples and pears for drying. From the first the\nthree were angry because Sami had no arithmetic to do, and then one would\naccuse the other of taking the light away from him, and all three would\nscream that Sami didn't need any at all for his work. Then one would pull\nthe lamp one way, and another the other way, until it was upset and the\noil would run over the table into Sami's apples. Then there would be a\nreally murderous tumult in the darkness; all hands would grope in the oil\nand one would always outcry the others. Then the mother would come in\nvery cross and want to know who was always starting such mischief. Then\none would blame the other, and finally the blame would fall on Sami,\nbecause he made the least noise. Usually the farmer too came in then, and\nhis angry wife would always reply that she had indeed said the boy would\nbe an apple of discord in the house, and a Winter like this they had\nnever experienced. Often Sami had to endure many hard words and\nundeserved punishment. On such evenings he remained sleepless for a long\ntime sitting on his bed.\n\nThen he would rack his brains as to how it could happen so, since his\ngrandmother had told him that if he was God-fearing everything would\nhappen for the best. That he should be so scolded and badly treated was\nnot the best for him. He really wanted to be God-fearing and not forget\nthat the dear Lord saw and heard everything. But Sami was still very\nyoung and could not know, what he later knew, that it is good for\neveryone if he learns early in life to bear hardship. Then when the evil\ndays, which none escape, come again later on, he can cope with them\nbravely, because he knows them already and his strength has become\nhardened; and when the good days come he can enjoy them as no one else\ncan who has never tasted the bad ones.\n\nAt this time Sami knew nothing about this and almost never went to sleep\nwithout tears; indeed, he often wondered whether the birds were still\ncalling up in the ash-trees: \"Only trust in the dear Lord!\" and if it\nwere still true that everything would come out right. The only comfort\nfor him was that his grandmother had told him so positively, and he held\nfast to that.\n\nIt was a long, hard Winter. The snow lay so deep and immovable on the\nmeadows and trees, that Sami often asked with anxiety in his heart, if it\nwould ever entirely disappear, so that the meadows would be green\nagain, and the flowers become alive. It was already April, and the cold\nwhite covering of snow still lay all around. Then a warm wind from the\nSouth blew all one night into the valley, and when on the next day a very\nwarm rain fell, the obstinate snow melted into great brooks. Then came\nthe sun and dried up all the brooks, and everywhere the new young grass\nsprang up over the meadows.\n\nThe four boys came across the big street of the village and turned into\nthe meadow. They were pulling along the cart, on which lay the cooking\nutensils which the farmer's wife had just purchased at the annual fair in\nthe village. The boys had followed their mother's command to go slowly\nand carefully, so that nothing would be broken, for they knew very well\nthat their mother set great store by these things, and it was worth while\nto follow her instructions.\n\nNow that they had come safely over the rough street and had turned into\nthe meadow road, two pulling, two pushing, they wanted to rest a little\nwhile. They stopped under the first large pear-tree, stretched\nthemselves out on the ground and looked up into the blue sky. In the\npear-tree above, the birds were singing merrily together, and suddenly\none piped up in the midst of the others, always the same note, exactly as\nif he had a special call to give.\n\n\"There he is,\" cried Sami, springing up from the ground with delight.\nThen he listened again, and again sounded the staccato call, clear and\nsharp above the singing of all the other birds.\n\n\"Do you hear it? Do you hear it?\" cried Sami in his delight. \"Now he is\ncalling again: 'Trust! Trust! Trust! Trust!' And then they all sing\ntogether: 'Only trust the dear Lord!'\"\n\n\"You are just talking nonsense!\" exclaimed St\u00f6ffi to the happy Sami. \"The\nbird is more knowing than you are. That is the rain bird; I know him\nwell. He notices the rain-wind and is calling: 'Shower! Shower! Shower!'\nThen we know it is going to rain.\"\n\nBut Sami would not give up what was so dear to him and kept saying\nto himself:\n\n\"But he is singing: 'Trust! Trust! Trust! Trust!'\"\n\n\"Keep quiet!\" continued St\u00f6ffi sharply to him. \"You are nothing but a\nlittle tramp, who can't do anything and doesn't know anything and twists\neverything he hears.\"\n\nThen the blood rose to Sami's cheeks and the tears came into his eyes\nand, more courageously than usual towards St\u00f6ffi, he cried:\n\n\"I don't do that, but you have done it many times!\"\n\nThen St\u00f6ffi sprang up and seized hold of Sami to throw him down; but in\nhis anger Sami turned quite differently from usual, so that St\u00f6ffi had to\ncall the others to help him.\n\nA great struggle ensued; the blows became more and more violent, first on\none side and then on the other. Suddenly the cart was upset. A fearful\ncracking and crashing sounded, and a great heap of red, brown and white\ncrockery lay on the ground. Dumb with fright, the boys stood and looked\nat the destruction.\n\nSt\u00f6ffi was the first to recover himself.\n\n\"We will say that a wheel came off the cart, and it suddenly fell down.\"\nHe immediately picked up a big stone in order to pound out the nail and\ntake the wheel off from the axle.\n\n\"I shall say just how it all happened, that we quarreled, and upset the\nwagon,\" said Sami calmly.\n\nThen Steffi's wrath rose to its height.\n\n\"You traitor, you spy and mischief-maker!\" he screamed. \"You are nothing\nbut a ragamuffin. We will force you.\"\n\n\"You cannot,\" said Sami, \"and you are no good either! If you were\nGod-fearing, you would not want to lie so.\"\n\n\"Well, well,\" they all screamed together, and shaking their fists in the\nmost threatening way. \"You needn't say that. We are just exactly as\nGod-fearing as you, and even much more so!\"\n\nSuddenly a new thought came to St\u00f6ffi. He ran off with all his might, and\nMichael and Uli rushed after him. Sami saw that they were hurrying to the\nhouse; he followed slowly after. The farmer's wife had come back to the\nhouse by a shorter way, and the farmer was just returning home too from\nthe field, when the three boys came rushing along. The whole family was\nstanding in great excitement at the door and all were talking loudly\ntogether and making threatening gestures, when Sami came along. He was\nmet by the farmer, shaking his fist, and his wife threw such harsh words\nat him that he stood quite dumfounded.\n\n\"That was the last straw,\" she said, \"that after all the kindness he had\nreceived he should tell them they were not God-fearing people.\"\n\nThen the farmer joined in. Such talk was insolent from Sami, and it had\nbeen known for a long time how upright they were in his house, before\nsuch a scamp had come there and tried to show them the way. Then his wife\nbegan again and said Sami would have nothing more to do in her house; for\nhe had brought nothing but trouble since he stepped into it; he could go\nto his room, and she would come right along.\n\nSami was so surprised and confused by all the attacks and charges, that\nhe had stood quite dumb until now. Now he wanted to explain how the cart\nhad been upset, but the father said they knew everything already, and all\nhe had to do was to go to his room. He obeyed.\n\nSoon the farmer's wife came upstairs, packed Sami's things together and\ntied them up again into a bundle, which was now much smaller than when\nhe had brought it there, for some pieces of his old things had been\nworn out and were not replaced, and his grandmother's clothes were no\nlonger there.\n\nWhile she was packing the woman kept on talking very angrily about Sami's\nwickedness and insolence, so that he now for the first time understood it\nall. The boys had stated that he had reproached them for not being\nGod-fearing people; they had punished him for it, and through his\nresistance he had overturned the cart. Sami now tried to explain to the\nwoman that it had not happened so, but she said she knew enough, threw\nhis tied-up bundle beside his bed, and went out.\n\nNow for the first time Sami was able to think over what had happened to\nhim and what was going to come. Then he was angry because he had to bear\nsuch injustice and not once have a chance to speak. And now he was driven\nout, or perhaps he would be sent to people where it would be even worse\nfor him. Then he was so overcome with anger and fear and anguish, that he\nbegan to cry aloud and called out:\n\n\"Yes, yes, Grandmother, you said if I was God-fearing everything would\nhappen to me for the best; and I have been, and now it has happened\nthis way!\"\n\nBut with the thought of his grandmother, there rose in his heart all the\nmemories of his life with her, how they had wandered so peacefully\nthrough the meadows, and how beautiful it had been under those trees, how\nthe birds had sung and the brook murmured, and suddenly Sami was mightily\novercome, and he exclaimed:\n\n\"Away! away! Over there! over there!\"\n\nFrom that moment on a bright light rose in his heart. It was hope in a\nnew life as beautiful as the first had been. Then Sami said his evening\nprayer gladly and fell asleep.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER FIFTH\n\nTHE BIRDS ARE STILL SINGING\n\n\nThe next morning when Sami sat at the table with the family, no one said\na word to him. The farmer's wife pushed a piece of bread towards his\ncoffee-cup and made up an unfriendly face. The farmer was no different.\nThe three boys looked sourly down at their coffee-cups, for they had no\ngood consciences, and all three feared that their lies of the day before\nmight yet be found out, if Sami should happen to speak.\n\nWhen they rose from the table, the farmer said shortly:\n\n\"Get your bundle! I shall have to lose more time with you, until I have\nfound a place for you, for surely no one will want you.\"\n\nSince the night before a change had taken place in Sami. He no longer\nhung his head, as he had done almost always before from fear; he lifted\nit up and said:\n\n\"I know already where I must go.\"\n\nThe farmer and his wife looked at each other in astonishment.\n\n\"I want to go over the mountains,\" he added.\n\n\"Yes, that is best, that he should go back there, where he came from,\"\nsaid the farmer's wife quickly; \"there will no doubt be someone going\nover there from the inn. Go quickly with him up there.\"\n\nThis seemed right to the farmer also. The leave-taking was as short as\npossible, and Sami was light-hearted when he started with his little\nbundle on his back away from his cousins' house.\n\nAt the inn, sure enough, they found a driver who was going with a big\nwood-wagon to Ch\u00e2teau d'\u00c6ux. He was ready to take the boy with him and\nthought he would be able to find someone to take him farther, if the boy\nknew his way down there on the French side. The farmer said Sami had been\nbrought up there and wanted to go back, he knew where.\n\nNow the driver was ready. Sami's bundle was thrown into the wagon and the\nboy seated on it.\n\n\"Good luck!\" said the farmer, gave Sami his hand and went away.\n\nThen the driver swung himself up on his seat and the two strong horses\nstarted off. Although the wood-wagon was far less handsome and easy than\nthe coach in which Sami had come, still he sat much happier in his hard\nseat than when he had left his grandmother lying so alone and had to go\naway, without knowing where. Now he was going home, where he knew\neverything and where everything was dear to him, every tree and every\nwall by the way; and although he wouldn't see his grandmother any longer,\nhe would find all the places where he had been with her and where it was\nmore beautiful than anywhere else. With these thoughts a multitude of\nquestions arose in Sami's mind: Would everything be still the same as\nbefore? Would the ash-trees still be standing there by the wall? and the\nred and yellow flowers be growing on the hillside? And Sami had so much\nto think about that he didn't notice how the time was passing. So he was\nvery much astonished when the wagon stopped, for they had come to a large\nvillage, and the driver took firm hold of him, lifted him up and set him\ndown on the street. Sami looked around him. They had stopped in front of\nan inn, above which a big brown bear stood for a sign and which was\nsurrounded by all kinds of vehicles. But he couldn't look around any\nlonger, for the driver had already seized him again and lifted him\ntogether with his bundle into another team and then went away. Soon he\ncame back with a large piece of bread and said:\n\n\"There, eat; you still have far to go.\"\n\n\"Are we yet in Ch\u00e2teau d'\u00c6ux?\" asked Sami.\n\n\"Yes, to be sure, but you are going farther,\" was the reply; then the\ndriver disappeared.\n\nSami was now sitting in a small country wagon to which an enormous horse\nwas harnessed. No one was as yet up in the high seat, but Sami was seated\nwith his bundle back in the empty space on the floor. Then two big, stout\nmen climbed up on the high seat, and they started away. After a short\ntime Sami's eyes closed involuntarily, he slipped off on the floor of\nthe wagon, his head fell over on his bundle, and he sank into a deep\nsleep. When he woke again, he was still in the wagon on the floor, but\neverything was quiet around him; he did not hear the horse trotting; the\nwagon was no longer moving forward. It looked very strange all around\nhim. He looked, and looked again, until he realized what had happened.\nThe wagon was standing without horse or driver in a shed; they had\nforgotten Sami and left him lying there.\n\n\"Where can I be?\" Sami asked himself. The door of the shed stood open,\nand outside there was bright sunshine. Sami climbed down from his\nsleeping-place, stepped outside and went a little way farther around the\nhouse, which stood directly in front of the shed. Then he knew\neverything about it--there stood the house with the garden, where he had\ntaken the beautiful coach; right before him was the railway station--he\nwas in Aigle again. Only a little way farther in the train and he would\nbe at home!\n\nThen it came to Sami that here he could no longer talk with the people,\nfor now he was among the French. But he knew what to do. He still had the\nlittle bag with his grandmother's money. He ran to the place where the\npeople were getting their tickets, laid a piece of money in front of the\nlittle window, and said: \"La Tour!\"\n\nImmediately he had his ticket; he sprang into the train, which was\nalready standing outside, and crouched down quickly in his corner, the\nvery same corner where he had sat before with Herr Malon. He knew all the\nnames which were called out at the stations; nearer and nearer he\ncame--now--\"La Tour!\" He jumped down and ran to the right across the\nfields, then to the left up the hill. He knew every tree along the way.\nNow--there stood the wall, there stood the ash-trees and their tops were\nwaving to and fro. Underneath, the clear brook was murmuring, and above,\non the hillside, the bright sun was shining on the big golden primroses\nand the red anemones. It was all exactly as it had been before! Moreover,\nabove--oh, that was the most beautiful of all!--up in the ash-trees the\nbirds were piping and singing as loudly and as merrily as ever and, to be\nsure, there was the chief singer, the finch. \"Trust! Trust! Trust!\nTrust!\" sounded his clear song, and all the birds joined in with their\nwarbling and rejoiced loudly:\n\n\"Only trust the dear Lord!\"\n\nSami was so overcome because everything was still exactly the same as he\nhad known it before, that he stood speechless for a long time and\nlistened, looking around him and listening again. It seemed so good to\nhim and he had never felt such happiness in his heart since that evening\nwhen he had sat there with his grandmother. Now his grandmother rose so\nvividly before him, that he suddenly threw himself down on the wall and\nwept. She was no longer there, and would come back to him no more. But\nall the good words she had spoken to him here that evening rose vividly\nin his heart, and it seemed as if he distinctly heard her talking again,\nand as if she must really be quite near and see him.\n\nSami straightened himself up again, sat a while longer listening, and\nthen began to think what he should do. At first he wanted to go to Malon\nand ask him if he could work for him, perhaps get out the weeds in his\nvineyard. But he could not explain to him why he was there again; they\nwould not understand each other and Malon might think he had done\nsomething wrong and had been sent away for it by his cousin. But perhaps\nthe woman who always gave mending to his grandmother would set him to\nwork in her garden. She lived down below, near the Lake. He jumped down\nfrom the wall. Once more he looked at the hillside, and up into the tree,\nbut he could come here again; he was here and could stay here.\n\nOn the way he thought how he could explain to the woman what he wanted to\ndo for her. He would bend down and show her how he could pull up the\nweeds; then he would show her by a gesture that he knew how to hoe.\n\nThere stood already the old castle of La Tour before him, with its two\nhigh, weather-beaten towers, which he had looked at so many times. All\naround and high up thick ivy covered the old walls, and above them\nmultitudes of merry birds were chirping. Sami had to stop and listen to\ntheir happy singing for a while, then he went along by the high old wall\naround the courtyard, for he wanted to see if it was still the same as\nbefore down below in the lonely place where the water kept falling on the\nold stones and singing a gentle song. He had once stood there a long time\nwith his grandmother. There lay the place before him, but it was not\nlonely. A big wagon was standing there, with a grey cover stretched over\nit. No horse stood in front of it, but a thin nag was nibbling the hedge,\nand this evidently belonged to the wagon. Near the old castle tower a\nfire was blazing merrily; a man was sitting by it, hammering with all his\nmight. Close by him four little children were crawling around on the\nground. Sami stood still at this unexpected sight, then came slowly a\nlittle nearer. Then he heard the man warning the children not to come so\nnear the fire. This he was doing in Sami's own language, exactly as all\nthe people in Zweisimmen had spoken. This gave courage to Sami; he came\nalong quite near, and watched the man mend a hole in an old pan.\n\n\"Does it please you?\" asked the man, after Sami had looked on attentively\nfor some time. The boy answered by nodding his head.\n\n\"Are you French, that you can't talk?\" asked the man again.\n\nSami then said he could talk, but not at all in French, but he was glad\nthat the tinker spoke German, because otherwise he would not be able to\nunderstand anyone there.\n\n\"Whom do you belong to?\" asked the man again.\n\n\"Nobody,\" answered Sami.\n\nThen the man wanted to know where he had come from and why he had come\namong the French. Sami told him his history, and how he had only come\nthere again that morning.\n\n\"And now don't you know at all what you are going to do, and where you\nare going?\" asked the man.\n\nSami said he did not.\n\n\"If I knew that you would do something, and not just stand around and\nlook in the air, I would give you work,\" continued the man, \"but such\nstray waifs as you are not willing to do anything.\"\n\nMeanwhile a woman had come from the wagon. She had heard her husband's\nlast words.\n\n\"Take him,\" she said. \"What work is there for him? He might run errands;\nall boys can do that. I never get through with the running about and the\nfour bawlers, and the cooking besides; take him!\"\n\n\"Well, stay here,\" said the man; \"you can carry the pan back; it is very\ngood that you know the way.\"\n\nSami had suddenly found a place; he did not himself know how, but he was\nvery glad about it. Quite content, he started out with his pan and did\nexactly as the tinker had told him. He wandered through the long street\nof La Tour, went into every house and showed his mended pan. He made\nsignificant gestures, to make the people understand that he would like to\nget more articles to mend. This he did so eagerly and earnestly that most\nof the people burst out laughing, and this put them in such good humor\nthat they always found a pan or a kettle with a hole in it which they\nhanded him to be repaired.\n\nThus in a short time Sami had collected as much old stuff as he was able\nto carry, and could now take his pan to the house pointed out to him,\nwhere it belonged. Then he turned back.\n\n[Illustration: \"Such stray waifs as you are not willing ta do anything.\"]\n\nThe tinker was very much pleased with Sami's harvest and his wife said\nvery kindly, if he kept on doing like that, he would get along all right,\nbut he must sit down at once and have some supper. The four little\nchildren were no longer there. Sami guessed that they were lying out in\nthe wagon asleep. On the fire a pot was now standing. It was bubbling\nmerrily inside and from under the cover came forth a very inviting odor.\nSami had never been so hungry in his life before, for he had had nothing\nthe whole day but the rest of the piece of bread which the driver had\ngiven him the day before in Ch\u00e2teau d'\u00c6ux.\n\nThe woman took the cover off the pot and filled three dishes with the\ngood-smelling soup. Each of the three now placed his dish before him on\nthe ground, and the meal began.\n\nNothing had ever tasted so good to Sami in all his life as this soup. It\nwas not a thin soup, it was as thick as pulp, of cooked peas and\npotatoes, and with this quite large lumps of meat came into his spoon.\n\nWhen he had finished, the woman said:\n\n\"You can go to sleep whenever you want to. In the back of the wagon there\nis room, and your bundle will make a good pillow.\"\n\nThis seemed a little strange to Sami, and he said:\n\n\"Must I sleep in my clothes?\"\n\nThe woman thought he would find that he would not be too warm in the\nnight. He would be ready all the sooner in the morning. Then he could\nwash his face quickly down in the lake and be all in order again for\nthe next day.\n\nSami was tired. He went immediately to the wagon and climbed up from the\nback, and was able to slip in under the big cover. There was a little\nroom where he could lie down, and next him came the four little children,\none after another. Sami sat down and said his evening prayer. Then he\nthought of his grandmother for a while, and what she would say if she\ncould see him thus in the wagon, and know that he would have to sleep all\nthe time in his clothes, and if only she could see how it looked in the\nwagon, so dirty and in disorder. She had been so neat and orderly about\neverything and had kept him so clean from a baby up. But she had never\nspoken to him about this, as about other things which he must avoid, and\nperhaps the people were quite God-fearing; then he ought to stay with\nthem. That would be as his grandmother wished. Then he placed his bundle\nunder his head, and went peacefully to sleep.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER SIXTH\n\nSAMI SINGS TOO\n\n\nSami had now been working five days for the tinker, and had passed his\nnights in the wagon. He was well treated, for the man and his wife were\npleased with him. Every day Sami dragged along such a pile of old pans,\npots and kettles, that they both wondered where he found them. His\ngrandmother had not charged him in vain to do everything he had to do\nas well as he possibly could, because the dear Lord always saw what he\nwas doing.\n\nHe never loitered on the way, and if a woman was going to send him away\nquickly and would not listen to him, then he looked at her so\nbeseechingly that she would find an old pan somewhere and bring it out.\nFrom morning till night he ran with the greatest zeal, in order to get as\nmuch work as possible for his master, and the praise he won every evening\nhe enjoyed as much as the savoury soup which followed.\n\nNevertheless Sami was not very well contented. Every evening as he sat in\nthe wagon, he had to think what his grandmother would say to all the dirt\naround him, and things pleased him less and less. The woman did not do\nfor the little children as his grandmother had done for him. All four\ncrawled around in the dirt and looked so that Sami didn't care to have\nanything to do with them. If they cried they were knocked this way and\nthat, and at night the woman took up one after another from the ground,\nput it in the wagon, pulled the dirty grey blanket over them and went\naway again.\n\nThe largest boy could talk quite well. He could have learned a little\nprayer long before this, but the woman never taught him any.\n\nSuch a homesickness for his grandmother now arose in Sami's heart every\nevening that he had to bury his head deep in his bundle, so that no one\nwould hear him sob.\n\nOften on his expeditions he would come near the wall, under the\nash-trees, but he never went over to it, for he had to work and did\nnot dare sit idle and listen to the birds. But every time he had\nlooked longingly there and sent a whistle from a distance as greeting\nto the birds.\n\nFrom the old house on the hillside, from which one could look down at the\nash-trees and the wall, he had brought a little kettle to the tinker, and\nwas delighted at the thought of taking it back again, for then he could\nlook down there for a moment and perhaps hear the birds.\n\nTwo days had passed, and Sami hoped that on the following day the little\nkettle would be ready. When he returned that evening to the fire with his\nlast collection, the tinker was sitting thoughtfully there, turning the\nlittle kettle round and round in his hands. His wife was looking over his\nshoulders and both were scrutinizing the old kettle as if it were\nsomething unusual.\n\n\"It is as like the other as if it were its brother,\" said the wife. \"You\nknow how the man said you must not spoil the pictures scratched on it,\nand on that account he gave you so much more for it. Here are exactly the\nsame figures on this, and the nose in front has just the same curve as\nthe other, which he would not have mended for fear it would be spoiled.\"\n\n\"I see it all, surely,\" said the man, \"but I don't know what can be done\nabout it. With the other one I could say, it couldn't be mended any\nmore, for it looked much worse than this, and the people didn't know\nthat the old stuff was worth anything, and I wouldn't have believed it\nwas myself.\"\n\n\"They won't know either. The boy brought the kettle from the old house\nup there. They only know the ground they hoe, but not such a thing as\nthis. Just say it can't be mended any more, it is not good for anything,\nand give them something for the copper. They will be satisfied enough.\nIf we go back to Bern we will take it to the man, who will give eighty\nfrancs for it.\"\n\n\"That is true. We can do that,\" said the man, delighted; \"perhaps they\nwon't want anything for the kettle when they know they can't use it any\nmore. Come, Sami,\" he called to the boy, who stood staring at them on the\nother side of the fire, and had heard and understood everything--\"come\nhere, I want to tell you something.\"\n\nSami obeyed.\n\n\"Run quickly up to the old house, where you brought the little\nkettle from, and say it isn't good for anything, that it can't be\nmended any more.\"\n\nSami, filled with horror, stared at the man. \"Now hurry up and go along,\"\nsaid his wife, who was still standing there; \"you understand well enough\nwhat you have to do.\"\n\nSami continued looking at the man without moving, as if he really had not\nunderstood his words.\n\n\"What is the matter with you? Why don't you hurry along?\" snarled the\nman to him.\n\n\"I can't do that. You are not God-fearing if you do such a thing as\nthat,\" said Sami.\n\n\"What is it to you, what I do? Be quick and go along!\" commanded the\ntinker, and his wife screamed angrily:\n\n\"Do you think a little beggar like you is going to tell us what is\nGod-fearing? We ought to know much better than you! Will you do at once\nwhat you are told, or not?\"\n\nSami did not stir.\n\n\"Will you go and do what I told you, or--\"\n\nThe man raised his hand high up. Sami was pale with fright. Suddenly he\nturned around, ran to the wagon, took his bundle out, and ran with all\nhis might up the road, turned to the right between the high walls and\nrushed on into the open field. Not a moment did he stop running, until\nhe had reached the ash-trees. The spot was like a place of refuge to him.\nBreathless, he sat down on the wall. The twilight was already coming on\nand it was perfectly still all around. No one had run after him as he\nfeared. He was quite alone.\n\nNow he began to think. It was all done so quickly that he had only now\ncome to his senses. Yes, it was right that he had run away, for what he\nhad to do was something wrong, and he had to come away because they were\nnot God-fearing. It surely would seem right to his grandmother that he\nhad done this. But where should he go now? The people had all gone home\nfrom the fields, perhaps were already asleep. Up in the ash-trees not\none little bird made a single sound. They were surely all in their nests\nand fast asleep. If the dear Lord kept them up there in the trees safe\nfrom all harm, so that they could sleep so well, He would surely protect\nhim too under the trees. In this spot he always had the feeling that his\ngrandmother was nearer to him than anywhere else, and this gave him\nconfidence. So he laid himself down under the tree quite trustfully and\nimmediately after he had ended his evening prayer, his eyes closed, for\nthe brook was murmuring such a beautiful slumber song under the\nash-trees there.\n\nGolden sunshine was streaming in Sami's eyes when he awoke. Above him all\nthe birds were warbling their morning song up into the blue sky. It\nsounded like pure thanksgiving and delight. It awakened in Sami's heart\nthe same tones, and he had to sing praise and thanksgiving, for the dear\nLord had protected him too so well through the night and let His golden\nsun shine on him again. With a clear voice Sami joined in the glad chorus\nand sang a hymn of praise and thanksgiving, the only one he knew:\n\n  \"Last night Summer breezes blew:--\n  All the flowers awake anew,\"\n\nAnd when he had come to the end, he sang like the merry finch with all\nhis might:\n\n  \"Trust! Trust! Trust! Trust!\n  Only trust the dear Lord!\"\n\nThe song had awakened in Sami new assurance that he would find a piece of\nbread and some worthy work. This he wanted to look for now, for his\ngrandmother had not impressed it upon him in vain from his earliest days,\nthat in the morning after praying one should immediately go to work. So\nSami started off.\n\nHe did not go down to the Lake this day, lest he should come near the\ntinker. With his bundle under his arm he wandered up the gradually rising\nfield road. Where this crossed the narrow street, leading over to\nClarens, Sami met a child's carriage which a girl was pushing in front of\nher. She wore a spotless white cap and a white apron. Over the carriage,\ntoo, was spread a snow-white cover, and out from under it peeped a little\nhead with bright golden hair and a little white hat on it.\n\nThis unusual neatness and the smart appearance of the carriage attracted\nSami very much and he followed along the same way. On the white carriage\nrobe was worked a wreath of blue silk, but not of flowers. It was of\nstrange figures. The shining blue silk on the white cloth looked so\nbeautiful that Sami could not keep his eyes away from it. Suddenly it\nbecame plain to him that the strange figures were letters, but he had\nnever seen any like them in his life. Their appearance captivated him\nmore and more. Then he began to try to see if he couldn't spell them out\nand perhaps read the words. He tried as hard as he could, but it was\ndifficult. Sami kept beginning over again from the first. Finally he made\nout all the words. It was a proverb which read thus:\n\n  \"So let the little angels sing:\n  This child is safe beneath our wing.\"\n\nThis proverb reminded him so much of his grandmother; he didn't know why,\nbut it seemed to him as if she had prayed exactly like this over his bed.\nThe tears came to his eyes, and yet it seemed so good, just as if he had\nfound his home again. The girl now turned suddenly to the left from the\nroad, and went through the high iron gate which stood open, and led into\na wide courtyard. Great, ancient plane-trees stood inside and cast their\nbroad shade over the sunny courtyard. A large flower garden surrounded\nthe high stone house, which looked forth from behind the trees.\n\nSami followed the carriage into the courtyard. It stopped under\nthe trees.\n\n\"What do you want here? That is the way out,\" said the girl impatiently\nto Sami, pointing so plainly to the gate that Sami would have understood\nthe meaning of her words even if her language had been foreign. But it\nwas surely German, and he had understood it all very well, although he\ncould not speak like that himself. His grandmother had told him that\nthere were people who spoke just like the reading in the books.\n\nSami did not reply, and the girl did not wait for him. She snatched the\nchild quickly out of the carriage, took the beautiful robe over her arm,\nand went into the house.\n\nMeanwhile a little girl had come out of the house and was standing at\nsome distance gazing at Sami with two big eyes. Now she came quickly\nforward, jumped nimbly into the empty carriage, and said:\n\n\"Come, give me a ride!\"\n\n\"Where?\" asked Sami.\n\n\"Out there along the road, and far, far away!\"\n\nSami obeyed immediately. For a long while he trotted along without\nstopping. The little girl seemed to enjoy the ride. She looked so eagerly\naround with her bright eyes on every side, as if she couldn't see enough.\nThen they came to a meadow thick with flowers.\n\n\"Hold still! Hold still!\" cried the little one suddenly, and sprang with\na big jump out of the low carriage.\n\n\"Now we must have all the flowers, every single one! Come!\"\n\nAnd the little girl was already in the midst of the grass, stamping\nbravely forward. But Sami said quite prudently:\n\n\"You mustn't go so into the grass. It is forbidden. But see, if we go\naround outside and take all the flowers you can reach, there will be a\nbig bunch.\"\n\nThe little one came out, for she knew that she ought not to do what was\nforbidden. Then the flowers were gathered according to Sami's advice, but\nthe little companion soon had enough of such exertion, seated herself on\nthe ground and said:\n\n\"Come, sit down by me. But you must not speak French to me. I have to\nlearn that with Madame Laurent, but I would rather speak German, and you\nmust do so too.\"\n\n\"I don't speak French, I don't know how,\" replied Sami; \"but I can't\nspeak like you either.\"\n\n\"Where do you come from then, if you don't speak German and don't speak\nFrench?\" the little one wanted to know.\n\nSami thought for a moment, then he said:\n\n\"First I came from Chailly and then from Zweisimmen.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" interrupted the little one warmly. \"People are never from\ntwo places, only from one. I am from Berlin, in Germany, you see. Then\nPapa bought an estate and now we are living on Lake Geneva. What is\nyour name?\"\n\nSami told her.\n\n\"And my name is Betti. Why did you come into the courtyard when Tina\nwanted to send you out?\"\n\nSami had to think for a while, then he said:\n\n\"Because those words were on the robe, I knew they were God-fearing\npeople where it belonged, and my grandmother told me I must stay with\nsuch people and never go away, for I should learn nothing but good\nfrom them.\"\n\n\"Must you stay with us now, and never go away again?\" asked little\nBetti eagerly.\n\n\"Yes, I think so,\" answered Sami. \"Perhaps I can weed the garden.\"\n\n\"That is right,\" said Betti, delighted. \"You see, Tina will not take me\nin the carriage; she says I am too big. Will you take me every day in the\ncarriage to the meadow for ever so many hours?\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed, I will do that gladly,\" promised Sami, \"and you shall have\nall the flowers. Then I will take you besides to the trees where all the\nbirds sing 'Only trust the dear Lord!' and where the finch cries so loud\nabove them all: 'Trust! Trust! Trust! Trust!' Have you heard him too?\"\n\nAt this description little Betti's eyes grew bigger and brighter with\nexpectation.\n\n\"Come now, let's go right away to the birds,\" she exclaimed, jumped up\nand ran in haste to the carriage.\n\nSami followed.\n\nAt this moment Tina, with a very red face, came running up from below.\nHer looks did not portend anything good.\n\n\"So I have found you at last,\" she cried angrily from a distance.\n\"Everybody is running around looking for you--your three brothers, the\nservants, the coachman--everybody! I have run myself half dead for you.\nSit down in the carriage, you naughty little thing. The little tramp can\ngo where he likes. No, he must come back again; his bundle is lying in\nthe courtyard. So he can pull the carriage if he has to come with us.\"\n\nLittle Betti did not seem very much frightened by this lively speech. She\nclimbed quickly into the carriage and said gaily: \"Go ahead, Sami!\"\n\nHe obeyed quite crushed, for now he could only return for his bundle;\nthen he would have to go away again, and he had so firmly believed this\nwas the place where he was to stay according to his grandmother's advice,\nand it had pleased him so much. He had started out in the morning full of\ntrust from the song of the birds, and now he was returning very\ndown-hearted the same way.\n\nWhen the three on their way home came to the courtyard, a tall man was\nstanding there, looking out up and down the road; a lady was coming out\nof the house and going in again very restlessly, and three young boys\nwere running first one way and then another, screaming at the top of\ntheir voices:\n\n\"She is nowhere to be seen! She is nowhere to be seen!\"\n\nBut there she was, drawn by Sami, just coming into the courtyard. Before\nany question, reproach or accusation could be heard in regard to the\nunlawful expedition, Betti had run straight to her Papa, and in his\ndelight that she was safely there again, he had taken her in his arms,\nand with the greatest eagerness she said:\n\n\"He will take me every day in the carriage, Papa, the whole day long, if\nI like, and bring all the flowers to me, because I must not go in the\nhigh grass. And he must always stay with us, because his grandmother knew\nabout it, and, Papa, think, he knows birds that sing a whole song, and\nthe finch sings above them all: 'Trust! Trust!' We were going right to\nsee them when Tina came and we had to come home. But now we can go, can't\nwe, Papa, right away? Sami will take me there again; he isn't tired yet.\nOnly say yes, Papa.\"\n\n\"Your story is wonderful,\" said her Papa, laughing. \"Where is the little\ncoachman whom you have engaged and who, according to his grandmother's\nadvice, must stay with us?\"\n\nMeanwhile the three brothers had come running along and, together with\ntheir mother, stood near their father under the gateway, so that Sami,\nwho with his bundle on his arm was trying to go out, could not pass\nthrough, and had betaken himself very quietly to a corner of the\ncourtyard. The master of the house now placed his daughter on the ground\nand looked towards the boy. But he was already surrounded, for during\ntheir little sister's story the three brothers had made their examination\nand calculation and then had turned to the boy. Nine-year-old Edward had\ndecided with satisfaction that Sami was the one he had for a long time\nneeded, for since the donkey, which had been given to him at Christmas,\nhad overturned him and his little cart three times running, his father\nhad forbidden him to drive out again without the coachman, Johann. But\nwhen Edward wanted to go out driving Johann was always occupied some\nother way, and when Johann announced that he could go it didn't suit\nEdward at all. Now Sami was found, an attendant whom he could call\nwhenever he wanted him.\n\nEleven-year-old Karl was an enthusiastic archer, but to have to be always\nrunning after his arrows after they were shot and to hunt for them was\nvery irksome to him. Suddenly someone was found whom he could make use of\nto hunt for his arrows.\n\nFourteen-year-old Arthur had permission to sail in his boat on the lake,\nbut he needed some one to steer for him. Now here was a satisfactory boy,\non the spot, whom he could teach, and have to steer for him. So it\nhappened that there was a great uproar when their Papa drew near the\ngroup in the corner of the courtyard.\n\n\"Keep him, Papa, I have enough work for him to do!\" cried Arthur, while\nKarl's voice was heard above his screaming:\n\n\"Let him stay here, Papa, please, I need him so much!\"\n\nBut Edward's piercing voice was heard above the other two:\n\n\"Papa, he can drive the donkey, he must stay with us, then Johann won't\nneed to come with me any longer!\"\n\nAnd in the midst of all sounded Betti's high little voice, untiringly:\n\n\"Can we go to see the birds now, Papa? Can we go now to the birds?\"\n\nThen Papa turned away from the noisy group and said, laughing:\n\n\"My dear wife, what do you say to this whole story?\"\n\nThe lady addressed had until now listened silently and watched Sami,\nwhose eyes grew brighter and brighter the louder the children begged for\nhim to stay. She looked at him kindly and said first of all she would\nlike to know from him where he came from, and what the story which Betti\ntold about his grandmother meant; he ought to tell where he had been\nliving hitherto, who his parents were and who his grandmother was.\n\nThe kind lady had inspired Sami with great confidence and he now told\nfrom the beginning all that he knew about his life up to the present\nmoment, and also how he had come into the courtyard, on account of the\nproverb, which led him to believe that here lived the people with whom he\nshould stay.\n\nWhen Sami came to an end, the lady turned to her husband and said:\n\n\"It is the dear Lord who has led him here. We cannot send him away!\"\n\nThe children all shouted together for joy.\n\n\"Can we go to the birds now, Papa? Right away?\" repeated Betti with\nirrepressible eagerness.\n\n\"By and by, by and by,\" said her father, soothingly. \"Sami is going with\nme first up to Chailly, to show me where Herr Malon lives. I want to talk\nwith him. When we come back, we will see what to do first.\"\n\nThe mother understood that her husband wanted to have Herr Malon's\nassurance that everything Sami had told was true, and held back the\nchildren, who all four were anxious to explain immediately to Sami what\nthey desired of him.\n\n\"But bring him back again, Papa!\" cried Betti following after them as\nthey started away.\n\nHerr Malon was very much surprised to see Sami again, and moreover in\nsuch company, for he recognized the master of the plane-tree estate at\nonce. After the first greeting Sami was sent out doors for a little, and\nthis delighted him very much, for now he could look at the garden again\nand the crooked maple-tree, under which he had so often sat with his\ngrandmother.\n\nHerr Malon assured his guest that all Sami's words were correct and\nbesides gave a description of Old Mary Ann, her fidelity and\nconscientiousness, so that the gentleman was very glad to have such good\nnews to carry to his wife.\n\nA loud shout of delight welcomed them on their return, and still louder\nwas the applause, when their father announced that Sami was henceforth to\nremain in the house and be the children's playmate.\n\nSami did not know what to make of it. Since his grandmother's death, no\none had shown the slightest pleasure in his presence; on the contrary\neverywhere he had felt as if he were tolerated only out of pity, and now\nhe was received with loud rejoicing by the children of a house to which\nhe had been more attracted than anywhere else before, and where his\ngrandmother would be glad to see him; of that he was sure. His heart was\nso overflowing with joy that he wanted to sing aloud and give praise and\nthanksgiving evermore like the finch:\n\n\"Trust! Trust! Only trust the dear Lord!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is now ten years since Sami entered the plane-tree estate. Whoever\npasses by there on a beautiful Spring day will surely stand still at the\nhigh iron gateway and listen for a little, for there is seldom heard such\na merry song as sounds from the thick branches of the planetrees. Up in\nthe tree sits the young gardener pruning the branches. At the same time\nhe sings continually, like the merriest finch, and carols loudest the end\nof his song, accompanied by all the birds:\n\n\"Only trust the dear Lord!\"\n\nThe young gardener is Sami. At first he received a good knowledge of\nreading, writing and arithmetic with the children of the house; later,\naccording to his great wish, he was trained as a gardener of the estate.\nBut he is now not only gardener, he has much more to oversee about the\nestate than any one would imagine. Arthur, who has just finished his\nstudies, is still an ardent sailor. Without Sami, no trip is possible,\nand Arthur is apt to say:\n\n\"Without God's help and Sami's assistance I should have been drowned\ntwenty times.\"\n\nWhen Karl comes from the university in his vacation, his first question\nis, \"Where is Sami?\" and this he asks numberless times every day, for\nwithout him he can never get ready. He alone knows where to find\neverything Karl needs in vacation-time for his amusements, from his old\nbow and quiver up to his riding whip and gun.\n\nEdward has now given up his donkey cart and instead is interested in\nstrange animals, which have their dwelling-place in the back of the\ncourtyard and often make a great spectacle there. He owns two marmots,\ntwo parrots and a monkey. No one could manage these and keep them in\norder but Sami, and he does it so well and so successfully that Edward\noften exclaims:\n\n\"Without Sami everything we have would go to ruin, animals and people,\nthe animals for want of proper care and the people from anger over it.\"\n\nBut Betti still remains Sami's greatest friend. She can call him at any\nhour of the day she pleases, Sami is immediately on the spot, and Betti\nknows he is more devoted than any one else and besides can keep secrets\nlike a stone. No one knows how many little notes he has to carry every\nweek to the neighbouring estates. Sami will not tell, for her brothers\nwould laugh at their sister Betti's endless correspondence which she has\nwith numerous girl friends around on all the estates. Sami is her most\ndevoted friend, for he would run through fire and water for her without\nhesitation. He never forgets what persuasive words in his behalf Betti\nused with her father, when, broken-hearted, he was going to fetch his\nbundle and go away again.\n\nThe youngest, Ella, with golden curls, who has taken over the donkey and\ncart from her brother Edward, is entrusted to Sami's especial care when\nshe desires to go for a drive. Whenever she brings out her white robe to\nspread over her knees, Sami's eyes sparkle with delight and thankfulness\nas he remembers how the proverb led him to his good fortune, and still\nmore at the memory of his grandmother, who brought about all this good,\nand whom he never forgets.\n\nWhen, recently, a lady, owning one of the neighbouring estates, proposed\nto Herr von K. to transfer his merry gardener to her, merely because the\nservants in her house had sullen faces, he replied:\n\n\"You can have him, just as much as you can have one of my own children,\nif you should try to entice one away. Sami is the most faithful,\ntrustworthy, conscientious person who has ever come in my way. I can\nleave my whole house and go wherever I will, I know that everything will\nbe taken care of, as if I stood by. This is so because Sami has another\nMaster besides me, before whose eyes he performs all his work. The dear\nLord himself sent my glad-hearted Sami to me, and I esteem him. He\nbelongs to my house, and it shall remain his home!\"","title":"What Sami Sings with the Birds","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":16368}