Free Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann

down to his ankles; also a choker collar that came up almost to his temples. HE was quite a wit, and loved to play with verbal distinctions, as: "You were to make a line, my child, and what have you made? You have made a dash!" In singing-class, his favourite lesson was "The Forest Green." When they sang this, some of the pupils would go outside in the corridor; and then, when the chorus rose inside: "We ramble so gaily through field and wood," those outside would repeat the last word very softly, as an echo. Once Christian Buddenbrook, his cousin J�Kr�, and his chum "An-dreas Giesake, the son of the Fire Commissioner, were de-puted as echo; but when the moment came, they threw the coal-scuttle downstairs instead, and were kept in after school by Herr Stengel in consequence. But alas, by that time Herr 63 Stengel had forgotten their crime. He bade his housekeeper give them each a cup of coffee, and then dismissed them. In truth, they were all admirable scholars, the masters who taught in the cloisters of the old school--once a monastic foundation--under the guidance of a kindly, snuff-taking old head. They were, to a man, well-meaning and sweet-humoured; and they were one in the belief that knowledge and good cheer are not mutually exclusive. The Latin classes in the middle forms were heard by a former preacher, one Pastor Shepherd, a tall man with brown whiskers and a twinkling eye, who joyed extremely in the happy coincidence of his name and calling, and missed no chance of having the boys translate the word pastor. His favourite expression was "boundlessly limited"; but it was never quite clear whether this was actually meant for a joke or not! When he wanted to dumbfound his pupils altogether, he would draw in his lips and blow them quickly out again, with a noise like the popping of a champagne cork. He would go up and down with long strides in his class-room, prophesying to one boy or another, with great vividness, the course which his life would take. He did this avowedly with the purpose of stimulating their imaginations; and then he would set to work seriously on the business in hand, which was to repeat certain verses on the rules of gender and difficult constructions. He had composed these verses himself, with no little skill, and took much pride in declaiming them, with great attention to rhyme and rhythm. Thus passed Tom's and Christian's boyhood, with no great events to mark its course. There was sunshine in the Budden-brook family, and in the office everything went famously. Only now and again there would be a sudden storm, a trifling mishap, like the following: Herr Stuht the tailor had made a new suit for each of the Buddenbrook lads. Herr Stuht lived in Bell-Founders' Street. He was a master tailor, and his wife bought and sold old clothes, and thus moved in the best circles of society. Herr Stuht himself had an enormous belly, which hung down over his legs, wrapped in a flannel shirt. The suits he made for the young Masters Buddenbrook were at the combined cost of seventy marks; but at the boys' request he had consented to put them down in the bill at eighty marks and to hand them the difference. It was just a little arrangement among them-selves--not very honourable, indeed, but then, not very un-common either. However, fate was unkind, and the bargain came to light. Herr Stuht was sent for to the Consul's office, whither he came, with a black coat over his woollen shirt, and stood there while the Consul subjected Tom and Christian to a severe cross-examination. His head was bowed and his legs far apart, his manner vastly respectful. He tried to smooth things over as much as he could for the young gentle-men, and said that what was done; was done, and he would be satisfied with the seventy marks. But the Consul was greatly incensed by the trick. He gave it long and serious consideration; yet finally ended by increasing the lads' pocket-money--for was it not written: "Lead us not into temptation?" It