soon wearied, and the
work would not progress, let him exert himself as he would. Friedrich,
on the other hand, hammered and planed away sturdily, and did not get
very tired of it. What they both had in common, however, was a
refinement of manner, to which there joined themselves, chiefly at
Reinhold's instigation, much innocent merriment and witty fun. Moreover
(especially when Rosa was by) they did not spare their throats, but
sang many a beautiful song, often together, when their voices went
delightfully. And when Friedrich, turning his eyes to Rosa, would tend
towards falling into a melancholy and sentimental strain, Reinhold
would immediately strike in with a comic ditty of his own devising,
which began--

"The vat is not the zither--the zither not the vat,"

so that old Martin had often to drop the tool which he had in his hand
raised in act to strike, and hold his sides for inward laughter. On the
whole both the journeymen, but especially Reinhold, stood high in
Master Martin's favour; and one might almost fancy that Rosa too
sometimes found a pretext for lingering oftener and longer in the
workshop than perhaps she otherwise would have done.

One day Master Martin went thoughtfully to his workshop outside the
town gate, where work was carried on in the summer-time. Friedrich and
Reinhold were just beginning a small cask. Master Martin placed himself
before them with folded arms, and said:--

"I really cannot tell you, you two dear lads, how thoroughly I am
satisfied with you. But I find myself in a considerable predicament.
People write to me from the Rhine country that as regards crop this
present year is going to be more blessed than any that has gone before
it. A certain wise man has said that this comet which has appeared in
the sky so fertilises the earth with its wonderful rays, that it will
give forth all the heat which genders the noble metals out of its
deepest depths, which will so stream and exhale up into the thirsting
vines, that they will yield crops upon crops brimful of the liquid fire
which has heated them. It seems there has not been such a lucky
'constellation' for well on to three hundred years. Very good; hence
will spring great abundance of work. And, moreover, the Bishop of
Bamberg has written to order a large vat. We shall not be able to
finish it, so that I shall have to be looking out for another
journeyman hand--a good one. All the same, I don't want to bring the
first comer