Project Gutenberg's The Love of Ulrich Nebendahl, by Jerome K. Jerome

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Title: The Love of Ulrich Nebendahl

Author: Jerome K. Jerome

Posting Date: July 27, 2008 [EBook #870]
Release Date: April 1997

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Produced by Ron Burkey, and Amy Thomte

THE LOVE OF ULRICH NEBENDAHL

By Jerome K. Jerome

Author of "Paul Kelver," "Three Men in a Boat," etc., etc.

NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 1909

COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY JEROME K. JEROME COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY DODD, MEAD &
COMPANY Published, September, 1908

THE LOVE OF ULRICH NEBENDAHL

Perhaps of all, it troubled most the Herr Pfarrer. Was he not the father
of the village? And as such did it not fall to him to see his children
marry well and suitably? marry in any case. It was the duty of every
worthy citizen to keep alive throughout the ages the sacred hearth fire,
to rear up sturdy lads and honest lassies that would serve God, and
the Fatherland. A true son of Saxon soil was the Herr Pastor
Winckelmann--kindly, simple, sentimental.

"Why, at your age, Ulrich--at your age," repeated the Herr Pastor,
setting down his beer and wiping with the back of his hand his large
uneven lips, "I was the father of a family--two boys and a girl. You
never saw her, Ulrich; so sweet, so good. We called her Maria." The Herr
Pfarrer sighed and hid his broad red face behind the raised cover of his
pewter pot.

"They must be good fun in a house, the little ones," commented Ulrich,
gazing upward with his dreamy eyes at the wreath of smoke ascending from
his long-stemmed pipe. "The little ones, always my heart goes out to
them."

"Take to yourself a wife," urged the Herr Pfarrer. "It is your duty. The
good God has given to you ample means. It is not right that you should
lead this lonely life. Bachelors make old maids; things of no use."

"That is so," Ulrich agreed. "I have often said the same unto myself. It
would be pleasant to feel one was not working merely for oneself."

"Elsa, now," went on the Herr Pfarrer, "she is a good child, pious and
economical. The price of such is above rubies