e holy Christ-child's gift on my thirteenth
birthday, to fold my hands and to look through the calendar of
my thoughts.

I did not hear a knock at the door, but a little man came in with a
cordial "Good morning, little sister!" I knew him well enough, though we
were not acquaintances. Half familiar, half strange, this little
time-worn figure looked. His queer face seemed stamped out of rubber,
the upper part sad, the lower full of laughing wrinkles. But his address
surprised me, for we were not in the least related. I shook his horny
hand, responding, "Hearty thanks, little brother." "I call this good
luck," began little brother: "a room freshly scoured, apples roasting in
the chimney, half a cold duck in the cupboard; and you all alone with
cat and clock. It is easier talking when there are two, for the third is
always in the way."

The old man amused me immensely. I sat down on the bench beside him and
asked after his wife and family. "Thanks, thanks," he nodded, "all well
and happy except our nestling Ille. She leaves home to-morrow, to eat
her bread as a dress-maker in B--."--"And the other children, where are
they?" "Flown away, long ago! Do you suppose, little sister, that I
want to keep all fifteen at home like so many cabbages in a single bed?"
Fifteen children! Almost triumphantly, little brother watched me. I
owned almost as many brothers and sisters myself, and fifteen children
were no marvel to me. So I asked if he were a grandfather too.

"Of course," he answered gravely. "But I am going to tell you how I came
by fifteen children. You know how we peasant folk give house and land to
the eldest son, and only a few coppers to the youngest children. A bad
custom, that leads to quarrels, and ends sometimes in murder. Fathers
and mothers can't bring themselves to part with the property, and so
they live with the eldest son, who doles out food and shelter, and gets
the farm in the end. So, in time, a family has some rich members and
more paupers. Now, we'd better sell the land and let the children share
alike; but then that way breaks estates too. I was a younger child, and
I received four hundred thalers;--a large sum forty years ago. I didn't
know anything but field work. The saying that 'The peasant must be kept
stupid or he will not obey' was still printed in all the books. So I had
to look about for a family where a son was needed. One day, with my four
hundred thalers in my pocket, I went to a farm where t