ness to take to the convent a
small flask of the valuable fluid, which his mother had carefully
prepared, from certain mineral and vegetable substances, and it was no
fault of his, if he did not on each occasion, somehow or other, add to
his own stock of knowledge; getting at one time perhaps a verse or two
read by his uncle, which finished the history of Joseph, or puzzling out
for himself the difference between the shape of a C and a G, till he
could quite distinguish them; or being told by his uncle some wonderful
legend or history connected with the paintings and carvings on the walls
of the convent; so that it may be said that the education of little Hans
was slowly proceeding in those matters, which at that time was
considered learning and science. In the midst of all his other
employments which did not require thought, Hans' mind would be occupied
with this new knowledge; and as he worked in the garden, or weeded and
dressed the vines in their little vineyard, the remembrance of the
stories Uncle Gottlieb had read to him or told him, would come into his
mind, and the pictures he had shown him appear as it were before his
eyes. At night too, as he sat by his mother's spinning-wheel, he would
try to trace on the sanded floor the letters he had learned from the
books, or begging a drop of black dye, he made attempts with a pointed
stick to mark them on the wooden table. Wherever he was, in fact, and
whatever he was about, letters would dance before his eyes, and his
former hopes of being a famous hunter or warrior when he grew up were
all lost in the one great hope, which now filled his mind, of one day
becoming a learned copyist or scribe. Such was the change that had taken
place in the mind of little Hans, when, on visiting the convent one day,
he found to his great dismay that his good uncle had gone on a journey
to the city of Frankfort, which lay some thirty or forty miles off, upon
the banks of the same river Maine, which just by Mainz empties its
waters into the Rhine. It was the time of the great Frankfort Market or
Fair, and Father Gottlieb had gone there to purchase for the convent all
that was wanted for the next year. He had gone up the river in a boat
with a party of monks and merchants, and was not expected to return
until the next week, as he would wait to bring with him all the
merchandise he purchased. It was a great trial to Hans to have another
whole week to wait before he saw his dear uncle again,