I do think his house was
the most disorderly one I have ever come across. Seven ill-favored
children clamored about the table, fighting with their even more
ill-favored mother. She used to single out the one she wished to
address by slamming a handful of string-beans, or whatever greens
might be at hand, across the table at him. The youngster would
fire it back, and so they were _en rapport_ with each other. The
father was seldom sober at meals. When he "felt funny," he would
stealthily pour a glass of water down the nearest child's back and
then sit and chuckle over the havoc he had wrought. There followed
a long and woful wail and an instant explosion from the mother in
this wise. I can hear her now. It was always the same:--
"Gott-himmel-donnerwetter-noch-emal-ich-will-de-
mal-hole-du-spitzbub-eselskerl-wart'-nur-ich-schlag-
de-noch-todt-potz-sacrement!"
Whereupon, from sheer exhaustion all round, there was peace for at
least five minutes.
Which reminds me of meeting Adler, my chum from Brady's Bend, in
Buffalo. He had come up to get a $1500 place, as he informed me.
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