KF20129 YARD VERSITY LIBRARY 51*68 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by A. K. LORING, in the Clerk's office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. ROCKWELL & ROLLINS, PRINTERS AND STEREOTYPERS, 122 Washington Street, Boston. BARON LEO VON OBERG, M.D. I. THE position of the opposing elements in our family was one so strongly marked, that even in countries convulsed with violent revolutions one similarly defined might rarely have been met with. were not, the greatest good-for-nothing in town. Aunt Louise asserted her yes! Uncle Zachary said no! The "yes" of the aunt, however, was an absolute one, while my uncle gave his "no" with modifications. He said, frankly, that by his no he did not in the least intend to deny my qualifications as a good-for-nothing, but merely objected to the attribute "greatest," inasmuch as he was fully convinced that I did not deserve it, since there was many a greater scamp in town, and were it no other than his dear nephew, the studiosus juris, Albert Rancke! Besides the numerical preponderance, my Aunt Louise possessed the additional one of a rare, almost masculine energy; for when Uncle Zachary occasionally came out with a complaint against Albert, she defended her son with such firmness and circumspection that the old gentleman The two most prominent characters in our family-feuds, who stood up with the greatest tenacity for their conflicting opinions, were my uncle, the pensioned highforester, Zacharias Aumann, and his sister, my aunt, Louise Rancke, née Aumann, widow of the late Counsellor of Appeals of that name. The latter was the leader of the opposition, the attacking party, and had, for that very reason, gained an ascendency, which otherwise she would hardly have obtained. Her adherents were, in the first place, her son, my cousin Albert, studiosus juris in his first term; secondly, her sister, my Aunt Elizabeth rarely succeeded in making a breach into Aumann; and lastly, only think!-my the wall of her maternal tenderness; Uncle Zachary's own daughter Hildegard, whilst, in an opposite case, when one of the prettiest, but also the pertest, little girl my innumerable pranks became the topic of eleven years in the whole town. of conversation, served up with great relish by Aunt Louise, Uncle Zachary only muttered something in an undertone, and my poor mother's eyes filled with tears immediately. If we now turn to the forces which Uncle Zachary could oppose to this august majority, the final result of the combat may easily be foretold. Beside this leader of the minority, the whole party consisted solely, first, of my poor, constantly ailing mother, widow of the late Colonel Baron von Oberg, and third sister of my uncle; and of myself, Baron Leo von Oberg, fifteen years old, and a scholar in the fifth class. Strictly speaking, however, I could hardly be counted at all, for I was altogether too deeply interested in the feud personally, to make my opinion have any weight whatever. The great question at issue - let me say it at once was, as to whether I, the fifthclass scholar, Leo von Oberg, were, or When I happened to be present on such occasions, those tearful eyes had a remarkable effect upon me. As a rule, I left the room without saying one word; once in the entry, I promised solemnly to myself that I would be more prudent; and it rarely happened that I did not carry out my good resolution for twenty-four hours, at least. Afterwards, to be sure Well, but why was it, that not a single mad prank in the whole town could be thought of, without my being compelled, as it were, by my playmates, to take a leading part in executing it? |