Children of the Age by Knut Hamsun

Author:Knut Hamsun [Hamsun, Knut]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Google: vzhcAAAAMAAJ
Publisher: A. A. Knopf
Published: 1924-02-14T14:00:00+00:00

XII

I

WONDER whether the Coldevins are not coming this year?” Fru Adelheid would remark. And it was impossible to say whether she took much interest in the answer or not.

“No,” answers the Lieutenant, “the old folk were so much distressed by the changes here that they are not likely to come again.”

Consul Fredrik was not mentioned.

During the summer months nothing much happened, nothing except what was a novelty no longer, that Segelfoss changed little by little and became more and more built over. That was why Per of Bua had not been able to wait till the New Year for the petty license he was to have, but had begun already to sell bottles on the sly, there were such numbers that asked for liquor. And this business lent considerable life and jollity to tedious Sunday evenings.

People built houses here and there about the steamboat-pier, everything gathered about that, so that the lower part of Segelfoss began already to look like a little town of cottages where not long before there had been nothing but beach and a couple of boat-sheds. There was no doubt that life had changed its complexion for people since King Tobias had come to the place. Lars Manuelsen’s cottage now—had not curtains appeared in its windows? It seemed, as was only to be expected, that his son, the graduate, had not been able to endure seeing his home without curtains. And from that day on did not Per of Bua have more and more enquiries as to the price of curtains?

And the question arose: was it worth a decent Christian’s while any longer to hold a tenant-farm? No, a thousand times no! with its scraps of fields, the right of cutting fodder on the outlying lands, the trouble of bringing winter-fuel from the depth of the forest—! No, a tenant-farmer’s life was not worth living now. Why, bless you! you could get flour at the wharf ready ground—flour that was sifted and snow-white into the bargain. Except for the potatoes, people would have been just as pleased to let the ground lie fallow, and were it not for the drop of milk for one’s coffee, who would trouble to scrape together goat-fodder in the forest? That is how it was. It was the day-labourers that were having such a good time of it now! They got work from Holmengraa and were in Holmengraa’s pay. On Saturday evening they got a ticket from the foreman, presented it to the wharf-manager, and received flour or money as they chose. That was the life for a human being! There were labourers who ran into debt so as to buy a horse and cart and did carting for the mill—why not? In a short time, no doubt, they would be able to pay for both the horse and the cart if they liked, for they earned good money and rattled money in their pockets as they stood at Per of Bua’s counter. Altogether, money, ready money, was no longer a rarity.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.