GERST2ECKER'S FORTUNES OF SOME GERMAN EMI- GRANTS.
THE apparent object of this work is to exhibit the evils which beset emi- gration by bodies of Germans to the United States, from the ignorance, obstinacy, and folly of the emigrants, as well as from the frauds of the American land-sharks. Its real purpose would almost seem to be to discourage respectable emigration altogether • for the conclusion pointed to is this,—a German with money will be cheated out of it by the Ame- ricans; then perhaps he will be in working order to begin the pursuit of fortune, but in a worse condition, owing to his education and ideas of honesty, than a boor who goes out without means and is compelled to rough it from the beginning. These ideas are very cleverly embodied in the tale before us, without any exaggeration in the manner, with little artifice in the incidents, and with an evident knowledge of the life described. The story or frame- work opens with the starting and closes with the failure of the scheme and the dispersion of the colonists. A few well-educated Germans, with a good many artisans and peasants, unite to transport a society and Settle some laud in common. A vessel is chartered ; they sail from the port of Bremen ; and, after the usual difficulties of a sea-voyage, (terrible to a German,) and various squabbles arising from the envy felt by the mass in the steerage towards the gentlemen in the cabin, they reach New York. On their arrival, some of the people, through their own obstinacy, are duped and cheated in a low German pothouse ; others, being advised by their leaders, fare rather better, though bad is the best ; and they are all continually made butts of' by the New-Yorkers. While the leaders are pondering'as to the place of settlement, a German Dr. Nor-. mann makes their acquaintance, and, in conjunction with a Yankee, sells them an abandoned clearing in Tennessee, at a price far beyond its value; for the cleared land is overgrown with more difficult timber than the primeval forest ; the buildings, such as they were, are in ruin ; the na- vigable " Big Halchee" will only float a boat during the spring-floods, and then only with the stream ; and the flat is exceedingly unhealthy. The disappointment, anger, and difficulties of the community, may be sur- mised, when, after the troubles and expense of so long a journey, further encumbered by useless baggage, they arrive at their destination. How- ever, by the aid of a countryman, located hard by, they set to work to clear and cultivate : but at the end of a year the whole community, have separated in anger and disgust, each starting " upon his own hook.'
A particular story adds variety and relief to the fortunes of the emigrants. Werner, a casual passenger to America, falls in love with Bertha Hehrmann, the daughter of the Lutheran pastor who accompanies
the colonists. At York they separate for a time, in order that Wer- ner may look about him ; but Bertha has attracted the notice of Normann; and he resolves to possess her by foul means, as fair means fail. For this purpose, he combines with a rascally American gambler of the Missis- sippi, called Turner, to carry off Bertha and her sister : but Turner leaves Normann in the larch and in the hands of his pursuers, though he is him- self obliged to abandon his prey in order to escape.
The Wanderings and Fortunes of some German Emigrants ex- hibits, as we have said, a knowledge of actual colonization, which know- ledge is displayed in an unforced manner; for although some of the diffi- culties are mere accidents—such as their arriving at their destination by night and in a tempest, and they are also assisted by similar accidents —as the presence of a willing countryman in their neighbourhood, the execution is simple and natural, with a good deal of quiet point and hu- mour : but the simplicity perhaps verges upon the puerile, and there is a want of closeness and finish in the points. If climax applied to in- cidents or substance instead of periods, we should say there was a want of climax—the exemplifications often fall short. This peculiarity is less visible in the romance of the story, though it may be detected there. But that part of the book has less freshness than the " wander- ings and fortunes" of the emigrants. Turner the American outcast, his instrument the Mulatto, and the forcible abduction of Bertha, have a re- semblance to similar things in American tales. To German readers, how- ever, they may be new ; for an importation or an English reprint is a different matter from a translation for Germany. The book is not likely to impress the Germanic mind in favour of America ; although the author is less harsh in his pictures than many other writers, and he makes allowances for the selfish and unamiable traits, if not for the rascality, of the Americans. The troubles of the Germans and the rogueries of the Americans and German-Yankees are best appreciated by continuous perusal. The ab- liuction may furnish a specimen of Gerebeaket#4 fiction. Turner and Normann have succeeded in inveigling the two girls into a wood ; have gagged and bound them ; Bertha is in the boat at the mouth of the Big' Halchee creek; and Turner, alarmed by sounds of pursuit, is about to
escape with her and Nick the Mulatto, leaving Louisa and Normann behind.
" The half-son of Africa, too, sprang rapidly towards the boat, shoved it quick- ly from the shore, and was just about to follow with a rapid spring, when Nor- mann, who perhaps had a notion of something of the sort—and yet, again, could scarce believe that his own friends would leave him in the lurch in so shameful a manner—upset the well-spun scheme, by suddenly throwing himself upon and. flinging his arms round him. "Hold, sir!' he cried; 'you rascal—you! You don't escape sot Turner, you perjured villain ! would you betray me ?'
"'Make yourself loose, Nick,' cried Turner to the Mulatto; 'make yourseN- loose /—quick! By Jove, I hear the homes! We are lost if they catch us!'
" Yoa scoundrel! I keep you in pawn !' cried the Doctor, who was now driven. to extremity. He can't get away alone; and we shall, at all events, go to the Devil - together!' "' Haven't you a knife about you, Nick?' exclaimed Turner. The danger in- creased every moment: a few minutes more must decide their fate. Come, quick come both of you, then, in the name of all the devils in hell l—only quickly !' he cried, at last, in a rage, for he knew how invaluable every second was. Bat even if he could have made the combatants comprehend his wish, Normann, after what had taken place, would not on any account have put himself into the hands of his treacherous companions; bat as it was, neither of the two enraged men heard even a syllable of the proposal. Nick had, with infinite trouble, got his hand into his pocket, and pulled out a small pocket-pistol, which he quickly and seeretly turned towards the German's forehead. But this movement of his opponent had not re- mained unobserved by the latter; and he threw his arm upward, and struck the weapon aside, at the very moment the Mulatto was pulling the trigger: the ball even grazed his ear, and the powder singed his face. But now, driven to the ex- tremity of rage, he no longer heard even the approaching galloping of the horses, but, seizing the slim figure of the Negro with all the strength he possessed, he threw him to the ground. In the same moment the pursuers appeared on the river-bank, close above the two wrestlers, and Tuner's boat glided out beneath the shadow of the bashes into the Mississippi. "' Confusion !' said the Yankee, gnashing his teeth, finding he had to handle the two heavy oars in tholes which did not correspond. ' Confusion seize that awkward brute of a nigger! to let himself be upset like that by a Dutchman; if they only hang the varmint, and I hear of it, that'll be some comfort! Well, my pretty, now we two must make the journey alone,' he said, turning grinning to the prisoner lying before him; didn't 1 tell you, my poppet, that you "Help, help, here ! Help!' suddenly cried with a load voice the unhappy girl; who had, meanwhile, with the most fearful exertions, freed herself from the gag. 'Help, here! Help!' " In the next instant, the palm of the American's hand was on her lips, and he whispered to her, through his clenched teeth—' Ho-ho! my pretty little dove, must I draw the bit a Rae tighter? So,' he continued, whilst he made any fur- ther attempt at screaming futile, by a large woollen cloth—' So if it should be a little close for you, you must bear it: over in Arkansas, I'll make you more com- fortable.' "He seized the oars once more, and pulled away till the tumid veins on his forehead threatened to burst the skin. Stop 1' resounded across from the shore; and as he was gazing thither, to see to whom the call was addressed—for he was himself too far for it to have reference to him—a flash gleamed in the obscurity and the report of a shot followed. "Ifis attention was thus drawn to the direction in which the shot was fired; and to his astonishment and alarm, he just discerned, in the dim light of the moon; the dark shadow of a second boat gliding on, which evidently must be fol- lowing him. Although he could not account, in the first place, where this boat had come from, as the Mulatto had found none thereabouts,—or, secondly, why his enemies should fire upon it,—yet he did not for a moment hesitate in concluding it to contain, as it really did, pursuers; and his sole aim now was to reach the opposite shore before it. Once there with his prize, he could, under the dark shadow of the woods, either give them the slip, with his boat even, or else map carry his prize into the thicket, where pursuit would be useless. So, with his face turned to the dark spot, from which the flashing light of the oars, as they were lifted out of the water, alone announced the activity with which those in it were striving after their object, he himself pulled away lustily, and shaped his course so as to give way a little to the stream, not exactly across, but rather endeavour- ing to maintain his advantage, as he still thought it possible to escape them by superior speed. "But he was soon undeceived; for, although the pirogue was unquestionably olumsier in the water than the excellently modelled boat, yet the latter was not adapted to be rowed by one person: the tholes lay opposite separate seats, the one more forward than Ihe other, and the working of both at the same time was highly inconvenient. Turner, who knew how to scull, might, it is true, have rosily got his boat down the stream in that way; but he could not have made in that fashion so much way as the pirogue, and he was consequently obliged for his own safety to choose the less convenient but more advantageous mode. " Still the pursuers gained upon in and he was obliged to turn the head of his boat more towards the stream, in order to reach the opposite shore as soon as possible. But this movement, which did not pass unnoticed by Helldorf, only redoubled the zeal of the Germans; and the steersman warned the rowers several times not to pull too violently, lest they should break one of their oars, a loss which could not have been made pod. "Turner was now compelled, in order to get more command of the lower or larboard oar, and be enabled to stem the stream, to change the tholes; which ticcupied him some seconds, for whilst he stopped rowing, the boat's head tented quite towards the stream, and she lost her course. Scarcely bad the American resumed his seat, and got his little vessel in her former direction, before he saw how much nearer the enemy had advanced, and became conscious of the danger which threatened him. The current, besides, had carried him further down than be anticipated; and he observed, on turning his head to look, that he must touch the tipper part of the sandbank, situate on the opposite side of-the river, about three English miles below the one before alluded to, and would not be able to give his pursuers the slip in the shadow of the woods, or in the top of some tree fallen into the water. All that remained for him was to save his own life; and, gnashing his teeth, he was compelled to admit to himself that the Booty which he had considered so safe was lost to him. There is no knowing What be might have done in the first moment of rage, had he only dared to cease rowing for an instant; but as it was, he found himself almost within shot of the silently approaching avengers, and knew well enough, unless he reached the sand- bank sooner, and much sooner too, than they, that he should be exposed to their fire. He could not possibly dare to hope that people who en,gaged such a litusuit were unarmed; and yet such was the case: not one of the three carried SO much as a pistol; and they had simply on the impulse of the moment, and relying on the goodness of their cause, followed a desperate ruffian, who there conld.be no doubt would have sold his life dearly. " Turner, never without a weapon himself, thought the same probable of others; and as his pursuers were Germans, they naturally, according to his idea, carried nothing else than fowling-pieces or shot-guns, and those double-barrelled ones. But just now he dreaded those more than he did a ball; for it was more probable that he should be hit by them, and perhaps crippled, than with a bullet. He therefore exerted himself in desperation: his limbs were bathed in sweat, his sinews strained almost to starting; and he was scarcely fifty yards distant from the strand which promised him deliverance, when the boat ran upon one of the numerous tongues of sand which in that place run out into the stream, and grounded hard and fast. Turner well knew how impossible it would be for him, wider existing circumstances, to get her afloat again; and therefore, without a second's further delay, seized his rifle and shot-bag and jumped overboard, and ran with rapid bounds through the water, of which there was scarcely a foot in depth, towards the sandy shore. He had hardly reached it before he began to spring across the hard sand in zig-zag, in order to avoid any shot which might happen to be sent after him; and in doing this, performed such extraordinary gambols, that Schwarz, who immediately guessed what he was in dread of, and knew the groundlessness of his fears, broke out into a loud laugh. But Werner, who troubled himself little about the runaway rascal, if he could only succeed in saving his sweetheart, was in half a minute's time beside the boat left in the lurch, in which the maiden, bound and gagged was still lying. He was in it with a rapid spring; and in the next moment, Bertha, swooning from joyous surprise, rested upon his breast."
The translation reads easily and English-like, yet apparently preserves the characteristics of the original ; which are truer testa than any verbal niceties. Mr. Black has added notes corrective of some back-wood descriptions; but it strikes us these might sometimes have been spared. The German representations seem more correct without the Englishman's qualifications.
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