She Was Good For Nothing · page 21 2101Gently and earnestly she drew me to her, and spake as if an angel were speaking.102She showed me clearly, in spirit and in truth, the difference there was between him and me. '103He is pleased now,' she said, 'with your pretty face; but good looks do not last long.104You have not been educated like he has.105You are not equals in mind and rank, and therein lies the misfortune.106I esteem the poor,' she added. '107In the sight of God, they may occupy a higher place than many of the rich; but here upon earth we must beware of entering upon a false track, lest we are overturned in our plans, like a carriage that travels by a dangerous road.108I know a worthy man, an artisan, who wishes to marry you.109I mean Eric, the glovemaker.110He is a widower, without children, and in a good position.111Will you think it over?'112Every word she said pierced my heart like a knife; but I knew she was right, and the thought pressed heavily upon me.113I kissed her hand, and wept bitter tears, and I wept still more when I went to my room, and threw myself on the bed.114I passed through a dreadful night; God knows what I suffered, and how I struggled.115The following Sunday I went to the house of God to pray for light to direct my path.116It seemed like a providence that as I stepped out of church Eric came towards me; and then there remained not a doubt in my mind.117We were suited to each other in rank and circumstances.118He was, even then, a man of good means.119I went up to him, and took his hand, and said, 'Do you still feel the same for me?' '120Yes; ever and always,' said he. '121Will you, then, marry a maiden who honors and esteems you, although she cannot offer you her love? but that may come.' '122Yes, it will come,' said he; and we joined our hands together, and I went home to my mistress.123The gold ring which her son had given me I wore next to my heart.124I could not place it on my finger during the daytime, but only in the evening, when I went to bed.125I kissed the ring till my lips almost bled, and then I gave it to my mistress, and told her that the banns were to be put up for me and the glovemaker the following week.126Then my mistress threw her arms round me, and kissed me.127She did not say that I was 'good for nothing;' very likely I was better then than I am now; but the misfortunes of this world, were unknown to me then.128At Michaelmas we were married, and for the first year everything went well with us.checked by a teacher129We had a journeyman and an apprentice, and you were our servant, Martha."130"Ah, yes, and you were a dear, good mistress," said Martha, "I shall never forget how kind you and your husband were to me."131"Yes, those were happy years when you were with us, although we had no children at first.132The student I never met again.133Yet I saw him once, although he did not see me.134He came to his mother's funeral.135I saw him, looking pale as death, and deeply troubled, standing at her grave; for she was his mother.136Sometime after, when his father died, he was in foreign lands, and did not come home.137I know that he never married, I believe he became a lawyer.138He had forgotten me, and even had we met he would not have known me, for I have lost all my good looks, and perhaps that is all for the best."139And then she spoke of the dark days of trial, when misfortune had fallen upon them.140"We had five hundred dollars," she said, "and there was a house in the street to be sold for two hundred, so we thought it would be worth our while to pull it down and build a new one in its place; so it was bought.141The builder and carpenter made an estimate that the new house would cost ten hundred and twenty dollars to build.142Eric had credit, so he borrowed the money in the chief town.143But the captain, who was bringing it to him, was shipwrecked, and the money lost.144Just about this time, my dear sweet boy, who lies sleeping there, was born, and my husband was attacked with a severe lingering illness.145For three quarters of a year I was obliged to dress and undress him.146We were backward in our payments, we borrowed more money, and all that we had was lost and sold, and then my husband died.147Since then I have worked, toiled, and striven for the sake of the child.148I have scrubbed and washed both coarse and fine linen, but I have not been able to make myself better off; and it was God's will.149In His own time He will take me to Himself, but I know He will never forsake my boy."150Then she fell asleep.151In the morning she felt much refreshed, and strong enough, as she thought, to go on with her work.152But as soon as she stepped into the cold water, a sudden faintness seized her; she clutched at the air convulsively with her hand, took one step forward, and fell.153Her head rested on dry land, but her feet were in the water; her wooden shoes, which were only tied on by a wisp of straw, were carried away by the stream, and thus she was found by Martha when she came to bring her some coffee.154In the meantime a messenger had been sent to her house by the mayor, to say that she must come to him immediately, as he had something to tell her.155It was too late; a surgeon had been sent for to open a vein in her arm, but the poor woman was dead.156"She has drunk herself to death," said the cruel mayor.157In the letter, containing the news of his brother's death, it was stated that he had left in his will a legacy of six hundred dollars to the glovemaker's widow, who had been his mother's maid, to be paid with discretion, in large or small sums to the widow or her child.158"There was something between my brother and her, I remember," said the mayor; "it is a good thing that she is out of the way, for now the boy will have the whole.159I will place him with honest people to bring him up, that he may become a respectable working man."160And the blessing of God rested upon these words.161The mayor sent for the boy to come to him, and promised to take care of him, but most cruelly added that it was a good thing that his mother was dead, for "she was good for nothing."162They carried her to the churchyard, the churchyard in which the poor were buried.163Martha strewed sand on the grave and planted a rose-tree upon it, and the boy stood by her side.164"Oh, my poor mother!" he cried, while the tears rolled down his cheeks. "165Is it true what they say, that she was good for nothing?"166"No, indeed, it is not true," replied the old servant, raising her eyes to heaven; "she was worth a great deal; I knew it years ago, and since the last night of her life I am more certain of it than ever.167I say she was a good and worthy woman, and God, who is in heaven, knows I am speaking the truth, though the world may say, even now she was good for nothing."168GRANDMOTHER169Grandmother is very old, her face is wrinkled, and her hair is quite white; but her eyes are like two stars, and they have a mild, gentle expression in them when they look at you, which does you good.170She wears a dress of heavy, rich silk, with large flowers worked on it; and it rustles when she moves.171And then she can tell the most wonderful stories.172Grandmother knows a great deal, for she was alive before father and mother--that's quite certain.173She has a hymn-book with large silver clasps, in which she often reads; and in the book, between the leaves, lies a rose, quite flat and dry; it is not so pretty as the roses which are standing in the glass, and yet she smiles at it most pleasantly, and tears even come into her eyes. "174I wonder why grandmother looks at the withered flower in the old book that way?175Do you know?"176Why, when grandmother's tears fall upon the rose, and she is looking at it, the rose revives, and fills the room with its fragrance; the walls vanish as in a mist, and all around her is the glorious green wood, where in summer the sunlight streams through thick foliage; and grandmother, why she is young again, a charming maiden, fresh as a rose, with round, rosy cheeks, fair, bright ringlets, and a figure pretty and graceful; but the eyes, those mild, saintly eyes, are the same,--they have been left to grandmother.177At her side sits a young man, tall and strong; he gives her a rose and she smiles.178Grandmother cannot smile like that now.179Yes, she is smiling at the memory of that day, and many thoughts and recollections of the past; but the handsome young man is gone, and the rose has withered in the old book, and grandmother is sitting there, again an old woman, looking down upon the withered rose in the book.180Grandmother is dead now.181She had been sitting in her arm-chair, telling us a long, beautiful tale; and when it was finished, she said she was tired, and leaned her head back to sleep awhile.182We could hear her gentle breathing as she slept; gradually it became quieter and calmer, and on her countenance beamed happiness and peace.183It was as if lighted up with a ray of sunshine.184She smiled once more, and then people said she was dead.185She was laid in a black coffin, looking mild and beautiful in the white folds of the shrouded linen, though her eyes were closed; but every wrinkle had vanished, her hair looked white and silvery, and around her mouth lingered a sweet smile.186We did not feel at all afraid to look at the corpse of her who had been such a dear, good grandmother.187The hymn-book, in which the rose still lay, was placed under her head, for so she had wished it; and then they buried grandmother.188On the grave, close by the churchyard wall, they planted a rose-tree; it was soon full of roses, and the nightingale sat among the flowers, and sang over the grave.189From the organ in the church sounded the music and the words of the beautiful psalms, which were written in the old book under the head of the dead one.190The moon shone down upon the grave, but the dead was not there; every child could go safely, even at night, and pluck a rose from the tree by the churchyard wall.191The dead know more than we do who are living.192They know what a terror would come upon us if such a strange thing were to happen, as the appearance of a dead person among us.193They are better off than we are; the dead return no more.194The earth has been heaped on the coffin, and it is earth only that lies within it.195The leaves of the hymn-book are dust; and the rose, with all its recollections, has crumbled to dust also.196But over the grave fresh roses bloom, the nightingale sings, and the organ sounds and there still lives a remembrance of old grandmother, with the loving, gentle eyes that always looked young.197Eyes can never die.198Ours will once again behold dear grandmother, young and beautiful as when, for the first time, she kissed the fresh, red rose, that is now dust in the grave.1 2← previousThe Best Thing the Goloshes Didnext →A Great Grief↑ back to Fairy Tales of Hans Christian AndersenThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/46/page/2/