It was a horrible thing to say, but there was never any absolute proof that Father Peter said it and it was out of character for him to say it, too, for he was always good and gentle and truthful. Some people charged him with talking around in conversation that God was all goodness and would find a way to save all his poor human children. And that he was speaking true there was proof in at least one instance, for on that occasion he quarreled with the enemy, and intrepidly threw his bottle at him and there, upon the wall of his study, was the ruddy splotch where it struck and broke.īut it was Father Peter, the other priest, that we all loved best and were sorriest for.
He never made any secret of it, but spoke it right out. All men speak in bitter disapproval of the Devil, but they do it reverently, not flippantly but Father Adolf's way was very different he called him by every name he could lay his tongue to, and it made everyone shudder that heard him and often he would even speak of him scornfully and scoffingly then the people crossed themselves and went quickly out of his presence, fearing that something fearful might happen.įather Adolf had actually met Satan face to face more than once, and defied him. People stood in deep dread of him on that account for they thought that there must be something supernatural about him, else he could not be so bold and so confident. He was the only Christian I have ever known of whom that could be truly said. This was because he had absolutely no fear of the Devil. There may have been better priests, in some ways, than Father Adolf, but there was never one in our commune who was held in more solemn and awful respect. One of them, Father Adolf, was a very zealous and strenuous priest, much considered. Knowledge was not good for the common people, and could make them discontented with the lot which God had appointed for them, and God would not endure discontentment with His plans. Beyond these matters we were not required to know much and, in fact, not allowed to. Mainly we were trained to be good Christians to revere the Virgin, the Church, and the saints above everything. We were not overmuch pestered with schooling. When they came it was as if the lord of the world had arrived, and had brought all the glories of its kingdoms along and when they went they left a calm behind which was like the deep sleep which follows an orgy.Įseldorf was a paradise for us boys. The whole region for leagues around was the hereditary property of a prince, whose servants kept the castle always in perfect condition for occupancy, but neither he nor his family came there oftener than once in five years. At its front flowed the tranquil river, its surface painted with cloud-forms and the reflections of drifting arks and stone-boats behind it rose the woody steeps to the base of the lofty precipice from the top of the precipice frowned a vast castle, its long stretch of towers and bastions mailed in vines beyond the river, a league to the left, was a tumbled expanse of forest-clothed hills cloven by winding gorges where the sun never penetrated and to the right a precipice overlooked the river, and between it and the hills just spoken of lay a far-reaching plain dotted with little homesteads nested among orchards and shade trees. It drowsed in peace in the deep privacy of a hilly and woodsy solitude where news from the world hardly ever came to disturb its dreams, and was infinitely content. Yes, Austria was far from the world, and asleep, and our village was in the middle of that sleep, being in the middle of Austria. I remember it well, although I was only a boy and I remember, too, the pleasure it gave me. But they meant it as a compliment, not a slur, and it was so taken, and we were all proud of it. Some even set it away back centuries upon centuries and said that by the mental and spiritual clock it was still the Age of Belief in Austria. Austria was far away from the world, and asleep it was still the Middle Ages in Austria, and promised to remain so forever.
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