Or shame him, or rejoice him. But meanwhile
It ’scaped not heed upon the farm, that now
Some new guest to the gallery had driven.
The horses to their stable had been led,
And fed with plenty, as there was abundance
In this well-ordered house of hay and fodder;
For never would the Judge10 by following
New fashions, send the horses of his guests
Unto the Jews who kept the inn. The servants
Had come not forth to welcome, but think not
That in the Judge’s house was careless service;
The servants wait till the Pan Wojski11 come,
Who ordered supper now behind the house.
The master’s place he holds, and in his absence
Himself receives and welcometh all guests,
A distant kinsman being, and household friend.
On seeing a guest, he hastened to the farm,
Unseen, because he would not come to meet him
In cloth undress; so quickly as he might
He put his Sunday dress on; ready since
The morning, for he from the morning knew
He should with many guests sit down to supper.
The Wojski recognised the traveller
Far off, outspread his arms, and with a cry
Embraced and kissed him. Then began that rapid
Confused discourse, wherein we strive to enclose
The events of many years in few short words
And precious, in the course of stories, questions,
Of exclamations, sighs, and fresh salutings.
When the Pan Wojski had inquired enough,
Enough had learned, he at the end of all
The annals of this very day relates.
“ ’Tis well, my Thaddeus,”—for such the name,
Kosciuszko’s name, by which the youth was called
As sign that in the war-time12 he was born—
“ ’Tis well, my Thaddeus, thou cam’st home to-day,
While we have so many fair young ladies here.
Thine uncle thinks to make a wedding for thee;
There is good choice at hand; much company
Is gathered here some days since for the judgment
Of frontier, to conclude that quarrel with
The Count. The Count himself comes here to-morrow;
The Chamberlain13 already is arrived,
With wife and daughters. With their guns the youths
Have sought the forest; but the old men and
The women watch the reapers, near the forest,
And there await the coming of the youths.
We’ll go there, if thou wilt, and shortly we
Shall meet thine uncle and the Chamberlain,
His family,14 and all the honoured ladies.”
The Wojski went with Thaddeus by the wood,
And still they could not talk out all their fill.
The sun had reached the last degrees of heaven;
Less strong his blaze, yet broader than at noon,
All redly shining, like the hearty face
Of a husbandman, whose labour in the field
Is done, when he returneth home for rest.
The radiant round already sank upon
The summits of the pine-trees, and already
The misty twilight filled their crowns and boughs;
And bound in one the forest all, commingling.
Black grew the thicket like a mighty building,
The sun above like red fire on the roof.
Then in the depth he fell, between the trunks
Still gleaming like a candle through the crannies
Of shutters, and extinguished was. Forthwith
The sickles clashing in the corn, and rakes
Upon the meadow silent were, and stayed.
For so the Judge commands: with day for him
The labourer’s toils were over. The world’s Lord
Doth know the length of time for man to work;
And when the sun, his workman, leaves the sky,
Time ’tis earth’s labourer too should leave the field.
Thus used the Judge to say; the Judge’s will
Was sacred to the honest overseer.
For ev’n the wagons, wherein they but now
Began to lade the rye, half full set off
Towards the barn; the oxen did rejoice
To feel such light and unaccustomed load.
Now from the wood came all the company,
Joyful but yet in order. First the children
Came with their tutor; next the Judge, with him
The lady of the Chamberlain; beside
The Chamberlain with all his family.
The girls went close behind the elder women,
The youths beside the maidens, but these went
Before the young men by some half-a-step.
Thus decency commands. None held discourse
Of precedence, none ranked the men and women,
But each kept order due despite himself;
For in his house the Judge old customs kept,
And never suffered any lack respect
For age, for office, birth, or intellect.
’Tis by such order, said he, houses flourish,
And nations; by its fall they come to ruin.
The household and the servants thus were used
To order, and the guest but lately come,
Kinsman or stranger, all who visited
The Judge, received those customs, whereof all
Around was redolent. Short welcoming
The Judge had for his nephew, gave to him
With dignity his hand to kiss, and health
Wished unto him, with kiss upon his brow;
But though he spoke but little with him then,
From that respect he owed his guests, the tears
That with his garment’s15 hem he quickly dried,
Showed well how he loved Master Thaddeus.
And in the master’s traces everything
From forest and from pasture, mead and grove,
Forthwith returned. A bleating flock of sheep,
Here in the lane together hustling, raised
A cloud of dust. And further onward strode
A herd of Tyrol calves, with brazen bells;
There neighing horses from the new-mown mead
Flew; all together ran unto the well,
Whose wooden arm did forthwith creak, and pour
A stream of water in a wooden trough.
The Judge, though tired, though with company,
Missed not a farmer’s weighty duties. He
Himself betook him to the well. For best
At eventide the master may review
The state of his live stock; nor left he e’er
This overlooking to his servants; well
The Judge knew “master’s eye makes fat the horse.”16
The Wojski, with Protasius the Wozny,17
Await with lights within the hall; they stand
Conversing, and somewhat at variance.
For while as yet the Wojski stayed away,
The Wozny secretly had given orders
To bring the supper-tables from the house,
And swiftly as might be to set them up
In midmost of an ancient castle hall,
The ruins might be seen beyond the forest.
But why these changes? the Pan Wojski frowned,
And asked the Judge’s pardon; much the Judge
Did marvel; but ’twas so; the hour was late,
And change were difficult; he would entreat
The pardon of his guests, and lead them to
The desert place. The Wozny on the road
Unfolded to the Judge the cause which
