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Read Ebook: Sodoma e Gomorra: Cronistoria del Libertinaggio attraverso i secoli ed il mondo by Docteur Jaf Fabiani P Pietro Author Of Introduction Etc
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Ebook has 34 lines and 3031 words, and 1 pages
Editor: Georg Wolpert Otto E. A. Dickmann
FRANZ?SISCHE UND ENGLISCHE SCHULBIBLIOTHEK
HERAUSGEGEBEN VON OTTO E. A. DICKMANN
REIHE A: PROSA
ENGLISCH
LEIPZIG 1904 RENGERSCHE BUCHHANDLUNG GEBHARDT & WILISCH.
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY
VON FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT
F?R DEN SCHULGEBRAUCH BEARBEITET VON G. WOLPERT
SIEBENTE AUFLAGE
LEIPZIG 1904 RENGERSCHE BUCHHANDLUNG GEBHARDT & WILISCH.
Druck von Hugo Wilisch in Chemnitz.
Vorwort zur ersten Auflage.
Sachliche Anmerkungen brauchten nur in beschr?nktem Masse gegeben zu werden, dagegen hielt ich es f?r angezeigt, mit den Fussnoten nicht allzu sparsam zu sein, einmal weil verschiedene Amerikanismen , sowie eine grosse Anzahl vulg?rer oder famili?rer Ausdr?cke eine Erkl?rung erheischten, sodann weil gar manche Stelle des Textes f?r die ?bersetzung in gutes Deutsch nicht ohne Schwierigkeit ist. H?ufiger in der Umgangssprache erscheinende K?rzungen, wie: I'd, he'd, I'll, he'll u. a., die in den meisten Grammatiken angef?hrt sind, wurden als bekannt vorausgesetzt. Bei dem S. 83 vollst?ndig abgedruckten Briefe Cedrics unterblieb der Raumersparnis halber die Wiedergabe in korrektes Englisch, soweit nicht die R?cksicht auf das Verst?ndnis es verlangte.
M?ge dieses B?ndchen, das f?r die mittleren Klassen aller Anstalten eine anregende Lekt?re bieten wird, die freundliche Aufnahme finden, die dem kleinen Helden der Erz?hlung in der Alten wie in der Neuen Welt zu teil geworden ist.
M?NCHEN, im Januar 1894.
Vorwort zur zweiten Auflage.
M?NCHEN, im Januar 1896.
F?r die in die vierte Auflage aufgenommenen sprachlichen Erl?uterungen zu S. 66. Z. 21 und S. 83, Z. 4 bin ich Herrn Prof. Dr. Thiergen zu Dank verpflichtet.
M?NCHEN, im Dezember 1898.
Die vorliegende siebente Auflage ist, wie die beiden vorhergehenden, ein unver?nderter Abdruck der vierten.
M?NCHEN, im Februar 1904.
Georg Wolpert, K. Professor.
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY.
Cedric himself knew nothing whatever about it. It had never been even mentioned to him. He knew that his papa had been an Englishman, because his mamma had told him so; but then his papa had died when he was so little a boy that he could not remember very much about him, except that he was big, and had blue eyes and a long moustache, and that it was a splendid thing to be carried around the room on his shoulder. Since his papa's death, Cedric had found out that it was best not to talk to his mamma about him. When his father was ill, Cedric had been sent away, and when he had returned, everything was over; and his mother, who had been very ill, too, was only just beginning to sit in her chair by the window. She was pale and thin, and all the dimples had gone from her pretty face, and her eyes looked large and mournful, and she was dressed in black.
He and his mamma knew very few people, and lived what might have been thought very lonely lives, although Cedric did not know it was lonely until he grew older and heard why it was they had no visitors. Then he was told that his mamma was an orphan, and quite alone in the world when his papa had married her. Their marriage brought them the ill-will of several persons. The one who was most angry of all, however, was the Captain's father, who lived in England, and was a very rich and important old nobleman, with a very bad temper, and a very violent dislike to America and Americans. He had two sons older than Captain Cedric; and it was the law that the elder of these sons should inherit the family title and estates, which were very rich and splendid; if the eldest son died the next one would be heir; so though he was a member of such a great family, there was little chance that Captain Cedric would be very rich himself.
But it so happened that Nature had given to the younger son gifts which she had not bestowed upon his elder brothers. He had a beautiful face and a fine, strong, graceful figure; he had a bright smile and a sweet, gay voice; he was brave and generous, and had the kindest heart in the world, and seemed to have the power to make every one love him. But it was not so with his elder brothers; neither of them was handsome, or kind, or clever; they cared nothing for study, and wasted both time and money, and made few real friends. The old Earl, their father, was constantly disappointed and humiliated by them; his heir was no honour to his noble name. It was very bitter, the old Earl thought, that the son who was only third, should be the one who had all the gifts, and all the charms. Sometimes he almost hated the handsome young man because he seemed to have the good things which should have gone with the stately title and the magnificent estates. It was in one of his fits of petulance that he sent him off to travel in America.
But after about six months, he began to feel lonely, and longed in secret to see his son again, so he wrote to Captain Cedric and ordered him home. The letter he wrote crossed on its way a letter the Captain had just written to his father telling of his love for the pretty American girl, and of his intended marriage; and when the Earl received that letter, he was furiously angry. Bad as his temper was, he had never given way to it in his life as he gave way to it when he read the Captain's letter. For an hour he raged like a tiger, and then he sat down and wrote to his son, and ordered him never to come near his old home, nor to write to his father or brothers again.
The Captain was very sad when he read the letter; he was very fond of England, and he dearly loved the beautiful home where he had been born; he had even loved his ill-tempered old father; but he knew he need expect no kindness from him in the future. At first he scarcely knew what to do; he had not been brought up to work, and had no business experience, but he had courage and plenty of determination. So he sold his commission in the English army, and after some trouble found a situation in New York, and married. The change from his old life in England was very great, but he was young and happy and he hoped that hard work would do great things for him in the future. He had a small house in a quiet street, and his little boy was born there. Though he was born in so quiet and cheap a little home, it seemed as if there never had been a more fortunate baby. In the first place, he was always well, and so he never gave any one trouble; in the second place he had so sweet a temper and ways so charming that he was a pleasure to every one; and in the third place he was so beautiful to look at that he was quite a picture.
When he was old enough to walk out with his nurse, he was so handsome and strong and rosy that he attracted every one's attention, and his nurse would come home and tell his mamma stories of the ladies who had stopped their carriages to look at and speak to him, and of how pleased they were when he talked to them in his cheerful little way, as if he had known them always. His greatest charm was this cheerful, fearless, quaint little way of making friends with people.
As he grew older, he had a great many quaint little ways which amused and interested people greatly. He was so much of a companion for his mother that she scarcely cared for any other. They used to walk together and talk together and play together. When he was quite a little fellow he learned to read; and after that he used to lie on the hearth-rug, in the evening, and read aloud--sometimes stories, and sometimes big books such as older people read, and sometimes even the newspaper; and often at such times Mary, in the kitchen, would hear Mrs. Errol laughing with delight at the quaint things he said.
Mary was very fond of him, and very proud of him, too. She had been with his mother ever since he was born; and, after his father's death, had been cook and housemaid and nurse and everything else.
"Ristycratic, is it?" she would say. "It's like a young lord he looks."
Cedric did not know that he looked like a young lord; he did not know what a lord was. His greatest friend was the groceryman at the corner. His name was Mr. Hobbs, and Cedric admired and respected him very much. He thought him a very rich and powerful person, he had so many things in his store--prunes and figs and oranges and biscuits,--and he had a horse and waggon. Cedric was fond of the milkman and the baker and the apple-woman, but he liked Mr. Hobbs best of all, and was on terms of such intimacy with him that he went to see him every day, and often sat with him quite a long time discussing the topics of the hour. It was quite surprising how many things they found to talk about--the Fourth of July, for instance. When they began to talk about the Fourth of July there really seemed no end to it. Mr. Hobbs had a very bad opinion of "the British," and he told the whole story of the Revolution, relating very wonderful and patriotic stories about the villainy of the enemy and the bravery of the Revolutionary heroes, and he even generously repeated part of the Declaration of Independence. Cedric was so excited that his eyes shone and he could hardly wait to eat his dinner after he went home, he was so anxious to tell his mamma. It was, perhaps, Mr. Hobbs who gave him his first interest in politics. Mr. Hobbs was fond of reading the newspapers, and so Cedric heard a great deal about what was going on in Washington; and Mr. Hobbs wou
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