Katherine Dunlap Cather

“ The women and girls did the housework, and when it was finished, took out knives and saws and wood. Even the children had a part in the work, for they carried the wood to the workers, or smoothed with sandpaper the pieces that were finished. The wind howled outside, and the snow drifted against the windows, but that did not matter. The well-fed fires kept the huts snug and warm, and the peasants sang and told stories as they worked.
But there was one hut where it was not cozy, where the fire burned so faintly that a chill crept over the man and boy within. ”

“ But sickness had kept him from work for several years, so Gerther made a scant living by herding goats in the summer, and helping a neighbor with his clock-making in the winter. The old man was growing strong again, and when word of the ducal offer went round, began to think of taking up his trade.
“But I have little hope of winning the prize,” he said to Gerther, as they ate their supper of black bread and goat’s milk one evening. “Younger men have become skilful during my months of illness, and Hans Gerber is no longer the best clock-maker of Kesselberg. ”

“ Gerther laughed, for Black Forest peasants believe it can tell fortunes, and while they think it lazy because it will not make a nest for itself, but lays its eggs in the homes of other birds, they like it better than any other. ”

“ But there came a time when the people grew tired of the old craft. Machine-made clocks had just come into use, and it became the fashion to use them instead of the hand-wrought ones. The price of Kesselberg wares came down, and some of the peasants, becoming discouraged at having to toil for the small income the work now yielded, went away to go into service in great houses in the cities. ”

“ These sent word back of how much money they earned, and one after another the villagers left until only the aged remained at home, and it seemed that the ancient industry would die out. But the grand duke of the country was a wise man as well as a good one. He was proud of Kesselberg and its generations of clock-makers, and wanted the work to go on, that the village might be famous in the future as it had been in the past. So he offered a prize of five thousand marks to whoever should make the finest clock during the coming winter. ”

“ From everywhere came orders for cuckoo-clocks, until the old man and the boy could not fill them, and soon all the villagers were at work under their direction. The rich in the cities paid so well for these timepieces that the peasants gave up all thought of going away, and were glad to stay in the woods and carry on the ancient industry. ”