Adolf

“ The death of my mother left a deep impression on Adolf and myself. We were both very much attached to her. Our mother died in 1907 and Adolf never returned home after that.
Since I was so much younger than my brother, he never considered me a playmate. He played a leading role among his early companions. His favourite game was cops and robbers, and that sort of thing. He had a lot of companions. I could not say what took place in their games, as I was never present. Adolf as a child always came home too late. He got a spanking every night for not coming home on time. ”

“ Adolf. I didn't say anything else.
Gustav. Oh yes, you did; you've only forgotten it. Perhaps because you haven't got the pluck to remember it. You've locked it up in a secret pigeonhole; open it.
Adolf. I don't remember.
Gustav. But I know what it was—the sense was roughly this: "You ought to be ashamed of yourself to be always flirting at your age. You're getting too old to find any more admirers."
Adolf. Did I say that—possibly? How did you manage to know it?
Gustav. On my way here I heard her tell the story on the steamer.
Adolf. To whom?
Gustav [walks up and down on the left] . ”

“ Adolf lets his head sink on her breast; laughing.]
Adolf. You're a regular devil, do you know that?
Thekla. No, I know myself so little.
Adolf. Do you never think about yourself?
Thekla [looking in the air, while she looks at him searchingly] . About myself? I only think about myself. I am a shocking egoist, but how philosophical you've become, my dear.
Adolf. Put your hand on my forehead.
Thekla [playfully] . Has he got bees in his bonnet again? Shall I drive them away? [She kisses him on the forehead.] There, it's all right now? [Pause, moving away from him to the right.] ”

“ Thekla. Keep your imagination in check, Adolf. Imagination is the beast in the human soul.
Adolf. Where did you get this wisdom from? From the pure youths on the steamer, eh?
Thekla [without losing her self-possession] . Certainly—even youth can teach one a great deal.
Adolf. You seem for once in a way, to be awfully keen on youth?
Thekla [standing by the door in the center] . I have always been so, and that's how it came about that I loved you. Any objection?
Adolf. Not at all. But I should very much prefer to be the only one. ”

“ Adolf. But little brother doesn't want to know anything about the other brothers.
Thekla. Won't he just come here and let himself be teased by his little woman, because he's jealous—no, envious is the right word.
[Two knocks with a chair are heard from the room on the right.]
Adolf. No, I don't want to fool about, I want to speak seriously.
Thekla [as though speaking to a child] . Good Lord! he wants to speak seriously. Upon my word! Has the man become serious for once in his life? [Comes on his left, takes hold of his head and kisses him.] Won't he laugh now a little? ”

“ Gustav Adolf, to save him, said that he was the King. [12] At that they shot him through the head, and showered blows upon him. When the body was found in the night it was naked. They had robbed and stripped him.
The King was dead. Through the Swedish ranks Duke Bernhard shouted the tidings. “Who now cares to live? Forward, to avenge his death!” With the blind fury of the Berserkers of old the Swedes cleared the ditches, stormed the breastworks, and drove the foe in a panic before them. ”

“ Emperor Ferdinand was better than his day; he wept at the sight of the King’s blood-stained jacket. The Protestant world trembled; its hope and strength were gone. But the Swedish people, wiping away their tears, resolved stoutly to carry on Gustav Adolf’s work. The men he had trained led his armies to victory on yet many a stricken field. Peace came at length to Europe; the last religious war had been fought and won. Freedom of worship, liberty of conscience, were bought at the cost of the kingliest head that ever wore a crown. ”

“ But I, too, begin to feel myself drawn to him somehow. I'm tired of being the nurse of a baby like you. [She goes a few steps forward and passes by Adolf on the right.] He at any rate was a man, even though he did make the mistake of being my husband.
Adolf. Hush, hush! But don't talk so loud, we might be heard.
Thekla. What does it matter, so long as we're taken for man and wife.
Adolf. So this is what it comes to then? You are now beginning to be keen both on manly men and pure boys. ”

“ Adolf. I must be clear on that point.
[He goes over to Gustav, and sits down in his previous place. Gustav approaches him.]
Gustav. Find out yourself.
Adolf. Find out myself?
Gustav. Investigate. I'll help you, if you like.
Adolf [after a pause] . Good. Since I've been condemned to death once—so be it—sooner or later it's all the same what's to happen.
Gustav. One question first. Hasn't your wife got just one weak point?
Adolf. Not that I know of. [Adolf goes to the open door in the center] . Yes. You can hear the steamer in the Sound now—she'll be here soon. And I must go down to meet her. ”

“ Adolf goes up through all of the 12-year tests (1911 series) except the first, where he shows suggestibility in his judgment of the lengths of lines. In the 15-year tests he fails on the first, but does the three following ones correctly. Two out of the adult series are done well—those where the definition of a word is required and the statement of political ideas. Two or three of his specific answers are worth noting: ``Honor is when a person is very honest. ”

“ But have you never heard anyone say of a child which is brighter, kinder, and better than others, 'that child will not live long; it is too good for this world?' So does it seem to me about King Gustaf Adolf. He is too great, too noble, too good, to live long. God's angels wish to have him before his body withers and his soul grows weary. Believe me, they will take him from us."
Regina looked at her with an alarmed air. ”

“ Adolf [takes her by the neck and kisses her] . Yes, my dear, I'll bite you so that you die.
Thekla [joking] . Look out, somebody might come.
[She goes to the fireplace on the right and leans on the chimneypiece.]
Adolf. Oh, what do I care if they do. I don't care about anything in the whole world so long as I have you.
Thekla. And if you don't have me any more?
Adolf [sinks down on the chair on the left in front of the circular table] . Then I die!
Thekla. All right, you needn't be frightened of that the least bit; I'm already much too old, you see, for anybody to like me. ”

“ But if I were here as your colonel, Lieutenant Adolf, by Heaven, sir, not all the officers of the Guard, past or present'—he rose to his feet as he spoke, and grasping the hilt of his sword glared round upon them—'should dare to hint at insult to a comrade!' and he drove the blade home with a clatter into its scabbard and strode out of the room as he had come, like a thunderstorm. ”

“ In the gloom and horror of it all a noble figure stands forth alone. It were almost worth the sufferings of a Thirty Years’ War for the world to have gained a Gustav Adolf. The “snow-king” the Emperor’s generals named him when he first appeared on German soil at the head of his army of Northmen, and they prophesied that he would speedily melt, once the southern sun shone upon his host. They little knew the man. ”

“ His family continued to live in one of the most populous suburbs of Chicago and Adolf maintains that his residence is there, an important point for his political activities which are mentioned later.
What we discovered in our further studies of Adolf's mental condition can be told in short. We have retested him over and over. (When he has been hard up we have given him money to induce him to do his very best.) There are no contradictions in our findings at different times. ”

“ Gustav [sits down opposite Adolf on the sofa on the left] . I thought as much, and you'll never get away from it. There are discords in life, you know, which never get resolved, so you must stuff your ears with wax, and work. Work, get older, and heap up over the coffin a mass of new impressions, and then the corpse will rest in peace.
Adolf. Excuse my interrupting you—but it is extraordinary at times how your way of speaking reminds me of Thekla. You've got a trick, old man, of winking with your right eye as though you were counting, and your gaze has the same power over me as hers has. ”

“ Gustav [holding him back] . No, stay here. Be rude to her. If she's got a good conscience she'll let you have it so hot and strong that you won't know where you are. But if she feels guilty she'll come and caress you.
Adolf. Are you so sure of it?
Gustav. Not absolutely. At times a hare goes back in the tracks, but I'm not going to let this one escape me. My room is just here. [Points to the door on the right and goes behind Adolf's chair.] ”

“ I grew very fond of Adolf—as fond as I used to be of Aaron when I was a boy; so when the vacation approached, I invited him to accompany me to my eastern home, and was heartily glad when he accepted my invitation.
During this journey our conversation chanced to turn on Rachel as we speeded through the night in the railway toward Barnow. Her name had never been mentioned by either of us since the day on which we had first met in Vienna.
"Take care of yourself," I said jestingly; "old love never rusts out." ”

“ Adolf. Nonsense.
Gustav. Pray excuse me, woman's love consists simply in this—in taking in, in receiving. She does not love the man from whom she takes nothing: she has never loved you.
[He turns round behind the square table and walks to Adolf's right.]
Adolf. I suppose you don't think that she'd be able to love more than once?
Gustav. No. Once bit, twice shy. After the first time, one keeps one's eyes open, but you have never been really bitten yet. You be careful of those who have; they're dangerous customers. ”

“ In a fight between his rear-guard and the imperial army Gustav Adolf was disarmed and taken prisoner by two troopers. There was another prisoner who had kept his pistol. He handed it to the King behind his back and with it he shot one of his captors and brained the other. For all that they nearly got him. He saved himself only by wriggling out of his belt and leaving it in the hands of the enemy. Eight years he campaigned in Poland and Prussia, learning the arts of war. Then he was ready for his life-work. He made a truce with Poland that freed his hands for a season, and went home to Sweden. ”

“ I wish you to swear that you will do me a very small favour. King Gustaf Adolf wears on the forefinger of his right hand a small copper ring. It is of no value to him, but it is of great importance to me, young friend; as I am an antiquary, I should like to have a remembrance of a king, whom I must hate as an enemy, but admire as a man. ”

“ Thekla [goes toward Adolf with outstretched arms] . Adolf! [Adolf sinks down in his chair by the table on the left. Thekla throws herself over him and caresses him.] Adolf! My darling child, are you alive? Speak! Speak! Forgive your wicked Thekla! Forgive me! Forgive me! Forgive me! Little brother must answer. Does he hear? My God, he doesn't hear me! He's dead! Good God! O my God! Help! Help us!
Gustav. Quite true, she loves him as well—poor creature!
[Curtain.]
AUTUMN FIRES A Comedy
By Gustav Wied
Translated by Benjamin F. Glazer. Copyright, 1920, by Benjamin F. Glazer. ”

“ Wulf died as he had lived, a heathen. Placidia, who loved him well—as she loved all righteous and noble souls—had succeeded once in persuading him to accept baptism. Adolf himself acted as one of his sponsors; and the old warrior was in the act of stepping into the font, when he turned suddenly to the bishop and asked, “Where were the souls of his heathen ancestors?” “In hell,” replied the worthy prelate. Wulf drew back from the font, and threw his bear-skin cloak around him.... He would prefer, if Adolf had no objection, to go to his own people. ”

“ It is perfectly clear in this case, as in many others, that the Binet tests show very little wherein lies the nature of a special defect or ability. Adolf's capacity for handling language has grown steadily. He has been reading law and knows by heart a great deal of its terminology. In a short conversation he talks well and is coherent. The aggressiveness which is ever with him leads him to stick to the point. ”

“ In the saloon of the castle a royal magnificence prevailed. Gustaf Adolf knew his consort's weakness for display, and probably wished to produce an effect on the assembled German nobility. The floor was covered with rich Flemish carpets, and over the windows were draperies of crimson velvet with tassels of gold ”

“ Peaceful husbandmen were murdered, the young women dragged away to worse than slavery, and helpless children spitted upon the lances of the wild landsknechts and tossed with a laugh into the blazing ruins of their homes. But no such foul blot cleaves to the memory of Gustav Adolf. While he lived his men were soldiers, not demons. In his tent the work of Hugo Grotius on the rights of the nations in war and peace lay beside the Bible and he knew them both by heart. When he was gone, the fame of some of his greatest generals was smirched by as vile orgies as Tilly’s worst days had witnessed. ”

“ Little boys tasted nicer than bananas even.
Meanwhile Wolf and Werner had stuck their flags through the holes in the rocks, so that they were visible from the outside.
Now little Adolf had gone straight home, and had told awful tales of the games the others were up to, and he conducted the four mothers to the Dragon's Gorge where they wandered up and down looking for their boys. Adolf observed the flags sticking up on the rocks, and drew attention to them. The Dragon's Gorge resounded with the cries of "Helmut! Wolf! Werner!" ”