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  | The Mysterious Stranger Ebook | |
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 | |  | | E-book Category: Classic, Romance
E-book Title: The Mysterious Stranger
Author: Mark Twain
Book Description: Chapter 1
IT WAS IN 1590 -- winter. Austria was far away from the world, and
asleep; it was still the Middle Ages in Austria, and promised to remain so
forever. 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. But they meant it as a compliment, not a slur, and it was so
taken, and we were all proud of it. I remember it well, although I was only
a boy; and I remember, too, the pleasure it gave me.
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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
Eseldorf was a paradise for us boys. We were not overmuch pestered with
schooling. Mainly we were trained to be good Christians; to revere the
Virgin, the Church, and the saints above everything. Beyond these matters
we were not required to know much; and, in fact, not allowed to. 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. We had two priests. One of them, Father
Adolf, was a very zealous and strenuous priest, much considered.More... | |
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