But it's a good
apprenticeship for you, and the more a young man has to stand the better
for him. You can learn a lot--even to be master, and that takes more
skill than you think. But I keep feeling that you can make your fortune
at it and make a proper man of yourself. Get on good terms with the
women-folk, but not so as to make the old man suspicious; if you can get
on their good side, you've won a lot. But if they keep inviting you away
from your work to drink coffee with 'em, don't go; stay with the
others. And always be the first one in the work; then they'll have to
give in at last, willing or not."
This put Uli on his feet. He found new courage; but still be could
hardly leave the master. A number of things came into his mind, about
which he ought to ask; it seemed as if he knew nothing. He asked about
the sowing, and how he had best do this or that; whether this plant grew
here, and how that one should be raised. There was no end to his
questions, until finally Johannes stopped at an inn, drank another
bottle with him, and then almost drove him off home.
Encouraged, Uli finally set off, and now for the first time felt his
importance to the fullest extent. He was somebody, and his eyes saw
quite differently, as he now set foot on the farm that was to get its
rightful attention from him alone. With quite a different step he
approached the house where he was, in a sense, to govern, and where they
were waiting for him as a rebellious regiment awaits its new colonel.
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