ad a bad time of it, for he
always took the heavy end, wishing to be master not only in giving
orders, but in working too), still in the evening he always helped to
prepare whatever vegetables the mistress ordered, no matter what they
were. He never shirked and he prevented the others from doing so; the
more they helped each other, he said, the sooner they would get done,
and if they wanted food it was only reasonable that they should help get
it ready. He himself always helped wherever he could: when one of the
maids had washed a basket of potatoes and did not like to carry it alone
because she would get all wet, he would help her carry it himself, or
would order the boy (half child, half servant) to do so; and when the
latter at first refused, or failed to come at his word, he punished him
until the boy learned to obey. It was not right, he said, for one
servant to refuse to help another take care of his clothes, or for
servants to plague each other; that was just wantonly making service
worse than it needed to be. But it was long before they grasped this,
for a peculiar atmosphere existed there. The men teased the maids
wherever they could; nowhere was there any mutual assistance. When one
of the men was asked to lend a hand he scoffed and cursed and would not
budge; even the mistress had to endure this, and when she complained to
Joggeli he simply said she was always complaining. He didn't hire
servants to help the women-folk; they had something else to do beside
hauling flowers around.

The behavior of Uli, who was not accustomed to such discord in a house,
attracted attention and brought down upon him the bitter mockery and
scorn of the men, which was aggravated intolerably by other causes. On
the very first Saturday the milker refused, out of sheer wilfulness, to
attend to the manure, but let it go till Sunday morning. This Uli would
not permit; there was absolutely no reason for putting it off, and it
would keep them from cleaning up around the house on Saturday, as was
customary. Besides, the commandment said men shouldn't work on Sunday
"thou nor thy man-servant nor thy maid-servant." Least of all was it
becoming to leave the dirtiest tasks for Sunday. The milker said,
"Sunday fiddlesticks! What do I care about Sunday? I won't do it today."

Uli's blood boiled hotly; but he composed himself and said merely, "Well
then, I will."

The master, who had heard the clamor, went into the house, grumbling to
himself