Chapter 2 Part 1 Chapter 1

"What's next? ... What's next? ..." "What a strange thing, what's next, my dear girl!" Mrs. Buddenbrook and her mother-in-law sat side by side on a white lacquered couch upholstered in light yellow satin, with a gilded lion's head adorning the back of the sofa.She glanced at her husband in the easy chair beside her, and then came to rescue her little daughter.The little girl was sitting on her grandfather's lap in front of the window at this moment. She prompts, "Tony! 'I believe, God...'" Eight-year-old little Antonie is petite, wearing a shiny chiffon dress, her blond-haired little head is trying to turn away from her grandfather's face, and her blue-gray eyes keep looking blankly into the room , repeated in her mouth: "What's next?" Then she recited it slowly: "'I believe, God...'", her eyes lit up, and she quickly finished the sentence: "'... created me and all living things,'" she had memorized by now, beaming with joy as she spelled out the catechism article verbatim.

carry on.The catechism which she memorized was newly revised and published in the year 1835, after the sanction of a very wise city council.As long as it started well, she thought, it was like sliding down the "Jerusalem Hill" in a small sledge with her brother in winter: there was no way to stop, no time to think. She continued to backtrack, "'Created clothes and shoes, food and drink, house wives, fields and livestock...'" Just after reciting here, old Mr. John Buddenbrook suddenly laughed loudly and uncontrollably.In fact, he couldn't bear it anymore.He was glad that at last he had found an opportunity to play a joke on the catechism.Perhaps it is for this reason that he wants to test his little granddaughter.He asked her how much a sack of wheat cost, how many fields and animals she had, and began to do business with her.He had a round, ruddy face...no amount of air could bring a scowl to that face...inlaid with powdered snow-white hair, a braid-like lock hanging down the edge of his squirrel-coloured coat Wide collar.Although he was nearly seventy years old, his clothes still kept the style of his youth; only there were no gold and silver ribbons sewn between the buttons and coat pockets, and he had never worn trousers in his life.His fat double chin rested comfortably on a white crepe corset.

Everyone laughed as he laughed, but it was only out of respect for the head of the family.The old Mrs. Dushan Antoinette Buddenbrook, née Dushan, also laughed, and her expression was exactly the same as that of her husband.She was a buxom woman with thick white curls that fell to her ears.Wearing a black and gray striped dress that shows her natural simplicity.Her extremely slender, white and tender hands were holding a velvet sewing bag, which was placed flat on her lap.It was a curious thing that, as she grew older, she came more and more like her husband in features.Only in the shape of her eyes and dark, mobile eyes could there be a hint of half-Latin blood in her.Although she was born in Hamburg, her grandfather has Franco-Swiss blood in her body.

Senator Elizabeth Buddenbrook was her daughter-in-law.Her maiden name is Kroger.Her smile, so to speak, was in the Kroger family tradition, beginning with a pop of the lips, followed by a press of her jaw against her chest.Like all the Krogers, although she could not be called a beauty, she was very elegant.Her demure, serene and gentle movements, clear and well-regulated voice can win everyone's favor and trust.Her light red hair, braided into a bun on top of her head and curled loosely over her ears, matched her pale, slightly freckled complexion very well.Her nose is slightly too long, her mouth is relatively small, and there is no hollow between her lower lip and chin, which should be regarded as a feature of her fifth house.She wore a short tight waistcoat with puffed sleeves, and a fitted skirt of lightly floral chiffon underneath.Her flawless neck peeked out from the collar, and above it was a braided band of glittering diamonds.

The Senator sat in the easy chair, leaning forward slightly, with a look of impatience.He was wearing a cinnamon-colored coat with wide lapels and narrow cuffs, tightly bound from the wrists down.The skinny trousers underneath are made of white linen with black tape sewn into the seams.A high stiff collar tightly tied his chin, and a silk tie was tied outside the stiff collar, which fluffily covered the exposed flowered vest...His blue slightly sunken eyes were piercing , the same as his father, the difference is that his eyes seem to have a layer of dreamy color.His face was more angular and severe than his father's, with a high and curved nose, and his face, half hidden behind a curly blond beard, was not as full as the old man's.

Mrs. Buddenbrook laid her hand on her daughter-in-law's arm, and said with a slight smile to her: "He always does, old chap, doesn't he, Bessie?" When she pronounced the sound "total", she pronounced i as u. The Senatorial made only a gesture in reply, and the gold bracelet on her arm rang slightly; then, with a habitual gesture, she swept her hand from the corner of her mouth to her temple, as if to brush a stray strand of hair. Like going up. At this time, the councilor said with half a smile and half a reproachful tone: "Father, you always make fun of sacred things!..."

They were sitting at this moment in a "view room" on the second floor of a large old mansion in Mon Street, which had recently been purchased by John Buddenbrook's firm and into which the family had moved. The days are not too long.The walls of the room were hung with heavy elastic tapestry, leaving a suitable gap between the tapestry and the walls.The blanket was woven with large landscapes in pastel colors to harmonize with the thin rug that lay on the floor.These pastoral landscapes are all in the style of the eighteenth century, happy grape pickers, shepherdesses with colorful headbands, hardworking farmers.These shepherdesses are either sitting by the crystal-clear stream, holding white lambs in their arms, or kissing beautiful shepherd boys... These pictures are designed to match the yellow covers on the painted furniture and the yellow on the two windows. The satin curtains were of matching colour, mostly painted in a dusky sunset glow.

There are not many indoor furniture, of course compared with the huge room area.A round table with thin legs inlaid with gold thread stood not in front of the sofa, but in front of the wall opposite an organ on which stood a box for a fife.In the room, apart from a row of high-backed chairs placed evenly along the wall, there is only a small sewing table in front of the window and a small exquisite and beautiful desk with antiques on the opposite side of the sofa. There was a glass door facing the wall of the windows, through which a gloomy columned hall looked out; tall white double doors on the left led to the dining room.In a semicircular fireplace on the other wall, logs crackled and crackled behind shiny wrought-iron gates.

It was very cold early this year.It was only mid-October, and the leaves of the small linden trees around the courtyard of St. Mary's Church across the road from the window were already withered and yellow, and the cold wind was blowing from behind the church's Gothic spire and corners.Cold raindrops drifted in the air.The house had double windows because of old Mrs. Buddenbrook. Today is Thursday, according to the rules of this family, the family reunite on this day every two weeks; but today, in addition to relatives living in this city, they also invited a few acquaintances to have a light meal; so at this time ... Around four o'clock in the afternoon, the whole family sat in the falling twilight and waited for the guests... Little Antonie's grandfather did not interrupt her sledding game, but unhappily turned her already somewhat The upturned upper lip is just a little higher.By this time she had reached the foot of the "Jerusalem Hill," but even she herself could not stop the sledge as it slid out of bounds.

She said, "Amen, I know something else, Grandpa!" "Look!" She knew something else!cried the old man, pretending to be curious. "Didn't you hear, mother? She knows something!Can't you just tell me..." "If anything burns," said Tony, nodding her head at every word, "it must be lightning. If it doesn't burn, it's lightning!" Now she folded her arms, looked around at the cheerful faces, and was quite sure that she would be admired.Old Buddenbrook, however, disapproved of her cleverness, and wondered who taught such foolishness to children.It turned out that this person was a newly hired nurse from Marienweed for the children...Miss Ida Jungmann.At this time, the councilor had no choice but to say a few good words for the nanny.

"Father, you are too strict. Even if this child is a little smart, a child of this age should be allowed to have her own ideas about these things!" "I'm sorry, dear, but this is nonsense! I don't like to fill a child's head with such nonsense! You know that! What, lightning strikes? Remember, don't upset me with that Prussian woman of yours Already!" Because the old gentleman doesn't get along with Ida Jungman.He has seen the world well, and is not a narrow-minded person.As early as 1813, he took a four-horse carriage to southern Germany to buy grain for Prussian soldiers, because he was doing army grain business at that time.He has also been to Amsterdam and Paris.He is a very open-minded person, and he does not criticize everything outside the gate of his hometown.But apart from business contacts, in social affairs he was more inclined than his councilor son to draw strict boundaries, and he was always indifferent to "outlanders."So that day when his children returned from their trip to West Prussia and brought home the girl, who was only twenty years old, the old man was furious at the Senator's act of kindness.During this outburst he spoke almost exclusively French and North German vernacular.Ida was the daughter of an innkeeper whose father died shortly before the Buddenbrooks arrived at Marianweed.Ida is very capable, especially in housework and childcare, and her loyalty and her Prussian sense of hierarchy make her well suited to her present position in the family.She is a person full of aristocratic class concepts, and she clearly distinguishes the boundaries between the upper class, the general class, and the middle class. If Tony makes friends with a classmate who in her eyes is only a classmate from a middle-class family with good conditions, she will be happy. Displeased... The Prussian lady just happened to be walking in through the glass doors of the Hall of Columns.She was a tall girl, dressed in black, with clean hair and honest looks.She was leading a very thin girl named Clotilde.Clotilde was wearing a little calico dress, and her dusty hair was dull, giving her the look of an old maid.She came from a poor distant relation, the daughter of a nephew who was a farm steward in Rostock.Since she was about the same age as Antony and obedient, the Buddenbrooks were responsible for her upbringing. "Everything is ready," said Miss Jungmans, who could not have pronounced the r sound, and made it only with a throaty grunt. "Little Clotilde really helped a lot in the kitchen, Trina had nothing to do..." Old Buddenbrook smiled behind his crepe bodice at Ida's strange pronunciation; but the Senator stroked his little niece's cheek and said: "You're doing right, Tilda, and work and Pray. Our Tony should learn from you, she is very lazy and proud..." Tony lowered her head and rolled her eyes at her grandfather, because she knew he would speak up for her, as usual. "Look up," he said, "don't do it, Tony, be brave! It's hard to please everyone. People are different. Tilda's a good girl, but we ain't no better than her." Bessie, am I right?" Because his daughter-in-law always supported his opinion, he asked her for her opinion.Mrs. Antoinette always sided with the Consul, not so much from her admiration for him as from her intelligence.This is how the two generations, the young and the old, hold hands crossed like a pas de deux. "Dad, you've been so kind to her!" said the Senator's wife. "Tony must try to be a smart and thrifty woman... Are the kids out of school yet?" she asked Ida. Tony, who was sitting on her grandfather's lap looking into the window mirror, called out almost simultaneously: "Tom and Christian are coming up Johannes Street, and Uncle Doctor, and Mr Hofstede .” The bells of St. Mary's are ringing: Jingle!Jingle!It was knocked out of rhythm, so that people couldn't figure out what the purpose was for a while, but the sound was very solemn.When the big clock and the small bell rang together cheerfully and solemnly, and after four o'clock was announced, the bell on the door below also rang loudly, and the sound was carried all the way inside.And indeed it was Tom and Christian, with their first guests, the poet... Jean-Jacques Hofstede and Graboff, his family's consultant physician.