The silence of her apartment was soothing to Nanna’s mind.

Besides a small sofa, which was her sleeping place, her little dominions contained a book shelf; three or four flower vases; a bureau, and a small work table.  The two latter articles of furniture were specimens of Carl’s workmanship.

Carl, when he chose to display his ability, was a skillful carpenter, and formerly Nanna was his special favorite.  Of late, however, it could readily be perceived that Magde possessed his affections.  She, had she so chosen, could have abused him as if he had been a dog, and like a cur he would have crept back to kiss the hand which had maltreated him.  Magde, however, was soft-hearted, and did not abuse her power over the singular boy; but she compelled him to labor with much more assiduity than he had formerly.  When at home, Carl generally performed the duties of a nursery maid.  The children remained with him willingly, for he tenderly loved them; in fact every child in the neighborhood loved the “Wiseacre,” for he would play with them, and upon all occasions take them under his special protection.  When he saw his little nephews and nieces, subjected to the discipline of their mother, he would fly into a frenzy of passion, and then he was called, “Crazy Carl.”  He was an inveterate enemy to corporeal punishment, and he could invent no better method of explaining his doctrine, than by administering to those, who differed with him, a practical illustration of the cruelty of personal castigation.  Therefore he would fly around among the parents and the straggling children, preventing their punishment of his favorites by means of his own stalwart arm, and then after the tumult had subsided he would repent and tearfully sue for pardon.

Crazy Carl was laughed at for his exertions in behalf of the children, yet to spare his feelings the necessary punishment of the children was deferred till he was out of sight.  None of the neighboring peasant women would leave their homes, to go to the market, to a wedding, or to a funeral, without requesting Carl to remain with the children, and upon his compliance they would go forth untroubled, for they were well aware of the unbounded influence “Wiseacre” possessed over the young people.

Carl’s bed-room, which adjoined Nanna’s apartment, contained a bedstead, a well whittled table, and a chair mutilated in a like manner.  In this chair Carl would rock backward and forward, for hours, and with half closed eyes would look as if by stealth, at a striped woolen waistcoat, which was suspended against the wall, or some other little gift from Magde.