CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY
207
wealthy people are not exposed to the interference of social
institutions.
The one least removed from the rest of the family circle is,
for
all
his deplorable actions, Uncle Franz. To be sure, despite his
advanced years, he has a mistress. And his business practices, too,
are of a sort that we admire, to
be
sure, but cannot at all approve.
Recently he has appointed an unemployed stage manager to super–
vise the evening celebration and see that everything runs like clock–
work. Everything does in fact run like clockwork.
v
Almost two years have now gone by-a long time. And
I could not resist the temptation, during one of my evening strolls,
to stop in at my uncle's house, where no true hospitality is any
longer possible, since strange actors wander about every evening and
the members of the family have devoted themselves to reprehensible
pleasures. It was a mild summer evening, and as I turned into the
avenue of chestnut trees I heard the verse:
The wintry woods are clad in snow .
..
A passing truck made the rest inaudible. Slowly and softly I ap–
proached the house and looked through a crack
in
the curtains. The
similarity of the actors who were present to those of my relations
whom they represented was so startling that for an instant I could
not recognize which one this evening was the the superintendent, as
they called
him.
I could not see the gnomes but I could hear them.
Their chirping tinkle has a wave length that can penetrate any wall.
The whispering of the angel was inaudible. My aunt seemed to be
really happy: she was chatting with the prelate, and it was only
later that I recognized my brother-in-law as the one real person
present-if that is the right word. I recognized him by the way he
rounded and pointed his lips as he blew out a match. Apparently
there are unchangeable individual traits.
This
led me to reflect that
the actors, too, were obviously treated to cigars, cigarettes and wine–
in addition there was asparagus every evening.
If
their appetites were
shameless- and what artist's is not?-this meant a considerable addi–
tional expense for my uncle. The children were playing with dolls
