he cried, while the tears rolled down hischeeks. "Is it true what they say, that she was good for nothing?"
  "No, indeed, it is not true," replied the old servant, raising hereyes to heaven; "she was worth a great deal; I knew it years ago,and since the last night of her life I am more certain of it thanever. I say she was a good and worthy woman, and God, who is inheaven, knows I am speaking the truth, though the world may say,even now she was good for nothing."
  THE END.
  1872
  FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
  SOMETHING
  by Hans Christian AndersenSOMETHING
  "I MEAN to be somebody, and do something useful in the world,"said the eldest of five brothers. "I don't care how humble my positionis, so that I can only do some good, which will be something. I intendto be a brickmaker; bricks are always wanted, and I shall be reallydoing something."
  "Your 'something' is not enough for me," said the secondbrother; "what you talk of doing is nothing at all, it is journeyman'swork, or might even be done by a machine. No! I should prefer to bea builder at once, there is something real in that. A man gains aposition, he becomes a citizen, has his own sign, his own house ofcall for his workmen: so I shall be a builder. If all goes well, intime I shall become a master, and have my own journeymen, and mywife will be treated as a master's wife. This is what I callsomething."
  "I call it all nothing," said the third; "not in reality anyposition. There are many in a town far above a master builder inposition. You may be an upright man, but even as a master you willonly be ranked among common men. I know better what to do than that. Iwill be an architect, which will place me among those who possessriches and intellect, and who speculate in art. I shall certainly haveto rise by my own endeavors from a bricklayer's laborer, or as acarpenter's apprentice- a lad wearing a paper cap, although I now weara silk hat. I shall have to fetch beer and spirits for the journeymen,and they will call me 'thou,' which will be an insult. I shallendure it, however, for I shall look upon it all as a mererepresentation, a masquerade, a mummery, which to-morrow, that is,when I myself as a journeyman, shall have served my time, will vanish,and I shall go my way, and all that has passed will be nothing tome. Then I shall enter the academy, and get instructed in drawing, andbe called an architect. I may even attain to rank, and havesomething placed before or after my name, and I shall build asothers have done before me. By this there will be always 'something'to make me remembered, and is not that worth living for?"
  "Not in my opinion," said the fourth; "I will never follow thelead of others, and only imitate what they have done. I will be agenius, and become greater than all of you together. I will create anew style of building, and introduce a plan for erecting housessuitable to the climate, with material easily obtained in the country,and thus suit national feeling and the developments of the age,besides building a storey for my own genius."
  "But supposing the climate and the material are not good formuch," said the fifth brother, "that would be very unfortunate foryou, and have an influence over your experiments. Nationality mayassert itself until it becomes affectation, and the developments ofa century may run wild, as youth often does. I see clearly that noneof you will ever really be anything worth notice, however you maynow fancy it. But do as you like, I shall not imitate you. I mean tokeep clear of all these things, and criticize what you do. In everyaction something imperfect may be discovered, something not right,which I shall make it my business to find out and expose; that will besomething, I fancy." And he kept his word, and became a critic.
  People said of this fifth brother, "There is something veryprecise about him; he has a good head-piece, but he does nothing." Andon that very account they thought he must be something.
  Now, you see, this is a little history which will never end; aslong as the world exists, there will always be men like these fivebrothers. And what became of them?