Grantville Gazette.Volume VII Read online

  "Likewise, I make the blanket assumption that everyone can learn. Some actually cannot learn due to limitations of their minds, some are only able to reason to a certain extent, but the rest try to live up to my expectations. I've been disappointed but not all that often. The reason I bring this up is because of your attitude towards your apprentice."

  "What about him, Herr Jenkins?" Dauer looked stubborn. "His parents paid me money to train him and I'm training him. He is learning, even if I have to use the stick on him regularly."

  "That's just the problem." Chad gestured widely. "Long before my time we found that while you can make a donkey go forward with a stick, once you stop hitting him, he stops moving or moves slowly. On the other hand, if you encourage him, praise him when he actually accomplishes something, he will want to keep moving faster and faster. Those are the classic carrot and stick approaches to education."

  "Herr Jenkins! I have tried and tried to do that but he is like your donkey. I have to get his attention. My master beat me regularly until I spotted him making a mistake one day. I didn't tell him and the iron was ruined. I kept the pleasure of that knowledge in my heart. I then began to find out how much more I could learn that my master did not know or was doing wrong. Unknown to him, I began my experiments. I became a journeyman easily and then a master. Unfortunately, I found that I was still working with fools like my old master."

  "I understand, Herr Dauer. It is difficult, so difficult, not to have excessive pride in your greater knowledge, isn't it? Life was good when you were in your own town where the people recognized your worth. But then in Jena? You only irritated them. Of course they knew your skills but if someone continually berates you as a fool, do you allow him into your own house?"

  "I suppose I wouldn't, Herr Jenkins. But still…"

  "No buts. Fortunately you're here in Grantville where the local blacksmiths cannot reject you. On the other hand, if you are to work with my people, I insist that you treat them with as much respect as they give you. They will not know as much as you do about iron but I guarantee the American workers will know scientific facts you never imagined. You know something, they know something. I also insist that you treat all German workers with respect, including your apprentice."

  "You can't make me do that." Dauer's chin was lifted in bitter refusal and he glared at Chad. "He's my apprentice and I'll treat him as I see fit!"

  "All right then, so be it." Chad shrugged and flipped his hand sideways. "The coach leaves for Jena tomorrow morning at ten. Be on it." He couldn't enforce it but Dauer didn't know that. He did know nobles who could and would.

  "You would throw me out of Grantville because I will not relinquish control over my apprentice?" Dauer gasped in shock.

  "No. Because you are refusing to change!" Chad slapped his desktop. "You're refusing to even try! That's why! I have no use for someone who will not try. If Galileo Galilei was in my employ, I would dismiss him for the same reason. He may be a great scientist but I would not use him."

  Dauer was aghast. Herr Jenkins would dismiss Galileo? How much brighter a star was Galileo than Dauer himself? It never occurred to him that… "It is that important?"

  "My son and I have at least one thing in common." Chad spoke in earnest, his eyes boring directly into Dauer's. "The true worth of an individual is not based on his wealth or position. It is based on his heart and a willing mind. Of course there will be those who will attempt to deceive you. There will be those who cannot or refuse to learn. Let someone else worry about them. But most, most will try to learn.

  "Explain in an orderly fashion to your apprentice why certain things happen. USE Steel can help with the chemistry aspect. I personally know very little about iron but let me show you something."

  Chad lifted an old technical manual from the shelf behind him and put it on the desk in front of Dauer. He opened it to a page showing an exploded view of a carburetor. "See that?" Chad tapped the picture. "My father trained me how to take apart and put together that type of machine when I was younger than Albert. I had no idea how to make any of the parts but I knew how to put them together properly because he taught me their order."

  Dauer was fascinated by the incredibly detailed drawing. "So many individual parts."

  "That's nothing." Chad flipped the pages to one showing an automobile engine. "There are hundreds of parts in that, all made to a precision measured in hundredths of an inch. Thousands of people shared their knowledge and experience over less than a hundred years in order to build this. For one type of machine which had ten or more competitors. Do you understand?"

  "I will have to think about this, Herr Jenkins." Dauer was apologetic. "I am willing to learn. I always have been. It's just that it's hard to change."

  ***

  Chad closed the front door behind Dauer and gave a huge sigh of relief. He cupped his hand over his mouth to sound like a PA system. "His Most Serene, Glorious and Puissant von Grantville has left the building." Chad draped his suit jacket over the back of a chair, unbuttoned his collar and whipped off his tie.

  Missy laughed as Chad sat down on the living room couch. "Dad, I knew it was going to be a 'von Grantville evening' but I hardly expected you to give him the whole 'von Grantville treatment.' I mean, we could hear you pounding your desk."

  "Was all that necessary?" his mother asked.

  Chad grimaced and rubbed his palm across his right cheek. "Unfortunately, yes. I hate being that forceful. Chip wrote that he was abusive to his apprentice. I had to shut down that kind of behavior immediately. Might be allowable in any other part of Germany but I don't need anyone I'm doing business with getting arrested for assault and battery. The smiths in town probably wouldn't think of mentioning it."

  "It occurs to me you were as arrogant as him," observed Eleanor.

  "Yeah. But I have to psych myself up for it. I figure he's been working on it since he was an undersized kid in grade school. I'll bet he was apprenticed to a smith because the smith was the strongest man in his town. Might be a hell of a scrapper."

  "Have some coffee." Debbie brought him a steaming mug. Cream and honey, the way he begun drinking it after the new coffee began arriving. She sat down next to him after he took his first sip. He put his arm over her shoulder. "So how did it go?"

  "Good. Good. I've got him thinking along the lines I wanted. I'll close the sale tomorrow. Have to make it quick or he'll find just how much work he can get without me, even not having his own forge. Right now he's willing to change because he wants this job so bad he can taste it. He'll be unhappy once he finds how I conned him but he's smart enough to get over it fast. If nothing else, all his fellow smiths are doubling up or more in rooms while he has a whole up-time house to himself and his apprentice. That's genuine prestige these days."

  "This is a sale?" Gertrude asked. Since Gretchen brought the attractive teen to Grantville from Jena last October, she'd become a member of the Jenkins family.

  "Sale, agreement, contract. Whatever. In the car business, ninety percent of the time I only had one shot to make the sale. So I initially showed Dauer respect in front of all of you and the comforts available here. I'll bet he noticed every single one, from the music to the silverware. By the way, wonderful, just the perfect dinner, dear." Chad gave her small shoulder a squeeze and kissed the top of her head. "Then in private I had to get certain issues blasted through his arrogance."

  Missy nodded emphatically. "Yeah, that bit about 'Oh, I never ask my apprentice for his opinion' got to me. I couldn't believe it. I mean, Mom would never teach kids like that. Right, Mom?"

  Debbie started chuckling and then burst out laughing, joined by Chad. "No," she finally admitted, wiping tears from her eyes. "But there have been times. Oh, there have been times when I wished I could. Including you and Chip."

  "Excuse me, but I don't see what was unusual in Dad's treatment of Herr Dauer," confessed Gertrude. "Dad's far more lenient and generous than any freiherr would have been towards even a master smith coming to work
for him. I doubt Herr Dauer has eaten with any freiherr's family. He is a craftsman, they are noble. It just doesn't happen. Like you had Veit tell him, it's a great honor."

  "True," Eleanor said. "But remember we're not like the rest of Germany. Chad, how many times have you had your salespeople or mechanics over for dinner?"

  Chad wrinkled his brow in thought for a moment. "Here? Maybe a dozen times, mostly Christmas parties when times were lean. Normally we had them at Toothman's Restaurant in Farmington. We did have that party for Bob Szymanski so he could propose to Darlene." Chad snickered. "Then she almost swallowed the engagement ring he planted in her piece of cake. Most of our parties are for people from the church or the Lions."

  Debbie looked at the mantle clock. "It's almost eight, girls. If you've got your homework done, you can watch TV. After you've changed out of those clothes."

  Eleanor was frowning.

  "What's the matter, Mom?" Chad asked.

  "Just thinking. Perhaps you're taking this 'von Grantville' thing too far."

  Chad gave a slight shake of his head. "I don't think so. I spent months in the woods with the timber cutters. While Estes Frost and the other up-timers all called me Chad, most of the down-timers still called me Herr Jenkins. This is after I was swinging an axe, eating the same food, sleeping in the same bunkhouse and going to town only a little more often than they did. I think the down-timer loggers thought I was like one of those eccentric English gentlemen and had a screw loose.

  "Dauer's one of the few who ever called me 'von Grantville' and I stopped that right away. Once this contract is in place, I'm going to insist on Chad and Ulrich. Saying Herr all the time is boring. I admit I'm not as egalitarian as some people would like but as long as I've got you and Debbie standing next to me with sledgehammers, I don't think it's going to be a problem."

  "Sledgehammers, huh!" Debbie snorted. "That's not at all lady-like. We ladies use hat-pins. Three inches long. You still have some around, don't you, Mom?"

  ***

  Ulrich Dauer didn't get much sleep that night. Early the next morning he knocked on Chad's door. "Herr Jenkins, I will do as you wish on one condition. That I be allowed to learn what those men at USE Steel know."

  ***

  Dauer and his apprentice, Albert, watched as Chad demonstrated the wringer later that morning. Then as he disassembled it onto the workbench. Dauer looked at the few parts and his forehead twisted, mystified. "I can hardly believe you brought me here to make these parts. They're child's play."

  "I know. But I'm going to need hundreds of them. I think it's journeyman or senior apprentice work except for this." He picked up a bearing and holding the center, spun the outer portion. "The machine has four of these. See the tiny shiny parts in there? Each one is a metal ball called a bearing. They make the entire assembly roll smoothly."

  "How are they made?"

  "Frankly, I don't know. There were a number of them used in automobiles and they were not made around here. Don't even try. What I need you to do is to figure a way to duplicate their function in the machine. Or not. But it has to roll smoothly."

  "Ahh," Dauer breathed with a smile. "A challenge." Then he gave an assured shrug. "It shouldn't take long. What will take much longer will be to set up my forge. First of all, I will need a building, one safe from prying eyes. I will also need additional tools. Given time, I can create most of them. The only tools I have are what are in my chest. It's too unsafe and expensive for me to keep a horse and wagon."

  "Hmm, let's look at what's here in the service garage's back room." Chad unlocked the door. "I let the Mechanical Support group have all the highly technical stuff but I've still got a lot of my father's tools. There's something I'll bet you don't have in your chest," he muttered, pointing out a large anvil. "I've got a lot of old measuring stuff. Calipers and the like. They're covered with grease and grime but will still work. You'll probably need a big vise as well. Take anything you find here. My father used all this stuff at one time."

  Dauer was disturbed. "Herr Jenkins, you mean, he actually worked with his hands? But how…?"

  Chad looked over at him with a gentle smile. "Herr Dauer, you will find that all the Americans in this town either worked with their hands or had a job that required daily activity. We had no idle elite. My father repaired engines, like the ones I showed you last night. He required that I learn how to repair them as well. I wasn't very good, mostly because I didn't want to be. My skills were those of a tradesman, selling the completed self-propelled carriages, like those pictures I showed you before you left last night. With my profits, I purchased land."

  "But I thought you were a…"

  "A noble? In our time, we had no one who could be considered the equivalent of a noble, at least not living around here. I just happen to own more land and houses than anyone in Grantville. There were definitely none in our country who combined the land ownership and political power the nobles have here. Huh! Think about it, Herr Dauer. Would you rather have a noble who behaves like a criminal or a tradesman who behaves nobly? Now let's see what else we have."

  Dauer couldn't believe it. He'd just had dinner with Herr Jenkins' family last night in an atmosphere of nobility, at least his ideal of nobility, the type he'd always wished to be accepted by. Music, good food, intelligent conversation and most of all, people who were interested in what he had to say.

  "Herr Dauer? The drill press? I know it's old but it's electric powered and I have the metal cutting drill bits, taps and dies. You're welcome to use them."

  "Uh, Herr Jenkins," Dauer gave an embarrassed chuckle, "I think I can figure out the drill press does but what are taps and dies? Are they something for a farrier?"

  "Farrier?"

  "Yes, the smith for horses, to shoe them." Dauer mimed bending over and tacking in a horseshoe.

  Chad laughed. "Oh, no. No farrier work was ever done here. But now that you mention it, Grandpa Jenkins may have done some. Dad just never threw tools away. I moved everything that he had to this location when I bought the self-propelled carriage shop. The taps and dies are to, well, I'll show you later. We'll have to find a location for your forge, this place won't do at all." Chad paused to think a moment. "I've got it! There's an old brick building just outside town, built at least a century ago. It's where my Grandpa Jenkins had his first garage. Who knows, it might have originally been a stable or farrier shop."

  ***

  Dauer reread the contract he and Chad had signed. The final paragraph required that his apprentice, one Albert Gunther Steinmetz, age thirteen, further his education by attending school in Grantville. That paragraph floored Ulrich when he first read it.

  "But his education is complete except for his apprenticeship! I will need him in the shop to assist me."

  "Complete?" Chad was sarcastic. "How much does he know about chemistry? Biology? General Sciences? Mathematics? Geometry? Physics? Can he speak, read and write fluent English? While you might not need these, I assure you, he will. There will be no charge to you for his education. He will be getting out of school every afternoon and will assist you then. In the evenings he can do his studies. Besides, he's required to go to school until he turns sixteen. That's the law here."

  "Well, why didn't you say so to begin with?" Dauer was explosive then checked it when he saw Chad's silent glare.

  Chad waited, deliberately staring at Dauer until he saw his eyes look away thirty seconds later. His voice was soft as he tapped his finger on the line in the document. "I do not want Albert thinking that the only reason he is attending school is because the government requires it. I want him to believe you insisted on it and I agreed. Do you understand why?"

  Dauer glared at him. He could always get another apprentice but a position like this, working for Herr Jenkins in Grantville? Unlikely. In fact, unique. Having accepted that fact, he nodded. "All right. I agree." He surrendered grudgingly. "No wonder you made enough money to buy as much land as you have," he grumbled. Then his lips lifted in a smile.r />
  Chad grinned. "There's only one man in Grantville I could never better in a trade. Fortunately, he's not a tradesman. Now let's go see Chuck Riddle and make this all legal."

  ***

  Chad watched fascinated as Dauer hammered another piece of iron into shape and quenched it. He could see how it was done but damned if he would ever have the desire to do it himself. Of course, there were people who hated selling.

  It'd been a month since Dauer arrived in Grantville. It took only a week before he was using most of the metal-working tools that were in the service center on a daily basis. When Dauer visited USE Steel and walked around town, he ran into a few smiths he'd known. To his surprise all were willing to tell him anything he needed to know about iron and steel. Especially after he mentioned he was working primarily for Herr Jenkins and wouldn't be much competition. A couple of journeymen smiths even hinted that when he needed some additional help, they were looking for opportunities.

  Chad already had dozens of rollers and frames ready for assembly but hadn't thought of a proper name to put onto the top frame of the wringer. Dauer looked over at him, his face protected by a clear heavy plastic face shield. "Oh, hello, Chad. What brings you over here?"

  Much to the relief of both, they'd dropped formality the day after they'd signed the contract. Ulrich and Albert had supper with Chad's family one day a week at Chad's heavy suggestion, usually Sunday dinner, to "accustom themselves to American ways." In Chad's opinion it also kept the girls civilized. Bringing Albert out of his shell around girls was another benefit.