The Poor Man of Toggenburg - Autobiography of Ulrich Bräker

for the comfort and edification of (if not the whole of the Tockenburg) my own commune, or at very least my own posterity, might be left to them instead of an inheritance.

The previous year, '67, had bestowed upon me another boy; I called him Johannes after my late father. At about the same time my brother Samson in Laubergaden fell out of a cherry-tree and was killed. In the year '68 I began on the above-mentioned little book, and also a journal, which I am continuing to date. At the first, however, it was crammed with overheated piety, and the occasional good thought was swamped by a hundred empty words, none of which were in accordance with my actions. But my descendants may choose among them some that will be useful and wholesome for them.

In these years of my piety I became dissatisfied with the yarn trade, because, as I thought, I had to associate with far too many coarse and unscrupulous men. What hypocrisy! But why did I then leave it all to my wife and concern myself only with the cotton cloth trade? It was because I thought that with my character and temperament I should succeed better among weavers than spinners

. But for my finances this was an unwise action, or at least it turned out badly. Firstly, the weavers' tools cost me a great deal, and above this I had to pay out a pretty sum for learning the trade, and as soon as I had the business in some sort of order, the price of the finished goods went down. But I thought that things would soon change for the better.

The year '69 bestowed upon me a third son

. "Ha!" I said to myself one day: "now you must think seriously about saving money, you are as far in debt as ever, and your household grows larger as time passes. Quick, take your hands out of your pockets and pay off your creditors! You can do it now. Up till now there has always been some task or other to do about your cottage, and there's always been some little thing wanting for it, not to mention other expenses in your business. And then, you've spent time far more time than was prudent in your reading and writing. No, no, now first things must come first! True, from today onwards you must give up the hope of becoming rich [...] This everlasting studying, what good does it do you? You're the same man you always were, not a whit better than ten years ago when you could hardly read or write. Of course you must borrow some capital, but then you must work all the harder, and do anything that comes your way. Besides your own trade you are a master at carpentry and furniture-making

, and you've already made looms, troughs, chests and coffins by the dozen. Admittedly it does not bring in much money, and as the proverb says: nine journeymen make ten beggars. But every little helps." [...]

In 1768 Bräker began to keep a diary and to write an edifying "Buchlin" [little book] intended for his children. (His eldest child in 1768 was only six years old.) Its title was eventually "Ein Wort der Vermahnung an mich and die Meinigen Dass nichts besers sey den Gott forchten zuallen-zeiten" ["A word of admonition to myself and my family, that nothing is better than to fear God at all times"]. It is indeed very preachy in tone and the punctuation and spelling noticeably worse than in his later writings. The Chronik [pp 20-24] publishes extracts under the title "Kleine Lebensgeschichte" [Brief autobiography]. The expansion of this into the full autobiography did not begin until more than a decade later, when Bräker was a much more experienced writer.

This enigmatic statement may reflect the fact that most weavers were men and most spinners women.