Under these circumstances, it is hardly worth mentioning that N. does not have any ready money. On the contrary, he has outstanding debts:
to the baker, grocer, and cobbler; moreover, [he owes] 125 marks for iron used in the nailery and for goods purchased for the purpose of peddling. – For outstanding rent he owes 41.15 marks, and for various goods borrowed over the course of time, namely for business purposes, 65.14 marks, totaling 231.29 marks.
N. does not receive support payments from associations or other funds, or from municipal or state resources, except for the free schooling available to all children in the village*, and the usual allotment of free firewood from the forests. Likewise, he has no claims to assistance of any kind for the future.
N., who used to be a nail smith, has been working for a year on the country road being built between Oberursel and Schmitten, which meets up with the road running alongside the Weil River. His task sometimes consists of hammering stones, sometimes of spreading them out; he is paid partly by the day, partly by piece rate. He works on the road all year long, except on holidays and rainy days and during the weeks spent blueberry picking. But he does not even let rainy days go wasted. In the workshop of the master for whom he once was a nail smith, he sometimes uses springs purchased in Homburg to manufacture S-shaped hooks, which he then sells to butchers in the vicinity. At times, when his brother, a nail maker, happens to be away, he also uses his idle equipment to forge nails. [ . . . ]
The eldest son, Joseph, works on the road just like his father. Even as a schoolboy he suffered from gout, which is why his father, who was still a nail maker at the time, refrained from taking him as an apprentice right after confirmation. As a result, Joseph was put to work at home, doing filet work for a year. Despite this care, his illness did not disappear but rushed him to the sickbed for two winters. When he had recovered reasonably well, it was finally decided that he had to begin work on the road, too, in order to tackle the family’s mounting poverty. Father and son worked the same number of hours per day, fewer in wintertime, more in the summer; during the latter season this amounted to 11 hours (6-12 a.m., 1-4 p.m., 4:30-7 p.m.) and in the winter 9-11 hours (7-9 a.m., 9¼-12 a.m., 12:45-5 or 6 p.m.).
*Recently, in all Feldberg villages, including ***, school fees are being paid (original footnote).
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