The Nagyvradi Brothers

20

1

I was ten years old when I pointed out to my older brother, Pete, what a beautiful sword our overseer, John, had. Pete then told me that the sword had belonged to our great-grandfather. He told me that our grandfather had given the sword to John because he saved our village from some Cossack looters. John was grandfather’s bastard child. This was all new to me. I had noticed how close he and my father were and he had always been very nice to me. John ran our estate and our village and just about everything else around our land. Even the servants in our home were ruled over by John. He also had strikingly good looks.

John set his black Hungarian stallion every morning out in the work yard and gave orders to everyone for the day. He was always dressed in black. He had a big Hungarian mustache just like my father. He wore the sword all the time. Everyone in the village worked for our family. The priest, the doctor, and the teacher were the only ones that had not been born in our village.

A couple days later, I asked my father about John. He told me how he had defended our village. He said that John was credited with cutting down 16 Cossacks by himself. He was a very brave man.

My father told me, Your grandfather and I were defending our home here. Later as the fight centered in the village, he sent me to the village with 20 men. John was there and had also brought 20 men with him. He ended up losing two boys. When my father found out how well John had fought, he presented him with the sword. We were all very proud of John. He isn’t just my half-brother; he’s also my very best friend. My mother died when I was born and my lonely father fell in love with a lovely peasant girl, John’s mother. These things happen, Paul.

Two days later, I was going up the center stairway in our home and I saw my father following John into a downstairs room. I was not familiar with the room. It was all servants’ quarters. I had been to the big kitchen of course, but never these other rooms. I knocked on the door and heard John yell, Enter! It was a small dining room. My father and John were sitting down. I went in and greeted them.

I said, Good day, father, and good day, Uncle John. John gave my father a look and my father just smiled. Then he asked me if I wanted to eat with them. I told him, I would have more fun eating with you than with Peter. He ordered the food for all three of us. They talked some business during the meal and then after my father had finished lunch, he got up and left. John asked me about my pigeons. He told me that he had some too. So we talked about pigeons for a while. I promised him I would stop by his place in the village and see his pigeons. Uncle John and I became good friends. He also taught me the finer points of swordsmanship and took me boar and bear hunting.

Some gypsies came by our village. They had a beautiful spotted horse colt with them that was about a year old. Uncle John traded the colt from them and took it to his home. His stables were behind his house. Most of his horses were blacks. I asked him one day why he got that pretty horse when he only rode the blacks. He put his arm around me and said, I have a very good friend who is around 11 years old that will need a horse of his very own and he needs to start training it. It was one of the happiest days of my life.

The teacher from the village came every afternoon to our home. Peter and I had to study our lessons, but Peter wanted to rule over me and keep me from studying. One day I asked my father why I couldn’t go to school in the village instead of getting my lessons at home. He told me that if I wanted to go to school in the village I could, and so I did.

The following day I saddled my pony and off to school I went. I left my pony at John’s corral and walked over to the school. The teacher got me a desk and asked me what I wanted the kids to call me.

I told him, They can call me Paul, that’s my name.

He said, Very well, Your Lordship.

He then announced that everybody could call me Paul while in school and that I was there to learn my lessons just like everybody else there.

In the afternoons Father Tony, our priest, came to our house to teach us religion. He taught us stories from the bible. I had a good voice so I ended up in the choir and sang in church on Sundays. Both my father and Uncle John told me they were proud of me.

It was several months later that we had a lot of visitors that came with their kids from all over Hungary. They were all from noble families. My brother, Peter, of course organized all of the activities for us kids. Since I was the youngest, I just followed them around.

We were riding one day, six of us in a group, when we came upon a boy who had been badly hurt. He had a broken leg. I jumped off my horse and went to see what had happened to him. He told me that a bear had chased him up a tree and he later fell from the tree and broke his leg. He had something wrong with his arm too. Peter said, Leave him; he can crawl home, and he ordered me back on my horse. We rode away but at the next turn in the trail, I stopped and rode back. I felt that I needed to help that boy home. When I got back to him he had passed out. I cut a couple short poles for splints. I straightened him out and set his leg the way the doctor had explained to us in first aid class. He then came to. I took his belt and I tied his leg in place. Then I got him up on his good leg and from there I helped him into the saddle. He could only help with one arm and it was a struggle, but he finally got in the saddle. He was shivering, so I took off my warm jacket and put it around him. Then I headed towards the village leading the horse.

A half hour later, I was leading him down the village street towards his home. The priest was walking on the sidewalk and saw us, so I asked him to please send the doctor as this boy was badly hurt. Father Tony knew the boy and called him Luke. He tried to talk to Luke, but Luke was pretty well out of it. The priest then ran for the doctor. The doctor was over at Uncle John’s house playing cards. So when the doctor came over, so did Uncle John and the priest.

When I got to the boy’s home, Peter and our visitors came riding down the street. Peter rode over to me and wanted to know why I had disobeyed him.

He said, That boy should have crawled home.

I told him, You should have listened to Dad. He told you the other day that you should respect our people more. They work for us and they are loyal to us. It’s our duty to help them.

Uncle John and all the others heard what I told Peter. Uncle John came out into the street and told Peter to leave or he wouldn’t be able to when he was finished with him. My father was coming down the street and Peter took off. Uncle John lifted Luke off the horse and carried him into the bedroom. I went in with the doctor and the priest. Uncle John wanted to know what had happened, so I explained to him the best I could. Luke’s mother was crying.

I was shivering, so I went and stood next to the stove. My father came in and John told him, Young Luke is hurt and Paul brought him in.

The doctor said, His shoulder is dislocated. He had the priest hold him and he set his shoulder. Then he checked his leg and said that he would leave the splint that I put on it in place. He replaced our belts with some wrappings and left it as it was. He asked me what I did and I explained to him how I reset Luke’s leg just like he taught us in school. He told me that I would be getting an A in first aid.

My father was standing with Luke’s mother and he had his arm around her. She was still crying. I sneezed a couple of times and Uncle John asked Maria what she had on the stove.

She said, Chicken soup.

He told her, Give Paul a bowl of that so he can get warmed up. He put his jacket on Luke and I don’t want Paul to catch a cold.

Maria ran and got me some soup. I just sat down at the table and started eating. It was the best tasting soup that I had ever eaten and I told her so. I called her Aunt Maria. She came over and gave me a kiss.

She said, Thank you very much for everything, Your Lordship.

I said, My name is Paul. What I did was my duty.

The doctor gave Luke a powder and he went to sleep. They got my jacket out from under him, so I put it back on. The doctor told Maria that he would be back in the morning to check on Luke. He told her that if she needed him during the night to send for him. The priest then said a prayer and mentioned my name in it five times. We were all getting ready to leave and my dad told me that he was going to stay a while longer. Uncle John told me he wanted me to come over to his place for the night and he would make some of his famous goulash. My dad gave me a hug and told me that he was proud of me. I said goodnight and thanked Maria for the soup and went with Uncle John leading my horse.

That evening, Uncle John told me that Luke was my half-brother. Being disgusted with my stuck up broker, Peter, I was very happy that I had a younger brother. I liked Maria too. She seemed to be very nice. If my father liked her, then so did I.

The next morning I went over to Luke’s house and knocked on the door. When Maria came to the door I asked her how Luke was. She told me that he was in a lot of pain. She asked me to come in and see him. I went into the bedroom and Luke was suffering. I asked Maria if the doctor had come by yet; he hadn’t. I told Maria that I would go and get him.

I rode over to the doctor’s place. He told me that he would see Luke after he had breakfast, but if he was in a lot of pain he needed some powder. He gave me the powder and I rode back and gave the powder to Maria and she gave it to Luke. Soon he was feeling better.

I waited around until the doctor came over and then I went home. I saw Uncle John and Dad talking, so I went over to them and told them how Luke was doing. My father told me that it was nice of me to check in on him.

On the way up to my room, I ran into my cousin, Lydia. She told me that she was glad that I went back to help Luke. She hated the way Peter acted. She walked up to my room with me. We talked about the peasants in our village and Lydia told me that some of them were very nice. She said that she had a peasant girl for a friend and she liked giving her old dresses to her. When she left, I went into my closet and found lots of clothes that didn’t fit me anymore. I then went downstairs and found my dad with Uncle John. They were looking through some catalogues on farm products. As soon as my dad noticed me, he asked me what I was up to. I asked him if I could give some of my clothes that didn’t fit anymore to Luke.

He said, I don’t see anything wrong with that. Do you like Luke?

I answered, I do. I want him for a friend.

Well, that’s all right with me, son, he replied.

The following day when I went to visit Luke, he was sitting up in bed and we talked some. I brought him a bundle of clothes, a real nice jacket, and a picture book from second grade. He was kind of shy at first, but we were getting along real well. I tried to visit him every day.

Two weeks later, he started to walk a little. By now we were good friends. We walked over to Uncle John’s to see his pigeons and his black horses. We could always get a slice of bread with some lard on it from Uncle John’s housekeeper.

On Easter Sunday we went to church. The church had a center isle and rows of seats on each side. On the left and right of the outside isle close to the alter about four steps up were some special seats. Our family sat on the right side and the other side was reserved for visiting noblemen. On this Sunday we went to our seats. Dad sat in the middle, Peter and I sat on each side of him, and Uncle John sat by himself in the front row below us. The doctor, schoolteacher, and storekeeper sat on the front row on the other side of the isle. The church was full except for the rest of Uncle John’s row. Maria and Luke came in and were looking for a seat somewhere in the back, but all of the seats were full. My father tapped me on my knee. I looked up and he pointed to Maria and then to the empty seats next to Uncle John. I got up and went down the middle isle to Maria and Luke. I said, Aunt Maria, you have a seat up front, and led her to the front row. I tapped Uncle John on the shoulder and told him to let us in. I practically dragged Maria behind me.

They sat down and then I heard Peter say to my dad, How embarrassing.

My dad asked him, What is so embarrassing?

I was about to go back to my regular seat but decided to sit down next to Uncle John. Luke was on the other side of me. The priest looked right at me and smiled. The whole church was so silent that everybody heard everything. Uncle John then opened the hymn book and put his arm around my shoulder. The first hymn started and we sang together. I could hear Luke and Maria singing too. I felt kind of good because this changed Maria’s standing in our village.

When mass was over, Luke and I went out together. Maria and Uncle John also came out together. Dad and Peter were already outside. My dad was shaking hands with some of the men telling them, Happy Easter. When we came out, my dad went over to Uncle John and told him that he wanted to talk to him. Uncle John told him to come over for lunch. My father agreed and then turned to Maria and asked her if she wanted to come too. She just whispered, Yes. After Peter heard all of this, he declared that he was going home and went to the carriage. He told Dad that he would send the carriage back.

When we got to Uncle John’s, he told his housekeeper that he had four guests. Maria went to help her and said that she would eat in the kitchen. Dad told her that she would eat with us. The girls brought in the trays of ham, salami, kababs, fresh bread, butter, and pickles. My dad started slicing the bread. He put five slices on Maria’s plate and asked her to butter them for us boys. Uncle John started slicing the ham and loading our plates down. The girls brought out some boiled eggs and soon we were eating. My dad then announced that he was going to send me to military school next September in Budapest and I would need someone to go with me. Uncle John nodded and asked if Peter was going too. My dad told him that he would be sending Peter to a school in Vienna. Then he stated that he was thinking of sending Maria with me as a governess. He wanted to know what John’s thoughts were on this.

Dad said, Luke could take his classes there too. I reserved a three room cottage.

Uncle John said, I was thinking of having Maria take over the management of the big house soon. We will have to retire old Kathy.

Maria could take that over four years from now, dad told him. He then asked, What do you think about all of this, Maria?

She said, I have never been away from the village, but I would do my best in whatever My Lordship directs.

Dad said, I will take the three of you to Budapest in August after the wheat harvest and help you get settled in. I will buy some uniforms for the boys and some city clothes for you, Maria. We will take four horses for the boys.

Uncle John helped dad plan everything out. Luke and I were happy, of course. Going to military school was big stuff for us.

We finished our schooling that year and spent the summer riding. Dad gave me a horse to give to Luke. We were on horseback practically all summer.

That August we packed up the big carriage and a wagon with all of our things and went to Budapest. We moved into the three room cottage with a cook shed in the back and stables. We had a big copper tub to take baths in out in the cook shed. We put two beds in one room for us boys. We had a sitting room that had a table to eat on. The other room was to be Marias. My dad bought us a lot of supplies, clothing, and uniforms. Each of us got a nice sword, a rifle, and a pistol. Dad stayed for two weeks and then he went back home.

Maria cooked for us and cleaned our clothes. She had a girl come in twice a week to clean the place. We had a stable boy that took care of several stables. All us boys had to do was study. Horsemanship was easy for both of us and so was swordsmanship. If Luke had any problems with any lessons, he could come to me. I was four years ahead. I was a good shot with the pistol and the rifle.

My dad came for us at Christmas and we went home for two weeks. We spent the summers at home and Maria worked at the big house managing about 20 servants. I spent four years at the school, after which we went home.

Luke went back to school at the village and Maria now worked full-time at the big house. Peter was in Vienna at an engineering academy, and my father told me that I could go too but my German was not good enough. I took French while at military school.

I started helping Uncle John just to learn the place workwise. My dad went to Paris on business and I went with him. We were gone for a month. Later, I went back for a vacation for three months. I got to practice my French.

2

When the 1848 war broke out in Hungary, I was 21 and Luke was in his last year of school. We had to send some troops from my village, so I told my father that I would go. My brother Peter joined up in Austria. Hungary was struggling to rid the Habsburgs, so Peter became a traitor. It really hurt my father. Forty five boys from our village were ready to go, including Luke. My father got us all mounted on our best horses. He gave me a beautiful spotted Hungarian stallion and Uncle John gave Luke one of his best blacks. We had ten packhorses and ten spare horses.

On the day that we were to leave, we all