Berge und Menschen

Berge und Menschen, a novel by H. Federer, published in 1911. Its central figure is Emil Manusch, an engineer who undertakes to build a railway up the Absomer (the Säntis in Appenzell is meant). The project encounters strong local resistance. Emil has recently married his cousin Sette, but the marriage does not work out well and the couple temporarily separate. While working on the Absomer Emil comes to believe that his 14-year-old assistant, Mang, is his son, conceived during a brief love-affair in Appenzell fifteen years before. When this proves to be true, the boy turns against him. A flood destroys the embankment built by Emil and causes the abandonment of the railway plan. In the face of a hostile population Mang rallies to his father, who confesses his paternity to Sette. The boy is adopted, and the marriage saved.