johann gottfried seume ocr

8/13/2019 Johann Gottfried Seume Ocr

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MY LIFE BYJOH NN GOTTFRID SEUME

TRANSLATED BY MADTlitHANBLE

Baal ear S-h es I-57 11//.


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My Life by Johann Gottfried Seume.

Observe truth and cherish it, uphold Justice, showgood will nd do good to all alike, dread nothing.


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2honest enoug h aril unprejudicedenou g h and has skill enoug hto Show himse l f a s he in. I leave it to everyone whoknows something of me, to judgeif that which he kno w s ofme bears the stamp of this freed om from p rejudice and ofthis ski l l,I tell also honestly and openly, withoutsparing myself and without fearing further the reproach of'he arrogant or the cavillers, who wl erhaps then onlyhold a court of ustice over me, I will have to confessto not a few a nd not small fol l y,but as far PS I an awareof it no meanness .Ifthe narration entertains and perhapshere ant there instructs the young and streng thens (them)in good principles, I have not lived a nd written in vain.

My father, Andreas, wa san honorable, tolerably wellto do peasant, who as had the disposition to see no in-justice without showin gdispleasure and often bitternessconcerning it. His ac q uaintances ca l l e d h i m h o t - h e a d e dman and several noblemen called him a restless headed manwhom one must supress.

I have often he rd that my mother, Reg ina. Liebich,in her youth was counted a beautiful gir l _ y birth placeis Posern, a villag e a q uarter of an hour's journey fromPippach, where a post-station wa n, where the ancestors ofmy mother since the Thirty Years' War" possessed an estate.with a brewery and distillery and lic ense to sell liquor:that they, according to a document which thy had a s a -privilege belonging to the Manor, had formerly bou g ht for90 thalers and for which they had been offered 1200 thalersin 1807. My birthday fell according to the family Bible,which by sheets of white paper insertel in it at the sanetine was the family chronicle, on the 29th o fJanuary?


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at a terribly c o l d p e r i o d , w h e r e u p o n t h e a u n t s a n dents prophesied all/sorts of things.I came with the Peace of Hubertusberg; they calledre according ly G o t t f r i e d ( P e a c e o f G o d ) and J o h a n n w p r e -fixed, because an old relative to whom the family was verymuch attached would absolutely have it. )4y memory does notg o so far back that I could re member how I learned to readand write. The old schoolmaster. Held, whose daughter was myGodmothe rand who there for e reated me with much partialityand true pedagogical severity, tau ght me thisenjoyed many little privileges at the tine of the strawber-ries, and currants, and when the honey was being extracted;but moreover the rod was for me a very abundant part not onaccount of the le ssons for these always went moderately en-ough, but on account of much disorder, which I after my opin-ion at that time hel l for a wise trick.

My earliest clear r emembrance is as follows: I had acousin of like years, with whom I often Valiantly scuffled,because we were the best of friends. He died afterwards as Ihave heard, as a drag oon. The school lay on a little hill,and below, before the same was a gre en g rass plot over whichthe overflow of a magnificent spring "The Holy One", calledafter the dialec t of that place "Hile ke", meanders.

A splendid p lace for the wrestler and bully,if ithad not been under the schoolmaster's window.We two youngsquabblers already had q uarrels in school which the cudg elhad subdued but not settled. Now were we no longe r to holdourselves, discussion got into our fists, the books were


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4thrown away and the cuffing , wrestling and bullying enton The godfather schoolmaster ca l l ed andthreatened withthe hazelstick from the window down the mountain. No onesaw or heard, the boxin gwent steadily on and sometimes

Jacob lay above and sometimes Gottfr i ed, and the littlef i ngers w e reull of grass and heir. Suddenly the circledivided and the old godfather, Held, quickly belaboured withthe hazel nstrument our youthful trousers andshoulderblades. That, reconciled the quarreling ones as quick aslightening; we sprang up, scraped tog ether the books, thecircle 12-ft end we were whipped afterwards. The circlelaughed, the blacksmith before the forg e and the alehousekeererlaughed loudly, we joined in; end laughing the o1dschool monarch, the pacifier of hazel still swingingthreatening ly in his hand, returned to his mountain. Thea ffair made a commotion in the village and everyone fromthe village magistrate to the nightwatch-man laug hed loudlyover it: only my father lid it secretly in ordernot to

encourage the boy in his fighting.illyear earlier and earlier thanmy memoryreaches, chance had almost made an end to my existence.Behind my father's garden flowedhe little brook, Pippach,which flows into the Saale an hours ourney Posern.The garden was, my favorite romping place, nly they fearedor the little boy on account of the water. They wererooting up old trees andlantingnew ones. I was giveninto the charge of old Jacob, who worked w ith some/others,in order that I should not approach the brook. That hedid conscientiously, but he did notonsider the nearness.I jumped and ran aboult there and suddenly the old apple


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5.tree fell in which they worked, seizing me and striking meto the ground. The friqhtenel old men turned and took meto one side; I Was apparently dead; Jacob took e on hisarm a nd carried the supposed corpse into the courtyard,where my father spoke concerning householl aff airs with mymother while she was washing. They aannounced the newsmy parents loved us, without ridiculous weakness, with truedeep feeling. ''Sir I bring here the boy , said the oldman, while he laid me on the wsshstand,"he is dead "Godin heaven knows I am innocent; I wish the trunkhad struckme". Amidst lou l lamentations, they sought and sent forhe l p. he 'arber used all his wisdom, the physician came;all remedieswere in vain; no token of life appeared.Twelve hoursand more were the ybusy so sadly in vain andeven at the point of stopping arid of considering funeralarrangements, when I opened my le ft uninjured eye. Theybeg an the efforts a g ain and brought me back to l ife. hetrunk had not struck me but only a strong branch with

t w i g s en brought about the stupor. Then I musthave beenabout three years old. Of the bruise ittleremained tosee exceptthe spot in thebefore mentioned left eye, whichafter twenty years one can still percieve.

somewhat later occurrence had carried re coonagain into that world. My fatherwas at that time on anestate as landlord near Leipzig. The greatest pleasurefor me wasto ord the stream and to ride in the pasture,for which however only seldom I received permission. When

I rode Iraced so that the horse's mane flew and my hairwhistled. nce I rode against orders. The beast lovingt

the stream as much as I the riling rushed, stamped andsnorted; my hand was too weak to hold it, it lay down and


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F T 6rolled with powerful erlo. T the llorse, lostcon c iousness, and the stream carried me far, far away withIt,. HoweVer I recovered a few minvtea afterwards, when IWas drawn out and for a long time the cavalry remainedforbiden to

Fin F t 1 - 7 1 7 mY 7r P thr came from the fair and had broughta horse. "Boy, I have brcy ig ht you. a hor c-e", he said; atthe s a ne time heturned to me an I a small thin bay roans led out which hal only three and one_ half feet. The

beast limpel an d whinnied comically, and l-.ed at myfather, me and the horse. "We }lave Jnleed jilst thrornmoney away", said my mother half f-ngrily, that you bringSuch f, glutton into the house". "Wi c r e,do not spoil myjest", he said drolly self-contented. "It War thrownthe bargin , I hPve rro 1 2bly save t3le l ife of the roarbeast, f or the dealer in horses spoYe ofthe flay(r nn1death sticker". We have consilrable hPy this year, thePasture is high; it earl still perhaps '3o something, andaince the yolith by the power of the levi 1 Till rile horseback, so may he

I scratched myself s l &ily behinl_ the e a r an-1concernei myself a little over That shou d be 16ne with myhan.-lone riding horse. Britt the horse ma 'e gaod and won - - ) 7 7 his tricks, renorn in the hole neighborhood. Firstour attention Wf:s as we saw him gallop, by which heastonished every one. He had,as said, three sound hoofs,'the fourth w p,s a kind, of crooked clubfoot so th P t in front.instead of a horseshoe there was only a plate o fthe si7eof a florin. Its walk was riteo 7 is and its trot piteour,,but its gallor, and full run like the best race horse;


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7the re the injured foot nee scar e ely tr.;un17 tile g round anrl

whine in the wall'ould be carried aVnE r by the others,and trot was impossible, bc,(7flnne there each foot must lolikewie its own service. Since, T grieved little aboutthe walk and trot, The horse wa all ri_ght fr me and itwas not seldom that I won the wager over the Rou706 aRosinants. He Trf7 round as an apple nni. ms wise as thesteed of Pelide. Concerning his pedi7 reelI have learned, 'nothing ; but lie Was a satirical., 0 -i o-inr1 horse, who poss-esse.i a multitude o fpee'llianri t ies. To the wa g on anl plorhe could not be hit c hed but r lig ht harro- on li g ht soilhe drew drol l y enou gh. He liked to swim alone through thestream r n1 lecimatel the clove rin stran genenclovr f1,1th e n n 1o7en stout , agile boys Mould not suc-ce'. i n catch-ing or 'riving him. He real strategicaUy broke 'ro'il1at the best point every time and reached hid o l -n nan-er.Af L er the death of my father, ny moth e r Poll him inneighborhood for eleven thale-s, where he ma used hrrd.

So , ^ et i ne lvter I sf l u hir almost in hi r ,originalmisery, as when my -Path r brought him home, in a srange,meag er meadow: a sack on his hen 1 , in orler that the poorbe n st might no make use of his Trnder i n g propensities.When he heard my voice he n ame to me rAel_ I thought I foundin his Uei D;hing care-3e9 and sadness. Also my mother wasso moved a t my narrative which Pas confirmed by othe r s thatshe almost had the weakness to take the homesick creatur ehome.

My father Was a cold, morally sevee, b 1 1 4, not aman. On the contrary his severity came from ouick

f 1 , 11ofrinther, deeper, moral feeling. The jjf3ci n


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ho-ise lie almost 1_,:=s left to 1-1-: mother ,;he had on9e .7-io9 occasions with -earn'kest words only +1i nece,'sityof menti oni n. my father 's name in order to put everyt7lin,7good;or1e7'. My fatilWas however not used as r blg-ber but hi r- strong earnetness in serious things placedtheproper object in its proper light.

My bothrs and sisters 'lave perhaps never b,enstruck by my father. Only once do I remember that I wasactually ehatiRea. by him in aterriblo wry ,,Thieth 0 ,e7,tainlY hurt him more tIla,li me and certainly both he -n1 I wereentirely innocent.

He had gone aw r y with my mother, I believe to7eissenfels an 1 had left us home alone with amaid and o'Irplay -renews. On the way he remembered that had leftthe key in the lock of an upper room i wh jch t p : 6 - ) l eco'Inte1 money, mostly in lar T e silver coins, stood. It rPStoo lP te to return but he h r sten d home the P^" . 1. :1 Inthe meantime w e rompel throuo 'h the whole houfie, f ith Phalt' do zen of my play -,-1lov- and also in the room wheretb.e table w ith the money stool. I Insisted on -r'enoval,d 7 , 0-out the kes and 'out it in my pockt. I beli c-e thatI was the first an last in the room a,11 had seen no one :171the proximity of the table.

1y father came, went u , did no 4 ind the key, caretown " I -3oy where is the keyto 2ie, upper room"? I dre l- itollt: he went 115: again and counted, aflorin piece , n ackint): in the corner. With terrible confusion anl anxiety hecando-fn again; "Boy w ho has been in that room ? " /11 offather, Jacob, dthe o'llers but when I sawthat money was eolinted .r. ,-+e tAere we went nwr-Ir Inert vI too' f .,he key." " ,r : ashas 1)een nt the table ? " No oche


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e-,:cep -, I in order to Yeer the others back." "1(01 hf'vet-Yen it then? "Hebegan to speak w eakly and to tremble."I have riot taken iatIP.werel. trom1)lj.np:The words were few; he waa severe. I denied firraY andwept, aloud. He seized me convulSiVeay with his hands aridtreated me so cruCiy that at the out cry of my mother thepeople of the hmine ani neighbor's .rqshed in and saved mefrom his han ds. Andres, der Andres."sni'l old godfatherschoolmaster Held, "youVa,e beside yourself, You will ytlithe boy, come to yourFlelf.0 "Heavens" ("Ah God")sobbed my father half weepingand threw himse l f n the . f

e chair and covered his face w ithout sayinp7 anotherword.

The scene has often been told nfterw a rls and on cc-count of that remained so real to me. The terriblenessof his condi t ionin this moment I have ima7ined since inmy own mind. lie love his chillrenvntththf; great tender-ness of a fatherand the entire severi.ti of his nature.Was his first born; the neighbors from the schoolmaster tothe nightwatch, expented something of me; one wil l. there-fore pardon him if he also did. Now consider a father, anoble, fine feeling, cold-man who believed his loved onetouched by such an enormous deed, thebeauifu,hopefor him on whomk his better being hung, vanished immediate-iv

Someone now took me kindly in hand anl urged me toconfess. It i.s still tounhingto me, how fatherly the oldschoolma ster cared for us. "Dear boy" lie naid " y01.1 havemade a mistake, you wished only to play with thr florins.Only say 80, it will be well. You will soon learn whatthat 11=-s to signify." "That I realize already" Tsaid -


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w and have done nothing ." There it remainei. Yy fatherfrom that lay on turned q uietly to him pelf, 111 not touchthe nf-- air more and l ooked at me in the meantime, half_sorr o w f l i l l forbidd, all contrad ictions; spor e no p dmonit-ion no intimidat i ng words, sail_ none of his proverbr andwas f - sa being whosn best force is crip pled, so that mymother alr =x) suffered from At; restlessness w as in both ouls. About three weeks later it ran cleared up. LittleNeighbor Samuel since then I can scarcely e^,durethe name either within the Bible or outride of itas sent to the 7rocer's store to g et a box of snu ff. Hebrought a florin in order to have it changed.The grocer,by c:lance, did n ot have so much small money, and said hewould rut it on the books; he mig ht take the money agai nAnd tell his father. It was either an involuntary mistake,or the new florin of his fnther's looked better to the boythan the stolen one; he g ave the wron 7florin back. Pas-cal", exclaimed the father, "that certainly is the florinwhich has cause 1. so much harm over there".Samuel renli.xedit and. did not lie, and received in hiS best manner blowsin tenfold measure from his somewhat coil father.A heavystone fell from my father's heart at the enlig htenment ofthe affnir.Whoever lies, steals, was his proverb, and who-ever steals belong s in the old way to the g allo l -s.He war ,Visibly brighter again and tried through many hidden car-esses to make amends, for evidently his respect was not tosuffer.

hch teasing stimulated my father to sell his prop-erty there and to accent an estate of an inn with consider."able economy in Knautkleeberg not far from Leipzig .The-cn


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Th(- ertrPnce ent,, -strto fell in avery unfIIor-tunrte period, in the famine yerrs, 70 an1 71. The ross-essOr.of he estnte Lauer, to v1l7nge KnautY l ee-berg belonp;e1 was then ^ity mr g istrPte of Leip-ig. Dr.Teller nbrother of the famous Teller in Zeit?, nnl Berlin,a hcrl, inexor p l -qe r r rn, -In Left behinl nnt'ling cpritrlnnd very wisely hP,/ h-nlel over all miskfortune to thetennnt. Perha'n sthe Jiffi r ulties of his own bulsnwss Pndthe en:celltricities of his idea' mrde hin more dejected n;V,Mitter.

My fnther, instered of selling yo r rly n hundre.d bu-shels of corn from the new farm, nust buy over fi f tv for tthe maintanence of he large estr'-)lishment, ml. T ( s nn wellremember that lie rP1._ fi f teen thPlers for 1-,he last bushel.The f amine -r those two ye r- is known in SPY_ony 4miery lanl. 7e did not suffer from hunger bu tmy fflthersfortune was considerably consume.. As longms T rrn buya mensure of corn with my last thaler" sail the v-linntman, "no one in the ho lm( must rise from the table unsrt#isfied. It wrs, as if the fearful scrrsity hod produce.da;Ible hunger for every one ate, aP one could notice,alTiost twice Psmuch nP, usurl.

By my go l_father, the schoolmaster Held in posern,W , P1-egFrdel PP n phoenix in lwarning; here by Yr.

Te Yhr ch, I w p s re-ardel as a confirned blocl-he.Heaven Yn ws how it hnp vened, whether trnnsplrnting PSwith n young thee did not agree v r itli re, or'someth i ngelFewas the cause; however T wo nnown PP the dumb youth fromThutingin for x, seven4yer5.: Pr Weyhranch was not exact ingeography; for Posern lies just two hout's journey thisside of the male; but I have since that time


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12o f ten im all F,eriousness ,,ountel_ myself n Th117 1 7 1 0 . ian, es-

sinn e r have several rel a tives on the o t her sideof the stream, Fni here cnn never ri' e ht l y 7row to be rciti7en of Yeissin. I wrote at Posern i n imr sixteenthyear Ftolerabay rondable h r ni but Yr. Teyhran n hfoundtherein neither beauty nor usefullness aril I hrd to initatganew his bean:oles o 4 - letters where in I wnn verylinluoKysjilce T SnSSiabsolutly no tslent for Ara w ino. . Yr.Adam - eyhrannh was nn honor a ble, woill meaning, brave manwho hPrd help stull icing time in Hale an.] at Leil-710'becaFse his father Weirhrrnch a teaci' r n the same positio-)7as afterwardshis Fon at lea t with ril lhis power, -0-'1'1make him a councillor of thi e n nleslastinal n out. Butlath suprisel him in his son's sixteenth rev n theo r r ni e still had credit itnouo h from he ntrthnSee he r oul not i-i-htfully venture into the hirrherclergy to detrmine the same for a follower. He h r lderrdistreF:s with me and I wit T A1111A1 do not believeenti r ely h verdict over my dullnes. I was still sowholly bewildered that T could qo noth i ng to theman'sentire sntisfaction. For a long time T was thus in ap70p unt i y e moraln brooling untthl finally, I lo not Yno - herthe knot loosenei ant laily something better came to light_No one was more pleased over it than ray father rfho badalrerldy hea-r the sentence condemnation nver imr brains.Who first uncovered in me something spiritial was thepast . honest,' jovinl, rather culturedan I rather orthodox man, in whose character there ran butthe nharcteristics of fri erAly benevolense and ki(-Inesof heiRrt. He concluded from my often strange ans-ern in


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the -public examiations ecclerstic autmoritis,a1)'))-it my own sometime very order ofidros ani. enter-taied himself much with ne on set aright my thoughts.Now he spoke with theschoolnaster, Herr 7eyhranch, overtheinstuction for 'uch th a t I would_ become no mechoni.caril no callegrnpher.anT would horJ Ty be satisfied_ with re-retin: mechanically. He limited himself now to the nega-tive ni gave A- ) the positive to Me. From now on they too)very little notice of ny crooked and bent lines en thepaper ant the woolen appearance of my letters but only ofmy idem 0 with which I set the schooThaster sometimesthe pastor also in 1 , eri;lexi ty. In a short time I overleoed all the prize scolars o-' the vi d 7 a 0 . ein school ni "'pr'soon the fir st a A l the overnor of Yr. Weyhranch when : lewrP nbsent rs eelilaster r n1 orrnra(Yus grriner.

Yv father'F circumst-nces a:1d heo l th had lec'inedvery ' reatly in the meantime, so that one could not ettri-ute my increasel artituie to presents and f avourr fromthe house. I must hove been nearly ten year oold when Istool at the hwl of the villaQ'e school youths, amongwhom wer e some concludingtheir thirteenth year..

About time, I believe it was in the slimmer ofI7 55, my f r ther lied. The story o fMPsickness an doathis too 22dto me that I should soy nothin e fabout i f . i2estate was PS,mentioned very Anfortunflte P nd the c e reater sshare of his fortune wrs g one. But that lid not crirple thfullness of his strength mil did not listurb his voortage. Once he hard o carry to Pr. teller in Leipzig hislast 100 thalers to pay the installment. The weather Wascut tingly cold; the business night not have been pleasant-

lout he name home frozen sti fso that n boy hal to help


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. him from his horse, although he usually was an agile man.Now he ordered coffee which my mother prepared herself inthe kitchen. When''she entered the room she found that hehad left his big chair and had thrown himself oh the bed,where he lay between the sheets. She thought sleep is bet-ter than all medicine and let him lie. That daY he nom-plained of heaviness in his limbs and the following dayof pain. It seemed that the warm bed had driven bank theHold, which could n ot set the r est of the body in temper-ature again, whioh tortured him several years with un-speakable pain and at the end of the third year killed himthrough the third stroke of apoplexy.

One Han consider how much hi s family 7711Rt have mur-fered through this sorrowful existence and still he nevc-rlost until the end a nertnin -round o fbrit fitnessh P ppirnes: only Ris experiences hat maTe him somewhatter, so dir= t he manifested his true me a nin' rrrovcrl ir- l ytolerably sry.cr C tic. The Pi ni mum ofall loo wi 1 1 rulelirough-ou the world wanP one o fhis common thoughts; only

he could not nlotheit so 7 3eautifully poeti n f l :lyPr wefind herk . thtre inh, writ i ng of 7 #e l ani. 13'v he- r a p ac- l irtomel to say to me witha funny look on hi' face,"if one calls to yo11 f rcrn sboue, water r uns up the mount-ain, so must yo l ikewise Answer, Worthy Si7 exactly soitisove,,"" Physicians were tried aid chr-n7ed Withoutresults,. And I r'emeffler to have heard that he h a l d_ Aor,tered .lip more than two inn 'red thalers. As he di el. in his thjr+1seventh year he left hi s business in diffinult condition)and my mother as a widow with five children, of which I theollest was about twelve years old. There resulted Rkind ofinsolvency proneedure but whereby no one lost a farthing,


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15only there remained for my mother nothing but the tinysum of two hundred thalers with which a little house wPSbought for her.

Every one received us with counsel and veryfriendly deeds and at least we were never lacking in thenecessities. The brave Justitiarius Laurentius of theHohenthalischen estates tried es/ . eciPVIr Y) place the un-fortunate familyas safely Ps possible; and not only tooknothi r _g for his :many endeavors in our fairs b, tt contrib-sited to us in his fine humanwany many little advanta Gr .

The Cdunt von Hohenthal-Kna'Ithain who b . ou g " ' I t theL-.-Irer estate ant i)1 themeantime h a d seen me in Pchooland throu.7h the church examinations v 'ith pleasure, had de-clared at my fathers denth that he " r o 1 1 1 1 r / 'e ''or me andallow rr i eto le-r, 1 omet1,511 0 . . 7hant hi- ideawits however, Ido not My mother and I s ometimes su g gested r trade;at l_nm;t, a considerable tine passed by, almost t w o earswithout anythinp' being spoken aC )o-lt At riain. YasterSchmidt Pnl the schoolmaster treated me really ve3-7 fatherly. In my attainments I Aid not advance percert4bly fore-since I was rlrnly very much in alvance of theothers an'l they seldom occunaed tlienrselves with me, th r

ut it )e -an rlrendy throu g r hasPociatios to, / n '011 better char a cter of humanity. My stulybibiic a l history from Hubner's biblical hi story rnd Luthe7lsBible itself, besides en old ascentin folio, "high thes choolmaster have me. Pormerly I gained such aptness andcleverness n regard -to the Bible thPt it war only seldomthat I could not explain and_ recite a verse which wnsde Sired. I knew many Psaq ms and almost all the Gos 1 , 01 byheart, said tolerably accurately many chapters in each book

w


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earth chapter hal. and in whatnd so forth, how many versesconnection the before mentioned stool; so that the customremained tome from this time on, on many occasions to cit.a service of Scripturl rassap:es, where uron sometil-lestheolop ians themselves were surrised. Whether they reallyp roved what they sho1.i1.1, concerl ing that I formerly 1..1.71not anY; it 7 r s nly an affair of the memoty and an anim0:,-e ed play of ideas-without further injury.

7 or a long time I coull come to nc choice of r calling, so undetermined still were ru ideas of life after allyAs long F1S myfather lived, I had half wrydetermine tobeFmernhant, sinee he had rn acquaintance thi kindin Leipzig and I formerly had nothing against it. Butthat Wslf3broken up by his death, nd a trade should reallybe the goal of my strivin o 's. Pron. an innate strivinFr, forthe substuntial I determined finally to 'enome - blnok-smith. Ivy mother was horrified and Ma r--,ter Pchmit 12,17hedwhen I anuou.nced the result of my consideration a r -1 bothhad much trouble to limiade me from the rair. "Boy youore indeed only a pinny nd would sink to n r ether like apokni-P e - r ith the ham rand ton o r s ')0+"ore the anv i l, PPl-1the lcind pastor; "to that beloffrsa cyclons and no lilipu-tthon OSyou are . . I unierstood the last only halfway butlave up to the abjections ofmy mothr an1 nave u- myvulcanic still n') rseldom do r oby a4'orgethat the n 1 inclination for the substantialdoesnotretu rn. Now I determined to be avillP7e schoolmr-ster andw ould Lear", somethinP* of Latin andP 1 0 anl I t10-yYhtafter a preparation in other thinr- f s I would come thrortnnot bally; then I 17o 1 11.1 pass nx.rlan excellant catechjF.1-.


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Stil lin ny fathers lifein,- I hf d nceit would not : , e, rood if I would not ask n hundred 'question?

r -nrol:os,itton without even being PA the n , 11. ."If r,rAst 71 i mor that" said the schoolmaster, then it wouldbe said; " a nd the questions would be extravaant ennugh.

The last ad litton was not very pleasing- to me andattractel my atten%ion. Stnce t'nen I have cprrje,I4-hoaffair purrosly too far a/II:because of it haVenot learnedmirth which I soul d and should have learned. A fool asksmore, i.t ocnured to me; than a v ise man c an PII8C07. In1letermination to becore I t l la fre master, P 511 ht7lance at Yr. 7eyhranch, his splAndlid his b7cell-ent asaraun bed, and his beautiful roses aT pinks ni7htpossibly have influenced me for it ccured to .e perhar-,confl tselly that witll proper instruction aid perseveranceall would be mine. Every sedentary calli.n.r77 v r as odious tome a nl although a schoolmaster must also set, I ,unJerstoodalready that many very advantageous essetials are includ-ed in his WNuisness. "Boy, what kind of nn idea have you";sald Xaster Schmidt, at this new discovery, "rather be alinen weaver, a schoolmaster is a sorrowful be:st. youthink they c r l 1have it like our Weyhranch?" fnJ no- 110began to Traw for re a terrible picture of the -o(l)Orschoolmasters in Thurinp . ia 1'eis7on. I lid net allowmyself to behinlerel. Fnd thoq711t, every profess i on hasits vexations and joYs. "No' wi ll. see ho T - - P ar It goes"he sai l ., anT , entionel it to 4 - , ' 1 1 7 1 c'onnt.At on c e then prerr ration F MB made to take pp toPecton Pobtnsky. Therefore I came like a ha l f Huron,


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I a morrllof entirely unsroilYeA, scientifical.ly entirely roup:h The old p:entTernn took. char7eof every frien-117 aAo l l my tenohers,I owe the most %o him.The Pea:torts Wise crave herself all imr7inable

trouble to make me neat anl rolite as also t.LO erstrove to cultivnte in me virtue on:I wislom. In how ftlrthe Peotor suoneeAeil, I cnn not determine bit she sucoeerd-ed. very 1 d1y.My dress VMS Vc-oyy7ro r-lue, unXert anJ my shoes Jirty.- Above everythinA shehr I h,r strun-le wi t my forehenJ which I ncth)rtin7 to her

opinion wrinklel . 1 . 1 1 1e a.rably . Before I wns aware of it,she nttempteA th her hanl. 2ier,s; P POTii 017 7 1 1R1-1,7-mtnll " n s in vnin. Af.-1soon PPI fell. intotho l it or 2711TM-1P te 1 on son than 1 1 711 1 P r orstrnnfre,the wrinklehl an'enre llike furrows on 172' forhend anA myeyebrows 3rew toP:ether with n sinster effect. The Peotort6o1


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science s I never 111-7C;'enrd the refornation tml7ht byanyone else a y him. He w- p'Dove all ver stronv in11.11.r0hhistory, stuliel untirEhino l y Pnl left nothil - I n .goodin th-t lepa rtment unrer

Up to this tine L hPd been home A fvi it once.It was neee- c z , ryfor someone T I-J - - o o'ren to me reveratimes so 1 1 - J T .Tinlly- -)f he sorrowful conljtjon of rri ',otheranl sisters, thr' I wrs toler-bly /eterminel to le r r e inthe l-1r 0 h (licer rnd Palaerhatus r n 1 to g o ome in orderto hel- then by my w ork. I found tunkily th-t 9-urlthr-Y h 1exPP7eratid. 1 . otter S chr rill.t,thegoolnrrrvirtTiave nonclu l e lsomethi no' from my fPne n1 P Y 01(5'Hthsym-rnthy wsrmth. "We onnnot make your mother rinh,"he said, "we cannot procure for y n eny life, but , r T ,are not yet so poor and so orule thnt w e ill n l low youand yo7Ars to suffer want for the first necessi ties,"Therefore be entirely at peane, my son Pnd do your dutyon your sile."

Finslly I wfif; brgO r r]lt from Roina nnd taPn to thearcheolop:ist Martini nt tLe "NikolPiwthitle" rt Leir7j.Reiske hal been therdearlier but hPd died Fshort timebefore anTid Ynrtini had won 71'ent crellt as hiP sdiceessor.He mint hnve deserved it as rn antectin scholr and PnnrcheoloD:ist but he was scarrel:y pn educntionnlist in snytolerable JeFree. Per in exnminntion he askeA me l_ninportant thin7s, of which I notined half vexed thrt HerrKorbinsky hal askeJ me nothint of like thin7s. I wouldrather h r ve chan o*ed to Pforln because Klopstork wrs thereand a few o- my old comrnles were there.

Yy first 1)oetry wrltinp' wrs in BorniP, r h r e e ttines to recite "So So" from Gellert anJ Hap:eJon.


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no

I buP i el myel-P, sin c eLhad nothinp7 e lc'e to To: I PaTown and. maTe 2sntirical fable, "The, Wool." One IR a n o r , 7 1 ,

- tone to use rabttsfeet or rfi_so . .17 obably sho r t rabit tn.ilsto wire off blac?boards. Now Oheohe Illurni who didnot exactly extj.nruish himself by tn l .ent or 7e51. wan con-tjua l _Ty 000uriel to perpetrate nll kinls o ftricks withthe rabmits tail, in this way the rout remajnel a for, ablockhend ri ll. a fool..

Thrt, was a verT: ingenious invention and it reci eyedmonstrous ap 7 )lause, because perha7 1since the time of theSwedr noth i n Pimil-r h a d been a000mplishedin th- lassroom by a DuriL One see, the delivery will perhaT-s beextrnvagent enough and over the expression which with neafter all is not very smooth one can easily break the phTh-tomf. so mieh I remembe rof .hr expressions.

Teven made Greek. verse, henvens, wh i ch 1JP, not inthe schoollordinance; for it .was only German nnh Latinverse; in tTle Germnn mostly Alex a ndrian, pince

T cnnnot riplatly en hire an _T in Latin one 'oeP not 70any furtl er th r ft Hexameter and Jistri e h. 1_1 1 not (111"..ehave the heart to give my Creek verses dire e tlyo thePector, but laid thin in his way so that he could seethem ensi ly, hut he took no notice of them. Since +dinttime have only a em times turned out some in philo-logical pres I mption but f ortunatly more remaining,W28forrlr l y satisfied with some not so bad and scannedthem through wit great plea cure :. perhaps ten tines.

Here in my sixteenth year Tread my fi r st noveland it was indeed Liep7wart 7ets p enfels gymnasium scholar sRent to me fresh a s s hot roll from the press at that


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21place and all three volumes at once. This I flilel none niht with monstrous 7reediness. The first effect wsrower7 rul 0: t:le iniginantion, but when I ex n minei it, r 4-fo-Ind all formerly to bechilds play and trifles of theiniginntion, which occupies a mans valuable time withoutprofit. Only reality begtitn to interest me. 'Thy sho" I ldw ef - . ..trike at random with such empty poetry. To enter wlthoutdiscussinp: in detail the worth Of this kind of poetry, I rreturned from the seetments always innediatly to the prosscribed nourshIn7, pure diet of hi story. Also Wertherswhich then IiererI fell at once into my hands nn-1 T muStcofess it played rowerfully with my young heal., so riichthe ore since all of it looks like history ril. perhapsit is mostly history. _But since my soul wcs still witholltpassion of any kind, so the efect soon vanisheA a7nin,since 1 cold not find again the catnstrophy in the conneel annals of history. No one should have thoup:ht that Ihave stu.-liel, history wth.th grert effort. , 1 f , that also WaF1not the case. Study wri Pr" craving' with me_ and when thiscr tviYp.wassatisfied then I was accustomel almost invol-untarily for a long time to ruminate on what I ArAuntil Tsomestimes relarsed into the-ncnli_el ',-)essed"sieet doingnothing ," the rleanant half lrrk,. nlm(-,st ruremearly joyous existance, which Is eseciaTly peculiar toyo,Ith. Natur r lly I did not continue this low): and myeirit proceeded to sorething else.

Now I united my excursions with my sti)djeS. I ratsseldom seen on the public promjnndes: but I lay in anythicket or n hi lden corner of a Tier dow a,n 1end withoutfurther-choice, what had fallen into my hands; seldom Pnovel, almost always a strange German poem, but more often


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22n selected passage from the roman or Greek. I was erpeciaily-delighted now to have wireI ollt the lst of the djffi-crilties ant to (Ivanse with en: 7-1.e. The electris saytng oftto old slipplnted more and more the bibical saying; stillthot does not hinder the effect of 11 word of a Haglogralhwhich here and there is taken out, of the depthsnfsoul and sroken to the depths of the

In this period I g ave to the present ProfessorHopfer, lessons in the rudiments of the He b rew lP117d1a7e,ant weafterwards have laug he many times over it. fiftermy scholar had grown so powerfully big as the editor ofGol.ius. Sometimes, in ty thoughts rerhaps Tam vain, thathe thanks my good method of teaching in the begining forhis (plick -2rogress.

I ha nough of s mathematical mind to interestmyself in the gleamng, glowingi ithundering iiir-rlions ofthe cavalry at least and my whole attention W1-Ire(',tedto the management and movement of he art I. and esrec-trlly to the march of the ?renadier batallion. Theq uotation, "The battle is fought out- at the roint of ther l - r ord, when thG matter I s come to the last push," takenfrom the ancients, hovered before my eyes at every oppor-tunity and howev'er different our war system mane fromti-117 1 , herein it certainly agrees wholly with the samea2, the whole history of all ca3-7.1:4A--'n2 teaches. 71 1 7r. oi +,even havng an-inc l ination toarJs soldiery, I red aodstudiet involentairly such books where the giant struggleof human nnure is .:lescred brightly and vivaciously andI found that more with the old than with th new and Ifind it still.

Th banter and half subordinate char an;cter was in a


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2 .

hirli deg ree ng ainst me: I ' -'etitioned re ry 7 1 f T hquest to the count to send. me to Grinmn or ?forte. TrrssinF my time without great pro fi t. e wnP at firrtdissntisfiel with my liscontent, but fwind out br loPerinquiry that wienot c oentirely wrong ni JetermineA tomake n chnnge. fl.so if I hnl not been rir ht, ns thnt per-hPps here nnd_ there woe the care; the just psychologicnl-eingogicS Jenrn1 t give in to ry wish nn qto resort toan other wny with me.

Iwee sent to Mots nn 7olf in the s-pring. Theformer hE e n lwnyr remPinea ry goo]. fntherly tenclier andwnr then my friend until hir enth; it would be *nnecers-nry here to 1,mice hir mornl nnJ intellectual worth. Bythe seconl, who w n_s an exnellPnt J 1ntin the AnholProf-Ernoti, J ns Pdirtnnce by the strict n-ceticorthodoxy o fthe m;-n. Whnt kind of PchPr F nter they gnvemy knowledge. Tdo not know, for instend of still sendingme o school, I woo immeJintly sent to the University.An1 PO I wnr then 1 -)y chnnce in th,- s-I:nne of three yerr s n

i g nornnt, country boy, not even knowing the nlrhal-)et,a stuJent nt renTl7 n little foot.Of the Ientres whinh I remember of this periolwith excell nt delight wns Y07771Rlecture on the Annals ofTncitun unquePtionnbly the first. He w n s on exnr le of h _criticnl eKplniner in e;- ry rerrect except perhap- in

Theolo7y, )kere he with crrful f n ith fulness hung too muchon L he ')rescri')e , 1forrrIl'and so strong wa- the q n-sTheology th; t ccording to my conviction, Thealogy hf,1lost. A very con-on mistake of most Universiti( c . hi chdepend.s on the man- g ement. MoruP did not overwhelm usrith r ' rent flo',1 ofPhi l olo g icnl ri f les but node his


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24observations, short, curt, f-nd solid, LIR ruthor of thetext; he 131 not rend for boys and lid not bear the blameif he Wns understood. His tr r nslntion was n studiedmasterpiece; I have never rend a better one: i addition itwin exalted still by a heart felt elivery and an expressionof g reat splendour.

The Greeks of the new Testament woull not taste tome of the honey of the dwarf elder bee. The barbari sms,the solecisms and the half oriental character of which itis full, always repulses me, and it belong s to the b eau-tiful, inspired enthusiam of Jesus and the praise worthymoral of his teaching through his scholar, to put it bankinto my hands. The Hebrew I hear d from Datthe very muchand very industriously and I remember that I formerlyknew by heart a dozen psalms and whole chapters fromother books. It was merely need of knowledge and in ordernot to remain behind the othe-2. And still the Hebr ew soonbecame to me an evil business.

Every one who saw me so cnrried away with Hebrew,believed that I would become at least the second Yenhnelisor else a now, strang e oriental 1 :t ht; but it did not lastlong and since, that time I have so entirely for7 otten thissubject, that I no lon g erscarcely know what Shewri andVap p ig and Gal and. Hithpa'el are, ; for Tbelieve I havescarcel yread P Hebrew line since 17 80.

About this time the Eng lish Sh aftesbury and Bol-ing broke fell into my hands or perhn- n s I into theirs; onecan imagine the effect. The formula of the church and ryformer trite exe-esis held me only by n very weak_ thread.Yy room-mate Koibinsky had n frie ni, w ith whom now and tIlev%he talked over freely "Tolfenbftttlers - Prame its. An Pr-


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25tide by Bayle I had also'rea . 1. All this he l :aed to arrang emy peculiar mocking order of ideas or to corrupt me, as myorthodox friends thought. It had come to a breach, only Idared not let anything become public. I believed only ThatI felt and I felt very little of the c hurch dogma. rasterScimidt the middle man between me and the count and mytrue f atherly friend, but a strong orthodox churchman, hadI know not how, heard somethin gand i n his way re l y ukec d, mevery warmly. The charges were great, especially the fol-lowing; so much I re member: I would not ordinaril y g o tochurch and at the most only to Zollikofer's; I had bathedoften; I had spoken freely anti irreverently about Rdogma.On account of this proflig acy, the g ood man alrea dy saw meburning alive in hell. The theatre was not mentioned; andthat would perhap s have been still worse because it cost meso ru edmoney I 711 riot have.

I do not deny and I do not defend myself; for thedefense would lead '6o discuss-ton, which would be stillworse. He p oured out over me a bitter correcting lie whichI let drip i ndeed p rovoked but still patiently. Especial lyhe threatened me with the count, who by this perverse cha r-acteristic of mind wool 1. (3raw away his han d from me. Thelast r emark was unpsychologic al an d worked ju st the oppo-site from which it should work. It made me proud insteadof making me submissive. I submitted to r11 that with sil-ence without promising reformation of which I couldscarcely think. ray mother was scarcely mentioned and dtillthis would have been the most efficient arg ument. WhereinCould I have changed w ithout denying the bitter purport?

Who ofour dear teacher s of the church should I have heardinstead of Zollikofer? The bath in the river I held for


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26dietetical good and usc: with discretion, not imrroper.That I hove spoken freely over a relig ious article is perhaps possible, but cer tri:Ily not irreverent, in a s much asfree 'and irr everent Pre one: for each popular belief isholy, which proves a corsolation to an honorable man andhe should still give philosophy so delicately a fillip onthe nose. no ever takes from a suffering walterer hi aold cloak, unler the x)retext that it modefull of holes, is a brute in every re-nect. T-hallengeanyone with whom I have ever come in close cont p r ,t whetherI have ever deriled anyt7 iing that 7rf,onorable and holyto another.

Tn short then, C rp reased the fanati cal man withouttrouble but-the request to allow me a p reax her, while I atthe same tine presentel. him the manuscript for ins-oecion.He turned on l y P . few pap'es aril g ave it back to me trusting1y with th- grantin gof the re q uAst ail l te renarY.Aiready the motto gives him the assurance, he ernits him-selfto leave it to mydiscression, He titan's in thataccount, I beleive, With Quinctilian; orinT ,fleart itand thestrength of mind -Jhieh er men elonuent." Imade r report in Fehbaoh anl Knaulh a i nwith PlYnrobatimnand my Kersey seemed to beforgotten. But so r-ich deeperand f ir,lor it 4 a . ith me. It Is understood thrt they 'idnot f i n 1 tote slightest trace of it in t ,e preacher. Iknow not: iris more of l a t Irail.,but it w 's a ?mire themeof 111- unive r s : = 1 morality where man is nlrinei0 7 : n nature tho'1. -I-: 111aownsil f . One can onl-7 flake th-objection as to thc. lectures of Zolliko fers, that they


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27

would do for J ews, Turks and heathens. Moreover I do notcontend that the speech had had rm.tch of the preference forZollikfer.

As the Count, through my letters to Hessen foundout the story, hut r e -lly not the foundation of the same,he seemed to consider it a common juvenile silli ness nnd toconsider me a man who one must leave to his g ood or had0"enius. I hal in g eneral only used as a pretext the desireto see the world and had made only a few a l lusions to myown inner eg o. There should discussion and explanationlea d wcylli he Of use to no oie? The entlenrnwolITJ have thcrIg ht: "do not s arp:ue with -me who denies thefirst -,rinci-2als." How therefore I was a prie or rateand hal to become that to which the hand of fate deal. me,During our residence in Zeigenhain, old GeneralGore used me for a clerk Pi,d treated me Tith mch friendliness. Here s therefore a hodgepodge of humansou7s sent together good, Mad an, otherwise, all o r1 ' ' _ ; chwere alternating. Vy ccy-rades wFre,an ex .(::elled studentfrom Jena, bankrurt for. 7i en, a lace r t , 1 7 1 4 - e 7 -from Hannover, a dischargeT Post Office cler from Gotha,a monk from 7urnurg, Hurl.r cavalry sergent,a dischrr7ed Yayor from therilitary prison anl hthers oflike stam. One -Pn imP7ine tilt it not lackinginamusement all i only a sketch of the lives O' the men musthe rn entertainin7 a- -1.1 instructive real:1117. Since most ofthem had gone like me,, or still ` M orse, a 77-nt plot arosefor the deliverance o fu.s all. Peol -)le h ad_ so mych 7001confilence in my insi7ht ani courre thrt t'le7 c r ) : 2 6 - t l e : 7 1 onme the manarr ement anl command with =restrained ful lpower


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287 nT1went 1 Y T Y y 7 n a n n l a not unwillj.n to takethe rost of honor nnl to lead the I500 men to freedom andtO dismiss them in honor. est(res the splendidoffer1)leared me especinl7ythatIL hould play P trick on the Yoblem-m Vo1l,n- 1 .7rr yforhis soul bartering, a tri c k he would thinlyabout becaqseit woul 1 nos tdeuOldly-rmnh. When I w 's tolerably deter-mined, an 011 Prussian Servent nare Y-1(; very truthf111117:"Yolln7 man," he said, "You hasten inevitably toyour destruetion if you undortal:eSeldom does such nn undertalcin7 succeed, the ehances tofail are to many. "Beleive me, an old man, I have beenpresent, alas, at such events.. You seem good a711 just andL love you liRe a father. You admit my ardvioe is rOrtil20MW 71-;fl.tt If the affair goer,throurh happily, we willnot be the last to draw advantaRe from it." '1 conPjAeredwhat, t c oid warrior ha_d nni sup T )resel my littleambition, axciise'I myself on an.ount of my yo, ith nnl letthe affair 2-oforewnrl.N o wI read in m: lea sure hours withcrit even orisid-erinp: farther an aim, soetines after my habit, Pchapter for mere want of somethin7 better to do, as Icould perhaps formerly in my environment, Here ag r in inthe flint quarters developed a plot whh on aPxtount ofits brevity an d. sinn -e our proteotion wan ant very Ftrongshould be exee l itel inmedialy; but I hae not exan,tly beenable to find out the manner of i t. Thishlt.,-,ision oonr =:iStel'of mere Prussii 0atives sal. Pr-Issiandeserters, who s7)ealc cortinnully of old Fritz anl Feyllitzand Schwerin a,11 fancy nohng smal l_er. But heavensRnos how it became publim: the commandin7 officer


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29

immeliativ the 1-toAe arned llurgenship r Y1 7 : 1 ( ofn e i ' / I I I -mrhoo,d, we ma.3e a,true military myero,ann,ethe old, churcll where we lay to shoot to.Tethr; a:: . 1 it pl)L ertirely quiet untiNdn the -w-y to tLe Brertrestle.

Here my StOic oontentnanesn helpeJ me nnd nyhumnnity naTe n stroke, which di 1 me no 1 i 1 tle honor 1 mysr.here. Greel 45 1 7ain ndl pTsion, as it is known, rul_esthe world. In orlerthat did notoe Pcontrrtor,a 7rent promised for no sm c ll sum to fen' us.

j lo ho7 it f Q r We woul l . ent ns aShe wc.yq d rain as much as ponsibke w ioh dld not 761:along very well too'ether. l_lmost our whole o n Y wnt to Q11mess and many conplaints were male to Colonel 1 T onii .a-01rho comman lel the Tannrort. The mnnlind a feel-n foranT 'Lid what he could to compell 700l treatment from

the heitse keeper. Since admonitions 'with nvarioun-()eople are usually in vain, deputies were nUtually ap-ooint -ed fron the transport to the ship, who should look afterjustice on the steward ship. However it h n -T'enel_ to thedeputy Rs in the nP7lish Parliament. There one corrupts7 1 .1inen, offices rInd pensions her one 1 -)ribes with

wine, drams ani cake ; and so it rent on hone ns there,not rmIcn 1)etter than ')efore.

went down the whole stream from the month toBremerlehe iwhere an :filnp:lish trnnsrort awnited un. At thenon th from the me chow Yakler Fnucitt reviewel us, and 7nvethe nononissione ldrr17,00n9 offiCern Aig in the1 WOTL1 not cry oil); f1111 an 1 p,onorolyenou7h, Lort r live the King." Since I an a 11ttle fellowstood rimon th eknnrsacY Pthat is in the mtl_dle, I escaped


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the 1191p1 wit]Lo-lt fornel tr) utter n word 'nut Tm7Astat 16ast swinpy hflt.I o la'1 have enjoyed very much nt the hr-ndfriend anlh 1 0,orianto examine t71(= aiFltri.nts nlon7 thefrom Kowey to Bremen, 'he7 s-e the be p uty n- P natIlre

through tho-ants of Old, now lostnntional honormagict llilluminated; but nor our journey rfnsst1i 7 1(1 stunorness l n r0111-1t7T There menformerly r(-)- ill, for a better not soluxuriant f_.therland.,From varus tOBoniface the (11kscene swert fefore me;Bo rofnr) e, who th h01-1.7- inspiration banisheT hc:roic v-1-tuepnci swim his woven slfwp,r7, rn die15 tolr forotliers. W70111 Brmen o Breraerlee r ewent or nnoth ,r ,7esseAw ir6 1 b.ou1. . sail on tv-, e rdanJ not gof/ frOr hf7Inliff(,rentlyI1_1T aown :in he 5 1 1slert jr-nlAst stream f-:nd Trs Very much Inewildered, as oltrwhole little fleet int-;morn1n7 Fmt t(--;re on thebunk and 7 ' a i ted, " - '11 the flood raised. them flp7an; stillnot l ipTf PO bewildered as the similar ocur r-nee ofrlexnnder sso ii. in the Indus.E-n711oh. tr-ns-nor we were rressel, rilea d.1- P

herrJnp'sspaPe, but boxes Metween here were Tio harT7ock_s to save;Li. 'h were real_y lowen 0 1 ) - h ,nJ now even two bes lay one d1-0021 the cu f.Lf--

tSins with a strPli7e feelr . n . 7 that I steeclother raorn i n7 on t e JecV:anJ saw for the first tine noth-in' rbut hec -ven anl er rout me. The o n enn swayei nal-est allynni. the shin AnIr ,ed ma7ially lice ljttotoy OhThe unlinitel hm:e sltrfnele. The he r'vens wc-recloud.el. over anl. cut the 7:7 t r I- J i _ t 7 1 tF sleep co1071.


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Tasenll: in nnot:Ir -01 11 n 1felt myself by imr,lsT'.7( nnd smsll aecording to rr:ether n sublime or anxiousSensation rule in my soul. So it was as if thunder rolledunder Ny feet afd picture s terrible, be n uti rul ,mn2i-n1world, ner 116the reldish black clolily Dillarr or /lnnstormd, on over me the warmth or mill sunrays rourelnnl ar 0-of the whole,loreslsnd with her fabulousworld mso:ically colorf=1.}ere by chnnne the rIse8 nf-red for heir scholtr.I snt on f :L- quan,rt ,: rle(0 ni. r--d Horau s)1strn, mi ce,prureriem" henvy mate wwild look at r r e very un-fr i endlvfrom t";le ben c h. I growled my d i scoent in thelittle bit of English I had lenrned ns we1 1 n pI co ld -ridwould arewo doran into my chest -here I let no one maltroatme. The (Iptinn cnme there, lo:ked -t my book and bid meremain sitting. Men lie ha-I made some nrran p . ements, hecame back n1.1 began s kind of conversation "Youread Latin, my boy?--- Yes sir---And you un rIerstand it?--I believeTdo.---Very Tell, it i8R very good qiversiorin the siturtion y7.1 ore in.---So I find, P 1 1 ;indced nrest consolnti)n. So he r ent on friendly onisymphateofIlly. He took me ith him i nto his r 'abin and_ showed me hislibrary of travels which consisted of g ood En o *lish booksand Some (171F1Fiic nnd Dro'rised sometimes to lend one ofthem to me, if I 10 1 111 tnke g ood care of '- hen. Throughhis fr ienishi-c, so etimes I reneivel more fr eedom on theship, especially since IL showed some enjoyment in nnvpiaffairs rind in a few drys took notice of %he nomenrqrtureof ropes and sails and ran about above in the nrstvery luicYly and ssfely, It was a g ain the need of sctivit/which liade me rake various small advantages and kept me


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7es,pecially well. Since the cp r 1 perhars noticed thatthe shiprations generally given to me were not sufficientfor my exemplary aPpetite, he allowed me secretly some-times a night con full of crackers and beef which indeedin the real ense Of the word ran a very beneficlell_t -pyfor a soldier.

we often had storms and once so severe trt Atbroke our foretop mast and main yard The towerinof thewaves the howling of the winds through the sails, thebeating -n1 clattering of the ropes the thundering o f theshi passengers, the whole terrible revolting ocean allis terrible for a novice but soon one becomes rvAsornel.to it an l sleeps quietly unler the fight of 'he elements.The sybariti almagistrate on the Rhine, who ha l theingales shot because they disturbed his sleep, co-1lA useno better cure than 11 journey across the ocean especiallyAn an Rnglish transport. But /othinggives the mind agreater picture of the. strength of the hizm nririt thrnthe regiment of large ship Take one oUt of the line,give him 90 cannon; it is not of the heat They are allof the greatest caliber For every .niece one has twohundreA of powder anl balls What a supply Sailsand rores and bars doubled many times a gnrrison of athousand men what a. huge mass for an eye that looks atthem from the land For these men provisions for eatingand drinl r ing for many rv nths. All this in a single nachinittogether with which the waves play as with shuttlecocY;and this huge whole carrying the hu an spirit prowdly andquietly in ani out through the ra ing elements after itschoice. (lurios theatre, who turned with half of Pone onthe center of gravity as if they scorned the ruler of the


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world, was sc c reel'y 2 greater 51 c': 4 rWhen I not work w i th t71e s l 'ettrs, I lay inbeamti-eui,werther, 1- 7 1.h iv Virgil, above in-the mastheadand irwethering :le, storm with his own anAfoqnd him never so truly alive as now, when I tho l1ht oftheformer and awaited its coring. His "The cables crackthe sal lors fea rful ones ascend.," is so simp le, pictureNes and ')eatiful that it 71ves us the whole scene. Hefelt ti,J - J, himself bessyse it occurs again in 211 his JOS-(lri'ptios of aseastorp i, v ith ch-nge. If I hadnot known thrt he 1 1 . re at sea, we almost AnmistaknbT7could concIule at this -eoint Pf-1I conclded from his qes-cription of .ttln.s that he never wf- on Sountain of hefirst magnitude. Alt 0 1 1 7 h 1121 many means of employmentwithin an d without myself which others lacked, stil lthemonotony of the scene began to bore re. The cod and thesalting of t:Ie sod, in the banks in the prox i nity ofAmerica p ave a few days of gOod eatin7 and good arltsenent.I rer r ilber that once we caught So many tlIrtbesides thedistributit )n eleven .tons w ere s-lted down in one afternoon.No liver of hy kind: Of_a water or land animal seems to refiner and more lell e i r y ts than the liver of codfish.So also te fish itself, freshly nropared and eate is oneof the :11)st Telicious. I would even V 1 1 .11(1Al t abnVetheRterlet nnd the tinny and Prefer it to the salmon, es -ceei-ally since it is pitch tenderer and sounder.

P i/1a11ywe came 1 , i g ht of :le, shores of oviaScotia and ,.'it ino port in the bay od Halifax amongco-non fri endly cries, Halifax is InquePtio 2'h l yone ofthe best harbors of the ocean, perhaps t h e best, for tl.esnfty of a co-tetless 1 r oYd of 'hips agninst rll stornP.


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The Island of Fort St. George ne a r epp of the stroeg landbatteries defends the entrance and it ta. - s a toler-bleforce, to force through it. It Situation is such that itcan be m a de invinciale with diligence and expence if thesurrounding country was able to be defended.

When I took my leave of the ship captain, he 7)ress-ed my hand with warm friendliness. "It is a pity, my boy,)he said, "you do not stRy with us; you would soon '-ecorea very good sailor." "Heartil: I roilld o " I said, "butyou see it i pimi:ossible"---"So it is," he cried, "Godspeed r,. 1 well." WI a Id Ill 7ish for the kiedly ma, Iloncenrle4 the Into the boat anJ rowel to shore.

e ame late to land and before t: -.e neceseitieswere procured, it wan almost nioht. Tile tents arrived andwe ha l to yut them up. I w a 's annointed under officer. Iw-s to look after the raising of the tents. Now in-rywhole 1.ife I h n 7e only seen closely one single, entireCamp f l nA of =le machinery of a camp, I knew not a straw.A lop e place, I said to an old Prussian Grenller, 7hohele-1 me, I understnnd tO l erably well Latin and GreeY,but l ittle of practical military affairs, help rie Lhrouthperhaps I can help you out sometime.. The old soldiersmiled, siezed the ax took several men with him, fp if hewere carrying out my wise comman(ds and in Pn hour our tentstool there fl s-Ote of the f or er affai r , PP.well - , 7 7 thehard grounA )oernit.The gentlemen Ii 1 not succeel 'n making me a hunter,although so fletivv,s I went along with comp l .ace r l e y r rerhvrgwan.lere o-lt alone with weapon, by ei e,tkr, 1-orperhaps ny p hlrt ight I T IJ 1me guilty. For " F ' ' ' o r youth


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up I -ould see positively only n little listance althoughI saw very 1Nell in close proximity, and read the srallestwritin gby moonlig ht, - w:Iich even new is tolerably unal-'tered. Tn the old wo.r.ld, I have never fished., except some-times as a boy with my father in the Pippach, which he ldsplendid loach; in America the richness of the haul offish took my fanny not seldom to this plePsure where I inone hour, caug ht more lobsters and black salmon,a smallkini of brownish black salmon, than I was able to bringhome. The first kind do not belong to my taste, I g avethem g enerally to the first one who would have them. In-stead of lobsters I choose little tender crabs and of thefish, were eels, mackerel, and cod and a kind of plaice myf a7orites, which we- all Very cheap and plentiful there;for an En g lish stiver cod could be bought which lay withits head on my shoulder an d its heal very often touchingthe ground.

Now things went well: I wrote for. a ong time manyreg imental lists and did besides very little. The work wasindeed d ry and slow enough, there often on account of anold pan c over, which Was not worth a cmarter must some-sheets be recopied. But that was all the same since thepaper age wPs setting in at that time in a very practicalway, and has since that produced abundant fruit.

O- my own work now little w's thou ght, so much didunchausen incite me; some trifles do not deserve mention.Only one singl e piece was perhaps not wholly unworthy as abeginning to come to lig ht, if only somewhere, somethingof it were to be found in the corner of my memory, wherenot much of it is remaining . I remember a few verses; Ibelieve they run thus:


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Let us rest, friend, in this cavern,On the old g ray stone there,Which per haps no soul of manSince the first day of earth saw.

Ha, how drellf r.'ul and terrible appearsThe countenance of our mother her eHow the All Mig hty denies her nothing ,She lies there, nature in terror and horror.

Rocks still inacce ssable since the flood,Lift up with difficulty their bla ck. heads,And about their dark skulls flyThunder storms from the chasms.

crossing et 7-ch other lie thousandYear old oaks, which ag e de'rours;Decaying, broken stems sh o w ,That here aforester ne ver measured the forest.

No sociable beast visits the cliff,Where never the foot of the wanderer p resses,Where no bird through the emty airSing s a melchdy of joy.

Oil 'y so/vtimes g rowles Jeep rageAn oll be .r from his tomb-- Thro , 1*the rocks, where with hoar s e voiceOnly rn ol1 grey 1i.a7le

(3


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Still perhos n sow--e can listen,-Drawtng his curved knife for murder,An d then in lp htemjng vanishing vf-TorGraze t 7 esMill of the brads

The remainde ris ')lottl out anJ -()robobly diff icult tofind anywhere or worth lool7i.;g for.

The scolping of the sovap eiswell enou7h Ynorn,and - 4-arfliT instan n e9of it ore told. To me none- of it

theirod. becone-know l. They snalp very ho:lorr7b1.y onlyenemies onJ (Tr . savages Were throughout only a friendlypeo le. Ten say little of then, t - , 1 1Jt is not alrerlywell known.

The so col l _el finvages 7are not clad m ch I r orse than -I hove found. the Llthuonions, thorns and. Pinns. Acoorse, gray cloth, ingeniously enough wound about theho ly, node the chief piece o' clothin7. They 'came gener-ally to the sea, in thcbir boats of birch bark, which wereTVSterfU_lybuilt and which they knew how to manage even asmasterfully with their small oars. The l'ngli_sh,sailorr,,who woul' in i tate Ylen, 7ery o f ten lost their bolo-Ice andfell intoea, T V ' - I r e W O on t . i e In-11o s a n o i . 7 3 - 1 0 : 11heartily ove rYia nropeons ungainly Swrirl:. Thy molein their bof-:ts, lwi gcoast journeys and went to the p.et- ex-traorlin r ri l y far.

I :remember one cane whi-h '"P rltolerably inter e stin7to us at letP. 0 . t .h 1 the watch on n small outnide botter,/,I sot cannon and g azed comf-ortnhly out into -t:_ew a i - . then pr,-:tty rough. Suljenl y we cliscovered some-thing at g reat distance, where upon each ho 1. his ownconjecture what lt perhaps could be. No oAe guessel the


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As it ca nene nr er, we it7aS An In1.1P.n btrchnr noe, r winlr dr6ve to us alon g-he sh-re. Weh7stined u-o a l!i_there lry within, arather old aboriginrlAmerican who slept ver e a c'bly in0 0"11i1WPVe break-in g . Nerr I in lay one Fri rn-I one h a 1f enpty rum flaf-Yw'lich must have been very helpfull to hi ss l umber s. iewas not to be awakened; for hs cond i tio r i is ersy to beimagined. 7e earn I. him vo into t he guard house, lnidhim down in a quiet place on a bunk, where he ,slept off hi5lethargy. We drew the boat onto lan-1, the flasyweved,the Iag which he carried in his belt aul in i l r ieh were 40Spanish Aollars, I shut out of prec r utio- in the Curboard.

when he awoke sobered, he l ooked willTy, wondering-ly r lbo t hin, that he s 1 ouT1 find himself in a European

ship. Bolt when wo toll him the dang erous positionin which he haTb-en found, he was harry and seemed on thepoint of wishing to thank us, but then lie lookel at hisbelt andmd,ssed his purse, his free bec a me oner rndbronder rnd a mixture of feelings seeme:I t ork fl hissoul, 51 1 . of which said "Ha, Ha it S soc" You havefallen o ri people but whenThanded hir the pursefro- the cupboard and he noticed r illickly at a glanc e thatnothing was 1ncking, he perhars also hastened to come tothe conclusion that one wouYt not keep part, where one 71.;,9ma tter 0- t].e whole. his joy became unpatriachalness. He embraced us on-e After the other 'n1 're saw thatto hir the money 1ATPnot so dear SS companionship ofhonest men; and when he f inally founl the sAm complete, heabsolutky insistet that hte guard sho-IlA take a hand fullof dollars. I had good grounds to refuse that, brit must


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79Yeep sow:. Now -p towel him ngnin in his boot, ''r ti icroodalmonitions onT wFrninp's rI-mut the rumflnsk. He Peel-ledthri,n1fill enough; the Inif;ati.o7r 1-ras better and he ro7e1 withgood '-pir i t thri y Ig h the ban,y out Tinto

I h-1 in America, nn old friend of whorl I Aid notknow where fate had corn:le:thin, who INT C Sthe best fr..-n'1 Ihove ever hol. A certain Lorre from Halberstoclt, o fthePren c'h colony, vre nt one time ho l. been in--it7erlan1wi_th his kinsman Lovnter mid who possee.d. the Tattrs bet-ter oni r c-tionol enthusiasm glowing hot. This one 7 71-7anunlerefficer,as I , a ye mg couro7eous light heortedfemlow .The ife of nnN English o1. Ii w;A: not pleasantto us nn d we both occassionoly h r-1. born with patience thesame tho't7ht. 7e could join ourselves to the republic;a .vrry natural oorlonoble thought for irojfltY p eople wholivel mom-, -T i th Plutorch thin with Hobbes. The 01)Ortunit/wold not cone so Lerre, sought to bring it about f=ndhal even ma rlnns to 70 throu.7:1 7rcrt woodsover the bay from Halifax to Boston, really nil drAertakin7of or lerth. He hod alre-ly informel hi-self concern-ing the English posts -rovided for amunition and ne^essorlrequisites ond I e exr,edition wap determined u-non, Tqstthe news of peace come.

Our life in Halifax consinted in one thirdGerman vulgority. One third Huronic wilderness and onethirl En7lish refinement and acordingto the differentchnracters of inlividunls oneo these thircls predo. inateso7 7 1 . th me remninel the German DerhrTrs te most, FIltlicm:rh

English niinn T Huron w-re ry studies md sometimes this heldthe vreference. I haveolreody sold thnt j ;


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40rerhaps one or',) harbors on th,- earth. Thisanl Fort St. Geor g e r t the entrance is strong enough, withproper garrison to prevent the appron.ch of every import-ant fleet. The city itself along the shore, fa- lnbay has about 10,000 inhabitants.

Our journey hal lasted two weeks, e terriby longttie, ho7ever we rale the way brIcx in twenty three lairs;so I made one of the best and one of the worst journeys.7e s.t-iled honewards as if we flew and it provod Psingulargreat ,bold.enjoyment to be thrown into a storm on the hugerachine. There INP9 as g erIbled Pgreat crowd 0 L p Fofll kinds and of all nations, for the first Yre since the

peace, ani'we met rerhaps over 200 in t he canal amongwhich were fo . 1111 also two American fri g ats w it) the nefree United Ststs :nags, for Englrlia rQrh,ars je z-enteRtg rief sinc, :. the British fleet saile-1 t71.e sea. The T-stnight was the most beautiful whinh T have experienned onthe sea, Th-re waS a powerful thunderstorm on the analin the neighborhood of Portsmouth. The assembled fleet,the howling of the storm, the rattling"of the -Pores, theroll of thunder, th light of the lightning, the glaringlight or the glowing w a ves-and the instantaneous changeover the blackest night, the calls and cries of the sail-ors, the ringing ofbells, the for distant , dull sounl.of the signal guns, the thre a teffing ('Pshinp: of thejoints of he hull an:i the anxiety th rt we pe7-hrpF; 1 ' o 1 1 l - 1be thrown unler t:J3 crashing, one can 0,onsile7- "he effectof the whole on the kindled imagination and with t7-,ebri' r htening morning heaven - r 7 e ,ere really i a 'the nei ghbor-hood oftlielrk mountains, which g ives to the lan:7 the


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41nnme Albion. It wns still Pnd fresh Pnd friendly P P ftere tem-oen tAious ni o . 'it only the shir toFs, 1 still violentlyunw i llin gon the a e r itnted ses.

We 1Py c t rnn hor for sometime hr sPnd hills PtDeal and th,--,re it w-s permit t e1 asin e r le timeto. go in l and, th c ' . i r - t ,:1H -.Thole of stny in Old Englnndand s r -rely w orth mentioning. The voyage over t Yorthren thif time very -tormy and long, - r ich W-Pmore vexingsinre t he journey over the ocenn went soq uickly cn1 we held the remainder wt ill on 1 y forastonest T 1 P o w . udlenly - r e found ourselves et Kuxh a ven nlPit 7 ebuttel, probably bemuse -re 00111'd not put into harboron t'l-e wny. After a fe- 1ays ire sailed again to Hremerleewhere ' r r e hanged v(:-sse i s en' c-r -in were towed up r s we

down.Here the fear frightene1 us th c t w e be sold

by Vindey to Prussia. It 7fr woken loud l y and wellknown, unsormulous soulbrrter of t:le old. lend grave madethe affair not improbable. Serre l nlso an old Witrmier fromGothn Pri.,1 myself h r 1 at Elsfleth taken the lrndrble resol-ution to withlr-w ourselves fror the Ihrins of sha-nefulservitude. A few night$we I fyn rrit without resultingin nn opportnnity for the riflemen 11 2 :1 their loaldd brrrelsturned everywhere out of vexation arid fPtil) Ifell nrleepon my haversacl nnl when I awoRe in the -)rning both ofthe pikers wore gone anl no-111 not wakened me rrob , , bly -*without danger. I scrp tchel myself behinl the err andlooked anger l.y after t'e boat r r hich lard le rd them to free-dom. However in Bremen I attempted it rlone with my 3 w ] 1hnnds ril I sncneedel on abrivht, nlear Jay under tolerab-lyeng,er. The next occasXion wae a dispute with the


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42Se' r c r ent v r - ',10r ove rt:Ie del i very bre-d, in wh i -h thecomman d ing offic-r somewhat dictatoriily i tsin g hisfists. The sririt o-' Prussia sie7e1 my b rain -c'irmly.had holy, against my custom, unintention a lly'1-'nk myselfsomewhnt warm in several 7lassen Of wine and set 071tshortly for good and from there aJong the shore sway overthe Bridge into th0 old town. A good old honoraUletownsman Trnst have noticed perhap s some confusi on in ne;he came up to me friendly an .d said "Friend-- -you a_rep erhaps a Hessian deserter" -- "And if I am cite?" 1 said."Then must I shy to yoqonrYngistrste h a smale a treatywith '71e Landgrace." An now And now"---those are tile last words which Seure?I a nritten; the following is alas only relate f-ron t i l ememory of s few friends of the deaeased. To those who:knew him closely and loved him heartily ripAurewhic71 he hi elf had shown is a lep:ncy i n which he liveson with them. They beleive to see hi ii still before themarid to hear him speak beoause his life is re presented sounasuraing - an d true, sobri-fht nnd caln in words anl actionsas i he ha -v7rtten it luring a -oai ful si0J7ness. Hisnutobiography show 'Ts his youth, his otherwritinp:s showtile man anl the following traits by a hand which shows thetruth will tnd the descri-otion of his noble and amiableehsracter. Greet attention toward his inward appearanne,little f or his out-ard appenracnce of earnest thou7hts ofquiet consideration and depth of soul, lack of compliannyand abundance of indula:ence nonsoi ousness of his worthan I the molesty of a oultured men, kinlness an 1 l ove inhis heartOften sinister about ,his forehe a d and eyes,


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sensitive to 1 )eauty pmublimity, ri flminc,nerqrorjustice ul lnwful freerdom, inJeponJent v r thout f-r,bitter ,ainst Uad men out of love for mankind.---thus1 7711 eume.

a

johann gottfried seume ocr

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