This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of thefile for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making anentire meal of them. D.W.]
The weeks following my graduation were as ill suited as possible to thedecision of any serious question.
After a gay journey through Bohemia which ended in venerable Prague,I divided my time between Hosterwitz, Blasewitz, and Dresden. In thelatter city I met among other persons, principally old friends, the sonof my uncle Brandenstein, an Austrian lieutenant on leave of absence.I spent many a pleasant evening with him and his comrades, who were alsoon leave. These young gentlemen considered the Italians, against whomthey fought, as rebels, while a cousin of my uncle, then Colonel vonBrandenstein, but afterwards promoted in the Franco-Austrian war in 1859and 1866 to the rank of master of ordnance, held a totally differentopinion. This clever, warmhearted soldier understood the Italians andtheir struggle for unity and freedom, and judged them so justly andtherefore favorably, that he often aroused the courteous opposition ofhis younger comrades. I did not neglect old friends, however, and whenI did not go to the theatre in the evening I ended the day with my auntat Blasewitz. But, on my mother's account, I was never long absent fromHosterwitz. I enjoyed being with her so much. We drove and walkedtogether, and discussed everything the past had brought and the futurepromised.
Yet I longed for academic freedom, and especially to sit at the feet ofan Ernst Curtius, and be initiated by Waitz into the methodical study ofhistory.
The evening before my departure my mother drove with me to Blasewitz,where there was an elegant entertainment at which the lyric poet JuliusHammer, the author of "Look Around You and Look Within You," who was tobecome a dear friend of mine, extolled in enthusiastic verse the delightsof student liberty and the noble sisters Learning and Poesy.
The glowing words echoed in my heart and mind after I had torn myselffrom the arms of my mother and of the woman who, next to her, was dearestto me on earth, my aunt, and was travelling toward my goal. If ever thefeeling that I was born to good fortune took possession of me, it wasduring that journey.
I did not know what weariness meant, and when, on reaching Gottingen,I learned that the students' coffee-house was still closed and that noone would arrive for three or four days, I went to Cassel to visit theroyal garden in Wilhelmshohe.
At the station I saw a gentleman who looked intently at me. His face,too, seemed familiar. I mentioned my name, and the next instant he hadembraced and kissed me. Two Keilhau friends had met, and, with sunshinealike in our hearts and in the blue sky, we set off together to seeeverything of note in beautiful Cassel.
When it was time to part, Von Born told me so eagerly how many of our oldschool-mates were now living in Westphalia, and how delightful it wouldbe to see them, that I yielded and went with him to the birthplace ofBarop and Middendorf. The hours flew like one long revel, and myexuberant spirits made my old school-mates, who, engaged in businessenterprises, were beginning to look life solemnly in the face, feel asif the carefree Keilhau days had returned. On going ba