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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/22665-0.txt b/22665-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e86da72 --- /dev/null +++ b/22665-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1398 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Christian Gellert's Last Christmas, by Berthold Auerbach + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Christian Gellert's Last Christmas + From “German Tales” Published by the American Publishers' Corporation + +Author: Berthold Auerbach + +Release Date: September 18, 2007 [EBook #22665] +Last Updated: March 14, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS + +By Berthold Auerbach + + +From “German Tales.” Published by the American Publishers' Corporation. + +1869 + + +Three o'clock had just struck from the tower of St. Nicholas, Leipzig, +on the afternoon of December 22d, 1768, when a man, wrapped in a loose +overcoat, came out of the door of the University. His countenance was +exceedingly gentle, and on his features cheerfulness still lingered, for +he had been gazing upon a hundred cheerful faces; after him thronged a +troop of students, who, holding back, allowed him to precede them: the +passengers in the streets saluted him, and some, students, who +pressed forwards and hurried past him homewards, saluted him quite +reverentially. He returned their salutations with a surprised and almost +deprecatory air, and yet he knew, and could not conceal from himself, +that he was one of the best beloved, not only in the good city of +Leipzig, but in all lands far and wide. + +It was Christian Furchtegott Gellert, the Poet of Fables, Hymns, and +Lays, who was just leaving his college. + +When we read his “Lectures upon Morals,” which were not printed until +after his death, we obtain but a very incomplete idea of the great power +with which they came immediately from Gellert's mouth. Indeed, it was +his voice, and the touching manner in which he delivered his lectures, +that made so deep an impression upon his hearers; and Rabener was +right when once he wrote to a friend, that “the philanthropic voice” of +Gellert belonged to his words. + +Above all, however, it was the amiable and pure personal character of +Gellert which vividly and edifyingly impressed young hearts. Gellert was +himself the best example of pure moral teaching; and the best which a +teacher can give his pupils is faith in the victorious might, and the +stability of the eternal moral laws. His lessons were for the Life, for +his life in itself was a lesson. Many a victory over the troubles of +life, over temptations of every kind, ay, many an elevation to +nobility of thought, and to purity of action, had its origin in that +lecture-hall, at the feet of Gellert. + +It was as though Gellert felt that it was the last time he would deliver +these lectures; that those words so often and so impressively uttered +would be heard no more from his mouth; and there was a peculiar sadness, +yet a peculiar strength, in all he said that day. + +He had this day earnestly recommended modesty and humility; and it +appeared almost offensive to him, that people as he went should tempt +him in regard to these very virtues; for continually he heard men +whisper, “That is Gellert!” + +What is fame, and what is honor? A cloak of many colors, without warmth, +without protection: and now, as he walked along, his heart literally +froze in his bosom, as he confessed to himself that he had as yet done +nothing--nothing which could give him a feeling of real satisfaction. +Men honored him and loved him: but what was all that worth? His +innermost heart could not be satisfied with that; in his own estimation +he deserved no meed of praise; and where, where was there any evidence +of that higher and purer life which he would fain bring about! Then, +again, the Spirit would comfort him and say: “Much seed is lost, +much falls in stony places, and much on good ground and brings forth +sevenfold.” + +His inmost soul heard not the consolation, for his body was weak and +sore burdened from his youth up, and in his latter days yet more than +ever; and there are conditions of the body in which the most elevating +words, and the cheeriest notes of joy, strike dull and heavy on the +soul. It is one of the bitterest experiences of life to discover how +little one man can really be to another. How joyous is that youthful +freshness which can believe that, by a thought transferred to another's +heart, we can induce him to become another being, to live according to +what he must acknowledge true, to throw aside his previous delusions, +and return to the right path! + +“The youngsters go their way! Do your words follow after? Whither are +they going? What are now their thoughts? What manner of life will be +theirs? My heart yearns after them, but cannot be with them: oh, how +happy were those messengers of the Spirit, who cried aloud to youth or +manhood the words of the Spirit, that they must leave their former ways, +and thenceforth change to other beings! Pardon me, O God! that I would +fain be like them; I am weak and vile, and yet, methinks, there must be +words as yet unheard, unknown--oh! where are they, those words which at +once lay hold upon the soul?” + +With such heavy thoughts went Gellert away from his college-gate to +Rosenthal. There was but one small pathway cleared, but the passers +cheerfully made way for him, and walked in the snow that they might +leave him the pathway unimpeded; but he felt sad, and “as if each tree +had somewhat to cast at him.” Like all men really pure, and cleaving to +the good with all their might, Gellert was not only far from contenting +himself with work already done: he also, in his anxiety to be doing, +almost forgot that he had ever done anything, and thus he was, in the +best sense of the word, modest; he began with each fresh day his course +of action afresh, as if he now for the first time had anything to +accomplish. And yet he might have been happy, in the reflection how +brightly beamed his teaching for ever, though his own life was often +clouded. For as the sun which glows on summer days still lives as +concentrated warmth in wine, and somewhere on some winter night warms up +a human heart, so is the sunshine in that man's life whose vocation it +is to impart to others the conceptions of his own mind. Nay, there +is here far more; for the refreshing draught here offered is not +diminished, though thousands drink thereof. + +Twilight had set in when Gellert returned home to his dwelling, which +had for its sign a “Schwarz Brett” or “black board.” His old servant, +Sauer by name, took off his overcoat; and his amanuensis, Gödike, asked +whether the Professor had any commands; being answered in the negative, +Gödike retired, and Sauer lighted the lamp upon the study-table. “Some +letters have arrived,” said he, as he pointed to several upon the table: +Gellert inclined his head, and Sauer retired also. Outside, however, he +stood awhile with Gödike, and both spoke sorrowfully of the fact that +the Professor was evidently again suffering severely. “There is a +melancholy,” said Gödike, “and it is the most usual, in which the inward +depression easily changes to displeasure against every one, and the +household of the melancholic suffers thereby intolerably; for the +displeasure turns against them,--no one does anything properly, nothing +is in its place. How very different is Gellert's melancholy! Not a soul +suffers from it but himself, against himself alone his gloomy thoughts +turn, and towards every other creature he is always kind, amiable, and +obliging: he bites his lips; but when he speaks to any one, he is wholly +good, forbearing, and self-forgetful.” + +Whilst they were talking together, Gellert was sitting in his room, and +had lighted a pipe to dispel the agitation which he would experience +in opening his letters; and while smoking, he could read them much more +comfortably. He reproached himself for smoking, which was said to be +injurious to his health, but he could not quite give up the “horrible +practice,” as he called it. + +He first examined the addresses and seals of the letters which had +arrived, then quietly opened and read them. A fitful smile passed over +his features; there were letters from well-known friends, full of +love and admiration, but from strangers also, who, in all kinds of +heart-distress, took counsel of him. He read the letters full of +friendly applause, first hastily, that he might have the right of +reading them again, and that he might not know all at once; and when he +had read a friend's letter for the second time, he sprang from his seat +and cried, “Thank God! thank God! that I am so fortunate as to have +such friends!” To his inwardly diffident nature these helps were a real +requirement; they served to cheer him, and only those who did not know +him called his joy at the reception of praise--conceit; it was, on the +contrary, the truest modesty. How often did he sit there, and all that +he had taught and written, all that he had ever been to men in word and +deed, faded, vanished, and died away, and he appeared to himself but a +useless servant of the world. His friends he answered immediately; +and as his inward melancholy vanished, and the philanthropy, nay, the +sprightliness of his soul beamed forth, when he was among men and looked +in a living face, so was it also with his letters. When he bethought +him of the friends to whom he was writing, he not only acquired +tranquillity, that virtue for which his whole life long he strove; but +his loving nature received new life, and only by slight intimations did +he betray the heaviness and dejection which weighed upon his soul. He +was, in the full sense of the word, “philanthropic,” in the sight of +good men; and in thoughts for their welfare, there was for him a real +happiness and a joyous animation. + +When, however, he had done writing and felt lonely again, the gloomy +spirits came back: he had seated himself, wishing to raise his thoughts +for composing a sacred song; but he was ill at ease, and had no power to +express that inward, firm, and self-rejoicing might of faith which lived +in him. Again and again the scoffers and freethinkers rose up before his +thoughts: he must refute their objections, and not until that was done +did he become himself. + +It is a hard position, when a creative spirit cannot forget the +adversaries which on all sides oppose him in the world: they come +unsummoned to the room and will not be expelled; they peer over the +shoulder, and tug at the hand which fain would write; they turn images +upside down, and distort the thoughts; and here and there, from ceiling +and wall, they grin, and scoff, and oppose: and what was just gushing as +an aspiration from the soul, is converted to a confused absurdity. + +At such a time, the spirit, courageous and self-dependent, must take +refuge in itself and show a firm front to a world of foes. + +A strong nature boldly hurls his inkstand at the Devil's head; goes to +battle with his opponents with words both written and spoken; and keeps +his own individuality free from the perplexities with which opponents +disturb all that has been previously done, and make the soul unsteadfast +and unnerved for what is to come. + +Gellert's was no battling, defiant nature, which relies upon itself; he +did not hurl his opponents down and go his way; he would convince them, +and so they were always ready to encounter him. And as the applause of +his friends rejoiced him, so the opposition of his enemies could sink +him in deep dejection. Besides, he had always been weakly; he had, as +he himself complained, in addition to frequent coughs and a pain in +his loins, a continual gnawing and pressure in the centre of his chest, +which accompanied him from his first rising in the morning until he +slept at night. + +Thus he sat for a while, in deep dejection: and, as often before, his +only wish was, that God would give him grace whereby when his hour was +come, he might die piously and tranquilly. + +It was past midnight when he sought his bed and extinguished his light. + +And the buckets at the well go up and go down. + +About the same hour, in Duben Forest, the rustic Christopher was rising +from his bed. As with steel and flint he scattered sparks upon the +tinder, in kindling himself a light, his wife, awaking, cried: + +“Why that heavy sigh?” + +“Ah! life is a burden: I 'm the most harassed mortal in the world. The +pettiest office-clerk may now be abed in peace, and need n't break off +his sleep, while I must go out and brave wind and weather.” + +“Be content,” replied his wife: “why, I dreamt you had actually been +made magistrate, and wore something on your head like a king's crown.” + +“Oh! you women; as though what you see is n't enough, you like to +chatter about what you dream.” + +“Light the lamp, too,” said his wife, “and I 'll get up and make you a +nice porridge.” + +The peasant, putting a candle in his lantern, went to the stable; and +after he had given some fodder to the horses, he seated himself upon +the manger. With his hands squeezed between his knees and his head bent +down, he reflected over and over again what a wretched existence he had +of it. “Why,” thought he, “are so many men so well-off, so comfortable, +whilst you must be always toiling? What care I if envy be not a +virtue?--and yet I 'm not envious, I don't grudge others being well-off, +only I should like to be well-off too; oh, for a quiet, easy life! Am I +not worse off than a horse? He gets his fodder at the proper time, and +takes no care about it. Why did my father make my brother a minister? He +gets his salary without any trouble, sits in a warm room, has no care in +the world; and I must slave and torment myself.” + +Strange to say, his very next thought, that he would like to be made +local magistrate, he would in no wise confess to himself. + +He sat still a long while; then he went back again to the sitting-room, +past the kitchen, where the fire was burning cheerily. He seated himself +at the table and waited for his morning porridge. On the table lay +an open book; his children had been reading it the previous evening: +involuntarily taking it up, he began to read. Suddenly he started, +rubbed his eyes, and then read again. How comes this verse here just at +this moment? He kept his hand upon the book, and so easily had he caught +the words, that he repeated them to himself softly with his lips, and +nodded several times, as much as to say: “That's true!” And he said +aloud: “It's all there together: short and sweet!” and he was still +staring at it, when his wife brought in the smoking porridge. Taking off +his cap, he folded his hands and said aloud: + + “Accept God's gifts with resignation, + Content to lack what thou hast not: + In every lot there 's consolation; + There 's trouble, too, in every lot!” + +The wife looked at her husband with amazement. What a strange expression +was upon his face! And as he sat down and began to eat, she said: “What +is the meaning of that grace? What has come to you? Where did you find +it?” + +“It is the best of all graces, the very best,--real God's word. Yes, +and all your life you 've never made such nice porridge before. You must +have put something special in it!” + +“I don't know what you mean. Stop! There 's the book lying there--ah! +that's it--and it's by Gellert, of Leipzig.” + +“What! Gellert, of Leipzig! Men with ideas like that don't live now; +there may have been such, a thousand years ago, in holy lands, not among +us; those are the words of a saint of old.” + +“And I tell you they are by Gellert, of Leipzig, of whom your brother +has told us; in fact, he was his tutor, and have n't you heard how pious +and good he is?” + +“I would n't have believed that such men still lived, and so near us, +too, as Leipzig.” + +“Well, but those who lived a thousand years ago were also once living +creatures: and over Leipzig is just the same heaven, and the same sun +shines, and the same God rules, as over all other cities.” + +“Oh! yes, my brother has an apt pupil in you!” + +“Well, and why not? I 've treasured up all he told us of Professor +Gellert.” + +“Professor!” + +“Yes, Professor!” + +“A man with such a proud, new-fangled title could n't write anything +like that!” + +“He did n't give himself the title, and he is poor enough withal! and +how hard it has fared with him! Even from childhood he has been well +acquainted with poverty: his father was a poor minister in Haynichen, +with thirteen children; and Gellert, when quite a little fellow, was +obliged to be a copying office-clerk: who can tell whether he did n't +then contract that physical weakness of his? And now that he 's an old +man, things will never go better with him; he has often no wood, and +must be pinched with cold. It is with him, perhaps, as with that student +of whom your brother has told us, who is as poor as a rat, and yet must +read; and so in winter he lies in bed with an empty stomach, until day +is far advanced; and he has his book before him, and first he takes out +one hand to hold his book, and then, when that is numb with cold, the +other. Ah! tongue cannot tell how poorly the man must live; and yet your +brother has told me, if he has but a few pounds, he does n't think at +all of himself; he always looks out for one still poorer than he is, and +then gives all away: and he 's always engaged in aiding and assisting +others. Oh! dear, and yet he is so poor! May be at this moment he is +hungry and cold; and he is said to be in ill-health, besides.” + +“Wife, I would willingly do the man a good turn if I could. If, now, he +had some land, I would plough, and sow, and reap, and carry, and thresh +by the week together for him. I should like to pay him attention in such +a way that he might know there was at least one who cared for him. But +his profession is one in which I can't be of any use to him.” + +“Well, just seek him out and speak with him once; you are going to-day, +you know, with your wood to Leipzig. Seek him out and thank him; that +sort of thing does such a man's heart good. Anybody can see him.” + +“Yes, yes; I should like much to see him, and hold out to him my +hand,--but not empty: I wish I had something!” + +“Speak to your brother, and get him to give you a note to him.” + +“No, no; say nothing to my brother; but it might be possible for me to +meet him in the street. Give me my Sunday coat; it will come to no harm +under my cloak.” + +When his wife brought him the coat, she said: “If, now, Gellert had a +wife, or a household of his own, one might send him something; but your +brother says he is a bachelor, and lives quite alone.” + +Christopher had never before so cheerfully harnessed his horses and put +them to his wood-laden wagon; for a long while he had not given his +hand so gayly to his wife at parting as to-day. Now he started with +his heavily-laden vehicle through the village; the wheels creaked and +crackled in the snow. At the parsonage he stopped, and looked away +yonder where his brother was still sleeping; he thought he would wake +him and tell him his intention: but suddenly he whipped up his +horses, and continued his route. He would n't yet bind himself to his +intention--perchance it was but a passing thought; he does n't own that +to himself, but he says to himself that he will surprise his brother +with the news of what he has done; and then his thoughts wandered away +to the good man still sleeping yonder in the city; and he hummed the +verse to himself in an old familiar tune. + +Wonderfully in life do effects manifest them-selves, of which we have no +trace. Gellert, too, heard in his dreams a singing; he knew not what it +was, but it rang so consolingly, so joyously!... Christopher drove +on, and he felt as though a bandage had been taken from his eyes; he +reflected what a nice house, what a bonny wife and rosy children he had, +and how warm the cloak which he had thrown over him was, and how well +off were both man and beast; and through the still night he drove along, +and beside him sat a spirit; but not an illusion of the brain, such as +in olden time men conjured up to their terror, a good spirit sat beside +him--beside the woodman who his whole life long had never believed that +anything could have power over him but what had hands and feet. + +It is said that, on troublous nights, evil spirits settle upon the necks +of men, and belabor them so that they gasp and sweat for very terror; +quite another sort it was to-day which sat by the woodman: and his heart +was warm, and its beating quick. + +In ancient times, men also carried loads of wood through the night, that +heretics might be burned thereon: these men thought they were doing a +good deed in helping to execute justice; and who can say how painful it +was to their hearts, when they were forced to think: To morrow, on this +wood which now you carry, will shriek, and crackle, and gasp, a human +being like yourself? Who can tell what black spirits settled on the +necks of those who bore the wood to make the funeral-pile? How very +different was it to-day with our woodman Christopher! + +And earlier still, in ancient times, men brought wood to the temple, +whereon they offered victims in the honor of God; and, according to +their notions, they did a good deed: for when words can no longer +suffice to express the fervency of the heart, it gladly offers what +it prizes, what it dearly loves, as a proof of its devotion, of the +earnestness of its intent. + +How differently went Christopher from the Duben Forest upon his way! He +knew not whether he were intending to bring a purer offering than men +had brought in bygone ages; but his heart grew warm within him. + +It was day as he arrived before the gates of Leipzig. Here there met +him a funeral-procession; behind the bier the scholars of St. Thomas, +in long black cloaks, were chanting. Christopher stopped and raised his +hat. Whom were they burying? Supposing it were Gellert. Yes, surely, +he thought, it is he: and how gladly, said he to himself, would you now +have done him a kindness,--ay, even given him your wood! Yes, indeed you +would, and now he is dead, and you cannot give him any help! + +As soon as the train had passed, Christopher asked who was being buried. +It was a simple burgher, it was not Gellert; and in the deep breath +which Christopher drew lay a double signification: on the one hand, +was joy that Gellert was not dead; on the other, a still small voice +whispered to him that he had now really promised to give him the wood: +ah! but whom had he promised?--himself: and it is easy to argue with +one's own conscience. + +Superstition babbles of conjuring-spells, by which, without the +co-operation of the patient, the evil spirit can be summarily ejected. +It would be convenient if one had that power, but, in truth, it is not +so: it is long ere the evil desire and the evil habit are removed from +the soul into which they have nestled; and the will, for a long while +in bondage, must co-operate, if a releasing spell from without is to set +the prisoner free. + +One can only be guided, but himself must move his feet. + +As Christopher now looked about him, he found that he had stopped close +by an inn; he drove his load a little aside, went into the parlor, and +drank a glass of warmed beer. There was already a goodly company, and +not far from Christopher sat a husbandman with his son, a student here, +who was telling him how there had been lately quite a stir. Professor +Gellert had been ill, and riding a well-trained horse had been +recommended for his health. Now Prince Henry of Prussia, during the +Seven Years' War, at the occupation of Leipzig, had sent him a piebald, +that had died a short time ago; and the Elector, hearing of it, had +sent Gellert from Dresden another--a chestnut--with golden bridle, +blue velvet saddle, and gold-embroidered housings. Half the city had +assembled when the groom, a man with iron-gray hair, brought the horse; +and for several days it was to be seen at the stable; but Gellert dared +not mount it, it was so young and high-spirited. The rustic now asked +his son whether the Professor did not make money enough to procure a +horse of his own, to which the son answered: “Certainly not. His salary +is but one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and his further gains are +inconsiderable. His Lectures on Morals he gives publicly, i. e., gratis, +and he has hundreds of hearers; and, therefore, at his own lectures, +which must be paid for, he has so many the fewer. To be sure, he has now +and then presents from grand patrons; but no one gives him, once and +for all, enough to live upon, and to have all over with a single +acknowledgment.” + +Our friend Christopher started as he heard this; he had quite made up +his mind to take Gellert the wood: but he had yet to do it. How easy +were virtue, if will and deed were the same thing! if performance could +immediately succeed to the moment of burning enthusiasm! But one must +make way over obstacles; over those that outwardly lie in one's path, +and over those that are hidden deep in the heart; and negligence has a +thousand very cunning advocates. + +How many go forth, prompted by good intentions, but let little +hindrances turn them from their way--entirely from their way of life! +In front of the house Christopher met other woodmen whom he knew, and-- +“You are stirring betimes!” “Prices are good to-day!” “But little comes +to the market now!” was the cry from all sides. Christopher wanted to +say that all that did n't concern him, but he was ashamed to confess +what his design was, and an inward voice told him he must not lie. +Without answering he joined the rest, and wended his way to the market; +and on the road he thought: “There are Peter, and Godfrey, and John, who +have seven times your means, and not one of them, I'm sure, would think +of doing anything of this kind; why will you be the kind-hearted fool? +Stay! what matters it what others do or leave undone? Every man shall +answer for himself. Yes, but go to market--it is better it should be so; +yes, certainly, much better: sell your wood--who knows? perhaps he does +n't want it--and take him the proceeds, or at least the greater portion. +But is the wood still yours? You have, properly speaking, already given +it away; it has only not been taken from your keeping....” + +There are people who cannot give; they can only let a thing be taken +either by the hand of chance, or by urgency and entreaty. Christopher +had such fast hold of possession, that it was only after sore wrestling +that he let go; and yet his heart was kind, at least to-day it was +so disposed, but the tempter whispered: “It is not easy to find so +good-natured a fellow as you. How readily would you have given, had the +man been in want, and your good intention must go for the deed.” Still, +on the other hand, there was something in him which made opposition,--an +echo from those hours, when, in the still night, he was driving +hither,--and it burned in him like sacred fire, and it said, “You must +now accomplish what you intended. Certainly no one knows of it, and you +are responsible to no one; but you know of it yourself, and One above +you knows, and how shall you be justified?” And he said to himself, “I +'ll stand by this: look, it is just nine; if no one ask the price of +your wood until ten o'clock, until the stroke of ten,--until it has +done striking, I mean; if no one ask, then the wood belongs to +Professor Gellert: but if a buyer come, then it is a sign that you need +not--should not give it away. There, that's all settled. But how? what +means this? Can you make your good deed dependent on such a chance as +this? No, no; I don't mean it. But yet--yet--only for a joke, I 'll try +it.” + +Temptation kept him turning as it were in a circle, and still he stood +with an apparently quiet heart by his wagon in the market. The people +who heard him muttering in this way to himself looked at him with +wonder, and passed by him to another wagon, as though he had not been +there. It struck nine. Can you wait patiently another hour? Christopher +lighted his pipe, and looked calmly on, while this and that load +was driven off. It struck the quarter, half-hour, three-quarters. +Christopher now put his pipe in his pocket; it had long been cold, and +his hands were almost frozen; all his blood had rushed to his heart. Now +it struck the full hour, stroke after stroke. At first he counted; then +he fancied he had lost a stroke and miscalculated. Either voluntarily or +involuntarily, he said to himself, when it had finished striking, “You +'re wrong; it is nine, not ten.” He turned round that he might not +see the dial, and thus he stood for some time, with his hands upon the +wagon-rack, gazing at the wood. He knew not how long he had been thus +standing, when some one tapped him on the shoulder, and said, “How much +for the load of wood?” + +Christopher turned round: there was an odd look of irresolution in his +eyes as he said: “Eh? eh? what time is it?” + +“Half-past ten.” + +“Then the wood is now no longer mine--at least to sell:” and, collecting +himself, he became suddenly warm, and with firm hand turned his horses +round, and begged the woodmen who accompanied him to point him out +the way to the house with the “Schwarz Brett,” Dr. Junius's. There he +delivered a full load: at each log he took out of the wagon he smiled +oddly. The wood-measurer measured the wood carefully, turning each log +and placing it exactly, that there might not be a crevice anywhere. + +“Why are you so over-particular to-day, pray?” asked Christopher, and he +received for answer: + +“Professor Gellert must have a fair load; every shaving kept back from +him were a sin.” + +Christopher laughed aloud, and the wood-measurer looked at him with +amazement; for such particularity generally provoked a quarrel. + +Christopher had still some logs over; these he kept by him on the wagon. +At this moment the servant Sauer came up, and asked to whom the wood +belonged. + +“To Professor Gellert,” answered Christopher. + +“The man's mad! it isn't true. Professor Gellert has not bought any +wood; it is my business to look after that.” + +“He has not bought it, and yet it is his!” cried Christopher. + +Sauer was on the point of giving the mad peasant a hearty scolding, +raising his voice so much the louder, as it was striking eleven by St. +Nicholas. At this moment, however, he became suddenly mute; for yonder +from the University there came, with tired gait, a man of a noble +countenance: at every step he made, on this side and on that, off came +the hats and the caps of the passers-by, and Sauer simply called out, +“There comes the Professor himself.” + +What a peculiar expression passed over Christopher's face! He looked +at the new-comer, and so earnest was his gaze, that Gellert, who always +walked with his head bowed, suddenly looked up. Christopher said: “Mr. +Gellert, I am glad to see you still alive.” + +“I thank you,” said Gellert, and made as though he would pass on; but +Christopher stepped up closer to him, and, stretching out his hand to +him, said: “I have taken the liberty--I should like--will you give me +your hand, Mr. Gellert?” + +Gellert drew his long thin hand out of his muff and placed it in the +hard oaken-like hand of the peasant; and at this moment, when the +peasant's hand lay in the scholars palm, as one felt the other's +pressure in actual living grasp, there took place, though the mortal +actors in the scene were all unconscious of it, a renewal of that +healthy life which alone can make a people one. + +How long had the learned world, wrapped up in itself, separated from +the fellow-men around, thought in Latin, felt as foreigners, and lived +buried in contemplation of bygone worlds! From the time of Gellert +commences the ever-increasing unity of good-fellowship throughout +all classes of life, kept up by mutual giving and receiving. As the +scholar--as the solitary poet endeavors to work upon others by lays that +quicken and songs that incite, so he in his turn is a debtor to his age, +and the lonely thinking and writing become the property of all; but the +effects are not seen in a moment; for higher than the most highly gifted +spirit of any single man is the spirit of a nation. With the pressure +which Gellert and the peasant exchanged commenced a mighty change in +universal life, which never more can cease to act. + +“Permit me to enter your room?” said Christopher, and Gellert nodded +assent. He was so courteous that he motioned to the peasant to enter +first; however, Sauer went close after him: he thought it must be a +madman; he must protect his master; the man looked just as if he were +drunk. Gellert, with his amanuensis, Gödike, followed them. + +Gellert, however, felt that the man must be actuated by pure motives: he +bade the others retire, and took Christopher alone into his study; and, +as he clasped his left with his own right hand, he asked: “Well, my good +friend, what is your business?” + +“Eh? oh! nothing--I 've only brought you a load of wood there--a fair, +full load; however, I 'll give you the few logs which I have in my +wagon, as well.” + +“My good man, my servant Sauer looks after buying my wood.” + +“It is no question of buying. No, my dear sir, I give it to you.” + +“Give it to me? Why me particularly?” + +“Oh! sir, you do not know at all what good you do, what good you have +done me; and my wife was right; why should there not be really pious +men in our day too? Surely the sun still shines as he shone thousands +of years ago; all is now the same as then; and the God of old is still +living.” + +“Certainly, certainly; I am glad to see you so pious.” + +“Ah! believe me, dear sir, I am not always so pious; and that I am so +disposed to-day is owing to you. We have no more confessionals now, but +I can confess to you: and you have taken a heavier load from my heart +than a wagon-load of wood. Oh! sir, I am not what I was. In my early +days I was a high-spirited, merry lad, and out in the field, and indoors +in the inn and the spinning-room, there was none who could sing +against me; but that is long past. What has a man on whose head the +grave-blossoms are growing,” and he pointed to his gray head, “to do +with all that trash? And besides, the Seven Years' War has put a stop +to all our singing. But last night, in the midst of the fearful cold, I +sang a lay set expressly for me--all old tunes go to it: and it seemed +to me as though I saw a sign-post which pointed I know not whither--or, +nay, I do know whither.” And now the peasant related how discontented +and unhappy in mind he had been, and how the words in the lay had all +at once raised his spirits and accompanied him upon the journey, like a +good fellow who talks to one cheerfully. + +At this part of the peasant's tale Gellert folded his hands in silence, +and the peasant concluded: “How I always envied others, I cannot now +think why; but you I do envy, sir: I should like to be as you.” + +And Gellert answered: “I thank God, and rejoice greatly that my writings +have been of service to you. Think not so well of me. Would God I were +really the good man I appear in your eyes! I am far from being such as I +should, such as I would fain be. I write my books for my own improvement +also, to show myself as well as others what manner of men we should be.” + +Laughing, the peasant replied: “You put me in mind of the story my poor +mother used to tell of the old minister; he stood up once in the pulpit +and said: 'My dear friends, I speak not only for you, but for myself +also; I, too, have need of it.'” + +Christopher laughed outrageously when he had finished, and Gellert +smiled, and said: “Yes, whoever in the darkness lighteth another with a +lamp, lighteth himself also; and the light is not part of ourselves,--it +is put into our hands by Him who hath appointed the suns their courses.” + +The peasant stood speechless, and looked upon the ground: there was +something within him which took away the power of looking up; he was +only conscious that it ill became him to laugh so loudly just now, when +he told the story of the old minister. + +A longer pause ensued, and Gellert seemed to be lost in reflection upon +this reference to a minister's work, for he said half to himself: “Oh! +how would it fulfil my dearest wish to be a village-pastor! To move +about among my people, and really be one with them; the friend of their +souls my whole life long, never to lose them out of my sight! Yonder +goes one whom I have led into the right way; there another, with whom +I still wrestle, but whom I shall assuredly save; and in them all the +teaching lives which God proclaims by me. Did I not think that I should +be acting against my duty, I would this moment choose a country life for +the remnant of my days. When I look from my window over the country, I +have before me the broad sky, of which we citizens know but little, a +scene entirely new; there I stand and lose myself for half an hour in +gazing and in thinking. Yes, good friend, envy no man in the rank of +scholars. Look at me; I am almost always ill; and what a burden is a +sickly body! How strong, on the contrary, are you! I am never happier +than when, without being remarked, I can watch a dinner-table thronged +by hungry men and maids. Even if these folks be not generally so happy +as their superiors, at table they are certainly happier.” + +“Yes, sir; we relish our eating and drinking. And, lately, when felling +and sorting that wood below, I was more than usually lively; it seems as +though I had a notion I was to do some good with it.” + +“And must I permit you to make me a present?” asked Gellert, resting his +chin upon his left hand. + +The peasant answered: “It is not worth talking about.” + +“Nay, it might be well worth talking about; but I accept your present. +It is pride not to be ready to accept a gift. Is not all we have a +gift from God? And what one man gives another, he gives, as is most +appropriately said, for God's sake. Were I your minister, I should be +pleased to accept a present from you. You see, good friend, we men have +no occasion to thank each other. You have given me nothing of yours, and +I have given you nothing of mine. That the trees grow in the forest is +none of your doing, it is the work of the Creator and Preserver of +the world; and the soil is not yours; and the sun and the rain are not +yours; they all are the works of His hand; and if, perchance, I have +some healthy thoughts rising up in my soul, which benefit my fellow-men, +it is none of mine, it is His doing. The word is not mine, and the +spirit is not mine; and I am but an instrument in His hand. Therefore +one man needs not to utter words of thanks to his fellow, if every one +would but acknowledge who it really is that gives.” + +The peasant looked up in astonishment. Gellert remarked it, and said: +“Understand me aright. I thank you from my heart; you have done a kind +action. But that the trees grow is none of yours, and it is none of mine +that thoughts arise in me; every one simply tills his field, and tends +his woodland, and the honest, assiduous toil he gives thereto is his +virtue. That you felled, loaded, and brought the wood, and wish no +recompense for your labor, is very thank-worthy. My wood was more easily +felled; but those still nights which I and all of my calling pass in +heavy thought--who can tell what toil there is in them? There is in the +world an adjustment which no one sees, and which but seldom discovers +itself; and this and that shift thither and hither, and the scales of +the balance become even, and then ceases all distinction between 'mine' +and 'thine,' and in the still forest rings an axe for me, and in the +silent night my spirit thinks and my pen writes for you.” + +The peasant passed both his hands over his temples, and his look was as +though he said to himself, “Where are you? Are you still in the world? +Is it a mortal man who speaks to you? Are you in Leipzig, in that +populous city where men jostle one another for gain and bare existence?” + +Below might be heard the creaking of the saw as the wood was being +sundered: and now the near horse neighs, and Christopher is in the world +again. “It may injure the horse to stand so long in the cold; and no +money for the wood! but perhaps a sick horse to take home into the +bargain; that would be too much,” he thought. + +“Yes, yes, Mr. Professor,” said he--he had his hat under his arm, and +was rubbing his hands--“yes, I am delighted with what I have done; and +I value the lesson, believe me, more than ten loads of wood: and never +shall I forget you to my dying day. And though I see you are not so poor +as I had imagined, still I don't regret it. Oh! no, certainly not at +all.” + +“Eh! did you think me so very poor, then?” + +“Yes, miserably poor.” + +“I have always been poor, but God has never suffered me to be a single +day without necessaries. I have in the world much happiness which I have +not deserved, and much unhappiness I have not, which perchance I have +deserved. I have found much favor with both high and low, for which +I cannot sufficiently thank God. And now tell me, cannot I give you +something, or obtain something for you? You are a local magistrate, I +presume?” + +“Why so?” + +“You look like it: you might be.” + +Christopher had taken his hat into his hands, and was crumpling it +up now; he half closed his eyes, and with a sly, inquiring glance, +he peered at Gellert. Suddenly, however, the expression of his face +changed, and the muscles quivered, as he said: “Sir, what a man are you! +How you can dive into the recesses of one's heart! I have really pined +night and day, and been cross with the whole world, because I could not +be magistrate, and you, sir, you have actually helped to overcome that +in me. Oh! sir, as soon as I read that verse in your book, I had an +idea, and now I see still more plainly that you must be a man of God, +who can pluck the heart from one's bosom, and turn it round and round. +I had thought I could never have another moment's happiness, if my +neighbor, Hans Gottlieb, should be magistrate: and with that verse of +yours, it has been with me as when one calms the blood with a magic +spell.” + +“Well, my good friend, I am rejoiced to hear it: believe me, every one +has in himself alone a whole host to govern. What can so strongly +urge men to wish to govern others? What can it profit you to be local +magistrate, when to accomplish your object you must perhaps do something +wrong? What were the fame, not only of a village, but even of the whole +world, if you could have no self-respect? Let it suffice for you to +perform your daily duties with uprightness; let your joys be centred in +your wife and children, and you will be happy. What need you more? Think +not that honor and station would make you happy. Rejoice, and again I +say, rejoice: 'A contented spirit is a continual feast.' I often whisper +this to myself, when I feel disposed to give way to dejection: and +although misery be not our fault, yet lack of endurance and of patience +in misery is undoubtedly our fault.” + +“I would my wife were here too, that she also might hear this; I grudge +myself the hearing of it all alone; I cannot remember it all properly, +and yet I should like to tell it to her word for word. Who would have +thought that, by standing upon a load of wood, one could get a peep into +heaven!” + +Gellert in silence bowed his head; and afterwards he said: “Yes, rejoice +in your deed, as I do in your gift. Your wood is sacrificial-wood. In +olden time--and it was right in principle, because man could not yet +offer prayer and thanks in spirit--it was a custom and ordinance to +bring something from one's possessions, as a proof of devotion: this was +a sacrifice. And the more important the gift to be given, or the request +to be granted, the more costly was the sacrifice. Our God will have no +victims; but whatsoever you do unto one of the least of His, you do unto +Him. Such are our sacrifices. My dear friend, from my heart I thank +you; for you have done me a kindness, in that you have given me a real, +undeniable proof, that my words have penetrated your heart, and that I +do not live on for nothing: and treasure it up in your heart, that you +have caused real joy to one who is often, very often, weighed down with +heaviness and sorrow. You have not only kindled bright tapers upon my +Christmas-tree, but the tree itself burns, gives light, and warms: the +bush burns, and is not consumed, which is an image of the presence of +the Holy Spirit, and its admonition to trust in the Most High in this +wilderness of life, in mourning and in woe. Oh! my dear friend, I have +been nigh unto death. What a solemn, quaking stride is the stride +into eternity! What a difference between ideas of death in the days +of health, and on the brink of the grave! And how shall I show myself +worthy of longer life? By learning better to die. And, mark, when I sit +here in solitude pursuing my thoughts, keeping some and driving +away others, then I can think, that in distant valleys, upon distant +mountains, there are living men who carry my thoughts within their +hearts; and for them I live, and they are near and dear to me, till one +day we shall meet where there is no more parting, no more +separation. Peasant and scholar, let us abide as we are. Give me your +hand--farewell!” + +And once again, the soft and the hard hand were clasped together, and +Christopher really trembled as Gellert laid his hand upon his shoulder. +They shook hands, and therewith something touched the heart of each +more impressively, more completely, than ever words could touch it. +Christopher got downstairs without knowing how: below, he threw down +the extra logs of wood, which he had kept back, with a clatter from +the wagon, and then drove briskly from the city. Not till he arrived +at Lindenthal did he allow himself and his horses rest or food. He had +driven away empty: he had nothing on his wagon, nothing in his purse; +and yet who can tell what treasures he took home; and who can tell what +inextinguishable fire he left behind him yonder, by that lonely scholar! + +Gellert, who usually dined at his brother's, today had dinner brought +into his own room, remained quite alone, and did not go out again: he +had experienced quite enough excitement, and society he had in his own +thoughts. Oh! to find that there are open, susceptible hearts, is a +blessing to him that writes in solitude, and is as wondrous to him as +though he dipped his pen in streams of sunshine, and as if all he wrote +were Light. The raindrop which falls from the cloud cannot tell upon +what plant it drops: there is a quickening power in it, but for what? +And a thought which finds expression from a human heart; an action, +nay, a whole life is like the raindrop falling from the cloud: the whole +period of a life endures no longer than the raindrop needs for falling. +And as for knowing where your life is continued, how your work proceeds, +you cannot attain to that. + +And in the night all was still around: nothing was astir; the whole +earth was simple rest, as Gellert sat in his room by his lonely lamp; +his hand lay upon an open book, and his eyes were fixed upon the empty +air; and on a sudden came once more upon him that melancholy gloom, +which so easily resumes its place after more than usual excitement. + +It is as though the soul, suddenly elevated above all, must still +remember the heaviness it but now experienced, though that expresses +itself as tears of joy in the eye. + +In Gellert, however, this melancholy had a more peculiar phase: a sort +of timidity had rooted itself in him, connected with his weak chest, +and that secret gnawing pain in his head; it was a fearfulness which +his manner of life only tended to increase. Surrounded though he was +by nothing but love and admiration in the world, he could not divest +himself of the fear that all which is most horrible and terrible would +burst suddenly upon him: and so he gazed fixedly before him. He passed +his hand over his face, and with an effort concentrated his looks and +thoughts upon surrounding objects, saying to himself almost aloud: +“How comforting is light! Were there no light from without to illumine +objects for us, we should perish in gloom, in the shadows of night. And +light is a gentle friend that watches by us, and, when we are sunk in +sorrow, points out to us that the world is still here, that it calls, +and beckons us, and requires of us duty and cheerfulness. 'You must not +be lost in self,' it says, 'see! the world is still here:' and a friend +beside us is as a light which illumines surrounding objects; we cannot +forget them, we must see them and mingle with them. How hard is life, +and how little I accomplish! I would fain awaken the whole world to +goodness and to love; but my voice is weak, my strength is insufficient: +how insignificant is all I do!” + +And now he rose up and strode across the room; and he stood at the +hearth where the fire was burning, made of wood given to him that very +day, and his thoughts reverted to the man who had given it. Why had he +not asked his name, and where he came from? Perchance he might have been +able in thought to follow him all the way, as he drove home; and now... +but yet 'tis more, 'tis better as it is: it is not an individual, it +is not So-and-so, who has shown his gratitude, but all the world by +the mouth of one. “The kindnesses I receive,” he thought, “are +indeed trials; but yet I ought to accept them with thanks. I will try +henceforth to be a benefactor to others as others are to me, without +display, and with grateful thanks to God, our highest Benefactor: this +will I do, and search no further for the why and for the wherefore.” And +once more a voice spoke within him, and he stood erect, and raised his +arms on high. “Who knows,” he thought, “whether at this moment I have +not been in this or that place, to this or that man, a brother, a +friend, a comforter, a saviour; and from house to house, may be, my +spirit travels, awakening, enlivening, refreshing--yonder in the attic, +where burns a solitary light; and afar in some village a mother is +sitting by her child, and hearing him repeat the thoughts I have +arranged in verse; and peradventure some solitary old man, who is +waiting for death, is now sitting by his fireside, and his lips are +uttering my words.” + +“And yonder in the church, the choir is chanting a hymn of yours; could +you have written this hymn without its vigor in your heart? Oh! no, it +_must_ be there.” And with trembling he thought: “There is nothing so +small as to have no place in the government of God! Should you not then +believe that He suffered this day's incident to happen for your joy? Oh! +were it so, what happiness were yours! A heart renewed.”... He moved to +the window, looked up to heaven, and prayed inwardly: “My soul is +with my brothers and my sisters: nay, it is with Thee, my God, and in +humility I acknowledge how richly Thou hast blessed me. And if, in the +kingdom of the world to come, a soul should cry to me: 'Thou didst +guide and cheer me on to happiness eternal!' all hail! my friend, my +benefactor, my glory in the presence of God.... In these thoughts let me +die, and pardon me my weakness and my sins!” + +“And the evening and morning were the first day.” + +At early morning, Gellert was sitting at his table, and reading +according to his invariable custom, first of all in the Bible. He never +left the Bible open--he always shut it with a peaceful, devotional +air, after he had read therein: there was something grateful as well as +reverential in his manner of closing the volume; the holy words should +not lie uncovered. + +To-day, however, the Bible was lying open when he rose. His eye fell +upon the history of the creation, and at the words, “And the evening +and the morning were the first day,” he leaned back his head against +the arm-chair, and kept his hand upon the book, as though he would grasp +with his hand also the lofty thought, how night and day were divided. + +For a long while he sat thus, and he was wondrously bright in spirit, +and a soft reminiscence dawned upon him; of a bright day in childhood, +when he had been so happy, and in Haynichen, his native place, had gone +out with his father for a walk. An inward warmth roused his heart to +quicker pulsation; and suddenly he started and looked about him: he had +been humming a tune. + +Up from the street came the busy sound of day: at other times how +insufferable he had found it! and now how joyous it seemed that men +should bestir themselves, and turn to all sorts of occupations! There +was a sound of crumbling snow: and how nice to have a house and a blaze +upon the hearth! “And the evening and the morning were the first day!” + And man getteth himself a light in the darkness: but how long, O man! +could you make it endure? What could you do with your artificial light, +if God did not cause His sun to shine? Without it grows no grass, no +corn. On the hand lying upon the book there fell a bright sunbeam. How +soon, at other times, would Gellert have drawn the defensive curtain! +Now he watches the little motes that play about in the sunbeam. + +The servant brought coffee, and the amanuensis, Gödike, asked if there +were anything to do. Generally, Gellert scarce lifted his head from his +books, hastily acknowledging the attention and reading on in silence; +to-day, he motioned to Gödike to stay, and said to Sauer, “Another +cup: Mr. Gödike will take coffee with me. God has given me a day of +rejoicing.” Sauer brought the cup, and Gellert said: “Yes, God has given +me a day of rejoicing, and what I am most thankful for is, that He has +granted me strength to thank Him with all my heart: not so entirely, +however, as I should like.” + +“Thank God, Mr. Professor, that you are once more in health, and +cheerful: and permit me, Mr. Professor, to tell you that I was myself +also ill a short time ago, and I then learned a lesson which I shall +never forget. Who is most grateful? The convalescent. He learns to love +God and His beautiful world anew; he is grateful for everything, and +delighted with everything. What a flavor has his first cup of coffee! +How he enjoys his first walk outside the house, outside the gate! The +houses, the trees, all give us greeting: all is again in us full of +health and joy!” So said Gödike, and Gellert rejoined: + +“You are a good creature, and have just spoken good words. Certainly, +the convalescent is the most grateful. We are, however, for the most +part, sick in spirit, and have not strength to recover: and a sickly, +stricken spirit is the heaviest pain.” + +Long time the two sat quietly together: it struck eight. Gellert started +up, and cried irritably: “There, now, you have allowed me to forget that +I must be on my way to the University.” + +“The vacation has begun: Mr. Professor has no lecture to-day.” + +“No lecture to-day? Ah! and I believe today is just the time when I +could have told my young friends something that would have benefited +them for their whole lives.” + +There was a shuffling of many feet outside the door: the door opened, +and several boys from St. Thomas' School-choir advanced and sang to +Gellert some of his own hymns; and as they chanted the verse-- + + “And haply there--oh! grant it, Heaven! + Some blessed saint will greet me too; + 'All hail! all hail! to you was given + To save my life and soul, to you!' + O God! my God! what joy to be + The winner of a soul to thee!” + +Gellert wept aloud, folded his hands, and raised his eyes to heaven. + +A happier Christmas than that of 1768 had Gellert never seen; and it was +his last. Scarcely a year after, on the 13th of December, 1769, Gellert +died a pious, tranquil death, such as he had ever coveted. + +As the long train which followed his bier moved to the churchyard of St. +John's, Leipzig, a peasant with his wife and children in holiday clothes +entered among the last. It was Christopher with his family. The whole +way he had been silent: and whilst his wife wept passionately at the +pastor's touching address, it was only by the working of his features +that Christopher showed how deeply moved he was. + +But on the way home he said: “I am glad I did him a kindness in his +lifetime; it would now be too late.” + +The summer after, when he built a new house, he had this verse placed +upon it as an inscription: + + “Accept God's gifts with resignation, + Content to lack what thou hast not: + In every lot there's consolation; + There's trouble, too, in every lot.” + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Christian Gellert's Last Christmas, by +Berthold Auerbach + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS *** + +***** This file should be named 22665-0.txt or 22665-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/6/6/22665/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/22665-0.zip b/22665-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e9d1eba --- /dev/null +++ b/22665-0.zip diff --git a/22665-8.txt b/22665-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4509110 --- /dev/null +++ b/22665-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1397 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Christian Gellert's Last Christmas, by Berthold Auerbach + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Christian Gellert's Last Christmas + From "German Tales" Published by the American Publishers' Corporation + +Author: Berthold Auerbach + +Release Date: September 18, 2007 [EBook #22665] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS + +By Berthold Auerbach + + +From "German Tales." Published by the American Publishers' Corporation. + +1869 + + +Three o'clock had just struck from the tower of St. Nicholas, Leipzig, +on the afternoon of December 22d, 1768, when a man, wrapped in a loose +overcoat, came out of the door of the University. His countenance was +exceedingly gentle, and on his features cheerfulness still lingered, for +he had been gazing upon a hundred cheerful faces; after him thronged a +troop of students, who, holding back, allowed him to precede them: the +passengers in the streets saluted him, and some, students, who +pressed forwards and hurried past him homewards, saluted him quite +reverentially. He returned their salutations with a surprised and almost +deprecatory air, and yet he knew, and could not conceal from himself, +that he was one of the best beloved, not only in the good city of +Leipzig, but in all lands far and wide. + +It was Christian Furchtegott Gellert, the Poet of Fables, Hymns, and +Lays, who was just leaving his college. + +When we read his "Lectures upon Morals," which were not printed until +after his death, we obtain but a very incomplete idea of the great power +with which they came immediately from Gellert's mouth. Indeed, it was +his voice, and the touching manner in which he delivered his lectures, +that made so deep an impression upon his hearers; and Rabener was +right when once he wrote to a friend, that "the philanthropic voice" of +Gellert belonged to his words. + +Above all, however, it was the amiable and pure personal character of +Gellert which vividly and edifyingly impressed young hearts. Gellert was +himself the best example of pure moral teaching; and the best which a +teacher can give his pupils is faith in the victorious might, and the +stability of the eternal moral laws. His lessons were for the Life, for +his life in itself was a lesson. Many a victory over the troubles of +life, over temptations of every kind, ay, many an elevation to +nobility of thought, and to purity of action, had its origin in that +lecture-hall, at the feet of Gellert. + +It was as though Gellert felt that it was the last time he would deliver +these lectures; that those words so often and so impressively uttered +would be heard no more from his mouth; and there was a peculiar sadness, +yet a peculiar strength, in all he said that day. + +He had this day earnestly recommended modesty and humility; and it +appeared almost offensive to him, that people as he went should tempt +him in regard to these very virtues; for continually he heard men +whisper, "That is Gellert!" + +What is fame, and what is honor? A cloak of many colors, without warmth, +without protection: and now, as he walked along, his heart literally +froze in his bosom, as he confessed to himself that he had as yet done +nothing--nothing which could give him a feeling of real satisfaction. +Men honored him and loved him: but what was all that worth? His +innermost heart could not be satisfied with that; in his own estimation +he deserved no meed of praise; and where, where was there any evidence +of that higher and purer life which he would fain bring about! Then, +again, the Spirit would comfort him and say: "Much seed is lost, +much falls in stony places, and much on good ground and brings forth +sevenfold." + +His inmost soul heard not the consolation, for his body was weak and +sore burdened from his youth up, and in his latter days yet more than +ever; and there are conditions of the body in which the most elevating +words, and the cheeriest notes of joy, strike dull and heavy on the +soul. It is one of the bitterest experiences of life to discover how +little one man can really be to another. How joyous is that youthful +freshness which can believe that, by a thought transferred to another's +heart, we can induce him to become another being, to live according to +what he must acknowledge true, to throw aside his previous delusions, +and return to the right path! + +"The youngsters go their way! Do your words follow after? Whither are +they going? What are now their thoughts? What manner of life will be +theirs? My heart yearns after them, but cannot be with them: oh, how +happy were those messengers of the Spirit, who cried aloud to youth or +manhood the words of the Spirit, that they must leave their former ways, +and thenceforth change to other beings! Pardon me, O God! that I would +fain be like them; I am weak and vile, and yet, methinks, there must be +words as yet unheard, unknown--oh! where are they, those words which at +once lay hold upon the soul?" + +With such heavy thoughts went Gellert away from his college-gate to +Rosenthal. There was but one small pathway cleared, but the passers +cheerfully made way for him, and walked in the snow that they might +leave him the pathway unimpeded; but he felt sad, and "as if each tree +had somewhat to cast at him." Like all men really pure, and cleaving to +the good with all their might, Gellert was not only far from contenting +himself with work already done: he also, in his anxiety to be doing, +almost forgot that he had ever done anything, and thus he was, in the +best sense of the word, modest; he began with each fresh day his course +of action afresh, as if he now for the first time had anything to +accomplish. And yet he might have been happy, in the reflection how +brightly beamed his teaching for ever, though his own life was often +clouded. For as the sun which glows on summer days still lives as +concentrated warmth in wine, and somewhere on some winter night warms up +a human heart, so is the sunshine in that man's life whose vocation it +is to impart to others the conceptions of his own mind. Nay, there +is here far more; for the refreshing draught here offered is not +diminished, though thousands drink thereof. + +Twilight had set in when Gellert returned home to his dwelling, which +had for its sign a "Schwarz Brett" or "black board." His old servant, +Sauer by name, took off his overcoat; and his amanuensis, Gdike, asked +whether the Professor had any commands; being answered in the negative, +Gdike retired, and Sauer lighted the lamp upon the study-table. "Some +letters have arrived," said he, as he pointed to several upon the table: +Gellert inclined his head, and Sauer retired also. Outside, however, he +stood awhile with Gdike, and both spoke sorrowfully of the fact that +the Professor was evidently again suffering severely. "There is a +melancholy," said Gdike, "and it is the most usual, in which the inward +depression easily changes to displeasure against every one, and the +household of the melancholic suffers thereby intolerably; for the +displeasure turns against them,--no one does anything properly, nothing +is in its place. How very different is Gellert's melancholy! Not a soul +suffers from it but himself, against himself alone his gloomy thoughts +turn, and towards every other creature he is always kind, amiable, and +obliging: he bites his lips; but when he speaks to any one, he is wholly +good, forbearing, and self-forgetful." + +Whilst they were talking together, Gellert was sitting in his room, and +had lighted a pipe to dispel the agitation which he would experience +in opening his letters; and while smoking, he could read them much more +comfortably. He reproached himself for smoking, which was said to be +injurious to his health, but he could not quite give up the "horrible +practice," as he called it. + +He first examined the addresses and seals of the letters which had +arrived, then quietly opened and read them. A fitful smile passed over +his features; there were letters from well-known friends, full of +love and admiration, but from strangers also, who, in all kinds of +heart-distress, took counsel of him. He read the letters full of +friendly applause, first hastily, that he might have the right of +reading them again, and that he might not know all at once; and when he +had read a friend's letter for the second time, he sprang from his seat +and cried, "Thank God! thank God! that I am so fortunate as to have +such friends!" To his inwardly diffident nature these helps were a real +requirement; they served to cheer him, and only those who did not know +him called his joy at the reception of praise--conceit; it was, on the +contrary, the truest modesty. How often did he sit there, and all that +he had taught and written, all that he had ever been to men in word and +deed, faded, vanished, and died away, and he appeared to himself but a +useless servant of the world. His friends he answered immediately; +and as his inward melancholy vanished, and the philanthropy, nay, the +sprightliness of his soul beamed forth, when he was among men and looked +in a living face, so was it also with his letters. When he bethought +him of the friends to whom he was writing, he not only acquired +tranquillity, that virtue for which his whole life long he strove; but +his loving nature received new life, and only by slight intimations did +he betray the heaviness and dejection which weighed upon his soul. He +was, in the full sense of the word, "philanthropic," in the sight of +good men; and in thoughts for their welfare, there was for him a real +happiness and a joyous animation. + +When, however, he had done writing and felt lonely again, the gloomy +spirits came back: he had seated himself, wishing to raise his thoughts +for composing a sacred song; but he was ill at ease, and had no power to +express that inward, firm, and self-rejoicing might of faith which lived +in him. Again and again the scoffers and freethinkers rose up before his +thoughts: he must refute their objections, and not until that was done +did he become himself. + +It is a hard position, when a creative spirit cannot forget the +adversaries which on all sides oppose him in the world: they come +unsummoned to the room and will not be expelled; they peer over the +shoulder, and tug at the hand which fain would write; they turn images +upside down, and distort the thoughts; and here and there, from ceiling +and wall, they grin, and scoff, and oppose: and what was just gushing as +an aspiration from the soul, is converted to a confused absurdity. + +At such a time, the spirit, courageous and self-dependent, must take +refuge in itself and show a firm front to a world of foes. + +A strong nature boldly hurls his inkstand at the Devil's head; goes to +battle with his opponents with words both written and spoken; and keeps +his own individuality free from the perplexities with which opponents +disturb all that has been previously done, and make the soul unsteadfast +and unnerved for what is to come. + +Gellert's was no battling, defiant nature, which relies upon itself; he +did not hurl his opponents down and go his way; he would convince them, +and so they were always ready to encounter him. And as the applause of +his friends rejoiced him, so the opposition of his enemies could sink +him in deep dejection. Besides, he had always been weakly; he had, as +he himself complained, in addition to frequent coughs and a pain in +his loins, a continual gnawing and pressure in the centre of his chest, +which accompanied him from his first rising in the morning until he +slept at night. + +Thus he sat for a while, in deep dejection: and, as often before, his +only wish was, that God would give him grace whereby when his hour was +come, he might die piously and tranquilly. + +It was past midnight when he sought his bed and extinguished his light. + +And the buckets at the well go up and go down. + +About the same hour, in Duben Forest, the rustic Christopher was rising +from his bed. As with steel and flint he scattered sparks upon the +tinder, in kindling himself a light, his wife, awaking, cried: + +"Why that heavy sigh?" + +"Ah! life is a burden: I 'm the most harassed mortal in the world. The +pettiest office-clerk may now be abed in peace, and need n't break off +his sleep, while I must go out and brave wind and weather." + +"Be content," replied his wife: "why, I dreamt you had actually been +made magistrate, and wore something on your head like a king's crown." + +"Oh! you women; as though what you see is n't enough, you like to +chatter about what you dream." + +"Light the lamp, too," said his wife, "and I 'll get up and make you a +nice porridge." + +The peasant, putting a candle in his lantern, went to the stable; and +after he had given some fodder to the horses, he seated himself upon +the manger. With his hands squeezed between his knees and his head bent +down, he reflected over and over again what a wretched existence he had +of it. "Why," thought he, "are so many men so well-off, so comfortable, +whilst you must be always toiling? What care I if envy be not a +virtue?--and yet I 'm not envious, I don't grudge others being well-off, +only I should like to be well-off too; oh, for a quiet, easy life! Am I +not worse off than a horse? He gets his fodder at the proper time, and +takes no care about it. Why did my father make my brother a minister? He +gets his salary without any trouble, sits in a warm room, has no care in +the world; and I must slave and torment myself." + +Strange to say, his very next thought, that he would like to be made +local magistrate, he would in no wise confess to himself. + +He sat still a long while; then he went back again to the sitting-room, +past the kitchen, where the fire was burning cheerily. He seated himself +at the table and waited for his morning porridge. On the table lay +an open book; his children had been reading it the previous evening: +involuntarily taking it up, he began to read. Suddenly he started, +rubbed his eyes, and then read again. How comes this verse here just at +this moment? He kept his hand upon the book, and so easily had he caught +the words, that he repeated them to himself softly with his lips, and +nodded several times, as much as to say: "That's true!" And he said +aloud: "It's all there together: short and sweet!" and he was still +staring at it, when his wife brought in the smoking porridge. Taking off +his cap, he folded his hands and said aloud: + + "Accept God's gifts with resignation, + Content to lack what thou hast not: + In every lot there 's consolation; + There 's trouble, too, in every lot!" + +The wife looked at her husband with amazement. What a strange expression +was upon his face! And as he sat down and began to eat, she said: "What +is the meaning of that grace? What has come to you? Where did you find +it?" + +"It is the best of all graces, the very best,--real God's word. Yes, +and all your life you 've never made such nice porridge before. You must +have put something special in it!" + +"I don't know what you mean. Stop! There 's the book lying there--ah! +that's it--and it's by Gellert, of Leipzig." + +"What! Gellert, of Leipzig! Men with ideas like that don't live now; +there may have been such, a thousand years ago, in holy lands, not among +us; those are the words of a saint of old." + +"And I tell you they are by Gellert, of Leipzig, of whom your brother +has told us; in fact, he was his tutor, and have n't you heard how pious +and good he is?" + +"I would n't have believed that such men still lived, and so near us, +too, as Leipzig." + +"Well, but those who lived a thousand years ago were also once living +creatures: and over Leipzig is just the same heaven, and the same sun +shines, and the same God rules, as over all other cities." + +"Oh! yes, my brother has an apt pupil in you!" + +"Well, and why not? I 've treasured up all he told us of Professor +Gellert." + +"Professor!" + +"Yes, Professor!" + +"A man with such a proud, new-fangled title could n't write anything +like that!" + +"He did n't give himself the title, and he is poor enough withal! and +how hard it has fared with him! Even from childhood he has been well +acquainted with poverty: his father was a poor minister in Haynichen, +with thirteen children; and Gellert, when quite a little fellow, was +obliged to be a copying office-clerk: who can tell whether he did n't +then contract that physical weakness of his? And now that he 's an old +man, things will never go better with him; he has often no wood, and +must be pinched with cold. It is with him, perhaps, as with that student +of whom your brother has told us, who is as poor as a rat, and yet must +read; and so in winter he lies in bed with an empty stomach, until day +is far advanced; and he has his book before him, and first he takes out +one hand to hold his book, and then, when that is numb with cold, the +other. Ah! tongue cannot tell how poorly the man must live; and yet your +brother has told me, if he has but a few pounds, he does n't think at +all of himself; he always looks out for one still poorer than he is, and +then gives all away: and he 's always engaged in aiding and assisting +others. Oh! dear, and yet he is so poor! May be at this moment he is +hungry and cold; and he is said to be in ill-health, besides." + +"Wife, I would willingly do the man a good turn if I could. If, now, he +had some land, I would plough, and sow, and reap, and carry, and thresh +by the week together for him. I should like to pay him attention in such +a way that he might know there was at least one who cared for him. But +his profession is one in which I can't be of any use to him." + +"Well, just seek him out and speak with him once; you are going to-day, +you know, with your wood to Leipzig. Seek him out and thank him; that +sort of thing does such a man's heart good. Anybody can see him." + +"Yes, yes; I should like much to see him, and hold out to him my +hand,--but not empty: I wish I had something!" + +"Speak to your brother, and get him to give you a note to him." + +"No, no; say nothing to my brother; but it might be possible for me to +meet him in the street. Give me my Sunday coat; it will come to no harm +under my cloak." + +When his wife brought him the coat, she said: "If, now, Gellert had a +wife, or a household of his own, one might send him something; but your +brother says he is a bachelor, and lives quite alone." + +Christopher had never before so cheerfully harnessed his horses and put +them to his wood-laden wagon; for a long while he had not given his +hand so gayly to his wife at parting as to-day. Now he started with +his heavily-laden vehicle through the village; the wheels creaked and +crackled in the snow. At the parsonage he stopped, and looked away +yonder where his brother was still sleeping; he thought he would wake +him and tell him his intention: but suddenly he whipped up his +horses, and continued his route. He would n't yet bind himself to his +intention--perchance it was but a passing thought; he does n't own that +to himself, but he says to himself that he will surprise his brother +with the news of what he has done; and then his thoughts wandered away +to the good man still sleeping yonder in the city; and he hummed the +verse to himself in an old familiar tune. + +Wonderfully in life do effects manifest them-selves, of which we have no +trace. Gellert, too, heard in his dreams a singing; he knew not what it +was, but it rang so consolingly, so joyously!... Christopher drove +on, and he felt as though a bandage had been taken from his eyes; he +reflected what a nice house, what a bonny wife and rosy children he had, +and how warm the cloak which he had thrown over him was, and how well +off were both man and beast; and through the still night he drove along, +and beside him sat a spirit; but not an illusion of the brain, such as +in olden time men conjured up to their terror, a good spirit sat beside +him--beside the woodman who his whole life long had never believed that +anything could have power over him but what had hands and feet. + +It is said that, on troublous nights, evil spirits settle upon the necks +of men, and belabor them so that they gasp and sweat for very terror; +quite another sort it was to-day which sat by the woodman: and his heart +was warm, and its beating quick. + +In ancient times, men also carried loads of wood through the night, that +heretics might be burned thereon: these men thought they were doing a +good deed in helping to execute justice; and who can say how painful it +was to their hearts, when they were forced to think: To morrow, on this +wood which now you carry, will shriek, and crackle, and gasp, a human +being like yourself? Who can tell what black spirits settled on the +necks of those who bore the wood to make the funeral-pile? How very +different was it to-day with our woodman Christopher! + +And earlier still, in ancient times, men brought wood to the temple, +whereon they offered victims in the honor of God; and, according to +their notions, they did a good deed: for when words can no longer +suffice to express the fervency of the heart, it gladly offers what +it prizes, what it dearly loves, as a proof of its devotion, of the +earnestness of its intent. + +How differently went Christopher from the Duben Forest upon his way! He +knew not whether he were intending to bring a purer offering than men +had brought in bygone ages; but his heart grew warm within him. + +It was day as he arrived before the gates of Leipzig. Here there met +him a funeral-procession; behind the bier the scholars of St. Thomas, +in long black cloaks, were chanting. Christopher stopped and raised his +hat. Whom were they burying? Supposing it were Gellert. Yes, surely, +he thought, it is he: and how gladly, said he to himself, would you now +have done him a kindness,--ay, even given him your wood! Yes, indeed you +would, and now he is dead, and you cannot give him any help! + +As soon as the train had passed, Christopher asked who was being buried. +It was a simple burgher, it was not Gellert; and in the deep breath +which Christopher drew lay a double signification: on the one hand, +was joy that Gellert was not dead; on the other, a still small voice +whispered to him that he had now really promised to give him the wood: +ah! but whom had he promised?--himself: and it is easy to argue with +one's own conscience. + +Superstition babbles of conjuring-spells, by which, without the +co-operation of the patient, the evil spirit can be summarily ejected. +It would be convenient if one had that power, but, in truth, it is not +so: it is long ere the evil desire and the evil habit are removed from +the soul into which they have nestled; and the will, for a long while +in bondage, must co-operate, if a releasing spell from without is to set +the prisoner free. + +One can only be guided, but himself must move his feet. + +As Christopher now looked about him, he found that he had stopped close +by an inn; he drove his load a little aside, went into the parlor, and +drank a glass of warmed beer. There was already a goodly company, and +not far from Christopher sat a husbandman with his son, a student here, +who was telling him how there had been lately quite a stir. Professor +Gellert had been ill, and riding a well-trained horse had been +recommended for his health. Now Prince Henry of Prussia, during the +Seven Years' War, at the occupation of Leipzig, had sent him a piebald, +that had died a short time ago; and the Elector, hearing of it, had +sent Gellert from Dresden another--a chestnut--with golden bridle, +blue velvet saddle, and gold-embroidered housings. Half the city had +assembled when the groom, a man with iron-gray hair, brought the horse; +and for several days it was to be seen at the stable; but Gellert dared +not mount it, it was so young and high-spirited. The rustic now asked +his son whether the Professor did not make money enough to procure a +horse of his own, to which the son answered: "Certainly not. His salary +is but one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and his further gains are +inconsiderable. His Lectures on Morals he gives publicly, i. e., gratis, +and he has hundreds of hearers; and, therefore, at his own lectures, +which must be paid for, he has so many the fewer. To be sure, he has now +and then presents from grand patrons; but no one gives him, once and +for all, enough to live upon, and to have all over with a single +acknowledgment." + +Our friend Christopher started as he heard this; he had quite made up +his mind to take Gellert the wood: but he had yet to do it. How easy +were virtue, if will and deed were the same thing! if performance could +immediately succeed to the moment of burning enthusiasm! But one must +make way over obstacles; over those that outwardly lie in one's path, +and over those that are hidden deep in the heart; and negligence has a +thousand very cunning advocates. + +How many go forth, prompted by good intentions, but let little +hindrances turn them from their way--entirely from their way of life! +In front of the house Christopher met other woodmen whom he knew, and-- +"You are stirring betimes!" "Prices are good to-day!" "But little comes +to the market now!" was the cry from all sides. Christopher wanted to +say that all that did n't concern him, but he was ashamed to confess +what his design was, and an inward voice told him he must not lie. +Without answering he joined the rest, and wended his way to the market; +and on the road he thought: "There are Peter, and Godfrey, and John, who +have seven times your means, and not one of them, I'm sure, would think +of doing anything of this kind; why will you be the kind-hearted fool? +Stay! what matters it what others do or leave undone? Every man shall +answer for himself. Yes, but go to market--it is better it should be so; +yes, certainly, much better: sell your wood--who knows? perhaps he does +n't want it--and take him the proceeds, or at least the greater portion. +But is the wood still yours? You have, properly speaking, already given +it away; it has only not been taken from your keeping...." + +There are people who cannot give; they can only let a thing be taken +either by the hand of chance, or by urgency and entreaty. Christopher +had such fast hold of possession, that it was only after sore wrestling +that he let go; and yet his heart was kind, at least to-day it was +so disposed, but the tempter whispered: "It is not easy to find so +good-natured a fellow as you. How readily would you have given, had the +man been in want, and your good intention must go for the deed." Still, +on the other hand, there was something in him which made opposition,--an +echo from those hours, when, in the still night, he was driving +hither,--and it burned in him like sacred fire, and it said, "You must +now accomplish what you intended. Certainly no one knows of it, and you +are responsible to no one; but you know of it yourself, and One above +you knows, and how shall you be justified?" And he said to himself, "I +'ll stand by this: look, it is just nine; if no one ask the price of +your wood until ten o'clock, until the stroke of ten,--until it has +done striking, I mean; if no one ask, then the wood belongs to +Professor Gellert: but if a buyer come, then it is a sign that you need +not--should not give it away. There, that's all settled. But how? what +means this? Can you make your good deed dependent on such a chance as +this? No, no; I don't mean it. But yet--yet--only for a joke, I 'll try +it." + +Temptation kept him turning as it were in a circle, and still he stood +with an apparently quiet heart by his wagon in the market. The people +who heard him muttering in this way to himself looked at him with +wonder, and passed by him to another wagon, as though he had not been +there. It struck nine. Can you wait patiently another hour? Christopher +lighted his pipe, and looked calmly on, while this and that load +was driven off. It struck the quarter, half-hour, three-quarters. +Christopher now put his pipe in his pocket; it had long been cold, and +his hands were almost frozen; all his blood had rushed to his heart. Now +it struck the full hour, stroke after stroke. At first he counted; then +he fancied he had lost a stroke and miscalculated. Either voluntarily or +involuntarily, he said to himself, when it had finished striking, "You +'re wrong; it is nine, not ten." He turned round that he might not +see the dial, and thus he stood for some time, with his hands upon the +wagon-rack, gazing at the wood. He knew not how long he had been thus +standing, when some one tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "How much +for the load of wood?" + +Christopher turned round: there was an odd look of irresolution in his +eyes as he said: "Eh? eh? what time is it?" + +"Half-past ten." + +"Then the wood is now no longer mine--at least to sell:" and, collecting +himself, he became suddenly warm, and with firm hand turned his horses +round, and begged the woodmen who accompanied him to point him out +the way to the house with the "Schwarz Brett," Dr. Junius's. There he +delivered a full load: at each log he took out of the wagon he smiled +oddly. The wood-measurer measured the wood carefully, turning each log +and placing it exactly, that there might not be a crevice anywhere. + +"Why are you so over-particular to-day, pray?" asked Christopher, and he +received for answer: + +"Professor Gellert must have a fair load; every shaving kept back from +him were a sin." + +Christopher laughed aloud, and the wood-measurer looked at him with +amazement; for such particularity generally provoked a quarrel. + +Christopher had still some logs over; these he kept by him on the wagon. +At this moment the servant Sauer came up, and asked to whom the wood +belonged. + +"To Professor Gellert," answered Christopher. + +"The man's mad! it isn't true. Professor Gellert has not bought any +wood; it is my business to look after that." + +"He has not bought it, and yet it is his!" cried Christopher. + +Sauer was on the point of giving the mad peasant a hearty scolding, +raising his voice so much the louder, as it was striking eleven by St. +Nicholas. At this moment, however, he became suddenly mute; for yonder +from the University there came, with tired gait, a man of a noble +countenance: at every step he made, on this side and on that, off came +the hats and the caps of the passers-by, and Sauer simply called out, +"There comes the Professor himself." + +What a peculiar expression passed over Christopher's face! He looked +at the new-comer, and so earnest was his gaze, that Gellert, who always +walked with his head bowed, suddenly looked up. Christopher said: "Mr. +Gellert, I am glad to see you still alive." + +"I thank you," said Gellert, and made as though he would pass on; but +Christopher stepped up closer to him, and, stretching out his hand to +him, said: "I have taken the liberty--I should like--will you give me +your hand, Mr. Gellert?" + +Gellert drew his long thin hand out of his muff and placed it in the +hard oaken-like hand of the peasant; and at this moment, when the +peasant's hand lay in the scholars palm, as one felt the other's +pressure in actual living grasp, there took place, though the mortal +actors in the scene were all unconscious of it, a renewal of that +healthy life which alone can make a people one. + +How long had the learned world, wrapped up in itself, separated from +the fellow-men around, thought in Latin, felt as foreigners, and lived +buried in contemplation of bygone worlds! From the time of Gellert +commences the ever-increasing unity of good-fellowship throughout +all classes of life, kept up by mutual giving and receiving. As the +scholar--as the solitary poet endeavors to work upon others by lays that +quicken and songs that incite, so he in his turn is a debtor to his age, +and the lonely thinking and writing become the property of all; but the +effects are not seen in a moment; for higher than the most highly gifted +spirit of any single man is the spirit of a nation. With the pressure +which Gellert and the peasant exchanged commenced a mighty change in +universal life, which never more can cease to act. + +"Permit me to enter your room?" said Christopher, and Gellert nodded +assent. He was so courteous that he motioned to the peasant to enter +first; however, Sauer went close after him: he thought it must be a +madman; he must protect his master; the man looked just as if he were +drunk. Gellert, with his amanuensis, Gdike, followed them. + +Gellert, however, felt that the man must be actuated by pure motives: he +bade the others retire, and took Christopher alone into his study; and, +as he clasped his left with his own right hand, he asked: "Well, my good +friend, what is your business?" + +"Eh? oh! nothing--I 've only brought you a load of wood there--a fair, +full load; however, I 'll give you the few logs which I have in my +wagon, as well." + +"My good man, my servant Sauer looks after buying my wood." + +"It is no question of buying. No, my dear sir, I give it to you." + +"Give it to me? Why me particularly?" + +"Oh! sir, you do not know at all what good you do, what good you have +done me; and my wife was right; why should there not be really pious +men in our day too? Surely the sun still shines as he shone thousands +of years ago; all is now the same as then; and the God of old is still +living." + +"Certainly, certainly; I am glad to see you so pious." + +"Ah! believe me, dear sir, I am not always so pious; and that I am so +disposed to-day is owing to you. We have no more confessionals now, but +I can confess to you: and you have taken a heavier load from my heart +than a wagon-load of wood. Oh! sir, I am not what I was. In my early +days I was a high-spirited, merry lad, and out in the field, and indoors +in the inn and the spinning-room, there was none who could sing +against me; but that is long past. What has a man on whose head the +grave-blossoms are growing," and he pointed to his gray head, "to do +with all that trash? And besides, the Seven Years' War has put a stop +to all our singing. But last night, in the midst of the fearful cold, I +sang a lay set expressly for me--all old tunes go to it: and it seemed +to me as though I saw a sign-post which pointed I know not whither--or, +nay, I do know whither." And now the peasant related how discontented +and unhappy in mind he had been, and how the words in the lay had all +at once raised his spirits and accompanied him upon the journey, like a +good fellow who talks to one cheerfully. + +At this part of the peasant's tale Gellert folded his hands in silence, +and the peasant concluded: "How I always envied others, I cannot now +think why; but you I do envy, sir: I should like to be as you." + +And Gellert answered: "I thank God, and rejoice greatly that my writings +have been of service to you. Think not so well of me. Would God I were +really the good man I appear in your eyes! I am far from being such as I +should, such as I would fain be. I write my books for my own improvement +also, to show myself as well as others what manner of men we should be." + +Laughing, the peasant replied: "You put me in mind of the story my poor +mother used to tell of the old minister; he stood up once in the pulpit +and said: 'My dear friends, I speak not only for you, but for myself +also; I, too, have need of it.'" + +Christopher laughed outrageously when he had finished, and Gellert +smiled, and said: "Yes, whoever in the darkness lighteth another with a +lamp, lighteth himself also; and the light is not part of ourselves,--it +is put into our hands by Him who hath appointed the suns their courses." + +The peasant stood speechless, and looked upon the ground: there was +something within him which took away the power of looking up; he was +only conscious that it ill became him to laugh so loudly just now, when +he told the story of the old minister. + +A longer pause ensued, and Gellert seemed to be lost in reflection upon +this reference to a minister's work, for he said half to himself: "Oh! +how would it fulfil my dearest wish to be a village-pastor! To move +about among my people, and really be one with them; the friend of their +souls my whole life long, never to lose them out of my sight! Yonder +goes one whom I have led into the right way; there another, with whom +I still wrestle, but whom I shall assuredly save; and in them all the +teaching lives which God proclaims by me. Did I not think that I should +be acting against my duty, I would this moment choose a country life for +the remnant of my days. When I look from my window over the country, I +have before me the broad sky, of which we citizens know but little, a +scene entirely new; there I stand and lose myself for half an hour in +gazing and in thinking. Yes, good friend, envy no man in the rank of +scholars. Look at me; I am almost always ill; and what a burden is a +sickly body! How strong, on the contrary, are you! I am never happier +than when, without being remarked, I can watch a dinner-table thronged +by hungry men and maids. Even if these folks be not generally so happy +as their superiors, at table they are certainly happier." + +"Yes, sir; we relish our eating and drinking. And, lately, when felling +and sorting that wood below, I was more than usually lively; it seems as +though I had a notion I was to do some good with it." + +"And must I permit you to make me a present?" asked Gellert, resting his +chin upon his left hand. + +The peasant answered: "It is not worth talking about." + +"Nay, it might be well worth talking about; but I accept your present. +It is pride not to be ready to accept a gift. Is not all we have a +gift from God? And what one man gives another, he gives, as is most +appropriately said, for God's sake. Were I your minister, I should be +pleased to accept a present from you. You see, good friend, we men have +no occasion to thank each other. You have given me nothing of yours, and +I have given you nothing of mine. That the trees grow in the forest is +none of your doing, it is the work of the Creator and Preserver of +the world; and the soil is not yours; and the sun and the rain are not +yours; they all are the works of His hand; and if, perchance, I have +some healthy thoughts rising up in my soul, which benefit my fellow-men, +it is none of mine, it is His doing. The word is not mine, and the +spirit is not mine; and I am but an instrument in His hand. Therefore +one man needs not to utter words of thanks to his fellow, if every one +would but acknowledge who it really is that gives." + +The peasant looked up in astonishment. Gellert remarked it, and said: +"Understand me aright. I thank you from my heart; you have done a kind +action. But that the trees grow is none of yours, and it is none of mine +that thoughts arise in me; every one simply tills his field, and tends +his woodland, and the honest, assiduous toil he gives thereto is his +virtue. That you felled, loaded, and brought the wood, and wish no +recompense for your labor, is very thank-worthy. My wood was more easily +felled; but those still nights which I and all of my calling pass in +heavy thought--who can tell what toil there is in them? There is in the +world an adjustment which no one sees, and which but seldom discovers +itself; and this and that shift thither and hither, and the scales of +the balance become even, and then ceases all distinction between 'mine' +and 'thine,' and in the still forest rings an axe for me, and in the +silent night my spirit thinks and my pen writes for you." + +The peasant passed both his hands over his temples, and his look was as +though he said to himself, "Where are you? Are you still in the world? +Is it a mortal man who speaks to you? Are you in Leipzig, in that +populous city where men jostle one another for gain and bare existence?" + +Below might be heard the creaking of the saw as the wood was being +sundered: and now the near horse neighs, and Christopher is in the world +again. "It may injure the horse to stand so long in the cold; and no +money for the wood! but perhaps a sick horse to take home into the +bargain; that would be too much," he thought. + +"Yes, yes, Mr. Professor," said he--he had his hat under his arm, and +was rubbing his hands--"yes, I am delighted with what I have done; and +I value the lesson, believe me, more than ten loads of wood: and never +shall I forget you to my dying day. And though I see you are not so poor +as I had imagined, still I don't regret it. Oh! no, certainly not at +all." + +"Eh! did you think me so very poor, then?" + +"Yes, miserably poor." + +"I have always been poor, but God has never suffered me to be a single +day without necessaries. I have in the world much happiness which I have +not deserved, and much unhappiness I have not, which perchance I have +deserved. I have found much favor with both high and low, for which +I cannot sufficiently thank God. And now tell me, cannot I give you +something, or obtain something for you? You are a local magistrate, I +presume?" + +"Why so?" + +"You look like it: you might be." + +Christopher had taken his hat into his hands, and was crumpling it +up now; he half closed his eyes, and with a sly, inquiring glance, +he peered at Gellert. Suddenly, however, the expression of his face +changed, and the muscles quivered, as he said: "Sir, what a man are you! +How you can dive into the recesses of one's heart! I have really pined +night and day, and been cross with the whole world, because I could not +be magistrate, and you, sir, you have actually helped to overcome that +in me. Oh! sir, as soon as I read that verse in your book, I had an +idea, and now I see still more plainly that you must be a man of God, +who can pluck the heart from one's bosom, and turn it round and round. +I had thought I could never have another moment's happiness, if my +neighbor, Hans Gottlieb, should be magistrate: and with that verse of +yours, it has been with me as when one calms the blood with a magic +spell." + +"Well, my good friend, I am rejoiced to hear it: believe me, every one +has in himself alone a whole host to govern. What can so strongly +urge men to wish to govern others? What can it profit you to be local +magistrate, when to accomplish your object you must perhaps do something +wrong? What were the fame, not only of a village, but even of the whole +world, if you could have no self-respect? Let it suffice for you to +perform your daily duties with uprightness; let your joys be centred in +your wife and children, and you will be happy. What need you more? Think +not that honor and station would make you happy. Rejoice, and again I +say, rejoice: 'A contented spirit is a continual feast.' I often whisper +this to myself, when I feel disposed to give way to dejection: and +although misery be not our fault, yet lack of endurance and of patience +in misery is undoubtedly our fault." + +"I would my wife were here too, that she also might hear this; I grudge +myself the hearing of it all alone; I cannot remember it all properly, +and yet I should like to tell it to her word for word. Who would have +thought that, by standing upon a load of wood, one could get a peep into +heaven!" + +Gellert in silence bowed his head; and afterwards he said: "Yes, rejoice +in your deed, as I do in your gift. Your wood is sacrificial-wood. In +olden time--and it was right in principle, because man could not yet +offer prayer and thanks in spirit--it was a custom and ordinance to +bring something from one's possessions, as a proof of devotion: this was +a sacrifice. And the more important the gift to be given, or the request +to be granted, the more costly was the sacrifice. Our God will have no +victims; but whatsoever you do unto one of the least of His, you do unto +Him. Such are our sacrifices. My dear friend, from my heart I thank +you; for you have done me a kindness, in that you have given me a real, +undeniable proof, that my words have penetrated your heart, and that I +do not live on for nothing: and treasure it up in your heart, that you +have caused real joy to one who is often, very often, weighed down with +heaviness and sorrow. You have not only kindled bright tapers upon my +Christmas-tree, but the tree itself burns, gives light, and warms: the +bush burns, and is not consumed, which is an image of the presence of +the Holy Spirit, and its admonition to trust in the Most High in this +wilderness of life, in mourning and in woe. Oh! my dear friend, I have +been nigh unto death. What a solemn, quaking stride is the stride +into eternity! What a difference between ideas of death in the days +of health, and on the brink of the grave! And how shall I show myself +worthy of longer life? By learning better to die. And, mark, when I sit +here in solitude pursuing my thoughts, keeping some and driving +away others, then I can think, that in distant valleys, upon distant +mountains, there are living men who carry my thoughts within their +hearts; and for them I live, and they are near and dear to me, till one +day we shall meet where there is no more parting, no more +separation. Peasant and scholar, let us abide as we are. Give me your +hand--farewell!" + +And once again, the soft and the hard hand were clasped together, and +Christopher really trembled as Gellert laid his hand upon his shoulder. +They shook hands, and therewith something touched the heart of each +more impressively, more completely, than ever words could touch it. +Christopher got downstairs without knowing how: below, he threw down +the extra logs of wood, which he had kept back, with a clatter from +the wagon, and then drove briskly from the city. Not till he arrived +at Lindenthal did he allow himself and his horses rest or food. He had +driven away empty: he had nothing on his wagon, nothing in his purse; +and yet who can tell what treasures he took home; and who can tell what +inextinguishable fire he left behind him yonder, by that lonely scholar! + +Gellert, who usually dined at his brother's, today had dinner brought +into his own room, remained quite alone, and did not go out again: he +had experienced quite enough excitement, and society he had in his own +thoughts. Oh! to find that there are open, susceptible hearts, is a +blessing to him that writes in solitude, and is as wondrous to him as +though he dipped his pen in streams of sunshine, and as if all he wrote +were Light. The raindrop which falls from the cloud cannot tell upon +what plant it drops: there is a quickening power in it, but for what? +And a thought which finds expression from a human heart; an action, +nay, a whole life is like the raindrop falling from the cloud: the whole +period of a life endures no longer than the raindrop needs for falling. +And as for knowing where your life is continued, how your work proceeds, +you cannot attain to that. + +And in the night all was still around: nothing was astir; the whole +earth was simple rest, as Gellert sat in his room by his lonely lamp; +his hand lay upon an open book, and his eyes were fixed upon the empty +air; and on a sudden came once more upon him that melancholy gloom, +which so easily resumes its place after more than usual excitement. + +It is as though the soul, suddenly elevated above all, must still +remember the heaviness it but now experienced, though that expresses +itself as tears of joy in the eye. + +In Gellert, however, this melancholy had a more peculiar phase: a sort +of timidity had rooted itself in him, connected with his weak chest, +and that secret gnawing pain in his head; it was a fearfulness which +his manner of life only tended to increase. Surrounded though he was +by nothing but love and admiration in the world, he could not divest +himself of the fear that all which is most horrible and terrible would +burst suddenly upon him: and so he gazed fixedly before him. He passed +his hand over his face, and with an effort concentrated his looks and +thoughts upon surrounding objects, saying to himself almost aloud: +"How comforting is light! Were there no light from without to illumine +objects for us, we should perish in gloom, in the shadows of night. And +light is a gentle friend that watches by us, and, when we are sunk in +sorrow, points out to us that the world is still here, that it calls, +and beckons us, and requires of us duty and cheerfulness. 'You must not +be lost in self,' it says, 'see! the world is still here:' and a friend +beside us is as a light which illumines surrounding objects; we cannot +forget them, we must see them and mingle with them. How hard is life, +and how little I accomplish! I would fain awaken the whole world to +goodness and to love; but my voice is weak, my strength is insufficient: +how insignificant is all I do!" + +And now he rose up and strode across the room; and he stood at the +hearth where the fire was burning, made of wood given to him that very +day, and his thoughts reverted to the man who had given it. Why had he +not asked his name, and where he came from? Perchance he might have been +able in thought to follow him all the way, as he drove home; and now... +but yet 'tis more, 'tis better as it is: it is not an individual, it +is not So-and-so, who has shown his gratitude, but all the world by +the mouth of one. "The kindnesses I receive," he thought, "are +indeed trials; but yet I ought to accept them with thanks. I will try +henceforth to be a benefactor to others as others are to me, without +display, and with grateful thanks to God, our highest Benefactor: this +will I do, and search no further for the why and for the wherefore." And +once more a voice spoke within him, and he stood erect, and raised his +arms on high. "Who knows," he thought, "whether at this moment I have +not been in this or that place, to this or that man, a brother, a +friend, a comforter, a saviour; and from house to house, may be, my +spirit travels, awakening, enlivening, refreshing--yonder in the attic, +where burns a solitary light; and afar in some village a mother is +sitting by her child, and hearing him repeat the thoughts I have +arranged in verse; and peradventure some solitary old man, who is +waiting for death, is now sitting by his fireside, and his lips are +uttering my words." + +"And yonder in the church, the choir is chanting a hymn of yours; could +you have written this hymn without its vigor in your heart? Oh! no, it +_must_ be there." And with trembling he thought: "There is nothing so +small as to have no place in the government of God! Should you not then +believe that He suffered this day's incident to happen for your joy? Oh! +were it so, what happiness were yours! A heart renewed."... He moved to +the window, looked up to heaven, and prayed inwardly: "My soul is +with my brothers and my sisters: nay, it is with Thee, my God, and in +humility I acknowledge how richly Thou hast blessed me. And if, in the +kingdom of the world to come, a soul should cry to me: 'Thou didst +guide and cheer me on to happiness eternal!' all hail! my friend, my +benefactor, my glory in the presence of God.... In these thoughts let me +die, and pardon me my weakness and my sins!" + +"And the evening and morning were the first day." + +At early morning, Gellert was sitting at his table, and reading +according to his invariable custom, first of all in the Bible. He never +left the Bible open--he always shut it with a peaceful, devotional +air, after he had read therein: there was something grateful as well as +reverential in his manner of closing the volume; the holy words should +not lie uncovered. + +To-day, however, the Bible was lying open when he rose. His eye fell +upon the history of the creation, and at the words, "And the evening +and the morning were the first day," he leaned back his head against +the arm-chair, and kept his hand upon the book, as though he would grasp +with his hand also the lofty thought, how night and day were divided. + +For a long while he sat thus, and he was wondrously bright in spirit, +and a soft reminiscence dawned upon him; of a bright day in childhood, +when he had been so happy, and in Haynichen, his native place, had gone +out with his father for a walk. An inward warmth roused his heart to +quicker pulsation; and suddenly he started and looked about him: he had +been humming a tune. + +Up from the street came the busy sound of day: at other times how +insufferable he had found it! and now how joyous it seemed that men +should bestir themselves, and turn to all sorts of occupations! There +was a sound of crumbling snow: and how nice to have a house and a blaze +upon the hearth! "And the evening and the morning were the first day!" +And man getteth himself a light in the darkness: but how long, O man! +could you make it endure? What could you do with your artificial light, +if God did not cause His sun to shine? Without it grows no grass, no +corn. On the hand lying upon the book there fell a bright sunbeam. How +soon, at other times, would Gellert have drawn the defensive curtain! +Now he watches the little motes that play about in the sunbeam. + +The servant brought coffee, and the amanuensis, Gdike, asked if there +were anything to do. Generally, Gellert scarce lifted his head from his +books, hastily acknowledging the attention and reading on in silence; +to-day, he motioned to Gdike to stay, and said to Sauer, "Another +cup: Mr. Gdike will take coffee with me. God has given me a day of +rejoicing." Sauer brought the cup, and Gellert said: "Yes, God has given +me a day of rejoicing, and what I am most thankful for is, that He has +granted me strength to thank Him with all my heart: not so entirely, +however, as I should like." + +"Thank God, Mr. Professor, that you are once more in health, and +cheerful: and permit me, Mr. Professor, to tell you that I was myself +also ill a short time ago, and I then learned a lesson which I shall +never forget. Who is most grateful? The convalescent. He learns to love +God and His beautiful world anew; he is grateful for everything, and +delighted with everything. What a flavor has his first cup of coffee! +How he enjoys his first walk outside the house, outside the gate! The +houses, the trees, all give us greeting: all is again in us full of +health and joy!" So said Gdike, and Gellert rejoined: + +"You are a good creature, and have just spoken good words. Certainly, +the convalescent is the most grateful. We are, however, for the most +part, sick in spirit, and have not strength to recover: and a sickly, +stricken spirit is the heaviest pain." + +Long time the two sat quietly together: it struck eight. Gellert started +up, and cried irritably: "There, now, you have allowed me to forget that +I must be on my way to the University." + +"The vacation has begun: Mr. Professor has no lecture to-day." + +"No lecture to-day? Ah! and I believe today is just the time when I +could have told my young friends something that would have benefited +them for their whole lives." + +There was a shuffling of many feet outside the door: the door opened, +and several boys from St. Thomas' School-choir advanced and sang to +Gellert some of his own hymns; and as they chanted the verse-- + + "And haply there--oh! grant it, Heaven! + Some blessed saint will greet me too; + 'All hail! all hail! to you was given + To save my life and soul, to you!' + O God! my God! what joy to be + The winner of a soul to thee!" + +Gellert wept aloud, folded his hands, and raised his eyes to heaven. + +A happier Christmas than that of 1768 had Gellert never seen; and it was +his last. Scarcely a year after, on the 13th of December, 1769, Gellert +died a pious, tranquil death, such as he had ever coveted. + +As the long train which followed his bier moved to the churchyard of St. +John's, Leipzig, a peasant with his wife and children in holiday clothes +entered among the last. It was Christopher with his family. The whole +way he had been silent: and whilst his wife wept passionately at the +pastor's touching address, it was only by the working of his features +that Christopher showed how deeply moved he was. + +But on the way home he said: "I am glad I did him a kindness in his +lifetime; it would now be too late." + +The summer after, when he built a new house, he had this verse placed +upon it as an inscription: + + "Accept God's gifts with resignation, + Content to lack what thou hast not: + In every lot there's consolation; + There's trouble, too, in every lot." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Christian Gellert's Last Christmas, by +Berthold Auerbach + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS *** + +***** This file should be named 22665-8.txt or 22665-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/6/6/22665/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/22665-8.zip b/22665-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..50e6fa8 --- /dev/null +++ b/22665-8.zip diff --git a/22665-h.zip b/22665-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec6827e --- /dev/null +++ b/22665-h.zip diff --git a/22665-h/22665-h.htm b/22665-h/22665-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bbdd20e --- /dev/null +++ b/22665-h/22665-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1579 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + Christian Gellert's Last Christmas, by Berthold Auerbach + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +Project Gutenberg's Christian Gellert's Last Christmas, by Berthold Auerbach + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Christian Gellert's Last Christmas + From "German Tales" Published by the American Publishers' Corporation + +Author: Berthold Auerbach + +Release Date: September 18, 2007 [EBook #22665] +Last Updated: March 14, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Berthold Auerbach + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + From “German Tales.” Published by the American Publishers' Corporation. + <br /> <br /> 1869 + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /><br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + Three o'clock had just struck from the tower of St. Nicholas, Leipzig, on + the afternoon of December 22d, 1768, when a man, wrapped in a loose + overcoat, came out of the door of the University. His countenance was + exceedingly gentle, and on his features cheerfulness still lingered, for + he had been gazing upon a hundred cheerful faces; after him thronged a + troop of students, who, holding back, allowed him to precede them: the + passengers in the streets saluted him, and some, students, who pressed + forwards and hurried past him homewards, saluted him quite reverentially. + He returned their salutations with a surprised and almost deprecatory air, + and yet he knew, and could not conceal from himself, that he was one of + the best beloved, not only in the good city of Leipzig, but in all lands + far and wide. + </p> + <p> + It was Christian Furchtegott Gellert, the Poet of Fables, Hymns, and Lays, + who was just leaving his college. + </p> + <p> + When we read his “Lectures upon Morals,” which were not printed until + after his death, we obtain but a very incomplete idea of the great power + with which they came immediately from Gellert's mouth. Indeed, it was his + voice, and the touching manner in which he delivered his lectures, that + made so deep an impression upon his hearers; and Rabener was right when + once he wrote to a friend, that “the philanthropic voice” of Gellert + belonged to his words. + </p> + <p> + Above all, however, it was the amiable and pure personal character of + Gellert which vividly and edifyingly impressed young hearts. Gellert was + himself the best example of pure moral teaching; and the best which a + teacher can give his pupils is faith in the victorious might, and the + stability of the eternal moral laws. His lessons were for the Life, for + his life in itself was a lesson. Many a victory over the troubles of life, + over temptations of every kind, ay, many an elevation to nobility of + thought, and to purity of action, had its origin in that lecture-hall, at + the feet of Gellert. + </p> + <p> + It was as though Gellert felt that it was the last time he would deliver + these lectures; that those words so often and so impressively uttered + would be heard no more from his mouth; and there was a peculiar sadness, + yet a peculiar strength, in all he said that day. + </p> + <p> + He had this day earnestly recommended modesty and humility; and it + appeared almost offensive to him, that people as he went should tempt him + in regard to these very virtues; for continually he heard men whisper, + “That is Gellert!” + </p> + <p> + What is fame, and what is honor? A cloak of many colors, without warmth, + without protection: and now, as he walked along, his heart literally froze + in his bosom, as he confessed to himself that he had as yet done nothing—nothing + which could give him a feeling of real satisfaction. Men honored him and + loved him: but what was all that worth? His innermost heart could not be + satisfied with that; in his own estimation he deserved no meed of praise; + and where, where was there any evidence of that higher and purer life + which he would fain bring about! Then, again, the Spirit would comfort him + and say: “Much seed is lost, much falls in stony places, and much on good + ground and brings forth sevenfold.” + </p> + <p> + His inmost soul heard not the consolation, for his body was weak and sore + burdened from his youth up, and in his latter days yet more than ever; and + there are conditions of the body in which the most elevating words, and + the cheeriest notes of joy, strike dull and heavy on the soul. It is one + of the bitterest experiences of life to discover how little one man can + really be to another. How joyous is that youthful freshness which can + believe that, by a thought transferred to another's heart, we can induce + him to become another being, to live according to what he must acknowledge + true, to throw aside his previous delusions, and return to the right path! + </p> + <p> + “The youngsters go their way! Do your words follow after? Whither are they + going? What are now their thoughts? What manner of life will be theirs? My + heart yearns after them, but cannot be with them: oh, how happy were those + messengers of the Spirit, who cried aloud to youth or manhood the words of + the Spirit, that they must leave their former ways, and thenceforth change + to other beings! Pardon me, O God! that I would fain be like them; I am + weak and vile, and yet, methinks, there must be words as yet unheard, + unknown—oh! where are they, those words which at once lay hold upon + the soul?” + </p> + <p> + With such heavy thoughts went Gellert away from his college-gate to + Rosenthal. There was but one small pathway cleared, but the passers + cheerfully made way for him, and walked in the snow that they might leave + him the pathway unimpeded; but he felt sad, and “as if each tree had + somewhat to cast at him.” Like all men really pure, and cleaving to the + good with all their might, Gellert was not only far from contenting + himself with work already done: he also, in his anxiety to be doing, + almost forgot that he had ever done anything, and thus he was, in the best + sense of the word, modest; he began with each fresh day his course of + action afresh, as if he now for the first time had anything to accomplish. + And yet he might have been happy, in the reflection how brightly beamed + his teaching for ever, though his own life was often clouded. For as the + sun which glows on summer days still lives as concentrated warmth in wine, + and somewhere on some winter night warms up a human heart, so is the + sunshine in that man's life whose vocation it is to impart to others the + conceptions of his own mind. Nay, there is here far more; for the + refreshing draught here offered is not diminished, though thousands drink + thereof. + </p> + <p> + Twilight had set in when Gellert returned home to his dwelling, which had + for its sign a “Schwarz Brett” or “black board.” His old servant, Sauer by + name, took off his overcoat; and his amanuensis, Gödike, asked whether the + Professor had any commands; being answered in the negative, Gödike + retired, and Sauer lighted the lamp upon the study-table. “Some letters + have arrived,” said he, as he pointed to several upon the table: Gellert + inclined his head, and Sauer retired also. Outside, however, he stood + awhile with Gödike, and both spoke sorrowfully of the fact that the + Professor was evidently again suffering severely. “There is a melancholy,” + said Gödike, “and it is the most usual, in which the inward depression + easily changes to displeasure against every one, and the household of the + melancholic suffers thereby intolerably; for the displeasure turns against + them,—no one does anything properly, nothing is in its place. How + very different is Gellert's melancholy! Not a soul suffers from it but + himself, against himself alone his gloomy thoughts turn, and towards every + other creature he is always kind, amiable, and obliging: he bites his + lips; but when he speaks to any one, he is wholly good, forbearing, and + self-forgetful.” + </p> + <p> + Whilst they were talking together, Gellert was sitting in his room, and + had lighted a pipe to dispel the agitation which he would experience in + opening his letters; and while smoking, he could read them much more + comfortably. He reproached himself for smoking, which was said to be + injurious to his health, but he could not quite give up the “horrible + practice,” as he called it. + </p> + <p> + He first examined the addresses and seals of the letters which had + arrived, then quietly opened and read them. A fitful smile passed over his + features; there were letters from well-known friends, full of love and + admiration, but from strangers also, who, in all kinds of heart-distress, + took counsel of him. He read the letters full of friendly applause, first + hastily, that he might have the right of reading them again, and that he + might not know all at once; and when he had read a friend's letter for the + second time, he sprang from his seat and cried, “Thank God! thank God! + that I am so fortunate as to have such friends!” To his inwardly diffident + nature these helps were a real requirement; they served to cheer him, and + only those who did not know him called his joy at the reception of praise—conceit; + it was, on the contrary, the truest modesty. How often did he sit there, + and all that he had taught and written, all that he had ever been to men + in word and deed, faded, vanished, and died away, and he appeared to + himself but a useless servant of the world. His friends he answered + immediately; and as his inward melancholy vanished, and the philanthropy, + nay, the sprightliness of his soul beamed forth, when he was among men and + looked in a living face, so was it also with his letters. When he + bethought him of the friends to whom he was writing, he not only acquired + tranquillity, that virtue for which his whole life long he strove; but his + loving nature received new life, and only by slight intimations did he + betray the heaviness and dejection which weighed upon his soul. He was, in + the full sense of the word, “philanthropic,” in the sight of good men; and + in thoughts for their welfare, there was for him a real happiness and a + joyous animation. + </p> + <p> + When, however, he had done writing and felt lonely again, the gloomy + spirits came back: he had seated himself, wishing to raise his thoughts + for composing a sacred song; but he was ill at ease, and had no power to + express that inward, firm, and self-rejoicing might of faith which lived + in him. Again and again the scoffers and freethinkers rose up before his + thoughts: he must refute their objections, and not until that was done did + he become himself. + </p> + <p> + It is a hard position, when a creative spirit cannot forget the + adversaries which on all sides oppose him in the world: they come + unsummoned to the room and will not be expelled; they peer over the + shoulder, and tug at the hand which fain would write; they turn images + upside down, and distort the thoughts; and here and there, from ceiling + and wall, they grin, and scoff, and oppose: and what was just gushing as + an aspiration from the soul, is converted to a confused absurdity. + </p> + <p> + At such a time, the spirit, courageous and self-dependent, must take + refuge in itself and show a firm front to a world of foes. + </p> + <p> + A strong nature boldly hurls his inkstand at the Devil's head; goes to + battle with his opponents with words both written and spoken; and keeps + his own individuality free from the perplexities with which opponents + disturb all that has been previously done, and make the soul unsteadfast + and unnerved for what is to come. + </p> + <p> + Gellert's was no battling, defiant nature, which relies upon itself; he + did not hurl his opponents down and go his way; he would convince them, + and so they were always ready to encounter him. And as the applause of his + friends rejoiced him, so the opposition of his enemies could sink him in + deep dejection. Besides, he had always been weakly; he had, as he himself + complained, in addition to frequent coughs and a pain in his loins, a + continual gnawing and pressure in the centre of his chest, which + accompanied him from his first rising in the morning until he slept at + night. + </p> + <p> + Thus he sat for a while, in deep dejection: and, as often before, his only + wish was, that God would give him grace whereby when his hour was come, he + might die piously and tranquilly. + </p> + <p> + It was past midnight when he sought his bed and extinguished his light. + </p> + <p> + And the buckets at the well go up and go down. + </p> + <p> + About the same hour, in Duben Forest, the rustic Christopher was rising + from his bed. As with steel and flint he scattered sparks upon the tinder, + in kindling himself a light, his wife, awaking, cried: + </p> + <p> + “Why that heavy sigh?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! life is a burden: I 'm the most harassed mortal in the world. The + pettiest office-clerk may now be abed in peace, and need n't break off his + sleep, while I must go out and brave wind and weather.” + </p> + <p> + “Be content,” replied his wife: “why, I dreamt you had actually been made + magistrate, and wore something on your head like a king's crown.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! you women; as though what you see is n't enough, you like to chatter + about what you dream.” + </p> + <p> + “Light the lamp, too,” said his wife, “and I 'll get up and make you a + nice porridge.” + </p> + <p> + The peasant, putting a candle in his lantern, went to the stable; and + after he had given some fodder to the horses, he seated himself upon the + manger. With his hands squeezed between his knees and his head bent down, + he reflected over and over again what a wretched existence he had of it. + “Why,” thought he, “are so many men so well-off, so comfortable, whilst + you must be always toiling? What care I if envy be not a virtue?—and + yet I 'm not envious, I don't grudge others being well-off, only I should + like to be well-off too; oh, for a quiet, easy life! Am I not worse off + than a horse? He gets his fodder at the proper time, and takes no care + about it. Why did my father make my brother a minister? He gets his salary + without any trouble, sits in a warm room, has no care in the world; and I + must slave and torment myself.” + </p> + <p> + Strange to say, his very next thought, that he would like to be made local + magistrate, he would in no wise confess to himself. + </p> + <p> + He sat still a long while; then he went back again to the sitting-room, + past the kitchen, where the fire was burning cheerily. He seated himself + at the table and waited for his morning porridge. On the table lay an open + book; his children had been reading it the previous evening: involuntarily + taking it up, he began to read. Suddenly he started, rubbed his eyes, and + then read again. How comes this verse here just at this moment? He kept + his hand upon the book, and so easily had he caught the words, that he + repeated them to himself softly with his lips, and nodded several times, + as much as to say: “That's true!” And he said aloud: “It's all there + together: short and sweet!” and he was still staring at it, when his wife + brought in the smoking porridge. Taking off his cap, he folded his hands + and said aloud: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Accept God's gifts with resignation, + Content to lack what thou hast not: + In every lot there 's consolation; + There 's trouble, too, in every lot!” + </pre> + <p> + The wife looked at her husband with amazement. What a strange expression + was upon his face! And as he sat down and began to eat, she said: “What is + the meaning of that grace? What has come to you? Where did you find it?” + </p> + <p> + “It is the best of all graces, the very best,—real God's word. Yes, + and all your life you 've never made such nice porridge before. You must + have put something special in it!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know what you mean. Stop! There 's the book lying there—ah! + that's it—and it's by Gellert, of Leipzig.” + </p> + <p> + “What! Gellert, of Leipzig! Men with ideas like that don't live now; there + may have been such, a thousand years ago, in holy lands, not among us; + those are the words of a saint of old.” + </p> + <p> + “And I tell you they are by Gellert, of Leipzig, of whom your brother has + told us; in fact, he was his tutor, and have n't you heard how pious and + good he is?” + </p> + <p> + “I would n't have believed that such men still lived, and so near us, too, + as Leipzig.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, but those who lived a thousand years ago were also once living + creatures: and over Leipzig is just the same heaven, and the same sun + shines, and the same God rules, as over all other cities.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! yes, my brother has an apt pupil in you!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, and why not? I 've treasured up all he told us of Professor + Gellert.” + </p> + <p> + “Professor!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Professor!” + </p> + <p> + “A man with such a proud, new-fangled title could n't write anything like + that!” + </p> + <p> + “He did n't give himself the title, and he is poor enough withal! and how + hard it has fared with him! Even from childhood he has been well + acquainted with poverty: his father was a poor minister in Haynichen, with + thirteen children; and Gellert, when quite a little fellow, was obliged to + be a copying office-clerk: who can tell whether he did n't then contract + that physical weakness of his? And now that he 's an old man, things will + never go better with him; he has often no wood, and must be pinched with + cold. It is with him, perhaps, as with that student of whom your brother + has told us, who is as poor as a rat, and yet must read; and so in winter + he lies in bed with an empty stomach, until day is far advanced; and he + has his book before him, and first he takes out one hand to hold his book, + and then, when that is numb with cold, the other. Ah! tongue cannot tell + how poorly the man must live; and yet your brother has told me, if he has + but a few pounds, he does n't think at all of himself; he always looks out + for one still poorer than he is, and then gives all away: and he 's always + engaged in aiding and assisting others. Oh! dear, and yet he is so poor! + May be at this moment he is hungry and cold; and he is said to be in + ill-health, besides.” + </p> + <p> + “Wife, I would willingly do the man a good turn if I could. If, now, he + had some land, I would plough, and sow, and reap, and carry, and thresh by + the week together for him. I should like to pay him attention in such a + way that he might know there was at least one who cared for him. But his + profession is one in which I can't be of any use to him.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, just seek him out and speak with him once; you are going to-day, + you know, with your wood to Leipzig. Seek him out and thank him; that sort + of thing does such a man's heart good. Anybody can see him.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes; I should like much to see him, and hold out to him my hand,—but + not empty: I wish I had something!” + </p> + <p> + “Speak to your brother, and get him to give you a note to him.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no; say nothing to my brother; but it might be possible for me to + meet him in the street. Give me my Sunday coat; it will come to no harm + under my cloak.” + </p> + <p> + When his wife brought him the coat, she said: “If, now, Gellert had a + wife, or a household of his own, one might send him something; but your + brother says he is a bachelor, and lives quite alone.” + </p> + <p> + Christopher had never before so cheerfully harnessed his horses and put + them to his wood-laden wagon; for a long while he had not given his hand + so gayly to his wife at parting as to-day. Now he started with his + heavily-laden vehicle through the village; the wheels creaked and crackled + in the snow. At the parsonage he stopped, and looked away yonder where his + brother was still sleeping; he thought he would wake him and tell him his + intention: but suddenly he whipped up his horses, and continued his route. + He would n't yet bind himself to his intention—perchance it was but + a passing thought; he does n't own that to himself, but he says to himself + that he will surprise his brother with the news of what he has done; and + then his thoughts wandered away to the good man still sleeping yonder in + the city; and he hummed the verse to himself in an old familiar tune. + </p> + <p> + Wonderfully in life do effects manifest them-selves, of which we have no + trace. Gellert, too, heard in his dreams a singing; he knew not what it + was, but it rang so consolingly, so joyously!... Christopher drove on, and + he felt as though a bandage had been taken from his eyes; he reflected + what a nice house, what a bonny wife and rosy children he had, and how + warm the cloak which he had thrown over him was, and how well off were + both man and beast; and through the still night he drove along, and beside + him sat a spirit; but not an illusion of the brain, such as in olden time + men conjured up to their terror, a good spirit sat beside him—beside + the woodman who his whole life long had never believed that anything could + have power over him but what had hands and feet. + </p> + <p> + It is said that, on troublous nights, evil spirits settle upon the necks + of men, and belabor them so that they gasp and sweat for very terror; + quite another sort it was to-day which sat by the woodman: and his heart + was warm, and its beating quick. + </p> + <p> + In ancient times, men also carried loads of wood through the night, that + heretics might be burned thereon: these men thought they were doing a good + deed in helping to execute justice; and who can say how painful it was to + their hearts, when they were forced to think: To morrow, on this wood + which now you carry, will shriek, and crackle, and gasp, a human being + like yourself? Who can tell what black spirits settled on the necks of + those who bore the wood to make the funeral-pile? How very different was + it to-day with our woodman Christopher! + </p> + <p> + And earlier still, in ancient times, men brought wood to the temple, + whereon they offered victims in the honor of God; and, according to their + notions, they did a good deed: for when words can no longer suffice to + express the fervency of the heart, it gladly offers what it prizes, what + it dearly loves, as a proof of its devotion, of the earnestness of its + intent. + </p> + <p> + How differently went Christopher from the Duben Forest upon his way! He + knew not whether he were intending to bring a purer offering than men had + brought in bygone ages; but his heart grew warm within him. + </p> + <p> + It was day as he arrived before the gates of Leipzig. Here there met him a + funeral-procession; behind the bier the scholars of St. Thomas, in long + black cloaks, were chanting. Christopher stopped and raised his hat. Whom + were they burying? Supposing it were Gellert. Yes, surely, he thought, it + is he: and how gladly, said he to himself, would you now have done him a + kindness,—ay, even given him your wood! Yes, indeed you would, and + now he is dead, and you cannot give him any help! + </p> + <p> + As soon as the train had passed, Christopher asked who was being buried. + It was a simple burgher, it was not Gellert; and in the deep breath which + Christopher drew lay a double signification: on the one hand, was joy that + Gellert was not dead; on the other, a still small voice whispered to him + that he had now really promised to give him the wood: ah! but whom had he + promised?—himself: and it is easy to argue with one's own + conscience. + </p> + <p> + Superstition babbles of conjuring-spells, by which, without the + co-operation of the patient, the evil spirit can be summarily ejected. It + would be convenient if one had that power, but, in truth, it is not so: it + is long ere the evil desire and the evil habit are removed from the soul + into which they have nestled; and the will, for a long while in bondage, + must co-operate, if a releasing spell from without is to set the prisoner + free. + </p> + <p> + One can only be guided, but himself must move his feet. + </p> + <p> + As Christopher now looked about him, he found that he had stopped close by + an inn; he drove his load a little aside, went into the parlor, and drank + a glass of warmed beer. There was already a goodly company, and not far + from Christopher sat a husbandman with his son, a student here, who was + telling him how there had been lately quite a stir. Professor Gellert had + been ill, and riding a well-trained horse had been recommended for his + health. Now Prince Henry of Prussia, during the Seven Years' War, at the + occupation of Leipzig, had sent him a piebald, that had died a short time + ago; and the Elector, hearing of it, had sent Gellert from Dresden another—a + chestnut—with golden bridle, blue velvet saddle, and + gold-embroidered housings. Half the city had assembled when the groom, a + man with iron-gray hair, brought the horse; and for several days it was to + be seen at the stable; but Gellert dared not mount it, it was so young and + high-spirited. The rustic now asked his son whether the Professor did not + make money enough to procure a horse of his own, to which the son + answered: “Certainly not. His salary is but one hundred and twenty-five + dollars, and his further gains are inconsiderable. His Lectures on Morals + he gives publicly, i. e., gratis, and he has hundreds of hearers; and, + therefore, at his own lectures, which must be paid for, he has so many the + fewer. To be sure, he has now and then presents from grand patrons; but no + one gives him, once and for all, enough to live upon, and to have all over + with a single acknowledgment.” + </p> + <p> + Our friend Christopher started as he heard this; he had quite made up his + mind to take Gellert the wood: but he had yet to do it. How easy were + virtue, if will and deed were the same thing! if performance could + immediately succeed to the moment of burning enthusiasm! But one must make + way over obstacles; over those that outwardly lie in one's path, and over + those that are hidden deep in the heart; and negligence has a thousand + very cunning advocates. + </p> + <p> + How many go forth, prompted by good intentions, but let little hindrances + turn them from their way—entirely from their way of life! In front + of the house Christopher met other woodmen whom he knew, and— “You + are stirring betimes!” “Prices are good to-day!” “But little comes to the + market now!” was the cry from all sides. Christopher wanted to say that + all that did n't concern him, but he was ashamed to confess what his + design was, and an inward voice told him he must not lie. Without + answering he joined the rest, and wended his way to the market; and on the + road he thought: “There are Peter, and Godfrey, and John, who have seven + times your means, and not one of them, I'm sure, would think of doing + anything of this kind; why will you be the kind-hearted fool? Stay! what + matters it what others do or leave undone? Every man shall answer for + himself. Yes, but go to market—it is better it should be so; yes, + certainly, much better: sell your wood—who knows? perhaps he does + n't want it—and take him the proceeds, or at least the greater + portion. But is the wood still yours? You have, properly speaking, already + given it away; it has only not been taken from your keeping....” + </p> + <p> + There are people who cannot give; they can only let a thing be taken + either by the hand of chance, or by urgency and entreaty. Christopher had + such fast hold of possession, that it was only after sore wrestling that + he let go; and yet his heart was kind, at least to-day it was so disposed, + but the tempter whispered: “It is not easy to find so good-natured a + fellow as you. How readily would you have given, had the man been in want, + and your good intention must go for the deed.” Still, on the other hand, + there was something in him which made opposition,—an echo from those + hours, when, in the still night, he was driving hither,—and it + burned in him like sacred fire, and it said, “You must now accomplish what + you intended. Certainly no one knows of it, and you are responsible to no + one; but you know of it yourself, and One above you knows, and how shall + you be justified?” And he said to himself, “I 'll stand by this: look, it + is just nine; if no one ask the price of your wood until ten o'clock, + until the stroke of ten,—until it has done striking, I mean; if no + one ask, then the wood belongs to Professor Gellert: but if a buyer come, + then it is a sign that you need not—should not give it away. There, + that's all settled. But how? what means this? Can you make your good deed + dependent on such a chance as this? No, no; I don't mean it. But yet—yet—only + for a joke, I 'll try it.” + </p> + <p> + Temptation kept him turning as it were in a circle, and still he stood + with an apparently quiet heart by his wagon in the market. The people who + heard him muttering in this way to himself looked at him with wonder, and + passed by him to another wagon, as though he had not been there. It struck + nine. Can you wait patiently another hour? Christopher lighted his pipe, + and looked calmly on, while this and that load was driven off. It struck + the quarter, half-hour, three-quarters. Christopher now put his pipe in + his pocket; it had long been cold, and his hands were almost frozen; all + his blood had rushed to his heart. Now it struck the full hour, stroke + after stroke. At first he counted; then he fancied he had lost a stroke + and miscalculated. Either voluntarily or involuntarily, he said to + himself, when it had finished striking, “You 're wrong; it is nine, not + ten.” He turned round that he might not see the dial, and thus he stood + for some time, with his hands upon the wagon-rack, gazing at the wood. He + knew not how long he had been thus standing, when some one tapped him on + the shoulder, and said, “How much for the load of wood?” + </p> + <p> + Christopher turned round: there was an odd look of irresolution in his + eyes as he said: “Eh? eh? what time is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Half-past ten.” + </p> + <p> + “Then the wood is now no longer mine—at least to sell:” and, + collecting himself, he became suddenly warm, and with firm hand turned his + horses round, and begged the woodmen who accompanied him to point him out + the way to the house with the “Schwarz Brett,” Dr. Junius's. There he + delivered a full load: at each log he took out of the wagon he smiled + oddly. The wood-measurer measured the wood carefully, turning each log and + placing it exactly, that there might not be a crevice anywhere. + </p> + <p> + “Why are you so over-particular to-day, pray?” asked Christopher, and he + received for answer: + </p> + <p> + “Professor Gellert must have a fair load; every shaving kept back from him + were a sin.” + </p> + <p> + Christopher laughed aloud, and the wood-measurer looked at him with + amazement; for such particularity generally provoked a quarrel. + </p> + <p> + Christopher had still some logs over; these he kept by him on the wagon. + At this moment the servant Sauer came up, and asked to whom the wood + belonged. + </p> + <p> + “To Professor Gellert,” answered Christopher. + </p> + <p> + “The man's mad! it isn't true. Professor Gellert has not bought any wood; + it is my business to look after that.” + </p> + <p> + “He has not bought it, and yet it is his!” cried Christopher. + </p> + <p> + Sauer was on the point of giving the mad peasant a hearty scolding, + raising his voice so much the louder, as it was striking eleven by St. + Nicholas. At this moment, however, he became suddenly mute; for yonder + from the University there came, with tired gait, a man of a noble + countenance: at every step he made, on this side and on that, off came the + hats and the caps of the passers-by, and Sauer simply called out, “There + comes the Professor himself.” + </p> + <p> + What a peculiar expression passed over Christopher's face! He looked at + the new-comer, and so earnest was his gaze, that Gellert, who always + walked with his head bowed, suddenly looked up. Christopher said: “Mr. + Gellert, I am glad to see you still alive.” + </p> + <p> + “I thank you,” said Gellert, and made as though he would pass on; but + Christopher stepped up closer to him, and, stretching out his hand to him, + said: “I have taken the liberty—I should like—will you give me + your hand, Mr. Gellert?” + </p> + <p> + Gellert drew his long thin hand out of his muff and placed it in the hard + oaken-like hand of the peasant; and at this moment, when the peasant's + hand lay in the scholars palm, as one felt the other's pressure in actual + living grasp, there took place, though the mortal actors in the scene were + all unconscious of it, a renewal of that healthy life which alone can make + a people one. + </p> + <p> + How long had the learned world, wrapped up in itself, separated from the + fellow-men around, thought in Latin, felt as foreigners, and lived buried + in contemplation of bygone worlds! From the time of Gellert commences the + ever-increasing unity of good-fellowship throughout all classes of life, + kept up by mutual giving and receiving. As the scholar—as the + solitary poet endeavors to work upon others by lays that quicken and songs + that incite, so he in his turn is a debtor to his age, and the lonely + thinking and writing become the property of all; but the effects are not + seen in a moment; for higher than the most highly gifted spirit of any + single man is the spirit of a nation. With the pressure which Gellert and + the peasant exchanged commenced a mighty change in universal life, which + never more can cease to act. + </p> + <p> + “Permit me to enter your room?” said Christopher, and Gellert nodded + assent. He was so courteous that he motioned to the peasant to enter + first; however, Sauer went close after him: he thought it must be a + madman; he must protect his master; the man looked just as if he were + drunk. Gellert, with his amanuensis, Gödike, followed them. + </p> + <p> + Gellert, however, felt that the man must be actuated by pure motives: he + bade the others retire, and took Christopher alone into his study; and, as + he clasped his left with his own right hand, he asked: “Well, my good + friend, what is your business?” + </p> + <p> + “Eh? oh! nothing—I 've only brought you a load of wood there—a + fair, full load; however, I 'll give you the few logs which I have in my + wagon, as well.” + </p> + <p> + “My good man, my servant Sauer looks after buying my wood.” + </p> + <p> + “It is no question of buying. No, my dear sir, I give it to you.” + </p> + <p> + “Give it to me? Why me particularly?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! sir, you do not know at all what good you do, what good you have done + me; and my wife was right; why should there not be really pious men in our + day too? Surely the sun still shines as he shone thousands of years ago; + all is now the same as then; and the God of old is still living.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, certainly; I am glad to see you so pious.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! believe me, dear sir, I am not always so pious; and that I am so + disposed to-day is owing to you. We have no more confessionals now, but I + can confess to you: and you have taken a heavier load from my heart than a + wagon-load of wood. Oh! sir, I am not what I was. In my early days I was a + high-spirited, merry lad, and out in the field, and indoors in the inn and + the spinning-room, there was none who could sing against me; but that is + long past. What has a man on whose head the grave-blossoms are growing,” + and he pointed to his gray head, “to do with all that trash? And besides, + the Seven Years' War has put a stop to all our singing. But last night, in + the midst of the fearful cold, I sang a lay set expressly for me—all + old tunes go to it: and it seemed to me as though I saw a sign-post which + pointed I know not whither—or, nay, I do know whither.” And now the + peasant related how discontented and unhappy in mind he had been, and how + the words in the lay had all at once raised his spirits and accompanied + him upon the journey, like a good fellow who talks to one cheerfully. + </p> + <p> + At this part of the peasant's tale Gellert folded his hands in silence, + and the peasant concluded: “How I always envied others, I cannot now think + why; but you I do envy, sir: I should like to be as you.” + </p> + <p> + And Gellert answered: “I thank God, and rejoice greatly that my writings + have been of service to you. Think not so well of me. Would God I were + really the good man I appear in your eyes! I am far from being such as I + should, such as I would fain be. I write my books for my own improvement + also, to show myself as well as others what manner of men we should be.” + </p> + <p> + Laughing, the peasant replied: “You put me in mind of the story my poor + mother used to tell of the old minister; he stood up once in the pulpit + and said: 'My dear friends, I speak not only for you, but for myself also; + I, too, have need of it.'” + </p> + <p> + Christopher laughed outrageously when he had finished, and Gellert smiled, + and said: “Yes, whoever in the darkness lighteth another with a lamp, + lighteth himself also; and the light is not part of ourselves,—it is + put into our hands by Him who hath appointed the suns their courses.” + </p> + <p> + The peasant stood speechless, and looked upon the ground: there was + something within him which took away the power of looking up; he was only + conscious that it ill became him to laugh so loudly just now, when he told + the story of the old minister. + </p> + <p> + A longer pause ensued, and Gellert seemed to be lost in reflection upon + this reference to a minister's work, for he said half to himself: “Oh! how + would it fulfil my dearest wish to be a village-pastor! To move about + among my people, and really be one with them; the friend of their souls my + whole life long, never to lose them out of my sight! Yonder goes one whom + I have led into the right way; there another, with whom I still wrestle, + but whom I shall assuredly save; and in them all the teaching lives which + God proclaims by me. Did I not think that I should be acting against my + duty, I would this moment choose a country life for the remnant of my + days. When I look from my window over the country, I have before me the + broad sky, of which we citizens know but little, a scene entirely new; + there I stand and lose myself for half an hour in gazing and in thinking. + Yes, good friend, envy no man in the rank of scholars. Look at me; I am + almost always ill; and what a burden is a sickly body! How strong, on the + contrary, are you! I am never happier than when, without being remarked, I + can watch a dinner-table thronged by hungry men and maids. Even if these + folks be not generally so happy as their superiors, at table they are + certainly happier.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir; we relish our eating and drinking. And, lately, when felling + and sorting that wood below, I was more than usually lively; it seems as + though I had a notion I was to do some good with it.” + </p> + <p> + “And must I permit you to make me a present?” asked Gellert, resting his + chin upon his left hand. + </p> + <p> + The peasant answered: “It is not worth talking about.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, it might be well worth talking about; but I accept your present. It + is pride not to be ready to accept a gift. Is not all we have a gift from + God? And what one man gives another, he gives, as is most appropriately + said, for God's sake. Were I your minister, I should be pleased to accept + a present from you. You see, good friend, we men have no occasion to thank + each other. You have given me nothing of yours, and I have given you + nothing of mine. That the trees grow in the forest is none of your doing, + it is the work of the Creator and Preserver of the world; and the soil is + not yours; and the sun and the rain are not yours; they all are the works + of His hand; and if, perchance, I have some healthy thoughts rising up in + my soul, which benefit my fellow-men, it is none of mine, it is His doing. + The word is not mine, and the spirit is not mine; and I am but an + instrument in His hand. Therefore one man needs not to utter words of + thanks to his fellow, if every one would but acknowledge who it really is + that gives.” + </p> + <p> + The peasant looked up in astonishment. Gellert remarked it, and said: + “Understand me aright. I thank you from my heart; you have done a kind + action. But that the trees grow is none of yours, and it is none of mine + that thoughts arise in me; every one simply tills his field, and tends his + woodland, and the honest, assiduous toil he gives thereto is his virtue. + That you felled, loaded, and brought the wood, and wish no recompense for + your labor, is very thank-worthy. My wood was more easily felled; but + those still nights which I and all of my calling pass in heavy thought—who + can tell what toil there is in them? There is in the world an adjustment + which no one sees, and which but seldom discovers itself; and this and + that shift thither and hither, and the scales of the balance become even, + and then ceases all distinction between 'mine' and 'thine,' and in the + still forest rings an axe for me, and in the silent night my spirit thinks + and my pen writes for you.” + </p> + <p> + The peasant passed both his hands over his temples, and his look was as + though he said to himself, “Where are you? Are you still in the world? Is + it a mortal man who speaks to you? Are you in Leipzig, in that populous + city where men jostle one another for gain and bare existence?” + </p> + <p> + Below might be heard the creaking of the saw as the wood was being + sundered: and now the near horse neighs, and Christopher is in the world + again. “It may injure the horse to stand so long in the cold; and no money + for the wood! but perhaps a sick horse to take home into the bargain; that + would be too much,” he thought. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes, Mr. Professor,” said he—he had his hat under his arm, and + was rubbing his hands—“yes, I am delighted with what I have done; + and I value the lesson, believe me, more than ten loads of wood: and never + shall I forget you to my dying day. And though I see you are not so poor + as I had imagined, still I don't regret it. Oh! no, certainly not at all.” + </p> + <p> + “Eh! did you think me so very poor, then?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, miserably poor.” + </p> + <p> + “I have always been poor, but God has never suffered me to be a single day + without necessaries. I have in the world much happiness which I have not + deserved, and much unhappiness I have not, which perchance I have + deserved. I have found much favor with both high and low, for which I + cannot sufficiently thank God. And now tell me, cannot I give you + something, or obtain something for you? You are a local magistrate, I + presume?” + </p> + <p> + “Why so?” + </p> + <p> + “You look like it: you might be.” + </p> + <p> + Christopher had taken his hat into his hands, and was crumpling it up now; + he half closed his eyes, and with a sly, inquiring glance, he peered at + Gellert. Suddenly, however, the expression of his face changed, and the + muscles quivered, as he said: “Sir, what a man are you! How you can dive + into the recesses of one's heart! I have really pined night and day, and + been cross with the whole world, because I could not be magistrate, and + you, sir, you have actually helped to overcome that in me. Oh! sir, as + soon as I read that verse in your book, I had an idea, and now I see still + more plainly that you must be a man of God, who can pluck the heart from + one's bosom, and turn it round and round. I had thought I could never have + another moment's happiness, if my neighbor, Hans Gottlieb, should be + magistrate: and with that verse of yours, it has been with me as when one + calms the blood with a magic spell.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, my good friend, I am rejoiced to hear it: believe me, every one has + in himself alone a whole host to govern. What can so strongly urge men to + wish to govern others? What can it profit you to be local magistrate, when + to accomplish your object you must perhaps do something wrong? What were + the fame, not only of a village, but even of the whole world, if you could + have no self-respect? Let it suffice for you to perform your daily duties + with uprightness; let your joys be centred in your wife and children, and + you will be happy. What need you more? Think not that honor and station + would make you happy. Rejoice, and again I say, rejoice: 'A contented + spirit is a continual feast.' I often whisper this to myself, when I feel + disposed to give way to dejection: and although misery be not our fault, + yet lack of endurance and of patience in misery is undoubtedly our fault.” + </p> + <p> + “I would my wife were here too, that she also might hear this; I grudge + myself the hearing of it all alone; I cannot remember it all properly, and + yet I should like to tell it to her word for word. Who would have thought + that, by standing upon a load of wood, one could get a peep into heaven!” + </p> + <p> + Gellert in silence bowed his head; and afterwards he said: “Yes, rejoice + in your deed, as I do in your gift. Your wood is sacrificial-wood. In + olden time—and it was right in principle, because man could not yet + offer prayer and thanks in spirit—it was a custom and ordinance to + bring something from one's possessions, as a proof of devotion: this was a + sacrifice. And the more important the gift to be given, or the request to + be granted, the more costly was the sacrifice. Our God will have no + victims; but whatsoever you do unto one of the least of His, you do unto + Him. Such are our sacrifices. My dear friend, from my heart I thank you; + for you have done me a kindness, in that you have given me a real, + undeniable proof, that my words have penetrated your heart, and that I do + not live on for nothing: and treasure it up in your heart, that you have + caused real joy to one who is often, very often, weighed down with + heaviness and sorrow. You have not only kindled bright tapers upon my + Christmas-tree, but the tree itself burns, gives light, and warms: the + bush burns, and is not consumed, which is an image of the presence of the + Holy Spirit, and its admonition to trust in the Most High in this + wilderness of life, in mourning and in woe. Oh! my dear friend, I have + been nigh unto death. What a solemn, quaking stride is the stride into + eternity! What a difference between ideas of death in the days of health, + and on the brink of the grave! And how shall I show myself worthy of + longer life? By learning better to die. And, mark, when I sit here in + solitude pursuing my thoughts, keeping some and driving away others, then + I can think, that in distant valleys, upon distant mountains, there are + living men who carry my thoughts within their hearts; and for them I live, + and they are near and dear to me, till one day we shall meet where there + is no more parting, no more separation. Peasant and scholar, let us abide + as we are. Give me your hand—farewell!” + </p> + <p> + And once again, the soft and the hard hand were clasped together, and + Christopher really trembled as Gellert laid his hand upon his shoulder. + They shook hands, and therewith something touched the heart of each more + impressively, more completely, than ever words could touch it. Christopher + got downstairs without knowing how: below, he threw down the extra logs of + wood, which he had kept back, with a clatter from the wagon, and then + drove briskly from the city. Not till he arrived at Lindenthal did he + allow himself and his horses rest or food. He had driven away empty: he + had nothing on his wagon, nothing in his purse; and yet who can tell what + treasures he took home; and who can tell what inextinguishable fire he + left behind him yonder, by that lonely scholar! + </p> + <p> + Gellert, who usually dined at his brother's, today had dinner brought into + his own room, remained quite alone, and did not go out again: he had + experienced quite enough excitement, and society he had in his own + thoughts. Oh! to find that there are open, susceptible hearts, is a + blessing to him that writes in solitude, and is as wondrous to him as + though he dipped his pen in streams of sunshine, and as if all he wrote + were Light. The raindrop which falls from the cloud cannot tell upon what + plant it drops: there is a quickening power in it, but for what? And a + thought which finds expression from a human heart; an action, nay, a whole + life is like the raindrop falling from the cloud: the whole period of a + life endures no longer than the raindrop needs for falling. And as for + knowing where your life is continued, how your work proceeds, you cannot + attain to that. + </p> + <p> + And in the night all was still around: nothing was astir; the whole earth + was simple rest, as Gellert sat in his room by his lonely lamp; his hand + lay upon an open book, and his eyes were fixed upon the empty air; and on + a sudden came once more upon him that melancholy gloom, which so easily + resumes its place after more than usual excitement. + </p> + <p> + It is as though the soul, suddenly elevated above all, must still remember + the heaviness it but now experienced, though that expresses itself as + tears of joy in the eye. + </p> + <p> + In Gellert, however, this melancholy had a more peculiar phase: a sort of + timidity had rooted itself in him, connected with his weak chest, and that + secret gnawing pain in his head; it was a fearfulness which his manner of + life only tended to increase. Surrounded though he was by nothing but love + and admiration in the world, he could not divest himself of the fear that + all which is most horrible and terrible would burst suddenly upon him: and + so he gazed fixedly before him. He passed his hand over his face, and with + an effort concentrated his looks and thoughts upon surrounding objects, + saying to himself almost aloud: “How comforting is light! Were there no + light from without to illumine objects for us, we should perish in gloom, + in the shadows of night. And light is a gentle friend that watches by us, + and, when we are sunk in sorrow, points out to us that the world is still + here, that it calls, and beckons us, and requires of us duty and + cheerfulness. 'You must not be lost in self,' it says, 'see! the world is + still here:' and a friend beside us is as a light which illumines + surrounding objects; we cannot forget them, we must see them and mingle + with them. How hard is life, and how little I accomplish! I would fain + awaken the whole world to goodness and to love; but my voice is weak, my + strength is insufficient: how insignificant is all I do!” + </p> + <p> + And now he rose up and strode across the room; and he stood at the hearth + where the fire was burning, made of wood given to him that very day, and + his thoughts reverted to the man who had given it. Why had he not asked + his name, and where he came from? Perchance he might have been able in + thought to follow him all the way, as he drove home; and now... but yet + 'tis more, 'tis better as it is: it is not an individual, it is not + So-and-so, who has shown his gratitude, but all the world by the mouth of + one. “The kindnesses I receive,” he thought, “are indeed trials; but yet I + ought to accept them with thanks. I will try henceforth to be a benefactor + to others as others are to me, without display, and with grateful thanks + to God, our highest Benefactor: this will I do, and search no further for + the why and for the wherefore.” And once more a voice spoke within him, + and he stood erect, and raised his arms on high. “Who knows,” he thought, + “whether at this moment I have not been in this or that place, to this or + that man, a brother, a friend, a comforter, a saviour; and from house to + house, may be, my spirit travels, awakening, enlivening, refreshing—yonder + in the attic, where burns a solitary light; and afar in some village a + mother is sitting by her child, and hearing him repeat the thoughts I have + arranged in verse; and peradventure some solitary old man, who is waiting + for death, is now sitting by his fireside, and his lips are uttering my + words.” + </p> + <p> + “And yonder in the church, the choir is chanting a hymn of yours; could + you have written this hymn without its vigor in your heart? Oh! no, it <i>must</i> + be there.” And with trembling he thought: “There is nothing so small as to + have no place in the government of God! Should you not then believe that + He suffered this day's incident to happen for your joy? Oh! were it so, + what happiness were yours! A heart renewed.”... He moved to the window, + looked up to heaven, and prayed inwardly: “My soul is with my brothers and + my sisters: nay, it is with Thee, my God, and in humility I acknowledge + how richly Thou hast blessed me. And if, in the kingdom of the world to + come, a soul should cry to me: 'Thou didst guide and cheer me on to + happiness eternal!' all hail! my friend, my benefactor, my glory in the + presence of God.... In these thoughts let me die, and pardon me my + weakness and my sins!” + </p> + <p> + “And the evening and morning were the first day.” + </p> + <p> + At early morning, Gellert was sitting at his table, and reading according + to his invariable custom, first of all in the Bible. He never left the + Bible open—he always shut it with a peaceful, devotional air, after + he had read therein: there was something grateful as well as reverential + in his manner of closing the volume; the holy words should not lie + uncovered. + </p> + <p> + To-day, however, the Bible was lying open when he rose. His eye fell upon + the history of the creation, and at the words, “And the evening and the + morning were the first day,” he leaned back his head against the + arm-chair, and kept his hand upon the book, as though he would grasp with + his hand also the lofty thought, how night and day were divided. + </p> + <p> + For a long while he sat thus, and he was wondrously bright in spirit, and + a soft reminiscence dawned upon him; of a bright day in childhood, when he + had been so happy, and in Haynichen, his native place, had gone out with + his father for a walk. An inward warmth roused his heart to quicker + pulsation; and suddenly he started and looked about him: he had been + humming a tune. + </p> + <p> + Up from the street came the busy sound of day: at other times how + insufferable he had found it! and now how joyous it seemed that men should + bestir themselves, and turn to all sorts of occupations! There was a sound + of crumbling snow: and how nice to have a house and a blaze upon the + hearth! “And the evening and the morning were the first day!” And man + getteth himself a light in the darkness: but how long, O man! could you + make it endure? What could you do with your artificial light, if God did + not cause His sun to shine? Without it grows no grass, no corn. On the + hand lying upon the book there fell a bright sunbeam. How soon, at other + times, would Gellert have drawn the defensive curtain! Now he watches the + little motes that play about in the sunbeam. + </p> + <p> + The servant brought coffee, and the amanuensis, Gödike, asked if there + were anything to do. Generally, Gellert scarce lifted his head from his + books, hastily acknowledging the attention and reading on in silence; + to-day, he motioned to Gödike to stay, and said to Sauer, “Another cup: + Mr. Gödike will take coffee with me. God has given me a day of rejoicing.” + Sauer brought the cup, and Gellert said: “Yes, God has given me a day of + rejoicing, and what I am most thankful for is, that He has granted me + strength to thank Him with all my heart: not so entirely, however, as I + should like.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank God, Mr. Professor, that you are once more in health, and cheerful: + and permit me, Mr. Professor, to tell you that I was myself also ill a + short time ago, and I then learned a lesson which I shall never forget. + Who is most grateful? The convalescent. He learns to love God and His + beautiful world anew; he is grateful for everything, and delighted with + everything. What a flavor has his first cup of coffee! How he enjoys his + first walk outside the house, outside the gate! The houses, the trees, all + give us greeting: all is again in us full of health and joy!” So said + Gödike, and Gellert rejoined: + </p> + <p> + “You are a good creature, and have just spoken good words. Certainly, the + convalescent is the most grateful. We are, however, for the most part, + sick in spirit, and have not strength to recover: and a sickly, stricken + spirit is the heaviest pain.” + </p> + <p> + Long time the two sat quietly together: it struck eight. Gellert started + up, and cried irritably: “There, now, you have allowed me to forget that I + must be on my way to the University.” + </p> + <p> + “The vacation has begun: Mr. Professor has no lecture to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “No lecture to-day? Ah! and I believe today is just the time when I could + have told my young friends something that would have benefited them for + their whole lives.” + </p> + <p> + There was a shuffling of many feet outside the door: the door opened, and + several boys from St. Thomas' School-choir advanced and sang to Gellert + some of his own hymns; and as they chanted the verse— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “And haply there—oh! grant it, Heaven! + Some blessed saint will greet me too; + 'All hail! all hail! to you was given + To save my life and soul, to you!' + O God! my God! what joy to be + The winner of a soul to thee!” + </pre> + <p> + Gellert wept aloud, folded his hands, and raised his eyes to heaven. + </p> + <p> + A happier Christmas than that of 1768 had Gellert never seen; and it was + his last. Scarcely a year after, on the 13th of December, 1769, Gellert + died a pious, tranquil death, such as he had ever coveted. + </p> + <p> + As the long train which followed his bier moved to the churchyard of St. + John's, Leipzig, a peasant with his wife and children in holiday clothes + entered among the last. It was Christopher with his family. The whole way + he had been silent: and whilst his wife wept passionately at the pastor's + touching address, it was only by the working of his features that + Christopher showed how deeply moved he was. + </p> + <p> + But on the way home he said: “I am glad I did him a kindness in his + lifetime; it would now be too late.” + </p> + <p> + The summer after, when he built a new house, he had this verse placed upon + it as an inscription: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Accept God's gifts with resignation, + Content to lack what thou hast not: + In every lot there's consolation; + There's trouble, too, in every lot.” + </pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Christian Gellert's Last Christmas, by +Berthold Auerbach + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS *** + +***** This file should be named 22665-h.htm or 22665-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/6/6/22665/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Christian Gellert's Last Christmas + From "German Tales" Published by the American Publishers' Corporation + +Author: Berthold Auerbach + +Release Date: September 18, 2007 [EBook #22665] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS + +By Berthold Auerbach + + +From "German Tales." Published by the American Publishers' Corporation. + +1869 + + +Three o'clock had just struck from the tower of St. Nicholas, Leipzig, +on the afternoon of December 22d, 1768, when a man, wrapped in a loose +overcoat, came out of the door of the University. His countenance was +exceedingly gentle, and on his features cheerfulness still lingered, for +he had been gazing upon a hundred cheerful faces; after him thronged a +troop of students, who, holding back, allowed him to precede them: the +passengers in the streets saluted him, and some, students, who +pressed forwards and hurried past him homewards, saluted him quite +reverentially. He returned their salutations with a surprised and almost +deprecatory air, and yet he knew, and could not conceal from himself, +that he was one of the best beloved, not only in the good city of +Leipzig, but in all lands far and wide. + +It was Christian Furchtegott Gellert, the Poet of Fables, Hymns, and +Lays, who was just leaving his college. + +When we read his "Lectures upon Morals," which were not printed until +after his death, we obtain but a very incomplete idea of the great power +with which they came immediately from Gellert's mouth. Indeed, it was +his voice, and the touching manner in which he delivered his lectures, +that made so deep an impression upon his hearers; and Rabener was +right when once he wrote to a friend, that "the philanthropic voice" of +Gellert belonged to his words. + +Above all, however, it was the amiable and pure personal character of +Gellert which vividly and edifyingly impressed young hearts. Gellert was +himself the best example of pure moral teaching; and the best which a +teacher can give his pupils is faith in the victorious might, and the +stability of the eternal moral laws. His lessons were for the Life, for +his life in itself was a lesson. Many a victory over the troubles of +life, over temptations of every kind, ay, many an elevation to +nobility of thought, and to purity of action, had its origin in that +lecture-hall, at the feet of Gellert. + +It was as though Gellert felt that it was the last time he would deliver +these lectures; that those words so often and so impressively uttered +would be heard no more from his mouth; and there was a peculiar sadness, +yet a peculiar strength, in all he said that day. + +He had this day earnestly recommended modesty and humility; and it +appeared almost offensive to him, that people as he went should tempt +him in regard to these very virtues; for continually he heard men +whisper, "That is Gellert!" + +What is fame, and what is honor? A cloak of many colors, without warmth, +without protection: and now, as he walked along, his heart literally +froze in his bosom, as he confessed to himself that he had as yet done +nothing--nothing which could give him a feeling of real satisfaction. +Men honored him and loved him: but what was all that worth? His +innermost heart could not be satisfied with that; in his own estimation +he deserved no meed of praise; and where, where was there any evidence +of that higher and purer life which he would fain bring about! Then, +again, the Spirit would comfort him and say: "Much seed is lost, +much falls in stony places, and much on good ground and brings forth +sevenfold." + +His inmost soul heard not the consolation, for his body was weak and +sore burdened from his youth up, and in his latter days yet more than +ever; and there are conditions of the body in which the most elevating +words, and the cheeriest notes of joy, strike dull and heavy on the +soul. It is one of the bitterest experiences of life to discover how +little one man can really be to another. How joyous is that youthful +freshness which can believe that, by a thought transferred to another's +heart, we can induce him to become another being, to live according to +what he must acknowledge true, to throw aside his previous delusions, +and return to the right path! + +"The youngsters go their way! Do your words follow after? Whither are +they going? What are now their thoughts? What manner of life will be +theirs? My heart yearns after them, but cannot be with them: oh, how +happy were those messengers of the Spirit, who cried aloud to youth or +manhood the words of the Spirit, that they must leave their former ways, +and thenceforth change to other beings! Pardon me, O God! that I would +fain be like them; I am weak and vile, and yet, methinks, there must be +words as yet unheard, unknown--oh! where are they, those words which at +once lay hold upon the soul?" + +With such heavy thoughts went Gellert away from his college-gate to +Rosenthal. There was but one small pathway cleared, but the passers +cheerfully made way for him, and walked in the snow that they might +leave him the pathway unimpeded; but he felt sad, and "as if each tree +had somewhat to cast at him." Like all men really pure, and cleaving to +the good with all their might, Gellert was not only far from contenting +himself with work already done: he also, in his anxiety to be doing, +almost forgot that he had ever done anything, and thus he was, in the +best sense of the word, modest; he began with each fresh day his course +of action afresh, as if he now for the first time had anything to +accomplish. And yet he might have been happy, in the reflection how +brightly beamed his teaching for ever, though his own life was often +clouded. For as the sun which glows on summer days still lives as +concentrated warmth in wine, and somewhere on some winter night warms up +a human heart, so is the sunshine in that man's life whose vocation it +is to impart to others the conceptions of his own mind. Nay, there +is here far more; for the refreshing draught here offered is not +diminished, though thousands drink thereof. + +Twilight had set in when Gellert returned home to his dwelling, which +had for its sign a "Schwarz Brett" or "black board." His old servant, +Sauer by name, took off his overcoat; and his amanuensis, Goedike, asked +whether the Professor had any commands; being answered in the negative, +Goedike retired, and Sauer lighted the lamp upon the study-table. "Some +letters have arrived," said he, as he pointed to several upon the table: +Gellert inclined his head, and Sauer retired also. Outside, however, he +stood awhile with Goedike, and both spoke sorrowfully of the fact that +the Professor was evidently again suffering severely. "There is a +melancholy," said Goedike, "and it is the most usual, in which the inward +depression easily changes to displeasure against every one, and the +household of the melancholic suffers thereby intolerably; for the +displeasure turns against them,--no one does anything properly, nothing +is in its place. How very different is Gellert's melancholy! Not a soul +suffers from it but himself, against himself alone his gloomy thoughts +turn, and towards every other creature he is always kind, amiable, and +obliging: he bites his lips; but when he speaks to any one, he is wholly +good, forbearing, and self-forgetful." + +Whilst they were talking together, Gellert was sitting in his room, and +had lighted a pipe to dispel the agitation which he would experience +in opening his letters; and while smoking, he could read them much more +comfortably. He reproached himself for smoking, which was said to be +injurious to his health, but he could not quite give up the "horrible +practice," as he called it. + +He first examined the addresses and seals of the letters which had +arrived, then quietly opened and read them. A fitful smile passed over +his features; there were letters from well-known friends, full of +love and admiration, but from strangers also, who, in all kinds of +heart-distress, took counsel of him. He read the letters full of +friendly applause, first hastily, that he might have the right of +reading them again, and that he might not know all at once; and when he +had read a friend's letter for the second time, he sprang from his seat +and cried, "Thank God! thank God! that I am so fortunate as to have +such friends!" To his inwardly diffident nature these helps were a real +requirement; they served to cheer him, and only those who did not know +him called his joy at the reception of praise--conceit; it was, on the +contrary, the truest modesty. How often did he sit there, and all that +he had taught and written, all that he had ever been to men in word and +deed, faded, vanished, and died away, and he appeared to himself but a +useless servant of the world. His friends he answered immediately; +and as his inward melancholy vanished, and the philanthropy, nay, the +sprightliness of his soul beamed forth, when he was among men and looked +in a living face, so was it also with his letters. When he bethought +him of the friends to whom he was writing, he not only acquired +tranquillity, that virtue for which his whole life long he strove; but +his loving nature received new life, and only by slight intimations did +he betray the heaviness and dejection which weighed upon his soul. He +was, in the full sense of the word, "philanthropic," in the sight of +good men; and in thoughts for their welfare, there was for him a real +happiness and a joyous animation. + +When, however, he had done writing and felt lonely again, the gloomy +spirits came back: he had seated himself, wishing to raise his thoughts +for composing a sacred song; but he was ill at ease, and had no power to +express that inward, firm, and self-rejoicing might of faith which lived +in him. Again and again the scoffers and freethinkers rose up before his +thoughts: he must refute their objections, and not until that was done +did he become himself. + +It is a hard position, when a creative spirit cannot forget the +adversaries which on all sides oppose him in the world: they come +unsummoned to the room and will not be expelled; they peer over the +shoulder, and tug at the hand which fain would write; they turn images +upside down, and distort the thoughts; and here and there, from ceiling +and wall, they grin, and scoff, and oppose: and what was just gushing as +an aspiration from the soul, is converted to a confused absurdity. + +At such a time, the spirit, courageous and self-dependent, must take +refuge in itself and show a firm front to a world of foes. + +A strong nature boldly hurls his inkstand at the Devil's head; goes to +battle with his opponents with words both written and spoken; and keeps +his own individuality free from the perplexities with which opponents +disturb all that has been previously done, and make the soul unsteadfast +and unnerved for what is to come. + +Gellert's was no battling, defiant nature, which relies upon itself; he +did not hurl his opponents down and go his way; he would convince them, +and so they were always ready to encounter him. And as the applause of +his friends rejoiced him, so the opposition of his enemies could sink +him in deep dejection. Besides, he had always been weakly; he had, as +he himself complained, in addition to frequent coughs and a pain in +his loins, a continual gnawing and pressure in the centre of his chest, +which accompanied him from his first rising in the morning until he +slept at night. + +Thus he sat for a while, in deep dejection: and, as often before, his +only wish was, that God would give him grace whereby when his hour was +come, he might die piously and tranquilly. + +It was past midnight when he sought his bed and extinguished his light. + +And the buckets at the well go up and go down. + +About the same hour, in Duben Forest, the rustic Christopher was rising +from his bed. As with steel and flint he scattered sparks upon the +tinder, in kindling himself a light, his wife, awaking, cried: + +"Why that heavy sigh?" + +"Ah! life is a burden: I 'm the most harassed mortal in the world. The +pettiest office-clerk may now be abed in peace, and need n't break off +his sleep, while I must go out and brave wind and weather." + +"Be content," replied his wife: "why, I dreamt you had actually been +made magistrate, and wore something on your head like a king's crown." + +"Oh! you women; as though what you see is n't enough, you like to +chatter about what you dream." + +"Light the lamp, too," said his wife, "and I 'll get up and make you a +nice porridge." + +The peasant, putting a candle in his lantern, went to the stable; and +after he had given some fodder to the horses, he seated himself upon +the manger. With his hands squeezed between his knees and his head bent +down, he reflected over and over again what a wretched existence he had +of it. "Why," thought he, "are so many men so well-off, so comfortable, +whilst you must be always toiling? What care I if envy be not a +virtue?--and yet I 'm not envious, I don't grudge others being well-off, +only I should like to be well-off too; oh, for a quiet, easy life! Am I +not worse off than a horse? He gets his fodder at the proper time, and +takes no care about it. Why did my father make my brother a minister? He +gets his salary without any trouble, sits in a warm room, has no care in +the world; and I must slave and torment myself." + +Strange to say, his very next thought, that he would like to be made +local magistrate, he would in no wise confess to himself. + +He sat still a long while; then he went back again to the sitting-room, +past the kitchen, where the fire was burning cheerily. He seated himself +at the table and waited for his morning porridge. On the table lay +an open book; his children had been reading it the previous evening: +involuntarily taking it up, he began to read. Suddenly he started, +rubbed his eyes, and then read again. How comes this verse here just at +this moment? He kept his hand upon the book, and so easily had he caught +the words, that he repeated them to himself softly with his lips, and +nodded several times, as much as to say: "That's true!" And he said +aloud: "It's all there together: short and sweet!" and he was still +staring at it, when his wife brought in the smoking porridge. Taking off +his cap, he folded his hands and said aloud: + + "Accept God's gifts with resignation, + Content to lack what thou hast not: + In every lot there 's consolation; + There 's trouble, too, in every lot!" + +The wife looked at her husband with amazement. What a strange expression +was upon his face! And as he sat down and began to eat, she said: "What +is the meaning of that grace? What has come to you? Where did you find +it?" + +"It is the best of all graces, the very best,--real God's word. Yes, +and all your life you 've never made such nice porridge before. You must +have put something special in it!" + +"I don't know what you mean. Stop! There 's the book lying there--ah! +that's it--and it's by Gellert, of Leipzig." + +"What! Gellert, of Leipzig! Men with ideas like that don't live now; +there may have been such, a thousand years ago, in holy lands, not among +us; those are the words of a saint of old." + +"And I tell you they are by Gellert, of Leipzig, of whom your brother +has told us; in fact, he was his tutor, and have n't you heard how pious +and good he is?" + +"I would n't have believed that such men still lived, and so near us, +too, as Leipzig." + +"Well, but those who lived a thousand years ago were also once living +creatures: and over Leipzig is just the same heaven, and the same sun +shines, and the same God rules, as over all other cities." + +"Oh! yes, my brother has an apt pupil in you!" + +"Well, and why not? I 've treasured up all he told us of Professor +Gellert." + +"Professor!" + +"Yes, Professor!" + +"A man with such a proud, new-fangled title could n't write anything +like that!" + +"He did n't give himself the title, and he is poor enough withal! and +how hard it has fared with him! Even from childhood he has been well +acquainted with poverty: his father was a poor minister in Haynichen, +with thirteen children; and Gellert, when quite a little fellow, was +obliged to be a copying office-clerk: who can tell whether he did n't +then contract that physical weakness of his? And now that he 's an old +man, things will never go better with him; he has often no wood, and +must be pinched with cold. It is with him, perhaps, as with that student +of whom your brother has told us, who is as poor as a rat, and yet must +read; and so in winter he lies in bed with an empty stomach, until day +is far advanced; and he has his book before him, and first he takes out +one hand to hold his book, and then, when that is numb with cold, the +other. Ah! tongue cannot tell how poorly the man must live; and yet your +brother has told me, if he has but a few pounds, he does n't think at +all of himself; he always looks out for one still poorer than he is, and +then gives all away: and he 's always engaged in aiding and assisting +others. Oh! dear, and yet he is so poor! May be at this moment he is +hungry and cold; and he is said to be in ill-health, besides." + +"Wife, I would willingly do the man a good turn if I could. If, now, he +had some land, I would plough, and sow, and reap, and carry, and thresh +by the week together for him. I should like to pay him attention in such +a way that he might know there was at least one who cared for him. But +his profession is one in which I can't be of any use to him." + +"Well, just seek him out and speak with him once; you are going to-day, +you know, with your wood to Leipzig. Seek him out and thank him; that +sort of thing does such a man's heart good. Anybody can see him." + +"Yes, yes; I should like much to see him, and hold out to him my +hand,--but not empty: I wish I had something!" + +"Speak to your brother, and get him to give you a note to him." + +"No, no; say nothing to my brother; but it might be possible for me to +meet him in the street. Give me my Sunday coat; it will come to no harm +under my cloak." + +When his wife brought him the coat, she said: "If, now, Gellert had a +wife, or a household of his own, one might send him something; but your +brother says he is a bachelor, and lives quite alone." + +Christopher had never before so cheerfully harnessed his horses and put +them to his wood-laden wagon; for a long while he had not given his +hand so gayly to his wife at parting as to-day. Now he started with +his heavily-laden vehicle through the village; the wheels creaked and +crackled in the snow. At the parsonage he stopped, and looked away +yonder where his brother was still sleeping; he thought he would wake +him and tell him his intention: but suddenly he whipped up his +horses, and continued his route. He would n't yet bind himself to his +intention--perchance it was but a passing thought; he does n't own that +to himself, but he says to himself that he will surprise his brother +with the news of what he has done; and then his thoughts wandered away +to the good man still sleeping yonder in the city; and he hummed the +verse to himself in an old familiar tune. + +Wonderfully in life do effects manifest them-selves, of which we have no +trace. Gellert, too, heard in his dreams a singing; he knew not what it +was, but it rang so consolingly, so joyously!... Christopher drove +on, and he felt as though a bandage had been taken from his eyes; he +reflected what a nice house, what a bonny wife and rosy children he had, +and how warm the cloak which he had thrown over him was, and how well +off were both man and beast; and through the still night he drove along, +and beside him sat a spirit; but not an illusion of the brain, such as +in olden time men conjured up to their terror, a good spirit sat beside +him--beside the woodman who his whole life long had never believed that +anything could have power over him but what had hands and feet. + +It is said that, on troublous nights, evil spirits settle upon the necks +of men, and belabor them so that they gasp and sweat for very terror; +quite another sort it was to-day which sat by the woodman: and his heart +was warm, and its beating quick. + +In ancient times, men also carried loads of wood through the night, that +heretics might be burned thereon: these men thought they were doing a +good deed in helping to execute justice; and who can say how painful it +was to their hearts, when they were forced to think: To morrow, on this +wood which now you carry, will shriek, and crackle, and gasp, a human +being like yourself? Who can tell what black spirits settled on the +necks of those who bore the wood to make the funeral-pile? How very +different was it to-day with our woodman Christopher! + +And earlier still, in ancient times, men brought wood to the temple, +whereon they offered victims in the honor of God; and, according to +their notions, they did a good deed: for when words can no longer +suffice to express the fervency of the heart, it gladly offers what +it prizes, what it dearly loves, as a proof of its devotion, of the +earnestness of its intent. + +How differently went Christopher from the Duben Forest upon his way! He +knew not whether he were intending to bring a purer offering than men +had brought in bygone ages; but his heart grew warm within him. + +It was day as he arrived before the gates of Leipzig. Here there met +him a funeral-procession; behind the bier the scholars of St. Thomas, +in long black cloaks, were chanting. Christopher stopped and raised his +hat. Whom were they burying? Supposing it were Gellert. Yes, surely, +he thought, it is he: and how gladly, said he to himself, would you now +have done him a kindness,--ay, even given him your wood! Yes, indeed you +would, and now he is dead, and you cannot give him any help! + +As soon as the train had passed, Christopher asked who was being buried. +It was a simple burgher, it was not Gellert; and in the deep breath +which Christopher drew lay a double signification: on the one hand, +was joy that Gellert was not dead; on the other, a still small voice +whispered to him that he had now really promised to give him the wood: +ah! but whom had he promised?--himself: and it is easy to argue with +one's own conscience. + +Superstition babbles of conjuring-spells, by which, without the +co-operation of the patient, the evil spirit can be summarily ejected. +It would be convenient if one had that power, but, in truth, it is not +so: it is long ere the evil desire and the evil habit are removed from +the soul into which they have nestled; and the will, for a long while +in bondage, must co-operate, if a releasing spell from without is to set +the prisoner free. + +One can only be guided, but himself must move his feet. + +As Christopher now looked about him, he found that he had stopped close +by an inn; he drove his load a little aside, went into the parlor, and +drank a glass of warmed beer. There was already a goodly company, and +not far from Christopher sat a husbandman with his son, a student here, +who was telling him how there had been lately quite a stir. Professor +Gellert had been ill, and riding a well-trained horse had been +recommended for his health. Now Prince Henry of Prussia, during the +Seven Years' War, at the occupation of Leipzig, had sent him a piebald, +that had died a short time ago; and the Elector, hearing of it, had +sent Gellert from Dresden another--a chestnut--with golden bridle, +blue velvet saddle, and gold-embroidered housings. Half the city had +assembled when the groom, a man with iron-gray hair, brought the horse; +and for several days it was to be seen at the stable; but Gellert dared +not mount it, it was so young and high-spirited. The rustic now asked +his son whether the Professor did not make money enough to procure a +horse of his own, to which the son answered: "Certainly not. His salary +is but one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and his further gains are +inconsiderable. His Lectures on Morals he gives publicly, i. e., gratis, +and he has hundreds of hearers; and, therefore, at his own lectures, +which must be paid for, he has so many the fewer. To be sure, he has now +and then presents from grand patrons; but no one gives him, once and +for all, enough to live upon, and to have all over with a single +acknowledgment." + +Our friend Christopher started as he heard this; he had quite made up +his mind to take Gellert the wood: but he had yet to do it. How easy +were virtue, if will and deed were the same thing! if performance could +immediately succeed to the moment of burning enthusiasm! But one must +make way over obstacles; over those that outwardly lie in one's path, +and over those that are hidden deep in the heart; and negligence has a +thousand very cunning advocates. + +How many go forth, prompted by good intentions, but let little +hindrances turn them from their way--entirely from their way of life! +In front of the house Christopher met other woodmen whom he knew, and-- +"You are stirring betimes!" "Prices are good to-day!" "But little comes +to the market now!" was the cry from all sides. Christopher wanted to +say that all that did n't concern him, but he was ashamed to confess +what his design was, and an inward voice told him he must not lie. +Without answering he joined the rest, and wended his way to the market; +and on the road he thought: "There are Peter, and Godfrey, and John, who +have seven times your means, and not one of them, I'm sure, would think +of doing anything of this kind; why will you be the kind-hearted fool? +Stay! what matters it what others do or leave undone? Every man shall +answer for himself. Yes, but go to market--it is better it should be so; +yes, certainly, much better: sell your wood--who knows? perhaps he does +n't want it--and take him the proceeds, or at least the greater portion. +But is the wood still yours? You have, properly speaking, already given +it away; it has only not been taken from your keeping...." + +There are people who cannot give; they can only let a thing be taken +either by the hand of chance, or by urgency and entreaty. Christopher +had such fast hold of possession, that it was only after sore wrestling +that he let go; and yet his heart was kind, at least to-day it was +so disposed, but the tempter whispered: "It is not easy to find so +good-natured a fellow as you. How readily would you have given, had the +man been in want, and your good intention must go for the deed." Still, +on the other hand, there was something in him which made opposition,--an +echo from those hours, when, in the still night, he was driving +hither,--and it burned in him like sacred fire, and it said, "You must +now accomplish what you intended. Certainly no one knows of it, and you +are responsible to no one; but you know of it yourself, and One above +you knows, and how shall you be justified?" And he said to himself, "I +'ll stand by this: look, it is just nine; if no one ask the price of +your wood until ten o'clock, until the stroke of ten,--until it has +done striking, I mean; if no one ask, then the wood belongs to +Professor Gellert: but if a buyer come, then it is a sign that you need +not--should not give it away. There, that's all settled. But how? what +means this? Can you make your good deed dependent on such a chance as +this? No, no; I don't mean it. But yet--yet--only for a joke, I 'll try +it." + +Temptation kept him turning as it were in a circle, and still he stood +with an apparently quiet heart by his wagon in the market. The people +who heard him muttering in this way to himself looked at him with +wonder, and passed by him to another wagon, as though he had not been +there. It struck nine. Can you wait patiently another hour? Christopher +lighted his pipe, and looked calmly on, while this and that load +was driven off. It struck the quarter, half-hour, three-quarters. +Christopher now put his pipe in his pocket; it had long been cold, and +his hands were almost frozen; all his blood had rushed to his heart. Now +it struck the full hour, stroke after stroke. At first he counted; then +he fancied he had lost a stroke and miscalculated. Either voluntarily or +involuntarily, he said to himself, when it had finished striking, "You +'re wrong; it is nine, not ten." He turned round that he might not +see the dial, and thus he stood for some time, with his hands upon the +wagon-rack, gazing at the wood. He knew not how long he had been thus +standing, when some one tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "How much +for the load of wood?" + +Christopher turned round: there was an odd look of irresolution in his +eyes as he said: "Eh? eh? what time is it?" + +"Half-past ten." + +"Then the wood is now no longer mine--at least to sell:" and, collecting +himself, he became suddenly warm, and with firm hand turned his horses +round, and begged the woodmen who accompanied him to point him out +the way to the house with the "Schwarz Brett," Dr. Junius's. There he +delivered a full load: at each log he took out of the wagon he smiled +oddly. The wood-measurer measured the wood carefully, turning each log +and placing it exactly, that there might not be a crevice anywhere. + +"Why are you so over-particular to-day, pray?" asked Christopher, and he +received for answer: + +"Professor Gellert must have a fair load; every shaving kept back from +him were a sin." + +Christopher laughed aloud, and the wood-measurer looked at him with +amazement; for such particularity generally provoked a quarrel. + +Christopher had still some logs over; these he kept by him on the wagon. +At this moment the servant Sauer came up, and asked to whom the wood +belonged. + +"To Professor Gellert," answered Christopher. + +"The man's mad! it isn't true. Professor Gellert has not bought any +wood; it is my business to look after that." + +"He has not bought it, and yet it is his!" cried Christopher. + +Sauer was on the point of giving the mad peasant a hearty scolding, +raising his voice so much the louder, as it was striking eleven by St. +Nicholas. At this moment, however, he became suddenly mute; for yonder +from the University there came, with tired gait, a man of a noble +countenance: at every step he made, on this side and on that, off came +the hats and the caps of the passers-by, and Sauer simply called out, +"There comes the Professor himself." + +What a peculiar expression passed over Christopher's face! He looked +at the new-comer, and so earnest was his gaze, that Gellert, who always +walked with his head bowed, suddenly looked up. Christopher said: "Mr. +Gellert, I am glad to see you still alive." + +"I thank you," said Gellert, and made as though he would pass on; but +Christopher stepped up closer to him, and, stretching out his hand to +him, said: "I have taken the liberty--I should like--will you give me +your hand, Mr. Gellert?" + +Gellert drew his long thin hand out of his muff and placed it in the +hard oaken-like hand of the peasant; and at this moment, when the +peasant's hand lay in the scholars palm, as one felt the other's +pressure in actual living grasp, there took place, though the mortal +actors in the scene were all unconscious of it, a renewal of that +healthy life which alone can make a people one. + +How long had the learned world, wrapped up in itself, separated from +the fellow-men around, thought in Latin, felt as foreigners, and lived +buried in contemplation of bygone worlds! From the time of Gellert +commences the ever-increasing unity of good-fellowship throughout +all classes of life, kept up by mutual giving and receiving. As the +scholar--as the solitary poet endeavors to work upon others by lays that +quicken and songs that incite, so he in his turn is a debtor to his age, +and the lonely thinking and writing become the property of all; but the +effects are not seen in a moment; for higher than the most highly gifted +spirit of any single man is the spirit of a nation. With the pressure +which Gellert and the peasant exchanged commenced a mighty change in +universal life, which never more can cease to act. + +"Permit me to enter your room?" said Christopher, and Gellert nodded +assent. He was so courteous that he motioned to the peasant to enter +first; however, Sauer went close after him: he thought it must be a +madman; he must protect his master; the man looked just as if he were +drunk. Gellert, with his amanuensis, Goedike, followed them. + +Gellert, however, felt that the man must be actuated by pure motives: he +bade the others retire, and took Christopher alone into his study; and, +as he clasped his left with his own right hand, he asked: "Well, my good +friend, what is your business?" + +"Eh? oh! nothing--I 've only brought you a load of wood there--a fair, +full load; however, I 'll give you the few logs which I have in my +wagon, as well." + +"My good man, my servant Sauer looks after buying my wood." + +"It is no question of buying. No, my dear sir, I give it to you." + +"Give it to me? Why me particularly?" + +"Oh! sir, you do not know at all what good you do, what good you have +done me; and my wife was right; why should there not be really pious +men in our day too? Surely the sun still shines as he shone thousands +of years ago; all is now the same as then; and the God of old is still +living." + +"Certainly, certainly; I am glad to see you so pious." + +"Ah! believe me, dear sir, I am not always so pious; and that I am so +disposed to-day is owing to you. We have no more confessionals now, but +I can confess to you: and you have taken a heavier load from my heart +than a wagon-load of wood. Oh! sir, I am not what I was. In my early +days I was a high-spirited, merry lad, and out in the field, and indoors +in the inn and the spinning-room, there was none who could sing +against me; but that is long past. What has a man on whose head the +grave-blossoms are growing," and he pointed to his gray head, "to do +with all that trash? And besides, the Seven Years' War has put a stop +to all our singing. But last night, in the midst of the fearful cold, I +sang a lay set expressly for me--all old tunes go to it: and it seemed +to me as though I saw a sign-post which pointed I know not whither--or, +nay, I do know whither." And now the peasant related how discontented +and unhappy in mind he had been, and how the words in the lay had all +at once raised his spirits and accompanied him upon the journey, like a +good fellow who talks to one cheerfully. + +At this part of the peasant's tale Gellert folded his hands in silence, +and the peasant concluded: "How I always envied others, I cannot now +think why; but you I do envy, sir: I should like to be as you." + +And Gellert answered: "I thank God, and rejoice greatly that my writings +have been of service to you. Think not so well of me. Would God I were +really the good man I appear in your eyes! I am far from being such as I +should, such as I would fain be. I write my books for my own improvement +also, to show myself as well as others what manner of men we should be." + +Laughing, the peasant replied: "You put me in mind of the story my poor +mother used to tell of the old minister; he stood up once in the pulpit +and said: 'My dear friends, I speak not only for you, but for myself +also; I, too, have need of it.'" + +Christopher laughed outrageously when he had finished, and Gellert +smiled, and said: "Yes, whoever in the darkness lighteth another with a +lamp, lighteth himself also; and the light is not part of ourselves,--it +is put into our hands by Him who hath appointed the suns their courses." + +The peasant stood speechless, and looked upon the ground: there was +something within him which took away the power of looking up; he was +only conscious that it ill became him to laugh so loudly just now, when +he told the story of the old minister. + +A longer pause ensued, and Gellert seemed to be lost in reflection upon +this reference to a minister's work, for he said half to himself: "Oh! +how would it fulfil my dearest wish to be a village-pastor! To move +about among my people, and really be one with them; the friend of their +souls my whole life long, never to lose them out of my sight! Yonder +goes one whom I have led into the right way; there another, with whom +I still wrestle, but whom I shall assuredly save; and in them all the +teaching lives which God proclaims by me. Did I not think that I should +be acting against my duty, I would this moment choose a country life for +the remnant of my days. When I look from my window over the country, I +have before me the broad sky, of which we citizens know but little, a +scene entirely new; there I stand and lose myself for half an hour in +gazing and in thinking. Yes, good friend, envy no man in the rank of +scholars. Look at me; I am almost always ill; and what a burden is a +sickly body! How strong, on the contrary, are you! I am never happier +than when, without being remarked, I can watch a dinner-table thronged +by hungry men and maids. Even if these folks be not generally so happy +as their superiors, at table they are certainly happier." + +"Yes, sir; we relish our eating and drinking. And, lately, when felling +and sorting that wood below, I was more than usually lively; it seems as +though I had a notion I was to do some good with it." + +"And must I permit you to make me a present?" asked Gellert, resting his +chin upon his left hand. + +The peasant answered: "It is not worth talking about." + +"Nay, it might be well worth talking about; but I accept your present. +It is pride not to be ready to accept a gift. Is not all we have a +gift from God? And what one man gives another, he gives, as is most +appropriately said, for God's sake. Were I your minister, I should be +pleased to accept a present from you. You see, good friend, we men have +no occasion to thank each other. You have given me nothing of yours, and +I have given you nothing of mine. That the trees grow in the forest is +none of your doing, it is the work of the Creator and Preserver of +the world; and the soil is not yours; and the sun and the rain are not +yours; they all are the works of His hand; and if, perchance, I have +some healthy thoughts rising up in my soul, which benefit my fellow-men, +it is none of mine, it is His doing. The word is not mine, and the +spirit is not mine; and I am but an instrument in His hand. Therefore +one man needs not to utter words of thanks to his fellow, if every one +would but acknowledge who it really is that gives." + +The peasant looked up in astonishment. Gellert remarked it, and said: +"Understand me aright. I thank you from my heart; you have done a kind +action. But that the trees grow is none of yours, and it is none of mine +that thoughts arise in me; every one simply tills his field, and tends +his woodland, and the honest, assiduous toil he gives thereto is his +virtue. That you felled, loaded, and brought the wood, and wish no +recompense for your labor, is very thank-worthy. My wood was more easily +felled; but those still nights which I and all of my calling pass in +heavy thought--who can tell what toil there is in them? There is in the +world an adjustment which no one sees, and which but seldom discovers +itself; and this and that shift thither and hither, and the scales of +the balance become even, and then ceases all distinction between 'mine' +and 'thine,' and in the still forest rings an axe for me, and in the +silent night my spirit thinks and my pen writes for you." + +The peasant passed both his hands over his temples, and his look was as +though he said to himself, "Where are you? Are you still in the world? +Is it a mortal man who speaks to you? Are you in Leipzig, in that +populous city where men jostle one another for gain and bare existence?" + +Below might be heard the creaking of the saw as the wood was being +sundered: and now the near horse neighs, and Christopher is in the world +again. "It may injure the horse to stand so long in the cold; and no +money for the wood! but perhaps a sick horse to take home into the +bargain; that would be too much," he thought. + +"Yes, yes, Mr. Professor," said he--he had his hat under his arm, and +was rubbing his hands--"yes, I am delighted with what I have done; and +I value the lesson, believe me, more than ten loads of wood: and never +shall I forget you to my dying day. And though I see you are not so poor +as I had imagined, still I don't regret it. Oh! no, certainly not at +all." + +"Eh! did you think me so very poor, then?" + +"Yes, miserably poor." + +"I have always been poor, but God has never suffered me to be a single +day without necessaries. I have in the world much happiness which I have +not deserved, and much unhappiness I have not, which perchance I have +deserved. I have found much favor with both high and low, for which +I cannot sufficiently thank God. And now tell me, cannot I give you +something, or obtain something for you? You are a local magistrate, I +presume?" + +"Why so?" + +"You look like it: you might be." + +Christopher had taken his hat into his hands, and was crumpling it +up now; he half closed his eyes, and with a sly, inquiring glance, +he peered at Gellert. Suddenly, however, the expression of his face +changed, and the muscles quivered, as he said: "Sir, what a man are you! +How you can dive into the recesses of one's heart! I have really pined +night and day, and been cross with the whole world, because I could not +be magistrate, and you, sir, you have actually helped to overcome that +in me. Oh! sir, as soon as I read that verse in your book, I had an +idea, and now I see still more plainly that you must be a man of God, +who can pluck the heart from one's bosom, and turn it round and round. +I had thought I could never have another moment's happiness, if my +neighbor, Hans Gottlieb, should be magistrate: and with that verse of +yours, it has been with me as when one calms the blood with a magic +spell." + +"Well, my good friend, I am rejoiced to hear it: believe me, every one +has in himself alone a whole host to govern. What can so strongly +urge men to wish to govern others? What can it profit you to be local +magistrate, when to accomplish your object you must perhaps do something +wrong? What were the fame, not only of a village, but even of the whole +world, if you could have no self-respect? Let it suffice for you to +perform your daily duties with uprightness; let your joys be centred in +your wife and children, and you will be happy. What need you more? Think +not that honor and station would make you happy. Rejoice, and again I +say, rejoice: 'A contented spirit is a continual feast.' I often whisper +this to myself, when I feel disposed to give way to dejection: and +although misery be not our fault, yet lack of endurance and of patience +in misery is undoubtedly our fault." + +"I would my wife were here too, that she also might hear this; I grudge +myself the hearing of it all alone; I cannot remember it all properly, +and yet I should like to tell it to her word for word. Who would have +thought that, by standing upon a load of wood, one could get a peep into +heaven!" + +Gellert in silence bowed his head; and afterwards he said: "Yes, rejoice +in your deed, as I do in your gift. Your wood is sacrificial-wood. In +olden time--and it was right in principle, because man could not yet +offer prayer and thanks in spirit--it was a custom and ordinance to +bring something from one's possessions, as a proof of devotion: this was +a sacrifice. And the more important the gift to be given, or the request +to be granted, the more costly was the sacrifice. Our God will have no +victims; but whatsoever you do unto one of the least of His, you do unto +Him. Such are our sacrifices. My dear friend, from my heart I thank +you; for you have done me a kindness, in that you have given me a real, +undeniable proof, that my words have penetrated your heart, and that I +do not live on for nothing: and treasure it up in your heart, that you +have caused real joy to one who is often, very often, weighed down with +heaviness and sorrow. You have not only kindled bright tapers upon my +Christmas-tree, but the tree itself burns, gives light, and warms: the +bush burns, and is not consumed, which is an image of the presence of +the Holy Spirit, and its admonition to trust in the Most High in this +wilderness of life, in mourning and in woe. Oh! my dear friend, I have +been nigh unto death. What a solemn, quaking stride is the stride +into eternity! What a difference between ideas of death in the days +of health, and on the brink of the grave! And how shall I show myself +worthy of longer life? By learning better to die. And, mark, when I sit +here in solitude pursuing my thoughts, keeping some and driving +away others, then I can think, that in distant valleys, upon distant +mountains, there are living men who carry my thoughts within their +hearts; and for them I live, and they are near and dear to me, till one +day we shall meet where there is no more parting, no more +separation. Peasant and scholar, let us abide as we are. Give me your +hand--farewell!" + +And once again, the soft and the hard hand were clasped together, and +Christopher really trembled as Gellert laid his hand upon his shoulder. +They shook hands, and therewith something touched the heart of each +more impressively, more completely, than ever words could touch it. +Christopher got downstairs without knowing how: below, he threw down +the extra logs of wood, which he had kept back, with a clatter from +the wagon, and then drove briskly from the city. Not till he arrived +at Lindenthal did he allow himself and his horses rest or food. He had +driven away empty: he had nothing on his wagon, nothing in his purse; +and yet who can tell what treasures he took home; and who can tell what +inextinguishable fire he left behind him yonder, by that lonely scholar! + +Gellert, who usually dined at his brother's, today had dinner brought +into his own room, remained quite alone, and did not go out again: he +had experienced quite enough excitement, and society he had in his own +thoughts. Oh! to find that there are open, susceptible hearts, is a +blessing to him that writes in solitude, and is as wondrous to him as +though he dipped his pen in streams of sunshine, and as if all he wrote +were Light. The raindrop which falls from the cloud cannot tell upon +what plant it drops: there is a quickening power in it, but for what? +And a thought which finds expression from a human heart; an action, +nay, a whole life is like the raindrop falling from the cloud: the whole +period of a life endures no longer than the raindrop needs for falling. +And as for knowing where your life is continued, how your work proceeds, +you cannot attain to that. + +And in the night all was still around: nothing was astir; the whole +earth was simple rest, as Gellert sat in his room by his lonely lamp; +his hand lay upon an open book, and his eyes were fixed upon the empty +air; and on a sudden came once more upon him that melancholy gloom, +which so easily resumes its place after more than usual excitement. + +It is as though the soul, suddenly elevated above all, must still +remember the heaviness it but now experienced, though that expresses +itself as tears of joy in the eye. + +In Gellert, however, this melancholy had a more peculiar phase: a sort +of timidity had rooted itself in him, connected with his weak chest, +and that secret gnawing pain in his head; it was a fearfulness which +his manner of life only tended to increase. Surrounded though he was +by nothing but love and admiration in the world, he could not divest +himself of the fear that all which is most horrible and terrible would +burst suddenly upon him: and so he gazed fixedly before him. He passed +his hand over his face, and with an effort concentrated his looks and +thoughts upon surrounding objects, saying to himself almost aloud: +"How comforting is light! Were there no light from without to illumine +objects for us, we should perish in gloom, in the shadows of night. And +light is a gentle friend that watches by us, and, when we are sunk in +sorrow, points out to us that the world is still here, that it calls, +and beckons us, and requires of us duty and cheerfulness. 'You must not +be lost in self,' it says, 'see! the world is still here:' and a friend +beside us is as a light which illumines surrounding objects; we cannot +forget them, we must see them and mingle with them. How hard is life, +and how little I accomplish! I would fain awaken the whole world to +goodness and to love; but my voice is weak, my strength is insufficient: +how insignificant is all I do!" + +And now he rose up and strode across the room; and he stood at the +hearth where the fire was burning, made of wood given to him that very +day, and his thoughts reverted to the man who had given it. Why had he +not asked his name, and where he came from? Perchance he might have been +able in thought to follow him all the way, as he drove home; and now... +but yet 'tis more, 'tis better as it is: it is not an individual, it +is not So-and-so, who has shown his gratitude, but all the world by +the mouth of one. "The kindnesses I receive," he thought, "are +indeed trials; but yet I ought to accept them with thanks. I will try +henceforth to be a benefactor to others as others are to me, without +display, and with grateful thanks to God, our highest Benefactor: this +will I do, and search no further for the why and for the wherefore." And +once more a voice spoke within him, and he stood erect, and raised his +arms on high. "Who knows," he thought, "whether at this moment I have +not been in this or that place, to this or that man, a brother, a +friend, a comforter, a saviour; and from house to house, may be, my +spirit travels, awakening, enlivening, refreshing--yonder in the attic, +where burns a solitary light; and afar in some village a mother is +sitting by her child, and hearing him repeat the thoughts I have +arranged in verse; and peradventure some solitary old man, who is +waiting for death, is now sitting by his fireside, and his lips are +uttering my words." + +"And yonder in the church, the choir is chanting a hymn of yours; could +you have written this hymn without its vigor in your heart? Oh! no, it +_must_ be there." And with trembling he thought: "There is nothing so +small as to have no place in the government of God! Should you not then +believe that He suffered this day's incident to happen for your joy? Oh! +were it so, what happiness were yours! A heart renewed."... He moved to +the window, looked up to heaven, and prayed inwardly: "My soul is +with my brothers and my sisters: nay, it is with Thee, my God, and in +humility I acknowledge how richly Thou hast blessed me. And if, in the +kingdom of the world to come, a soul should cry to me: 'Thou didst +guide and cheer me on to happiness eternal!' all hail! my friend, my +benefactor, my glory in the presence of God.... In these thoughts let me +die, and pardon me my weakness and my sins!" + +"And the evening and morning were the first day." + +At early morning, Gellert was sitting at his table, and reading +according to his invariable custom, first of all in the Bible. He never +left the Bible open--he always shut it with a peaceful, devotional +air, after he had read therein: there was something grateful as well as +reverential in his manner of closing the volume; the holy words should +not lie uncovered. + +To-day, however, the Bible was lying open when he rose. His eye fell +upon the history of the creation, and at the words, "And the evening +and the morning were the first day," he leaned back his head against +the arm-chair, and kept his hand upon the book, as though he would grasp +with his hand also the lofty thought, how night and day were divided. + +For a long while he sat thus, and he was wondrously bright in spirit, +and a soft reminiscence dawned upon him; of a bright day in childhood, +when he had been so happy, and in Haynichen, his native place, had gone +out with his father for a walk. An inward warmth roused his heart to +quicker pulsation; and suddenly he started and looked about him: he had +been humming a tune. + +Up from the street came the busy sound of day: at other times how +insufferable he had found it! and now how joyous it seemed that men +should bestir themselves, and turn to all sorts of occupations! There +was a sound of crumbling snow: and how nice to have a house and a blaze +upon the hearth! "And the evening and the morning were the first day!" +And man getteth himself a light in the darkness: but how long, O man! +could you make it endure? What could you do with your artificial light, +if God did not cause His sun to shine? Without it grows no grass, no +corn. On the hand lying upon the book there fell a bright sunbeam. How +soon, at other times, would Gellert have drawn the defensive curtain! +Now he watches the little motes that play about in the sunbeam. + +The servant brought coffee, and the amanuensis, Goedike, asked if there +were anything to do. Generally, Gellert scarce lifted his head from his +books, hastily acknowledging the attention and reading on in silence; +to-day, he motioned to Goedike to stay, and said to Sauer, "Another +cup: Mr. Goedike will take coffee with me. God has given me a day of +rejoicing." Sauer brought the cup, and Gellert said: "Yes, God has given +me a day of rejoicing, and what I am most thankful for is, that He has +granted me strength to thank Him with all my heart: not so entirely, +however, as I should like." + +"Thank God, Mr. Professor, that you are once more in health, and +cheerful: and permit me, Mr. Professor, to tell you that I was myself +also ill a short time ago, and I then learned a lesson which I shall +never forget. Who is most grateful? The convalescent. He learns to love +God and His beautiful world anew; he is grateful for everything, and +delighted with everything. What a flavor has his first cup of coffee! +How he enjoys his first walk outside the house, outside the gate! The +houses, the trees, all give us greeting: all is again in us full of +health and joy!" So said Goedike, and Gellert rejoined: + +"You are a good creature, and have just spoken good words. Certainly, +the convalescent is the most grateful. We are, however, for the most +part, sick in spirit, and have not strength to recover: and a sickly, +stricken spirit is the heaviest pain." + +Long time the two sat quietly together: it struck eight. Gellert started +up, and cried irritably: "There, now, you have allowed me to forget that +I must be on my way to the University." + +"The vacation has begun: Mr. Professor has no lecture to-day." + +"No lecture to-day? Ah! and I believe today is just the time when I +could have told my young friends something that would have benefited +them for their whole lives." + +There was a shuffling of many feet outside the door: the door opened, +and several boys from St. Thomas' School-choir advanced and sang to +Gellert some of his own hymns; and as they chanted the verse-- + + "And haply there--oh! grant it, Heaven! + Some blessed saint will greet me too; + 'All hail! all hail! to you was given + To save my life and soul, to you!' + O God! my God! what joy to be + The winner of a soul to thee!" + +Gellert wept aloud, folded his hands, and raised his eyes to heaven. + +A happier Christmas than that of 1768 had Gellert never seen; and it was +his last. Scarcely a year after, on the 13th of December, 1769, Gellert +died a pious, tranquil death, such as he had ever coveted. + +As the long train which followed his bier moved to the churchyard of St. +John's, Leipzig, a peasant with his wife and children in holiday clothes +entered among the last. It was Christopher with his family. The whole +way he had been silent: and whilst his wife wept passionately at the +pastor's touching address, it was only by the working of his features +that Christopher showed how deeply moved he was. + +But on the way home he said: "I am glad I did him a kindness in his +lifetime; it would now be too late." + +The summer after, when he built a new house, he had this verse placed +upon it as an inscription: + + "Accept God's gifts with resignation, + Content to lack what thou hast not: + In every lot there's consolation; + There's trouble, too, in every lot." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Christian Gellert's Last Christmas, by +Berthold Auerbach + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS *** + +***** This file should be named 22665.txt or 22665.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/6/6/22665/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Christian Gellert's Last Christmas + From "German Tales" Published by the American Publishers' Corporation + +Author: Berthold Auerbach + +Release Date: September 18, 2007 [EBook #22665] +Last Updated: March 14, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Berthold Auerbach + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + From “German Tales.” Published by the American Publishers' Corporation. + <br /> <br /> 1869 + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /><br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + Three o'clock had just struck from the tower of St. Nicholas, Leipzig, on + the afternoon of December 22d, 1768, when a man, wrapped in a loose + overcoat, came out of the door of the University. His countenance was + exceedingly gentle, and on his features cheerfulness still lingered, for + he had been gazing upon a hundred cheerful faces; after him thronged a + troop of students, who, holding back, allowed him to precede them: the + passengers in the streets saluted him, and some, students, who pressed + forwards and hurried past him homewards, saluted him quite reverentially. + He returned their salutations with a surprised and almost deprecatory air, + and yet he knew, and could not conceal from himself, that he was one of + the best beloved, not only in the good city of Leipzig, but in all lands + far and wide. + </p> + <p> + It was Christian Furchtegott Gellert, the Poet of Fables, Hymns, and Lays, + who was just leaving his college. + </p> + <p> + When we read his “Lectures upon Morals,” which were not printed until + after his death, we obtain but a very incomplete idea of the great power + with which they came immediately from Gellert's mouth. Indeed, it was his + voice, and the touching manner in which he delivered his lectures, that + made so deep an impression upon his hearers; and Rabener was right when + once he wrote to a friend, that “the philanthropic voice” of Gellert + belonged to his words. + </p> + <p> + Above all, however, it was the amiable and pure personal character of + Gellert which vividly and edifyingly impressed young hearts. Gellert was + himself the best example of pure moral teaching; and the best which a + teacher can give his pupils is faith in the victorious might, and the + stability of the eternal moral laws. His lessons were for the Life, for + his life in itself was a lesson. Many a victory over the troubles of life, + over temptations of every kind, ay, many an elevation to nobility of + thought, and to purity of action, had its origin in that lecture-hall, at + the feet of Gellert. + </p> + <p> + It was as though Gellert felt that it was the last time he would deliver + these lectures; that those words so often and so impressively uttered + would be heard no more from his mouth; and there was a peculiar sadness, + yet a peculiar strength, in all he said that day. + </p> + <p> + He had this day earnestly recommended modesty and humility; and it + appeared almost offensive to him, that people as he went should tempt him + in regard to these very virtues; for continually he heard men whisper, + “That is Gellert!” + </p> + <p> + What is fame, and what is honor? A cloak of many colors, without warmth, + without protection: and now, as he walked along, his heart literally froze + in his bosom, as he confessed to himself that he had as yet done nothing—nothing + which could give him a feeling of real satisfaction. Men honored him and + loved him: but what was all that worth? His innermost heart could not be + satisfied with that; in his own estimation he deserved no meed of praise; + and where, where was there any evidence of that higher and purer life + which he would fain bring about! Then, again, the Spirit would comfort him + and say: “Much seed is lost, much falls in stony places, and much on good + ground and brings forth sevenfold.” + </p> + <p> + His inmost soul heard not the consolation, for his body was weak and sore + burdened from his youth up, and in his latter days yet more than ever; and + there are conditions of the body in which the most elevating words, and + the cheeriest notes of joy, strike dull and heavy on the soul. It is one + of the bitterest experiences of life to discover how little one man can + really be to another. How joyous is that youthful freshness which can + believe that, by a thought transferred to another's heart, we can induce + him to become another being, to live according to what he must acknowledge + true, to throw aside his previous delusions, and return to the right path! + </p> + <p> + “The youngsters go their way! Do your words follow after? Whither are they + going? What are now their thoughts? What manner of life will be theirs? My + heart yearns after them, but cannot be with them: oh, how happy were those + messengers of the Spirit, who cried aloud to youth or manhood the words of + the Spirit, that they must leave their former ways, and thenceforth change + to other beings! Pardon me, O God! that I would fain be like them; I am + weak and vile, and yet, methinks, there must be words as yet unheard, + unknown—oh! where are they, those words which at once lay hold upon + the soul?” + </p> + <p> + With such heavy thoughts went Gellert away from his college-gate to + Rosenthal. There was but one small pathway cleared, but the passers + cheerfully made way for him, and walked in the snow that they might leave + him the pathway unimpeded; but he felt sad, and “as if each tree had + somewhat to cast at him.” Like all men really pure, and cleaving to the + good with all their might, Gellert was not only far from contenting + himself with work already done: he also, in his anxiety to be doing, + almost forgot that he had ever done anything, and thus he was, in the best + sense of the word, modest; he began with each fresh day his course of + action afresh, as if he now for the first time had anything to accomplish. + And yet he might have been happy, in the reflection how brightly beamed + his teaching for ever, though his own life was often clouded. For as the + sun which glows on summer days still lives as concentrated warmth in wine, + and somewhere on some winter night warms up a human heart, so is the + sunshine in that man's life whose vocation it is to impart to others the + conceptions of his own mind. Nay, there is here far more; for the + refreshing draught here offered is not diminished, though thousands drink + thereof. + </p> + <p> + Twilight had set in when Gellert returned home to his dwelling, which had + for its sign a “Schwarz Brett” or “black board.” His old servant, Sauer by + name, took off his overcoat; and his amanuensis, Gödike, asked whether the + Professor had any commands; being answered in the negative, Gödike + retired, and Sauer lighted the lamp upon the study-table. “Some letters + have arrived,” said he, as he pointed to several upon the table: Gellert + inclined his head, and Sauer retired also. Outside, however, he stood + awhile with Gödike, and both spoke sorrowfully of the fact that the + Professor was evidently again suffering severely. “There is a melancholy,” + said Gödike, “and it is the most usual, in which the inward depression + easily changes to displeasure against every one, and the household of the + melancholic suffers thereby intolerably; for the displeasure turns against + them,—no one does anything properly, nothing is in its place. How + very different is Gellert's melancholy! Not a soul suffers from it but + himself, against himself alone his gloomy thoughts turn, and towards every + other creature he is always kind, amiable, and obliging: he bites his + lips; but when he speaks to any one, he is wholly good, forbearing, and + self-forgetful.” + </p> + <p> + Whilst they were talking together, Gellert was sitting in his room, and + had lighted a pipe to dispel the agitation which he would experience in + opening his letters; and while smoking, he could read them much more + comfortably. He reproached himself for smoking, which was said to be + injurious to his health, but he could not quite give up the “horrible + practice,” as he called it. + </p> + <p> + He first examined the addresses and seals of the letters which had + arrived, then quietly opened and read them. A fitful smile passed over his + features; there were letters from well-known friends, full of love and + admiration, but from strangers also, who, in all kinds of heart-distress, + took counsel of him. He read the letters full of friendly applause, first + hastily, that he might have the right of reading them again, and that he + might not know all at once; and when he had read a friend's letter for the + second time, he sprang from his seat and cried, “Thank God! thank God! + that I am so fortunate as to have such friends!” To his inwardly diffident + nature these helps were a real requirement; they served to cheer him, and + only those who did not know him called his joy at the reception of praise—conceit; + it was, on the contrary, the truest modesty. How often did he sit there, + and all that he had taught and written, all that he had ever been to men + in word and deed, faded, vanished, and died away, and he appeared to + himself but a useless servant of the world. His friends he answered + immediately; and as his inward melancholy vanished, and the philanthropy, + nay, the sprightliness of his soul beamed forth, when he was among men and + looked in a living face, so was it also with his letters. When he + bethought him of the friends to whom he was writing, he not only acquired + tranquillity, that virtue for which his whole life long he strove; but his + loving nature received new life, and only by slight intimations did he + betray the heaviness and dejection which weighed upon his soul. He was, in + the full sense of the word, “philanthropic,” in the sight of good men; and + in thoughts for their welfare, there was for him a real happiness and a + joyous animation. + </p> + <p> + When, however, he had done writing and felt lonely again, the gloomy + spirits came back: he had seated himself, wishing to raise his thoughts + for composing a sacred song; but he was ill at ease, and had no power to + express that inward, firm, and self-rejoicing might of faith which lived + in him. Again and again the scoffers and freethinkers rose up before his + thoughts: he must refute their objections, and not until that was done did + he become himself. + </p> + <p> + It is a hard position, when a creative spirit cannot forget the + adversaries which on all sides oppose him in the world: they come + unsummoned to the room and will not be expelled; they peer over the + shoulder, and tug at the hand which fain would write; they turn images + upside down, and distort the thoughts; and here and there, from ceiling + and wall, they grin, and scoff, and oppose: and what was just gushing as + an aspiration from the soul, is converted to a confused absurdity. + </p> + <p> + At such a time, the spirit, courageous and self-dependent, must take + refuge in itself and show a firm front to a world of foes. + </p> + <p> + A strong nature boldly hurls his inkstand at the Devil's head; goes to + battle with his opponents with words both written and spoken; and keeps + his own individuality free from the perplexities with which opponents + disturb all that has been previously done, and make the soul unsteadfast + and unnerved for what is to come. + </p> + <p> + Gellert's was no battling, defiant nature, which relies upon itself; he + did not hurl his opponents down and go his way; he would convince them, + and so they were always ready to encounter him. And as the applause of his + friends rejoiced him, so the opposition of his enemies could sink him in + deep dejection. Besides, he had always been weakly; he had, as he himself + complained, in addition to frequent coughs and a pain in his loins, a + continual gnawing and pressure in the centre of his chest, which + accompanied him from his first rising in the morning until he slept at + night. + </p> + <p> + Thus he sat for a while, in deep dejection: and, as often before, his only + wish was, that God would give him grace whereby when his hour was come, he + might die piously and tranquilly. + </p> + <p> + It was past midnight when he sought his bed and extinguished his light. + </p> + <p> + And the buckets at the well go up and go down. + </p> + <p> + About the same hour, in Duben Forest, the rustic Christopher was rising + from his bed. As with steel and flint he scattered sparks upon the tinder, + in kindling himself a light, his wife, awaking, cried: + </p> + <p> + “Why that heavy sigh?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! life is a burden: I 'm the most harassed mortal in the world. The + pettiest office-clerk may now be abed in peace, and need n't break off his + sleep, while I must go out and brave wind and weather.” + </p> + <p> + “Be content,” replied his wife: “why, I dreamt you had actually been made + magistrate, and wore something on your head like a king's crown.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! you women; as though what you see is n't enough, you like to chatter + about what you dream.” + </p> + <p> + “Light the lamp, too,” said his wife, “and I 'll get up and make you a + nice porridge.” + </p> + <p> + The peasant, putting a candle in his lantern, went to the stable; and + after he had given some fodder to the horses, he seated himself upon the + manger. With his hands squeezed between his knees and his head bent down, + he reflected over and over again what a wretched existence he had of it. + “Why,” thought he, “are so many men so well-off, so comfortable, whilst + you must be always toiling? What care I if envy be not a virtue?—and + yet I 'm not envious, I don't grudge others being well-off, only I should + like to be well-off too; oh, for a quiet, easy life! Am I not worse off + than a horse? He gets his fodder at the proper time, and takes no care + about it. Why did my father make my brother a minister? He gets his salary + without any trouble, sits in a warm room, has no care in the world; and I + must slave and torment myself.” + </p> + <p> + Strange to say, his very next thought, that he would like to be made local + magistrate, he would in no wise confess to himself. + </p> + <p> + He sat still a long while; then he went back again to the sitting-room, + past the kitchen, where the fire was burning cheerily. He seated himself + at the table and waited for his morning porridge. On the table lay an open + book; his children had been reading it the previous evening: involuntarily + taking it up, he began to read. Suddenly he started, rubbed his eyes, and + then read again. How comes this verse here just at this moment? He kept + his hand upon the book, and so easily had he caught the words, that he + repeated them to himself softly with his lips, and nodded several times, + as much as to say: “That's true!” And he said aloud: “It's all there + together: short and sweet!” and he was still staring at it, when his wife + brought in the smoking porridge. Taking off his cap, he folded his hands + and said aloud: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Accept God's gifts with resignation, + Content to lack what thou hast not: + In every lot there 's consolation; + There 's trouble, too, in every lot!” + </pre> + <p> + The wife looked at her husband with amazement. What a strange expression + was upon his face! And as he sat down and began to eat, she said: “What is + the meaning of that grace? What has come to you? Where did you find it?” + </p> + <p> + “It is the best of all graces, the very best,—real God's word. Yes, + and all your life you 've never made such nice porridge before. You must + have put something special in it!” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know what you mean. Stop! There 's the book lying there—ah! + that's it—and it's by Gellert, of Leipzig.” + </p> + <p> + “What! Gellert, of Leipzig! Men with ideas like that don't live now; there + may have been such, a thousand years ago, in holy lands, not among us; + those are the words of a saint of old.” + </p> + <p> + “And I tell you they are by Gellert, of Leipzig, of whom your brother has + told us; in fact, he was his tutor, and have n't you heard how pious and + good he is?” + </p> + <p> + “I would n't have believed that such men still lived, and so near us, too, + as Leipzig.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, but those who lived a thousand years ago were also once living + creatures: and over Leipzig is just the same heaven, and the same sun + shines, and the same God rules, as over all other cities.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! yes, my brother has an apt pupil in you!” + </p> + <p> + “Well, and why not? I 've treasured up all he told us of Professor + Gellert.” + </p> + <p> + “Professor!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Professor!” + </p> + <p> + “A man with such a proud, new-fangled title could n't write anything like + that!” + </p> + <p> + “He did n't give himself the title, and he is poor enough withal! and how + hard it has fared with him! Even from childhood he has been well + acquainted with poverty: his father was a poor minister in Haynichen, with + thirteen children; and Gellert, when quite a little fellow, was obliged to + be a copying office-clerk: who can tell whether he did n't then contract + that physical weakness of his? And now that he 's an old man, things will + never go better with him; he has often no wood, and must be pinched with + cold. It is with him, perhaps, as with that student of whom your brother + has told us, who is as poor as a rat, and yet must read; and so in winter + he lies in bed with an empty stomach, until day is far advanced; and he + has his book before him, and first he takes out one hand to hold his book, + and then, when that is numb with cold, the other. Ah! tongue cannot tell + how poorly the man must live; and yet your brother has told me, if he has + but a few pounds, he does n't think at all of himself; he always looks out + for one still poorer than he is, and then gives all away: and he 's always + engaged in aiding and assisting others. Oh! dear, and yet he is so poor! + May be at this moment he is hungry and cold; and he is said to be in + ill-health, besides.” + </p> + <p> + “Wife, I would willingly do the man a good turn if I could. If, now, he + had some land, I would plough, and sow, and reap, and carry, and thresh by + the week together for him. I should like to pay him attention in such a + way that he might know there was at least one who cared for him. But his + profession is one in which I can't be of any use to him.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, just seek him out and speak with him once; you are going to-day, + you know, with your wood to Leipzig. Seek him out and thank him; that sort + of thing does such a man's heart good. Anybody can see him.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes; I should like much to see him, and hold out to him my hand,—but + not empty: I wish I had something!” + </p> + <p> + “Speak to your brother, and get him to give you a note to him.” + </p> + <p> + “No, no; say nothing to my brother; but it might be possible for me to + meet him in the street. Give me my Sunday coat; it will come to no harm + under my cloak.” + </p> + <p> + When his wife brought him the coat, she said: “If, now, Gellert had a + wife, or a household of his own, one might send him something; but your + brother says he is a bachelor, and lives quite alone.” + </p> + <p> + Christopher had never before so cheerfully harnessed his horses and put + them to his wood-laden wagon; for a long while he had not given his hand + so gayly to his wife at parting as to-day. Now he started with his + heavily-laden vehicle through the village; the wheels creaked and crackled + in the snow. At the parsonage he stopped, and looked away yonder where his + brother was still sleeping; he thought he would wake him and tell him his + intention: but suddenly he whipped up his horses, and continued his route. + He would n't yet bind himself to his intention—perchance it was but + a passing thought; he does n't own that to himself, but he says to himself + that he will surprise his brother with the news of what he has done; and + then his thoughts wandered away to the good man still sleeping yonder in + the city; and he hummed the verse to himself in an old familiar tune. + </p> + <p> + Wonderfully in life do effects manifest them-selves, of which we have no + trace. Gellert, too, heard in his dreams a singing; he knew not what it + was, but it rang so consolingly, so joyously!... Christopher drove on, and + he felt as though a bandage had been taken from his eyes; he reflected + what a nice house, what a bonny wife and rosy children he had, and how + warm the cloak which he had thrown over him was, and how well off were + both man and beast; and through the still night he drove along, and beside + him sat a spirit; but not an illusion of the brain, such as in olden time + men conjured up to their terror, a good spirit sat beside him—beside + the woodman who his whole life long had never believed that anything could + have power over him but what had hands and feet. + </p> + <p> + It is said that, on troublous nights, evil spirits settle upon the necks + of men, and belabor them so that they gasp and sweat for very terror; + quite another sort it was to-day which sat by the woodman: and his heart + was warm, and its beating quick. + </p> + <p> + In ancient times, men also carried loads of wood through the night, that + heretics might be burned thereon: these men thought they were doing a good + deed in helping to execute justice; and who can say how painful it was to + their hearts, when they were forced to think: To morrow, on this wood + which now you carry, will shriek, and crackle, and gasp, a human being + like yourself? Who can tell what black spirits settled on the necks of + those who bore the wood to make the funeral-pile? How very different was + it to-day with our woodman Christopher! + </p> + <p> + And earlier still, in ancient times, men brought wood to the temple, + whereon they offered victims in the honor of God; and, according to their + notions, they did a good deed: for when words can no longer suffice to + express the fervency of the heart, it gladly offers what it prizes, what + it dearly loves, as a proof of its devotion, of the earnestness of its + intent. + </p> + <p> + How differently went Christopher from the Duben Forest upon his way! He + knew not whether he were intending to bring a purer offering than men had + brought in bygone ages; but his heart grew warm within him. + </p> + <p> + It was day as he arrived before the gates of Leipzig. Here there met him a + funeral-procession; behind the bier the scholars of St. Thomas, in long + black cloaks, were chanting. Christopher stopped and raised his hat. Whom + were they burying? Supposing it were Gellert. Yes, surely, he thought, it + is he: and how gladly, said he to himself, would you now have done him a + kindness,—ay, even given him your wood! Yes, indeed you would, and + now he is dead, and you cannot give him any help! + </p> + <p> + As soon as the train had passed, Christopher asked who was being buried. + It was a simple burgher, it was not Gellert; and in the deep breath which + Christopher drew lay a double signification: on the one hand, was joy that + Gellert was not dead; on the other, a still small voice whispered to him + that he had now really promised to give him the wood: ah! but whom had he + promised?—himself: and it is easy to argue with one's own + conscience. + </p> + <p> + Superstition babbles of conjuring-spells, by which, without the + co-operation of the patient, the evil spirit can be summarily ejected. It + would be convenient if one had that power, but, in truth, it is not so: it + is long ere the evil desire and the evil habit are removed from the soul + into which they have nestled; and the will, for a long while in bondage, + must co-operate, if a releasing spell from without is to set the prisoner + free. + </p> + <p> + One can only be guided, but himself must move his feet. + </p> + <p> + As Christopher now looked about him, he found that he had stopped close by + an inn; he drove his load a little aside, went into the parlor, and drank + a glass of warmed beer. There was already a goodly company, and not far + from Christopher sat a husbandman with his son, a student here, who was + telling him how there had been lately quite a stir. Professor Gellert had + been ill, and riding a well-trained horse had been recommended for his + health. Now Prince Henry of Prussia, during the Seven Years' War, at the + occupation of Leipzig, had sent him a piebald, that had died a short time + ago; and the Elector, hearing of it, had sent Gellert from Dresden another—a + chestnut—with golden bridle, blue velvet saddle, and + gold-embroidered housings. Half the city had assembled when the groom, a + man with iron-gray hair, brought the horse; and for several days it was to + be seen at the stable; but Gellert dared not mount it, it was so young and + high-spirited. The rustic now asked his son whether the Professor did not + make money enough to procure a horse of his own, to which the son + answered: “Certainly not. His salary is but one hundred and twenty-five + dollars, and his further gains are inconsiderable. His Lectures on Morals + he gives publicly, i. e., gratis, and he has hundreds of hearers; and, + therefore, at his own lectures, which must be paid for, he has so many the + fewer. To be sure, he has now and then presents from grand patrons; but no + one gives him, once and for all, enough to live upon, and to have all over + with a single acknowledgment.” + </p> + <p> + Our friend Christopher started as he heard this; he had quite made up his + mind to take Gellert the wood: but he had yet to do it. How easy were + virtue, if will and deed were the same thing! if performance could + immediately succeed to the moment of burning enthusiasm! But one must make + way over obstacles; over those that outwardly lie in one's path, and over + those that are hidden deep in the heart; and negligence has a thousand + very cunning advocates. + </p> + <p> + How many go forth, prompted by good intentions, but let little hindrances + turn them from their way—entirely from their way of life! In front + of the house Christopher met other woodmen whom he knew, and— “You + are stirring betimes!” “Prices are good to-day!” “But little comes to the + market now!” was the cry from all sides. Christopher wanted to say that + all that did n't concern him, but he was ashamed to confess what his + design was, and an inward voice told him he must not lie. Without + answering he joined the rest, and wended his way to the market; and on the + road he thought: “There are Peter, and Godfrey, and John, who have seven + times your means, and not one of them, I'm sure, would think of doing + anything of this kind; why will you be the kind-hearted fool? Stay! what + matters it what others do or leave undone? Every man shall answer for + himself. Yes, but go to market—it is better it should be so; yes, + certainly, much better: sell your wood—who knows? perhaps he does + n't want it—and take him the proceeds, or at least the greater + portion. But is the wood still yours? You have, properly speaking, already + given it away; it has only not been taken from your keeping....” + </p> + <p> + There are people who cannot give; they can only let a thing be taken + either by the hand of chance, or by urgency and entreaty. Christopher had + such fast hold of possession, that it was only after sore wrestling that + he let go; and yet his heart was kind, at least to-day it was so disposed, + but the tempter whispered: “It is not easy to find so good-natured a + fellow as you. How readily would you have given, had the man been in want, + and your good intention must go for the deed.” Still, on the other hand, + there was something in him which made opposition,—an echo from those + hours, when, in the still night, he was driving hither,—and it + burned in him like sacred fire, and it said, “You must now accomplish what + you intended. Certainly no one knows of it, and you are responsible to no + one; but you know of it yourself, and One above you knows, and how shall + you be justified?” And he said to himself, “I 'll stand by this: look, it + is just nine; if no one ask the price of your wood until ten o'clock, + until the stroke of ten,—until it has done striking, I mean; if no + one ask, then the wood belongs to Professor Gellert: but if a buyer come, + then it is a sign that you need not—should not give it away. There, + that's all settled. But how? what means this? Can you make your good deed + dependent on such a chance as this? No, no; I don't mean it. But yet—yet—only + for a joke, I 'll try it.” + </p> + <p> + Temptation kept him turning as it were in a circle, and still he stood + with an apparently quiet heart by his wagon in the market. The people who + heard him muttering in this way to himself looked at him with wonder, and + passed by him to another wagon, as though he had not been there. It struck + nine. Can you wait patiently another hour? Christopher lighted his pipe, + and looked calmly on, while this and that load was driven off. It struck + the quarter, half-hour, three-quarters. Christopher now put his pipe in + his pocket; it had long been cold, and his hands were almost frozen; all + his blood had rushed to his heart. Now it struck the full hour, stroke + after stroke. At first he counted; then he fancied he had lost a stroke + and miscalculated. Either voluntarily or involuntarily, he said to + himself, when it had finished striking, “You 're wrong; it is nine, not + ten.” He turned round that he might not see the dial, and thus he stood + for some time, with his hands upon the wagon-rack, gazing at the wood. He + knew not how long he had been thus standing, when some one tapped him on + the shoulder, and said, “How much for the load of wood?” + </p> + <p> + Christopher turned round: there was an odd look of irresolution in his + eyes as he said: “Eh? eh? what time is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Half-past ten.” + </p> + <p> + “Then the wood is now no longer mine—at least to sell:” and, + collecting himself, he became suddenly warm, and with firm hand turned his + horses round, and begged the woodmen who accompanied him to point him out + the way to the house with the “Schwarz Brett,” Dr. Junius's. There he + delivered a full load: at each log he took out of the wagon he smiled + oddly. The wood-measurer measured the wood carefully, turning each log and + placing it exactly, that there might not be a crevice anywhere. + </p> + <p> + “Why are you so over-particular to-day, pray?” asked Christopher, and he + received for answer: + </p> + <p> + “Professor Gellert must have a fair load; every shaving kept back from him + were a sin.” + </p> + <p> + Christopher laughed aloud, and the wood-measurer looked at him with + amazement; for such particularity generally provoked a quarrel. + </p> + <p> + Christopher had still some logs over; these he kept by him on the wagon. + At this moment the servant Sauer came up, and asked to whom the wood + belonged. + </p> + <p> + “To Professor Gellert,” answered Christopher. + </p> + <p> + “The man's mad! it isn't true. Professor Gellert has not bought any wood; + it is my business to look after that.” + </p> + <p> + “He has not bought it, and yet it is his!” cried Christopher. + </p> + <p> + Sauer was on the point of giving the mad peasant a hearty scolding, + raising his voice so much the louder, as it was striking eleven by St. + Nicholas. At this moment, however, he became suddenly mute; for yonder + from the University there came, with tired gait, a man of a noble + countenance: at every step he made, on this side and on that, off came the + hats and the caps of the passers-by, and Sauer simply called out, “There + comes the Professor himself.” + </p> + <p> + What a peculiar expression passed over Christopher's face! He looked at + the new-comer, and so earnest was his gaze, that Gellert, who always + walked with his head bowed, suddenly looked up. Christopher said: “Mr. + Gellert, I am glad to see you still alive.” + </p> + <p> + “I thank you,” said Gellert, and made as though he would pass on; but + Christopher stepped up closer to him, and, stretching out his hand to him, + said: “I have taken the liberty—I should like—will you give me + your hand, Mr. Gellert?” + </p> + <p> + Gellert drew his long thin hand out of his muff and placed it in the hard + oaken-like hand of the peasant; and at this moment, when the peasant's + hand lay in the scholars palm, as one felt the other's pressure in actual + living grasp, there took place, though the mortal actors in the scene were + all unconscious of it, a renewal of that healthy life which alone can make + a people one. + </p> + <p> + How long had the learned world, wrapped up in itself, separated from the + fellow-men around, thought in Latin, felt as foreigners, and lived buried + in contemplation of bygone worlds! From the time of Gellert commences the + ever-increasing unity of good-fellowship throughout all classes of life, + kept up by mutual giving and receiving. As the scholar—as the + solitary poet endeavors to work upon others by lays that quicken and songs + that incite, so he in his turn is a debtor to his age, and the lonely + thinking and writing become the property of all; but the effects are not + seen in a moment; for higher than the most highly gifted spirit of any + single man is the spirit of a nation. With the pressure which Gellert and + the peasant exchanged commenced a mighty change in universal life, which + never more can cease to act. + </p> + <p> + “Permit me to enter your room?” said Christopher, and Gellert nodded + assent. He was so courteous that he motioned to the peasant to enter + first; however, Sauer went close after him: he thought it must be a + madman; he must protect his master; the man looked just as if he were + drunk. Gellert, with his amanuensis, Gödike, followed them. + </p> + <p> + Gellert, however, felt that the man must be actuated by pure motives: he + bade the others retire, and took Christopher alone into his study; and, as + he clasped his left with his own right hand, he asked: “Well, my good + friend, what is your business?” + </p> + <p> + “Eh? oh! nothing—I 've only brought you a load of wood there—a + fair, full load; however, I 'll give you the few logs which I have in my + wagon, as well.” + </p> + <p> + “My good man, my servant Sauer looks after buying my wood.” + </p> + <p> + “It is no question of buying. No, my dear sir, I give it to you.” + </p> + <p> + “Give it to me? Why me particularly?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! sir, you do not know at all what good you do, what good you have done + me; and my wife was right; why should there not be really pious men in our + day too? Surely the sun still shines as he shone thousands of years ago; + all is now the same as then; and the God of old is still living.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, certainly; I am glad to see you so pious.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! believe me, dear sir, I am not always so pious; and that I am so + disposed to-day is owing to you. We have no more confessionals now, but I + can confess to you: and you have taken a heavier load from my heart than a + wagon-load of wood. Oh! sir, I am not what I was. In my early days I was a + high-spirited, merry lad, and out in the field, and indoors in the inn and + the spinning-room, there was none who could sing against me; but that is + long past. What has a man on whose head the grave-blossoms are growing,” + and he pointed to his gray head, “to do with all that trash? And besides, + the Seven Years' War has put a stop to all our singing. But last night, in + the midst of the fearful cold, I sang a lay set expressly for me—all + old tunes go to it: and it seemed to me as though I saw a sign-post which + pointed I know not whither—or, nay, I do know whither.” And now the + peasant related how discontented and unhappy in mind he had been, and how + the words in the lay had all at once raised his spirits and accompanied + him upon the journey, like a good fellow who talks to one cheerfully. + </p> + <p> + At this part of the peasant's tale Gellert folded his hands in silence, + and the peasant concluded: “How I always envied others, I cannot now think + why; but you I do envy, sir: I should like to be as you.” + </p> + <p> + And Gellert answered: “I thank God, and rejoice greatly that my writings + have been of service to you. Think not so well of me. Would God I were + really the good man I appear in your eyes! I am far from being such as I + should, such as I would fain be. I write my books for my own improvement + also, to show myself as well as others what manner of men we should be.” + </p> + <p> + Laughing, the peasant replied: “You put me in mind of the story my poor + mother used to tell of the old minister; he stood up once in the pulpit + and said: 'My dear friends, I speak not only for you, but for myself also; + I, too, have need of it.'” + </p> + <p> + Christopher laughed outrageously when he had finished, and Gellert smiled, + and said: “Yes, whoever in the darkness lighteth another with a lamp, + lighteth himself also; and the light is not part of ourselves,—it is + put into our hands by Him who hath appointed the suns their courses.” + </p> + <p> + The peasant stood speechless, and looked upon the ground: there was + something within him which took away the power of looking up; he was only + conscious that it ill became him to laugh so loudly just now, when he told + the story of the old minister. + </p> + <p> + A longer pause ensued, and Gellert seemed to be lost in reflection upon + this reference to a minister's work, for he said half to himself: “Oh! how + would it fulfil my dearest wish to be a village-pastor! To move about + among my people, and really be one with them; the friend of their souls my + whole life long, never to lose them out of my sight! Yonder goes one whom + I have led into the right way; there another, with whom I still wrestle, + but whom I shall assuredly save; and in them all the teaching lives which + God proclaims by me. Did I not think that I should be acting against my + duty, I would this moment choose a country life for the remnant of my + days. When I look from my window over the country, I have before me the + broad sky, of which we citizens know but little, a scene entirely new; + there I stand and lose myself for half an hour in gazing and in thinking. + Yes, good friend, envy no man in the rank of scholars. Look at me; I am + almost always ill; and what a burden is a sickly body! How strong, on the + contrary, are you! I am never happier than when, without being remarked, I + can watch a dinner-table thronged by hungry men and maids. Even if these + folks be not generally so happy as their superiors, at table they are + certainly happier.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir; we relish our eating and drinking. And, lately, when felling + and sorting that wood below, I was more than usually lively; it seems as + though I had a notion I was to do some good with it.” + </p> + <p> + “And must I permit you to make me a present?” asked Gellert, resting his + chin upon his left hand. + </p> + <p> + The peasant answered: “It is not worth talking about.” + </p> + <p> + “Nay, it might be well worth talking about; but I accept your present. It + is pride not to be ready to accept a gift. Is not all we have a gift from + God? And what one man gives another, he gives, as is most appropriately + said, for God's sake. Were I your minister, I should be pleased to accept + a present from you. You see, good friend, we men have no occasion to thank + each other. You have given me nothing of yours, and I have given you + nothing of mine. That the trees grow in the forest is none of your doing, + it is the work of the Creator and Preserver of the world; and the soil is + not yours; and the sun and the rain are not yours; they all are the works + of His hand; and if, perchance, I have some healthy thoughts rising up in + my soul, which benefit my fellow-men, it is none of mine, it is His doing. + The word is not mine, and the spirit is not mine; and I am but an + instrument in His hand. Therefore one man needs not to utter words of + thanks to his fellow, if every one would but acknowledge who it really is + that gives.” + </p> + <p> + The peasant looked up in astonishment. Gellert remarked it, and said: + “Understand me aright. I thank you from my heart; you have done a kind + action. But that the trees grow is none of yours, and it is none of mine + that thoughts arise in me; every one simply tills his field, and tends his + woodland, and the honest, assiduous toil he gives thereto is his virtue. + That you felled, loaded, and brought the wood, and wish no recompense for + your labor, is very thank-worthy. My wood was more easily felled; but + those still nights which I and all of my calling pass in heavy thought—who + can tell what toil there is in them? There is in the world an adjustment + which no one sees, and which but seldom discovers itself; and this and + that shift thither and hither, and the scales of the balance become even, + and then ceases all distinction between 'mine' and 'thine,' and in the + still forest rings an axe for me, and in the silent night my spirit thinks + and my pen writes for you.” + </p> + <p> + The peasant passed both his hands over his temples, and his look was as + though he said to himself, “Where are you? Are you still in the world? Is + it a mortal man who speaks to you? Are you in Leipzig, in that populous + city where men jostle one another for gain and bare existence?” + </p> + <p> + Below might be heard the creaking of the saw as the wood was being + sundered: and now the near horse neighs, and Christopher is in the world + again. “It may injure the horse to stand so long in the cold; and no money + for the wood! but perhaps a sick horse to take home into the bargain; that + would be too much,” he thought. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes, Mr. Professor,” said he—he had his hat under his arm, and + was rubbing his hands—“yes, I am delighted with what I have done; + and I value the lesson, believe me, more than ten loads of wood: and never + shall I forget you to my dying day. And though I see you are not so poor + as I had imagined, still I don't regret it. Oh! no, certainly not at all.” + </p> + <p> + “Eh! did you think me so very poor, then?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, miserably poor.” + </p> + <p> + “I have always been poor, but God has never suffered me to be a single day + without necessaries. I have in the world much happiness which I have not + deserved, and much unhappiness I have not, which perchance I have + deserved. I have found much favor with both high and low, for which I + cannot sufficiently thank God. And now tell me, cannot I give you + something, or obtain something for you? You are a local magistrate, I + presume?” + </p> + <p> + “Why so?” + </p> + <p> + “You look like it: you might be.” + </p> + <p> + Christopher had taken his hat into his hands, and was crumpling it up now; + he half closed his eyes, and with a sly, inquiring glance, he peered at + Gellert. Suddenly, however, the expression of his face changed, and the + muscles quivered, as he said: “Sir, what a man are you! How you can dive + into the recesses of one's heart! I have really pined night and day, and + been cross with the whole world, because I could not be magistrate, and + you, sir, you have actually helped to overcome that in me. Oh! sir, as + soon as I read that verse in your book, I had an idea, and now I see still + more plainly that you must be a man of God, who can pluck the heart from + one's bosom, and turn it round and round. I had thought I could never have + another moment's happiness, if my neighbor, Hans Gottlieb, should be + magistrate: and with that verse of yours, it has been with me as when one + calms the blood with a magic spell.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, my good friend, I am rejoiced to hear it: believe me, every one has + in himself alone a whole host to govern. What can so strongly urge men to + wish to govern others? What can it profit you to be local magistrate, when + to accomplish your object you must perhaps do something wrong? What were + the fame, not only of a village, but even of the whole world, if you could + have no self-respect? Let it suffice for you to perform your daily duties + with uprightness; let your joys be centred in your wife and children, and + you will be happy. What need you more? Think not that honor and station + would make you happy. Rejoice, and again I say, rejoice: 'A contented + spirit is a continual feast.' I often whisper this to myself, when I feel + disposed to give way to dejection: and although misery be not our fault, + yet lack of endurance and of patience in misery is undoubtedly our fault.” + </p> + <p> + “I would my wife were here too, that she also might hear this; I grudge + myself the hearing of it all alone; I cannot remember it all properly, and + yet I should like to tell it to her word for word. Who would have thought + that, by standing upon a load of wood, one could get a peep into heaven!” + </p> + <p> + Gellert in silence bowed his head; and afterwards he said: “Yes, rejoice + in your deed, as I do in your gift. Your wood is sacrificial-wood. In + olden time—and it was right in principle, because man could not yet + offer prayer and thanks in spirit—it was a custom and ordinance to + bring something from one's possessions, as a proof of devotion: this was a + sacrifice. And the more important the gift to be given, or the request to + be granted, the more costly was the sacrifice. Our God will have no + victims; but whatsoever you do unto one of the least of His, you do unto + Him. Such are our sacrifices. My dear friend, from my heart I thank you; + for you have done me a kindness, in that you have given me a real, + undeniable proof, that my words have penetrated your heart, and that I do + not live on for nothing: and treasure it up in your heart, that you have + caused real joy to one who is often, very often, weighed down with + heaviness and sorrow. You have not only kindled bright tapers upon my + Christmas-tree, but the tree itself burns, gives light, and warms: the + bush burns, and is not consumed, which is an image of the presence of the + Holy Spirit, and its admonition to trust in the Most High in this + wilderness of life, in mourning and in woe. Oh! my dear friend, I have + been nigh unto death. What a solemn, quaking stride is the stride into + eternity! What a difference between ideas of death in the days of health, + and on the brink of the grave! And how shall I show myself worthy of + longer life? By learning better to die. And, mark, when I sit here in + solitude pursuing my thoughts, keeping some and driving away others, then + I can think, that in distant valleys, upon distant mountains, there are + living men who carry my thoughts within their hearts; and for them I live, + and they are near and dear to me, till one day we shall meet where there + is no more parting, no more separation. Peasant and scholar, let us abide + as we are. Give me your hand—farewell!” + </p> + <p> + And once again, the soft and the hard hand were clasped together, and + Christopher really trembled as Gellert laid his hand upon his shoulder. + They shook hands, and therewith something touched the heart of each more + impressively, more completely, than ever words could touch it. Christopher + got downstairs without knowing how: below, he threw down the extra logs of + wood, which he had kept back, with a clatter from the wagon, and then + drove briskly from the city. Not till he arrived at Lindenthal did he + allow himself and his horses rest or food. He had driven away empty: he + had nothing on his wagon, nothing in his purse; and yet who can tell what + treasures he took home; and who can tell what inextinguishable fire he + left behind him yonder, by that lonely scholar! + </p> + <p> + Gellert, who usually dined at his brother's, today had dinner brought into + his own room, remained quite alone, and did not go out again: he had + experienced quite enough excitement, and society he had in his own + thoughts. Oh! to find that there are open, susceptible hearts, is a + blessing to him that writes in solitude, and is as wondrous to him as + though he dipped his pen in streams of sunshine, and as if all he wrote + were Light. The raindrop which falls from the cloud cannot tell upon what + plant it drops: there is a quickening power in it, but for what? And a + thought which finds expression from a human heart; an action, nay, a whole + life is like the raindrop falling from the cloud: the whole period of a + life endures no longer than the raindrop needs for falling. And as for + knowing where your life is continued, how your work proceeds, you cannot + attain to that. + </p> + <p> + And in the night all was still around: nothing was astir; the whole earth + was simple rest, as Gellert sat in his room by his lonely lamp; his hand + lay upon an open book, and his eyes were fixed upon the empty air; and on + a sudden came once more upon him that melancholy gloom, which so easily + resumes its place after more than usual excitement. + </p> + <p> + It is as though the soul, suddenly elevated above all, must still remember + the heaviness it but now experienced, though that expresses itself as + tears of joy in the eye. + </p> + <p> + In Gellert, however, this melancholy had a more peculiar phase: a sort of + timidity had rooted itself in him, connected with his weak chest, and that + secret gnawing pain in his head; it was a fearfulness which his manner of + life only tended to increase. Surrounded though he was by nothing but love + and admiration in the world, he could not divest himself of the fear that + all which is most horrible and terrible would burst suddenly upon him: and + so he gazed fixedly before him. He passed his hand over his face, and with + an effort concentrated his looks and thoughts upon surrounding objects, + saying to himself almost aloud: “How comforting is light! Were there no + light from without to illumine objects for us, we should perish in gloom, + in the shadows of night. And light is a gentle friend that watches by us, + and, when we are sunk in sorrow, points out to us that the world is still + here, that it calls, and beckons us, and requires of us duty and + cheerfulness. 'You must not be lost in self,' it says, 'see! the world is + still here:' and a friend beside us is as a light which illumines + surrounding objects; we cannot forget them, we must see them and mingle + with them. How hard is life, and how little I accomplish! I would fain + awaken the whole world to goodness and to love; but my voice is weak, my + strength is insufficient: how insignificant is all I do!” + </p> + <p> + And now he rose up and strode across the room; and he stood at the hearth + where the fire was burning, made of wood given to him that very day, and + his thoughts reverted to the man who had given it. Why had he not asked + his name, and where he came from? Perchance he might have been able in + thought to follow him all the way, as he drove home; and now... but yet + 'tis more, 'tis better as it is: it is not an individual, it is not + So-and-so, who has shown his gratitude, but all the world by the mouth of + one. “The kindnesses I receive,” he thought, “are indeed trials; but yet I + ought to accept them with thanks. I will try henceforth to be a benefactor + to others as others are to me, without display, and with grateful thanks + to God, our highest Benefactor: this will I do, and search no further for + the why and for the wherefore.” And once more a voice spoke within him, + and he stood erect, and raised his arms on high. “Who knows,” he thought, + “whether at this moment I have not been in this or that place, to this or + that man, a brother, a friend, a comforter, a saviour; and from house to + house, may be, my spirit travels, awakening, enlivening, refreshing—yonder + in the attic, where burns a solitary light; and afar in some village a + mother is sitting by her child, and hearing him repeat the thoughts I have + arranged in verse; and peradventure some solitary old man, who is waiting + for death, is now sitting by his fireside, and his lips are uttering my + words.” + </p> + <p> + “And yonder in the church, the choir is chanting a hymn of yours; could + you have written this hymn without its vigor in your heart? Oh! no, it <i>must</i> + be there.” And with trembling he thought: “There is nothing so small as to + have no place in the government of God! Should you not then believe that + He suffered this day's incident to happen for your joy? Oh! were it so, + what happiness were yours! A heart renewed.”... He moved to the window, + looked up to heaven, and prayed inwardly: “My soul is with my brothers and + my sisters: nay, it is with Thee, my God, and in humility I acknowledge + how richly Thou hast blessed me. And if, in the kingdom of the world to + come, a soul should cry to me: 'Thou didst guide and cheer me on to + happiness eternal!' all hail! my friend, my benefactor, my glory in the + presence of God.... In these thoughts let me die, and pardon me my + weakness and my sins!” + </p> + <p> + “And the evening and morning were the first day.” + </p> + <p> + At early morning, Gellert was sitting at his table, and reading according + to his invariable custom, first of all in the Bible. He never left the + Bible open—he always shut it with a peaceful, devotional air, after + he had read therein: there was something grateful as well as reverential + in his manner of closing the volume; the holy words should not lie + uncovered. + </p> + <p> + To-day, however, the Bible was lying open when he rose. His eye fell upon + the history of the creation, and at the words, “And the evening and the + morning were the first day,” he leaned back his head against the + arm-chair, and kept his hand upon the book, as though he would grasp with + his hand also the lofty thought, how night and day were divided. + </p> + <p> + For a long while he sat thus, and he was wondrously bright in spirit, and + a soft reminiscence dawned upon him; of a bright day in childhood, when he + had been so happy, and in Haynichen, his native place, had gone out with + his father for a walk. An inward warmth roused his heart to quicker + pulsation; and suddenly he started and looked about him: he had been + humming a tune. + </p> + <p> + Up from the street came the busy sound of day: at other times how + insufferable he had found it! and now how joyous it seemed that men should + bestir themselves, and turn to all sorts of occupations! There was a sound + of crumbling snow: and how nice to have a house and a blaze upon the + hearth! “And the evening and the morning were the first day!” And man + getteth himself a light in the darkness: but how long, O man! could you + make it endure? What could you do with your artificial light, if God did + not cause His sun to shine? Without it grows no grass, no corn. On the + hand lying upon the book there fell a bright sunbeam. How soon, at other + times, would Gellert have drawn the defensive curtain! Now he watches the + little motes that play about in the sunbeam. + </p> + <p> + The servant brought coffee, and the amanuensis, Gödike, asked if there + were anything to do. Generally, Gellert scarce lifted his head from his + books, hastily acknowledging the attention and reading on in silence; + to-day, he motioned to Gödike to stay, and said to Sauer, “Another cup: + Mr. Gödike will take coffee with me. God has given me a day of rejoicing.” + Sauer brought the cup, and Gellert said: “Yes, God has given me a day of + rejoicing, and what I am most thankful for is, that He has granted me + strength to thank Him with all my heart: not so entirely, however, as I + should like.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank God, Mr. Professor, that you are once more in health, and cheerful: + and permit me, Mr. Professor, to tell you that I was myself also ill a + short time ago, and I then learned a lesson which I shall never forget. + Who is most grateful? The convalescent. He learns to love God and His + beautiful world anew; he is grateful for everything, and delighted with + everything. What a flavor has his first cup of coffee! How he enjoys his + first walk outside the house, outside the gate! The houses, the trees, all + give us greeting: all is again in us full of health and joy!” So said + Gödike, and Gellert rejoined: + </p> + <p> + “You are a good creature, and have just spoken good words. Certainly, the + convalescent is the most grateful. We are, however, for the most part, + sick in spirit, and have not strength to recover: and a sickly, stricken + spirit is the heaviest pain.” + </p> + <p> + Long time the two sat quietly together: it struck eight. Gellert started + up, and cried irritably: “There, now, you have allowed me to forget that I + must be on my way to the University.” + </p> + <p> + “The vacation has begun: Mr. Professor has no lecture to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “No lecture to-day? Ah! and I believe today is just the time when I could + have told my young friends something that would have benefited them for + their whole lives.” + </p> + <p> + There was a shuffling of many feet outside the door: the door opened, and + several boys from St. Thomas' School-choir advanced and sang to Gellert + some of his own hymns; and as they chanted the verse— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “And haply there—oh! grant it, Heaven! + Some blessed saint will greet me too; + 'All hail! all hail! to you was given + To save my life and soul, to you!' + O God! my God! what joy to be + The winner of a soul to thee!” + </pre> + <p> + Gellert wept aloud, folded his hands, and raised his eyes to heaven. + </p> + <p> + A happier Christmas than that of 1768 had Gellert never seen; and it was + his last. Scarcely a year after, on the 13th of December, 1769, Gellert + died a pious, tranquil death, such as he had ever coveted. + </p> + <p> + As the long train which followed his bier moved to the churchyard of St. + John's, Leipzig, a peasant with his wife and children in holiday clothes + entered among the last. It was Christopher with his family. The whole way + he had been silent: and whilst his wife wept passionately at the pastor's + touching address, it was only by the working of his features that + Christopher showed how deeply moved he was. + </p> + <p> + But on the way home he said: “I am glad I did him a kindness in his + lifetime; it would now be too late.” + </p> + <p> + The summer after, when he built a new house, he had this verse placed upon + it as an inscription: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Accept God's gifts with resignation, + Content to lack what thou hast not: + In every lot there's consolation; + There's trouble, too, in every lot.” + </pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Christian Gellert's Last Christmas, by +Berthold Auerbach + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN GELLERT'S LAST CHRISTMAS *** + +***** This file should be named 22665-h.htm or 22665-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/6/6/22665/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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