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+Project Gutenberg's The Progressionists, and Angela., by Conrad von Bolanden
+
+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: The Progressionists, and Angela.
+
+Author: Conrad von Bolanden
+
+Release Date: August 29, 2010 [EBook #33573]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROGRESSIONISTS, AND ANGELA. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's notes:
+   1. Page scan source:
+      http://www.archive.org/details/progressionists00bolagoog
+
+   2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  THE
+
+
+
+                            PROGRESSIONISTS,
+
+
+
+                                  AND
+
+
+
+                                ANGELA.
+
+
+
+          _TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF CONRAD VON BOLANDEN_.
+
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+
+                               New York:
+                   THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY,
+                            9 WARREN STREET.
+                                 1873.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+       Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by
+                   THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY,
+    In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+
+
+
+
+                          THE PROGRESSIONISTS.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I.
+
+                               THE WAGER
+
+
+The balcony of the _palais_ Greifmann contains three persons who
+together represent four million florins. It is not often that one sees
+a group of this kind. The youthful landholder, Seraphin Gerlach, is
+possessor of two millions. His is a quiet disposition; very calm, and
+habitually thoughtful; innocence looks from his clear eye upon the
+world; physically, he is a man of twenty-three; morally, he is a child
+in purity; a profusion of rich brown hair clusters about his head; his
+cheeks are ruddy, and an attractive sweetness plays round his mouth.
+
+The third million belongs to Carl Greifmann, the oldest member of the
+group, head _pro tem_. of the banking-house of the same name. This
+gentlemen is tall, slender, animated; his cheeks wear no bloom; they
+are pale. His carriage is easy and smooth. Some levity is visible in
+his features, which are delicate, but his keen, glancing eye is
+disagreeable beside Seraphin's pure soul-mirror. Greifmann's sister
+Louise, not an ordinary beauty, owns the fourth million. She is seated
+between the young gentlemen; the folds of her costly dress lie heaped
+around her; her hands are engaged with a fan, and her eyes are sending
+electric glances into Gerlach's quick depths. But these flashing beams
+fail to kindle; they expire before they penetrate far into those
+depths. His eyes are bright, but they refuse to gleam with intenser
+fire. Strange, too, for a twofold reason; first, because glances from
+the eyes of beautiful women seldom suffer young men to remain cool;
+secondly, because a paternal scheme designs that Louise shall be
+engaged and married to the fire-proof hero.
+
+Millions of money are rare; and should millions strive to form an
+alliance, it is in conformity with the genius of every solid banking
+establishment to view this as quite a natural tendency.
+
+For eight days Mr. Seraphin has been on a visit at the _palais_
+Greifmann, but as yet he has yielded no positive evidence of intending
+to join his own couple of millions with the million of Miss Louise.
+
+Whilst Seraphin converses with the beautiful young lady, Carl Greifmann
+cursorily examines a newspaper which a servant has just brought him on
+a silver salver.
+
+"Every age has its folly," suddenly exclaims the banker. "In the
+seventeenth century people were busy during thirty years cutting one
+another's throats for religion's sake--or rather, in deference to the
+pious hero of the faith from Sweden and his fugleman Oxenstiern. In the
+eighteenth century, they decorated their heads with periwigs and
+pigtails, making it a matter of conjecture whether both ladies and
+gentlemen were not in the act of developing themselves from monkeydom
+into manhood.
+
+"Elections are the folly of our century. See here, my good fellow, look
+what is written here: In three days the municipal elections will come
+off throughout the country--in eighteen days the election of delegates.
+For eighteen days the whole country is to labor in election throes.
+Every man twenty-one years of age, having a wife and a homestead, is to
+be employed in rooting from out the soil of party councilmen, mayors,
+and deputies.
+
+"And during the period these rooters not unfrequently get at
+loggerheads. Some are in favor of Streichein the miller, because
+Streichein has lavishly greased their palms; others insist upon
+re-electing Leimer the manufacturer, because Leimer threatens a
+reduction of wages if they refuse to keep him in the honorable
+position. In the heat of dispute, quite a storm of oaths and ugly
+epithets, yes, and of blows too, rages, and many is the voter who
+retires from the scene of action with a bloody head. The beer-shops are
+the chief battle-fields for this sort of skirmishing. Here, zealous
+voters swill down hogsheads of beer: brewers drive a brisk trade during
+elections. But you must not think, Seraphin, that these absurd election
+scenes are confined to cities. In rural districts the game is conducted
+with no less interest and fury. There is a village not far away, where
+a corpulent ploughman set his mind on becoming mayor. What does he, to
+get the reins of village government into his great fat fist? Two days
+previous to the election he butchers three fatted hogs, has several
+hundred ringlets of sausage made, gets ready his pots, and pans for
+cooking and roasting, and then advertises: eating and drinking _ad
+libitum_ and _gratis_ for every voter willing to aid him to ascend the
+mayor's throne. He obtained his object.
+
+"Now, I put the question to you, Seraphin, is not this sort of election
+jugglery far more ridiculous and disgusting than the most preposterous
+periwigs of the last century?"
+
+"Ignorance and passion may occasion the abuse of the best
+institutions," answered the double millionaire. "However, if beer and
+pork determine the choice of councilmen and mayors, voters have no
+right to complain of misrule. It would be most disastrous to the state,
+I should think, were such corrupt means to decide also the election of
+the deputies of our legislative assembly."
+
+The banker smiled.
+
+"The self-same man[oe]uvring, only on a larger scale," replied he. Of
+course, in this instance, petty jealousies disappear. Streichein the
+miller and Leimer the manufacturer make concessions in the interest of
+the common party. All stand shoulder to shoulder in the cause of
+_progress_ against Ultramontanes and democrats, who in these days have
+begun to be troublesome.
+
+"Whilst at municipal elections office-seekers employed money and
+position for furthering their personal aims, at deputy elections
+_progress_ men cast their means into a common cauldron, from which the
+mob are fed and made to drink in order to stimulate them with the
+spirit of _progress_ for the coming election. At bottom it amounts to
+the same--the stupefaction of the multitude, the rule of a minority, in
+which, however, all consider themselves as having part, the folly of
+the nineteenth century."
+
+"This is an unhealthy condition of things, which gives reason to fear
+the corruption of the whole body politic," remarked the landholder with
+seriousness. "The seats of the legislative chamber should be filled not
+through bribery and deception of the masses, nor through party passion,
+but through a right appreciation of the qualifications that fit a man
+for the office of deputy."
+
+"I ask your pardon, my dear friend," interposed the banker with a
+laugh. "Being reared by a mother having a rigorous faith has prompted
+you to speak thus, not acquaintance with the spirit of the age. Right
+appreciation! Heavens, what _naivete_! Are you not aware that
+_progress_, the autocrat of our times, follows a fixed, unchanging
+programme? It matters not whether Tom or Dick occupies the cushions of
+the legislative hall; the main point is to wear the color of
+_progress_, and for this no special qualifications are needed. I will
+give you an illustration of the way in which these things work. Let us
+suppose that every member is provided with a trumpet which he takes
+with him to the assembly. To blow this trumpet neither skill, nor quick
+perception, nor experience, nor knowledge--neither of these
+qualifications is necessary. Now, we will suppose these gentlemen
+assembled in the great hall where the destinies of the country are
+decided; should abuses need correction, should legislation for church
+or state be required, they have only to blow the trumpet of _progress_.
+The trumpet's tone invariably accords with the spirit of progress, for
+it has been attuned to it. Should it happen that at a final vote upon a
+measure the trumpets bray loudly enough to drown the opposition of
+democrats and Ultramontanes, the matter is settled, the law is passed,
+the question is decided."
+
+"Evidently you exaggerate!" said Seraphin with a shake of the head.
+"Your illustration beats the enchanted horn of the fable. Do not you
+think so. Miss Louise?"
+
+"Brother's trumpet story is rather odd, 'tis true, yet I believe that
+at bottom such is really the state of things."
+
+"The instrument in question is objectionable in your opinion, my
+friend, only because you still bear about you the narrow conscience of
+an age long since buried. As you never spend more than two short winter
+months in the city, where alone the life-pulse of our century can be
+felt beating, you remain unacquainted with the present and its spirit.
+The rest of the year you pass in riding about on your lands, suffering
+yourself to be impressed by the stern rigor of nature's laws, and
+concluding that human society harmonizes in the same manner with the
+behests of fixed principles. I shall have to brush you up a little. I
+shall have to let you into the mysteries of progress, so that you may
+cease groping like a blind man in the noonday of enlightenment. Above
+all, let us have no narrow-mindedness, no scrupulosity, I beg of you.
+Whosoever nowadays walks the grass-grown paths of rigorism is a doomed
+man."
+
+Whilst he was saying this, a smile was on the banker's countenance.
+Seraph in mused in silence on the meaning and purpose of his
+extraordinary language.
+
+"Look down the street, if you please," continued Carl Greifmann. "Do
+you observe yon dark mass just passing under the gas-lamp?"
+
+"I notice a pretty corpulent gentleman," answered Seraphin.
+
+"The corpulent gentleman is Mr. Hans Shund, formerly treasurer of this
+city," explained Greifmann. "Many years ago, Mr. Shund put his hand
+into the public treasury, was detected, removed for dishonesty, and
+imprisoned for five years. When set at liberty, the ex-treasurer made
+the loaning of money on interest a source of revenue. He conducted this
+business with shrewdness, ruined many a family that needed money and in
+its necessity applied to him, and became rich. Shund the usurer is
+known to all the town, despised and hated by everybody. Even the dogs
+cannot endure the odor of usury that hangs about him; just see--all the
+dogs bark at him. Shund is moreover an extravagant admirer of the
+gentler sex. All the town is aware that this Jack Falstaff contributes
+largely to the scandal that is afloat. The pious go so far as to
+declare that the gallant Shund will be burned and roasted in hell for
+all eternity for not respecting the sixth commandment. Considered in
+the light of the time honored morality of Old Franconia, Shund, the
+thief, the usurer and adulterer, is a low, good-for-nothing scoundrel,
+no question about it. But in the light of the indulgent spirit of the
+times, no more can be said than that he has his foibles. He is about to
+pass by on the other side, and, as a well-bred man, will salute us."
+
+Seraphin had attentively observed the man thus characterized, but with
+the feelings with which one views an ugly blotch, a dirty page in the
+record of humanity.
+
+Mr. Shund lowered his hat, his neck and back, with oriental
+ceremoniousness in presence of the millions on the balcony. Carl
+acknowledged the salute, and even Louise returned it with a friendly
+inclination of the head.
+
+The landholder, on the contrary, was cold, and felt hurt at Greifmann's
+bowing to a fellow whom he had just described as a scoundrel. That
+Louise, too, should condescend to smile to a thief, swindler, usurer,
+and immoral wretch! In his opinion, Louise should have followed the
+dictates of a noble womanhood, and have looked with honest pity on the
+scapegrace. She, on the contrary, greeted the bad man as though he were
+respectable, and this conduct wounded the young man's feelings.
+
+"Apropos of Hans Shund, I will take occasion to convince you of the
+correctness of my statements," said Carl Greifmann. "Three days hence,
+the municipal election is to come off. Mr. Shund is to be elected
+mayor. And when the election of deputies takes place, this same Shund
+will command enough of the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens
+to be elected to the legislative assembly, thief and usurer though he
+be. You will then, I trust, learn to understand that the might of
+progress is far removed from the bigotry that would subject a man's
+qualifications to a microscopic examination. The enlarged and liberal
+principles prevailing in secular concerns are opposed to the
+intolerance that would insist on knowing something of an able man's
+antecedents before consenting to make use of him. All that Shund will
+have to do will be to fall in under the glorious banner of the spirit
+of the age; his voting trumpet will be given him; and forthwith he will
+turn out a finished mayor and deputy. Do you not admire the power and
+stretch of _liberalism_?"
+
+"I certainly do admire your faculty for making up plausible stories,"
+answered Seraphin.
+
+"Plausible stories? Not at all! Downright earnest, every word of it.
+Hans Shund, take my word for it, will be elected mayor and member of
+the assembly."
+
+"In that event," replied the landholder, "Shund's disreputable
+antecedents and disgusting conduct at present must be altogether a
+secret to his constituents."
+
+"Again you are mistaken, my dear friend. This remark proceeds from your
+want of acquaintance with the genius of our times. This city has thirty
+thousand inhabitants. Every adult among them has heard of Hans Shund
+the thief, usurer, and companion of harlots. And I assure you that not
+a voter, not a progressive member of our community, thinks himself
+doing what is at all reprehensible by conferring dignity and trust on
+Hans Shund. You have no idea how comprehensive is the soul of
+liberalism."
+
+"Let us quit a subject that appears to me impossible, nay, even
+unnatural," said Gerlach.
+
+"No, no; for this very reason you need to be convinced," insisted the
+banker with earnestness. "My prospective--but hold--I was almost guilty
+of a want of delicacy. No matter, my _actual_ friend, landholder and
+millionaire, must be made see with his eyes and touch with his fingers
+what marvels _progress_ can effect. Let us make a bet: Eighteen days
+from now Hans Shund will be mayor and member for this city. I shall
+stake ten thousand florins. You may put in the pair of bays that won
+the best prizes at the last races."
+
+Seraphin hesitated.
+
+"Come on!" urged the banker. "Since you refuse to believe my
+assertions, let us make a bet. May be you consider my stakes too small
+against yours? Very well, I will say twenty thousand florins."
+
+"You will be the loser, Greifmann! Your statements are too
+unreasonable."
+
+"Never mind; if I lose, you will be the winner. Do you take me up?"
+
+"Pshaw, Carl! you are too sure," said Louise reproachfully.
+
+"My feeling so sure is what makes me eager to win the finest pair of
+horses I ever saw. Is it possible that you are a coward?"
+
+The landholder's face reddened. He put his right hand in the banker's.
+"My dear fellow," exclaimed he jubilantly, "I have just driven a
+splendid bargain. To convince you of the entire fairness of the
+transaction, you are to be present at the manipulation that is to
+decide. Even though you lose the horses, your gain is incalculable, for
+it consists in nothing less than being convinced of the wonderful
+nature and of the omnipotence of progress. I repeat, then, that,
+wherever progress reigns, the elections are the supreme folly of the
+nineteenth century; for in reality there is no electing; but what
+progress decrees, that is fulfilled."
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER II.
+
+                              THE LEADERS.
+
+
+The banker was seated at his office table working for his chance in the
+wager with the industry of a thorough business man. Whilst he was
+engaged in writing notes, a smile indicative of certainty of success
+lit up his countenance; for he was thoroughly familiar with the figures
+that entered into his calculations, and, withal, Hans Shund invested
+with offices and dignity could not but strike him as a comical anomaly.
+"Happy thought! My father travels half of the globe; many wonderful
+things come under his observation, no doubt, but the greatest of all
+prodigies is to be witnessed right here: Hans Shund, the thief,
+swindler, usurer, wanton--mayor and law-maker! And it is the venerable
+sire _Progress_ that alone could have begotten the prodigy of a Hans
+Shund invested with honors. My Lord Progress is therefore himself a
+prodigy--a very extraordinary offspring of the human mind, the
+culminating point of enlightenment. Admitting humanity to be ten
+thousand million years old, or even more, as the most learned of
+scientific men have accurately calculated it, during this rather long
+series of years nature never produced a marvel that might presume to
+claim rank with progress. Progress is the acme of human culture--about
+this there can be no question. Yes, indeed, _the acme_." And he
+finished the last word in the last note. "Humanity will therefore have
+to face about and begin again at the beginning; for after progress
+nothing else is possible." He rang his bell.
+
+"Take these three notes to their respective addresses immediately,"
+said he to the servant who had answered the ring. Greifmann stepped
+into the front office, and gave an order to the cashier. Returning to
+his own cabinet, he locked the door that opened into the front office.
+He then examined several iron safes, the modest and smooth polish of
+which suggested neither the hardness of their iron nature nor the
+splendor of their treasures.
+
+"Gold or paper?" said the banker to himself. After some indecision, he
+opened the second of the safes. This he effected by touching several
+concealed springs, using various keys, and finally shoving back a huge
+bolt by means of a very small blade. He drew out twenty packages of
+paper, and laid them in two rows on the table. He undid the tape
+encircling the packages, and then it appeared that every leaf of both
+rows was a five-hundred florin banknote. The banker had exposed a
+considerable sum on the table. A sudden thought caused him to smile,
+and he shoved the banknotes where they came more prominently into view.
+
+The blooming double millionaire entered.
+
+"Sit down a moment, friend Seraphin, and listen to a short account of
+my scheme. I have said before that our city is prospering and growing
+under the benign sceptre of progress. The powers and honors of the
+sceptre are portioned among three leaders. Everything is directed and
+conducted by them--of course, in harmony with the spirit of the times.
+I have summoned the aforesaid magnates to appear. That the business may
+be despatched with a comfortable degree of expedition, the time when
+the visit is expected has been designated in each note; and those
+gentlemen are punctual in all matters connected with money and the
+bank. You can enter this little apartment, next to us, and by leaving
+the door open hear the conversation. The mightiest of the corypheuses
+is Schwefel, the straw-hat manufacturer. This potentate resides at a
+three-minutes walk from here, and can put in an appearance at any
+time."
+
+"I am on tiptoe!" said Gerlach. "You promise what is so utterly
+incredible, that the things you are preparing to reveal appear to me
+like adventures belonging to another world."
+
+"To another world!--quite right, my dear fellow! I am indeed about to
+display to your astounded eyes some wonders of the world of progress
+that hitherto have been entirely unknown to you. Within eighteen days
+you shall, under my tutorship, receive useful and thorough instruction.
+This promise I can make you, as we are just in face of the elections, a
+time when minds put aside their disguises, when they not unfrequently
+shock one another, and when many secrets come to light!"
+
+"You put me under many obligations!"
+
+"Only doing my duty, my most esteemed! We are both aware that,
+according to the wishes of parents and the desired inclinations of
+parties known, our respective millions are to approach each other in
+closer relationship. To do a relative of mine _in spe_ a favor, gives
+me unspeakable satisfaction. I shall proceed with my course of
+instruction. See here! Every one of these twenty packages contains
+twenty five-hundred florin banknotes. Consequently, both rows contain
+just two hundred thousand florins--an imposing sum assuredly, and, for
+the purpose of being imposing, the two hundred thousand have been laid
+upon this table. Explanation: the mightiest of the spirits of progress
+is--Money.
+
+"All forces, all sympathies, revolve about money as the heavenly bodies
+revolve about the sun. For this reason the mere proximity of a
+considerable sum of money acts upon every man of progress like a
+current of electricity: it carries him away, it intoxicates his senses.
+The leaders whom I have invited will at once notice the collection of
+five-hundred florin notes: in the rapidity of calculating, they will
+overestimate the amount, and obtain impressions in proportion, somewhat
+like the Jews that prostrated themselves in the dust in adoration of
+the golden calf. As for me, my dear fellow, I shall carry on my
+operations in the auspicious presence of this power of two hundred
+thousands. Such a display of power will produce in the leaders a frame
+of mind made up of veneration, worship, and unconditional
+submissiveness. Every word of mine will proceed authoritatively from
+the golden mouth of the two hundred thousands, and my proposals it will
+be impossible for them to reject. But listen! The door of the ante-room
+is being opened. The mightiest is approaching. Go in quick." He pressed
+the spring of a concealed door, and Seraphin disappeared.
+
+When the straw-hat manufacturer entered, the banker was sitting before
+the banknotes apparently absorbed in intricate calculations.
+
+"Ah Mr. Schwefel! pardon the liberty I have taken of sending for you.
+The pressure of business," motioning significantly towards the
+banknotes, "has made it impossible for me to call upon you."
+
+"No trouble, Mr. Greifmann, no trouble whatever!" rejoined the
+manufacturer with profound bows.
+
+"Have the goodness to take a seat!" And he drew an arm-chair quite
+near to where the money lay displayed. Schwefel perceived they were
+five-hundreds, estimated the amount of the pile in a few rapid glances,
+and felt secret shudderings of awe passing through his person.
+
+"The cause of my asking you in is a business matter of some magnitude,"
+began the banker. "There is a house in Vienna with which we stand in
+friendly relations, and which has very extensive connections in
+Hungary. The gentlemen of this house have contracts for furnishing
+large orders of straw hats destined mostly for Hungary, and they wish
+to know whether they can obtain favorable terms of purchase at the
+manufactories of this country. It is a business matter involving a
+great deal of money. Their confidence in the friendly interest of our
+firm, and in our thorough acquaintance with local circumstances, has
+encouraged them to apply to us for an accurate report upon this
+subject. They intimate, moreover, that they desire to enter into
+negotiations with none but solid establishments, and for this reason
+are supposed to be guided by our judgment. As you are aware, this
+country has a goodly number of straw-hat manufactories. I would feel
+inclined, however, as far as it may be in my power, to give your
+establishment the advantage of our recommendation, and would therefore
+like to get from you a written list of fixed prices of all the various
+sorts."
+
+"I am, indeed, under many obligations to you, Mr. Greifmann, for your
+kind consideration," said the manufacturer, nodding repeatedly. "Your
+own experience can testify to the durability of my work, and I shall
+give the most favorable rates possible."
+
+"No doubt," rejoined the banker with haughty reserve. "You must not
+forget that the straw-hat business is out of our line. It is incumbent
+on us, however, to oblige a friendly house. I shall therefore make a
+similar proposal to two other large manufactories, and, after
+consulting with men of experience in this branch, shall give the house
+in Vienna the advice we consider most to its interest, that is, shall
+recommend the establishment most worthy of recommendation."
+
+Mr. Schwefel's excited countenance became somewhat lengthy.
+
+"You should not fail of an acceptable acknowledgment from me, were you
+to do me the favor of recommending my goods," explained the
+manufacturer.
+
+The banker's coldness was not in the slightest degree altered by the
+implied bribe. He appeared not even to have noticed it. "It is also my
+desire to be able to recommend you," said he curtly, carelessly taking
+up a package of the banknotes and playing with ten thousand florins as
+if they were so many valueless scraps of paper. "Well, we are on the
+eve of the election," remarked he ingenuously. "Have you fixed upon a
+magistrate and mayor?"
+
+"All in order, thank you, Mr. Greifmann!"
+
+"And are you quite sure of the order?"
+
+"Yes; for we are well organized, Mr. Greifmann. If it interests you, I
+will consider it as an honor to be allowed to send you a list of the
+candidates."
+
+"I hope you have not passed over ex-treasurer Shund?"
+
+This question took Mr. Schwefel by surprise, and a peculiar smile
+played on his features.
+
+"The world is and ever will be ungrateful," continued the banker, as
+though he did not notice the astonishment of the manufacturer. "I could
+hardly think of an abler and more sterling character for the office of
+mayor of the city than Mr. Shund. Our corporation is considerably in
+debt. Mr. Shund is known to be an accurate financier, and an economical
+householder. We just now need for the administration of our city
+household a mayor that understands reckoning closely, and that will
+curtail unnecessary expenses, so as to do away with the yearly
+increasing deficit in the budget. Moreover, Mr. Shund is a noble
+character; for he is always ready to aid those who are in want of
+money--on interest, of course. Then, again, he knows law, and we very
+much want a lawyer at the head of our city government. In short, the
+interests of this corporation require that Mr. Shund be chosen chief
+magistrate. It is a subject of wonder to me that progress, usually so
+clear-sighted, has heretofore passed Mr. Shund by, despite his numerous
+qualifications. Abilities should be called into requisition for the
+public weal. To be candid, Mr. Schwefel, nothing disgusts me so much as
+the slighting of great ability," concluded the banker contemptuously.
+
+"Are you acquainted with Shund's past career?" asked the leader
+diffidently.
+
+"Why, yes! Mr. Shund once put his hand in the wrong drawer, but that
+was a long time ago. Whosoever amongst you is innocent, let him cast
+the first stone at him. Besides, Shund has made good his fault by
+restoring what he filched. He has even atoned for the momentary
+weakness by five years of imprisonment."
+
+"'Tis true; but Shund's theft and imprisonment are still very fresh in
+people's memory," said Schwefel. "Shund is notorious, moreover, as a
+hard-hearted usurer. He has gotten rich through shrewd money
+speculations, but he has also brought several families to utter ruin.
+The indignation of the whole city is excited against the usurer; and,
+finally, Shund indulges a certain filthy passion with such effrontery
+and barefacedness that every respectable female cannot but blush at
+being near him. These characteristics were unknown to you, Mr.
+Greifmann; for you too will not hesitate an instant to admit that a man
+of such low practices must never fill a public office."
+
+"I do not understand you, and I am surprised!" said the millionaire.
+"You call Shund a usurer, and you say that the indignation of the whole
+town is upon him. Might I request from you the definition of a usurer?"
+
+"They are commonly called usurers who put out money at exorbitant,
+illegal interest."
+
+"You forget, my dear Mr. Schwefel, that speculation is no longer
+confined to the five per cent. rate. A correct insight into the
+circumstances of the times has induced our legislature to leave the
+rate of interest altogether free. Consequently, a usurer has gotten to
+be an impossibility. Were Shund to ask fifty per cent, and more, he
+would be entitled to it."
+
+"That is so; for the moment I had overlooked the existence of the law,"
+said the manufacturer, somewhat humiliated. "Yet I have not told you
+all concerning the usurer. Beasts of prey and vampires inspire an
+involuntary disgust or fear. Nobody could find pleasure in meeting a
+hungry wolf, or in having his blood sucked by a vampire. The usurer is
+both vampire and wolf. He hankers to suck the very marrow from the
+bones of those who in financial straits have recourse to him. When an
+embarrassed person borrows from him, that person is obliged to mortgage
+twice the amount that he actually receives. The usurer is a heartless
+strangler, an insatiable glutton. He is perpetually goaded on by
+covetousness to work the material ruin of others, only so that the ruin
+of his neighbor may benefit himself. In short, the usurer is a monster
+so frightful, a brute so devoid of conscience, that the very sight of
+him excites horror and disgust. Just such a monster is Shund in the
+eyes of all who know him--and the whole city knows him. Hence the man
+is the object of general aversion."
+
+"Why, this is still worse, still more astonishing!" rejoined the
+millionaire with animation. "I thought our city enlightened. I should
+have expected from the intelligence and judgment of our citizens
+that they would have deferred neither to the sickly sentimentalism
+of a bigoted morality nor to the absurdity of obsolete dogmas. If
+your description of the usurer, which might at least be styled
+poetico-religious, is an expression of the prevailing spirit of this
+city, I shall certainly have to lower my estimate of its intelligence
+and culture."
+
+The leader hastened to correct the misunderstanding.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Greifmann! You may rest assured that we
+can boast all the various conquests made by modern advancement.
+Religious enthusiasm and foolish credulity are poisonous plants that
+superannuated devotees are perhaps still continuing to cultivate here
+and there in pots, but which the soil will no longer produce in the
+open air. The sort of education prevailing hereabout is that which has
+freed itself from hereditary religious prejudices. Our town is blessed
+with all the benefits of progress, with liberty of thought, and freedom
+from the thraldom of a dark, designing priesthood."
+
+"How comes it, then, that a man is an object of contempt for acting in
+accordance with the principles of this much lauded progress?" asked the
+millionaire, with unexpected sarcasm. "We are indebted to progress for
+the abolition of a legal rate of interest. Shund takes advantage of
+this conquest, and for doing so citizens who boast of being progressive
+look upon him with aversion. A further triumph secured by progress is
+freedom from the tyranny of dogmas and the tortures of a conscience
+created by a contracted morality. This beautiful fruit of the tree of
+enlightened knowledge Shund partakes of and enjoys; and for this he has
+the distinction of passing for a vampire. And because he displays the
+spirit of an energetic business man, because his capacity for
+speculating occasionally overwhelms blockheads and dunces, he is
+decried as a ravenous wolf. It is sad! If your statements are correct,
+Mr. Schwefel, our city ought not to boast of being progressive. Its
+citizens are still groping in the midnight darkness of religious
+superstition, scarcely even united with modern intellectual
+advancement. And to me the consciousness is most uncomfortable of
+breathing an atmosphere poisoned by the decaying remnants of an age
+long since buried."
+
+"My own personal views accord with yours," protested Schwefel candidly.
+"The subversion of the antiquated, absurd articles of faith and moral
+precept necessarily entails the abrogation of the consequences that
+flow from them for public life. For centuries the cross was a symbol of
+dignity, and the doctrine of the Crucified resulted in holiness.
+Paganism, on the contrary, looked upon the gospel as foolishness, as a
+hallucination, and upon the cross as a sign of shame. I belong to the
+classic ranks, and so do millions like myself--among them Mr. Shund.
+Viewed in the light of progress, Shund is neither a vampire nor a wolf;
+at the worst, he is merely an ill used business man. They who suffer
+themselves to be humbugged and fleeced by him have their own stupidity
+to thank for it. This exposition will convince you that I stand on a
+level with yourself in the matter of advanced enlightenment.
+Nevertheless, you overlook, Mr. Greifmann, that, so far as the masses
+of the people are concerned, reverence for the cross and the holiness
+of its doctrines continue to prevail. The acquisitions of progress are
+not yet generally diffused. The mines of modern intellectual culture
+are being provisionally worked by a select number of independent, bold
+natures. The multitude, on the other hand, still continue folding about
+them the winding-sheet of Christianity. The views, customs, principles,
+and judgments of men are as yet widely controlled by Christian
+elements. Our city does homage to progress, pretty nearly, however, in
+the manner of a blind man that discourses of colors."
+
+"I do not catch the drift of your simile of the blind man and colors,"
+interrupted Greifmann.
+
+"I wanted to intimate that thousands swear allegiance to progress
+without comprehending its nature. Very many imagine progress to be a
+struggle in behalf of Germany against the enfeebling system of
+innumerable small states, or a battling against religious rigorism and
+priest-rule in secular concerns. In unpretending guises like these, the
+spirit of the age circulates among the crowd travestied in the
+fashionable epithet _progressive_. Were you, however, to remove the
+shell from around the kernel of progress, were you to exhibit it to the
+multitude undisguised as the nullification of religion, as the denial
+of the God of Christians, as the rejection of immortality, and of an
+essential difference between man and the beast--were you to venture
+thus far, you would see the millions flying in consternation before the
+monster Progress. Now, just because the multitude, although
+progressive-minded, everywhere judges men by Christian standards, very
+often, too, unconsciously, therefore Shund has to pass, not for an able
+speculator, but for a miserable usurer and an unconscionable
+scoundrel."
+
+"For this very cause, the liberal leaders of this city should stand up
+for Shund," opposed the banker. "Just appreciation and respect should
+not be denied a deserving man. To speak candidly, Mr. Schwefel, what
+first accidentally arrested my attention, now excites my most lively
+interest. I wish to see justice done Mr. Shund, to see his uncommon
+abilities recognized. You must set his light upon a candlestick. You
+must have him elected mayor and member of the legislature; in both
+capacities he will fill his position with distinction. I repeat, our
+deeply indebted city stands in want of a mayor that will reckon closely
+and economize. And in the legislative assembly Shund's fluency will
+talk down all opposition, his readiness of speech will do wonders. Were
+it only to spite the stupid mob, you must put Shund in nomination."
+
+"It will not do, Mr. Greifmann! it is impracticable! We have to proceed
+cautiously and by degrees. Our policy lies in conducting the
+unsophisticated masses from darkness into light, quite gradually, inch
+by inch, and with the utmost caution. A sudden unveiling of the inmost
+significance of the spirit of the age would scare the people, and drive
+them back heels over head into the clerical camp."
+
+"I do not at all share your apprehensions," contended the millionaire.
+"Our people are further advanced than you think. Make the trial. Your
+vast influence will easily manage to have Shund returned mayor and
+delegate."
+
+"Undoubtedly, but my standing would be jeopardized," rejoined Schwefel.
+
+"That is a mistake, sir! You employ four hundred families."
+
+"Four hundred and seventy now," said the manufacturer, correcting him
+blandly.
+
+"Four hundred and seventy families, therefore, are getting a living
+through you, consequently you have four hundred and seventy voters at
+your command. Add to these a considerable force of mechanics who earn
+wages in your employ. You have, moreover, a number of warm friends who
+also command a host of laborers and mechanics. Hence you risk neither
+standing nor influence, that is," added he with a smile, "unless
+perhaps you dread the anathemas of Ultramontanes and impostors."
+
+"The pious wrath of believers has no terrors deserving notice,"
+observed the leader with indifference.
+
+"And yet all this time Shund's remarkable abilities have not been able
+to win the slightest notice on the part of progressive men--it is
+revolting!" cried the banker. "Mr. Schwefel, I will speak plainly,
+trusting to your being discreet; I will recommend your factory at
+Vienna, but only on condition that you have Hans Shund elected mayor
+and member of the legislature."
+
+"This is asking a great deal--quite flattering for Shund and very
+tempting to me," said the leader with a bright face and a thrice
+repeated nod to the banker. "Since, however, what you ask is neither
+incompatible with the spirit of the times nor dishonorable to the sense
+of a liberal man, I accept your offer, for it is no small advantage for
+me from a business point of view."
+
+"Capital, Mr. Schwefel! Capital, because very sensible!" spoke Carl
+Greifmann approvingly. A short groan, resembling the violent bursting
+forth of suppressed indignation, resounded from the adjoining
+apartment. The banker shuffled on the floor and drowned the groan by
+loudly rasping his throat.
+
+"One condition, however, I must insist upon," continued the
+manufacturer of straw hats. "My arm might prove unequal to a task that
+will create no ordinary sensation. But if you succeeded in winning over
+Erdblatt and Sand to the scheme, it would prosper without fail and
+without much noise."
+
+"I shall do so with pleasure, Mr. Schwefel! Both those gentlemen will,
+in all probability, call on me today in relation to matters of
+business. It will be for me a pleasing consciousness to have aided in
+obtaining merited recognition for Hans Shund."
+
+"Our agreement is, however, to be kept strictly secret from the
+public."
+
+"Of course, of course!"
+
+"You will not forget, at the same time, Mr. Greifmann, that our very
+extraordinary undertaking will necessitate greater than ordinary
+outlay. It is a custom among laborers not to work on the day before
+election, and the same on election day itself. Yet, in order to keep
+them in good humor, they must get wages the same as if they had worked.
+This is for the manufacturer no insignificant disadvantage. Moreover,
+workingmen and doubtful voters, require to be stimulated with beer
+gratis--another tax on our purses."
+
+"How high do these expenses run?" asked the millionaire.
+
+"For Sand, Erdblatt, and myself, they never fall short of twelve
+hundred florins."
+
+"That would make each one's share of the costs four hundred florins."
+
+Taking a five-hundred florin banknote between his thumb and forefinger,
+the banker reached it carelessly to the somewhat puzzled leader.
+
+"My contribution to the promotion of the interests of progress! I shall
+give as much to Messrs. Sand and Erdblatt."
+
+"Many thanks, Mr. Greifmann!" said Schwefel, pocketing the money with
+satisfaction.
+
+The millionaire drew himself up. "I have no doubt," said he, in his
+former cold and haughty tone, "that my recommendation will secure your
+establishment the custom already alluded to."
+
+"I entertain a similar confidence in your influence, and will take the
+liberty of commending myself most respectfully to your favor." Bowing
+frequently, Schwefel retreated backwards towards the door, and
+disappeared. Greifmann stepped to the open entrance of the side
+apartment. There sat the youthful landholder, his head resting heavily
+on his hand. He looked up, and Carl's smiling face was met by a pair of
+stern, almost fierce eyes.
+
+"Have you heard, friend Seraphin?" asked he triumphantly.
+
+"Yes--and what I have heard surpasses everything. You have bargained
+with a member of that vile class who recognize no difference between
+honor and disgrace, between good and evil, between self-respect and
+infamy, who know only one god--which is money."
+
+"Do not show yourself so implacable against these _vile_ beings, my
+dearest! There is much that is useful in them, at any rate they are
+helping me to the finest horses belonging to the aristocracy."
+
+A stealthy step was heard at the door of the cabinet.
+
+"Do you hear that timid rap?" asked the banker. "The rapper's heart is
+at this moment in his knuckles. It is curious how men betray in trifles
+what at the time has possession of their feelings. The mere rapping
+gives a keen observer an insight into the heart of a person whom he
+does not as yet see. Listen--" Rapping again, still more stealthily and
+imploringly. "I must go and relieve the poor devil, whom nobody would
+suspect for a mighty leader. Now, Mr. Seraphin, Act the Second. Come
+in!"
+
+The man who entered, attired in a dress coat and kids, was Erdblatt, a
+tobacco merchant, spare in person, and with restless, spering eyes. The
+millionaire greeted him coldly, then pointed him to the chair that had
+been occupied by Schwefel. The impression produced by the two hundred
+thousands on the man of tobacco was far more decided than in the case
+of the manufacturer of straw hats. Erdblatt was restless in his chair,
+and as the needle is attracted by the pole, so did Erdblatt's whole
+being turn towards the money. His eyes glanced constantly over the
+paper treasures, and a spasmodic jerking seized upon his fingers. But
+he soon sat motionless and stiff, as if thunderstruck at Greifmann's
+terrible words.
+
+"Your substantial firm," began the mighty man of money, after some few
+formalities, "has awaked in me a degree of attention which the ordinary
+course of business does not require. I have to-day received notice from
+an English banking-house that in a few days several bills first of
+exchange, amounting to sixty thousand florins, will be presented to be
+paid by you."
+
+Erdblatt was dumfounded and turned pale.
+
+"The amount is not precisely what can be called insignificant,"
+continued Greifmann coolly, "and I did not wish to omit notifying you
+concerning the bills, because, as you are aware, the banking business
+is regulated by rigorous and indiscriminating forms."
+
+Erdblatt took the hint, turned still more pale, and uttered not a word.
+
+"This accumulation of bills of exchange is something abnormal,"
+proceeded Greifmann with indifference. "As they are all made payable on
+sight, you are no doubt ready to meet this sudden rush with proud
+composure," concluded the banker, with a smile of cold politeness.
+
+But the dumfounded Erdblatt was far from enjoying proud composure. His
+manner rather indicated inability to pay and panic terror. "Not only is
+the accumulation of bills of exchange to the amount of sixty thousand
+florins something abnormal, but it also argues carelessness," said he
+tersely. "Were it attributable to accident, I should not complain; but
+it has been occasioned by jealous rivalry. Besides, they are bills
+first of exchange--it is something never heard of before--it is
+revolting--there is a plot to ruin me! And I have no plea to allege for
+putting off these bills, and I am, moreover, unable to pay them."
+
+The banker shrugged his shoulders coldly, and his countenance became
+grave.
+
+"Might I not beg you to aid me, Mr. Greifmann?" said he anxiously. "Of
+course, I shall allow you a high rate of interest."
+
+"That is not practicable with bills of exchange," rejoined the banker
+relentlessly.
+
+"When will the bills be presented?" asked the leader, with increasing
+anxiety.
+
+"Perhaps as early as to-morrow," answered Greifmann, still more
+relentless.
+
+The manufacturer of tobacco was near fainting.
+
+"I cannot conceive of your being embarrassed," said the banker coldly.
+"Your popularity and influence will get you assistance from friends, in
+case your exchequer happens not to be in a favorable condition."
+
+"The amount is too great; I should have to borrow in several quarters.
+This would give rise to reports, and endanger the credit of my firm."
+
+"You are not wrong in your view," answered the banker coldly.
+"Accidents may shake the credit of the most solid firm, and other
+accidents may often change trifling difficulties into fatal
+catastrophes. How often does it not occur that houses of the best
+standing, which take in money at different places, are brought to the
+verge of bankruptcy through public distrust?"
+
+The words of the money prince were nowise calculated to reassure Mr.
+Erdblatt.
+
+"Be kind enough to accept the bills, and grant me time," pleaded he
+piteously.
+
+"That, sir, would be contrary to all precedents in business," rejoined
+Greifmann, with an icy smile. "Our house never deviates from the paths
+of hereditary custom."
+
+"I could pay in ten thousand florins at once," said Erdblatt once more.
+"Within eight weeks I could place fifty thousand more in your hands."
+
+"I am very sorry, but, as I said, this plan is impracticable," opposed
+Greifmann. "Yet I have half a mind to accept those bills, but only on a
+certain condition."
+
+"I am willing to indemnify you in any way possible," assured the
+tobacco merchant, with a feeling of relief!
+
+"Hear the condition stated in a few words. As you know, I live
+exclusively for business, never meddle in city or state affairs.
+Moreover, labor devoted by me to political matters would be
+superfluous, in view of the undisputed sway of liberalism.
+Nevertheless, I am forced to learn, to my astonishment, that progress
+itself neglects to take talent and ability into account, and exhibits
+the most aristocratic nepotism. The remarkable abilities of Mr. Shund
+are lost, both to the city and state, merely because Mr. Shund's
+fellow-citizens will not elect him to offices of trust. This is unjust;
+to speak plainly, it is revolting, when one considers that there is
+many a brainless fellow in the City Council who has no better
+recommendation than to have descended from an old family, and whose
+sole ability lies in chinking ducats which he inherited but never
+earned. Shund is a genius compared with such boobies; but genius does
+not pass current here, whilst incapacity does. Now, if you will use
+your influence to have Shund nominated for mayor of this city, and for
+delegate to the legislature, and guarantee his election, you may
+consider the bills of exchange as covered."
+
+Not even the critical financial trouble by which he was beset could
+prevent an expression of overwhelming surprise in the tobacco man's
+face.
+
+"I certainly cannot have misunderstood you. You surely mean to speak of
+Ex-Treasurer Shund, of this place?"
+
+"The same--the very same."
+
+"But, Mr. Greifmann, perhaps you are not aware--"
+
+"I am aware of everything," interrupted the banker. "I know that many
+years ago Mr. Shund awkwardly put his hand into the city treasury, that
+he was sent to the penitentiary, that people imagine they still see him
+in the penitentiary garb, and, finally, that in the stern judgment of
+the same people he is a low usurer. But usury has been abrogated by
+law. The theft Shund has not only made good by restoring what he stole,
+but also atoned for by years of imprisonment. Now, why is a man to be
+despised who has indeed done wrong, but not worse than others whose
+sins have long since been forgotten? Why condemn to obscurity a man
+that possesses the most brilliant kind of talent for public offices?
+The contempt felt for Shund on the part of a population who boast of
+their progress is unaccountable--may be it would not be far from the
+truth to believe that some influential persons are jealous of the
+gifted man," concluded the banker reproachfully.
+
+"Pardon me, please! The _thief_ and _usurer_ it might perhaps be
+possible to elect," conceded Erdblatt. "But Shund's disgusting and
+shameless amours could not possibly find grace with the moral sense of
+the public."
+
+"Yes, and the origin of this _moral sense_ is the sixth commandment of
+the Jew Moses," said the millionaire scornfully. "I cannot understand'
+how you, a man of advanced views; can talk in this manner."
+
+"You misinterpret my words," rejoined the leader deprecatingly. "To me,
+personally, Shund exists neither as a usurer nor as a debauchee.
+Christian modes of judging are, of course, relegated among absurdities
+that we have triumphed over. In this instance, however, there is no
+question of my own personal conviction, but of the conviction of the
+great multitude. And in the estimation of the multitude unbridled
+liberty is just as disgraceful as the free enjoyment of what,
+_morally_, is forbidden."
+
+"You are altogether in the same rut as Schwefel."
+
+"Have you spoken with Schwefel on this subject?" asked Erdblatt
+eagerly.
+
+"Only a moment ago. Mr. Schwefel puts greater trust in his power than
+you do in yours, for he agreed to have Shund elected mayor and
+delegate. Mr. Schwefel only wishes you and Sand would lend your aid."
+
+"With pleasure! If Schwefel and Sand are won over, then all is right."
+
+"From a hint of Schwefel's," said Greifmann, taking up a
+five-hundred-florin banknote from the table, "I infer that the election
+canvass is accompanied with some expense. Accept this small
+contribution. As for the bills of exchange, the matter is to rest by
+our agreement."
+
+Erdblatt also backed out of the cabinet, bowing repeatedly as he
+retreated.
+
+Seraphin rushed from his hiding-place in great excitement.
+
+"Why, Greifmann, this is terrible! Do you call that advanced education?
+Do you call that progress? Those are demoralized, infernal beings. I
+spit upon them! And are these the rabble that are trying to arrogate to
+themselves the leadership of the German people?--rabble who ignore the
+Deity, the human soul, and morality generally! But what completely
+unsettles me is your connivance--at least, your connection with these
+infernal spirits."
+
+"But be easy, my good fellow, be easy! _I_ connected with tobacco and
+straw?"
+
+"At all events, you have been ridiculing the ten commandments and
+Christian morals and faith."
+
+"Was I not obliged to do so in order to show how well the thief,
+usurer, and filthy dog Shund harmonizes with the spirit of progress?
+Can he who wishes to make use of the devil confer with the devil in the
+costume of light? Not at all; he must clothe himself in the mantle of
+darkness. And you must not object to my using the demon Progress for
+the purpose of winning your span of horses and saving my stakes. Let us
+not have a disgraceful altercation. Consider me as a stage actor,
+whilst you are a spectator that is being initiated into the latest
+style of popular education. Ah, do you hear? The last one is drawing
+near. Be pleased to vanish."
+
+The third leader, house-builder Sand, appeared. The greater portion of
+his face is hidden by a heavy black beard; in one hand he carries a
+stout bamboo cane; and it is only after having fully entered, that he
+deliberately removes his hat.
+
+"I wish you a pleasant morning, Mr. Greifmann. You have sent for me:
+what do you want?"
+
+The banker slowly raised his eyes from the latest exchange list to the
+rough features of the builder, and remembering that the man had risen
+up from the mortarboard to his present position, and had gained wealth
+and influence through personal energy, he returned the short greeting
+with a friendly inclination of the head.
+
+"Will you have the goodness to be seated, Mr. Sand?"
+
+The man of the black beard took a seat, and, having noticed the
+handsome collection of banknotes, his coarse face settled itself into a
+not very attractive grin.
+
+"I want to impart to you my intention of erecting a villa on the
+Sauerberg, near the middle of our estate at Wilheim," continued the
+millionaire.
+
+"Ah, that is a capital idea!" And the man of the beard became very
+deeply interested. "The site is charming, no view equal to it; healthy
+location, vineyards round about, your own vineyards moreover. I could
+put you up a gem there."
+
+"That is what I think, Mr. Sand! My father, who has been abroad for the
+last three months, is quite satisfied with the plan; in fact, he is the
+original projector of it."
+
+"I know, I know! your father has a taste for what is grand. We shall
+try and give him satisfaction, which, by the bye, is not so very easy.
+But you have the money, and fine fortunes can command fine houses."
+
+"What I want principally is to get you to draw a plan, consulting your
+own taste and experience in doing so. You will show it to me when
+ready, and I will tell you whether I like it or not."
+
+"Very well, Mr. Greifmann, very well! But I must know beforehand what
+amount of money you are willing to spend upon the house; for all
+depends upon the cost."
+
+"Well," said the millionaire, after some deliberation, "I am willing to
+spend eighty thousand florins on it, and something over, perhaps."
+
+"Ah, well, for that amount of money something can be put up--something
+small but elegant. Are you in a hurry with the building?"
+
+"To be sure! As soon as the matter is determined upon, there is to be
+no delay in carrying it out."
+
+"I am altogether of your opinion, Mr. Greifmann--I agree with you
+entirely!" assented the builder, with an increase of animation. "I
+shall draw up a plan for a magnificent house. If it pleases you, all
+hands shall at once be set at work, and by next autumn you shall behold
+the villa under roof."
+
+"Of course you are yourself to furnish all the materials," added the
+banker shrewdly. "When once the plan will have been settled upon, you
+can reach me an estimate of the costs, and I will pay over the money."
+
+"To be sure, Mr. Greifmann--that is the way in which it should be done,
+Mr. Greifmann!" responded the man of the black beard with a satisfied
+air. "You are not to have the slightest bother. I shall take all the
+bother upon myself."
+
+"That, then is agreed upon! Well, now, have you learned yet who is to
+be the next mayor?"
+
+"Why, yes, the old one is to be reelected!"
+
+"Not at all! We must have an economical and intelligent man for next
+mayor. Of this I am convinced, because the annual deficit in the
+treasury is constantly on the increase."
+
+"Alas, 'tis true! And who is the man of economy and intelligence to
+be?"
+
+"Mr. Hans Shund."
+
+"Who--what? Hans Shund? The thief, the usurer, the convict, the
+debauchee? Who has been making a fool of you?"
+
+"Pardon me, sir! I never suffer people to make a fool of me!" rejoined
+the banker with much dignity.
+
+"Yes, yes--somebody has dished up a canard for you. What, that
+good-for-nothing scoundrel to be elected mayor! Never in his life! Hans
+Shund mayor--really that is good now--ha, ha!"
+
+"Mr. Sand, you lead me to suspect that you belong to the party of
+Ultramontanes."
+
+"Who--_I_ an Ultramontane? That is ridiculous! Sir, I am at the head of
+the men of progress--I am the most liberal of the liberals--that, sir,
+is placarded on every wall."
+
+"How come you, then, to call Mr. Sand a good-for-nothing scoundrel?"
+
+"Simply for this reason, because, he is a usurer and a dissipated
+wretch."
+
+"Then I am in the right, after all! Mr. Sand belongs to the ranks of
+the _pious_," jeered the banker.
+
+"Mr. Greifmann, you are insulting!"
+
+"Nothing is further from my intention than to wound your feelings, my
+dear Mr. Sand! Be cool and reasonable. Reflect, if you please. Shund,
+you say, puts out money at thirty per cent. and higher, and therefore
+he is a usurer. Is it not thus that you reason?"
+
+"Why, yes! The scoundrel has brought many a poor devil to ruin by means
+of his Jewish speculations!"
+
+"Your pious indignation," commended the millionaire, "is praiseworthy,
+because it is directed against what you mistake for a piece of
+scoundrelism. Meanwhile, please to calm down your feelings, and let
+your reason resume her seat of honor so that you may reflect upon my
+words. You know that in consequence of recent legislation every
+capitalist is free to put out money at what rate soever he pleases.
+Were Shund to ask _fifty_ per cent., he would not be stepping outside
+of the law. He would then be, as he now is, an honest man. Would he
+not?"
+
+"It is as you say, so far as the law is concerned!"
+
+"Furthermore, if after prudently weighing, after wisely calculating,
+the _pros_ and _cons_, Shund concludes to draw in his money, and in
+consequence many a poor devil is ruined, as you say, surely no
+reasonable man will on that account condemn legally authorized
+speculation!"
+
+"Don't talk to me of legally authorized speculation. The law must not
+legalize scoundrelism; but whosoever by cunning usury brings such to
+ruin is and ever will be a scoundrel."
+
+"Why a scoundrel, Mr. Sand? Why, pray?"
+
+"Surely it is clear enough--because he has ruined men!"
+
+"Ruined! How? Evidently through means legally permitted. Therefore,
+according to your notion the law _does_ legalize scoundrelism; at least
+it allows free scope to scoundrels. Mr. Sand, no offence intended: I am
+forced, however, once more to suspect that you do, perhaps without
+knowing it, belong to the _pious_. For they think and feel just as you
+do, that is, in accordance with so-called laws of morality, religious
+views and principles. That, judged by such standards, Shund is a
+scoundrel who hereafter will be burned eternally in hell, I do not
+pretend to dispute."
+
+"At bottom, I believe you are in the right, after all--yes, it is as
+you say," conceded the leader reluctantly. "Ahem--and yet I am surprised
+at your being in the right. I would rather, however that you were in
+the right, because I really do not wish to blame anybody or judge him
+by the standard of the Ultramontanes."
+
+"That tone sounds genuinely progressive, and it does honor to
+your judgment!" lauded the banker. "Again, you called Shund a
+good-for-nothing scoundrel because he loves the company of women. Mr.
+Sand, do you mean to vindicate the sacred nature of the sixth
+commandment in an age that has emancipated itself from the thrall of
+symbols and has liberated natural inclinations from the servitude of a
+bigoted priesthood?--you, who profess to stand at the head and front of
+the party of progress?"
+
+"It is really odd--you are in the right again! Viewed from the
+standpoint of the times, contemplated in the light of modern
+intellectual culture, Shund must not really be called good-for-nothing
+for being a usurer and an admirer of women.
+
+"Shund's qualifications consequently fit him admirably for the office
+of mayor. He will be economical, he will make the expenditures balance
+with the revenue. Even in the legislature, Shund's principles and
+experience will be of considerable service to the country and to the
+cause of progress. I am so much in favor of the man that I shall award
+you the building of my villa only on condition that you will use all
+your influence for the election of Shund to the office of mayor and to
+the legislature."
+
+"Mayor--assemblyman, too--ahem! that will be hard to do."
+
+"By no means! Messrs. Schwefel and Erdblatt will do their best for the
+same end."
+
+"Is that so, really? In that case there is no difficulty! Mr.
+Greifmann, consider me the man that will build your villa."
+
+"The canvass will cost you some money--here, take this, my contribution
+to the noble cause," and he gave him a five-hundred-florin banknote.
+
+"That will suffice, Mr. Greifmann, that will suffice. The plan you
+cannot have until after the election, for Shund will give us enough to
+do."
+
+"Everything is possible to you, Mr. Sand! Whatever Caesar, Lepidus, and
+Antony wish at Rome, that same must be."
+
+"Very true, very true." And the last of the leaders disappeared.
+
+"I would never have imagined the like to be possible," spoke the
+landholder, entering. "They all regard Shund as a low, abandoned
+wretch, and yet material interest determines every one of them to
+espouse the cause of the unworthy, contemptible fellow. It is
+extraordinary! It is monstrous!"
+
+"You cannot deny that progress is eminently liberal," replied the
+banker, laughing.
+
+"Nor will I deny that it possesses neither uprightness nor conscience,
+nor, especially, morals," rejoined the young man with seriousness.
+
+Carl saw with astonishment Seraphin's crimsoned cheeks and flaming
+eyes.
+
+"My dear fellow, times and men must be taken as they are, not as they
+should be," said the banker. "Interest controls both men and things. At
+bottom, it has ever been thus. In the believing times of the middle
+ages, men's interest lay in heaven. All their acts were done for
+heaven; they considered no sacrifice as too costly. Thousands quit
+their homes and families to have their skulls cloven by the Turks, or
+to be broiled by the glowing heats of Palestine. For the interests of
+heaven, thousands abandoned the world, fed on roots in deserts,
+gave up all the pleasures of life. At present, the interest lies in
+this world, in material possessions, in money. Do not therefore get
+angry at progress if it refuses to starve itself or to be cut down by
+Moorish scimitars, but, on the other hand, has strength of mind and
+self-renunciation enough to promote Hans Shund to honors and offices."
+
+Seraphin contemplated Greifmann, who smiled, and hardly knew how to
+take him.
+
+"An inborn longing for happiness has possession of all men," said he
+with reserve. "The days of faith were ruled by moral influences; the
+spirit of this age is ruled by base matter. Between the moral struggles
+of the past strong in faith, and the base matter of the present, there
+is, say what you will, a notable difference."
+
+"Doubtless!" conceded Greifmann. "The middle ages were incontestably
+the grandest epoch of history. I am actuated by the honest intention of
+acquainting you with the active principles of the present."
+
+"Yes, and you have been not immaterially aided by luck. But for the
+order from Vienna for straw hats, the bills of exchange, and that
+villa, you would hardly have attained your aim."
+
+Greifmann smiled.
+
+"The straw-hat story is merely a mystification, my dear friend. When
+the end will have been reached, when Hans Shund will have been elected
+mayor and assemblyman, a few lines will be sufficient to inform Mr.
+Schwefel that the house in Vienna has countermanded its order. Nor is
+any villa to be constructed. I shall pay Sand for his drawings, and
+this will be the end of the project. The matter of the bills of
+exchange is not a hoax, and I am still free to proceed against Erdblatt
+in the manner required by the interests of my business."
+
+Seraphin stood before the ingenuous banker, and looked at him aghast.
+
+"It is true," said Greifmann gaily, "I have laid out fifteen hundred
+florins, but I have done so against one hundred per cent.; for they are
+to secure me victory in our wager."
+
+"Your professional routine is truly admirable," said Gerlach.
+
+"Not exactly that, but practical, and not at all sentimental, my
+friend."
+
+"I shall take a walk through the garden to get over my astonishment,"
+concluded Gerlach; and he walked away from the astute man of money.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III.
+
+                          SERAPHIN AND LOUISE.
+
+
+Sombre spirits flitted about the head of the young man with the
+blooming cheeks and light eyes. He was unable to rid himself of a
+feeling of depression; for he had taken a step into the domain of
+progress, and had there witnessed things which, like slimy reptiles,
+drew a cold trail over his warm heart. Trained up on Christian
+principles, schooled by enlightened professors of the faith, and
+watched over with affectionate vigilance by a pious mother, Seraphin
+had had no conception of the state of modern society. For this reason,
+both Greifmann _Senior_ and Gerlach _Senior_ committed a blunder in
+wishing to unite by marriage three millions of florins, the owners of
+which not merely differed, but were the direct opposites of each other
+in disposition and education.
+
+Louise belonged to the class of emancipated females who have in vain
+attempted to enhance the worth of noble womanhood by impressing on
+their own sex the sterner type of the masculine gender. In Louise's
+opinion, the beauty of woman does not consist in graceful gentleness,
+amiable concession and purity, but in proudly overstepping the bounds
+set for woman by the innate modesty of her sex. The beautiful young
+lady had no idea of the repulsiveness of a woman who strives to make a
+man of herself, but she was sure that the cause and origin of woman's
+degradation is religion. For it was to Eve that God had said: "Thou
+shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over
+thee." Louise considered this decree as revolting, and she detested the
+book whose authority among men gives effect to its meaning. On the
+other hand, she failed to observe that woman's sway is powerful and
+acknowledged wherever it exerts itself over weak man through affection
+and grace. Quite as little did Miss Louise observe that men assume the
+stature of giants so soon as women presume to appear in relation to
+them strong and manlike. Least of all did she discover anything
+gigantic in the kind-hearted Seraphin. In the consciousness of her
+fancied superiority of education, she smiled at the simplicity of his
+faith, and, as the handsome young gentleman appeared by no means an
+ineligible _parti_, she believed it to be her special task to train her
+prospective husband according to her own notions. She imagined this
+course of training would prove an easy undertaking for a lady whose
+charms had been uniformly triumphant over the hearts of gentlemen. But
+one circumstance appeared to her unaccountable--that was Seraphin's
+cold-bloodedness and unshaken independence. For eight days she had
+plied her arts in vain, the most exquisite coquetry had been wasted to
+no purpose, even the irresistible fire of her most lovely eyes had
+produced no perceptible impression on the impregnable citadel of the
+landholder's heart.
+
+"He is a mere child as yet, the most spotless innocence," she would
+muse hopefully. "He has been sheltered under a mother's wings like a
+pullet, and for this I am beholden to Madame Gerlach, for she has
+trained up an obedient husband for me."
+
+Seraphin sauntered through the walks of the garden, absorbed in gloomy
+reflections on the leaders of progress. Their utter disregard of honor
+and unparalleled baseness were disgusting to him as an honorable man,
+whilst their corruption and readiness for deeds of meanness were
+offensive to him as a Christian. Regarding Greifmann, also, he
+entertained misgivings. Upon closer examination, however, the
+unsuspecting youth thought he discovered in the banker's manner of
+treating the leaders and their principles a strong infusion of ridicule
+and irony. Hence, imposed upon by his own good nature, he concluded
+that Greifmann ought not in justice to be ranked among the hideous
+monstrosities of progress.
+
+With head sunk and rapt in thought, Gerlach strayed indefinitely amid
+the flowers and shrubbery. All at once he stood before Louise. The
+young lady was seated under a vine-covered arbor; in one hand she held
+a book, but she had allowed both hand and book to sink with graceful
+carelessness upon her lap. For some time back she had been observing
+the thoughtful young man. She had been struck by his manly carriage and
+vigorous step, and had come to the conclusion that his profusion of
+curling auburn hair was the most becoming set-off to his handsome
+countenance. She now welcomed the surprised youth with a smile so
+winning, and with a play of eyes and features so exquisite, that
+Seraphin, dazzled by the beauty of the apparition, felt constrained to
+lower his eyes like a bashful girl. What probably contributed much to
+this effect was the circumstance of his being at the time in a rather
+vacant and cheerless state of mind, so that, coming suddenly into the
+presence of this brilliant being, he experienced the power of the
+contrast. She appeared to him indescribably beautiful, and he wondered
+that this discovery had not forced itself upon him before.
+Unfortunately, the young gentleman possessed but little of the
+philosophy which will not suffer itself to be deceived by seductive
+appearances, and refuses to recognize the beautiful anywhere but in its
+agreement with the true and good.
+
+Louise perceived in an instant that now was at hand the long-looked-for
+fulfilment of her wishes. The certainty which she felt that the
+conquest was achieved diffused a bewitching loveliness over her person.
+Seraphin, on the other hand, stood leaning against the arbor, and
+became conscious with fear and surprise of a turmoil in his soul that
+he had never before experienced.
+
+"I have been keeping myself quiet in this shady retreat," said she
+sweetly, "not wishing to disturb your meditations. Carl's wager is a
+strange one, but it is a peculiarity of my brother's occasionally to
+manifest a relish for what is strange."
+
+"You are right--strange, very strange!" replied Seraphin, evidently in
+allusion to his actual state of mind. The beautiful young lady,
+perceiving the allusion, became still more dazzling.
+
+"I should regret very much that the wager were lost by a guest of ours,
+and still more that you were deprived of your splendid race-horses. I
+will prevail on Carl not to take advantage of his victory."
+
+"Many thanks, miss; but I would much rather you would not do so. If I
+lose the wager, honor and duty compel me to give up the stakes to the
+winner. Moreover, in the event of my losing, there would be another
+loss far more severe for me than the loss of my racers."
+
+"What would that be?" inquired she with some amazement.
+
+"The loss of my good opinion of men," answered he sadly. "What I have
+heard, miss, is base and vile beyond description." And he recounted for
+her in detail what had taken place.
+
+"Such things are new to you, Mr. Seraphin; hence your astonishment and
+indignation."
+
+The youth felt his soul pierced because she uttered not a word of
+disapproval against the villainy.
+
+"Carl's object was good," continued she, "in so far as his man[oe]uvre
+has procured you an insight into the principles by which the world is
+just now ruled."
+
+"I would be satisfied to lose the wager a thousand times, and even
+more, did I know that the world is not under such rule."
+
+"It is wrong to risk one's property for the sake of a delusion," said
+she reprovingly. "And it would be a gross delusion not to estimate men
+according to their real worth. A proprietor of fields and woodland,
+who, faithful to his calling, leads an existence pure and in accord
+with nature's laws, must not permit himself to be so far misled by the
+harmlessness of his own career as to idealize the human species. For
+were you at some future day to become more intimately acquainted with
+city life and society, you would then find yourself forced to smile at
+the views which you once held concerning the present."
+
+"Smile at, my dear miss? Hardly. I should rather have to mourn the
+destruction of my belief. Moreover, it is questionable whether I could
+breathe in an atmosphere which is unhealthy and destructive of all the
+genuine enjoyments of life!"
+
+"And what do you look upon as the genuine enjoyments of life?" asked
+she with evident curiosity.
+
+He hesitated, and his childlike embarrassment appeared to her most
+lovely.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Seraphin! I have been indiscreet, for such a
+question is allowable to those only who are on terms of intimacy." And
+the beauty exhibited a masterly semblance of modesty and amiability.
+The artifice proved successful, the young man's diffidence fled, and
+his heart opened.
+
+"You possess my utmost confidence, most esteemed Miss Greifmann!
+Intercourse with good, or at least honorable, persons appears to me to
+be the first condition for enjoying life. How could any one's existence
+be cheerful in the society of people whose character is naught and
+whose moral sense expired with the rejection of every religious
+principle?"
+
+"Yet perhaps it might, Mr. Seraphin!" rejoined she, with a smile of
+imagined superiority. "Refinement, the polished manners of society, may
+be substituted for the rigor of religious conviction."
+
+"Polished manners without moral earnestness are mere hypocrisy,"
+answered he decidedly. "A wolf, though enveloped in a thousand
+lambskins, still retains his nature."
+
+"How stern you are!" exclaimed she, laughing. "And what is the second
+condition for the true enjoyment of life, Mr. Seraphin?"
+
+"It is evidently the accord of moral consciousness with the behests of
+a supreme authority; or to use the ordinary expression, a good
+conscience," answered the millionaire earnestly.
+
+A sneering expression spontaneously glided over her countenance. She
+felt the hateful handwriting of her soul in her features, turned
+crimson, and cast down her eyes in confusion. The young man had not
+observed the expression of mockery, and could not account for her
+confusion. He thought he had perhaps awkwardly wounded her
+sensitiveness.
+
+"I merely meant to express my private conviction," said Mr. Seraphin
+apologetically.
+
+"Which is grand and admirable," lauded she.
+
+Her approbation pleased him, for his simplicity failed to detect the
+concealed ridicule. After a walk outside of the city which Gerlach took
+towards evening, in the company of the brother and sister, Carl
+Greifmann made his appearance in Louise's apartment.
+
+"You have at last succeeded in capturing him," began he with a chuckle
+of satisfaction. "I was almost beginning to lose confidence in your
+well-tried powers. This time you seemed unable to keep the field, to
+the astonishment of all your acquaintances. They never knew you to be
+baffled where the heart of a weak male was to be won."
+
+"What are you talking about?"
+
+"About the fat codfish of two million weight whom you have been
+successful in angling."
+
+"I do not understand you, most mysterious brother!"
+
+"You do not understand me, and yet you blush like the skies before a
+rainstorm! What means the vermilion of those cheeks, if you do not
+understand?"
+
+"I blush, first, on account of my limited understanding, which cannot
+grasp your philosophy; and, secondly, because I am amazed at the
+monstrous figures of your language."
+
+"Then I shall have to speak without figures and similes upon a subject
+which loses a great deal in the light of bare reality, which, I might
+indeed say, loses all, dissolves into vapor, like will-o'-the-wisps and
+cloud phantoms before the rising sun. I hardly know how to mention
+the subject without figures, I can hardly handle it except with
+poetic figures," exclaimed he gaily, seating himself in Louise's
+rocking--chair, rocking himself. "Speaking in the commonest prose, my
+remarks refer to the last victim immolated to your highness--to the
+last brand kindled by the fire of your eyes. To talk quite broadly, I
+mean the millionaire and landholder Seraphin Gerlach, who is head and
+ears in love with you. Considered from a business and solid point of
+view, it is exceedingly flattering for the banker's brother to see his
+sister adored by so considerable a sum of money."
+
+"Madman, you profane the noblest feelings of the heart," she chidingly
+said, with a smile.
+
+"I am a man of business, my dear child, and am acquainted with no
+sanctuary but the exchange. Relations of a tender nature, noble
+feelings of the heart, lying as they do without the domain of
+speculation, are to me something incomprehensible and not at all
+desirable. On the other hand, I entertain for two millions of money a
+most prodigious sympathy, and a love that casts the flames of all your
+heroes and heroines of romance into the shade. Meanwhile, my sweet
+little sister, there are two aspects to everything. An alliance between
+our house and two millions of florins claims admiration, 'tis true; yet
+it is accompanied with difficulties which require serious reflection."
+The banker actually ceased rocking and grew serious.
+
+"Might I ask a solution of your enigma?"
+
+"All jesting aside, Louise, this alliance is not altogether free from
+risks," answered he. "Just consider the contrast between yourself and
+Seraphin Gerlach's good nature is touching, and his credulous
+simplicity is calculated to excite apprehension. Guided, imposed upon,
+entirely bewitched by religious phantasms, he gropes about in the
+darkness of superstition. You, on the contrary, sneer at what Seraphin
+cherishes as holy, and despise such religious nonsense. Reflect now
+upon the enormous contrast between yourself and the gentleman whom fate
+and your father's shrewdness have selected for your husband. Honestly,
+I am in dread. I am already beginning to dream of divorce and every
+possible tale of scandal, which would not be precisely propitious for
+our firm."
+
+"What contradictions!" exclaimed the beauty with self-reliance. "You
+just a moment ago announced my triumph over Seraphin, and now you
+proclaim my defeat."
+
+"Your defeat! Not at all! But I apprehend wrangling and discord in your
+married life."
+
+"Wrangling and discord because Seraphin loves me?"
+
+"No--not exactly--but because he is a believer and you are an
+unbeliever; in short, because he does not share your aims and views."
+
+"How short-sighted you are! As you conceive of it, love is not a
+passion; at most, only, a cool mood which cannot be modified by the
+lovers themselves. Your apprehension would be well grounded concerning
+that kind of love. But suppose love were something quite different?
+Suppose it were a passion, a glowing, dazzling, omnipotent passion, and
+that Seraphin really loved me, do you think that I would not skilfully
+and prudently take advantage of this passion? Cannot a woman exert a
+decisive and directing influence over the husband who loves her
+tenderly? I have no fears because I do not view love with the eyes of a
+trader. I hope and trust with the adjurations of love to expel from
+Seraphin all superstitious spirits."
+
+"How sly! Surely nothing can surpass a daughter of Eve in the matter of
+seductive arts!" exclaimed he, laughing. "Hem--yes, indeed, after what
+I have seen to-day, it is plain that the Adam Seraphin will taste of
+the forbidden fruit of ripened knowledge, persuaded by this tenderly
+beloved Eve. Look at him: there he wanders in the shade of the garden,
+sighing to the rose-bushes, dreaming, of your majesty, and little
+suspecting that he is threatened with conversion and redemption from
+the kingdom of darkness."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV.
+
+                              HANS SHUND.
+
+
+Hans Shund returned home from business in high feather. Something
+unusual must have happened him, for his behavior was exceptional.
+Standing before his desk, he mechanically drew various papers from his
+pockets, and laid them in different drawers and pigeon-holes. The
+mechanical manner of his behavior was what was exceptional, for usually
+Hans Shund bestowed particular attention upon certain papers; his
+soul's life was in those papers. Moreover, on the present occasion, he
+kept shaking his head as if astonishment would not suffer him to remain
+quiet. Yet habitually Hans Shund never shook his head, for that
+proceeding betrays interior emotion, and Shund's neck was as hardened
+and stiff as his usurer's soul. The other exceptional feature of his
+behavior was a continuous growing, which at length waxed into a genuine
+soliloquy. But Hans Shund was never known to talk to himself, for
+talking to one's self indicates a kindly disposition, whilst Shund had
+no disposition whatever, as they maintain who knew him; or, if he had
+ever had one, it had smouldered into a hard, impenetrable crust of
+slag.
+
+"Strange--remarkably strange!" said he. "Hem! what can it mean? How am
+I to account for it? Has the usurer undergone a transformation during
+the night?" And a hideous grin distorted his face. "Am I metamorphosed,
+am I enchanted, or am I myself an enchanter? Unaccountable, marvellous,
+unheard of!"
+
+The papers had been locked up in the desk. A secret power urged him up
+and down the room, and finally into the adjoining sitting-room, where
+Mrs. Shund, a pale, careworn lady, sat near a sewing-stand, intent on
+her lonely occupation.
+
+"Wife, queer things have befallen me. Only think, all the city notables
+have raised their hats to your humble servant, and have saluted me in a
+friendly, almost an obsequious manner. And this has happened to me
+to-day--to me, the hated and despised usurer! Isn't that quite amazing?
+Even the city regent, Schwefel's son, took off his hat, and bowed as if
+I were some live grandee. How do you explain that prodigy?"
+
+The careworn woman kept on sewing without raising her head.
+
+"Why don't you answer me, wife? Don't you find that most astonishing?"
+
+"I am incapable of being astonished, since grief and care have so
+filled my heart that no room is left in it for feelings of any other
+kind."
+
+"Well, well! what is up again?" asked he, with curiosity.
+
+She drew a letter written in a female hand from one of the drawers of
+the sewing-stand.
+
+"Read this, villain!"
+
+Hastily snatching the letter, he began to read.
+
+"Hem," growled he indifferently. "The drab complains of being
+neglected, of not getting any money from me. That should not be a cause
+of rage for you, I should think. The drab is brazen enough to write to
+you to reveal my weaknesses, all with the amicable intention of getting
+up a thundergust in our matrimonial heaven. Do learn sense, wife, and
+stop noticing my secret enjoyments."
+
+"Fie, villain. Fie upon you, shameless wretch!" cried she, trembling in
+every limb.
+
+"Listen to me, wife! Above all things, let us not have a scene, an
+unnecessary row," interrupted he. "You know how fruitless are your
+censures. Don't pester me with your stale lectures on morals."
+
+"Nearly every month I get a letter of that sort written in the most
+disreputable purlieus of the town, and addressed to my husband. It is
+revolting! Am I to keep silent, shameless man--_I_ your wedded wife? Am
+I to be silent in presence of such infamous deeds?"
+
+"Rather too pathetic, wife! Save your breath. Don't grieve at the
+liberties which I take. Try and accustom yourself to pay as little
+attention to my conduct as I bestow upon yours. When years ago I
+entered the contract with you vulgarly denominated marriage, I did it
+with the understanding that I was uniting myself to a subject that was
+willing to share with me a life free from restraints; I mean, a life
+free from the odor of so-called hereditary moral considerations and of
+religious restrictions. Accustom yourself to this view of the matter,
+rise to my level, enjoy an emancipated existence."
+
+He spoke and left the room. In his office he read the letter over.
+
+"This creature is insatiable!" murmured he to himself. "I shall have to
+turn her off and enter into less expensive connections. I am talking
+with myself to-day--queer, very queer!"
+
+A heavy knock was heard at the door.
+
+"Come in!"
+
+A man and woman scantily clad entered the room. The sight of the
+wretched couple brought a fierce passion into the usurer's countenance.
+He seemed suddenly transformed into a tiger, bloodthirstily crouching
+to seize his prey.
+
+"What is the matter. Holt?"
+
+"Mr. Shund," began the man in a dejected tone, "the officer of the law
+has served the writ upon us: it is to take effect in ten days."
+
+"That is, unless you make payment," interrupted Shund.
+
+"We are not able to pay just now, Mr. Shund, it is impossible. I wished
+therefore to entreat you very earnestly to have patience with us poor
+people."
+
+The woman seconded her husband's petition by weeping bitterly, wringing
+her hands piteously. The usurer shook his head relentlessly.
+
+"Patience, patience, you say. For eight years I have been using
+patience with you; my patience is exhausted now. There must be limits
+to everything. There is a limit to patience also. I insist upon your
+paying."
+
+"Consider, Mr. Shund, I am the father of eight children. If you insist
+on payment now and permit the law to take its course, you will ruin a
+family of ten persons. Surely your conscience will not permit you to do
+this?"
+
+"Conscience! What do you mean? Do not trouble me with your nonsense.
+For me, conscience means to have; for you, it means you must.
+Therefore, pay."
+
+"Mr. Shund, you know it is yourself that have reduced us to this
+wretched condition!"
+
+"You don't say I did! How so?"
+
+"May I remind you, Mr. Shund, may I remind you of all the circumstances
+by which this was brought about? How it happened that from a man of
+means I have been brought to poverty?"
+
+"Go on, dearest Holt--go on; it will be interesting to me!" The usurer
+settled himself comfortably to hear the summary of his successful
+villanies from the mouth of the unfortunate man with the same
+satisfaction with which a tiger regales itself on the tortures of its
+victim.
+
+"Nine years ago, Mr. Shund, I was not in debt, as you know. I labored
+and supported my family honestly, without any extraordinary exertion. A
+field was for sale next to my field at the Rothenbush. You came at the
+time--it is now upwards of eight years, and said in a friendly way,
+'Holt, my good man, buy that field. It lies next to yours, and you
+ought not to let the chance slip.' I wanted the field, but had no
+money. This I told you. You encouraged me, saying, 'Holt, my good man,
+I will let you have the money--on interest, of course; for I am a man
+doing business, and I make my living off my money. I will never push
+you for the amount. You may pay it whenever and in what way you wish.
+Suit yourself.' You gave me this encouragement at the time. You loaned
+me nine hundred and fifty florins--in the note, however, you wrote one
+thousand and fifty, and, besides, at five per cent. For three years I
+paid interest on one thousand and fifty, although you had loaned me
+only nine hundred and fifty. All of a sudden--I was just in trouble at
+the time, for one of my draught-cattle had been crippled, and the
+harvest had turned out poorly, you came and demanded your money. I had
+none. 'I am sorry,' said you, 'I need my money, and could put it out at
+much higher interest.' I begged and begged. You threatened to sue me.
+Finally, after much begging, you proposed that I should sell you the
+field, for which three years previous I had paid nine hundred and fifty
+florins, for seven hundred florins, alleging that land was no longer as
+valuable as it had been. You were willing to rent me the field at a
+high rate. And to enable me to get along, you offered to lend me
+another thousand, but drew up a note for eleven hundred florins at ten
+per cent., because, as you pretended, money was now bringing ten per
+cent. since the law regulating interest had been abrogated. For a long
+while I objected to the proposal, but found myself forced at last to
+yield because you threatened to attach my effects. From this time I
+began to go downhill, I could no longer meet expenses, my family was
+large, and I had to work for you to pay up the interest and rent. But
+for some time back I had been unable to do as I wished. I could not
+even sell any of my own property; for you were holding me fast,
+and I was obliged to mortgage everything to you for a merely nominal
+price. My cottage, my barn, my garden, and the field in front of my
+house--worth at least two thousand florins--I had to give you a
+mortgage upon for one thousand. The rest of my immovable property,
+fields and meadows, you took. Nothing was left to me but the little hut
+and what adjoined it. With respects, Mr. Shund, you had long since
+sucked the very marrow from my bones, next you put the rope about my
+neck, and now you are about to hang me."
+
+"Hang you? Ha--ha! That's good, Holt! You are in fine humor," cried the
+usurer, after hearing with a relish the simple account of his atrocious
+deeds. "I have no hankering for your neck. Pay up, Holt, pay up, that
+is all I want. Pay me over the trifle of a thousand florins and the
+interest, and the house with everything pertaining to it shall be
+yours. But if you cannot pay up, it will have to be sold at auction, so
+that I may get my money."
+
+"For heaven's sake, Mr. Shund, be merciful," entreated the wife. "We
+have saved up the interest with much trouble; every farthing of it you
+are to receive. For God's sake, do not drive us from our home, Mr.
+Shund, we will gladly toil for you day and night. Take pity, Mr. Shund,
+do take pity on my poor children!"
+
+"Stop your whining. Pay up, money alone has any value in my
+estimation--pay, all the rest is fudge. Pay up!"
+
+"God knows, Mr. Shund," sobbed the woman, wringing her hands, "I would
+give my heart's blood to keep my poor children out of misery--with my
+life I would be willing to pay you. Oh! do have some commiseration, do
+be merciful! Almighty God will requite you for it."
+
+"Almighty God, nonsense! Don't mention such stuff to me. Stupid palaver
+like that might go down with some bigoted fool, but it will not affect
+a man of enlightenment. Pay up, and there's an end of it!"
+
+"Is it your determination then, Mr. Shund, to cast us out mercilessly
+under the open sky?" inquired the countryman with deep earnestness.
+
+"I only want what belongs to me. Pay over the thousand florins with the
+interest, and we shall be quits. That's my position, you may go."
+
+In feeling words the woman once more appealed to Hans Shund. He
+remained indifferent to her pleading, and smiled scornfully whenever
+she adduced religious considerations to support her petition. Suddenly
+Holt took her by the arm and drew her towards the door.
+
+"Say no more, wife, say no more, but come away. You could more easily
+soften stones than a man who has no conscience and does not believe in
+God."
+
+"There you have spoken the truth," sneered Shund.
+
+"You sneer, Mr. Shund," and the man's eyes glared. "Do you know to whom
+you owe it that your head is not broken?"
+
+"What sort of language is that?"
+
+"It is the language of a father driven to despair. I tell you"--and the
+countryman raised his clenched fists--"it is to the good God that you
+are indebted for your life; for, if I believed as little in an almighty
+and just God as you, with this pair of strong hands I would wring your
+neck. Yes, stare at me! With these hands I would strangle Shund, who
+has brought want upon my children and misery upon me. Come away, wife,
+come away. He is resolved to reduce us to beggary as he has done to so
+many others. Do your worst, Mr. Shund, but there above we shall have a
+reckoning with each other."
+
+He dragged his wife out of the room, and went away without saluting,
+but casting a terrible scowl back upon Hans Shund.
+
+For a long while the usurer sat thoughtfully, impressed by the ominous
+scowl and threat, which were not empty ones, for rage and despair swept
+like a rack over the man's countenance. Mr. Shund felt distinctly that
+but for the God of Christians he would have been murdered by the
+infuriated man. He discovered, moreover, that religious belief is to be
+recommended as a safeguard against the fury of the mob. On the other
+hand, he found this belief repugnant to a usurer's conscience and a
+hindrance to the free enjoyment of life. Hans Shund thus sat making
+reflections on religion, and endeavoring to drown the echo which Holt's
+summons before the supreme tribunal had awakened in a secret recess of
+his soul, when hasty steps resounded from the front yard and the door
+was suddenly burst open. Hans' agent rushed in breathless, sank upon
+the nearest chair, and, opening his mouth widely, gasped for breath.
+
+"What is the matter, Braun?" inquired Shund in surprise. "What has
+happened?"
+
+Braun flung his arms about, rolled his eyes wildly, and labored to get
+breath, like a person that is being smothered.
+
+"Get your breath, you fool!" growled the usurer. "What business had you
+running like a maniac? Something very extraordinary must be the matter,
+is it not?"
+
+Braun assented with violent nodding.
+
+"Anything terrible?" asked he further.
+
+More nodding from Braun. The usurer began to feel uneasy. Many a
+nefarious deed stuck to his hands, but not one that had not been
+committed with all possible caution and secured against any afterclaps
+of the law. Yet might he not for once have been off his guard? "What
+has been detected? Speak!" urged the conscience-stricken villain
+anxiously.
+
+"Mr. Shund, you are to be--in this place--"
+
+"Arrested?" suggested the other, appalled, as the agent's breath failed
+him again.
+
+"No--mayor!"
+
+Shund straightened himself, and raised his hands to feel his ears.
+
+"I am surely in possession of my hearing! Are you gone mad, fellow?"
+
+"Mr. Shund, you are to be mayor and member of the legislature. It is a
+settled fact!"
+
+"Indeed, 'tis quite a settled fact that you have lost your wits. It is
+a pity, poor devil! You once were useful, now you are insane; quite a
+loss for me! Where am I to get another bloodhound as good as you? Your
+scent was keen, you drove many a nice bit of game into my nets. Hem--so
+many instances of insanity in these enlightened times of ours are
+really something peculiar. Braun, dearest Braun, have you really lost
+your mind entirely? Completely deranged?"
+
+"I am not insane, Mr. Shund. I have been assured from various sources
+that you are to be elected mayor and delegate to the legislative
+assembly."
+
+"Well, then, various persons have been running a rig upon you."
+
+"Running a rig upon me, Mr. Shund? Bamboozle me--me who understand and
+have practised bamboozling others for so long?"
+
+"Still, I maintain that people have been playing off a hoax on you--and
+what an outrageous hoax it is, too!
+
+"I believe a hoax? Just listen to me. I have never been more
+clearheaded than I am to-day. Acquaintances and strangers in different
+quarters of the town have assured me that it is a fixed fact that you
+are to be mayor of this city and member of the legislative assembly.
+Now, were it a hoax, would you not have to presuppose that both
+acquaintances and strangers conspired to make a fool of me? Yet such a
+supposition is most improbable."
+
+"Your reasoning is correct, Braun. Still, such a conspiracy must really
+have been gotten up. _I_ mayor of this city? _I_? Reflect for an
+instant, Braun. You know what an enviable reputation I bear throughout
+the city. Many persons would go a hundred paces out of their direction
+to avoid me, specially they who owe or have owed me anything. Moreover,
+who appoints the mayor? The men who give the keynote, the leaders of
+the town. Now, these men would consider themselves defiled by the
+slightest contact with the outlawed usurer--which, of course, is very
+unjust and inconsistent on the part of those gentlemen--for my views
+are the same as theirs."
+
+"Spite of all that, I put faith in the report, Mr. Shund. Schwefel's
+bookkeeper also, when I met him, smiled significantly, and even raised
+his hat."
+
+"Hold on, Braun, hold! The deuce--it just now occurs to me--you might
+not be so much mistaken after all. Strange things have happened to me
+also. Gentlemen who are intimate with our city magnates have saluted me
+and nodded to me quite confidentially; I was unable to solve this
+riddle, now it's clear. Braun, you are right, your information is
+perfectly true." And Mr. Shund rubbed his hands.
+
+"Don't forget, Mr. Shund, that I first brought you the astounding
+intelligence, the joyful tidings, the information on which the very
+best sort of speculations may be based."
+
+"You shall be recompensed, Braun! Go over to the sign of the Bear, and
+drink a bottle of the best, and I will pay for it."
+
+"At a thaler a bottle?"
+
+"That quality isn't good for the health, my dear fellow! You may drink
+a bottle at forty-eight kreutzers on my credit. But no--I don't wish to
+occasion you an injury, nor do I wish to see you disgraced. You shall
+not acquire the name of a toper in my employ. You may therefore call
+for a pint glass at twelve kreutzers a glass. Go, now, and leave me to
+myself."
+
+When the agent was gone, Hans Shund rushed about the room as if out of
+his mind.
+
+"Don't tell me that miracles no longer occur!" cried he. "_I_, the
+discharged treasurer--_I_, the thief, usurer, and profligate, at the
+mere sight of whom every young miss and respectable lady turn up their
+noses a thousand paces off--_I_ am chosen to be mayor and assemblyman!
+How has this come to pass? Where lie the secret springs of this
+astonishing event?" And he laid his finger against his nose in a brown
+study. "Here it is--yes, here! The thinkers of progress have at length
+discovered that a man who from small beginnings has risen to an
+independent fortune, whose shrewdness and energy have amassed enormous
+sums, ought to be placed at the head of the city administration in
+order to convert the tide of public debt into a tide of prosperity.
+Yes, herein lies the secret. Nor are the gentlemen entirely mistaken.
+There are ways and means of making plus out of minus, of converting
+stones into money. But the gentlemen have taken the liberty of
+disposing of me without my previous knowledge and consent. I have not
+even been asked. Quite natural, of course. Who asks a dog for
+permission to stroke him? This is, I own, an unpleasant aftertaste.
+Hem, suppose I were too proud to accept, suppose I wanted to bestow my
+abilities and energies on my own personal interests. Come, now, old
+Hans, don't be sensitive! Pride, self-respect, character, sense of
+honor, and such things are valuable only when they bring emolument.
+Now, the mayor of a great city has it in his power to direct many a
+measure eminently to his own interest."
+
+Another knock was heard at the door, and the usurer, taken by surprise,
+saw before him the leader Erdblatt.
+
+"Have you been informed of a fact that is very flattering to you?"
+began the tobacco manufacturer.
+
+"Not the slightest intimation of a fact of that nature has reached me,"
+answered Shund with reserve.
+
+"Then I am very happy to be the first to give you the news," assured
+Erdblatt. "It has been decided to promote you at the next election to
+the office of mayor and of delegate to the legislative assembly."
+
+A malignant smile flitted athwart Shund's face. He shook his sandy head
+in feigned astonishment, and fixed upon the other a look that was the
+next thing to a sneer.
+
+"There are almost as many marvels in your announcement as words. You
+speak of a decision and of a fact which, however, without my humble
+co-operation, are hardly practicable. I thought all along that the
+disposition of my person belonged to myself. How could anything be
+resolved upon or become a fact in which I myself happen to have the
+casting vote?"
+
+"Your cordial correspondence with the flattering intention of your
+fellow-citizens was presumed upon; moreover, you were to be agreeably
+surprised," explained the progressionist leader.
+
+"That, sir, was a very violent presumption! I am a free citizen, and am
+at liberty to dispose of my time and faculties as I please. In the
+capacity of mayor, I should find myself trammelled and no longer
+independent on account of the office. Moreover, a weighty
+responsibility would then rest upon my shoulders, especially in the
+present deplorable circumstances of the administration. Could I prevail
+on my myself to accept the proffered situation, it would become my duty
+to attempt a thorough reform in the thoughtless and extravagant
+management of city affairs. You certainly cannot fail to perceive that
+a reformer in this department would be the aim of dangerous
+machinations. And lastly, sir, why is it that I individually have been
+selected for appointments which are universally regarded as honorable
+distinctions in public life? I repeat, why are they to be conferred,
+upon me in particular who cannot flatter myself with enjoying very high
+favor among the people of this city?" And there glistened something
+like revengeful triumph in Shund's feline, eyes. "When you will have
+given a satisfactory solution to these reflections and questions, it
+may become possible for me to think of assenting to your proposal."
+
+Erdblatt had not anticipated a reception of this nature, and for a
+moment he sat nonplussed.
+
+"I ask your pardon, Mr. Shund, you have taken the words fact and
+decision in too positive a sense. What is a decided fact is that the
+leaders of progress assign the honorable positions mentioned to you. Of
+course it rests with you to accept or decline them. The motive of our
+decision was, if you will pardon my candor, your distinguished talent
+for economizing. It is plain to us that a man of your abilities and
+thorough knowledge of local circumstances could by prudent management
+and, by eliminating unnecessary expenditure, do much towards relieving
+the deplorable condition of the city budget. We thought, moreover, that
+your well-known philanthropy would not refuse the sacrifices of
+personal exertion and unremitting activity for the public good.
+Finally, as regards the disrespect to which you have alluded, I assure
+you I knew nothing of it. The stupid and mad rabble may perhaps have
+cast stones at you, but can or will you hold respectable men
+responsible for their deeds? Progress has ever proudly counted you in
+its ranks. We have always found you living according to the principles
+of progress, despising the impotent yelping of a religiously besotted
+mob. Be pleased to consider the tendered honors as amends for the
+insults of intolerant fanatics in this city."
+
+"Your explanation, sir, is satisfactory. I shall accept. I am
+particularly pleased to know that my conduct and principles are in
+perfect accord with the spirit of progress. I am touched by the
+flattering recognition of my greatly misconstrued position."
+
+The leader bowed graciously.
+
+"There now remains for me the pleasant duty," said he, "of requesting
+you to honor with your presence a meeting of influential men who are to
+assemble this evening in Mr. Schwefel's drawing-room. Particulars are
+to be discussed there. The ultramontanes and democrats are turbulent
+beyond all anticipation. We shall have to proceed with the greatest
+caution about the delegate elections."
+
+"I shall be there without fail, sir! Now that I have made up my mind to
+devote my experience to the interests of city and state, I cheerfully
+enter into every measure which it lies in my power to further."
+
+"As you are out for the first time as candidate for the assembly," said
+Erdblatt, "a declaration of your political creed addressed to a meeting
+of the constituents would not fail of a good effect."
+
+"Agreed, sir! I shall take pleasure in making known my views in a
+public speech."
+
+Erdblatt rose, and Mr. Hans Shund was condescending enough to reach the
+mighty chieftain his hand as the latter took his leave.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V.
+
+                            ELECTIONEERING.
+
+
+The four millions of the balcony are at present standing before two
+suits of male apparel of the kind worn by the working class,
+contemplating them with an interest one would scarcely expect from
+millionaires in materials of so ordinary a quality. Spread out on the
+elegant and costly table cover are two blouses of striped gray at
+fifteen kreutzers a yard. There are, besides, two pairs of trowsers of
+a texture well adapted to the temperature of the month of July. There
+are also two neckties, sold at fairs for six kreutzers apiece. And,
+lastly, two cheap caps with long broad peaks. These suits were intended
+to serve as disguises for Seraphin and Carl on this evening, for the
+banker did not consider it becoming gentlemen to visit electioneering
+meetings, dressed in a costume in which they might be recognized. As
+Greifmann's face was familiar to every street-boy, he had provided
+himself with a false beard of sandy hue to complete his _incognito_.
+For Seraphin this last adjunct was unnecessary, for he was a stranger,
+was thus left free to exhibit his innocent countenance unmasked for the
+gratification of curious starers.
+
+"This will be a pleasant change from the monotony of a banking house
+existence," said the banker gleefully. "I enjoy this masquerade: it
+enables me to mingle without constraint among the unconstrained. You
+are going to see marvellous things to-night, friend Seraphin. If your
+organs of hearing are not very sound, I advise you to provide yourself
+with some cotton, so that the drums of your ears may not be endangered
+from the noise of the election skirmish."
+
+"Your caution is far from inspiring confidence," said Louise with some
+humor. "I charge it upon your soul that you bring back Mr. Gerlach safe
+and sound, for I too am responsible for our guest."
+
+"And I, it seems, am less near to you than the guest, for you feel no
+anxiety about me," said the brother archly.
+
+"Eight o'clock--it is our time."
+
+He pulled the bell. A servant carried off the suits to the gentlemen's
+rooms.
+
+"May I beseech the men in blouses for the honor of a visit before they
+go?"
+
+"You shall have an opportunity to admire us," said Carl. The
+transformation of the young men was more rapidly effected than the
+self-satisfied mustering of Louise before the large mirror which
+reflected her elegant form entire. She laughingly welcomed her brother
+in his sandy beard, and fixed a look of surprise upon Seraphin, whose
+innocent person appeared to great advantage in the simple costume.
+
+"Impossible to recognize you," decided the young lady. "You, brother
+Redbeard, look for all the world like a cattle dealer."
+
+"The gracious lady has hit it exactly," said the banker with an assumed
+voice. "I am a horse jockey, bent on euchreing this young gentleman out
+of a splendid pair of horses."
+
+"Friend Seraphin is most lovely," said she in an undertone. "How well
+the country costume becomes him!" And her sparkling eyes darted
+expressive glances at the subject of her compliments.
+
+For the first time she had called him friend, and the word friend made
+him more happy than titles and honors that a prince might have
+bestowed. He felt his soul kindle at the sight of the lovely being
+whose delicate and bewitching coquetry the inexperienced youth failed
+to detect, but the influence of which he was surely undergoing. His
+cheeks glowed still more highly, and he became uneasy and embarrassed.
+
+"Your indulgent criticism is encouraging, Miss Louise," replied he.
+
+"I have merely told the truth," replied she.
+
+"But our hands--what are we to do with our hands?" interposed Carl.
+"Soft white hands like these do not belong to drovers. First of all,
+away with diamonds and rubies. Gold rings and precious stones are not
+in keeping with blouses. Nor will it do, in hot weather like this, to
+bring gloves to our aid--that's too bad! What _are_ we to do?"
+
+"Nobody will notice our hands," thought Seraphin.
+
+"My good fellow, you do not understand the situation. We are on the eve
+of the election. Everybody is out electioneering. Whoever to-day visits
+a public place must expect to be hailed by a thousand eyes, stared at,
+criticised, estimated, appraised, and weighed. The deuce take these
+hands! Good advice would really be worth something in this instance."
+
+"To a powerful imagination like your own," added Louise playfully. She
+disappeared for a moment and then returned with a washbowl. Pouring the
+contents of her inkstand into the water, she laughingly pointed them to
+the dark mass.
+
+"Dip your precious hands in here, and you will make them correspond
+with your blouses in color and appearance."
+
+"How ingenious she is!" cried Carl, following her direction.
+
+"Most assuredly nothing comes up to the ingenuity of women. We are
+beautifully tattooed, our hands are horrible! We must give the stuff
+time to dry. Had I only thought of it sooner, Louise, you should have
+accompanied us disguised as a drover's daughter, and have drunk a
+bumper of wine with us. The adventure might have proved useful to you,
+and served as an addition to the sum of your experiences in life."
+
+"I will content myself with looking on from a distance," answered she
+gaily. "The extraordinary progressionist movement that is going on
+to-day might make it a difficult task even for a drover's daughter to
+keep her footing."
+
+The two millionaires sallied forth, Carl making tremendous strides.
+Seraphin followed mechanically, the potent charm of her parting glances
+hovering around him.
+
+"We shall first steer for the sign of the 'Green Hat,'" said Greifmann.
+"There you will hear a full orchestra of progressionist music,
+especially trumpets and drums, playing flourishes on Hans Shund. 'The
+Green Hat' is the largest beer cellar in the town, and the proprietor
+ranks among the leaders next after housebuilder Sand. All the
+representatives of the city _regime_ gather to-day at the establishment
+of Mr. Belladonna--that's the name of the gentleman of the 'Green Hat.'
+Besides the leaders, there will be upward of a thousand citizens, big
+and small, to hold a preliminary celebration of election day. There
+will also be 'wild men' on hand," proceeded Carl, explaining. "These
+are citizens who in a manner float about like atoms in the bright
+atmosphere of the times without being incorporated in any brilliant
+body of progress. The main object of the leaders this evening is to
+secure these so-called 'wild men' in favor of their ticket for the city
+council. Glib-tongued agents will be employed to spread their nets to
+catch the floating atoms--to tame these savages by means of smart
+witticisms. When, at length, a prize is captured and the tide of
+favorable votes runs high, it is towed into the safe haven of agreement
+with the majority. Resistance would turn out a serious matter for a
+mechanic, trader, shopkeeper, or any man whose position condemns him to
+obtain his livelihood from others. Opposition to progress dooms every
+man that is in a dependent condition to certain ruin. For these reasons
+I have no misgivings about being able to convince you that elections
+are a folly wherever the banner of progress waves triumphant."
+
+"The conviction with which you threaten me would be anything but
+gratifying, for I abhor every form of terrorism," rejoined Seraphin.
+
+"Very well, my good fellow! But we must accustom ourselves to take
+things as they are and not as they ought to be. Therefore, my youthful
+Telemachus, you are under everlasting obligations to me, your
+experienced Mentor, for procuring you an opportunity of becoming
+acquainted with the world, and constraining you to think less well of
+men than your generous heart would incline you to do."
+
+They had reached the outskirts of the city. A distant roaring,
+resembling the sound of shallow waters falling, struck upon the ears of
+the maskers. The noise grew more distinct as they advanced, and finally
+swelled into the brawling and hum of many voices. Passing through a
+wide gate-way, the millionaires entered a square ornamented with
+maple-trees. Under the trees, stretching away into the distance, were
+long rows of tables lit up by gaslights, and densely crowded with men
+drinking beer and talking noisily. The middle of the square was
+occupied by a rotunda elevated on columns, with a zinc roof, and
+bestuck in the barbarous taste of the age with a profusion of tin
+figures and plaster-of-paris ornaments. Beneath the rotunda, around a
+circular table, sat the leaders and chieftains of progress, conspicuous
+to all, and with a flood of light from numerous large gas-burners
+streaming upon them. Between Sand and Schwefel was throned Hans Shund,
+extravagantly dressed, and proving by his manner that he was quite at
+his ease. Nothing in his deportment indicated that he had so suddenly
+risen from general contempt to universal homage. Mr. Shund frequently
+monopolized the conversation, and, when this was the case, the company
+listened to his sententious words with breathless attention and many
+marks of approbation.
+
+Mentor Greifmann conducted his ward to a retired corner, into which the
+rays of light, intercepted by low branches, penetrated but faintly, and
+from which a good view of the whole scene could be enjoyed.
+
+"Do you observe Hans there under the baldachin surrounded by his
+vassals?" rouned Carl into his companion's ear. "Even you will be made
+to feel that progress can lay claim to a touching spirit of magnanimity
+and forgiveness. It is disposed to raise the degraded from the dust.
+The man who only yesterday was engaged in shoving a car, sweeping
+streets, or even worse, to-day may preside over the great council,
+provided only he has the luck to secure the good graces of the princes
+of progress. Hans Shund, thief, usurer, and nightwalker, is a most
+striking illustration of my assertion."
+
+"What particularly disgusts and incenses me," replied the double
+millionaire gravely, "is that, under the _regime_ of progress, they who
+are degraded, immoral, and criminal, may rise to power without any
+reformation of conduct and principles."
+
+"What you say is so much philosophy, my dear fellow, and philosophy is
+an antique, obsolete kind of thing that has no weight in times when
+continents are being cut asunder and threads of iron laid around the
+globe. Moreover, such has ever been the state of things. In the dark
+ages, also, criminals attained to power. Just think of those bloody
+monarchs who trifled with human heads, and whose ministers, for the
+sake of a patch of territory, stirred up horrible wars. Compared with
+such monsters, Hans Shund is spotless innocence."
+
+"Quite right, sir," rejoined the landholder, with a smile. "Those
+bloody kings and their satanic ministers were monsters--but only--and I
+beg you to mark this well--only when judged by principles which modern
+progress sneers at as stupid morality and senseless dogma. I even find
+that those princely monsters and their conscienceless ministers shared
+the species of enlightenment that prides itself on repudiating all
+positive religion and moral obligations."
+
+"Thunder and lightning, Seraphin! were not you sitting bodily before
+me, I should believe I was actually listening to a Jesuit. But be
+quiet! It will not do to attract notice. Ah! splendid. There you see
+some of the 'wild men,'" continued he, pointing to a table opposite.
+"The fellow with the bald head and fox's face is an agent, a salaried
+bellwether, a polished electioneer. He has the 'wild men' already
+half-tamed. Watch how cleverly he will decoy them into the
+progressionist camp. Let us listen to what he has to say; it will amuse
+you, and add to your knowledge of the developments of progress."
+
+"We want men for the city council," spoke he of the bald head, "that
+are accurately and thoroughly informed upon the condition and
+circumstances of the city. Of what use would blockheads be but to fuss
+and grope about blindly? What need have we of fellows whose stupidity
+would compromise the public welfare? The men we want in our city
+council must understand what measures the social, commercial, and
+industrial interests of a city of thirty thousand inhabitants require
+in order that the greatest good of the largest portion of the community
+may be secured. Nor is this enough," proceeded he with increasing
+enthusiasm. "Besides knowledge, experience, and judgment, they must
+also be gifted with the necessary amount of energy to carry out
+whatever orders the council has thought fit to pass. They must be
+resolute enough to break down every obstacle that stands in the way of
+the public good. Now, who are the men to render these services? None
+but independent men who by their position need have no regard to others
+placed above them--free-spirited and sensible men, who have a heart for
+the people. Now, gentlemen, have you any objections to urge against my
+views?"
+
+"None, Mr. Spitzkopf! Your views are perfectly sound," lauded a
+semi-barbarian. "We have read exactly what you have been telling us in
+the evening paper."
+
+"Of course, of course!" cried Mr. Spitzkopf. "My views are so evidently
+correct that a thinking man cannot help stumbling upon them. None but
+the slaves of priests, the wily brood of Jesuits, refuse to accept
+these views," thundered the orator with the bald head. "And why do they
+refuse to accept them? Because they are hostile to enlightenment,
+opposed to the common good, opposed to the prosperity of mankind, in a
+word, because they are the bitter enemies of progress. But take my word
+for it, gentlemen, our city contains but a small number of these
+creatures of darkness, and those few are spotted," emphasized he
+threateningly. "Therefore, gentlemen," proceeded he insinuatingly, "I
+am convinced, and every man of intelligence shares my conviction, that
+Mr. Shund is eminently fitted for the city council--eminently! He would
+be a splendid acquisition in behalf of the public interests! He
+understands our local concerns thoroughly, possesses the experience of
+many years, is conversant with business, knows what industrial pursuits
+and social life require, and, what is better still, he maintains an
+independent standing to which he unites a rare degree of activity. Were
+it possible to prevail on Mr. Shund to take upon himself the cares of
+the mayoralty, the deficit of the city treasury would soon be wiped
+out. We would all have reason to consider ourselves fortunate in seeing
+the interests of our city confided to such a man."
+
+The "wild men" looked perplexed.
+
+"Right enough, Mr. Spitzkopf," explained a timid coppersmith. "Shund is
+a clever, well-informed man. Nobody denies this. But do you know that
+it is a question whether, besides his clever head, he also possesses a
+conscience in behalf of the commonwealth?"
+
+"The most enlarged sort of a conscience, gentlemen--the warmest kind of
+a heart!" exclaimed the bald man in a convincing tone. "Don't listen to
+stories that circulate concerning Shund. There is not a word of truth
+in them. They are sheer misconstructions--inventions of the priests and
+of their helots."
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Spitzkopf, they are not all inventions,"
+opposed the coppersmith. "In the street where I live, Shund keeps up a
+certain connection that would not be proper for any decent person, not
+to say for a married man."
+
+"And does that scandalize you?" exclaimed the bald-headed agent
+merrily. "Mr. Shund is a jovial fellow, he enjoys life, and is rich.
+Mr. Shund will not permit religious rigorism to put restraints upon his
+enjoyments. His liberal and independent spirit scorns to lead a
+miserable existence under the rod of priestly bigotry. And, mark ye,
+gentlemen, this is just what recommends him to all who are not
+priest-ridden or leagued with the hirelings of Rome," concluded the
+electioneer, casting a sharp look upon the coppersmith.
+
+"But I am a Lutheran, Mr. Spitzkopf," protested the coppersmith.
+
+"There are hypocrites among the Lutherans who are even worse than the
+Romish Jesuits," retorted the man with the bald head. "Consider,
+gentlemen, that the leading men of our city have, in consideration of
+his abilities, concluded to place Mr. Shund in the position which he
+ought to occupy. Are you going, on to-morrow, to vote against the
+decision of the leading men? Are you actually going to make yourselves
+guilty of such an absurdity? You may, of course, if you wish, for every
+citizen is free to do as he pleases. But the men of influence are also
+at liberty to do as they please. I will explain my meaning more fully.
+You, gentlemen, are, all of you, mechanics--shoemakers, tailors,
+blacksmiths, carpenters, etc. From whom do you get your living? Do you
+get it from the handful of hypocrites and men of darkness? No; you get
+your living from the liberals, for they are the moneyed men, the men of
+power and authority. It is they who scatter money among the people. You
+obtain employment, you get bread and meat, from the liberals. And now
+to whom, do you think, will the liberals give employment? They will
+give it to such as hold their views, and not--mark my word--to such as
+are opposed to them. The man, therefore, that is prepared recklessly to
+ruin his business has only to vote against Mr. Shund."
+
+"That will do the business, that will fetch them," said Greifmann.
+"Just look how dumfounded the poor savages appear!"
+
+"It is brutal terrorism!" protested Seraphin indignantly.
+
+"But don't misunderstand me. Mr. Spitzkopf! I am neither a hypocritical
+devotee nor a Jesuit!" exclaimed the coppersmith deprecatingly. "If
+Shund is good enough for them," pointing to the leaders under the
+rotunda, "he is good enough for me."
+
+"For me, too!" exclaimed a tailor.
+
+"There isn't a worthier man than Shund," declared a shopkeeper.
+
+"And not a cleverer," said a carpenter.
+
+"And none more demoralized," lauded a joiner, unconscious of the import
+of his encomium.
+
+"That's so, and therefore I am satisfied with him," assured a
+shoemaker.
+
+"So am I--so am I," chorussed the others eagerly.
+
+"That is sensible, gentlemen," approved the bald man. "Just keep in
+harmony with liberalism and progress, and you will never be the worse
+for it, gentlemen. Above all, beware of reaction--do not fall back into
+the immoral morasses of the middle ages. Let us guard the light and
+liberty of our beautiful age. Vote for these men," and he produced a
+package of printed tickets, "and you will enjoy the delightful
+consciousness of having disposed of your vote in the interests of the
+common good."
+
+Spitzkopf distributed the tickets on which were the names of the
+councilmen elect. At the head of the list appeared in large characters
+the name of Mr. Hans Shund.
+
+"The curtain falls, the farce is ended," said Greifmann. "What you have
+here heard and seen has been repeated at every table where 'wild men'
+chanced to make their appearance. Everywhere the same arguments, the
+same grounds of conviction."
+
+Seraphin had become quite grave, and cast his eyes to the ground in
+silence.
+
+"By Jove, the rogue is going to try his hand on us!" said Carl, nudging
+the thoughtful young man. "The bald-headed fellow has spied us, and is
+getting ready to bag a couple of what he takes to be 'wild men.' Come,
+let us be off."
+
+They left the beer cellar and took the direction of the city.
+
+"Now let us descend a little lower, to what I might call the amphibia
+of society," said Greifmann. "We are going to visit a place where
+masons, sawyers, cobblers, laborers, and other small fry are in the
+habit of slaking their thirst. You will there find going on the same
+sort of electioneering, or, as you call it, the same sort of terrorism,
+only in a rougher style. There beer-jugs occasionally go flying about,
+and bloody heads and rough-and-tumble, fights may be witnessed."
+
+"I have no stomach for fisticuffs and whizzing beer-mugs," said
+Gerlach.
+
+"Never mind, come along. I have undertaken to initiate you into the
+mysteries of elections, and you are to get a correct idea of the life
+action of a cultivated state."
+
+They entered an obscure alley where a fetid, sultry atmosphere assailed
+them. Greifmann stopped before a lofty house, and pointed to a
+transparency on which a brimming beer-tankard was represented. A wild
+tumult was audible through the windows, through which the cry of
+"Shund!" rose at times like the swell of a great wave from the midst of
+corrupted waters. As they were passing the doorway a dense fog of
+tobacco smoke mingled with divers filthy odors assailed their nostrils.
+Seraphin, who was accustomed to inhaling the pure atmosphere of the
+country, showed an inclination to retreat, and had already half-way
+faced about when his companion seized and held him. "Courage, my
+friend! wade into the slough boldly," cried he into the struggling
+youth's ear. "Hereafter, when you will be riding through woodland and
+meadows, the recollection of this subterranean den will enable you to
+appreciate the pure atmosphere of the country twice as well. Look at
+those sodden faces and swollen heads. Those fellows are literally
+wallowing and seething in beer, and they feel as comfortable as ten
+thousand cannibals. It is really a joy to be among men who are
+natural."
+
+The millionaires, having with no little difficulty succeeded in finding
+seats, were accosted by a female waiter.
+
+"Do the gentlemen wish to have election beer?"
+
+"No," replied Gerlach.
+
+His abrupt tone in declining excited the surprise of the fellows who
+sat next to them. Several of them stared at the landholder.
+
+"So you don't want any election beer?" cried a fellow who was pretty
+well fired.
+
+"Why not? May be it isn't good enough for you?"
+
+"Oh, yes! oh, yes!" replied the banker hastily. "You see, Mr. Shund"--
+
+"That's good! You call me Shund," interrupted the fellow with a coarse
+laugh. "My name isn't Shund--my name is Koenig--yes, Koenig--with all
+due respect to you."
+
+"Well, Mr. Koenig--you see, Mr. Koenig, we decline drinking election
+beer because we are not entitled to it--we do not belong to this
+place."
+
+"Ah, yes--well, that's honest!" lauded Koenig. "Being that you are a
+couple of honest fellows, you must partake of some of the good things
+of our feast. I say, Kate," cried he to the female waiter, "bring these
+gentlemen some of the election sausages."
+
+Greifmann, perceiving that Seraphin was about putting in a protest,
+nudged him.
+
+"What feast are you celebrating to-day?" inquired the banker.
+
+"That I will explain to you. We are to have an election here to-morrow;
+these men on the ticket, you see, are to be elected." And he drew forth
+one of Spitzkopf's tickets. "Every one of us has received a ticket like
+this, and we are all going to vote according to the ticket--of course,
+you know, we don't do it for nothing. To-day and to-morrow, what we eat
+and drink is free of charge. And if Satan's own grandmother were on the
+ticket, I would vote for her."
+
+"The first one on the list is Mr. Hans Shund. What sort of a man is
+he?" asked Seraphin. "No doubt he is the most honorable and most
+respectable man in the place!"
+
+"Ha! ha! that's funny! The most honorable man in the place! Really you
+make me laugh. Never mind, however, I don't mean to be impolite. You
+are a stranger hereabout, and cannot, of course, be expected to know
+anything of it. Shund, you see, was formerly--that, is a couple of days
+ago--Shund was a man of whom nobody knew any good. For my part, I
+wouldn't just like to be sticking in Shund's hide. Well, that's the way
+things are: you know it won't do to babble it all just as it is. But
+you understand me. To make a long story short, since day before
+yesterday Shund is the honestest man in the world. Our men of money
+have made him that, you know," giving a sly wink. "What the men of
+money do, is well done, of course, for the proverb says, 'Whose bread I
+eat, his song I sing.'"
+
+"Shut your mouth, Koenig! What stuff is that you are talking there?"
+said another fellow roughly. "Hans Shund is a free-spirited, clever,
+first-class, distinguished man. Taken altogether, he is a liberal man.
+For this reason he will be elected councilman to-morrow, then mayor of
+the city, and finally member of the assembly."
+
+"That's so, that's so, my partner is right," confirmed Koenig. "But
+listen, Flachsen, you will agree that formerly--you know, formerly--he
+was an arrant scoundrel."
+
+"Why was he? Why?" inquired Flachsen.
+
+"Why? Ha, ha! I say, Flachsen, go to Shund's wife, she can tell you
+best. Go to those whom he has reduced to beggary, for instance, to Holt
+over there. They all can tell you what Shund is, or rather what he has
+been. But don't get mad, brother Flachsen! Spite of all that, I shall
+vote for Shund. That's settled." And he poured the contents of his
+beer-pot down his throat.
+
+"As you gentlemen are strangers, I will undertake to explain this
+business for you," said Flachsen, who evidently was an agent for the
+lower classes, and who did his best to put on an appearance of learning
+by affecting high-sounding words of foreign origin.
+
+"Shund is quite a rational man, learned and full of intelligence. But
+the priests have calumniated him horribly because he will not howl with
+them. For this reason we intend to elect him, not for the sake of the
+free beer. When Shund will have been elected, a system of economy will
+be inaugurated, taxes will be removed, and the encyclical letter with
+which the Pope has tried to stultify the people, together with the
+syllabus, will be sent to the dogs. And in the legislative assembly the
+liberal-minded Shund will manage to have the priests excluded from the
+schools, and we will have none but secular schools. In short, the
+dismal rule of the priesthood that would like to keep the people in
+leading-strings will be put an end to, and liberal views will control
+our affairs. As for Shund's doings outside of legitimate wedlock, that
+is one of the boons of liberty--it is a right of humanity; and when
+Koenig lets loose against Shund's money speculations, he is only
+talking so much bigoted nonsense."
+
+Flachsen's apologetic discourse was interrupted by a row that took
+place at the next table. There sat a victim of Shund's usury, the
+land-cultivator Holt. He drank no beer, but wine, to dispel gloomy
+thoughts and the temptations of desperation. It had cost him no
+ordinary struggle to listen quietly to eulogies passed on Shund. He had
+maintained silence, and had at times smiled a very peculiar smile. His
+bruised heart must have suffered a fearful contraction as he heard men
+sounding the praises of a wretch whom he knew to be wicked and devoid
+of conscience. For a long time he succeeded in restraining himself. But
+the wine he had drunk at last fanned his smouldering passion into a hot
+flame of rage, and, clenching his fist, he struck the table violently.
+
+"The fellow whom you extol is a scoundrel!" cried he.
+
+"Who is a scoundrel?" roared several voices.
+
+"Your man, your councilman, your mayor, is a scoundrel! Shund is a
+scoundrel!" cried the ruined countryman passionately.
+
+"And you, Holt, are a fool!"
+
+"You are drunk, Holt!"
+
+"Holt is an ass," maintained Flachsen. "He cannot read, otherwise he
+would have seen in the _Evening Gazette_ that Shund is a man of honor,
+a friend of the people, a progressive man, a liberal man, a brilliant
+genius, a despiser of religion, a death-dealer to superstition,
+a--a--I don't remember what all besides. Had you read all that in the
+evening paper, you fool, you wouldn't presume to open your foul mouth
+against a man of honor like Hans Shund. Yes, stare; if you had read the
+evening paper, you would have seen the enumeration of the great
+qualities and deeds of Hans Shund in black and white."
+
+"The evening paper, indeed!" cried Holt contemptuously. "Does the
+evening paper also mention how Shund brought about the ruin of the
+father of a family of eight children?"
+
+"What's that you say, you dog?" yelled a furious fellow. "That's a lie
+against Shund!"
+
+"Easy, Graeulich, easy," replied Holt to the last speaker, who was
+about to set upon him. "It is not a lie, for I am the man whom Shund
+has strangled with his usurer's clutches. He has reduced me to
+beggary--me and my wife and my children."
+
+Graeulich lowered his fists, for Holt spoke so convincingly, and the
+anguish in his face appealed so touchingly, that the man's fury was in
+an instant changed to sympathy. Holt had stood up. He related at length
+the wily and unscrupulous proceedings through which he had been brought
+to ruin. The company listened to his story, many nodded in token of
+sympathy, for everybody was acquainted with the ways of the hero of the
+day.
+
+"That's the way Shund has made a beggar of me," concluded Holt. "And I
+am not the only one, you know it well. If, then, I call Shund a usurer,
+a scoundrel, a villain, you cannot help agreeing with me."
+
+Flachsen noticed with alarm that the feeling of the company was
+becoming hostile to his cause. He approached the table, where he was
+met by perplexed looks from his aids.
+
+"Don't you perceive," cried he, "that Holt is a hireling of the
+priests? Will you permit yourselves to be imposed upon by this salaried
+slave? Hear me, you scapegrace, you rascal, you ass, listen to what I
+have to tell you! Hans Shund is the lion of the day--the greatest man
+of this century! Hans Shund is greater than Bismarck, sharper than
+Napoleon. Out of nothing God made the universe: from nothing Hans Shund
+has got to be a rich man. Shund has a mouthpiece that moves like a
+mill-wheel on which entire streams fall. In the assembly Shund will
+talk down all opposition. He will talk even better than that fellow
+Voelk, over in Bavaria, who is merely a lawyer, but talks upon
+everything, even things he knows nothing about. And do you, lousy
+beggar, presume to malign a man of this kind? If you open that filthy
+mouth of yours once more, I will stop it for you with paving-stones."
+
+"Hold, Flachsen, hold! _I_ am not the man that is paid; you are the one
+that is paid," retorted the countryman indignantly. "My mouth has not
+been honey-fed like yours. Nor do I drink your election beer or eat
+your election sausages. But with my last breath I will maintain that
+Shund is a scoundrel, a usurer, a villain."
+
+"Out with the fellow!" cried Flachsen. "He has insulted us all, for we
+have all been drinking election beer. Out with the helot of the
+priests!"
+
+The progressionist mob fell upon the unhappy man, throttled him, beat
+him, and drove him into the street.
+
+"Let us leave this den of cutthroats," said Gerlach, rising.
+
+Outside they found Holt leaning against a wall, wiping the blood from
+his face. Seraphin approached him. "Are you badly hurt, my good man?"
+asked he kindly. The wounded man, looking up, saw a noble countenance
+before him, and, whilst he continued to gaze hard at Seraphin's fine
+features, tears began to roll from his eyes.
+
+"O God! O God!" sighed he, and then relapsed into silence. But in the
+tone of his words could be noticed the terrible agony he was suffering.
+
+"Is the wound deep--is it dangerous?" asked the young man.
+
+"No, sir, no! The wound on my forehead is nothing--signifies nothing;
+but in here," pointing to his breast--"in here are care, anxiety,
+despair. I am thankful, sir, for your sympathy; it is soothing. But you
+may go your way; the blows signify nothing."
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V.
+
+
+Gerlach whispered something to the banker. Holt pressed his
+pocket-handkerchief to the wound.
+
+"Please yourself!" said the banker loudly, in a business tone. Seraphin
+again approached the beaten man.
+
+"Will you please, my good man, to accompany us?"
+
+"What for, sir?"
+
+"Because I would like to do something towards healing up your wound; I
+mean the wound in there."
+
+Holt stood motionless before the stranger, and looked at him.
+
+"I thank you, sir; there is no remedy for me; I am doomed!"
+
+"Still, I will assist you. Follow me."
+
+"Who are you, sir, if I may ask the question?"
+
+"I am a man whom Providence seems to have chosen to rescue the prey
+from the jaws of a usurer. Come along with us, and fear nothing."
+
+"Very well, I will go in the name of God! I do not precisely know your
+object, and you are a stranger to me. But your countenance looks
+innocent and kind, therefore I will go with you."
+
+They passed through alleys and streets.
+
+"Do you often visit that tavern?" inquired Seraphin.
+
+"Not six times in a year," answered Holt. "Sometimes of a Sunday I
+drink half a glass of wine, that's all. I am poor, and have to be
+saving. I would not have gone to the tavern to-day but that I wanted to
+get rid of my feelings of misery."
+
+"I overheard your story," rejoined Seraphin. "Shund's treatment of you
+was inhuman. He behaved towards you like a trickish devil."
+
+"That he did! And I am ruined together with my family," replied the
+poor man dejectedly.
+
+"Take my advice, and never abuse Shund. You know how respectable he has
+suddenly got to be, how many influential friends he has. You can easily
+perceive that one cannot say anything unfavorable of such a man without
+great risk, no matter were it true ten times over."
+
+"I am not given to disputing," replied Holt. "But it stirred the bile
+within me to hear him extolled, and it broke out. Oh! I have learned to
+suffer in silence. I haven't time to think of other matters. After God,
+my business and my family were my only care. I attended to my
+occupation faithfully and quietly as long as I had any to attend to,
+but now I haven't any to take care of. O God! it is hard. It will bring
+me to the grave."
+
+"You are a land cultivator?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Shund intends to have you sold out?"
+
+"Yes; immediately after the election he intends to complete my ruin."
+
+"How much money would you need in order with industry to get along?"
+
+"A great deal of money, a great deal--at least a thousand florins. I
+have given him a mortgage for a thousand florins on my house and what
+was left to me. A thousand florins would suffice to help me out of
+trouble. I might save my little cottage, my two cows, and a field. I
+might then plough and sow for other people. I could get along and
+subsist honestly. But as I told you, nothing less than a thousand
+florins would do; and where am I to get so much money? You see there is
+no hope for me, no help for me. I am doomed!"
+
+"The mortgaged property is considerable," said Gerlach. "A house, even
+though a small one, moreover, a field, a barn, a garden, all these
+together are surely worth a much higher price. Could you not borrow a
+thousand florins on it and pay off the usurer?"
+
+"No, sir. Nobody would be willing to lend me that amount of money upon
+property mortgaged to a man like Shund. Besides, my little property is
+out of town, and who wants to go there? I, for my part, of course, like
+no spot as much, for it is the house my father built, and I was born
+and brought up there."
+
+The man lapsed into silence, and walked at Seraphin's side like one
+weighed down by a heavy load. The delicate sympathy of the young man
+enabled him to guess what was passing in the breast of the man under
+the load. He knew that Holt was recalling his childhood passed under
+the paternal roof; that little spot of home was hallowed for him by
+events connected with his mother, his father, his brothers and sisters,
+or with other objects more trifling, which, however, remained fresh and
+bright in memory, like balmy days of spring.
+
+From this consecrated spot he was to be exiled, driven out with wife
+and children, through the inhumanity and despicable cunning of an
+usurer. The man heaved a deep sigh, and Gerlach, watching him sidewise,
+noticed his lips were compressed, and that large tears rolled down his
+weather-browned cheeks. The tender heart of the young man was deeply
+affected at this sight, and the millionaire for once rejoiced in the
+consciousness of possessing the might of money.
+
+They halted before the Palais Greifmann. Holt noticed with surprise how
+the man in blouse drew from his waistcoat pocket a small instrument
+resembling a toothpick, and with it opened a door near the carriage
+gate. Had not every shadow of suspicion been driven from Holt's mind by
+Seraphin's appearance, he would surely have believed that he had fallen
+into the company of burglars, who entrapped him to aid in breaking into
+this palace.
+
+Reluctantly, after repeated encouragement from Gerlach, he crossed the
+threshold of the stately mansion. He had not quite passed the door when
+he took off his cap, stared at the costly furniture of the hall through
+which they were passing, and was reminded of St. Peter's thought as the
+angel was rescuing him from the clutches of Herod. Holt imagined he saw
+a vision. The man who had unlocked the door disappeared. Seraphin
+entered an apartment followed by Shund's victim.
+
+"Do you know where you are?" inquired the millionaire.
+
+"Yes, sir, in the house of Mr. Greifmann the banker."
+
+"And you are somewhat surprised, are you not?"
+
+"I am so much astonished, sir, that I have several times pinched my
+arms and legs, for it all seems to me like a dream."
+
+Seraphin smiled and laid aside his cap. Holt scanned the noble features
+of the young man more minutely, his handsome face, his stately bearing,
+and concluded the man in the blouse must be some distinguished
+gentleman.
+
+"Take courage," said the noble looking young man in a kindly tone. "You
+shall be assisted. I am convinced that you are an honest, industrious
+man, brought to the verge of ruin through no fault of your own. Nor do
+I blame you for inadvertently falling into the nets of the usurer, for
+I believe your honest nature never suspected that there could exist so
+fiendish a monster as the one that lives in the soul of an usurer."
+
+"You may rely upon it, sir. If I had had the slightest suspicion of
+such a thing, Shund never would have got me into his clutches."
+
+"I am convinced of it. You are partially the victim of your own good
+nature, and partially the prey of the wild beast Shund. Now listen to
+me: Suppose somebody were to give you a thousand florins, and to say:
+'Holt, take this money, 'tis yours. Be industrious, get along, be a
+prudent housekeeper, serve God to the end of your days, and in future
+beware of usurers'--suppose somebody were to address you in this way,
+what would you do?"
+
+"Supposing the case, sir, although it is not possible, but supposing
+the case, what would I do? I would do precisely what that person would
+have told me, and a great deal more. I would work day and night. Every
+day, at evening prayer, I would get on my knees with my wife and
+children, and invoke God's protection on that person. I would do that,
+sir; but, as I said, the case is impossible."
+
+"Nevertheless, suppose it did happen," explained Seraphin in a
+preliminary way. "Give me your hand that you will fulfil the promise
+you have just given."
+
+For a moment Seraphin's hand lay in a callous, iron palm, which pressed
+his soft fingers in an uncomfortable but well-meant grasp.
+
+"Well, now follow me," said Gerlach.
+
+He led the way; Holt followed with an unsteady step like a drunken man.
+They presented themselves before the banker's counter. The latter was
+standing behind the trellis of his desk, and on a table lay ten rolls
+of money.
+
+"You have just now by word and hand confirmed a promise," said Gerlach,
+turning to the countryman, "which cannot be appreciated in money, for
+that promise comprises almost all the duties of the father of a family.
+But to make the fulfilment of the promise possible, a thousand florins
+are needed. Here lies the money. Accept it from me as a gift, and be
+happy."
+
+Holt did not stir. He looked from the money at Gerlach, was motionless
+and rigid, until, at last, the paralyzing surprise began to resolve
+itself into a spasmodic quivering of the lips, and then into a mighty
+flood of tears. Seizing Seraphin's hands, he kissed them with an
+emotion that convulsed his whole being.
+
+"That will do now," said the millionaire, "take the money, and go
+home."
+
+"My God! I cannot find utterance," said Holt, stammering forth the
+words with difficulty. "Good heaven! is it possible? Is it true? I am
+still thinking 'tis only a dream."
+
+"Downright reality, my man!" said the banker. "Stop crying; save your
+tears for a more fitting occasion. Put the rolls in your pocket, and go
+home."
+
+Greifmann's coldness was effective in sobering down the man intoxicated
+with joy.
+
+"May I ask, sir, what your name is, that I may at least know to whom I
+owe my rescue?"
+
+"Seraphin is my name."
+
+"Your name sounds like an angel's, and you are an angel to me. I am not
+acquainted with you, but God knows you, and he will requite you
+according to your deeds."
+
+Gerlach nodded gravely. The banker was impatient and murmured
+discontentedly. Holt carefully pocketed the rolls of money, made an
+inclination of gratitude to Gerlach, and went out. He passed slowly
+through the hall. The porter opened the door. Holt stood still before
+him.
+
+"I ask your pardon, but do you know Mr. Seraphin?" asked he.
+
+"Why shouldn't I know a gentleman that has been our guest for the last
+two weeks?"
+
+"You must pardon my presumption, Mr. Porter. Will Mr. Seraphin remain
+here much longer?"
+
+"He will remain another week for certain."
+
+"I am very much obliged to you," said Holt, passing into the street and
+hurrying away.
+
+"Your intended has a queer way of applying his money," said the banker
+to his sister the next morning. And he reported to her the story of
+Seraphin's munificence. "I do not exactly like this sort of kindness,
+for it oversteps all bounds, and undoubtedly results from religious
+enthusiasm."
+
+"That, too, can be cured," replied Louise confidently. "I will make him
+understand that eternity restores nothing, that consequently it is
+safer and more prudent to exact interest from the present."
+
+"'Tis true, the situation of that fellow Holt was a pitiable one, and
+Hans Shund's treatment of him was a masterpiece of speculation. He had
+stripped the fellow completely. The stupid Holt had for years been
+laboring for the cunning Shund, who continued drawing his meshes more
+and more tightly about him. Like a huge spider, he leisurely sucked out
+the life of the fly he had entrapped."
+
+"Your hostler says there was light in Seraphin's room long after
+midnight. I wonder what hindered him from sleeping?"
+
+"That is not hard to divine. In all probability he was composing a
+sentimental ditty to his much adored," answered Carl teasingly.
+"Midnight is said to be a propitious time for occupations of that
+sort."
+
+"Do be quiet, you tease! But I too was thinking that he must have been
+engaged in writing. May be he was making a memorandum of yesterday's
+experience in his journal."
+
+"May be he was. At all events, the impressions made on him were very
+strong."
+
+"But I do not like your venture; it may turn out disastrous,"
+
+"How can it, my most learned sister?"
+
+"You know Seraphin's position," explained she. "He has been reared in
+the rigor of sectarian credulity. The spirit of modern civilization
+being thus abruptly placed before his one-sided judgment without
+previous preparation may alarm, nay, may even disgust him. And when
+once he will have perceived that the brother is a partisan of the
+horrible monster, is it probable that he will feel favorably disposed
+towards the sister whose views harmonize with those of her brother?"
+
+"I have done nothing to justify him in setting me down for a partisan.
+I maintain strict neutrality. My purpose is to accustom the weakling to
+the atmosphere of enlightenment which is fatal to all religious
+phantasms. Have no fear of his growing cold towards you," proceeded he
+in his customary tone of irony. "Your ever victorious power holds
+him spell-bound in the magic circle of your enchantment. Besides,
+Louise," continued he frowning, "I do not think I could tolerate a
+brother-in-law steeped over head and ears in prejudices. You yourself
+might find it highly uncomfortable to live with a husband of this
+kind."
+
+"Uncomfortable! No, I would not. I would find it exciting, for it would
+become my task to train and cultivate an abnormal specimen of the male
+gender."
+
+"Very praiseworthy, sister! And if I now endeavor by means of living
+illustrations to familiarize your intended with the nature of modern
+intellectual enlightenment, I am merely preparing the way for your
+future labors."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+                          MASTERS AND SLAVES.
+
+
+Under the much despised discipline of religious requirements, the child
+Seraphin had grown up to boyhood spotless in morals, and then had
+developed himself into a young man of great firmness of character,
+whose faith was as unshaken as the correctness of his behavior was
+constant.
+
+The bloom of his cheeks, the innocent brightness of his eye, the
+suavity of his disposition, were the natural results of the training
+which his heart had received. No foul passion had ever disturbed the
+serenity of his soul. When under the smiling sky of a spring morning he
+took his ride over the extensive possessions of his father, his
+interior accorded perfectly with the peace and loveliness of the sights
+and sounds of blooming nature around him. On earth, however, no spring,
+be it ever so beautiful, is entirely safe from storms. Evil spirits lie
+in waiting in the air, dark powers threaten destruction to all blossoms
+and all incipient life. And the more inevitable is the dread might of
+those lurking spirits, that in every blossom of living plant lies
+concealed a germ of ruin, sleeps a treacherous passion--even in the
+heart of the innocent Seraphin.
+
+The strategic arts of the beautiful young lady received no small degree
+of additional power from the genuine effort made by her to please the
+stately double millionaire. In a short time she was to such an extent
+successful that one day Carl rallied her in the following humorous
+strain: "Your intended is sitting in the arbor singing a most dismal
+song! You will have to allow him a little more line, Louise, else you
+run the risk of unsettling his brain. Moreover, I cannot be expected to
+instruct a man in the mysteries of progress, if he sees, feels, and
+thinks nothing but Louise."
+
+The banker had not uttered an exaggeration. It sometimes happens that a
+first love bursts forth with an impetuosity so uncontrollable, that,
+for a time, every other domain of the intellectual and moral nature of
+a young man is, as it were, submerged under a mighty flood. This
+temporary inundation of passion cannot, of course, maintain its high
+tide in presence of calm experience, and the sunshine of more ripened
+knowledge soon dries up its waters. But Seraphin possessed only the
+scanty experience of a young man, and his knowledge of the world was
+also very limited. Hence, in his case, the stream rose alarmingly high,
+but it did not reach an overflow, for the hand of a pious mother had
+thrown up in the heart of the child a living dike strong enough to
+resist the greatest violence of the swell. The height and solidity of
+the dike increased with the growth of the child; it was a bulwark of
+defence for the man, who stood secure against humiliating defeats
+behind the adamantine wall of religious principles--yet only so long as
+life sought protection behind this bulwark. Faith uttered a serious
+warning against an unconditional surrender of himself to the object of
+his attachment. For he could not put to rest some misgivings raised in
+his mind by the strange and, to him, inexplicable attitude which Louise
+assumed upon the highest questions of human existence. The uninitiated
+youth had no suspicion of the existence of that most disgusting product
+of modern enlightenment, the _emancipated_ female. Had he discovered in
+Louise the emancipated woman in all the ugliness of her real nature, he
+would have conceived unutterable loathing for such a monstrosity. And
+yet he could not but feel that between himself and Louise there yawned
+an abyss, there existed an essential repulsion, which, at times, gave
+rise within him to considerable uneasiness.
+
+To obtain a solution of the enigma of this antipathy, the young
+gentleman concluded to trust entirely to the results of his
+observations, which, however, were far from being definitive; for his
+reason was imposed upon by his feelings, and, from day to day, the
+charms of the beautiful woman were steadily progressing in throwing a
+seductive spell over his judgment. The banker's daughter possessed a
+high degree of culture; she was a perfect mistress of the tactics
+employed on the field of coquetry; her tact was exquisite; and she
+understood thoroughly how to take advantage of a kindly disposition and
+of the tenderness inspired by passion. How was the eye of Seraphin,
+strengthened neither by knowledge nor by experience, to detect the true
+worth of what lay hidden beneath this fascinating delusion?
+
+Here again his religious training came to the rescue of the
+inexperienced youth, by furnishing him with standards safe and
+unfalsified, by which to weigh and come to a conclusion.
+
+Louise's indifference to practices of piety annoyed him. She never
+attended divine service, not even on Sundays. He never saw her with a
+prayer-book, nor was a single picture illustrative of a moral subject
+to be found hung up in her apartment. Her conversation, at all times,
+ran upon commonplaces of everyday concern, such as the toilet, theatre,
+society. He noticed that whenever he ventured to launch matter of a
+more serious import upon the current of conversation, it immediately
+became constrained and soon ceased to flow. Louise appeared to his
+heart at the same time so fascinating and yet so peculiar, so seductive
+and yet so repulsive, that the contradictions of her being caused him
+to feel quite unhappy.
+
+He was again sitting in his room thinking about her. In the interview
+he had just had with her, the young lady had exerted such admirable
+powers of womanly charms that the poor young man had had a great deal
+of trouble to maintain his self-possession. Her ringing, mischievous
+laugh was still sounding in his ears, and the brightness of her
+sparkling, eyes was still lighting up his memory. And the unsuspecting
+youth had no Solomon at his side to repeat to him: "My son, can a man
+hide fire in his bosom, and his garments not burn? Or can he walk upon
+hot coals, and his feet not be burnt?... She entangleth him with many
+words, and she draweth him away with the flattery of her lips.
+Immediately he followeth her as an ox led to be a victim, and as a lamb
+playing the wanton, and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool to
+bonds, till the arrow pierce his liver. As if a bird should make haste
+to the snare, and knoweth not that his life is in danger. Now,
+therefore, my son, hear me, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let
+not thy mind be drawn away in her ways: neither be thou deceived with
+her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded, and the strongest have
+been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, reaching even to the
+inner chambers of death."[1]
+
+For Seraphin, however, no Solomon was at hand who might give him
+counsel. Sustained by his virtue and by his faith alone, he struggled
+against the temptress, not precisely of the kind referred to by
+Solomon, but still a dangerous one from the ranks of progress.
+
+Greifmann had notified him that the general assembly election was to be
+held that day, that Mayor Hans Shund would certainly be returned as a
+delegate, and that he intended to call for Gerlach, and go out to watch
+the progress of the election.
+
+Seraphin felt rather indifferent respecting the election; but he would
+have considered himself under weighty obligation to the brother for an
+explanation of the peculiar behavior of the sister at which he was so
+greatly perplexed.
+
+Carl himself he had for a while regarded as an enigma. Now, however, he
+believed that he had reached a correct conclusion concerning the
+brother. It appeared to him that the principal characteristic of Carl's
+disposition was to treat every subject, except what strictly pertained
+to business, in a spirit of levity. To the faults of others Carl was
+always ready to accord a praiseworthy degree of indulgence, he never
+uttered harsh words in a tone of bitterness, and when he pronounced
+censure, his reproof was invariably clothed in some form of pleasantry.
+In general, he behaved like a man not having time to occupy himself
+seriously with any subject that did not lie within the particular
+sphere of his occupation. Even their wager he managed like a matter of
+business, although the landowner could not but take umbrage at the
+banker's ready and natural way of dealing with men whose want of
+principle he himself abominated. Greifmann seemed good-natured, minute,
+and cautious in business, and in all other things exceedingly liberal
+and full of levity. Such was the judgment arrived at by Seraphin,
+inexperienced and little inclined to fault-finding as he was,
+respecting a gentleman who stood at the summit of modern culture, who
+had skill in elegantly cloaking great faults and foibles, and whose
+sole religion consisted in the accumulation of papers and coins of
+arbitrary value.
+
+Gerlach's servant entered, and disturbed his meditation.
+
+"There is a man here with a family who begs hard to be allowed to speak
+with you."
+
+"A man with a family!" repeated the millionaire, astonished. "I know
+nobody round here, and have no desire to form acquaintances."
+
+"The man will not be denied. He says his name is Holt, and that he has
+something to say to you."
+
+"Ah, yes!" exclaimed Seraphin, with a smile that revealed a pleasant
+surprise. "Send the man and those who are with him in to me."
+
+Closing a diary, in which he was recording circumstantially the
+experiences of his present visit, he awaited the visitors. A loud knock
+from a weighty fist reminded him of a pair of callous hands, then Holt,
+followed by his wife and children, presented himself before his
+benefactor. They all made a small courtesy, even the flaxen-headed
+little children, and the bright, healthy babe in the arms of the mother
+met his gaze with the smile of an angel. The dark spirits that were
+hovering around him, torturing and tempting, instantly vanished, and he
+became serene and unconstrained whilst conversing with these simple
+people.
+
+"You must excuse us, Mr. Seraphin," began Holt. "This is my wife, and
+these are seven of my children. There is one more; her name is
+Mechtild. She had to stay at home and mind the house. She will pay you
+an extra visit, and present her thanks. We have called that you might
+become acquainted with the family whom you have rescued, and that we
+might thank you with all our hearts."
+
+After this speech, the father gave a signal, whereupon the little ones
+gathered around the amiable young man, made their courtesies, and
+kissed his hands.
+
+"May God bless you, Mr. Seraphin!" first spoke a half-grown girl.
+
+"We greet you, dear Seraphin!" said another, five years old.
+
+"We pray for you every day, Mr. Seraphin," said the next in succession.
+
+"We are thankful to you from our hearts, Mr. Seraphin," spoke a small
+lad, in a tone of deep earnestness.
+
+And thus did every child deliver its little address. It was touching to
+witness the noble dignity of the children, which may, at times, be
+found beautifully investing their innocence. Gerlach was moved. He
+looked down upon the little ones around him with an expression of
+affectionate thankfulness. Holt's lips also quivered, and bright tears
+of happiness streamed from the eyes of the mother.
+
+"I am obliged to you, my little friends, for your greetings and for
+your prayers," spoke the millionaire. "You are well brought up.
+Continue always to be good children, such as you now are; have the fear
+of God, and honor your parents."
+
+"Mr. Seraphin," said Holt, drawing a paper from his pocket, "here is
+the note that I have redeemed with the money you gave me. I wanted to
+show it to you, so that you might know for certain that the money had
+been applied to the proper purpose."
+
+Gerlach affected to take an interest in the paper, and read over the
+receipt.
+
+"But there is one thing, Mr. Seraphin," continued Holt, "that grieves
+me. And that is, that there is not anything better than mere words with
+which I can testify my gratitude to you. I would like ever so much to
+do something for you--to do something for you worth speaking of. Do you
+know, Mr. Seraphin, I would be willing to shed the last drop of my
+blood for you?"
+
+"Never mind that, Holt! It is ample recompense for me to know that I
+have helped a worthy man out of trouble. You can now, Mrs. Holt, set to
+work with renewed courage. But," added he archly, "you will have to
+watch your husband that he may not again fall into the clutches of
+beasts of prey like Shund."
+
+"He has had to pay dearly for his experience, Mr. Seraphin. I used
+often to say to him: 'Michael, don't trust Shund. Shund talks too much,
+he is too sweet altogether, he has some wicked design upon us--don't
+trust him.' But, you see, Mr. Seraphin, my husband thinks that all
+people are as upright as he is himself, and he believed that Shund
+really meant to deal fairly as he pretended. But Michael's wits are
+sharpened now, and he will not in future be so ready to believe every
+man upon his word. Nor will he, hereafter, borrow one single penny, and
+he will never again undertake to buy anything unless he has the money
+in hand to pay for it."
+
+"In what street do you live?" inquired Gerlach.
+
+"Near the turnpike road, Mr. Seraphin. Do you see that knoll?" He
+pointed through the window in a direction unobstructed by the trees of
+the garden. "Do you see that dense shade-tree, and yon whitewashed wall
+behind the tree? That is our walnut-tree--my grandfather planted it.
+And the white wall is the wall of our house."
+
+"I have passed there twice--the road leads to the beech grove," said
+the millionaire. "I remarked the little cottage, and was much pleased
+with its air of neatness. It struck me, too, that the barn is larger
+than the dwelling, which is a creditable sign for a farmer. Near the
+front entrance there is a carefully cultivated flower garden, in which
+I particularly admired the roses, and further off from the road lies an
+apple orchard."
+
+"All that belongs to us. That is what you have rescued and made a
+present of to us," replied the land cultivator joyfully. "Everybody
+stops to view the roses; they belong to our daughter Mechtild."
+
+"The soil is good and deep, and must bring splendid crops of wheat. I,
+too, am a farmer, and understand something about such matters. But it
+appeared to me as though the soil were of a cold nature. You should use
+lime upon it pretty freely."
+
+In this manner he spent some time conversing with these good and simple
+people. Before dismissing them, he made a present to every one of the
+children of a shining dollar, having previously overcome Holt's protest
+against this new instance generosity.
+
+Old and young then courtesied once more, and Gerlach was left to
+himself in a mood differing greatly from that in which the visitors had
+found him.
+
+He had been conversing with good and happy people, and revelled in the
+consciousness of having been the originator of their happiness.
+
+Suddenly Greifmann's appearance in the room put to flight the bright
+spirits that hovered about him, and the sunshine that had been lighting
+up the apartment was obscured by dark shadows as of a heavy mass of
+clouds.
+
+"What sort of a horde was that?" asked he.
+
+"They were Holt and his family. The gratitude of these simple people
+was touching. The innocent little ones gave me an ovation of which a
+prince might be envious, for the courts of princes are never graced by
+a naturalness at once so sincere and so beautiful. It is an intense
+happiness for me to have assured the livelihood of ten human beings
+with so paltry a gift."
+
+"A mere matter of taste, my most sympathetic friend!" rejoined the
+banker with indifference. "You are not made of the proper stuff to be a
+business man. Your feelings would easily tempt you into very
+unbusinesslike transactions. But you must come with me! The hubbub of
+the election is astir through all the streets and thoroughfares. I am
+going out to discharge my duties as a citizen, and I want you to
+accompany me."
+
+"I have no inclination to see any of this disgusting turmoil," replied
+Gerlach.
+
+"Inclination or disinclination is out of the question when interest
+demands it," insisted the banker. "You must profit by the opportunity
+which you now have of enriching your knowledge of men and things, or
+rather of correcting it; for heretofore your manner of viewing things
+has been mere ideal enthusiasm. Come with me, my good fellow!"
+
+Seraphin followed with interior reluctance. Greifmann went on to impart
+to him the following information:
+
+"During the past night, there have sprung up, as if out of the earth, a
+most formidable host, ready to do battle against the uniformly
+victorious army of progress--men thoroughly armed and accoutred, real
+crusaders. A bloody struggle is imminent. Try and make of your heart a
+sort of monitor covered with plates of iron, so that you may not be
+overpowered by the horrifying spectacle of the election affray. I am
+not joking at all! True as gospel, what I tell you! If you do not want
+to be stifled by indignation at sight of the fiercest kind of
+terrorism, of the most revolting tyranny, you will have to lay aside,
+at least for to-day, every feeling of humanity."
+
+Gerlach perceived a degree of seriousness in the bubbling current of
+Greifmann's levity.
+
+"Who is the enemy that presumes to stand in the way of progress?"
+enquired he.
+
+"The ultramontanes! Listen to what I have to tell you. This morning
+Schwefel came in to get a check cashed. With surprise I observed that
+the manufacturer's soul was not in business? 'How are things going?'
+asked I when we had got through.
+
+"'I feel like a man,' exclaimed he, 'that has just seen a horrible
+monster! Would you believe it, those accursed ultramontanes have been
+secretly meddling in the election. They have mustered a number of
+votes, and have even gone so far as to have a yellow ticket printed.
+Their yellow placards were to be seen this morning stuck up at every
+street corner--of course they were immediately torn down.'
+
+"'And are you provoked at that, Mr. Schwefel! You certainly are not
+going to deny the poor ultramontanes the liberty of existing, or, at
+least, the liberty of voting for whom they please?'
+
+"'Yes, I am, I am! That must not be tolerated,' cried he wildly. 'The
+black brood are hatching dark schemes, they are conspiring against
+civilization, and would fain wrest from us the trophies won by
+progress. It is high time to apply the axe to the root of the
+upas-tree. Our duty is to disinfect thoroughly, to banish the
+absurdities of religious dogma from our schools. The black spawn will
+have to be rendered harmless: we must kill them politically.'
+
+"'Very well,' said I. 'Just make negroes of them. Now that in America
+the slaves are emancipated, Europe would perhaps do well to take her
+turn at the slave-trade.' But the fellow would not take my joke. He
+made threatening gesticulations, his eyes gleamed like hot coals, and
+he muttered words of a belligerent import.
+
+"'The ultramontane rabble are to hold a meeting at the "Key of
+Heaven,"' reported he. 'There the stupid victims of credulity are to be
+harangued by several of their best talkers. The black tide is
+afterwards to diffuse itself through the various wards where the voting
+is to take place. But let the priest-ridden slaves come, they will have
+other memoranda to carry home with them beside their yellow rags of
+tickets.'
+
+"You perceive, friend Seraphin, that the progress men mean mischief. We
+may expect to witness scenes of violence."
+
+"That is unjustifiable brutality on the part of the progressionists,"
+declared Gerlach indignantly. "Are not the ultramontanes entitled to
+vote and to receive votes? Are they not free citizens? Do they not
+enjoy the same privileges as others? It is a disgrace and an outrage
+thus to tyrannize over men who are their brothers, sons of Germania,
+their common mother."
+
+"Granted! Violence is disgraceful. The intention of progress, however,
+is not quite as bad as you think it. Being convinced of its own
+infallibility, it cannot help feeling indignant at the unbelief of
+ultramontanism, which continues deaf to the saving truths of the
+progressionist gospel. Hence a holy zeal for making converts urges
+progress so irresistibly that it would fain force wanderers into the
+path of salvation by violence. This is simply human, and should not be
+regarded as unpardonable. In the self-same spirit did my namesake
+Charles the Great butcher the Saxons because the besotted heathens
+presumed to entertain convictions differing from his own. And those who
+were not butchered had to see their sacred groves cut down, their
+altars demolished, their time-honored laws changed, and had to resign
+themselves to following the ways which he thought fit to have opened
+through the land of the Saxons. You cannot fail to perceive that
+Charles the Great was a member of the school progress."
+
+"But your comparison is defective," opposed the millionaire. "Charles
+subdued a wild and bloodthirsty horde who made it a practice to set
+upon and butcher peaceful neighbors. Charles was the protector of the
+realm, and the Saxons were forced to bend under the weight of his
+powerful arm. If Charles, however, did violence to the consciences of
+his vanquished enemies, and converted them to Christianity with the
+sword and mace, then Charles himself is not to be excused, for moral
+freedom is expressly proclaimed by the spirit of Christianity."
+
+"There is no doubt but that the Saxons were blundering fools for
+rousing the lion by making inroads into Charles' domain. The
+ultramontanes, are, however, in a similar situation. They have attacked
+the giant Progress, and have themselves to blame for the consequences."
+
+"The ultramontanes have attacked nobody," maintained Gerlach. "They are
+merely asserting their own rights, and are not putting restrictions on
+the rights of other people. But progress will concede neither rights
+nor freedom to others. It is a disgusting egotist, an unscrupulous
+tyrant, that tries to build up his own brutal authority on the ruins of
+the rights of others."
+
+"Still, it would have been far more prudent on the part of the
+ultramontanes to keep quiet, seeing that their inferiority of numbers
+cannot alter the situation. The indisputable rights of the ascendency
+are in our days with the sceptre and crown of progress."
+
+"A brave man never counts the foe," cried Gerlach. "He stands to his
+convictions, and behaves manfully in the struggle."
+
+"Well said!" applauded the banker, "And since progress also is forced
+by the opposition of principles to man itself for the contest, it will
+naturally beat up all its forces in defence of its conviction. Here we
+are at the 'Key of Heaven,' where the ultramontanes are holding their
+meeting. Let us go in, for the proverb says, _Audiatur et altera
+pars_--the other side should also get a hearing."
+
+They drew near to a lengthy old building. Over the doorway was a pair
+of crossed keys hewn out of stone, and gilt, informing the stranger
+that it was the hostelry of the "Key of Heaven," where, since the days
+of hoar antiquity, hospitality was dispensed to pilgrims and
+travellers. The principal hall of the house contained a gathering of
+about three hundred men. They were attentively listening to the words
+of a speaker who was warmly advocating the principles of his party. The
+speaker stood behind a desk which was placed upon a platform at the far
+end of the hall.
+
+Seraphin cast a glance over the assembly. He received the painful
+impression of a hopeless minority. Barely forty votes would the
+ultramontanes be able to send to each of the wards. To compensate for
+numbers, intelligence and faith were represented in the meeting.
+Elegant gentlemen with intellectual countenances sat or stood in the
+company of respectable tradesmen, and the long black coats of the
+clergy were not few in number. On a table lay two packages of yellow
+tickets to be distributed among the members of the assembly. At the
+same table sat the chairman, a commissary of police named Parteiling,
+whose business it was to watch the proceedings, and several other
+gentlemen.
+
+"Compared with the colossal preponderance of progress, our influence is
+insignificant, and, compared with the masses of our opponents our
+numerical strength is still less encouraging," said the speaker. "If in
+connection with this disheartening fact you take into consideration the
+pressure which progress has it in its power to exert on the various
+relations of life through numerous auxiliary means, if you remember
+that our opponents can dismiss from employment all such as dare uphold
+views differing from their own, it becomes clear that no ordinary
+amount of courage is required to entertain and proclaim convictions
+hostile to progress."
+
+Seraphin thought of Spitzkopf's mode of electioneering, and of the
+terrible threats made to the "wild men," and concluded the incredible
+statement was lamentably correct.
+
+"Viewing things in this light," proceeded the orator, "I congratulate
+the present assembly upon its unusual degree of pluck, for courage is
+required to go into battle with a clear knowledge of the overwhelming
+strength of the enemy. We have rallied round the banner of our
+convictions notwithstanding that the numbers of the enemy make victory
+hopeless. We are determined to cast our votes in support of religion
+and morality in defiance of the scorn, blasphemy, and violence which
+the well-known terrorism of progress will not fail to employ in order
+to frighten us from the exercise of our privilege as citizens. We must
+be prepared, gentlemen, to hear a multitude of sarcastic remarks and
+coarse witticisms, both in the streets and at the polls. I adjure you
+to maintain the deportment alone worthy of our cause. A gentleman never
+replies to the aggressions of rudeness, and should you wish to take the
+conduct of our opponents in gay good-humor, just try, gentlemen, to
+fancy that you are being treated to some elegant exhibition of the
+refinement and liberal culture of the times."
+
+Loud bursts of hilarity now and then relieved the seriousness of the
+meeting. Even Greifmann would clap applause and cry, "Bravo!"
+
+"Let us stand united to a man, prepared against all the wiles of
+intimidation and corruption, undismayed by the onset of the enemy. The
+struggle is grave beyond expression. For you are acquainted with the
+aims and purposes of the liberals. Progress would like to sweep away
+all the religious heritages that our fathers held sacred. Education is
+to be violently wrested from under the influence of the church; the
+church herself is to be enslaved and strangled in the thrall of the
+liberal state. I am aware that our opponents pretend to respect
+religion--but the religion of would-be progress is infidelity. Divine
+revelation, of which the church is the faithful guardian, is rejected
+with scorn by liberalism. Look at the tone of the press and the style
+of the literature of the day. You have only to notice the derision and
+fierceness with which the press daily assails the mysteries and dogmas
+of religion, the Sovereign Pontiff, the clergy, religious orders, the
+ultramontanes, and you cannot long remain in the dark concerning the
+aim and object of progress. Christ or Antichrist is the watchword of
+the day, gentlemen! Hence the imperative duty for us to be active at
+the elections; for the legislature has the presumption to wish to
+dictate in matters belonging exclusively to the jurisdiction of the
+church. We are threatened with school laws the purpose of which is to
+unchristianize our children, to estrange them from the spirit of
+religion. No man having the sentiment of religion can remain
+indifferent in presence of this danger, for it means nothing less than
+the defection from Christianity of the masses of the coming generation.
+
+"Gentlemen, there is a reproach being uttered just now by the
+progressionist press, which, far from repelling, I would feel proud to
+deserve. A priest should have said, so goes the report, that it is a
+mortal sin to elect a progressionist to the chamber of deputies. Some
+of the writers of our press have met this reproach by simply denying
+that a priest ever expressed himself in those terms. But, gentlemen,
+let us take for granted that a priest did actually say that it is a
+mortal sin to elect a progressionist to the chamber of deputies, is
+there anything opposed to morality in such a declaration?
+
+"By no means, if you remember that it is to be presumed the
+progressionist will use his vote in the assembly to oppose religion.
+Mortal sin, gentlemen, is any wilful transgression of God's law in
+grave matters. Now I put it to you: Does he gravely transgress the law
+of God who controverts what God has revealed, who would exclude God and
+all holy subjects from the schools, who would rob the church of her
+independence, and make of her a mere state machine unfit for the
+fulfilment of her high mission? There is not one of you but is ready to
+declare: 'Yes, such an one transgresses grievously the law of God.'
+This answer at the same time solves the other question, whether it is a
+mortal sin to put arms in the hands of an enemy of religion that he may
+use them against faith and morality. Would that all men of Christian
+sentiment seriously adverted to this connection of things and acted
+accordingly, the baneful sway of the pernicious spirit that governs the
+age would soon be at an end; for I have confidence in the sound sense
+and moral rectitude of the German people. Heathenism is repugnant to
+the deeply religious nature of our nation; the German people do not
+wish to dethrone God, nor are they ready to bow the knee before the
+empty idol of a soulless enlightenment."
+
+Here the speaker was interrupted by a tumult. A band of factorymen,
+yelling and laughing, rushed into the hall to disturb the meeting. All
+eyes were immediately turned upon the rioters. In every countenance
+indignation could be seen kindling at this outrage of the liberals. The
+commissary of police alone sat motionless as a statue. The
+progressionist rioters elbowed their way into the crowd, and, when the
+excitement caused by this strategic movement had subsided, the speaker
+resumed his discourse.
+
+"For a number of years back our conduct has been misrepresented and
+calumniated. They call us men of no nationality, and pretend that we
+get our orders from Rome. This reproach does honor neither to the
+intelligence nor to the judgment of our opponents. Whence dates the
+division of Germany into discordant factions? When began the present
+faint and languishing condition of our fatherland? From the moment when
+it separated from Rome. So long as Germany continued united in the bond
+of the same holy faith, and the voice of the head of the church was
+hearkened to by every member of her population, her sovereigns held the
+golden apple, the symbol of universal empire. Our nation was then the
+mightiest, the proudest, the most glorious upon earth. The church who
+speaks through the Sovereign Pontiff had civilized the fierce sons of
+Germany, had conjured the hatred and feuds of hostile tribes, had
+united the interests and energies of our people in one holy faith, and
+had ennobled and enriched German genius through the spirit of religion.
+The church had formed out of the chaos of barbarism the Holy Roman
+Empire of the German nation--that gigantic and wonderful organization
+the like of which the world will never see again. But the church has
+long since been deprived of the leadership in German affairs, and what
+in consequence is now the condition of our fatherland? It is divided
+into discordant factions, it is an ailing trunk, with many members, but
+without a head.
+
+"It is rather amusing that the ultramontanes should be charged with
+receiving orders from Rome, for the voice of the Father of Christianity
+has not been heard for many years back, in the council of state."
+
+"Hurrah for the Syllabus!" cried Spitzkopf, who was at the head of the
+rioters. "Hurrah for the Syllabus!" echoed his gang, yelling and
+stamping wildly.
+
+The ultramontanes were aroused, eyes glared fiercely, and fists were
+clenched ready to make a summary clearing of the hall. But no scuffle
+ensued; the ultramontanes maintained a dignified bearing. The speaker
+calmly remained in his place, and when the tumult had ceased he again
+went on with his discourse.
+
+"Such only," said he, "take offence at the Syllabus as know nothing
+about it. There is not a word in the Syllabus opposed to political
+liberty or the most untrammelled self-government of the German people.
+But it is opposed to the fiendish terrorism of infidelity. The Syllabus
+condemns the diabolical principles by which the foundations of the
+Christian state are sapped and a most disastrous tyranny over
+conscience is proclaimed."
+
+"Hallo! listen to that," cried one of the liberals, and the yelling was
+renewed, louder, longer, and more furious than before.
+
+The chairman rang his bell. The revellers relapsed into silence.
+
+"Ours is not a public meeting, but a mere private gathering," explained
+the chairman. "None but men of Christian principles have been invited.
+If others have intruded violently, I request them to leave the room,
+or, at least, to refrain from conduct unbecoming men of good-breeding."
+
+Spitzkopf laughed aloud, his comrades yelled and stamped.
+
+"Let us go!" said Greifmann to Gerlach in an angry tone.
+
+"Let us stay!" rejoined the latter with excitement. "The affair is
+becoming interesting. I want to see how this will end."
+
+The banker noticed Gerlach's suppressed indignation; he observed it in
+the fire of his eyes and the expression of unutterable contempt that
+had spread over his features, and he began to consider the situation as
+alarming. He had not expected this exhibition of brutal impertinence.
+In his estimation an infringement of propriety like the one he had just
+witnessed was a far more heinous transgression than the grossest
+violations in the sphere of morals. He judged of Gerlach's impressions
+by this standard of appreciation, and feared the behavior of the
+progressionist mob would produce an effect in the young man's mind far
+from favorable to the cause which they represented. He execrated the
+disturbance of the liberals, and took Seraphin's arm to lead him away.
+
+"Come away, I beg of you! I cannot imagine what interest the rudeness
+of that uncultivated horde can have for you."
+
+"Do not scorn them, for they are honestly earning their pay," rejoined
+Gerlach.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Those fellows are whistling, bawling, stamping, and yelling in the
+employ of progress. You are trying to give me an insight into the
+nature of modern civilization: could there be a better opportunity than
+this?"
+
+"There you make a mistake, my dear fellow! Enlightened progress is
+never rude."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+The tumult continued. As soon as the orator attempted to speak, his
+voice was drowned by cries and stamping.
+
+"Commissary!" cried the chairman to that officer, "I demand that you
+extend to our assembly the protection of the law."
+
+"I am here simply to watch the proceedings of your meeting," replied
+Parteiling with cool indifference. "Everybody is at liberty in meetings
+to signify his approval or disapproval by signs. No act forbidden by
+the law has been committed by your opponents, in my opinion."
+
+"Bravo! bravo! Three cheers for the commissary!"
+
+All at once the noise was subdued to a whisper of astonishment. A
+miracle was taking place under the very eyes of progress. Banker
+Greifmann, the moneyed prince and liberal, made his appearance upon the
+platform. The rioters saw with amazement how the mighty man before whom
+the necks of all such as were in want of money bowed--even the necks of
+the puissant leaders--stepped before the president of the assembly, how
+he politely bowed and spoke a few words in an undertone. They observed
+how the chairman nodded assent, and then how the banker, as if to
+excite their wonder to the highest pitch, mounted to the speaker's
+desk.
+
+"Gentlemen," began Carl Greifmann, "although I have not the honor of
+sharing your political views, I feel myself nevertheless urged to
+address a few words to you. In the name of true progress, I ask this
+honorable assembly's pardon for the disturbance occasioned a moment ago
+by a band of uncultivated rioters, who dare to pretend that they are
+acting in the cause and with the sanction of progress. I solemnly
+protest against the assumption that their disgraceful and outrageous
+conduct is in accordance with the spirit of the party which they
+dishonor. Progress holds firmly to its principles, and defends them
+manfully in the struggle with its opposers, but it is far from making
+itself odious by rudely overstepping the bounds of decency set by
+humanity and civilization. In political contests, it may be perfectly
+lawful to employ earnest persuasion and even influences that partake of
+the rigor of compulsion, but rudeness, impertinence, is never
+justifiable in an age of civilization. Commissary Parteiling discovers
+no legally prohibited offence in the expression of vulgarity and
+lowness--may be. Nevertheless, a high misdemeanor has been perpetrated
+against decorum and against the deference which man owes to man. Should
+the slightest disturbance be again attempted, I shall use the whole
+weight of my influence in prosecuting the guilty parties, and convince
+them that even in the spirit of progress they are offenders and can be
+reached by punishment."
+
+He spoke, and retired to the other end of the hall, followed by loud
+applause from the ultramontanes. Nor were the threats of the mighty man
+uttered in vain. Spitzkopf hung his head abashed. The other revellers
+were tamed, they listened demurely to the speakers, ceased their
+contemptuous hootings, and stood on their good behavior. Greifmann's
+proceeding had taken Seraphin also by surprise, and the power which the
+banker possessed over the rioters set him to speculating deeply. He saw
+plainly that Louise's brother commanded an extraordinary degree of
+respect in the camp of the enemies of religion, and the only cause that
+could sufficiently account for the fact was a community of principles
+of which they were well aware. Hence the opinion he had formed of
+Greifmann was utterly erroneous, concluded Gerlach, The banker was
+not a mere secluded business man--he was not indifferent about the
+great questions of the age. Then there was another circumstance
+that perplexed the ruddy-cheeked millionaire to no inconsiderable
+degree--Greifmann's unaccountable way of taking things. The tyrannical
+mode of electioneering which they had witnessed at the sign of the
+"Green Hat" had not at all disgusted Greifmann. Spitzkopf's threats had
+not excited his indignation. He had with a smiling countenance looked
+on whilst the most brutal species of terrorism was being enacted before
+him, he had not expressed a word of contempt at the constraint which
+they who held the power inhumanly placed on the political liberty of
+their dependents. On the other hand, his indignation was aroused by a
+mere breach of good behavior, an offence which in Gerlach's estimation
+was as nothing compared with the other instances of progressionist
+violence. The banker seemed to him to have strained out a gnat after
+having swallowed a whole drove of camels. The youth's suspicions being
+excited, he began to study the strainer of gnats and swallower of
+camels more closely, and soon the banker turned out in his estimation a
+hollow stickler for mere outward decency, devoid of all deeper merit.
+He now recollected also Greifmann's dealings with the leaders of
+progress, and those transactions only confirmed his present views. What
+he had considered as an extraordinary degree of shrewdness in the man
+of business, which enabled him to take advantage of the peculiar
+convictions and manner of thinking of other men, was now to his mind a
+real affinity with their principles, and he could not help being
+shocked at the discovery.
+
+He hung his head in a melancholy mood, and his heart protested
+earnestly against the inference which was irresistibly forcing itself
+upon his mind, that the sister shared her brother's sentiments.
+
+"This doubt must be cleared up, cost what it may," thought he. "My God,
+what if Louise also turned out to be a progressionist, a woman without
+any faith, an infidel! No, that cannot be! Yet suppose it really were
+the case--suppose she actually held principles in common with such vile
+beings as Schwefel, Sand, Erdblatt, and Shund? Suppose her moral nature
+did not harmonize with the beauty of her person--what then?" He
+experienced a spasmodic contraction in his heart at the question, he
+hesitated with the answer, but, his better self finally getting the
+victory, he said: "Then all is over. The impressions of a dream;
+however delightful, must not influence a waking man. My father's
+calculation was wrong, and I have wasted my kindness on an undeserving
+object."
+
+So completely wrapt up was he in his meditations that he heard not a
+word of the speeches, not even the concluding remarks of the president.
+Greifmann's approach roused him, and they left the hall together.
+
+"That was ruffianly conduct, of which progress would have for ever to
+be ashamed," said the banker indignantly, "They bayed and yelped like a
+pack of hounds. At their first volley I was as embarrassed and confused
+as a modest girl would be at the impertinence of some young scapegrace.
+Fierce rage then hurried me to the platform, and my words have never
+done better service, for they vindicated civilization."
+
+"I cannot conceive how a trifle could thus exasperate you."
+
+Greifmann stood still and looked at his companion in astonishment.
+
+"A trifle!" echoed he reproachfully. "Do you call a piece of wanton
+impudence, a ruffianly outrage against several hundreds of men entitled
+to respect, a trifle?
+
+"I do, compared with other crimes that you have suffered to pass
+unheeded and uncensured," answered Gerlach. "You had not an indignant
+word for the unutterable meanness of those three leaders, who were
+immoral and unprincipled enough to invest a notorious villain with
+office and honors. Nor did you show any exasperation at the brutal
+terrorism practised by men of power in this town over their weak and
+unfortunate dependents."
+
+"Take my advice, and be on your guard against erroneous and
+narrow-minded judgments. The leaders merely had a view to their own
+ends, but they in no manner sinned against propriety. The raising a man
+of Shund's abilities to the office of mayor is an act of prudence--by
+no means an offence against humanity."
+
+"Yet it was an outrage to moral sentiment," opposed Seraphin.
+
+"See here, Gerlach, moral sentiment is a very elastic sort of thing.
+Sentiment goes for nothing in practical life, and such is the character
+of life in our century."
+
+"Well, then, the mere sense of propriety is not worth a whit more."
+
+"I ask your pardon! Propriety belongs to the realm of actualities or of
+practical experiences, and not to the shadowland of sentiment.
+Propriety is the rule that regulates the intercourse of men, it is
+therefore a necessity, nothing else will serve as a substitute for it,
+and it must continue to be so regarded as long as a difference is
+recognized between rational man and the irrational brute."
+
+"The same may be said with much more reason of morality, for it also is
+a rule, it regulates our actions, it determines the ethic worth or
+worthlessness of a man. Mere outward decorum does not necessarily argue
+any interior excellence. The most abandoned wretch may be distinguished
+for easy manners and elegant deportment, yet he is none the less a
+criminal. A dog may be trained to many little arts, but for all that it
+continues to be a dog.
+
+"It is delightful to see you breaking through that uniform patience of
+yours for once and showing a little of the fire of indignation," said
+the banker pleasantly. "I shall tell Louise of it, I know she will be
+glad to learn that Seraphin too is susceptible of a human passion. But
+this by the way. Now watch how I shall meet your arguments. That very
+moral sentiment of which you speak has caused and is still causing the
+most enormous crimes against humanity, and the laws of morality are as
+changeable as the wind. When an Indian who has not been raised from
+barbarism by civilization dies, the religious custom of the country
+requires that his wife should permit herself to be burned alive on the
+funeral pyre of her husband. Moral sentiment teaches the uncivilized
+woman that it is a horrible crime to refuse to devote herself to this
+cruel death. The pious Jews used to stone every woman to death who was
+taken in adultery--in our day, such a deed of blood would be revolting
+to moral sentiment, and would claim tears from the eyes of cultivated
+people. I could mention many other horrors that were practised more or
+less remotely in the past, and were sanctioned by the prevailing moral
+sentiment. Here is my last instance: according to laws of morality, the
+usurer was at one time a monster, an arch-villain--at present, he is
+merely a man of great enterprise. Propriety, on the other hand,
+enlightenment, and polish are absolute and unalterable. Whilst rudeness
+and impertinence will ever be looked upon as disgusting, good manners
+and politeness will be considered as commendable and beautiful."
+
+Seraphin could not but admire the skill with which Greifmann jumbled
+together subjects of the most heterogeneous nature. But he could not,
+at the same time, divest himself of some alarm at the banker's
+declarations, for they betrayed a soul-life of little or absolutely no
+moral worth. Money, interest, and respectability constituted the only
+trinity in which the banker believed. Morality, binding the conscience
+of man, a true and only God, and divine revelation, were in his opinion
+so many worn-out and useless notions, which the progress of mankind had
+successfully got beyond.
+
+"When those who hold power take advantage of it at elections, they in
+no manner offend against propriety," proceeded Carl. "Progress has
+convictions as well as ultramontanism. If the latter is active, why
+should not the former be so too? If, on the side of progress, the weak
+and dependent permit themselves to be cowed and driven, it is merely an
+advantage for the powerful, and for the others it is a weakness or
+cowardice. For this reason, the mode of electioneering pursued by
+Spitzkopf and his comrades amused but nowise shocked me, for they were
+not acting against propriety."
+
+Seraphin saw it plainly: for Carl Greifmann there existed no
+distinction between good and evil; he recognized only a cold and empty
+system of formalities.
+
+The two young men issued from a narrow street upon the market-place.
+This was occupied by a large public building. In the open space stood a
+group of men, among whom Flachsen appeared conspicuous. He was telling
+the others about Greifmann's speech at the meeting of the
+ultramontanes. They all manifested great astonishment that the
+influential moneyed prince should have appeared in such company, and,
+above all, should have made a speech in their behalf.
+
+"He declared it was vulgar, impudent, ruffianly, to disturb a
+respectable assembly," reported Flachsen. "He said he knew some of us,
+and that he would have us put where the dogs would not bite us if we
+attempted to disturb them again. That's what he said; and I actually
+rubbed my eyes to be quite sure it was banker Greifmann that was
+speaking, and really it was he, the banker Greifmann himself, bodily,
+and not a mere apparition."
+
+"I must say the banker was right, for it isn't exactly good manners to
+howl, stamp, and whistle to annoy one's neighbors," owned another.
+
+"But we were paid for doing it, and we only carried out the orders
+given by certain gentlemen."
+
+"To be sure! Men like us don't know what good breeding is--it's for
+gentlemen to understand that," maintained a third. "We do what men of
+good breeding hire us to do, and if it isn't proper, it matters nothing
+to us--let the gentlemen answer for it."
+
+"Bravo, Stoffel, bravo!" applauded Flachsen. "Yours is the right sort
+of servility, Stoffel! You are a real human, servile, and genuine
+reactive kind of a fellow--so you are. I agree with you entirely. The
+gentlemen do the paying, and it is for them to answer for what happens.
+We are merely servants, we are hirelings, and what need a hireling care
+whether that which his master commands is right or not? The master is
+responsible, not the hireling. What I am telling you belongs to the
+exact sciences, and the exact sciences are at the pinnacle of modern
+acquisitions. Hence a hireling who without scruple carries out the
+orders of his master is up to the highest point of the age--such a
+fellow has taken his stand on servility. Hallo! the election has
+commenced. Be off, every man of you, to his post. But mind you don't
+look too deep into the beer-pots before the election is over. Keep your
+heads level, be cautious, do your best for the success of the green
+ticket. Once the election is carried, you may swill beer till you can
+no longer stand. The gentlemen will foot the bill, and assume all
+responsibilities."
+
+They dispersed themselves through the various drinking-shops of the
+neighborhood.
+
+Near the door of the building in which the voting was to take place
+stood a number of progressionist gentlemen. They all wore heavy beards,
+smoked cigars, and peered about restlessly. To those of their party who
+chanced to pass they nodded and smiled knowingly, upon doubtful voters
+they smiled still more blandly, added some pleasant words, and pressed
+the acceptance of the green ticket, but for ultramontane voters they
+had only jeers and coarse witticisms. As Greifmann approached they
+respectfully raised their hats. The banker drew Gerlach to one side,
+and stood to make observations.
+
+"What swarms there are around the drinking-shops," remarked Greifmann.
+"It is there that the tickets are filled under the persuasive influence
+of beer. The committee provide the tickets which the voters have filled
+with the names of the candidates by clerks who sit round the tables at
+the beer-shops. It is quite an ingenious arrangement, for beer will
+reconcile a voter to the most objectionable kind of a candidate."
+
+A crowd of drunken citizens coming out of the nearest tavern
+approached. Linked arm-in-arm, they swayed about and staggered along
+with an unsteady pace. Green tickets bearing the names of the
+candidates whom progress had chosen to watch over the common weal could
+be seen protruding from the pockets of their waistcoats. Gerlach,
+seeing the drunken mob and recollecting the solemn and important nature
+of the occasion, was seized with loathing and horror at the corruption
+of social life revealed in the low means to which the party of progress
+had recourse to secure for its ends the votes of these besotted and
+ignorant men.
+
+Presently Schwefel stepped up and saluted the young men.
+
+"Do you not belong to the committee in charge of the ballot-box?"
+inquired Greifmann.
+
+"No, sir, I wished to remain entirely untrammelled this morning,"
+answered the leader with a sly look and tone. "This is going to be an
+exciting election, the ultramontanes are astir, and it will be
+necessary for me to step in authoritatively now and then to decide a
+vote. Moreover, the committee is composed exclusively of men of our
+party. Not a single ultramontane holds a seat at the polls."
+
+"In that case there can be no question of failure," said the banker.
+"Your office is closed to-day, no doubt?"
+
+"Of course!" assented the manufacturer of straw hats. "This day is
+celebrated as a free day by the offices of all respectable houses. Our
+clerks are dispersed through the taverns and election districts to use
+their pens in filling up tickets."
+
+"I am forced to return to my old assertion: an election is mere folly,
+useless jugglery," said the banker, turning to Seraphin. "Holding
+elections is no longer a rational way of doing, it is no longer a
+business way of proceeding, it is yielding to stupid timidity. Mr.
+Schwefel, don't you think elections are mere folly?"
+
+"I confess I have never considered the subject from that point of
+view," answered the leader cautiously. "But meanwhile--what do you
+understand by that?"
+
+"Be good enough to attend to my reasoning for a moment. Progress is in
+a state of complete organization. What progress wills, must be. Another
+party having authority and power cannot subsist side by side with
+progress. Just see those men staggering and blundering over the square
+with green tickets in their hands! To speak without circumlocution,
+look at the slaves doing the behests of their masters. What need of
+this silly masquerade of an election? Why squander all this money,
+waste all this beer and time? Why does not progress settle this
+business summarily? Why not simply nominate candidates fit for the
+office, and then send them directly to the legislature? This mode would
+do away with all this nonsensical ado, and would give the matter a
+prompt and business cast, conformable to the spirit of the age."
+
+"This idea is a good one, but we have an election law that would stand
+in the way of carrying it out."
+
+"Bosh--election law!" sneered the banker. "Your election law is a mere
+scarecrow, an antiquated, meaningless instrument. Do away with the
+election law, and follow my suggestion."
+
+"That would occasion a charming row on the part of the ultramontanes,"
+observed the leader laughing.
+
+"Was the lion ever known to heed the bleating of a sheep? When did
+progress ever pay any attention to a row gotten up by the
+ultramontanes?" rejoined Greifmann. "Was not the fuss made in Bavaria
+against the progressionist school-law quite a prodigious one? Did not
+our own last legislature make heavy assaults on the church? Did not the
+entire episcopate protest against permitting Jews, Neo-pagans, and
+Freemasons to legislate, on matters of religion? But did progress
+suffer itself to be disconcerted by episcopal protests and the
+agonizing screams of the ultramontanes? Not at all. It calmly pursued
+the even tenor of its way. Be logical, Mr. Schwefel: progress reigns
+supreme and decrees with absolute authority--why should it not
+summarily relegate this election law among the things that were, but
+are no more?"
+
+"You are right, Greifmann!" exclaimed Gerlach, in a feeling of utter
+disgust. "What need has the knout of Russian despotism of the sanction
+of constitutional forms? Progress is lord, the rest are slaves!"
+
+"You have again misunderstood me, my good fellow. I am considering the
+actual state of things. Should ultramontanism at any time gain the
+ascendency, then it also will be justified in behaving in the same
+manner."
+
+Upon more mature consideration, Gerlach found himself forced to admit
+that Greifmann's view, from the standpoint of modern culture, was
+entirely correct. Progress independently of God and of all positive
+religion could not logically be expected to recognize any moral
+obligations, for it had not a moral basis. Everything was determined by
+the force of circumstances; the autocracy of party rule made anything
+lawful. Laws proceeded not from the divine source of unalterable
+justice, but from the whim of a majority--fashioned and framed to suit
+peculiar interests and passions.
+
+"We have yet considerable work to do to bring all to thinking as
+clearly and rationally as you, Mr. Greifmann," said the leader with a
+winning smile.
+
+Schwefel accompanied the millionaires into a lengthy hall, across the
+lower end of which stood a table. There sat the commissary of elections
+surrounded by the committee, animated gentlemen with great beards, who
+were occupied in distributing tickets to voters or receiving tickets
+filled up. The extraordinary good-humor prevailing among these
+gentlemen was owing to the satisfactory course of the election, for
+rarely was any ultramontane paper seen mingling in the flood that
+poured in from the ranks of progress. The sides of the hall were hung
+with portraits of the sovereigns of the land, quite a goodly row. The
+last one of the series was youthful in appearance, and some audacious
+hand had scrawled on the broad gilt frame the following ominous words:
+"May he be the last in the succession of expensive bread-eaters." Down
+the middle of the hall ran a baize-covered table, on which were
+numerous inkstands. Scattered over the table lay a profusion of green
+bills; the yellow color of the ultramontane bills was nowhere to be
+seen. The table was lined by gentlemen who were writing. They were not
+writing for themselves, but for others, who merely sighed their names
+and then handed the tickets to the commissary. Several corpulent
+gentlemen also occupied seats at the table, but they were not engaged
+in writing. These gentlemen, apparently unoccupied, wore massive gold
+watch-chains and sparkling rings, and they had a commanding and stern
+expression of countenance. They were observing all who entered, to see
+whether any man would be bold enough to vote the yellow ticket. People
+of the humbler sort, mechanics and laborers, were constantly coming in
+and going out. Bowing reverently to the portly gentlemen, they seated
+themselves and filled out green tickets with the names of the liberal
+candidates. Most of them did not even trouble themselves to this
+degree, but simply laid their tickets before the penman appointed for
+this special service. All went off in the best order. The process of
+the election resembled the smooth working of an ingenious piece of
+machinery. And there was no tongue there to denounce the infamous
+terrorism that had crushed the freedom of the election or had bought
+the votes of vile and venal men with beer.
+
+Seraphin stood with Greifmann in the recess of a window looking on.
+
+"Who are the fat men at the table?" inquired he.
+
+"The one with the very black beard is house-builder Sand, the second is
+Eisenhart, machine-builder, the third is Erdfloh, a landowner, the
+fourth and fifth are tobacco merchants. All those gentlemen are
+chieftains of the party of progress."
+
+"They show it," observed Gerlach. "Their looks, in a manner, command
+every man that comes in to take the green ticket, and I imagine I can
+read on their brows: 'Woe to him who dares vote against us. He shall be
+under a ban, and shall have neither employment nor bread.' It is
+unmitigated tyranny! I imagine I see in those fat fellows so many
+cotton-planters voting their slaves."
+
+"That is a one-sided conclusion, my most esteemed," rejoined the
+banker. "In country villages, the position here assumed by the magnates
+of progress is filled by the lords of ultramontanism, clerical
+gentlemen in cassocks, who keep a sharp eye on the fingers of their
+parishioners. This, too, is influencing."
+
+"But not constraining," opposed the millionaire promptly. "The clergy
+exert a legitimate influence by convincing, by advancing solid grounds
+for their political creed. They never have recourse to compulsory
+measures, nor dare they do so, because it would be opposed to the
+Gospel which they preach. The autocrats of progress, on the contrary,
+do not hesitate about using threats and violence. Should a man refuse
+to bow to their dictates, they cruelly deprive him of the means of
+subsistence. This is not only inhuman, but it is also an accursed
+scheme for making slaves of the people and robbing them of principle."
+
+"Ah! look yonder--there is Holt."
+
+The land cultivator had walked into the hall head erect. He looked
+along the table and stood undecided. One of the ministering spirits of
+progress soon fluttered about him, offering him a green ticket. Holt
+glanced at it, and a contemptuous smile spread over his face. He next
+tore it to pieces, which he threw on the floor.
+
+"What are you about?" asked the angel of progress reproachfully.
+
+"I have reduced Shund and his colleagues to fragments," answered Holt
+dryly, then approaching the commissary he demanded a yellow ticket.
+
+"Glorious!" applauded Gerlach. "I have half a mind to present this true
+German _man_ with another thousand as a reward for his spirit."
+
+The fat men had observed with astonishment the action of the land
+cultivator. Their astonishment turned to rage when Holt, leisurely
+seating himself at the table, took a pen in his mighty fist and began
+filling out the ticket with the names of the ultramontane candidates.
+Whilst he wrote, whisperings could be heard all through the hall, and
+every eye was directed upon him. After no inconsiderable exertion, the
+task of filling out the ticket was successfully accomplished, and Holt
+arose, leaving the ticket lying upon the table. In the twinkling of an
+eye a hand reached forward to take it up.
+
+"What do you mean, sir?" asked Holt sternly.
+
+"That yellow paper defiles the table," hissed the fellow viciously.
+
+"Hand back that ticket," commanded Holt roughly. "I want it to be
+here. The yellow ticket has as good a right on this table as the green
+one--do you hear me?"
+
+"Slave of the priests!" sputtered his antagonist.
+
+"If I am a slave of the priests, then you are a slave of that villain
+Shund," retorted Holt. "I am not to be browbeaten--by such a fellow as
+you particularly--least of all by a vile slave of Shund's." He spoke,
+and then reached his ticket to the commissary.
+
+"That is an impudent dog," growled leader Sand. "Who is he?"
+
+"He is a countryman of the name of Holt," answered he to whom the query
+was addressed.
+
+"We must spot the boor," said Erdfloh. "His swaggering shall not avail
+him anything."
+
+Holt was not the only voter that proved refractory. Mr. Schwefel, also,
+had a disagreeable surprise. He was standing near the entrance,
+observing with great self-complacency how the workmen in his employ
+submissively cast their votes for Shund and his associates. Schwefel
+regarded himself as of signal importance in the commonwealth, for he
+controlled not less than four hundred votes, and the side which it was
+his pleasure to favor could not fail of victory. The head of the great
+leader seemed in a manner encircled with the halo of progress: whilst
+his retainers passed and saluted him, he experienced something akin to
+the pride of a field-marshal reviewing a column of his victorious army.
+
+Just then a spare little man appeared in the door. His yellowish,
+sickly complexion gave evidence that he was employed in the
+sulphurating of straw. At sight of the commander the sulphur-hued
+little man shrank back, but his startled look did not escape the
+restless eye of Mr. Schwefel. He beckoned to the laborer.
+
+"Have you selected your ticket, Leicht?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Let me see the ticket."
+
+The man obeyed reluctantly. Scarcely had Schwefel got a glimpse of the
+paper when his brows gathered darkly.
+
+"What means this? Have you selected the yellow ticket and not the green
+one?"
+
+Leicht hung his head. He thought of the consequences of this detection,
+of his four small children, of want of employment, of hunger and bitter
+need--he was almost beside himself.
+
+"If you vote for the priests, you may get your bread from the priests,"
+said Schwefel. "The moment you hand that ticket to the commissary, you
+may consider yourself discharged from my employ." With this he angrily
+turned his back upon the man. Leicht did not reach in his ticket to the
+commissary. Staggering out of the hall, he stood bewildered hear the
+railing of the steps, and stared vaguely upon the men who were coming
+and going. Spitzkopf slipped up to him.
+
+"What were you thinking about, man?" asked he reproachfully. "Mr.
+Schwefel is furious--you are ruined. Sheer stupidity, nothing but
+stupidity in you to wish to vote in opposition to the pleasure of the
+man from whom you get your bread and meat! Not only that, but you have
+insulted the whole community, for you have chosen to vote against
+progress when all the town is in favor of progress. You will be put on
+the spotted list, and the upshot will be that you will not get
+employment in any factory in town. Do you want to die of hunger,
+man--do you want your children to die of hunger?"
+
+"You are right--I am ruined," said the laborer listlessly. "I couldn't
+bring myself to write Shund's name because he reduced my brother-in-law
+to beggary--this is what made me select the yellow ticket."
+
+"You are a fool. Were Mr. Schwefel to recommend the devil, your duty
+would be to vote for the devil. What need you care who is on the
+ticket? You have only to write the names on the ticket--nothing more
+than that. Do you think progress would nominate men that are unfit--men
+who would not promote the interests of the state, who would not further
+the cause of humanity, civilization, and liberty? You are a fool for
+not voting for what is best for yourself."
+
+"I am sorry now, but it's too late." sighed Leicht. "I wouldn't have
+thought, either, that Mr. Schwefel would get angry because a man wanted
+to vote to the best of his judgment."
+
+"There you are prating sillily again. Best of your judgment!--you
+mustn't have any judgment. Leave it to others to judge; they have more
+brains, more sense, more knowledge than you. Progress does the
+thinking: our place is to blindly follow its directions."
+
+"But, Mr. Spitzkopf, mine is only the vote of a poor man; and what
+matters such a vote?"
+
+"There is your want of sense again. We are living in a state that
+enjoys liberty. We are living in an age of intelligence, of moral
+advancement, of civilization and knowledge, in a word, we are living in
+an age of progress; and in an age of this sort the vote of a poor man
+is worth as much as that of a rich man."
+
+"If only I had it to do over! I would give my right hand to have it to
+do over!"
+
+"You can repair the mischief if you want."
+
+"Instruct me how, Mr. Spitzkopf; please tell me how!"
+
+"Very well, I will do my best. As you acted from thoughtlessness and no
+bad intention, doubtless Mr. Schwefel will suffer himself to be
+propitiated. Go down into the court, and wait till I come. I shall get
+you another ticket; you will then vote for progress, and all will be
+satisfactory."
+
+"I am a thousand times obliged to you, Mr. Spitzkopf--a thousand times
+obliged!"
+
+The agent went back to the hall. Leicht descended to the courtyard,
+where he found a ring of timid operators like himself surrounding the
+sturdy Holt. They were talking in an undertone. As often as a
+progressionist drew near, their conversation was hushed altogether.
+Holt's voice alone resounded loudly through the court, and his huge
+strong hands were cutting the air in animated gesticulations.
+
+"This is not a free election; it is one of compulsion and violence,"
+cried he. "Every factoryman is compelled to vote as his employer
+dictates, and should he refuse the employer discharges him from the
+work. Is not this most despicable tyranny! And these very tyrants of
+progress are perpetually prating about liberty, independence,
+civilization! That's a precious sort of liberty indeed!"
+
+"A man belonging to the ultramontane party cannot walk the streets
+to-day without being hooted and insulted," said another. "Even up
+yonder in the hall, those gentlemen who are considered so cultivated
+stick their heads together and laugh scornfully when one of us draws
+near."
+
+"That's so--that's so, I have myself seen it," cried Holt. "Those
+well-bred gentlemen show their teeth like ferocious dogs whenever they
+see a yellow ticket or an ultramontane. I say, Leicht, has anything
+happened you? You look wretched!" Leicht drew near and related what had
+occurred. The honest Holt's eyes gleamed like coals of fire.
+
+"There's another piece of tyranny for you," cried he. "Leicht, my poor
+fellow, I fancy I see in you a slave of Schwefel's. From dawn till late
+you are compelled to toil for the curmudgeon, Sundays not excepted.
+Your church is the factory, your religion working in straw, and your
+God is your sovereign master Schwefel. You are ruining your health amid
+the stench of brimstone, and not so much as the liberty of voting as
+you think fit is allowed you. It's just as I tell you--you factorymen
+are slaves. How strangely things go on in the world! In America slavery
+has been abolished; but lo! here in Europe it is blooming as freshly as
+trees in the month of May. But mark my word, friends, the fruit is
+deadly; and when once it will have ripened, the great God of heaven
+will shake it from the trees, and the generation that planted the trees
+will have to eat the bitter fruit."
+
+Leicht shunned the society of the ultramontanes and stole away.
+Presently Spitzkopf appeared with the ticket.
+
+"Your ticket is filled out. Come and sign your name to it." Schwefel
+was again standing near the entrance, and he again beckoned the laborer
+to approach. "I am pacified. You may now continue working for me."
+
+Carl and Seraphin returned to the Palais Greifmann. Louise received
+them with numerous questions. The banker related what had passed;
+Gerlach strode restlessly through the apartment.
+
+"The most curious spectacle must have been yourself," said the young
+lady. "Just fancy you on the rostrum at the 'Key of Heaven'! And very
+likely the ungrateful ultramontanes would not so much as applaud."
+
+"Beg pardon, they did, miss!" assured Seraphin. "They applauded and
+cried bravo."
+
+"Really? Then I am proud of a brother whose maiden speech produced such
+marvellous effects. May be we shall read of it in the daily paper.
+Everybody will be surprised to hear of the banker Greifmann making a
+speech at the 'Key of Heaven.'" Carl perceived the irony and stroked
+his forehead.
+
+"But what can you be pondering over, Mr. Seraphin?" cried she to him.
+"Since returning from the turmoil of the election, you seem unable to
+keep quiet." He seated himself at her side, and was soon under the
+spell of her magical attractions.
+
+"My head is dizzy and my brain confused," said he. "On every hand I see
+nothing but revolt against moral obligation, sacrilegious disregard of
+the most sacred rights of man. The hubbub still resounds in my ears,
+and my imagination still sees those fat men at the table with their
+slaveholder look--the white slaves doing their masters' bidding--the
+completest subjugation in an age of enlightenment--all this presents
+itself to me in the most repulsive and lamentable guise."
+
+"You must drive those horrible phantoms from your mind," replied
+Louise.
+
+"They are not phantoms, but the most fearful reality."
+
+"They are phantoms, Mr. Seraphin, so far as your feelings exaggerate
+the evils. Those factory serfs have no reason to complain. There is
+nothing to be done but to put up with a situation that has
+spontaneously developed itself. It is useless to grow impatient because
+difference of rank between masters and servants is an unavoidable evil
+upon earth." A servant entered to call them to dinner.
+
+At her side he gradually became more cheerful. The brightness of her
+eyes dispelled his depression, and her delicate arts put a spell upon
+his young, inexperienced heart. And when, at the end of the meal, they
+were sipping delicious wine, and her beautiful lips lisped the
+customary health, the subdued tenderness he had been feeling suddenly
+expanded into a strong passion.
+
+"After you will have done justice to your diary," said she at parting,
+"we shall take a drive, and then go to the opera."
+
+Instead of going to his room, Seraphin went into the garden. He almost
+forgot the occurrences of the day in musing on the inexplicable
+behavior of Louise. Again she had not uttered a word of condemnation of
+the execrable doings of progress, and it grieved him deeply. A
+suspicion flitted across his mind that perhaps Louise was infected with
+the frivolous and pernicious spirit of the age, but he immediately
+stifled the terrible suggestion as he would have hastened to crush a
+viper that he might have seen on the path of the beautiful lady. He
+preferred to believe that she suppressed her feelings of disgust out of
+regard for his presence, that she wisely avoided pouring oil upon the
+flames of his own indignation. Had she not exerted herself to dispel
+his sombre reflections? He was thus espousing the side of passion
+against the appalling truth that was beginning faintly to dawn upon his
+anxious mind.
+
+But soon the spell was to be broken, and duty was to confront him with
+the alternative of either giving up Louise, or defying the stern
+demands of his conscience.
+
+The brother and sister, thinking their guest engaged with his diary,
+walked into the garden. They directed their steps towards the arbor
+where Gerlach had seated himself.
+
+He was only roused to consciousness of their proximity by the unusually
+loud and excited tone in which Louise spoke. He could not be mistaken;
+it was the young lady's voice--but oh! the import of her words. He
+looked through an opening in the foliage, and sat thunderstruck.
+
+"You have been attempting to guide Gerlach's overexalted spirit into a
+more rational way of thinking, but the very opposite seems to be the
+result. Intercourse with the son of a strait-laced mother is infecting
+you with sympathy for ultramontanism. Your speech to-day," continued
+she caustically, "in yon obscure meeting is the subject of the talk of
+the town. I am afraid you have made yourself ridiculous in the minds of
+all cultivated people. The respectability of our family has suffered."
+
+"Of our family?" echoed he, perplexed.
+
+"We are compromitted," continued she with excitement. "You have given
+our enemies occasion to set us down for members of a party who stupidly
+oppose the onward march of civilization."
+
+"Cease your philippic," broke in the brother angrily. "Bitterness is an
+unmerited return for my efforts to serve you."
+
+"To serve me?"
+
+"Yes, to serve you. The disturbing of that meeting made a very
+unfavorable impression on your intended. He scorned the noisy mob, and
+was roused by what, from his point of view, could not pass for anything
+better than unpardonable impudence. To me it might have been a matter
+of indifference whether your intended was pleased or displeased with
+the fearless conduct of progress. But as I knew both you and the family
+felt disposed to base the happiness of your life on his couple of
+millions, as moreover I feared my silence might be interpreted by the
+shortsighted young gentleman for complicity in progressionist ideas, I
+was forced to disown the disorderly proceeding. In so doing I have not
+derogated one iota from the spirit of the times; on the contrary, I
+have bound a heavy wreath about the brow of glorious humanity."
+
+"But you have pardoned yourself too easily," proceeded she, unappeased.
+"The very first word uttered by a Greifmann in that benighted assembly
+was a stain on the fair fame of our family. We shall be an object of
+contempt in every circle. 'The Greifmanns have turned ultramontanes
+because Gerlach would have refused the young lady's hand had they not
+changed their creed,' is what will be prated in society. A flood of
+derision and sarcasm will be let loose upon us. I an ultramontane?"
+cried she, growing more fierce; "I caught in the meshes of religious
+fanaticism? I accept the Syllabus--believe in the Prophet of Nazareth?
+Oh! I could sink into the earth on account of this disgrace! Did I for
+an instant doubt that Seraphin may be redeemed from superstition and
+fanaticism, I would renounce my union with him--I would spurn the
+tempting enjoyments of wealth, so much do I hate silly credulity."
+
+Seraphin glanced at her through the gap in the foliage. Not six paces
+from him, with her face turned in his direction, stood the infuriate
+beauty. How changed her countenance! The features, habitually so
+delicate and bright, now looked absolutely hideous, the brows were
+fiercely knit, and hatred poured like streams of fire from her eyes.
+Sentiments hitherto skilfully concealed had taken visible shape, ugly
+and repulsive to the view of the innocent youth. His noble spirit
+revolted at so much hypocrisy and falsehood. What occurred before him
+was at once so monstrous and so overwhelming that he did not for an
+instant consider that in case they entered the arbor he would be
+discovered. He was not discovered, however. Louise and Carl retraced
+their steps. For a short while the voice of Louise was still audible,
+then silence reigned in the garden.
+
+Seraphin rose from his seat. There was a sad earnestness in his face,
+and the vanishing traces of deep pain, which however were soon
+superseded by a noble indignation.
+
+"I have beheld the genuine Louise, and I thank God for it. It is as I
+feared, Louise is a progressionist, an infidel that considers it
+disgraceful to believe in the Redeemer. Out upon such degeneracy! She
+hates light, and how hideous this hatred makes her. Not a feature was
+left of the charming, smiling, winning Louise. Good God! how horrible
+had her real character remained unknown until after we were married!
+Chained for life to the bitter enemy of everything that I hold dear and
+venerate as holy--think of it! With eyes bandaged, I was but two paces
+from an abyss that resembles hell--thank God! the bandage has fallen--I
+see the abyss, and shudder.
+
+"'The ultramontane Seraphin'--'the fanatical Gerlach'--'the
+shortsighted Gerlach,' whose fortune the young lady covets that she may
+pass her life in enjoyment--a heartless girl, in whom there is not a
+spark of love for her intended husband--how base!
+
+"'Ultramontane'?--'fanatical'?--yes! 'Shortsighted?' by no means. One
+would need the suspicious eyes of progress to see through the hypocrisy
+of this lady and her brother--a simple, trusting spirit like mine
+cannot penetrate such darkness. At any rate, they shall not find me
+weak. The little flame that was beginning to burn within my heart has
+been for ever extinguished by her unhallowed lips. She might now
+present herself in the garb of an angel, and muster up every seductive
+art of womanhood, 'twould not avail; I have had an insight into her
+real character, and giving her up costs me not a pang. It is not hollow
+appearances that determine the worth of woman, but moral excellence,
+beautiful virtues springing from a heart vivified by faith. No, giving
+her up shall not cost me one regretful throb."
+
+He hastened from the garden to his room and rang the bell.
+
+"Pack my trunks this very day, John," said he to his servant. "Tomorrow
+we shall be off."
+
+He then entered in his diary a circumstantial account of the unmasked
+beauty. He also dwelt at length upon the painful shock his heart
+experienced when the bright and beautiful creature he had considered
+Louise to be suddenly vanished before his soul. As he was finishing the
+last line, John reappeared with a telegraphic despatch. He read it, and
+was stunned.
+
+"Meet your father at the train this evening." He looked at the concise
+despatch, and fancied he saw his father's stern and threatening
+countenance.
+
+The contemplated match had for several years been regarded by the
+families of Gerlach and Greifmann as a fixed fact. Seraphin was aware
+how stubbornly his father adhered to a project that he had once set his
+mind upon. Here now, just as the union had became impossible and as the
+youth was about to free himself for ever from an engagement that was
+destructive of his happiness, the uncompromising sire had to appear to
+enforce unconditional obedience to his will. A fearful contest awaited
+Seraphin, unequal and painful; for a son, accustomed from childhood to
+revere and obey his parents, was to maintain this contest against his
+own father. Seraphin paced the room and wrung his hands in anguish.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                          AN ULTRAMONTANE SON.
+
+
+Greifmann and Gerlach had driven to the railway station. The express
+train thundered along. As the doors of the carriages flew open,
+Seraphin peered through them with eyes full of eager joy. He thought no
+more of the fate that threatened him as the sequel of his father's
+arrival; his youthful heart exulted solely in the anticipation of the
+meeting. A tall, broad-shouldered gentleman, with severe features and
+tanned complexion, alighted from a _coupe_. It was Mr. Conrad Gerlach.
+Seraphin threw his arms around his father's neck and kissed him. The
+banker made a polite bow to the wealthiest landed proprietor of the
+country, in return for which Mr. Conrad bestowed on him a cordial shake
+of the hand.
+
+"Has your father returned?"
+
+"He cannot possibly reach home before September," answered the banker.
+The traveller stepped for a moment into the luggage-room. The gentlemen
+then drove away to the Palais Greifmann. During the ride, the
+conversation was not very animated. Conrad's curt, grave manner and
+keen look, indicative of a mind always hard at work, imposed reserve,
+and rapidly dampened his son's ingenuous burst of joy. Seraphin cast a
+searching glance upon that severe countenance, saw no change from its
+stern look of authority, and his heart sank before the appalling
+alternative of either sacrificing the happiness of his life to his
+father's favorite project, or of opposing his will and braving the
+consequences of such daring. Yet he wavered but an instant in the
+resolution to which he had been driven by necessity, and which, it was
+plain from the lines of his countenance, he had manhood enough to abide
+by.
+
+Mr. Conrad maintained his reserve, and asked but few questions. Even
+Carl, habitually profuse, studied brevity in his answers, as he knew
+from experience that Gerlach, Senior, was singularly averse to the use
+of many words.
+
+"How is business?"
+
+"Very dull, sir; the times are hard."
+
+"Did you sustain any losses through the failures that have recently
+taken place in town?"
+
+"Not a farthing. We had several thousands with Wendel, but fortunately
+drew them out before he failed."
+
+"Very prudent. Has your father entered into any new connections in the
+course of his travels?"
+
+"Several, that promise fairly."
+
+"Is Louise well?"
+
+"Her health is as good as could be wished."
+
+"General prosperity, then, I see, for you both look cheerful, and
+Seraphin is as blooming as a clover field.
+
+"How is dear mother?"
+
+"Quite well. She misses her only child. She sends much love."
+
+The carriage drew up at the gate. The young lady was awaiting the
+millionaire at the bottom of the steps. While greetings were exchanged
+between them, a faint tinge of warmth could be noticed on the cold
+features of the land-owner. A smile formed about his mouth, his
+piercing eyes glanced for an instant at Seraphin, and instantly the
+smile was eclipsed under the cloud of an unwelcome discovery.
+
+"I am on my way to the industrial exhibition," said he, "and I thought
+I would pay you a visit in passing. I wish you not to put yourself to
+any inconvenience, my dear Louise. You will have the goodness to make
+me a little tea, this evening, which we shall sip together."
+
+"I am overjoyed at your visit, and yet I am sorry, too."
+
+"Sorry! Why so?"
+
+"Because you are in such a hurry."
+
+"It cannot be helped, my child. I am overwhelmed with work. Harvest has
+commenced; no less than six hundred hands are in the fields, and I am
+obliged to go to the exhibition. I must see and test some new machinery
+which is said to be of wonderful power."
+
+"Well, then, you will at least spare us a few days on your return?"
+
+"A few days! You city people place no value on time. We of the country
+economize seconds. Without a thought you squander in idleness what
+cannot be recalled."
+
+"You are a greater rigorist than ever," chided she, smiling.
+
+"Because, my child, I am getting older. Seraphin, I wish to speak a
+word with you before tea."
+
+The two retired to the apartments which for years Mr. Conrad was
+accustomed to occupy whenever he visited the Palais Greifmann.
+
+"The old man still maintains his characteristic vigor," said Louise.
+"His face is at all times like a problem in arithmetic, and in place of
+a heart he carries an accurate estimate of the yield of his farms. His
+is a cold, repelling nature."
+
+"But strictly honest, and alive to gain," added Carl. "In ten years
+more he will have completed his third million. I am glad he came; the
+marriage project is progressing towards a final arrangement. He is now
+having a talk with Seraphin; tomorrow, as you will see, the bashful
+young gentleman, in obedience to the command of his father, will
+present himself to offer you his heart, and ask yours in return."
+
+"A free heart for an enslaved one," said she jestingly. "Were there no
+hope of ennobling that heart, of freeing it from the absurdities with
+which it is encrusted, I declare solemnly I would not accept it for
+three millions. But Seraphin is capable of being improved. His eye will
+not close itself against modern enlightenment. Servility of conscience
+and a baneful fear of God cannot have entirely extinguished his sense
+of liberty."
+
+"I have never set a very high estimate on the pluck and moral force of
+religious people," declared Greifmann. "They are a craven set, who are
+pious merely because they are afraid of hell. When a passion gets
+possession of them, the impotence of their religious frenzy at once
+becomes manifest. They fall an easy prey to the impulses of nature,
+and the supernatural fails to come to the rescue. It would be vain
+for Seraphin to try to give up the unbelieving Louise, whom his
+strait-laced faith makes it his duty to avoid. He has fallen a victim
+to your fascinations; all the Gospel of the Jew of Nazareth, together
+with all the sacraments and unctions of the church, could not loose the
+coils with which you have encircled him."
+
+In this scornful tone did Carl Greifmann speak of the heroism of virtue
+and of the energy of faith, like a blind man discoursing about colors.
+He little suspected that it is just the power of religion that produces
+characters, and that, on this very account, in an irreligious age,
+characters of a noble type are so rarely met with; the warmth of faith
+is not in them.
+
+"Mr. Schwefel desires to speak a word with you," said a servant who
+appeared at the door.
+
+The banker nodded assent.
+
+"I ask your pardon for troubling you at so unseasonable an hour," began
+the leader, after bowing lowly several times. "The subject is urgent,
+and must be settled without delay. But, by the way, I must first give
+you the good news: Mr. Shund is elected by an overwhelming majority,
+and Progress is victorious in every ward."
+
+"That is what I looked for," answered the banker, with an air of
+satisfaction. "I told you whatever Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus command,
+must be done."
+
+"I am just from a meeting at which some important resolutions have been
+offered and adopted," continued the leader. "The strongest prop of
+ultramontanism is the present system of educating youth. Education
+must, therefore, be taken out of the hands of the priests. But the
+change will have to be brought about gradually and with caution. We
+have decided to make a beginning by introducing common schools. A vote
+of the people is to be taken on the measure, and, on the last day of
+voting, a grand barbecue is to be given to celebrate our triumph over
+the accursed slavery of religious symbols. The ground chosen by the
+chief-magistrate for the celebration is the common near the Red Tower,
+but the space is not large enough, and we will need your meadow
+adjoining it to accommodate the crowd. I am commissioned by the
+magistrate to request you to throw open the meadow for the occasion."
+
+The banker, believing the request prejudicial to his private interests,
+looked rather unenthusiastic. Louise, who had been busy with the
+teapot, had heard every word of the conversation, and the new
+educational scheme had won her cordial approval. Seeing her brother
+hesitated, she flew to the rescue:
+
+"We are ready and happy to make any sacrifice in the interest of
+education and progress."
+
+"I am not sure that it is competent for me in the present instance to
+grant the desired permission," replied Greifmann. "The grass would be
+destroyed, and perhaps the sod ruined for years. My father is away from
+home, and I would not like to take the responsibility of complying with
+his honor's wish."
+
+"The city will hold itself liable for all damages," said Schwefel.
+
+"Not at all!" interposed the young lady hastily. "Make use of the
+meadow without paying damages. If my brother refuses to assume the
+responsibility, I will take it upon my self. By wresting education from
+the clergy, who only cripple the intellect of youth, progress aims a
+death-blow at mental degradation. It is a glorious work, and one full
+of inestimable results that you gentlemen are beginning in the cause of
+humanity against ignorance and superstition. My father so heartily
+concurs in every undertaking that responds to the wants of the times,
+that I not only feel encouraged to make myself responsible for this
+concession, but am even sure that he would be angry if we refused. Do
+not hesitate to make use of the meadow, and from its flowers bind
+garlands about the temples of the goddess of liberty!"
+
+The leader bowed reverently to the beautiful advocate of progress.
+
+"In this case, there remains nothing else for me to do than to confirm
+my sister's decision," said Greifmann. "When is the celebration to take
+place?"
+
+"On the 10th of August, the day of the deputy elections. It has been
+intentionally set for that day to impress on the delegates how genuine
+and right is the sentiment of our people."
+
+"Very good," approved Greifmann.
+
+"In the name of the chief-magistrate, I thank you for the offering you
+have so generously laid upon the shrine of humanity, and I shall hasten
+to inform the gentlemen before they adjourn that you have granted our
+request." And Schwefel withdrew from the gorgeously furnished
+apartment.
+
+Meanwhile a fiery struggle was going on between Seraphin and his
+father. He had briefly related his experience at the Palais Greifmann;
+had even confessed his preference for Louise, and had, for the first
+time in his life, incurred his father's displeasure by mentioning the
+wager. And when he concluded by protesting that he could not marry
+Louise, Conrad's suppressed anger burst forth.
+
+"Have you lost your senses, foolish boy? This marriage has been in
+contemplation for years; it has been coolly weighed and calculated. In
+all the country around, it is the only equal match possible. Louise's
+dower amounts to one million florins, the exact value of the noble
+estate of Hatzfurth, adjoining our possessions. You young people can
+occupy the chateau, I shall add another hundred acres to the land,
+together with a complete outfit of farming implements, and then you
+will have such a start as no ten proprietors in Germany can boast of."
+
+Seraphin knew his father. All the old gentleman's thought and effort
+was concentrated on the management of his extensive possessions. For
+other subjects there was no room in the head and heart of the
+landholder. He barely complied with his religious duties. It is true,
+on Sundays Mr. Conrad attended church, but surrounded invariably by a
+motley swarm of worldly cares and speculations connected with farming.
+At Easter, he went to the sacraments, but usually among the last, and
+after being repeatedly reminded by his wife. He took no interest in
+progress, humanity, ultramontanism, and such other questions as vex the
+age, because to trouble himself about them would have interfered with
+his main purpose. He knew only his fields and woodlands--and God, in so
+far as his providence blessed him with bountiful harvests.
+
+"What is the good of millions, father, if the very fundamental
+conditions of matrimonial peace are wanting?"
+
+"What fundamental conditions?"
+
+"Louise believes neither in God nor in revelation. She is an infidel."
+
+"And you are a fanatic--a fanatic because of your one-sided education.
+Your mother has trained you as priests and monks are trained. During
+your childhood piety was very useful; it served as the prop to the
+young tree, causing it to grow up straight and develop itself into a
+vigorous stem. But you are now full-grown, and life makes other demands
+on the man than on the boy; therefore, with your fanaticism.
+
+"To my dying hour I shall thank my mother for the care she has bestowed
+on the child, the boy, and the young man. If her pious spirit has given
+a right direction to my career, and watched faithfully over my steps,
+the untarnished record of the son cannot but rejoice the heart of the
+father--a record which is the undoubted product of religious training."
+
+"You are a good son, and I am proud of you," accorded Mr. Conrad with
+candor. "Your mother, too, is a woman whose equal is not to be found.
+All this is very well. But, if Louise's city manners and free way of
+thinking scandalize you, you are sheerly narrow-minded. I have been
+noticing her for years, and have learned to value her industry and
+domestic virtues. She has not a particle of extravagance; on the
+contrary, she has a decided leaning towards economy and thrift. She
+will make an unexceptionable wife. Do you imagine, my son, my choice
+could be a blind one when I fixed upon Louise to share the property
+which, through years of toil, I have amassed by untiring energy?"
+
+"I do not deny the lady has the qualities you mention, my dear father."
+
+
+"Moreover, she is a millionaire, and handsome, very handsome, and you
+are in love with her--what more do you want?"
+
+"The most important thing of all, father. The very soul of conjugal
+felicity is wanting, which is oneness of faith in supernatural truth.
+What I adore, Louise denies; what I revere, she hates; what I practise,
+she scorns. Louise never prays, never goes to church, never receives
+the sacraments, in a word, she has not a spark of religion."
+
+"That will all come right," returned Mr. Conrad. "Louise will learn to
+pray. You must not, simpleton, expect a banker's daughter to be for
+ever counting her beads like a nun. Take my word for it, the weight of
+a wife's responsibilities will make her serious enough."
+
+"Serious perhaps, but not religious, for she is totally devoid of
+faith."
+
+"Enough; you shall marry her nevertheless," broke in the father. "It is
+my wish that you shall marry her. I will not suffer opposition."
+
+For a moment the young man sat silent, struggling painfully with the
+violence of his own feelings.
+
+"Father," said he, then, "you command what I cannot fulfil, because it
+goes against my conscience. I beg you not to do violence to my
+conscience; violence is opposed to your own and my Christian
+principles. An atheist or a progressionist who does not recognize a
+higher moral order, might insist upon his son's marrying an infidel for
+the sake of a million. But you cannot do so, for it is not millions of
+money that you and I look upon as the highest good. Do not, therefore,
+dear father, interfere with my moral freedom; do not force me into a
+union which my religion prohibits."
+
+"What does this mean?" And a dark frown gathered on the old gentleman's
+forehead. "Defiance disguised in religious twaddle? Open rebellion? Is
+this the manner in which my son fulfils the duty of filial obedience?"
+
+"Pardon me, father," said the youth with deferential firmness, "there
+is no divine law making it obligatory upon a father to select a wife
+for his son. Consequently, also, the duty of obedience on this point
+does not rest upon the son. Did I, beguiled by passion or driven by
+recklessness, wish to marry a creature whose depravity would imperil my
+temporal and eternal welfare, your duty, as a father, would be to
+oppose my rashness, and my duty, as a son, would be to obey you. Louise
+is just such a creature; she is artfully plotting against my religious
+principles, against my loyalty to God and the church. She has put upon
+herself as a task to lead me from the darkness of superstition into the
+light of modern advancement. I overheard her when she said to her
+brother, 'Did I for an instant doubt that Seraphin may be reclaimed
+from superstition, I would renounce my union with him, I would forego
+all the gratifications of wealth, so much do I detest stupid
+credulity.' Hence I should have to look forward to being constantly
+annoyed by my wife's fanatical hostility to my religion. There never
+would be an end of discord and wrangling. And what kind of children
+would such a mother rear? She would corrupt the little ones, instil
+into their innocent souls the poison of her own godlessness, and make
+me the most wretched of fathers. For these reasons Miss Greifmann shall
+not become my wife---no, never! I implore you, dear father, do not
+require from me what my conscience will not permit, and what I shall on
+no condition consent to," concluded the young man with a tone of
+decision.
+
+Mr. Conrad had observed a solemn silence, like a man who suddenly
+beholds an unsuspected phenomenon exhibited before him. Seraphin's
+words produced, as it were, a burst of vivid light upon his mind,
+dispelling the multitudinous schemes and speculations that nestled in
+every nook and depth. The effect of this sudden illumination became
+perceptible at once, for Mr. Gerlach lost the points of view which had
+invariably brought before his vision the million of the Greifmanns, and
+he began to feel a growing esteem for the stand taken by his son.
+
+"Your language sounds fabulous," said he.
+
+"Here, father, is my diary. In it you will find a detailed account of
+what I have briefly stated."
+
+Gerlach took the book and shoved it into the breast-pocket of his coat.
+In an instant, however, his imagination conjured up to him a picture of
+the Count of Hatzfurth's splendid estate, and he went on coldly and
+deliberately: "Hear me, Seraphin! Your marriage with Louise is a
+favorite project upon which I have based not a few expectations. The
+observations you have made shall not induce me to renounce this project
+unconditionally, for you may have been mistaken. I shall take notes
+myself and test this matter. If your view is confirmed, our project
+will have been an air castle. You shall be left entirely unmolested in
+your convictions."
+
+Seraphin embraced his father.
+
+"Let us have no scene; hear me out. Should it turn out, on the other
+hand, that your judgment is erroneous, should Louise not belong to yon
+crazy progressionist mob who aim to dethrone God and subvert the order
+of society, should her hatred against religion be merely a silly
+conforming to the fashionable impiety of the age, which good influences
+may correct--then I shall insist upon your marrying her. Meanwhile I
+want you to maintain a strict neutrality--not a step backward nor a
+step in advance. Now to tea, and let your countenance betray nothing of
+what has passed." He drew his son to his bosom and imprinted a kiss on
+his forehead.
+
+The millionaires were seated around the tea-table. Mr. Conrad playfully
+commended Louise's talent for cooking. Apparently without design he
+turned the conversation upon the elections, and, to Seraphin's utter
+astonishment, eulogized the beneficent power of liberal doctrines.
+
+"Our age," said he, "can no longer bear the hampering notions of the
+past. In the material world, steam and machinery have brought about
+changes which call for corresponding changes in the world of intellect.
+Great revolutions have already commenced. In France, Renan has written
+a _Life of Christ_, and in our own country Protestant convocations are
+proclaiming an historical Christ who was not God, but only an
+extraordinary man. You hardly need to be assured that I too take a deep
+interest in the intellectual struggles of my countrymen, but an excess
+of business does not permit me to watch them closely. I am obliged to
+content myself with such reports as the newspapers furnish. I should
+like to read Renan's work, which seems to have created a great
+sensation. They say it suits our times admirably."
+
+The brother and sister were not a little astonished at the old
+gentleman's unusual communicativeness.
+
+"It is a splendid book," exclaimed Louise--"charming as to style, and
+remarkably liberal and considerate towards the worshippers of Christ."
+
+"So I have everywhere been told," said Mr. Conrad.
+
+"Have you read the book, Louise?"
+
+"Not less than four times, three times in French and once in German."
+
+"Do you think a farmer whose moments are precious as gold could forgive
+himself the reading of Renan's book in view of the multitude of his
+urgent occupations?" asked he, smiling.
+
+"The reading of a book that originates a new intellectual era is also a
+serious occupation," maintained the beautiful lady.
+
+"Very true; yet I apprehend Renan's attempt to disprove to me the
+divinity of Christ would remain unsuccessful, and it would only cause
+me the loss of some hours of valuable time."
+
+"Read it, Mr. Gerlach, do read it. Renan's arguments are unanswerable."
+
+"So you have been convinced, Louise?"
+
+"Yes, indeed, quite."
+
+"Well, now, Renan is a living author, he is the lion of the day, and
+nothing could be more natural than that the fair sex should grow
+enthusiastic over him. But, of course, at your next confession you will
+sorrowfully declare and retract your belief in Renan."
+
+The young lady cast a quick glance at Seraphin, and the brim of her
+teacup concealed a proud, triumphant smile.
+
+"Our city is about taking a bold step," said Carl, breaking the
+silence. "We are to have common schools, in order to take education
+from the control of the clergy." And he went on to relate what Schwefel
+had reported.
+
+"When is the barbecue to come off?" inquired Mr. Conrad.
+
+"On the 10th of August."
+
+"Perhaps I shall have time to attend this demonstration," said Gerlach.
+"Hearts reveal themselves at such festivities. One gets a clear insight
+into the mind of the multitude. You, Louise, have put progress under
+obligations by so cheerfully advancing to meet it."
+
+After these words the landholder rose and went to his room. The next
+morning he proceeded on his journey, taking with him Seraphin's diary.
+The author himself he left at the Palais Greifmann in anxious
+uncertainty about future events.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX.
+
+                     FAITH AND SCIENCE OF PROGRESS.
+
+
+Seraphin usually look an early ride with Carl. The banker was overjoyed
+at the wager, about the winning of which he now felt absolute
+certainty. He expressed himself confident that before long he would
+have the pleasure of going over the road on the back of the best racer
+in the country. "The noble animals," said he, "shall not be brought by
+the railway; it might injure them. I shall send my groom for them to
+Chateau Hallberg. He can ride the distance in two days."
+
+Seraphin could not help smiling at his friend's solicitude for the
+horses.
+
+"Do not sell the bear's skin before killing the bear," answered he. "I
+may not lose the horses, but may, on the contrary, acquire a pleasant
+claim to twenty thousand florins."
+
+"That is beyond all possibility," returned the banker. "Hans Shund is
+now chief-magistrate, has been nominated to the legislature, and in a
+few days will be elected. Mr. Hans will appear as a shining light
+to-morrow, when he is to state his political creed in a speech to his
+constituents. Of course, you and I shall go to hear him. Next will
+follow his election, then my groom will hasten to Chateau Hallberg to
+fetch the horses. Are you sorry you made the bet?"
+
+"Not at all! I should regret very much to lose my span of bays. Still,
+the bet will be of incalculable benefit to me. I will have learned
+concerning men and manners what otherwise I could never have dreamed
+of. In any event, the experience gained will be of vast service to me
+during life.
+
+"I am exceedingly glad to know it, my dear fellow," assured Greifmann.
+"Your acquaintance with the present has been very superficial. You have
+learned a great deal in a few days, and it is gratifying to hear you
+acknowledge the fact."
+
+The banker had not, however, caught Gerlach's meaning.
+
+But for the wager, Seraphin would not have become acquainted with
+Louise's intellectual standpoint. He would probably have married her
+for the sake of her beauty, would have discovered his mistake when it
+could not be corrected, and would have found himself condemned to spend
+his life with a woman whose principles and character could only annoy
+and give him pain. As it was, he was tormented by the fear that his
+father might not coincide in his opinion of the young lady. What if the
+old gentleman considered her hostility to religion as a mere
+fashionable mania unsupported by inner conviction, a girlish whim
+changeable like the wind, which with little effort might be made to
+veer round to the point or the most unimpeachable orthodoxy? He had not
+uttered a word condemning Louise's infatuation about Renan. On taking
+leave he had parted with her in a friendly, almost hearty, manner,
+proof sufficient that the young lady's doubtful utterances at tea had
+not deceived him.
+
+Upon reaching home, Gerlach sat in his room with his eyes thoughtfully
+fixed upon a luminous square cast by the sun upon the floor. Quite
+naturally his thoughts ran upon the marriage, and to the prospect of
+having to maintain his liberty by hard contest with his inflexible
+parent. He was unshaken in his resolution not to accede to the
+projected alliance, and, when a will morally severe conceives
+resolutions of this sort, they usually stand the hardest tests. So
+absorbing were his reflections that he did not hear John announcing a
+visitor. He nodded mechanically in reply to the words that seemed to
+come out of the distance, and the servant disappeared.
+
+Soon after a country girl appeared entrance of the room. In both hands
+she was carrying a small basket made of peeled willows, quite new. A
+snow-white napkin was spread over the basket. The girl's dress was
+neat, her figure was slender and graceful. Her hair, which was wound
+about the head in heavy plaits, was golden and encircled her forehead
+as with a _nimbus_. Her features were delicate and beautiful, and she
+looked upon the young gentleman with a pair of deep-blue eyes. Thus
+stood she for an instant in the door of the apartment. There was a
+smile about her mouth and a faint flush upon her cheeks.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Seraphin!" said a sweet voice.
+
+The youth started at this salutation and looked at the stranger with
+surprise. She was just then standing on the sunlit square, her hair
+gleamed like the purest gold, and a flood of light streamed upon her
+youthful form. He did not return the greeting. He looked at her as if
+frightened, rose slowly, and bowed in silence.
+
+"My father sends some early grapes which he begs you to have the
+goodness to accept."
+
+She drew nearer, and he received the basket from her hand.
+
+"I am very thankful!" said he. And, raising the napkin, the delicious
+fruit smiled in his face. "These are a rarity this season. To whom am I
+indebted for this friendly attention?"
+
+"The obligation is all on our side, Mr. Seraphin," she replied
+trustfully to the generous benefactor of her family. "Father is sorry
+that he cannot offer you something better."
+
+"Ah! you are Holt's daughter?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Seraphin."
+
+"Your name is Johanna, is it not?"
+
+"Mechtild, Mr. Seraphin."
+
+"Will you be so good as to sit down?" And he pointed her to a sofa.
+
+Mechtild, however, drew a chair and seated herself.
+
+He had noted her deportment, and could not but marvel at the graceful
+action, the confiding simplicity, and well-bred self-possession of the
+extraordinary country girl. As she sat opposite to him, she looked so
+pure, so trusting and sincere, that his astonishment went on
+increasing. He acknowledged to himself never to have beheld eyes whose
+expression came so directly from the heart--a heart whose interior must
+be equally as sunny and pure.
+
+"How are your good parents?"
+
+"They are very well, Mr. Seraphin. Father has gone to work with renewed
+confidence. The sad--ah! the terrible period is past. You cannot
+imagine, Mr. Seraphin, how many tears you have dried, how much misery
+you have relieved!"
+
+The recollection of the ruin that had been hanging over her home
+affected her painfully; her eyes glistened, and tears began to roll
+down her cheeks. But she instantly repressed the emotion, and exhibited
+a beautiful smile on her face. Seraphin's quick eye had observed both
+the momentary feeling, and that she had resolutely checked it in order
+not to annoy him by touching sorrowful chords. This trait of delicacy
+also excited the admiration of the gentleman.
+
+"Your father is not in want of employment?" he inquired with interest.
+
+"No, sir! Father is much sought on account of his knowledge of farming.
+Persons who have ground, but no team of their own, employ him to put in
+crops for them."
+
+"No doubt the good man has to toil hard?"
+
+"That is true, sir; but father seems to like working, and we children
+strive to help him as much as we can."
+
+"And do you like working?"
+
+"I do, indeed, Mr. Seraphin. Life would be worthless if one did not
+labor. Man's life on earth is so ordered as to show him that he must
+labor. Doing nothing is abominable, and idleness is the parent of many
+vices."
+
+Another cause of astonishment for the millionaire. She did not converse
+like an uneducated girl from the country. Her accurate, almost choice
+use of words indicated some culture, and her concise observations
+revealed both mind and reflection. He felt a strong desire to fathom
+the mystery--to cast a glance into Mechtild's past history.
+
+"Have you always lived at home, or have you ever been away at school?"
+
+She must have detected something ludicrous in the question, for
+suddenly a degree of archness might be observed in her amiable smile.
+
+"You mean, whether I have received a city education? No, sir! Father
+used to speak highly of the clearness of my mind, and thought I might
+even be made a teacher. But he had not the means to give me the
+necessary amount of schooling. Until I was fourteen years old, I went
+to school to the nuns here in town. I used to come in of mornings and
+go back in the evening. I studied hard, and father and mother always
+had the satisfaction of seeing me rewarded with a prize at the
+examinations. I am very fond of books, and make good use of the convent
+library. On Sundays, after vespers, I wait till the door of the
+book-room is opened. I still spend my leisure time in reading, and on
+Sundays and holidays I know no greater pleasure than to read nice
+instructive books. At my work I think over what I have read, and I
+continue practising composition according to the directions of the good
+ladies of the convent."
+
+"And were you always head at school?"
+
+"Yes," she admitted, with a blush.
+
+"You have profited immensely by your opportunities," he said
+approvingly. "And the desire for learning has not yet left you?"
+
+"This inordinate craving still continues to torment me," she
+acknowledged frankly.
+
+"Inordinate--why inordinate?"
+
+"Because, my station and calling do not require a high degree of
+culture. But it is so nice to know, and it is so nice to have refined
+intercourse with each others. For seven years I admired the elegant
+manners of the convent ladies, and I learned many a lesson from them."
+
+"How old are you now?"
+
+"Seventeen, Mr. Seraphin."
+
+"What a pity you did not enter some higher educational institution!"
+said he.
+
+A pause followed. He looked with reverence upon the artless girl whom
+God had so richly endowed, both in body and mind, Mechtild rose.
+
+"Please accept, also, my most heartfelt thanks for your generous aid,"
+she said, with emotion, "All my life long I shall remember you before
+God, Mr. Seraphin. The Almighty will surely repay you what alas! we
+cannot."
+
+She made a courtesy, and he accompanied her through all the apartments
+as far as the front door. Here the girl, turning, bowed to him once
+more and went away.
+
+Returning to his room, Seraphin stood and contemplated the grapes.
+Strongly did the delicious fruit tempt him, but he touched not one. He
+then pulled out a drawer, and hid the gifts as though it were a costly
+treasure. For the rest of the day, Mechtild's bright form hovered near
+him, and the sweet charm of her eyes, so full of soul, continually
+worked on his imagination. When he again went into Louise's company,
+the grace and innocence of the country girl gained ground in his
+esteem. Compared with Mechtild's charming naturalness, Louise's manner
+appeared affected, spoiled; through evil influences. The difference in
+the expression of their eyes struck him especially. In Louise's eyes
+there burned a fierce glow at times, which roused passion and stirred
+the senses. Mechtild's neither glowed nor flashed; but from their
+limpid depths beamed goodness so genuine and serenity so unclouded,
+that Seraphin could compare them to nothing but two heralds of peace
+and innocence. Louise's eyes, thought he, flash like two meteors of the
+night; Mechtild's beam like two mild suns in a cloudless sky of spring.
+As often as he entered the room where the grapes lay concealed, he
+would unlock the drawer, examine the fragrant fruit, and handle the
+basket which had been carried by her hands. He could not himself help
+smiling at this childish action, and yet both great delicacy and deep
+earnestness are manifested in honoring objects that have been touched
+by pure hands, and in revering places hallowed by the presence of the
+good.
+
+Next morning the banker asked his guest to accompany him to the church
+of S. Peter, where Hans Shund was to address a large gathering.
+
+"In a church?" Gerlach exclaimed, with amazement.
+
+"Don't get frightened, my good fellow. The church is no longer in the
+service of religion. It has been _secularized_ by the state, and is
+customarily used as a hall for dancing. There will be quite a crowd,
+for several able speakers are to discuss the question of common
+schools. The church has been chosen for the meeting on account of the
+crowd."
+
+The millionaires drove to the desecrated church. A tumultuous mass
+swarmed about the portal. "Let us permit them to push us; we shall get
+in most easily by letting them do so," said the banker merrily. Two
+officious progressionists, recognizing the banker, opened a passage for
+them through the throng. They reached the interior of the church, which
+was now an empty space, stripped of every ornament proper to a house of
+God. In the sanctuary could yet be seen, as if in mournful abandonment,
+a large quadrangular slab, that had been the altar, and attached to one
+of the side walls was an exquisite Gothic pulpit, which on occasions
+like the present was used for a rostrum. Everywhere else reigned
+silence and desolation.
+
+The nave was filled by a motley mass. The chieftains of progress, some
+elegantly dressed, others exhibiting frivolous miens and huge beards,
+crowded upon the elevation of the chancel. All the candidates for the
+legislature were present, not for the purpose of proving their
+qualifications for the office--progress never troubled itself about
+those--but to air their views on the subject of education. There were
+speakers on hand of acknowledged ability in the discussion of the
+doctrines of progress, who were to lay the result of their
+investigations before the people.
+
+Seraphia also noted some anxious faces in the crowd. They were
+citizens, whose sons were alarmed at the thought of yielding up the
+training of their children into the hands of infidelity. And near the
+pulpit stood two priests, irreverently crowded against the wall,
+targets for the scornful pleasantries of the wits of the mob. Leader
+Schwefel was voted into the chair by acclamation. He thanked the
+assembly in a short speech for the honor conferred, and then announced
+that Mr. Till, member of the former assembly, would address the
+meeting. Amid murmurs of expectation a short, fat gentleman climbed
+into the pulpit. First a red face with a copper-tipped nose bobbed
+above the ledge of the pulpit, next came a pair of broad shoulders,
+upon which a huge head rested without the intermediary of a neck,
+two puffy hands were laid upon the desk, and the commencement of a
+well-rounded pauch could just be detected by the eye. Mr. Till, taking
+two handfuls of his shaggy beard, drew them slowly through his fingers,
+looked composedly upon the audience, and breathed hotly through mouth
+and nostrils.
+
+"Gentlemen," he began, with a voice that struggled out from a mass of
+flesh and fat, "I am not given to many words, you know. What need is
+there of many words and long speeches? We know what we want, and what
+we want we will have in spite of the machinations of Jesuits and the
+whinings of an ultramontane horde. You all know how I acquitted myself
+at the last legislature, and if you will again favor me with your
+suffrages, I will endeavor once more to give satisfaction. You know my
+record, and I shall remain staunch to the last."
+
+Cries of "Good!" from various directions.
+
+"Gentlemen! if you know my record, you must also be aware that I am
+passionately fond of the chase. I even follow this amusement in the
+legislative hall. Our country abounds in a sort of black game, and for
+me it is rare sport to pursue this species of game in the assembly."
+
+A wild tumult of applause burst forth. Jeers and coarse witticisms were
+bandied about on every side of the two clergymen, who looked meekly
+upon these orgies of progress.
+
+"Gentlemen!" Till continued, "the _blacks_ are a dangerous kind of wild
+beast. They have heretofore been ranging in a preserve, feeding on the
+fat of the land. That is an abuse that challenges the wrath of heaven.
+It must be done away with. The beasts of prey that in the dark ages
+dwelt in castles have long since been exterminated, and their rocky
+lairs have been reduced to ruins. Well, now, let us keep up the chase
+in both houses of the legislature until the last of these _black_
+beasts is destroyed. Should you entrust to me again your interests, I
+shall return to the seat of government, to aid with renewed energy in
+ridding the land of these creatures that are enemies both of education
+and liberty."
+
+Amid prolonged applause the fat man descended. The chieftains shook him
+warmly by the hand, assuring him that the cause absolutely demanded his
+being reelected.
+
+Gerlach was aghast at Till's speech. He hardly knew which deserved most
+scorn, the vulgarity of the speaker or the abjectness of those who had
+applauded him. Their wild enthusiasm was still surging through the
+building, when Hans Shund mounted the pulpit. The chairman rang for
+order; the tumult ceased. In mute suspense the multitude awaited the
+great speech of the notorious usurer, thief, and debauchee. And indeed,
+progress might well entertain great expectations, for Hans Shund had
+read a pile of progressionist pamphlets, had extracted the strong
+passages, and out of them had concocted a right racy speech. His speech
+might with propriety have been designated the Gospel of Progress, for
+Hans Shund had made capital of whatever freethinkers had lucubrated in
+behalf of so-called enlightenment, and in opposition to Christianity.
+The very appearance of the speaker gave great promise. His were not
+coarse features and goggle eyes like Till's; his piercing feline eyes
+looked intellectual. His face was rather pale, the result, no doubt, of
+unusual application, and he had skilfully dyed his sandy hair. His
+position as mayor of the city seemed also to entitle him to special
+attention, and these several claims were enhanced by a white necktie,
+white vest, and black cloth swallowtail coat.
+
+"Gentlemen," began the mayor with solemnity, "my honorable predecessor
+in this place has told you with admirable sagacity that the kernel of
+every political question is of a religious character. Indeed, religion
+is linked with every important question of the day, it is the _ratio
+ultima_ of the intellectual movement of our times. Men of thought and
+of learning are all agreed as to the condition to which our social life
+should be and must be brought. The friends of the people are actively
+and earnestly at work trying to further a healthy development of our
+social and political status. Nor have their efforts been utterly
+fruitless. Progress has made great conquests; yet, gentlemen, these
+conquests are far from being complete. What is it that is most hostile
+to liberalism in morals, to enlightenment, and to humanity? It is the
+antiquated faith of departed days. Have we not heard the language of
+the Holy Father in the Syllabus? But the Holy Father at Rome,
+gentlemen, is no father of ours--happily he is the father only of
+stupid and credulous men."
+
+"Bravo! Well said!" resounded from the audience. Flaschen nudged
+Spitzkopf, who sat next to him. "Shund is no mean speaker. Even that
+fellow Voelk, of Bavaria, cannot compete with Shund."
+
+"Gentlemen, our good sense teaches us to smile with pity at the
+infallible declarations of yon Holy Father. We are firmly convinced
+that papal decrees can no more stop the onward march of civilization
+than they can arrest the heavenly bodies in their journeys about the
+sun. 'Tis true, an [oe]cumenical council is lowering like a black
+storm-cloud. But let the council meet; let it declare the Syllabus an
+article of faith; it will never succeed in destroying the treasures of
+independent thought which creative intellects have been hoarding up for
+centuries among every people. Since men of culture have ceased to yield
+unquestioning submission, like dumb sheep, to the church, they have
+begun to discover that nowhere are so many falsehoods uttered as in
+pulpits."
+
+Tremendous applause, clapping, and swinging of hats, followed this
+eloquent period. A distinguished gentleman, laying his hand upon Till's
+shoulder, asked: "What calibre of ammunition do you use in hunting
+_black_ game?"
+
+"Conical balls of two centimetres," replied Till, with no great wit.
+
+"Yon fellow in the pulpit fires shells of a hundredweight, I should
+say. And if in the legislative assembly his shells all explode, not a
+man of them will be left alive."
+
+Till thought this witticism so good that he set up a loud roar of
+laughter, that could be heard above the general uproar.
+
+Stimulated by these marks of appreciation, Shund waxed still more
+eloquent. "Gentlemen," cried he, "no body of men is more savagely
+opposed to science and culture than a conventicle of so-called servants
+of God. Were you to repeat the multiplication table several times over,
+there would be as much prayer and sense in it as in what is designated
+the Apostles' Creed."
+
+More cheering and boundless enthusiasm. "Gentlemen!" exclaimed the
+speaker, with thundering emphasis and a hideous expression of hatred on
+his face, "the significance of religious dogmas is simply a sort of
+hom[oe]opathic concoction to which every succeeding age contributes
+some drops of fanaticism. Subjected to the microscope of science, the
+whole basis of the Christian church evaporates into thin mist. We must
+shield our children against religious fables. Away with dogmas and saws
+from the Bible; away with the Trinity; the divinity and humanity of
+Jesus, and other such stuff! Away with apothegms such as this: _Christ
+is my life, my death, and my gain._ Such things are opposed to nature.
+Children's minds are thereby warped to untruthfulness and hyprocrisy.
+In this manner the child is deprived of the power of thinking; loses
+all interest in intellectual pursuits, and ceases to feel the need of
+further culture. The times are favorable for a reformation. Our
+imperial and royal rulers have at length realized that minds must be
+set free. For this end it was as unavoidable for them to break with the
+church and priesthood as it is necessary for us. If we cherish our
+fatherland and the people, we must take the initiative. We are not
+striving to effect a revolution; we want intellectual development,
+profounder knowledge, and healthier morality.
+
+     "Shall peace be seen beneath our skies,
+      The spirit's freedom first must rise,"
+
+concluded the orator poetically, and he came down amidst a very
+hurricane of applause.
+
+There followed a lull. In the audience, heads protruded and necks were
+stretched that their possessors might obtain a glimpse of the great
+Shund. In the chancel, the chiefs and leaders crowded around him,
+smiling, bowing, and shaking his hand in admiration.
+
+"You have won the laurels," smirked a fellow from amidst a wilderness
+of beard.
+
+"Your election to the Assembly is a certainty," declared another.
+
+"You carry deadly weapons against Christ," said a professor.
+
+Mr. Hans smiled, and nodded so often that he was seized with a pain in
+the muscles of the face and neck. At length, the chairman's bell came
+to the rescue.
+
+"The Rev. Mr. Morgenroth will now address the meeting."
+
+The clergyman mounted the rostrum, but scarcely had he appeared there,
+when the crowd became possessed by a legion of hissing demons.
+
+"Gentlemen," began the fearless priest, "the duty of my calling as well
+as personal conviction demands that I should enter a solemn protest
+against the sundering of school and church."
+
+Further the priest was not allowed to proceed. Loud howling, hissing,
+and whistling drowned his voice. The president called for order.
+
+"In the name of good-breeding, I beg this most honorable assembly to
+hear the speaker out in patience," cried Mr. Schwefel.
+
+The mob relaxed into unwilling silence like a growling beast.
+
+"Not all the citizens of this town are affected with infidelity," the
+reverend gentleman went on to say. "Many honorable gentlemen believe in
+Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and in his church. These citizens wish
+their children to receive a religious education; it would, therefore,
+be unmitigated terrorism, tyrannical constraint of conscience, to force
+Christian parents to bring up their children in the spirit of
+unbelief."
+
+This palpable truth progress could not bear to listen to. A mad yell
+was set up. Clenched fists were shaken at the clergyman, and fierce
+threats thundered from all sides of the church. "Down with the priest!"
+"Down with the accursed blackcoat!" "Down with the dog of a Jesuit!"
+and similar exclamations resounded from all sides. The chairman rang
+his bell in vain. The mob grew still more furious and noisy. The
+clergyman was compelled to come down.
+
+"Such is the liberty, the education, the tolerance, the humanity of
+progress," said he sadly to his colleague.
+
+Once more the bell of the chairman was heard amid the tumult.
+
+"Mr. Seicht, officer of the crown, will now address the meeting,"
+Schwefel announced.
+
+The audience were seized with amazement, and not without a cause. A
+dignitary of a higher order, a member of the administration, ascended
+the pulpit for the purpose of making an assault upon Christian
+education. He was about to make war upon morals and faith, the true
+supports of every solid government, the sources of the moral sentiment
+and of the prosperity of human society. A remnant of honesty and a
+lingering sense of justice may have raised a protest in Seicht's
+mind against his undertaking; for his bearing was anything but
+self-possessed, and he had the appearance of a wretch that was being
+goaded on by an evil spirit. Besides, he had the habit peculiar to
+bureaucrats of speaking in harsh, snarling tones. Seicht was conscious
+of these peculiarities of his bureaucratic nature, and labored to
+overcome them. The effort imparted to his delivery an air of constraint
+and a sickening sweetness which were climaxed by the fearfully involved
+style in which his speech was clothed.
+
+"Gentlemen," said Seicht, "in view of present circumstances, and in
+consideration of the requirements of culture whose spirit is
+incompatible with antiquated conditions, popular education, which in
+connection with domestic training is the foundation of the future
+citizen, must also undergo such changes as will bring it into harmony
+with modern enlightened sentiment; and this is the more necessary as
+the provisions of the law, which progress in its enlightenment and
+clearness of perception cannot refuse to recognize as a fit model for
+the imitation of a party dangerous to the state--I mean the party of
+Jesuitism and ultramontranism--allow untrammelled scope for the
+reformation of the school system, provided the proper clauses of the
+law and the ordinances relating to this matter are not left out of
+consideration. Accordingly, it is my duty to refer this honorable
+meeting especially to the ministerial decree referring to common
+schools, in accordance with which said common schools may be
+established, after a vote of the citizens entitled to the elective
+franchise, as soon as the need of this is felt; which in the present
+instance cannot be contested, since public opinion has taken a decided
+stand against denominational schools, in which youth is trained after
+unbending forms of religion, and in doctrines that evidently conflict
+with the triumph of the present, and with those exact sciences which
+make up the only true gospel--the gospel of progress, which scarcely in
+any respect resembles the narrow gospel of dubious dogmas--dubious for
+the reason that they lack the spirit of advancement, and are
+prejudicial to the investigation of the problems of a God, of material
+nature, and of man."
+
+Here leader Sand thrust his fingers in his ears.
+
+"Thunder and lightning!" exclaimed he wrathfully, "what a shallow
+babbler! What is he driving at? His periods are a yard long; and when
+he has done, a man is no wiser than when he began. Gospel--gospel of
+progress--fool--numskull--down! down!"
+
+"Quite a remarkable instance, this!" said Gerlach to the banker.
+"Evidently this man is trying might and main to please, yet he only
+succeeds in torturing his hearers."
+
+"I will explain this man to you," replied the banker. "Heretofore Mr.
+Seicht has been a most complete exemplar of absolute bureaucracy. The
+only divinity he knew were the statutes, the only heaven the bureau,
+and the only safe way of reaching supreme felicity was, in his opinion,
+to render unquestioning obedience to ministerial rescripts. Suddenly
+Mr. Seicht heard the card-house of bureaucracy start in all its joints.
+His divinity lost its worshippers, and his heaven lost all charms for
+those who were seeking salvation. He felt the ground moving under him,
+he realized the colossal might of progress, and hastened to commend
+himself to this party by adopting liberal ideas. He is now aiming to
+secure a seat in the house of delegates, which is subsequently to serve
+him as a stepping-stone to a place in the cabinet. Just listen how the
+man is agonizing! He is wasting his strength, however, and the attitude
+of the audience is beginning to get alarming."
+
+For some time past, the chieftains in the chancel had been shaking
+their heads at the efforts of this official advocate of progress. To
+avoid being tortured by hearing, they had engaged in conversation. The
+auditors in the nave of the church were also growing restive. The
+speaker, however, continued blind to every hint and insinuation. At
+last a tall fellow in the crowd swung his hat and cried, "Three cheers
+for Mr. Seicht!" The whole nave joined in a deafening cheer. Seicht,
+imagining the cheering to be a tribute to the excellence of his effort,
+stopped for a moment to permit the uproar to subside, intending then to
+go on with his speech; but no sooner had he resumed than the cheering
+burst forth anew, and was so vigorously sustained that the man, at
+length perceiving the meaning of the audience, came down amid peals of
+derisive laughter.
+
+"Serves the gabbler right!" said Sand. "He's a precious kind of a
+fellow! The booby thinks he can hoist himself into the chamber of
+deputies by means of the shoulders of progress, and thence to climb up
+higher. But it happens that we know whom we have to deal with, and we
+are not going to serve as stirrups for a turn-coat official."
+
+The chairman wound up with a speech in which he announced that the vote
+on the question of common schools would soon come off, and then
+adjourned the meeting.
+
+The millionaires drew back to allow the crowd to disperse. Near them
+stood Mr. Seicht, alone and dejected. The countenances of the
+chieftains had yielded him no evidence on which to base a hope that his
+speech had told, and that he might expect to occupy a seat in the
+assembly. Moreover, Sand had rudely insulted the ambitious official to
+his face. This he took exceedingly hard. All of a sudden, he spied the
+banker in the chancel, and went over to greet him. Greifmann introduced
+Gerlach.
+
+"I am proud," Mr. Seicht asseverated, "of the acquaintance of the
+wealthiest proprietor of the country."
+
+"Pardon the correction, sir; my father is the proprietor."
+
+"No matter, you are his only son," rejoined Seicht. "Your presence
+proves that you take an interest in the great questions of the day.
+This is very laudable."
+
+"My presence, however, by no means proves that I concur in the object
+of this meeting. Curiosity has led me hither."
+
+The official directed a look of inquiry at the banker.
+
+"Sheer curiosity," repeated this gentleman coldly.
+
+"Can you not, then, become reconciled to the spirit of progress?" asked
+Seicht, with a smile revealing astonishment.
+
+"The value of my convictions consists in this, that I worship genuine
+progress," replied the millionaire gravely. "The progress of this
+community, in particular, looks to me like retrogression."
+
+"I am astonished at what you say," returned the official; "for surely
+Shund's masterly speech has demonstrated that we are keeping pace with
+the age."
+
+"I cannot see, sir, how fiendish hatred of religion can be taken for
+progress. This horrible, bloodthirsty monster existed even in the days
+of Nero and Tiberius, as we all know. Can the resurrection of it, now
+that it has been mouldering for centuries, be seriously looked upon as
+a step in advance? Rather a step backward, I should think, of eighteen
+hundred years. Especially horrible and revolting is this latest
+instance of tyranny, forcing parents who entertain religious sentiments
+to send their children to irreligious schools. Not even Nero and
+Tiberius went so far. On this point, I agree, there has been progress,
+but it consists in putting a most unnatural constraint upon
+conscience."
+
+Gerlach's language aroused the official. He was face to face with an
+ultramontane. The mere sight of such an one caused a nervous twitching
+in his person. He resorted at once to bureaucratic weapons in making
+his onslaught.
+
+"You are mistaken, my dear sir--you are very much mistaken. The spirit
+of the modern state demands that the schools of the multitude,
+particularly public institutions, should be accessible to the children
+of every class of citizens, without distinction of religious
+profession. Consequently, the schools must be taken from under the
+authority, direction, and influence of the church, and put entirely
+under civil and political control. Such, too, is now the mind of our
+rulers, besides that public sentiment calls for the change."
+
+"But, Mr. Seicht, in making such a change, the state despotically
+infringes on the province of religion."
+
+"Not despotically, Mr. Gerlach, but legally; for the state is the
+fountain-head of all right, and consequently possessed of unlimited
+right."
+
+"You enunciate principles, sir, which differ vastly from what morality
+and religion teach."
+
+"What signify morals--what signifies religion? Mere antiquated forms,
+sir, with no living significance," explained Seicht, lavishly
+displaying the treasures of the storehouse of progressionist wisdom.
+"The past submitted quietly to the authority of religion, because there
+existed then a low degree of intellectual culture. At present there is
+only one authority--it is the preponderance of numbers and of material
+forces. Consequently, the only real authority is the majority in power.
+On the other hand, authorities based upon the supposed existence of a
+supersensible world have lost their cause of being, for the reason that
+exact science plainly demonstrates the nonexistence of an immaterial
+world. _Cessante causa, cessat effectus_, the supersensible world, the
+basis of religious authority, being gone, it logically results that
+religious authority itself is gone. Hence the only real authority
+existing in a state is the majority, and to this every citizen is
+obliged to submit. You marvel, Mr. Gerlach. What I have said is not my
+own personal view, but the expression of the principles which alone
+pass current at the present day."
+
+"I agree in what you say," said the banker. "You have spoken from the
+standpoint of the times. The controlling power is the majority."
+
+"Shund, then, accurately summed up the creed of the present age when he
+said, 'Progress conquers death, destroys hell, rejects heaven, and
+finds its god in the sweet enjoyment of life.' It is to be hoped that
+all-powerful progress will next decree that there are no death and no
+suffering upon earth, that all the hostile forces of nature have
+ceased, that want and misery are no more, and that earth is a paradise
+of sweet enjoyment for all."
+
+Mr. Seicht was rather taken aback by this satire.
+
+"Besides, gentlemen," proceeded Gerlach, "you will please observe that
+the doctrine of state supremacy is a step backward of nearly two
+thousand years. In Nero's day, but one source of right, namely, the
+state, was recognized. In the head of the state, the emperor, were
+centred all power, all authority, and all right. In his person, the
+state was exalted into a divinity. Temples and altars were reared to
+the emperor; sacrifices were offered to him; he was worshipped as a
+deity. Even human sacrifices were not denied him if the imperial
+divinity thought proper to demand them. And, now, to what condition did
+these monstrous errors bring the world of that period? It became one
+vast theatre of crime, immorality, and despotism. Slavery coiled itself
+about men and things, and strangled their liberty. Matrimonial life
+sank into the most loathsome corruption. Infanticide was permitted to
+pass unpunished. The licentiousness of women was even greater than that
+of men. Life and property became mere playthings for the whims of the
+emperor and of his courtiers. Did the divine Caesar wish to amuse his
+deeply sunken subjects, he had only to order the gladiators to butcher
+one another, or some prisoners or slaves or Christians to be thrown to
+tigers and panthers; this made a Roman holiday. Such, gentlemen, was
+human society when it recognized no supersensible world, no God above,
+no moral law. If our own progress proceeds much further in the path on
+which it is marching, it will soon reach a similar fearful stage. We
+already see in our midst the commencement of social corruption. We have
+the only source of right proclaimed to be the divine state. Conscience
+is being tyrannized over by a majority that rejects God and denies
+future rewards and punishments. All the rest, even to the divine
+despot, has already followed, or inevitably will follow. Therefore, Mr.
+Seicht, the progress you so loudly boast of is mere stupid
+retrogression, blind superstition, which falls prostrate before the
+majority of a mob, and worships the omnipotence of the state."
+
+"Don't you think my friend has been uttering some very bitter truths?"
+asked the banker, with a smile.
+
+"Pretty nearly so," replied the official demurely. "However, one can
+detect the design, and cannot help getting out of humor."
+
+"What design?" asked Seraphin.
+
+"Of creating alarm against progress."
+
+"Indeed, sir, you are mistaken. I, too, am enthusiastic about progress,
+but genuine progress. And because I am an advocate of real progress I
+cannot help detesting the monstrosity which the age would wish to palm
+off on men instead."
+
+The church was now cleared. Greifmann's carriage was at the door. The
+millionaires drove off.
+
+"Pity for this Gerlach!" thought the official, as he strode through the
+street. "He is lost to progress, for he is too solidly rooted in
+superstition to be reclaimed. War against nature's claims; deny healthy
+physical nature its rights; re-establish terror of the seven capital
+sins; permit the priesthood to tyrannize over conscience; restore the
+worship of an unmathematical triune God--no! no!" cried he fiercely, "I
+shall all go to the devil!"
+
+A carriage whirled past him. He caste a glance into the vehicle, and
+raised his hat to Mr. Hans Shund.
+
+The chief magistrate was on his way home from the town-hall. He could
+not rest under the weight of his laurels; the inebriation of his
+triumph drove him into the room where sat his lonely and careworn wife.
+
+"My election to the assembly is assured, wife." And he went on with a
+minute account of the proceedings of the day.
+
+The pale, emaciated lady sat bowed in silence over her work, and did
+not look up.
+
+"Well, wife, don't you take any interest in the honors won by your
+husband? I should think you ought to feel pleased."
+
+"All my joys are swallowed up in an abyss of unutterable wretchedness,"
+replied she. "And my husband is daily deepening the gulf. Yesterday you
+were again at a disreputable house. Your abominable deeds are heaped
+mountain high--and am I to rejoice?"
+
+"A thousand demons, wife, I'm beginning to believe you have spies on
+foot!"
+
+"I have not. But you are at the head of this city--your steps cannot
+possibly remain unobserved."
+
+"Very well!" cried he, "it shall be my effort in the assembly to bring
+about such a change that there shall no longer be any houses of
+disrepute. Narrow-minded moralists shall not be allowed to howl any
+longer. The time is at hand, old lady--so-called disreputable houses
+are to become places of amusement authorized by law."
+
+He spoke and disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER X.
+
+                         PROGRESS GROWS JOLLY.
+
+
+The agitators of progress were again hurrying through the streets and
+alleys of the town. They knocked at every door and entered every house
+to solicit votes in favor of common schools. Thanks to the overwhelming
+might of the party in power, they again carried their measure.
+Dependent, utterly enslaved, many yielded up their votes without
+opposition. It is true conscience tortured many a parent for voting
+against his convictions, for sacrificing his children to a system with
+which he could not sympathize; but not a man in a dependent position
+had the courage to vindicate for his child the religious training which
+was being so ruthlessly swept away. Even men in high office gave way
+before the encroaching despotism, for in the very uppermost ranks of
+society also progress domineered.
+
+One man only, fearless and firm, dared to put himself in the path of
+the dominant power--the Rev. F. Morgenroth. From the pulpit, he
+unmasked and scathed the unchristian design of debarring youth from
+religious instruction, and of rearing a generation ignorant of God and
+of his commandments. He warned parents against the evil, entreated them
+to stand up conscientiously for the spiritual welfare of their
+children, to reject the common schools, and to rescue the little ones
+for the maternal guardianship of the church.
+
+His sermon roused the entire progressionist camp. The local press
+fiercely assailed the intrepid clergyman. Lies, calumnies, and
+scurrility were vomited against him and his profession. Hans Shund
+seized the pen, and indited newspaper articles of such a character as
+one would naturally look for from a thief, usurer, and debauchee.
+Morgenroth paid no attention to their disgraceful clamor, but continued
+his opposition undismayed. By means of placards, he invited the
+Catholic citizens to assemble at his own residence, for the purpose of
+consulting about the best mode of thwarting the designs of the
+liberals. This unexpected fearlessness put the men of culture,
+humanity, and freedom beside themselves with rage. They at once decided
+upon making a public demonstration. The chieftains issued orders to
+their bands, and these at the hour appointed for the meeting mustered
+before the residence of the priest. A noisy multitude, uttering
+threats, took possession of the churchyard. If a citizen attempted to
+make his way through the mob to the house, he was loaded with vile
+epithets, at times even with kicks and blows. But a small number had
+gathered around the priest, and these showed much alarm; for outside
+the billows of progress were surging and every moment rising higher.
+Stones were thrown at the house, and the windows were broken.
+Parteiling, the commissary of police, came to remonstrate with the
+clergyman.
+
+"Dismiss the meeting," said he. "The excitement is assuming alarming
+proportions."
+
+"Commissary, we are under the protection of the law and of civil rule,"
+replied Morgenroth. "We are not slaves and helots of progress. Are we
+to be denied the liberty of discussing subjects of great importance in
+our own houses?"
+
+A boulder coming through the window crushed the inkstand on the table,
+and rolled on over the floor. The men pressed to one side in terror.
+
+"Your calling upon the law to protect you is utterly unreasonable under
+present circumstances," said Parteiling. "Listen to the howling. Do you
+want your house demolished? Do you wish to be maltreated? Will you have
+open revolution? This all will surely follow if you persist in refusing
+to dismiss the meeting. I will not answer for results."
+
+Stones began to rain more densely, and the howling grew louder and more
+menacing.
+
+"Gentlemen," said Morgenroth to the men assembled, "since we are not
+permitted to proceed with our deliberations, we will separate, with a
+protest against this brutal terrorism."
+
+"But, commissary," said a much frightened man, "how are we to get away?
+These people are infuriated; they will tear us in pieces."
+
+"Fear nothing, gentlemen; follow me," spoke the commissary, leading the
+way.
+
+The ultramontanes were hailed with a loud burst of scornful laughter.
+The commissary, advancing to the gate, beckoned silence.
+
+"In the name of the law, clear the place!" cried he.
+
+The mob scoffed and yelled.
+
+"Fetch out the slaves of the priest--make them run the gauntlet--down
+with the Jesuits!"
+
+At this moment, a man was noticed elbowing his way through the crowd;
+presently Hans Shund stepped before the embarrassed guardian of public
+order.
+
+"Three cheers for the magistrate!" vociferated the mob.
+
+Shund made a signal. Profound silence followed.
+
+"Gentlemen," spoke the chief magistrate, in a tone of entreaty, "have
+goodness to disperse."
+
+Repeated cheers were raised, then the accumulation of corrupt elements
+began to dissolve and flow off into every direction.
+
+"I deeply regret this commotion of which I but a moment ago received
+intelligence," said Shund. "The excitement of the people is
+attributable solely to the imprudent conduct of Morgenroth."
+
+"To be sure--to be sure!" assented Parteiling.
+
+The place was cleared. The Catholics hurried home pursued and hooted by
+straggling groups of rioters.
+
+The signs of the approaching celebration began to be noticeable on the
+town-common. Booths were being erected, tables were being disposed in
+rows which reached further than the eye could see, wagon-loads of
+chairs and benches were being brought from all parts of town, men were
+busy sinking holes for climbing-poles and treacherous turnstiles; but
+the most attractive feature of all the festival was yet invisible--free
+beer and sausages furnished at public cost. The rumor alone, however,
+of such cheer gladdened the heart of every thirsty voter, and
+contributed greatly to the establishment of the system of common
+schools. Bands of music paraded the town, gathered up voters, and
+escorted them to the polls. As often as they passed before the
+residence of a progressionist chieftain, the bands struck up an air,
+and the crowd cheered lustily. They halted in front of the priest's
+residence also. The band played, "Today we'll taste the parson's
+cheer," the mob roaring the words, and then winding up with whistling
+and guffaws of laughter. This sort of disorderly work was kept up
+during three days. Then was announced in the papers in huge type: "An
+overwhelming majority of the enlightened citizens of this city have
+decided in favor of common schools. Herewith the existence of these
+schools is secured and legalized."
+
+On the fourth day, the celebration came off. The same morning Gerlach
+senior arrived at the Palais Greifmann on his way home from the
+Exposition.
+
+"I am so glad!" cried Louise. "I was beginning to fear you would not
+come, and getting provoked at your indifference to the interests of our
+people. We have been having stirring times, but we have come off
+victorious. The narrow-minded enemies of enlightenment are defeated.
+Modern views now prevail, and education is to be remodelled and put in
+harmony with the wants of our century."
+
+"Times must have been stirring, for you seem almost frenzied, Louise,"
+said Conrad.
+
+"Had you witnessed the struggle and read the newspapers, you, too,
+would have grown enthusiastic," declared the young lady.
+
+"Even quotations advanced," said the banker. "It astonished me, and
+I can account for it only by assuming that the triumph of the
+common-school system is of general significance and an imperative
+desideratum of the times."
+
+"How can you have any doubt about it?" cried his sister. "Our town has
+pioneered the way: the rest of Germany will soon adopt the same
+system."
+
+Seraphin greeted his father.
+
+"Well, my son, you very likely have heard nothing whatever of this
+hubbub about schools?"
+
+"Indeed, I have, father. Carl and I were in the midst of the commotion
+at the desecrated church of S. Peter. We saw and heard what it would
+have been difficult to imagine." He then proceeded to give his father a
+minute account of the meeting. His powerful memory enabled him to
+repeat Shund's speech almost verbatim. The father listened attentively,
+and occasionally directed a glance of observation at the young lady.
+When Shund's coarse ridicule of Christian morals and dogmas was
+rehearsed, Mr. Conrad lowered his eyes, and a frown flitted over his
+brow. For the rest, his countenance was, as usual, cold and stern.
+
+"This Mr. Shund made quite a strong speech," said he, in a nonchalant
+way.
+
+"He rather intensified the colors of truth, 'tis true," remarked
+Louise. "The masses, however, like high coloring and vigorous
+language."
+
+A servant brought the banker a note.
+
+"Good! Shund is elected to the assembly! The span of bays belongs to
+me," exulted Carl Greifmann.
+
+"Your bays Seraphin?" inquired the father. "How is this?"
+
+Mr. Conrad had twice been informed of the wager; he had learned it
+first from Seraphin's own lips, then also he had read of it in his
+diary; still he asked again, and his son detailed the story a third
+time.
+
+"I should sooner have expected to see the heavens fall than to lose
+that bet," added Seraphin.
+
+"When a notorious thief and usurer is elected to the chief magistracy
+and to the legislative assembly, the victory gained is hardly a
+creditable one to the spirit of progress, my dear Carl. Don't you think
+so, Louise?" said the landholder.
+
+"You mustn't be too rigorous," replied the lady, with composure. "Rumor
+whispers many a bit of scandal respecting Shund which does, indeed,
+offend one's sense of propriety; for all that, however, Shund will play
+his part brilliantly both in the assembly and in the town council. The
+greatest of statesmen have had their foibles, as everybody knows."
+
+"Very true," said Gerlach dryly. "Viewed from the standpoint of very
+humane tolerance, Shund's disgusting habits may be considered
+justifiable."
+
+Seraphin left the parlor, and retired to his room. Here he wrestled
+with violent feelings. His father's conduct was a mystery to him.
+Opinions which conflicted with his own most sacred convictions, and
+principles which brought an indignant flush to his cheek, were listened
+to and apparently acquiesced in by his father. Shund's abominable
+diatribe had not roused the old gentleman's anger; Louise's avowed
+concurrence with the irreligious principles of the chieftain had not
+even provoked his disapprobation.
+
+"My God, my God! can it be possible?" cried he in an agony of despair.
+"Has the love of gain so utterly blinded my father? Can he have sunk so
+low as to be willing to immolate me, his only child, to a base
+speculation? Can he be willing for the sake of a million florins to
+bind me for life to this erring creature, this infidel Louise? Can a
+paltry million tempt him to be so reckless and cruel? No! no! a
+thousand times no!" exclaimed he. "I never will be the husband of this
+woman, never--I swear it by the great God of heaven! Get angry with me,
+father, banish me from your sight--it would be more tolerable than the
+consciousness of being the husband of a woman who believes not in the
+Redeemer of the world. I have sworn--the matter is for ever settled."
+He threw himself into an arm-chair, and moodily stared at the opposite
+wall. By degrees, his excitement subsided, and he became quiet.
+
+In fancy, he beheld beside Louise's form another lovely one rise
+up--that of the girl with the golden hair, the bright eyes, and the
+winning smile. She had stood before him on this very floor, in her neat
+and simple country garb, radiant with innocence and purity, adorned
+with innate grace and uncommon beauty. And the lapse of days, far from
+weakening, had deepened the impression of her first apparition. The
+storm that had been raging in his interior was allayed by the
+recollection of Mechtild, as the fury of the great deep subsides upon
+the reappearance of the sun. Scarcely an hour had passed during which
+he had not thought of the girl, rehearsed every word she had uttered,
+and viewed the basket of grapes she had brought him. Again he pulled
+out the drawer, and looked upon the gift with a friendly smile; then,
+locking up the precious treasure, he returned to the parlor.
+
+He found the company on the balcony. The sound of trumpets and drums
+came from a distance, and presently a motley procession was seen coming
+up the nearest street.
+
+"You have just arrived in time to see the procession," cried Louise to
+him. "It is going to defile past here, so we will be able to have a
+good look at it."
+
+A dusky swarm of boys and half-grown youths came winding round the
+nearest street-corner, followed immediately by the head of a mock
+procession. In the lead marched a fellow dressed in a brown cloak, the
+hood of which was drawn over his head. His waist was encircled with a
+girdle from which dangled a string of pebbles representing a rosary. To
+complete the caricature of a Capuchin, his feet were bare, excepting a
+pair of soles which were strapped to them with thongs of leather.
+In his hands he bore a tall cross rudely contrived with a couple
+of sticks. The image of the cross was represented by a broken
+mineral-water bottle. Behind the cross-bearer followed the procession
+in a double line, consisting of boys, young men, factory-hands, drunken
+mechanics, and such other begrimed and besotted beings as progress
+alone can count in its ranks. The members of the procession were
+chanting a litany; at the same time they folded their hands, made
+grimaces, turned their eyes upwards, or played unseemly pranks with
+genuine rosary beads.
+
+Next in the procession came a low car drawn by a watery-eyed mare which
+a lad bedizened like a clown was leading by the bridle. In the car sat
+a fat fellow whose face was painted red, and eyebrows dyed, and who
+wore a long artificial beard. Over a prodigious paunch, also
+artificial, he had drawn a long white gown, over which again he wore a
+many-colored rag shaped like a cope. On his head he wore a high paper
+cap, brimless; around the cap were three crowns of gilt paper to
+represent the tiara of the pope. A sorry-looking donkey walked after
+the car, to which it was attached by a rope. It was the _role_ of the
+fellow in the car to address the donkey, make a sign of blessing over
+it, and occasionally reach it straw drawn from his artificial paunch.
+As often as he went through this man[oe]uvre, the crowd set up a
+tremendous roar of laughter. The fat man in the car represented the
+pope, and the donkey was intended to symbolize the credulity of the
+faithful.
+
+This mock pope was not a suggestion of Shund's or of any other
+inventive progressionist. The whole idea was copied from a caricature
+which had appeared in a widely circulating pictorial whose only aim and
+pleasure it has been for years to destroy the innate religious
+nobleness of the German people by means of shallow wit and vulgar
+caricatures. And this very sheet, leagued with a daily organ equally
+degraded, can boast of no inconsiderable success. The rude and vulgar
+applaud its witticisms, the low and infamous regale themselves with its
+pictures, and its demoralizing influence is infecting the land.
+
+The principal feature of the procession was a wagon, hung with garlands
+and bestuck with small flags, drawn by six splendid horses. In it sat a
+youthful woman, plump and bold. Her shoulders were bare, the dress
+being an exaggerated sample of the style _decollete_; above her head
+was a wreath of oak leaves. She was attended by a number of young men
+in masks. They carried drinking-horns, which they filled from time to
+time from a barrel, and presented to the _bacchante_, who sipped from
+them; then these gentlemen in waiting drank themselves, and poured what
+was left upon the crowd. A band of music, walking in front of this
+triumphal car, played airs and marches. Not even the mock pope was as
+great an object of admiration as this shameless woman. Old and young
+thronged about the wagon, feasting their lascivious eyes on this
+beastly spectacle which represented that most disgusting of all
+abominable achievements of progress--the emancipated woman. And perhaps
+not even progress could have dared, in less excited times, so grossly
+to insult the chaste spirit of the German people; but the social
+atmosphere had been made so foul by the abominations of the election,
+and the spirits of impurity had reigned so absolutely during the
+canvass in behalf of common schools, that this immoral show was
+suffered to parade without opposition.
+
+The very commencement of this sacrilegious mockery of religion had
+roused Seraphin's indignation, and he had retired from the balcony. His
+father, however, had remained, coolly watching the procession as it
+passed, and carefully noting Louise's remarks and behavior.
+
+"What does that woman represent?" he asked. "A goddess of liberty, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Only in one sense, I think," replied the progressionist young lady.
+"The woman wearing the crown symbolizes, to my mind, the enjoyment of
+life. She typifies heaven upon earth, now that exact science has done
+away with the heaven of the next world."
+
+"I should think yon creature rather reminds one of hell," said Mr.
+Conrad.
+
+"Of hell!" exclaimed Louise, in alarm. "You are jesting, sir, are you
+not?"
+
+"Never more serious in my life, Louise. Notice the shameless
+effrontery, the baseness and infamy of the creature, and you will be
+forced to form conclusions which, far from justifying the expectation
+of peace and happiness in the family circle, the true sphere of woman,
+will suggest only wrangling, discord, and hell upon earth."
+
+The young lady did not venture to reply. A gentleman made his way
+through the crowd, and waved his hat to the company on the balcony. The
+banker returned the salutation.
+
+"Official Seicht," said he.
+
+"What! an officer of the government in this disreputable crowd!"
+exclaimed Gerlach, with surprise.
+
+"He is on hand to maintain order," explained Greifmann. "You see some
+policemen, too. Mr. Seicht sympathizes with progress. At the last
+meeting, he made a speech in favor of common schools; he sounded the
+praises of the gospel of progress, gave a toast at the banquet to the
+gospel of progress, and has won for himself the title of evangelist of
+progress. He once declared, too, that the very sight of a priest rouses
+his blood, and they now pleasantly call him the parson-eater. He is
+very popular."
+
+"I am amazed!" said Gerlach. "Mr. Seicht dishonors his office. He
+advocates common schools, insults all the believing citizens of his
+district, and runs with mock processions--a happy state of things,
+indeed!"
+
+"His conduct is the result of careful calculation," returned Greifmann.
+"By showing hostility to ultramontanism, he commends himself to
+progress, which is in power."
+
+"But the government should not tolerate such disgraceful behavior on
+the part of one of its officials," said Gerlach. "The entire official
+corps is disgraced so long as this shallow evangelist of progress is
+permitted to continue wearing the uniform."
+
+"You should not be so exacting," cried Louise. "Why will you not allow
+officials also to float along with the current of progress until they
+will have reached the Eldorado of the position to which they are
+aspiring?"
+
+"The corruption of the state must be fearful indeed, when such
+deportment in an officer is regarded as a recommendation," rejoined Mr.
+Conrad curtly.
+
+A servant appeared to call them to table.
+
+"Would you not like to see the celebration?" inquired Louise.
+
+"By all means," answered Gerlach. "The excitement is of so unusual a
+character that it claims attention. You will have to accompany us,
+Louise."
+
+"I shall do so with pleasure. When sound popular sentiment thus
+proclaims itself, I cannot but feel a strong desire to be present."
+
+The procession had turned the corner of a street where stood Holt and
+two more countrymen looking on. The religious sentiment of these honest
+men was deeply wounded by the profanation of the cross; and when,
+besides, they heard the singing of the mock litany, their anger
+kindled, their eyes gleamed, and they mingled fierce maledictions with
+the tumult of the mob. Next appeared the mock pope, dispensing
+blessings with his right hand, reaching straw to the donkey with his
+left, and distorting his painted face into all sorts of farcical
+grimaces.
+
+The peasants at once caught the significance of this burlesque. Their
+countenances glowed with indignation. Avenging spirits took possession
+of Mechtild's father; his strong, stalwart frame seemed suddenly to
+have become herculean. His fist of iron doubled itself; there was
+lightning in his eyes; like an infuriated lion, he burst into the
+crowd, broke the line of the procession, and, directing a tremendous
+blow at the head of the mock pope, precipitated him from the car. The
+paper cap flew far away under the feet of the bystanders, and the false
+beard got into the donkey's mouth. When the mock pope was down. Holt's
+comrades immediately set upon him, and tore the many-colored rag from
+his shoulders. Then commenced a great tumult. A host of furious
+progressionists surrounded the sturdy countrymen, brandishing their
+fists and filling the air with mad imprecations.
+
+"Kill the dogs! Down with the accursed ultramontanes!"
+
+Some of the policemen hurried up to prevent bloodshed. Mr. Seicht also
+hurried to the scene of action, and his shrill voice could be heard
+high above the noise and confusion.
+
+"Gentlemen, I implore you, let the law have its course, gentlemen!"
+cried he. "Gentlemen, friends, do not, I beg you, violate the law!
+Trust me, fellow-citizens--I shall see that the impertinence of these
+ultramontanes is duly punished."
+
+They understood his meaning. Sticks and fists were immediately lowered.
+
+"Brigadier Forchhaem," cried Mr. Seicht, in a tone of
+command--"Forchhaem, hither! Put handcuffs on these ultramontanes,
+these disturbers of the peace--put irons on these revolutionists."
+
+Handcuffs were forthwith produced by the policemen. The towering,
+broad-shouldered Holt stood quiet as a lamb, looked with an air of
+astonishment at the confusion, and suffered himself to be handcuffed.
+His comrades, however, behaved like anything but lambs. They laid about
+them with hands and feet, knocking down the policemen, and giving
+bloody mouths and noses to all who came within their reach.
+
+"Handcuff us!" they screamed, grinding their teeth, bleeding and
+cursing. "Are we cutthroats?" The bystanders drew back in apprehension.
+The confusion seemed to be past remedying. A thousand voices were
+screaming, bawling, and crying at the same time; the circle around the
+struggling countrymen was getting wider and wider; and when finally
+they attempted to break through, the crowd took to flight, as if a
+couple of tigers were after them.
+
+Many of the spectators found a pleasurable excitement in watching the
+battle between the policemen and the peasants; but they would not move
+a finger to aid the officers of the law in arresting the culprits. They
+admired the agility and strength of the countrymen, and the more fierce
+the struggle became, the greater grew their delight, and the louder
+their merriment.
+
+Holt had been carried on with the motion of the crowd. When he dealt
+the blow to the fellow in the car, he was beside himself with rage. The
+genuine _furor teutonicus_ had taken possession of him so irresistibly
+and so bewilderingly as to leave him utterly without any of the calm
+judgment necessary to measure the situation. After his first adventure,
+he had submitted to be handcuffed, and had watched the struggle between
+Forchhaem and his own comrades in a sort of absence of mind. He had
+stood perfectly quiet, his face had become pale, and his eyes looked
+about strangely. The excitement of passion was now beginning to wear
+off. He felt the cold iron of the manacles around his wrists, his eyes
+glared, his face became crimson, the sinews of his powerful arm
+stiffened, and with one great muscular convulsion he wrenched off the
+handcuffs. Nobody had observed this sudden action, all eyes being
+directed to the combatants. Shoving the part of the handcuff which
+still hung to his wrist under the sleeve of his jacket, Holt
+disappeared through the crowd.
+
+The resistance of the peasants was gradually becoming fainter. At
+length they succumbed to overpowering force, and were handcuffed.
+
+"Where is the third one?" cried Seicht. "There were three of them."
+
+"Where is the third one? There were three of them," was echoed on every
+hand, and all eyes sought for the missing one in the crowd.
+
+"The third one has run away, sir," reported Forchhaem.
+
+"What's his name?" asked Seicht.
+
+Nobody knew.
+
+A street boy, looking up at the official, ingenuously cried, "'Twas a
+Tartar."
+
+Seicht looked down upon the obstreperous little informant.
+
+"A Tartar--do you know him?"
+
+"No; but these here know him," pointing to the captives.
+
+"What is the name of your comrade?"
+
+"We don't know him," was the surly reply.
+
+"Never mind, he will become known in the judicial examination. Off to
+jail with these rebellious ultramontanes," the official commanded.
+
+Bound in chains, and guarded by a posse of police, these honest men,
+whose religious sense had been so wantonly outraged as to have
+occasioned an outburst of noble indignation, were marched through the
+streets of the town and imprisoned. They were treated as criminals for
+a crime, however, the guilt of which was justly chargeable to those
+very rioters who were enjoying official protection.
+
+The procession moved on to the ground selected for the barbecue. A
+motley mass, especially of factory-men, were hard at work upon the
+scene. The booths, spread far and wide over the common, were thrown
+open, and around them moved a swarm of thirsty beings drawing rations
+of beer and sausages, with which, when they had received them, they
+staggered away to the tables. Degraded-looking women were also to be
+seen moving about unsteadily with brimming mugs of beer in their hands.
+There were several bands of music stationed at different points around
+the place.
+
+The chieftains of progress, perambulating the ground with an air of
+triumph, bestowed friendly nods of recognition on all sides, and
+condescendingly engaged in conversation with some of the rank and file.
+
+Hans Shund approached the awning where the woman with the bare
+shoulders and indecent costume had taken a seat. She had captivated the
+gallant chief magistrate, who hovered about her as a raven hovers over
+a dead carcass. Moving off, he halted within hearing distance, and,
+casting frequent glances back, addressed immodest jokes to those who
+occupied the other side of the table, at which they laughed and
+applauded immoderately.
+
+The men whom Seraphin had met in the subterranean den, on the memorable
+night before the election, were also present: Flachsen, Graeulich,
+Koenig, and a host of others. They were regaling themselves with
+sausages which omitted an unmistakable odor of garlic, and were of a
+very dubious appearance; interrupting the process of eating with
+frequent and copious draughts from their beer-mugs.
+
+"Drink, old woman!" cried Graeulich to his wife. "Drink, I tell you! It
+doesn't cost us anything to-day."
+
+The woman put the jug to her lips and drained it manfully. Other women
+who were present screamed in chorus, and the men laughed boisterously.
+
+"Your old woman does that handsomely," applauded Koth. "Hell and
+thunder! But she must be a real spitfire."
+
+Again they laughed uproariously.
+
+"I wish there were an election every day, what a jolly life this would
+be!" said Koenig. "Nothing to do, eating and drinking gratis--what more
+would you wish?"
+
+"That's the way the bigbugs live all the year round. They may eat and
+drink what they like best, and needn't do a hand's turn. Isn't it
+glorious to be rich?" cried Graeulich.
+
+"So drink, boys, drink till you can't stand! We are all of us big-bugs
+to-day."
+
+"And if things were regulated as they should be," said Koth, "there
+would come a day when we poor devils would also see glorious times. We
+have been torturing ourselves about long enough for the sake of others.
+I maintain that things will have to be differently regulated."
+
+"What game is that you are wishing to come at? Show your hand, old
+fellow!" cried several voices.
+
+"Here's what I mean: Coffers which are full will have to pour some of
+their superfluity into coffers which are empty. You take me, don't
+you?"
+
+"'Pon my soul, I can't make you out. You are talking conundrums,"
+declared Koenig.
+
+"You blockhead, I mean there will soon have to be a partition. They who
+have plenty will have to give some to those who have nothing."
+
+"Bravo! Long live Koth!"
+
+"That sort of doctrine is dangerous to the state," said Flachsen. "Such
+principles bring about revolutions, and corrupt society."
+
+"What of society! You're an ass, Flachsen! Koth is right--partition,
+partition!" was the cry all round the table.
+
+"As you will! I have nothing against it if only it were practicable,"
+expostulated Flachsen; "for I, too, am a radical."
+
+"It is practicable! All things are practicable," exclaimed Koth. "Our
+age can do anything, and so can we. Haven't we driven religion out of
+the schools? Haven't we elected Shund for mayor? It is the majority who
+rule; and, were we to vote in favor of partition to-morrow, partition
+would have to take place. Any measure can be carried by a majority,
+and, since we poor devils are in the majority, as soon as we will have
+voted for partition it will come without fail."
+
+"That's sensible!" agreed they all. "But then, such a thing has never
+yet been done. Do you think it possible?"
+
+"Anything is possible," maintained Koth. "Didn't Shund preach that
+there isn't any God, or hell, or devil? Was that ever taught before? If
+the God of old has to submit to being deposed, the rich will have to
+submit to it. I tell you, the majority will settle the business for the
+rich. And if there's no God, no devil, and no life beyond, well then,
+you see, I'm capable of laying my hand to anything. If voting won't do,
+violence will. Do you understand?"
+
+"Bravo! Hurrah for Koth!"
+
+"There must be progress," cried Graeulich, "among us as well as others.
+We are not going to continue all our lives in wretchedness. We must
+advance from labor to comfort without labor, from poverty to wealth,
+from want to abundance. Three cheers for progress--hurrah! hurrah!",
+And the whole company joined in frantically.
+
+"There comes Evangelist Seicht," cried Koenig. "Though I didn't
+understand one word of his speech, I believe he meant well. Although he
+is an officer of the government, he cordially hates priests. A man may
+say what he pleases against religion, and the church, and the Pope, and
+the Jesuits, it rather pleases Seicht. He is a free and enlightened
+man, is he. Up with your glasses, boys; if he comes near, let's give
+him three rousing cheers."
+
+They did as directed. Men and women cheered lustily. Seicht very
+condescendingly raised his hat and smiled as he passed the table. The
+ovation put him in fine humor. Though he had failed in securing a
+place in the assembly, perhaps the slight would be repaired in the
+future. Such was the tenor of his thoughts whilst he advanced to the
+climbing-pole, around which was assembled a crowd of boys. Quite a
+variety of prizes, especially tobacco-pipes, was hanging from the
+cross-pieces at the top of the mast. The pole was so smooth that more
+than ordinary strength and activity were required to get to the top.
+The greater number of those who attempted the feat gave out and slid
+back without having gained a prize. There were also grown persons
+standing around watching the efforts of the boys and young men.
+
+"It's my turn now," cried the fellow who had carried the cross in the
+procession.
+
+"But, first, let me have one more drink--it'll improve the sliding." He
+swallowed the drink hastily, then swaying about as he looked and
+pointed upward, "Do you see that pipe with tassels to it?" he said.
+"That's the one I'm going after."
+
+Throwing aside his mantle, he began to climb.
+
+"He'll not get up, he's drunk," cried a lad among the bystanders.
+"Belladonna has given him two pints of double beer for carrying the
+cross in the procession--that's what ails him."
+
+"Wait till I come down, I'll slap your jaws," cried the climber.
+
+The spectators were watching him with interest. He was obliged to pause
+frequently to rest himself, which he did by winding his legs tightly
+round the pole. At last he reached the top. Extending his arm to take
+the pipe, it was too short. Climbing still higher, he stretched his
+body to its greatest length, lost his hold, and fell to the ground. The
+bystanders raised a great cry. The unfortunate youth's head had
+embedded itself in the earth, streams of blood gushed from his mouth
+and nostrils--he was lifeless.
+
+"He's dead! It's all over with him," was whispered around.
+
+"Carry him off," commanded Seicht, and then walked on.
+
+One of the bystanders loosed the cross-piece of the mock crucifix; the
+corpse was then stretched across the two pieces of wood and carried off
+the scene. As the body was carried past, the noise and revelry
+everywhere ceased.
+
+"Wasn't that the one who carried the cross?" was asked. "Is he dead?
+Did he fall from the pole? How terrible!"
+
+Even the progressionist revellers were struck thoughtful, so deeply is
+the sense of religion rooted in the heart of man. Many a one among
+them, seeing the pale, rigid face of the dead man, understood his fate
+to be a solemn warning, and fled from the scene in terror.
+
+The progressionist element of the town was much flattered by the
+presence at its orgies of the wealthiest property owner of the country.
+
+The women had already made the discovery that the millionaire's only
+son, Mr. Seraphin Gerlach, was on the eve of marrying a member of the
+highly respectable house of Greifmann, bankers. But it occasioned them
+no small amount of surprise that the young gentleman was not in
+attendance on the beautiful lady at the celebration. Louise's radiant
+countenance gave no indication, however, that any untoward occurrence
+had caused the absence of her prospective husband. The wives and
+daughters of the chieftains were sitting under an awning sipping coffee
+and eating cake. When Louise approached leaning on her brother's arm,
+they welcomed her to a place in the circle of loveliness with many
+courtesies and marks of respect.
+
+Mr. Conrad strolled about the place, studying the spirit which animated
+the gathering.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI.
+
+                         PROGRESS GROWS JOLLY.
+
+
+In passing near the tables Gerlach overheard conversations which
+revealed to him unmistakably the communistic aspirations and tendencies
+prevailing among the lower orders, their fiendish hatred of religion
+and the clergy, their corruption and appalling ignorance. On every hand
+he perceived symptoms of an alarmingly unhealthy condition of society.
+He heard blasphemies uttered against the Divinity which almost caused
+his blood to run cold; sacred things were scoffed at in terms so coarse
+and with an animus so plainly satanical that his hair rose on his head.
+It was clear to him that the firmest supports, the only true
+foundations of the social order, were tottering--rotted away by an
+incurable corruption.
+
+In Gerlach's life, also, as in that of many other men, there had been a
+period of mental struggle and of doubt. He, too, had at one time
+himself face to face with questions the solution of which involved the
+whole aim of his existence. During this period of mental unrest, he had
+thought and studied much about faith and science, but not with a silly
+parade of superficial scepticism. He had resolutely engaged in the soul
+struggle, and had tried to end it for once and all. Supported by a good
+early training and a disposition naturally noble, instructed and guided
+by books of solid learning, he had come out from that crisis stronger
+in faith and more correct in his views of human science. The scenes
+which he was witnessing reminded him vividly of that turning-point in
+his life; they were to him an additional proof that man's dignity
+disappears as soon as he refuses to follow the divine guidance of
+religion. Grave in mood, he returned to the table around which were
+gathered the chieftains. The marks of respect shown to the millionaire
+were numerous and flattering. Even the bluff Sand exerted himself
+unusually in paying his respects to the wealthy landholder, and
+Erdblatt, whose embarrassed financial condition enabled him beyond them
+all to appreciate the worth of money, filled a glass with his own hand,
+and reached it to Mr. Conrad with the deference of an accomplished
+butler, Gerlach was pleased to speak in terms of praise of the
+nut-brown beverage, which greatly tickled Belladonna, the fat brewer.
+Naturally enough, the conversation turned upon the subject of the
+celebration.
+
+"I confess I am not quite clear respecting the purpose of your city in
+the matter of schools," said Mr. Conrad. "How do you intend to arrange
+the school system?"
+
+"In such a way as to make it accord with the requirements of the times
+and the progressive spirit of civilization," answered Hans Shund. "An
+end must be put to priest rule in the schools. The establishment of
+common schools will be a decided step towards this object. For a while,
+of course, the priests will be allowed to visit the schools at
+specified times, but their influence and control in school matters will
+be greatly restricted. Education will be withdrawn from the church's
+supervision, and after a few years we hope to reach the point when the
+school-rooms will be closed altogether against the priests. There is
+not a man of culture but will agree that children should not be
+required to learn things which are out of date, and the import of which
+must only excite smiles of compassion."
+
+"Whom do you intend to put in the place of the clergy?" inquired Mr.
+Conrad.
+
+"We intend to impart useful information and a moral sense in harmony
+with the spirit of the age," replied Hans Shund.
+
+"It seems to me the elementary branches have been very competently
+taught heretofore in our schools, consequently I do not see the need of
+a change on this head," said Gerlach. "But you have not understood my
+question, I mean, who are to fill the office of instructors in morals
+and in religion?"
+
+The chieftains looked puzzled, for such a question they had not
+expected to hear from the wealthiest man of the country.
+
+"You see, Mr. Gerlach," said Sand bluntly, "religion must be done away
+with entirely. We haven't any use for such trash. Children ought to
+spend their time in learning something more sensible than the
+catechism."
+
+"I am not disposed to believe that what you have just uttered is a
+correct expression of the general opinion of this community on the
+subject of the school question," returned the millionaire with some
+warmth. "It is impossible to bring up youth morally without religion.
+You are a housebuilder, Mr. Sand. What would you think of the man who
+would expect you to build him a house without a foundation--a castle in
+the air?"
+
+"Why, I would regard him as nothing less than a fool," cried Sand.
+
+"The case is identically the same with moral education. Morality is an
+edifice which a man must spend his life in laboring at. Religion is the
+groundwork of this edifice. Moral training without religion is an
+impossibility. It would be just as possible to build a house in the
+air, as to train up a child morally without a religious belief, without
+being convinced of the existence of a holy and just God."
+
+"Facts prove the contrary," maintained Hans Shund. "Millions of persons
+are moral who have no religious belief."
+
+"That's an egregious mistake, sir," opposed the landholder. "The
+repudiation of a Supreme Being and the violent extinction of the idea
+of the Divinity in the breast are of themselves grave offences against
+moral conscience. I grant you that, in the eyes of the public,
+thousands of men pass for moral who have no faith in religion. But
+public opinion is anything but a criterion of certainty when the moral
+worth of a man is to be determined. A man's interior is a region which
+cannot be viewed by the eye of the public. You know yourselves that
+there are men who pass for honorable, moral, pure men, whose private
+habits are exceedingly filthy and corrupt."
+
+Hans Shund's color turned a palish yellow; the eyes of the chieftains
+sank.
+
+"Besides, gentleman, it would be labor lost to try to educate youth
+independently of religion. Man is by his very nature a religious being.
+It is useless to attempt to educate the young without a knowledge of
+God and of revealed religion; to be able to do so you would previously
+have to pluck out of their own breasts the sense of right and wrong,
+and out of their souls the idea of God, which are innate in both. Were
+the attempt made, however, believe me, gentlemen, the yearning after
+God, alive in the human breast, would soon impel the generation brought
+up independently of religion to seek after false gods. For this very
+reason we know of no people in history that did not recognize and
+worship some divinity, were it but a tree or a stone, that served them
+for an object of adoration. In my opinion, it would be far more
+indicative of genuine progress to adhere to the God of Christians, who
+is incontestably holy, just, omnipotent, and kind, whilst to return to
+the sacred oaks of ancient Germany or to adopt the fetichism of
+uncivilized tribes would be a most monstrous reaction, the most
+degrading barbarism."
+
+The chieftains looked nonplussed. Earnest thinking and investigation
+upon subjects pertaining to religion were not customary among the
+disciples of progress. They looked upon religion as something so common
+and trivial that anybody was free to argue upon and condemn it with a
+few flippant or smart sayings; But the millionaire was now disclosing
+views so new and vast, that their weak vision was completely dazzled,
+and their steps upon the unknown domain became unsteady.
+
+Mr. Seicht, observing the embarrassment of the leaders, felt it his
+duty to hasten to their relief. His polemical weapons were drawn from
+the armory of bureaucracy.
+
+"The progressive development of humanity," said Mr. Seicht, "has
+revealed an admirable substitute for all religious ideas. A state well
+organized can exist splendidly without any religion. Nay, I do not
+hesitate to maintain that religion is a drawback to the development of
+the modern state, and that, therefore, the state should have nothing
+whatever to do with religion. An invisible world should not exert an
+influence upon a state--the wants of the times are the only rule to be
+consulted."
+
+"What do you understand by a state, sir?" asked the millionaire.
+
+"A state," replied the official, "is a union of men whose public life
+is regulated by laws which every individual is bound to observe."
+
+"You speak of laws; upon what basis are these laws founded?"
+
+"Upon the basis of humanity, morality, liberty, and right," answered
+the official glibly.
+
+"And what do you consider moral and just?"
+
+"Whatever accords with the civilization of the age."
+
+A faint smile passed over the severe features of Mr. Conrad.
+
+"I was watching the procession," spoke he. "I have seen the religious
+feelings of a large number of citizens publicly ridiculed and grossly
+insulted. Was that moral? Was it just? You are determined to oust God
+and religion from the schools; yet there are thousands in the country
+who desire and endeavor to secure a religious education for their
+children. Is it moral and just to utterly disregard the wishes of these
+thousands? Does it accord with a profession of humanity and freedom to
+put constraint on the consciences of fellow-citizens?"
+
+"The persons of whom you speak are a minority in the state, and the
+minority is obliged to yield to the will of the majority," answered
+Seicht.
+
+"It follows, then, that the basis of morality and justice is superior
+numbers?"
+
+"Yes, it is! In a state, it appertains to the majority to determine and
+regulate everything."
+
+"Gentlemen," spoke Gerlach with great seriousness, "as I was a moment
+ago strolling over this place, I overheard language at several tables,
+which was unmistakably communistic. Laborers and factory men were
+maintaining that wealth is unequally distributed; that, whilst a small
+number are immensely rich, a much greater number are poor and
+destitute; that progress will have to advance to a point when an equal
+division of property must be made. Now, the poor and the laboring
+population are in the majority. Should they vote for a partition,
+should they demand from us what hitherto we have regarded as
+exclusively our own, we, gentlemen, will in consistency be forced to
+accept the decree of the majority as perfectly moral and just--will we
+not?"
+
+There was profound silence.
+
+"I, for my part, should most emphatically protest against such a ruling
+of the majority," declared Greifmann.
+
+"Your protest would be contrary to morals and equity; for, according to
+Mr. Seicht, only what the majority wills is moral and just," returned
+the landowner. "And, in mentioning partition of property, I hinted at a
+red monster which is not any longer a mere goblin, but a thing of real
+flesh and bone. We are on the verge of a fearful social revolution
+which threatens to break up society. If there is no holy and just God;
+if he has not revealed himself, and man is not obliged to submit to his
+will; if the only basis of right and of morals is the wish of the
+majority, this terrible social revolution must be moral and just, for
+the majority wills it and carries it out."
+
+"Of course, there must be a limit," said the official feebly.
+
+"The demands of the majority must be reasonable."
+
+"What do you understand by reasonable, sir?"
+
+"I call reasonable whatever accords with the sense of right, with sound
+thinking, with moral ideas."
+
+"Sense of right--moral ideas? I beg you to observe that these notions
+differ vastly from the sole authority of numbers. You have trespassed
+upon God's kingdom in giving your explanation, for ideas are
+supersensible; they are the thought of God himself. And the sense of
+right was not implanted in the human breast by the word of a majority;
+it was placed there by the Creator of man."
+
+The official was driven to the wall. The chieftains thoughtfully stared
+at their beer-pots.
+
+"It is clear that the will of the majority alone cannot be accepted as
+the basis of a state," said Schwefel. "The life of society cannot be
+put at the mercy of the rude and fickle masses. There must be a moral
+order, willed and regulated by a supreme ruler, and binding upon every
+man. This is plain."
+
+"I agree with you, sir," said the millionaire. "Let us continue
+building on Christian principles. As everybody knows, our civilization
+has sprung from Christianity. If we tear down the altars and destroy
+the seats from which lessons of Christian morality are taught,
+confusion must inevitably follow. And I, gentlemen, have too exalted an
+opinion of the German nation, of its earnest and religious spirit, to
+believe that it can be ever induced to fall away completely from God
+and his holy law. Infidelity is an unhealthy tendency of our times; it
+is a pernicious superstition which sound sense and noble feeling will
+ultimately triumph over. We will do well to continue advancing in
+science, art, refinement, and industry, in true liberty and the right
+understanding of truth; we will thus be making real progress, such
+progress as I am proud to call myself a partisan of."
+
+The chieftains maintained silence. Some nodded assent. Hans Shund gave
+an angry bite to his pipe-stem, and puffed a heavy cloud of smoke
+across the table.
+
+"I have confidence in the enlightenment and good sense of our people,"
+said he. "You have called modern progress 'a pernicious superstition
+and an unhealthy tendency of the times,' Mr. Gerlach," turning towards
+the millionaire with a bow. "I regret this view of yours."
+
+"Which I have substantiated and proved," interrupted Gerlach.
+
+"True, sir! Your proofs have been striking, and I do not feel myself
+competent to refute them. But I can point you to something more
+powerful than argument. Look at this scene; see these happy people
+meeting and enjoying one another's society in most admirable harmony
+and order. Is not this spectacle a beautiful illustration and
+vindication of the moral spirit of progress?"
+
+"These people are jubilant from the effect of beer, why shouldn't they
+be? But, sir, a profound observer does not 'suffer himself to be
+deceived by mere appearances.'"
+
+An uproar and commotion at a distance interrupted the millionaire. At
+the same instant a policeman approached out of breath.
+
+"Your honor, the factorymen and the laborers are attacking one
+another!"
+
+"What are you raising such alarm for," said Hans Shund gruffly. "It is
+only a small squabble, such as will occur everywhere in a crowd."
+
+"I ask your honor's pardon: it is not a small squabble, it is a bloody
+battle."
+
+"Well, part the wranglers."
+
+"We cannot manage them; there are too many of them. Shall I apply for
+military?"
+
+"Hell and thunder--military!" cried Hans Shund, getting on his feet.
+"Are you in your senses?"
+
+"Several men have already been carried off badly wounded," reported the
+policeman further. "You have no idea how serious the affray is, and it
+is getting more and more so; the friends of both sides are rushing in
+to aid their own party. The police force is not a match for them."
+
+Women, screaming and in tears, were rushing in every direction. The
+bands had ceased playing, and noise and confusion resounded from the
+scene of action. Louise ran to take her brother's arm in consternation.
+The wives and daughters of the chieftains huddled round their natural
+protectors.
+
+"Hurry away and report this at the military post," was Seicht's order
+to the policeman. "The feud is getting alarming. One moment!"
+
+Tearing a leaf from a memorandum book, he wrote a short note, which he
+sent by the messenger.
+
+"Off to the post--be expeditious!"
+
+Louise hastened with her brother and Gerlach senior to their carriage,
+and her feeling of security returned only when the noise of the combat
+had died away in the distance.
+
+The next day the town papers contained the following notice: "The
+beautiful celebration of yesterday, which, on account of its object,
+will be long remembered by the citizens of this community, was
+unfortunately interrupted by a serious conflict between the laborers
+and factorymen. A great many were wounded during the _melee_, of whom
+five have since died, and it required the interference of an armed
+force to separate the combatants."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XII.
+
+                     BROWN BREAD AND BONNYCLABBER.
+
+
+Seraphin had not gone to the celebration. He remained at home on the
+plea of not feeling well. He was stretched upon a sofa, and his soul
+was engaged in a desperate conflict. What it was impossible for himself
+to look upon, had been viewed by his father with composure: the
+burlesque procession, the public derision of holy practices, the
+mockery of the Redeemer of the world, in whose place had been put a
+broken bottle on the symbol of salvation. He himself had been stunned
+by the spectacle; and his father? Was it his father? Again, his father
+had accompanied the brother and sister to the infamous celebration. Was
+not this a direct confirmation of his own suspicions? His father had
+become a fearful enigma to his soul! And what if, upon his return from
+the festival, the father were to come and insist upon the marriage with
+Louise, declaring her advanced notions to be an insufficient ground for
+renouncing a pet project? A wild storm was convulsing his interior. He
+could not bear it longer, he was driven forth. Snatching his straw hat,
+he rushed from the house, ran through the alleys and streets, out of
+the town, onward and still onward. The August sun was burning, and its
+heat, reflected from the road, was doubly intense. The perspiration was
+rolling in large drops down the glowing face of the young man, whom
+torturing thoughts still kept goading on. Holt's whitewashed dwelling
+became visible on the summit of a knoll, and gleamed a friendly welcome
+as he came near it--a welcome which seemed opportune for one who hardly
+knew whither he was hastening. The walnut-tree which could be seen from
+afar was casting an inviting shade over the table and bench that seemed
+to be confidingly leaning against its stem. A flock of chickens were
+taking a sand-bath under the table, flapping their wings, ruffling
+their feathers, and wallowing in the dust. Seated on the sunny hillock,
+the cottage appeared quiet, almost lonesome but for a ringing sound
+which came from the adjoining field and was made by the sickle passing
+through the corn. A broad-brimmed straw hat with a blue band could be
+noticed from the road moving on over the fallen grain, and presently
+Mechtild's slender form rose into view as she pushed actively onward
+over the harvest field. Hasty steps resounded from the road. She raised
+her head, and her countenance first indicated surprise, then
+embarrassment. Whom did her eyes behold rushing wildly by, like a
+fugitive, but the generous rescuer of her family from the clutches of
+the usurer Shund. His hat was in his hand, his auburn locks were
+hanging down over his forehead, his face aglow, his whole being seemed
+to be absorbed in a mad pursuit. To her quick eye his features revealed
+deep trouble and violent excitement She was frightened, and the sickle
+fell from her hand. Not a day passed on which she would not think of
+this benefactor. Perhaps there was not a being on earth whom she
+admired and revered as much as she did him. All the pure and elevated
+sentiments of an innocent and blooming girl, united to form a halo of
+affection round the head of Seraphin. At evening prayer when her father
+said, "Let us pray for our benefactor Seraphin," her soul sent up a
+fervent petition to God, and she declared with joy that she was willing
+to sacrifice all for him. But behold this noble object of her
+admiration and affection suddenly presented before her in a state that
+excited the greatest uneasiness. With his head sunk and his eyes
+directed straight before him, he would have rushed past without
+noticing the sympathizing girl, when a greeting clear and sweet as the
+tone of a bell caused him to look up. He beheld Mechtild with her
+beautiful eyes fixed upon him in an expression of anxiety.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Seraphin," she said again.
+
+"Good-morning," he returned mechanically, and staring about vaguely.
+His bewilderment soon passed, however, and his gaze was riveted by the
+apparition.
+
+She was standing on the other side of the ditch. The fear of some
+unknown calamity had given to her beautiful face an expression of
+tender solicitude, and whilst a smile struggled for possession of her
+lips her look indicated painful anxiety. Mechtild's appearance soon
+directed the young man's attention to his own excited manner. The dark
+shadow disappeared from his brow, he wiped the perspiration from his
+face, and began to feel the effect of his walk under the glowing heat
+of midsummer.
+
+"Ah! here is the neat little white house, your pretty country home,
+Mechtild," he said pleasantly. "If you had not been so kind as to wish
+me good-morning, I should actually have passed by in an unpardonable
+fit of distraction."
+
+"I was almost afraid to say good-morning, Mr. Seraphin, but--" She
+faltered and looked confused.
+
+"But--what? You didn't think anything was wrong?"
+
+"No! But you were in such a hurry and looked so troubled, I got
+frightened," she confessed with amiable uprightness. "I was afraid
+something had happened you."
+
+"I am thankful for your sympathy. Nothing has happened me, nor, I
+trust, will," he replied, with a scarcely perceptible degree of
+defiance in his tone. "This is a charming situation. Corn-fields on all
+sides, trees laden with fruit, the skirt of the woods in the
+background--and then this magnificent view! With your permission, I
+will take a moment's rest in the shade of yon splendid walnut-tree
+planted by your great-grandfather."
+
+She joyfully nodded assent and stepped over the ditch. She shoved back
+the bolt of the gate. Together they entered the yard, which a hedge
+separated from the road. The cock crew a welcome to the stranger, and
+led his household from the sand-bath into the sunshine near the barn.
+
+"This is a cool, inviting little spot," said the millionaire, as he
+pointed to the shade of the walnut-tree. "No doubt you often sit here
+and read?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Seraphin; but the dirty chickens have scattered dust all over
+the bench and table. Wait a minute, you'll get your clothes dusty."
+
+She hurried into the house. His eyes followed her receding form, his
+ears kept listening for her departing steps, he heard the opening and
+closing of doors: presently she reappeared, dusted the bench and table
+with a brush, and spread a white cloth over the table. Seraphin looked
+on with a smile.
+
+"I do not wish to be troublesome, Mechtild!"
+
+"It is no trouble, Mr. Seraphin! Sit down, now, and rest yourself. I am
+so sorry father and mother are not at home. They will be ever so glad
+to hear that you have honored us with a visit."
+
+"Is nobody at home?"
+
+"Father is in town, and mother is at work with the children in the
+harvest field."
+
+"Are you not afraid to stay here by yourself?"
+
+"What should I be afraid of? There are no ghosts in daytime," she said
+with a bewitching archness; "and as for thieves, they never expect to
+find anything worth having at our house."
+
+She was standing on the other side of the table, looking at him with a
+beautiful smile.
+
+"Won't you have a seat on this bench?" said he, making room for her.
+"You need rest more than I do. You have been working, and I am merely
+an idle stroller. Do take a seat, Mechtild."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Seraphin--I could not think of doing so! It would not
+be becoming," she answered with some confusion.
+
+"Why not becoming?"
+
+"Because you are a gentleman, and I am only a poor girl."
+
+"Your objection on the score of propriety is not worth anything. Oblige
+me by doing what I ask of you."
+
+"I will do so, Mr. Seraphin, since you insist upon it, but after a
+while. I would like to offer you some refreshments beforehand, if you
+will allow me."
+
+"With pleasure," he said, nodding assent.
+
+A second time she hurried away to the house, whilst he kept listening
+to her footsteps. The extraordinary neatness and cleanliness which
+could be seen everywhere about the little homestead did not escape his
+observation. On all sides he fancied he saw the work of Mechtild. The
+purity of her spirit, which beamed so mildly from her eyes and was
+revealed in the beauty of her countenance and the grace of her person,
+seemed embodied in the very odor of roses wafted over from the
+neighboring flower garden. He was unconscious of the rapid growth
+within his bosom of a deep and tender feeling. This feeling was casting
+a warm glow, like softest sunshine, over all that he beheld. Not even
+the chickens looked to him like other fowls of their kind; they were
+ennobled by the reflection that they were objects of Mechtild's care,
+that she fed them, that when they were still piping little pullets she
+had held them in her lap and caressed them. He abandoned himself
+completely to this sentiment; it carried him on like a smooth current;
+and he could not tell, did not suspect even, why so wonderful a
+reaction had in so short a time taken place in his interior. Beholding
+himself seated under the walnut-tree surrounded only by evidences of
+honorable poverty and rural thrift, and yet feeling a degree of
+happiness and peace he had never known before, he fancied he was
+performing a part in some fairy tale which he was dreaming with
+his eyes open. And now the fairy appeared at the door having on a
+snowy-white apron, and carrying a shallow basket from which could be
+seen, protruding above the rest of its contents, a milk jar. She set
+before him a pewter plate, bright as silver. Then she took out the jar
+and a cup, next she laid a knife and spoon for him, and finished her
+hospitable service with a huge loaf of bread.
+
+"Don't get dismayed at the bread, Mr. Seraphin! I am sorry I cannot set
+something better before you. But it is well baked and will not hurt
+you!"
+
+"You baked it yourself, did you not?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Seraphin!"
+
+He attacked the loaf resolutely. From the dimensions of the slice which
+he cut off, it was plain that appetite and his confidence in her skill
+were satisfactory. She raised the jar of bonnyclabber, which lurched
+out in jerks upon his plate, whilst he kept gayly stirring it with the
+spoon. Then she dipped a spoonful of rich cream out of the cup and
+poured it into the refreshing contents of the plate.
+
+"Let me know when you want me to stop, Mr. Seraphin." Mechtild poured
+spoonful after spoonful; he sat immovable, seemingly observing the
+spoon, but in reality watching her soft plump fingers, then her
+well-shaped hand, next her exquisitely arm, and, when finally he raised
+his eyes to her face, they were met by a mischievous smile. The cup was
+empty, and all the cream was in his plate.
+
+"May I go and fetch some more?" she asked.
+
+"No, Mechtild, no! Why, this is a regular yellow sea!"
+
+"You wouldn't cry 'enough!'"
+
+"I forgot about it," he replied, somewhat confused. "To atone for my
+forgetfulness, I will eat it all."
+
+"I hope you will relish it, Mr. Seraphin!"
+
+"Thank you! Where is your plate?"
+
+"I had my dinner before you came."
+
+"Well, then, at any rate you must not continue standing. Won't you
+share this seat with me?"
+
+She seated herself upon the bench, took off her hat, smoothed down her
+apron, and appeared happy at seeing him eating heartily.
+
+"Don't you find that dish refreshing, Mr. Seraphin?"
+
+"You have done me a real act of charity," he replied. "This bread, is
+excellent. Who taught you how to make bread?"
+
+"I learned from mother; but there isn't much art in making that sort of
+bread, Mr. Seraphin. The food which people in the country eat does not
+require artistic preparation. It only needs good, pure material, so
+that it may give strength to labor."
+
+"I suppose you attend to the kitchen altogether, do you not?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Seraphin. That's not very difficult, our meals are of the
+plainest kind. We have meat once a week, on Sundays. When the work is
+unusually hard, as in harvest time, we have meat oftener. We raise our
+own meat and cure it."
+
+"You have assumed household cares at quite an early age, Mechtild."
+
+"Early? I am seventeen now, and am the oldest. Mother has a great deal
+of trouble with the small ones, so the housework falls chiefly to my
+share. It does not require any great exertion, however, to do it. Plain
+and saving is our motto. Mother specially recommends four things:
+industry, cleanliness, order, and economy. She advises me not to
+neglect any one of these points when once I will have a household of my
+own."
+
+"Do you think you will soon set up a separate household?" asked he with
+some hesitation.
+
+"Not for some time to come, Mr. Seraphin, yet it must be done one day.
+If my own inclination were consulted, I would prefer never to leave
+home. I should like things to continue as they are. But a separation
+must come. Death will pay us a visit as it has done to others, father
+and mother will pass away, and the course of events will sever us from
+one another."
+
+Her head sank, the brightness of her face became obscured beneath the
+shadow of these sombre thoughts, and, when she again looked up, there
+appeared in her eyes so touching and childlike a sadness that he felt
+pained to the soul. And yet this revelation of tenderness pleased him,
+for it made known to him a new phase of her amiable nature.
+
+For a long time he continued conversing with the artless girl. Every
+word she uttered, no matter how trifling, had an interest for him.
+Besides her charming artlessness, he had frequent occasions to admire
+the wisdom of her language and her admirable delicacy. The setting sun
+had already cast a subdued crimson over the hilltops, hours had sped
+away, the chickens had gone to roost, still he remained riveted to the
+spot by Mechtild's grace and loveliness.
+
+"Father is just coming," she said, pointing down the road. "How glad he
+will be to find you here!"
+
+His head bent forward. Holt came wearily plodding up the road. His
+right hand was hidden in the pocket of his pantaloons, and his head was
+bowed, as if beneath a heavy weight. As Mechtild's clear voice rang
+out, he raised his head, caught sight of his high-hearted benefactor,
+and smiled in joyful surprise.
+
+"Welcome, Mr. Seraphin; a thousand times welcome!" he cried from the
+other side of the road. "Why, this is an honor that I had not
+expected!"
+
+He stood uncovered, holding his cap in the left hand, his right hand
+was still concealed. Mechtild at once noticed her father's singular
+behavior, and her eye watched anxiously for the hidden hand.
+
+"Your daughter has been so kind as to offer refreshments to a weary
+wanderer," said Gerlach, "and it has been a great pleasure for me to
+sit awhile. We have been chatting for several hours under this glorious
+tree, and may be I am to blame for keeping her from her work."
+
+Holt's honest face beamed with satisfaction. He entirely forgot about
+his secret, he drew his hand out of his pocket, Mechtild turned pale,
+and a sharp cry escaped her lips.
+
+"For mercy's sake, father!" And she pointed to the broken chain.
+
+"What are you screaming for, foolish girl? Don't be alarmed, Mr.
+Seraphin! this chain has got on my arm in an honorable cause. I will
+tell you the whole story; I know you will not inform on me."
+
+Seating himself on the bench, he related the adventures of the day.
+
+The mock procession passed before Mechtild's imagination with the
+vividness of reality. The narration transformed her. Her mildness was
+changed to noble anger. She had heard of the vicar of Christ being
+insulted, of holy things being scoffed at, of the Redeemer being
+derided by a horde of wretches. With her arms akimbo, she drew up her
+lithe and graceful form to its full height, and with flashing eyes
+looked at her father while he related what had befallen him. Seraphin
+could not help wondering at the transformation. Such a display of
+spirit he had not been prepared to witness in a girl so gentle and
+beautiful. When her father had ended his account, she seized his hand
+passionately, pressed it warmly between her own hands, and kissed the
+chain.
+
+"Father, dear father," she exclaimed in a burst of feeling, "I thank
+you from my heart for acting as you did! Those wretches were scoffing
+at our holy religion, but you behaved bravely in defence of the faith.
+For this they put chains on you, as the heathen did to S. Peter and S.
+Paul."
+
+Once more she kissed the chain, then, turning quickly, hastened across
+the yard to the house.
+
+"Mechtild isn't like the rest of us," said Holt, smiling. "There's a
+great deal of spirit in her. I have often noticed it. But I am not
+astonished at her being roused at the mock procession--I was roused
+myself. I declare, Mr. Seraphin, it is a shame, a crying shame, that
+persons are permitted to rail at doctrines and things which we revere
+as holy. One would almost believe Satan himself was in some people,
+they take so fanatical a delight in scoffing at a religion which is
+holy and enjoins nothing but what is good."
+
+"It is incontestable that infidelity hates and opposes God and
+religion," replied Gerlach. "The boasted culture of those who find a
+pleasure in grossly wounding the most sacred feelings of their
+neighbors, is wicked and stupid."
+
+Mechtild returned with a file in her hand.
+
+"Right, my child! I was just thinking of the file myself. Here, cut the
+catches of the lock."
+
+He laid his arm across the table. A few strokes of the file caused the
+lock and remnant of chain to fall from his wrist.
+
+"We will keep this as a precious memento," said she. "Only think,
+father, that wicked official ordered you to be manacled, and he is the
+representative of authority. How can one respect or even pray for
+authorities when they allow religion to be ridiculed?"
+
+"Pray for your enemies," answered the countryman gravely.
+
+"I will do so because God commands me; but I shall never again be able
+to respect the official!"
+
+Her anger had fled; she appeared again all light and loveliness. He did
+not fail to observe a searching look which she directed upon him, but
+its meaning became clear to him only when, as he was taking leave, she
+said in a tone of humility: "Pardon my vehemence, Mr. Seraphin! Don't
+think me a bad girl."
+
+"There is nothing to be forgiven, Mechtild. You were indignant against
+godless wretches, and they who are not indignant against evil cannot
+themselves be good."
+
+"We are most heartily thankful for this visit," spoke Holt. "I need not
+say that we will consider it a great happiness as often as you will be
+pleased to come."
+
+"Good-night!" returned the young man, and he walked away.
+
+Deeply immersed in his thoughts, Seraphin went back to town. What he
+was thinking about, his diary does not record. But the excitement under
+which he had rushed forth was gone--dispelled by the magic of a rural
+sorceress. He walked on quietly like a man who seems filled with
+confidence in his own future. The recent painful impressions seemed to
+his mind to lie far back in the past; their place was taken up by
+beautiful anticipations which, like the aurora, shed soft and pleasing
+light upon his path. He halted frequently in a dream-like reverie to
+indulge the happiness with which his soul was flooded. The full moon,
+just peering over the hills, shed around him a mystic brightness that
+harmonized perfectly with the indefinable contentment of his heart, and
+seemed to be gazing quizzingly into the countenance of the young man,
+who almost feared to confess to himself that he had found an invaluable
+treasure.
+
+As he stopped before the Palais Greifmann, all the bright spirits that
+had hovered round about him on the way back from the little whitewashed
+cottage, fled. He awoke from his dream, and, ascending the stairs with
+a feeling of discomfort, he entered his apartment, where his father sat
+awaiting him.
+
+"At last," spoke Mr. Conrad, looking up from a book. "You have kept me
+waiting a long time, my son."
+
+"I was in need of a good long walk, father, to get over what I
+witnessed this morning. The country air has dispelled all those
+horrible impressions. There is only one thing more required to make me
+feel perfectly well, dear father, which is that you will not insist on
+my allying myself to people who are utterly opposed to my way of
+thinking and feeling."
+
+"I understand and approve of your request, Seraphin. The impressions
+made on me, too, are exceedingly disagreeable. The advancement of which
+this town boasts is stupid, immoral, detestable. How this state of
+society has come about, is inexplicable to me who live secluded in the
+country. Society is diseased, fatally diseased. Many of the new views
+professed are sheer superstition, and their morality is a mere cloak
+for their corruption and wickedness. All the powers of progress
+so-called are actively at work to subvert all the safeguards of
+society. And what your diary reports of Louise, I have found fully
+confirmed. Though it cost the sacrifice of a long cherished plan, a son
+of mine shall never become the husband of a progressionist woman."
+
+"O father! how deeply do I thank you!" cried the youth, carried away by
+his feelings.
+
+"I must decline being thanked, for I have not merited it," spoke Mr.
+Conrad earnestly. "A father's duty determines very clearly what my
+decision upon the matter of your marriage with Louise, ought to be. But
+I am under obligations to you, my son, which justice compels me to
+acknowledge. Your discernment and moral sense have prevented a great
+deal of discord and unhappiness in our family. Continue good and true,
+my Seraphin!"
+
+He pressed his son to his bosom and imprinted a kiss on his forehead.
+
+"To-morrow we shall start for home by the first train. Fortunately your
+prudent behavior makes it easy for us to get away, and the final
+breaking off of this engagement I will myself arrange with Louise's
+father."
+
+
+                    SERAPHIN GERLACH TO THE AUTHOR.
+
+Dear Sir: Two years ago, I took the liberty of sending you my diary,
+with the request that you would be pleased to publish such portions of
+its contents as might be useful, in the form of a tale illustrative of
+the times. I made the request because I consider it the duty of a
+writer who delineates the condition of society, to transmit to
+posterity a faithful picture of the present social status, and I am
+vain enough to believe that my jottings will be a modest contribution
+towards such a tableau.
+
+The meagre account given by the diary of my intercourse with Mechtild,
+will probably have enabled you to perceive the germ of a pure and true
+relation likely to develop itself further. I shall add but a few items
+to complete the account of the diary, knowing that poets, painters, and
+artists have rigorously determined bounds, and that a twilight cannot
+be represented when the sun is at the zenith. I am emboldened to use
+this illustration because your unbounded admiration of pure womanhood
+is well known to me, and because the brightness of Mechtild's
+character, were it further described, would no more be compatible with
+the sombre colorings in which a true picture of modern progress would
+have to be exhibited, than the noonday sun with the shadows of evening.
+
+My memoranda concerning Mechtild, which, despite studied soberness,
+betrayed a considerable degree of admiration, made known to my parents,
+naturally enough, the secret of my heart. Hence it came that a quiet
+smile passed over my father's face every time I commenced to speak of
+Mechtild. Holt's manly deed at the mock procession had already gained
+for him my father's esteem, and, as I spoke a great deal about Holt's
+thoroughness as a cultivator, my father began to look upon him as a
+very desirable man to employ.
+
+"We want an experienced man on the 'green farm,'" said father, one day.
+"Offer the situation to Holt, and tell him to come to see me about it.
+I want to talk with him."
+
+"Give the good man my compliments," said mother; "tell him I would be
+much pleased to become acquainted with Mechtild, who sympathized with
+you so kindly on that memorable day!"
+
+I wrote without delay. Holt came, and so did Mechtild. But few moments
+were necessary to enable mother to detect the girl's fine qualities.
+Father, too, was delightfully surprised at her modesty, the beauty of
+her form, and grace of her manner. He visited the farm accompanied by
+Holt. The cultivator's extraordinary knowledge, his practical manner of
+viewing things, and the shrewdness of his counsels in regard to the
+improvement of worn-out land and the cultivation of poor soil,
+completely charmed my father. A contract containing very favorable
+conditions for Holt was entered into, and three weeks later the family
+took charge of the "green farm."
+
+Upon mother's suggestion, Mechtild was sent to an educational
+institution, where she acquired in ten months' time the learning and
+culture necessary for associating with cultivated people.
+
+Father and mother had received her on her return like a daughter. This
+reception was given her not only in consideration of Holt's skilful and
+faithful management of business, but also on account of Mechtild's own
+splendid womanly character--perhaps, too, partly on account of my
+unbounded admiration for the rare girl.
+
+"The girl is an ornament to her sex," lauded my father. "Her polished
+manner and ease in company do not suffer one to suspect ever so
+remotely that she at any time plied the reaping-hook, and came out of a
+stubblefield to regale a weary wanderer with brown bread and
+bonnyclabber. I am quite in harmony with, your secret wishes, my dear
+Seraphin! At the same time, I am of opinion that a step promising so
+much happiness ought not to be longer deferred. I think, then, you
+should ask the father for his daughter without delay, so that I may
+soon have the pleasure of giving you my blessing."
+
+From my father's arms, into which. I had thrown myself in thankfulness,
+I hastened away to the "green farm," where Mechtild with maidenly
+blushes, and Holt in speechless astonishment, heard and granted my
+petition.
+
+I am now four months married. I am the blest husband of a wife whose
+lovely qualities are daily showing themselves to greater advantage.
+Mechtild presides over Chateau Hallberg like an angel of peace. Towards
+my father and mother she conducts herself with filial reverence and
+never-ceasing delicate attentions. Mother loves her unspeakably, and no
+access of ill humor in father can withstand her charming smile and
+prudent mirth. Concerning the banking-house of Greifmann, I have only
+sad things to tell. Carl's father had entered into very considerable
+speculations which failed and drove him into bankruptcy. Carl saw the
+blow coming, and saved himself in a disgraceful manner. There was a
+savings institution connected with the bank in which poor people and
+servants deposited the savings of their hard labor. Carl appropriated
+this fund and made off a short time before the failure of the house.
+Thousands of poor persons were robbed of the little sums which they
+were saving for old age, by denying themselves many even of the
+necessaries of life.
+
+The maledictions and curses of these unfortunate people followed across
+the ocean the thief whose modern culture and progressive humanity did
+not hinder him from committing a crime which no Christian can be guilty
+of without losing his claim to the title. Carl, however, still
+continues to pass for a man of culture and humanity notwithstanding his
+deed. And why should he not, since without faith in the Deity moral
+obligations do not exist, and consequently every species of crime is
+allowable? The old gentleman Greifmann died shortly after his ruin;
+Louise lost her mind.
+
+My father felt the misfortune of the Greifmanns deeply, without,
+however, regretting in the smallest degree the wise determination which
+their godless principles and actions had driven him to. Formerly he
+could never find time to take part in the elections. But now he is
+constantly speaking about the duty of every respectable man to oppose
+the infernal machinations and plans of would-be progress. He intends at
+the next election to use all his influence for the election of
+conscientious deputies, so that the evil may be put an end to which
+consists in trying to undermine the foundations of society.
+
+Accept, dear sir, the assurance of the esteem with which I have the
+honor to be
+
+                  Your most obedient servant,
+                            Seraphin Gerlach.
+
+Chateau Hallberg, Jan. 4, 1872.
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTE TO THE PROGRESSIONISTS.
+
+[Footnote 1: Proverbs vi., vii.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                ANGELA.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              A N G E L A.
+
+
+                     TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF
+
+
+                          CONRAD VON BOLANDEN.
+
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I.
+
+                               CRINOLINE.
+
+
+An express train was just on the eve of leaving the railway station in
+Munich. Two fashionably dressed gentlemen stood at the open door of a
+railway carriage, in conversation with a third, who sat within. These
+two young men bore on their features the marks of youthful dissipation,
+indicating that they had not been sparing of pleasures. The one in the
+carriage had a handsome, florid countenance, two clear, expressive
+eyes, and thick locks of hair, which he now and then stroked back from
+his fine forehead. He scarcely observed the conversation of the two
+friends, who spoke of balls, dogs, horses, theatres, and ballet-girls.
+
+In the same carriage sat another traveller, evidently the father of the
+young man. He was reading the newspaper--that is the report of the
+money market--while his fleshy left hand dallied with the heavy gold
+rings of his watch-chain. He had paid no attention to the conversation
+till an observation of his son brought him to serious reflection.
+
+"By the bye," said one of the young men quickly, "I was nearly
+forgetting to tell you the news, Richard! Do you know that Baron Linden
+is engaged?"
+
+"Engaged? To whom?" said Richard carelessly.
+
+"To Bertha von Harburg. I received a card this morning, and immediately
+wrote a famous letter of congratulation."
+
+Richard looked down earnestly, and shook his head.
+
+"I commiserate the genial baron," said he. "What could he be thinking
+of, to rush headlong into this misfortune?"
+
+The father looked in surprise at his son; the hand holding the paper
+sank on his knee.
+
+"Permit me, gentlemen," said the conductor; the doors were closed, the
+friends nodded good-by, and the train moved off.
+
+"Your observation about Linden's marriage astonishes me, Richard. But
+perhaps you were only jesting."
+
+"By no means," said Richard. "Never more earnest in my life. I
+expressed my conviction, and my conviction is the result of careful
+observation and mature reflection."
+
+The father's astonishment increased.
+
+"Observation--reflection--fudge!" said the father impatiently, as he
+folded the paper and shoved it into his pocket. "How can a young man of
+twenty-two talk of experience and observation! Enthusiastic nonsense!
+Marriage is a necessity of human life. And you will yet submit to this
+necessity."
+
+"True, if marriage be a necessity, then I suppose I must bow to the
+yoke of destiny. But, father, this necessity does not exist. There are
+intelligent men enough who do not bind themselves to woman's caprices."
+
+"Oh! certainly, there are some strange screech-owls in the world---some
+enthusiasts. But certainly you do not wish to be one of them. You, who
+have such great expectations. You, the only son of a wealthy house.
+You, who have a yearly income of thousands to spend."
+
+"The income can be enjoyed more pleasantly, free and single, father."
+
+"Free and single--and enjoyed! Zounds! you almost tempt me to think ill
+of you. Happily, I know you well. I know your strict morality, your
+solidity, your moderate pretensions. All these amiable qualities please
+me. But this view of marriage I did not expect; you must put away this
+sickly notion."
+
+The young man made no answer, but leaned back in his seat with a
+disdainful smile.
+
+Herr Frank gazed thoughtfully through the window. He reflected on the
+determined character of his son, whose disposition, even when a child,
+shut him out from the world, and who led an interior, meditative life.
+Strict regularity and exact employment of time were natural to him. At
+school, he held the first place in all branches. His ambition and
+effort were to excel all others in knowledge. His singular questions,
+which indicated a keen observation and capacity, had often excited the
+surprise of his father. And while the companions of the youth hailed
+with delight the time which released them from the benches of the
+school and from their studies, Richard cheerfully bound himself to his
+accustomed task, to appease his longing for knowledge. Approaching
+manhood had not changed him in this regard. He was punctual to the
+hours of business, and labored with zeal and interest, to the great joy
+of his father. He recreated himself with music and, painting, or by a
+walk in the open country, for whose beauties he had a keen
+appreciation. The few shades of his character were, a proud
+haughtiness, an unyielding perseverance in his determinations, and a
+strength of conviction difficult to overcome. But perhaps these shades
+were, after all, great qualities, which were to brighten up and polish
+his maturity. This obstinacy the father was now considering, and, in
+reference to his singular view of marriage, it filled him with great
+anxiety.
+
+"But, Richard," began Herr Frank again, "how did you come to this
+singular conclusion?"
+
+"By observation, and reflection--and also by experience, although you
+deny my years this right."
+
+"What have you experienced and observed?"
+
+"I have observed woman as she is, and found that such a creature would
+only make me miserable. What occupies their minds? Fineries, pleasures;
+and trifles. The pivot of their existence turns on dress, ornaments,
+balls, and the like. We live in an age of crinoline, and you know how I
+abominate that dress; I admit my aversion is abnormal, perhaps
+exaggerated, but I cannot overcome it. When I see a woman going through
+the streets with swelling hoops, the most whimsical fancies come into
+my mind. It reminds me of an inflated balloon, whose clumsy swell
+disfigures the most beautiful form. It reminds me of a drunken gawk,
+who swaggers along and carries the foolish gewgaw for a show. The
+costume is indeed expressive. It reveals the interior disposition.
+Crinoline is to me the type of the woman of our day--an empty, vain,
+inflated something. And this type repels me."
+
+"Then you believe our women to be vain, pleasure-seeking, and destitute
+of true womanhood, because they wear crinoline?"
+
+"No, the reverse. An overweening propensity to show and frivolity
+characterizes our women, and therefore they wear crinoline in spite of
+the protestations of the men."
+
+"Bah! Nonsense; you lay too much stress on fashion. I know many women
+myself who complain of this fashion."
+
+"And afterward follow it. This precisely confirms my opinion. Women
+have no longer sufficient moral force to disregard a disagreeable
+restraint. Their vanity is still stronger than their inclinations to a
+natural enjoyment of life."
+
+"Do you want a wife who would be sparing and saving; who, by her
+frugality, would increase your wealth; who, by her social seclusion,
+would not molest your cash-box?"
+
+"No; I want no wife," answered the young man, somewhat pettishly. "And
+I am not alone in this. The young men are beginning to awaken. A sound,
+natural feeling revolts against the vitiated taste of the women.
+Alliances are forming everywhere. The last paper announced that, at
+Marseilles, six thousand young men have, with joined hands, vowed never
+to marry until the women renounce their ruinous costumes and costly
+idleness, and return to a plain style of dress and frugal habits. I
+object to this propensity to ease and pleasure--this desire of our
+women for finery and the gratification of vanity. Not because this
+inclination is expensive, but because it is objectionable. Every
+creature has an object. But, if we consider the women of our day, we
+might well ask, for what are they here?
+
+"For what are women here, foolish man?" interrupted Herr Frank. "Are
+they to go about without any costume, like Eve before the fall? Are
+they to know the trials of life, and not its joys? Are they to exist
+like the women of the sultan, shut up in a harem? For what are they
+here? I will tell you. They are here to make life cheerful. Does not
+Schiller say,
+
+          "'Honor to woman! she scatters rife
+            Heavenly roses, 'mid earthly life;
+              Love she weaves in gladdening bands;
+            Chastity's veil her charm attires;
+            Beautiful thoughts' eternal fires,
+              Watchful, she feeds with holy hands.'"
+
+Richard smiled.
+
+"Poetical fancy!" said he. "My unhappy friend Emil Schlagbein often
+declaimed and sang with passion that same poem of Schiller's. Love
+had even made a poet of him. He wrote verses to his Ida. And now,
+scarcely three years married, he is the most miserable man in the
+world--miserable through his wife. Ida has still the same finely carved
+head as formerly; but that head, to the grief of Emil, is full of
+stubbornness--full of whimsical nonsense. Her eyes have still the same
+deep blue; but the charming expression has changed, and the blue not
+unfrequently indicates a storm. How often has Emil poured out his
+sorrows to me! How often complained of the coldness of his wife! A ball
+missed--missed from necessity--makes her stupid and sulky for days. In
+vain he seeks a cheerful look. When he returns home worried by the
+cares of business, he finds no consolation in Ida's sympathy, but is
+vexed by her stubbornness and offended by her coldness. Emil sprang
+headlong into misery. I will beware of such a step."
+
+"You are unjust and prejudiced. Must all women, then, be Ida
+Schlagbeins?"
+
+"Perhaps my Ida might be still worse," retorted Richard sharply.
+
+Herr Frank drummed on his knees, always a sign of displeasure.
+
+"I tell you, Richard," said he emphatically. "Your time will come yet.
+You will follow the universal law, and this law will give the lie to
+your one-sided view--to your contempt of woman."
+
+"That impulse, father, can be overcome, and habit becomes a second
+nature. Besides--"
+
+"Besides--well, what besides?"
+
+"I would say that the time of which you speak is, in my case, happily
+passed," answered Richard, still gazing through the window. "For me the
+time of sentimental delusion has been short and decisive," he concluded
+with a bitter smile.
+
+"Can I, your father, ask a clearer explanation?"
+
+The young man leaned back in his seat and looked at the opposite side
+while he spoke.
+
+"Last summer I visited Baden-Baden. On old Mount Eberstein, which is so
+picturesquely enthroned above the village, I fell in with a party.
+Among the number was a young lady of rare beauty and great modesty. An
+acquaintance gave me an opportunity of being introduced to her. We sat
+in pleasant conversation under the black oaks until the approaching
+twilight compelled us to return to the town. Isabella--such was the
+name of the beauty--had made a deep impression on me. So deep that even
+the detested crinoline that encircled her person in large hoops found
+favor in my sight. Her manner was in no wise coquettish. She spoke with
+deliberation and spirit. Her countenance had always the same
+expression. Only when the young people, into whose heads the fiery wine
+had risen, gave expression to sharp words, did Isabella look up and a
+displeased expression, as of injured delicacy, passed over her
+countenance. My presence seemed agreeable to her. My conversation may
+have pleased her. As we descended the mountain, we came to a difficult
+pass. I offered her my arm, which she took in the same unchanging,
+quiet manner which made her so charming in my sight. I soon discovered
+my affection for the stranger, and wondered how it could arise so
+suddenly and become so impetuous. I was ashamed at abandoning so
+quickly my opinion of women. But this feeling was not strong enough to
+stifle the incipient passion. My mind lay captive in the fetters of
+infatuation."
+
+He paused for a moment. The proud young man seemed to reproach himself
+for his conduct, which he considered wanting in manly independence and
+clear penetration.
+
+"On the following day," he continued, "there was to be a horse-race in
+the neighborhood. Before we parted, it was arranged that we would be
+present at it. I returned to my room in the hotel, and dreamed waking
+dreams of Isabella. My friend had told me that she was the daughter of
+a wealthy merchant, and that she had accompanied her invalid mother
+here. This mark of love and filial affection was not calculated to cool
+my ardor. Isabella appeared more beautiful and more charming still. We
+went to the race. I had the unspeakable happiness of being in the same
+car and sitting opposite her. After a short journey--to me, at least,
+it seemed short--we arrived at the grounds where the race was to take
+place. We ascended the platform. I sat at Isabella's side. She did not
+for a moment lose her quiet equanimity. The race began. I saw little of
+it, for Isabella was constantly before my eyes, look where I would.
+Suddenly a noise--a loud cry--roused me from my dream. Not twenty paces
+from where we sat, a horse had fallen. The rider was under him. The
+floundering animal had crushed both legs of the unfortunate man. Even
+now I can see his frightfully distorted features before me. I feared
+that Isabella's delicate sensibility might be wounded by the horrible
+sight. And when I looked at her, what did I see? A smiling face! She
+had lost her quiet, weary manner, and a hard, unfeeling soul lighted up
+her features!
+
+"'Do you not think this change in the monotony of the race quite
+magnificent?' said she.
+
+"I made no answer. With an apology, I left the party and returned alone
+to Baden."
+
+"Very well," said the father, "your Isabella was an unfeeling
+creature--granted. But now for your application of this experience."
+
+"We will let another make the application, father. Listen a moment. In
+Baden a bottle of Rhine wine, whose spirit is so congenial to sad and
+melancholy feelings, served to obliterate the desolate remembrance. I
+sat in the almost deserted dining-room. The guests were at the theatre,
+on excursions in the neighborhood, or dining about the park. An old man
+sat opposite me. I remarked that his eyes, when he thought himself
+unobserved, were turned inquiringly on me. The sudden cooling of my
+passion had perhaps left some marks upon me. The stranger believed,
+perhaps, that I was an unlucky and desperate player. A player I had
+indeed been. I had been about to stake my happiness on a beautiful
+form. But I had won the game.
+
+"The wine soon cheered me up and I entered into conversation with the
+stranger. We spoke of various things, and finally of the race. As there
+was a friendly, confiding expression in the old man's countenance, I
+related to him the unhappy fall of the rider, and dwelt sharply on the
+impression the hideous spectacle made on Isabella. I told him that such
+a degree of callousness and insensibility was new to me, and that this
+sad experience had shocked me greatly.
+
+"'This comes,' said he, 'from permitting yourself to be deceived by
+appearances, and because you do not know certain classes of society. If
+you consider the beautiful Isabella with sensual eyes, you will run
+great danger of taking appearances for truth--the false for the real.
+Even the plainest exterior is often only sham. Painted cheeks, colored
+eyebrows, false hair, false teeth; and even if these forms were not
+false, but true--if you penetrate these forms, if, under the constraint
+of graceful repose, we see modesty, purity, and even humility--there is
+then still greater danger of deception. A wearied, enervated nature,
+nerves blunted by the enjoyment of all kinds of pleasures, are
+frequently all that remains of womanly nature.
+
+"'Do you wish to see striking examples of this? Go into the gaming
+saloons--into, those horrible places where fearful and consuming
+passions seethe; where desperation and suicide lurk. Go into the
+corrupt, poisonous atmosphere of those gambling hells, and there you
+will find women every day and every hour. Whence this disgusting sight?
+The violent excitement of gambling alone can afford sufficient
+attraction for those who have been sated with all kinds of pleasures.
+Is a criminal to be executed? I give you my word of honor that women
+give thousands of francs to obtain the best place, where they can
+contemplate more conveniently the shocking spectacle and read every
+expression in the distorted features of the struggling malefactor.
+
+"'Isabella was one of these exhausted, enervated creatures, and hence
+her pleasure at the sight of the mangled rider.'
+
+"Thus spoke the stranger, and I admitted that he was right. At the same
+time I tried to penetrate deeper into this want of sensibility. Like a
+venturesome miner, I descended into the psychological depth. I
+shuddered at what I there discovered, and at the inferences which
+Isabella's conduct forced upon my mind. No, father, no," said he
+impetuously, "I will have no such nuptials--I will never rush into the
+miseries of matrimony!"
+
+"Thunder and lightning! are you a man?" cried Herr Frank. "Because
+Emil's wife and Isabella are good-for-nothings, must the whole sex be
+repudiated? Both cases are exceptions. These exceptions give you no
+right to judge unfavorably of all women. This prejudice does no honor
+to your good sense, Richard. It is only eccentricity can judge thus."
+
+The train stopped. The travellers went out, where a carriage awaited
+them.
+
+"Is everything right?" said Herr Frank to the driver.
+
+"All is fixed, sir, as you required,"
+
+"Is the box of books taken out?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The coach moved up the street. The dark mountain-side rose into view,
+and narrow, deep valleys yawned beneath the travellers. Fresh currents
+of air rushed down the mountain and Herr Frank inhaled refreshing
+draughts.
+
+Richard gazed thoughtfully over the magnificent vineyards and luxuriant
+orchards.
+
+The road grew steeper and the wooded summit of the mountain approached.
+A light which Frank beheld with satisfaction glared out from it. Its
+rays shot out upon the town that, amid rich vineyards, topped the
+neighboring hill.
+
+"Our residence is beautifully located," said Herr Frank. "How cheerful
+it looks up there! It is a home fit for princes."
+
+"You have indeed chosen a magnificent spot, father. Everything unites
+to make Frankenhoehe a delightful place. The vineyards on the slopes of
+the hills, the smiling hamlet of Salingen to the right. In the
+background the stern mountain with its proud ruins on the summit of
+Salburg, the deep valleys and the dark ravines, all unite in the
+landscape: to the east that beautiful plain."
+
+These words pleased the father. His eyes rested long on the beautiful
+property.
+
+"You have forgotten a reason for my happy choice," said he, while a
+smile played on his features. "I mean the habit of my friend and
+deliverer, who, for the last eight years, spends the month of May at
+Frankenhoehe. You know the singular character of the doctor. Nothing in
+the world can tear him from his books. He has renounced all pleasure
+and enjoyment, to devote his whole time to his books. When Frankenhoehe
+entices and captivates the man of science, so strict, so dead to the
+world, it is, as I think, the highest compliment to our place."
+
+Richard did not question his father's opinion. He knew his unbounded
+esteem for the learned doctor.
+
+The road grew steeper and steeper. The horses labored slowly along. The
+pleasant hamlet of Salingen lay a short distance to the left. A single
+house, separated from the village, and standing near the road in the
+midst of vineyards, came into view. The features of Herr Frank darkened
+as he turned his gaze from Frankenhoehe to this house. It was as though
+some unpleasant recollection was associated with it. Richard looked at
+the stately mansion, the large out-houses, the walled courts, and saw
+that everything about it was neat and clean.
+
+"This must be a wealthy proprietor or influential landlord who lives
+here," said Richard. "I have indeed seen this place in former years,
+but it did not interest me. How inviting and pleasant it looks. The
+property must have undergone considerable change; at least, I remember
+nothing that indicated the place to be other than an ordinary
+farmhouse."
+
+Herr Frank did not hear these observations. He muttered some bitter
+imprecation. The coach gained the summit, left the road, and passed
+through vineyards and chestnut groves to the house.
+
+Frankenhoehe was a handsome two-story house whose arrangements
+corresponded to Frank's taste and means. Near it stood another,
+occupied by the steward. A short distance from it were stables and
+out-houses for purposes of agriculture.
+
+Herr Frank went directly to the house, and passed from room to room to
+see if his instructions had been carried out.
+
+Richard went into the garden and walked on paths covered with yellow
+sand. He strolled about among flower-beds that loaded the air with
+agreeable odors. He examined the blooming dwarf fruit-trees and
+ornamental plants. He observed the neatness and exact order of
+everything. Lastly, he stood near the vineyard whence he could behold
+an extensive view. He admired the beautiful, fragrant landscape. He
+stood thoughtfully reflecting. His conversation made it evident to him
+that his feelings and will did not agree with his father's wishes. He
+saw that between his inclinations and his love for his father he must
+undergo a severe struggle--a struggle that must decide his happiness
+for life. The strangeness of his opinion of women did not escape him.
+He tested his experience. He tried to justify his convictions, and yet
+his father's claims and filial duty prevailed.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+                           THE WEATHER-CROSS.
+
+
+The next morning Richard was out with the early larks, and returned
+after a few hours in a peculiar frame of mind. As he was entering his
+room, he saw through the open door his father standing in the saloon.
+Herr Frank was carefully examining the arrangements, as the servants
+were carrying books into the adjoining room and placing them in a
+bookcase. Richard, as he passed, greeted his father briefly, contrary
+to his usual custom. At other times he used to exchange a few words
+with his father when he bid him good-morning, and he let no occasion
+pass of giving his opinion on any matter in which he knew his father
+took an interest.
+
+The young man walked to the open window of his room, and gazed into the
+distance. He remained motionless for a time. He ran his fingers through
+his hair, and with a jerk of the head threw the brown locks back from
+his forehead. He walked restlessly back and forth, and acted like a man
+who tries in vain to escape from thoughts that force themselves upon
+him. At length he went to the piano, and beat an impetuous impromptu on
+the keys.
+
+"Ei, Richard!" cried Herr Frank, whom the wild music had brought to his
+side. "Why, you rave! How possessed! One would think you had discovered
+a roaring cataract in the mountains, and wished to imitate its
+violence."
+
+Richard glanced quickly at his father, and finished with a tender,
+plaintive melody.
+
+"Come over here and look at the rooms."
+
+Richard followed his father and examined carelessly the elegant rooms,
+and spoke a few cold words of commendation.
+
+"And what do you say to this flora?" said Herr Frank pointing to a
+stepped framework on which bloomed the most beautiful and rare flowers.
+
+"All very beautiful, father. The doctor will be much pleased, as he
+always is here."
+
+"I wish and hope so. I have had the peacocks and turkeys sent away,
+because Klingenberg cannot endure their noise. The library here will
+always be his favorite object, and care has been taken with it. Here
+are the best books on all subjects, even theology and astronomy."
+
+"Frankenhoehe is indeed cheerful as the heart of youth and quiet as a
+cloister," said Richard "Your friend would indeed be ungrateful if this
+attention did not gratify him."
+
+"I have also provided that excellent wine which he loves and enjoys as
+a healthful medicine. But, Richard, you know Klingenberg's
+peculiarities. You must not play as you did just now; you would drive
+the doctor from the house."
+
+"Make yourself easy about that, father; I will play while he is on the
+mountain."
+
+Richard took a book from the shelf, and glanced over it. Herr Frank
+left him, and he immediately replaced the book and returned to his own
+room. There he wrote in his diary:
+
+
+"12th of May.--Man is too apt to be led by his inclination. And what is
+inclination? A feeling caused by external impressions, or superinduced
+by a disposition of the body. Inclination, therefore, is something
+inimical to intellectual life. A vine that threatens to overgrow and
+smother clear conviction. Never act from inclination, if you do not
+wish to be unfaithful to conviction and guilty o a weakness."
+
+
+He went into the garden, where he talked to the gardener about trees
+and flowers.
+
+"Are you acquainted in Salingen, John?"
+
+"Certainly, sir. I was born there."
+
+"Do strangers sometimes come there to stop and enjoy the beautiful
+neighborhood?"
+
+"Oh! no, sir; there is no suitable hotel there--only plain taverns; and
+people of quality would not stop at them."
+
+"Are there people of rank in Salingen?"
+
+"Only farmers, sir. But--stay. The rich Siegwart appears to be such,
+and his children are brought up in that manner."
+
+"Has Siegwart many children?"
+
+"Four--two boys and two girls. One son is at college. The other takes
+care of the estate, and is at home. The oldest daughter has been at the
+convent for three years. She is now nineteen years old. The second is
+still a child."
+
+Richard went further into the garden; he looked over at Salingen, and
+then at the mountains. His eye followed a path that went winding up the
+mountain like a golden thread and led to the top. Then his eye rested
+for a time on a particular spot in that yellow path. Richard remained
+taciturn and reserved the rest of the day. He sat in his room and tried
+to read, but the subject did not interest him. He often looked dreamily
+from the book. He finally arose, took his hat and cane, and was soon
+lost in the mountain. The next morning Richard went to the borders of
+the forest, and looked frequently over at Salingen as it lay in rural
+serenity before him. The pleasant hamlet excited his interest. He then
+turned to the right and pursued the yellow path which he had examined
+the day before, up the mountain. The birds sang in the bushes, and on
+the branches of the tallest oak perched the black-bird whose morning
+hymn echoed far and wide. The sweet notes of the nightingale joined in
+the general concert, and the shrill piping of the hawk struck in
+discordantly with the varied and beautiful song. Even unconscious
+nature displayed her beauties. The dew hung in great drops on the
+grass-blades and glittered like so many brilliants, and wild flowers
+loaded the air with sweet perfumes. Richard saw little of these
+beauties of spring. He ascended still higher. His mind seemed agitated
+and burdened. He had just turned a bend in the road when he saw a
+female figure approaching. His cheeks grew darker as his eyes rested on
+the approaching figure. He gazed in the distance, and a disdainful
+flush overspread his face. He approached her as he would approach an
+enemy whose power he had felt, and whom he wished to conciliate.
+
+She was within fifty paces of him. Her blue dress fell in heavy folds
+about her person. The ribbons of her straw bonnet, that hung on her
+arm, fluttered in the breeze. In her left hand she held a bunch of
+flowers. On her right arm hung a silk mantle, which the mild air had
+rendered unnecessary. Her full, glossy hair was partly in a silk net
+and partly plaited over the forehead and around the head, as is
+sometimes seen with children. Her countenance was exquisitely
+beautiful, and her light eyes now rested full and clear on the stranger
+who approached her. She looked at him with the easy, natural
+inquisitiveness of a child, surprised to meet such an elegant gentleman
+in this place.
+
+Frank looked furtively at her, as though he feared the fascinating
+power of the vision that so lightly and gracefully passed him. He
+raised his hat stiffly and formally. This was necessary to meet the
+requirement of etiquette. Were it not, he would perhaps have passed her
+by without a salutation. She did not return his greeting with a stiff
+bow, but with a friendly "good-morning;" and this too in a voice whose
+sweetness, purity, and melody harmonized with the beautiful echoes of
+the morning.
+
+Frank moved on hastily for some distance. He was about to look back,
+but did not do so; and continued on his way, with contracted brows,
+till a turn in the road hid her from his view. Here he stopped and
+wiped the sweat from his forehead. His heart beat quickly, and he was
+agitated by strong, emotions. He stood leaning on his cane and gazing
+into the shadows of the forest. He then continued thoughtfully, and
+ascended some hundred feet higher till he gained the top of the
+mountain. The tall trees ceased; a variegated copsewood crowned the
+summit, which formed a kind of platform. Human hands had levelled the
+ground, and on the moss that covered it grew modest little violets.
+Near the border of the platform stood a stone cross of rough material.
+Near this cross lay the fragments of another large rock, that might
+have been shattered by lightning years before. A few steps back of
+this, on two square blocks of stone, stood a statue of the Virgin and
+Child, of white stone very carefully wrought, but without much art. The
+Virgin had a crown of roses on her head. The Child held a little bunch
+of forget-me-nots in its hand, and as it held them out seemed to say,
+"Forget me not." Two heavy vases that could not be easily overturned by
+the wind, standing on the upper block, also contained flowers. All
+these flowers were quite fresh, as if they had just been placed there.
+
+Richard examined these things, and wondered what they, meant in this
+solitude of the mountain. The fresh flowers and the cleanliness of the
+statue, on which no dust or moss could be seen, indicated a careful
+keeper. He thought of the young woman whom he met. He had seen the same
+kind of flowers in her hand, and doubtless she was the devotee of the
+place.
+
+Scarcely had his thoughts taken this direction when he turned away and
+walked to the border of the plot; and gazed at the country before him.
+He looked down toward Frankenhoehe, whose white chimneys appeared above
+the chestnut grove. He contemplated the plains with their luxuriant
+fields reflecting every shade of green--the strips of forests that lay
+like shadows in the sunny plain--numberless hamlets with church towers
+whose gilded crosses gleamed in the sun. He gazed in the distance where
+the mountain ranges vanished in the mist, and long he enjoyed the
+magnificence of the view. He was aroused from his dreamy contemplation
+by the sound of footsteps behind him.
+
+An old man with a load of wood on his shoulders came up to the place.
+Breathing heavily, he threw down the wood and wiped the sweat from his
+face. He saw the stranger, and respectfully touched his cap as he sat
+down on the wood.
+
+Frank went to him.
+
+"You are from Salingen, I suppose," he began.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"It is very hard for an old man like you to carry such a load so far."
+
+"It is indeed, but I am poor and must do it."
+
+Frank looked at the patched clothes of the old man, his coarse shoes,
+his stockingless feet, and meagre body, and felt compassion for him.
+
+"For us poor people the earth bears but thistles and thorns." After a
+pause, the old man continued, "We have to undergo many tribulations and
+difficulties, and sometimes we even suffer from hunger. But thus it is
+in the world. The good God will reward us in the next world for our
+sufferings in this."
+
+These words sounded strangely to Richard. Raised as he was in the midst
+of wealth, and without contact with poverty, he had never found
+occasion to consider the lot of the poor; and now the resignation of
+the old man, and his hope in the future, seemed strange to him. He was
+astonished that religion could have such power--so great and strong--to
+comfort the poor in the miseries of a hopeless, comfortless life.
+
+"But what if your hope in another world deceive you?"
+
+The old man looked at him with astonishment.
+
+"How can I be deceived? God is faithful. He keeps his promises."
+
+"And what has he promised you?"
+
+"Eternal happiness if I persevere, patient and just, to the end."
+
+"I wonder at your strong faith!"
+
+"It is my sole possession on earth. What would support us poor people,
+what would keep us from despair, if religion did not?"
+
+Frank put his hand into his pocket,
+
+"Here," said he, "perhaps this money will relieve your wants."
+
+The old man looked at the bright thalers in his hand, and the tears
+trickled down his cheeks.
+
+"This is too much, sir; I cannot receive six thalers from you."
+
+"That is but a trifle for me; put it in your pocket, and say no more
+about it."
+
+"May God reward and bless you a thousand times for it!"
+
+"What does that cross indicate?"
+
+"That is a weather cross, sir. We have a great deal of bad weather to
+fear. We have frequent storms here, in summer; they hang over the
+mountain and rage terribly. Every ravine becomes a torrent that dashes
+over the fields, hurling rocks and sand from the mountain. Our fields
+are desolated and destroyed. The people of Salingen placed that cross
+there against the weather. In spring the whole community come here in
+procession and pray God to protect them from the storms."
+
+Richard reflected on this phenomenon; the confidence of these simple
+people in the protection of God, whose omnipotence must intervene
+between the remorseless elements and their victims, appeared to him as
+the highest degree of simplicity. But he kept his thoughts to himself,
+for he respected the religious sentiments of the old man, and would not
+hurt his feelings.
+
+"And the Virgin, why is she there?"
+
+"Ah! that is a wonderful story, sir," he answered, apparently wishing
+to evade an explanation.
+
+"Which every one ought not to know?"
+
+"Well--but perhaps the gentleman would laugh, and I would not like
+that!"
+
+"Why do you think I would laugh at the story?"
+
+"Because you are a gentleman of quality, and from the city, and such
+people do not believe any more in miracles."
+
+This observation of rustic sincerity was not pleasing to Frank. It
+expressed the opinion that the higher classes ignore faith in the
+supernatural.
+
+"If I promise you not to laugh, will you tell me the story?"
+
+"I will; you were kind to me, and you can ask the story of me. About
+thirty years ago," began the old man after a pause, "there lived a
+wealthy farmer at Salingen whose name was Schenck. Schenck was young.
+He married a rich maiden and thereby increased his property. But
+Schenck had many great faults. He did not like to work and look after
+his fields. He let his servants do as they pleased, and his fields
+were, of course, badly worked and yielded no more than half a crop.
+Schenck sat always in the tavern, where he drank and played cards and
+dice. Almost every night he came home drunk. Then he would quarrel with
+his wife, who reproached him. He abused her, swore wickedly, and
+knocked everything about the room, and behaved very badly altogether.
+Schenck sank lower and lower, and became at last a great sot. His
+property was soon squandered. He sold one piece after another, and when
+he had no more property to sell, he took it into his head to sell
+himself to the devil for money. He went one night to a cross-road, and
+called the devil, but the devil would not come; perhaps because Schenck
+belonged to him already, for the Scripture says, 'A drunkard cannot
+enter the kingdom of heaven.' At last a suit was brought against him,
+and the last of his property was sold, and he was driven from his home.
+This hurt Schenck very much, for he always had a certain kind of pride.
+He thought of the past times when he was rich and respected, and now he
+had lost all respect with his neighbors. He thought of his wife and his
+four children, whom he had made poor and miserable. All this drove him
+to despair. He determined to put an end to himself. He bought a rope
+and came up here one morning to hang himself. He tied the rope to an
+arm of the cross, and had his head in the noose, when all at once he
+remembered that he had not yet said his three 'Hail! Marys.' His mother
+who was dead had accustomed him, when a child, to say every day three
+'Hail! Marys.' Schenck had never neglected this practice for a single
+day. Then he took his head out of the noose and said, 'Well, as I have
+said the "Hail! Marys" every day, I will say them also to-day, for the
+last time.' He knelt down before the cross and prayed. When he was
+done, he stood up to hang himself. But he had scarcely stood on his
+feet when he was snatched up by a whirlwind and carried through the air
+till he was over a vineyard, where he fell without hurting himself. As
+he stood up, an ugly man stood before him and said, 'This time you have
+escaped me, but the next time I will get you.' The ugly man had horses'
+hoofs in place of feet, and wore green clothes. He disappeared before
+Schenck's eyes. Schenck swears that this ugly man was the devil. He
+declares also that he has to thank the Mother of God, through whose
+intercession he escaped the claws of the devil. Schenck had that statue
+placed there in memory of his wonderful escape--that is why the Mother
+of God is there."
+
+"A wonderful story indeed!" said Richard. "Although I do not laugh as
+you see, yet I must assure that I do not believe the story."
+
+"I thought so," answered the old man. "But you can ask Schenck himself.
+He is still living, and is now seventy. Since that day he has changed
+entirely. He drinks nothing but water. He never enters a tavern, but
+goes every day to church. From that time to this Schenck has very
+industrious, and has saved a nice property."
+
+"That the drunkard reformed is most remarkable and best part of the
+story," said Frank. "Drunkards very seldom reform. But," continued he
+smiling, "the devil acted very stupidly in the affair. He should have
+known that his appearance would have made a deep impression on the man,
+and that he would not let himself be caught a second time."
+
+"That is true," said the old man. "I believe the devil was forced to
+appear and speak so."
+
+"Forced? By whom?"
+
+"By Him before whom the devils believe and tremble. Schenck was to
+understand that God delivered on account of his pious custom, and the
+devil had to tell him his would not happen a second time."
+
+"How prudent you are in your superstition!" said Frank.
+
+"As the gentleman has been kind, it hurts me to hear him speak so."
+
+"Now," said Richard quickly, "I would not hurt your feelings. One may
+be a good Christian without believing fables. And the flowers near the
+statue. Has Schenck placed them there too?"
+
+"Oh! no--the Angel did that."
+
+"The Angel. Who is that?" said Frank, surprised.
+
+"The Angel of Salingen--Siegwart's angel."
+
+"Ah! angel is Angela, is it not?"
+
+"So she may be called. In Salingen they call her only Angel. And she is
+indeed as lovely, good, and beautiful as an angel. She has a heart for
+the poor, and she gives with an open hand and a smiling face that does
+one good. She is like her father, who gives me as many potatoes as I
+want, and seed for my little patch of ground."
+
+"Why does Angela decorate this statue?"
+
+"I do not know; perhaps she does it through devotion."
+
+"The flowers are quite fresh; does she come here every day?"
+
+"Every day during the month of May, and no longer."
+
+"Why no longer?"
+
+"I do not know the reason; she has done so for the last two years,
+since she came home from the convent, and she will do so this year."
+
+"As Siegwart is so good to the poor, he must be rich."
+
+"Very rich--you can see from his house. Do you see that fine building
+there next to the road? That is the residence of Herr Siegwart."
+
+It was the same building that had arrested Richard's attention as he
+passed it some days before, and the sight of which had excited the
+ill-humor of his father. Richard returned by a shorter way to
+Frankenhoehe. He was serious and meditative. Arrived at home, he wrote
+in his diary:
+
+
+"May 13th.--Well, I have seen her. She exhibits herself as the 'Angel
+of Salingen.' She is extremely beautiful. She is full of amiability and
+purity of character. And to-day she did not wear that detestable
+crinoline. But she will have other foibles in place of it. She
+will, in some things at least, yield to the superficial tendencies of
+her sex. Isabella was an ideal, until she descended from the height
+where my imagination, deceived by her charms, had placed her. The
+impression which Angela's appearance produced has rests on the same
+foundation--deception. A better acquaintance will soon discover this.
+Curious! I long to become better acquainted!
+
+"Religion is not a disease or hallucination, as many think. It is a
+power. Religion teaches the poor to bear their hard lot with patience.
+It comforts and keeps them from despair. It directs their attention to
+an eternal reward, and this hope compensates them for all the
+afflictions and miseries of this life. Without religion, human society
+would fall to pieces."
+
+
+A servant entered, and announced dinner.
+
+"Ah Richard!" said Herr Frank good-humoredly. "Half an hour late for
+dinner, and had to be called! That is strange; I do not remember such a
+thing to have happened before. You are always as punctual as a
+repeater."
+
+"I was in the mountain and had just returned."
+
+"No excuse, my son. I am glad the neighborhood diverts you, and that
+you depart a little from your regularity. Now everything is in good
+order, as I desired, for my friend and deliverer. I have just received
+a letter from him. He will be here in two days. I shall be glad to see
+the good man again. If Frankenhoehe will only please him for a long
+time!"
+
+"I have no doubt of that," said Richard. "The doctor will be received
+like a friend, treated like a king, and will live here like Adam and
+Eve in paradise."
+
+"Everything will go on as formerly. I will be coming and going on
+account of business. You will, of course, remain uninterruptedly at
+Frankenhoehe. You are high in the doctor's esteem. You interest him very
+much. It is true you annoy him sometimes with your unlearned objections
+and bold assertions. But I have observed that even vexation, when it
+comes from you, is not disagreeable to him."
+
+"But the poor should not annoy him with their sick," said Richard. "He
+never denies his services to the poor, as he never grants them to the
+rich. Indeed, I have sometimes observed that he tears himself from his
+books with the greatest reluctance, and it is not without an effort
+that he does it."
+
+"But we cannot change it," said Herr Frank; "we cannot send the poor
+away without deeply offending Klingenberg. But I esteem him the more
+for his generosity."
+
+After dinner the father and son went into the garden and talked of
+various matters; suddenly Richard stopped and pointing over to
+Salingen, said,
+
+"I passed to-day that neat building that stands near the road. Who
+lives there?"
+
+"There lives the noble and lordly Herr Siegwart," said Herr Frank
+derisively.
+
+His tone surprised Richard. He was not accustomed to hear his father
+speak thus.
+
+"Is Siegwart a noble?"
+
+"Not in the strict sense. But he is the ruler of Salingen. He rules in
+that town, as absolutely as princes formerly did in their kingdoms."
+
+"What is the cause of his influence?"
+
+"His wealth, in the first place; secondly, his charity; and lastly, his
+cunning."
+
+"You are not favorable to him?"
+
+"No, indeed! The Siegwart family is excessively ultramontane and
+clerical. You know I cannot endure these narrow prejudices and this
+obstinate adherence to any form of religion. Besides, I have a
+particular reason for disagreement with Siegwart, of which I need not
+now speak."
+
+"Excessively ultramontane and clerical!" thought Richard, as he went to
+his room. "Angela is undoubtedly educated in this spirit. Stultifying
+confessionalism and religious narrow-mindedness have no doubt cast a
+deep shadow over the 'angel.' Now--patience; the deception will soon
+banish."
+
+He took up Schlosser's History, and read a long time. But his eyes
+wandered from the page, and his thoughts soon followed.
+
+The next morning at the same hour Richard went to the weather cross. He
+took the same road and again he met Angela; she had the same blue
+dress, the same straw hat on her arm, and flowers in her hand. She
+beheld him with the same clear eyes, with the same unconstrained
+manner--only, as he thought, more charming--as on the first day. He
+greeted her coolly and formally, as before. She thanked him with the
+same affability. Again the temptation came over him to look back at
+her; again he overcame it. When he came to the statue, he found fresh
+flowers in the vases. The child Jesus had fresh forget-me-nots in his
+hand, and the Mother had a crown of fresh roses on her head. On the
+upper stone lay a book, bound in blue satin and clasped with a silver
+clasp. When he took it up, he found beneath it a rosary made of an
+unknown material, and having a gold cross fastened at the end. He
+opened the book. The passage that had been last read was marked with a
+silk ribbon. It was as follows:
+
+
+"My son, trust not thy present affection; it will be quickly changed
+into another. As long as thou livest thou art subject to change, even
+against thy will; so as to be sometimes joyful, at other times sad; now
+easy, now troubled; at one time devout, at another dry; sometimes
+fervent, at other times sluggish; one day heavy, another day lighter.
+But he that is wise and well instructed in spirit stands above all
+these changes, not minding what he feels in himself, nor on what side
+the wind of instability blows; but that the whole bent of his soul may
+advance toward its due and wished-for end; for thus he may continue one
+and the self-same without being shaken, by directing without ceasing,
+through all this variety of events, the single eye of his intention
+toward me. And by how much more pure the eye of the intention is, with
+so much greater constancy mayest thou pass through these divers storms.
+
+"But in many the eye of pure intention is dark; for men quickly look
+toward something delightful that comes in their way. And it is rare to
+find one who is wholly free from all blemish of self-seeking."
+
+
+Frank remembered having written about the same thoughts in his diary.
+But here they were conceived in another and deeper sense.
+
+He read the title of the book. It was _The Following of Christ_.
+
+He copied the title in his pocketbook. He then with a smile examined
+the rosary, for he was not without prejudice against this kind of
+prayer.
+
+He had no doubt Angela had left these things here, and he thought it
+would be proper to return them to the owner. He came slowly down the
+mountain reading the book. It was clear to him that _The Following of
+Christ_ was a book full of very earnest and profound reflections. And
+he wondered how so young a woman could take any interest in such
+serious reading. He was convinced that all the ladies he knew would
+throw such a book aside with a sneer, because its contents condemned
+their lives and habits. Angela, then, must be of a different character
+from all the ladies he knew, and he was very desirous of knowing better
+this character of Angela.
+
+In a short time he entered the gate and passed through the yard to the
+stately building where Herr Siegwart dwelt. He glanced hastily at the
+long out-buildings--the large barns; at the polished cleanliness of the
+paved court, the perfect order of every thing, and finally at the
+ornamented mansion. Then he looked at the old lindens that stood near
+the house, whose trunks were protected from injury by iron railings. In
+the tops of these trees lodged a lively family of sparrows, who were at
+present in hot contention, for they quarrelled and cried as loud and as
+long as did formerly the lords in the parliament of Frankfort. The
+beautiful garden, separated from the yard by a low wall covered with
+white boards, did not escape him. Frank entered, upon a broad and very
+clean path; as his feet touched the stone slabs, he heard, through the
+open door, a low growl, and then a man's voice saying, "Quiet, Hector."
+
+Frank walked through the open door into a large room handsomely
+furnished, and odoriferous with a multitude of flowers in vases. A man
+in the prime of life sat on the sofa reading and smoking. He wore a
+light-brown overcoat, brown trousers, and low, thick boots. He had a
+fresh, florid complexion, red beard, blue eyes, and an expressive,
+agreeable countenance. When Frank entered he arose, laid aside the
+paper and cigar, and approached the visitor.
+
+"I found these things on the mountain near the weather-cross." said
+Frank, after a more formal than affable bow. "As your daughter met me,
+I presume they belong to her. I thought it my duty to return them."
+
+"These things certainly belong to my daughter," answered Herr Siegwart.
+"You are very kind, sir. You have placed us under obligations to you."
+
+"I was passing this way," said Frank briefly.
+
+"And whom have we the honor to thank?"
+
+"I am Richard Frank."
+
+Herr Siegwart bowed. Frank noticed a slight embarrassment in his
+countenance. He remembered the expressions his father had used in
+reference to the Siegwart family, and it was clear to him that a
+reciprocal ill feeling existed here. Siegwart soon resumed his friendly
+manner, and invited him with much formality to the sofa. Richard felt
+that he must accept the invitation at least for a few moments. Siegwart
+sat on a chair in front of him, and they talked of various unimportant
+matters. Frank admired the skill which enabled him to conduct, without
+interruption, so pleasant a conversation with a stranger.
+
+While they were speaking, some house-swallows flew into the room. They
+fluttered about without fear, sat on the open door, and joined their
+cheerful twittering with the conversation of the men. Richard expressed
+his admiration, and said he had never seen anything like it.
+
+"Our constant guests in summer," answered Siegwart. "They build their
+nests in the hall, and as they rise earlier than we do, an opening is
+left for them above the hall door, where they can go in and out
+undisturbed when the doors are closed. Angela is in their confidence,
+and on the best of terms with them. When rainy or cold days come during
+breeding time they suffer from want of food. Angela is then their
+procurator. I have often admired Angela's friendly intercourse with the
+swallows, who perch upon her shoulders and hands."
+
+Richard looked indeed at the twittering swallows, but their friend
+Angela passed before his eyes, so beautiful indeed that he no longer
+heard what Siegwart was saying.
+
+He arose; Siegwart accompanied him. As they passed through the yard,
+Frank observed the long row of stalls, and said,
+
+"You must have considerable stock?"
+
+"Yes, somewhat. If you would like to see the property, I will show you
+around with pleasure."
+
+"I regret that I cannot now avail myself of your kindness; I shall do
+so in a few days," answered Frank.
+
+"Herr Frank," said Siegwart, "may the accident which has given us the
+pleasure of your agreeable visit, be the occasion of many visits in
+future. I know that as usual you will spend the month of May at
+Frankenhoehe. We are neighbors--this title, in my opinion, should
+indicate a friendly intercourse."
+
+"Let it be understood, Herr Siegwart; I accept with pleasure your
+invitation."
+
+On the way to Frankenhoehe Richard walked very slowly, and gazed into
+the distance before him. He thought of the swallows that perched on
+Angela's shoulders and hands. Their sweet notes still echoed in his
+soul.
+
+The country-like quiet of Siegwart's house and the sweet peace that
+pervaded it were something new to him. He thought of the simple
+character of Siegwart, who, as his father said, was "ultramontane and
+clerical," and whom he had represented to himself as a dark, reserved
+man. He found nothing in the open, natural manner of the man to
+correspond with his preconceived opinion of him. Richard concluded that
+either Herr Siegwart was not an ultramontane, or the characteristics of
+the ultramontanes, as portrayed in the free-thinking newspapers of the
+day, were erroneous and false.
+
+Buried in such thoughts, he reached Frankenhoehe. As he passed through
+the yard, he did not observe the carriage that stood there. But as he
+passed under the window, he heard a loud voice, and some books were
+thrown from the window and fell at his feet. He looked down in surprise
+at the books, whose beautiful binding was covered with sand. He now
+observed the coach, and smiled.
+
+"Ah! the doctor is here," said he. "He has thrown these unwelcome
+guests out of the window. Just like him."
+
+He took up the books and read the titles, _Vogt's Pictures from Animal
+Life_, _Vogt's Physiological Letters_, _Czolbe's Sensualism_.
+
+He took the books to his room and began to read them. Herr Frank, with
+his joyful countenance, soon appeared.
+
+"Klingenberg is here!" said he.
+
+"I suspected as much already," said Richard. "I passed by just as he
+threw the books out of the window with his usual impetuosity."
+
+"Do not let him see the books; the sight of them sets him wild."
+
+"Klingenberg walks only in his own room. I wish to read these books;
+what enrages him with innocent paper?"
+
+"I scarcely know, myself. He examined the library and was much pleased
+with some of the works. But suddenly he tore these books from their
+place and hurled them through the window."
+
+"'I tolerate no bad company among these noble geniuses,' said he,
+pointing to the learned works.
+
+"'Pardon me, honored friend,' said I, 'if, without my knowledge, some
+bad books were included. What kind of writings are these, doctor?"
+
+"'Stupid materialistic trash,' said he. 'If I had Vogt, Moleschott,
+Colbe, and Buechner here, I would throw them body and bones out of the
+window.'
+
+"I was very much surprised at this declaration, so contrary to the
+doctor's kind disposition. 'What kind of people are those you have
+named?' said I.
+
+"'No people, my dear Frank,' said he. 'They are animals. This Vogt and
+his fellows have excluded themselves from the pale of humanity,
+inasmuch as they have declared apes, oxen, and asses to be their
+equals.'"
+
+"I am now very desirous to know these books," said Richard.
+
+"Well, do not let our friend know your intention," urged Frank.
+
+Richard dressed and went to greet the singular guest. He was sitting
+before a large folio. He arose at Richard's entrance and paternally
+reached him both hands.
+
+Doctor Klingenberg was of a compact, strong build. He had unusually
+long arms, which he swung back and forth in walking. His features were
+sharp, but indicated a modest character. From beneath his bushy
+eyebrows there glistened two small eyes that did not give an agreeable
+expression to his countenance. This unfavorable expression was,
+however, only the shell of a warm heart.
+
+The doctor was good-natured--hard on himself, but mild in his judgments
+of others. He had an insatiable desire for knowledge, and it impelled
+him to severe studies that robbed him of his hair and made him
+prematurely bald.
+
+"How healthy you look, Richard!" said he, contemplating the young man.
+"I am glad to see you have not been spoiled by the seething atmosphere
+of modern city life."
+
+"You know, doctor, I have a natural antipathy to all swamps and
+morasses.
+
+"That is right, Richard; preserve a healthy naturalness."
+
+"We expected you this morning."
+
+"And would go to the station to bring me. Why this ceremony? I am here,
+and I will enjoy for a few weeks the pure, bracing mountain air. Our
+arrangements will be as formerly--not so, my dear friend?"
+
+"I am at your service."
+
+"You have, of course, discovered some new points that afford fine
+views?"
+
+"If not many, at least one--the weather cross," answered Frank. "A
+beautiful position. The hill stands out somewhat from the range. The
+whole plain lies before the ravished eyes. At the same time, there are
+things connected with _that_ place that are not without their influence
+on me. They refer to a custom of the ultramontanists that clashes with
+modern ideas; I will have an opportunity of seeing whether your opinion
+coincides with mine."
+
+"Very well; since we have already an object for our next walk--and this
+is according to our old plan--tomorrow after dinner at three o'clock,"
+and saying this he glanced wistfully at the old folio. Frank, smiling,
+observed the delicate hint and retired.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III.
+
+                        QUOD ERAT DEMONSTRANDUM.
+
+
+On the following day, Richard went to the weather-cross. He did not
+meet Angela. She must have been unusually early; for the flowers had
+evidently just been placed before the statue.
+
+He returned, gloomy, to the house, and wrote in his diary:
+
+
+                                                     "May 14th.
+
+"She did not meet me to-day, and probably will not meet me again. I
+should have left the book where it was; it might have awakened her
+gratitude; for I think she left it purposely, to give me an opportunity
+to make her acquaintance.
+
+"How many young women would give more than a book to get acquainted
+with a wealthy party! The 'Angel' is very sensitive; but this
+sensibility pleases me, because it is true womanly delicacy.
+
+"She will now avoid meeting me in this lonely road. But I will study
+her character in her father's house. I will see if she does not confirm
+my opinion of the women of our times. It was for this purpose alone
+that I accepted Siegwart's invitation. Angela must not play Isabella;
+no woman ever shall. Single, and free from woman's yoke, I will go
+through the world."
+
+
+He put aside the diary, and began reading Vogt's _Physiological
+Letters_.
+
+At three o'clock precisely, Richard with the punctual doctor left
+Frankenhoehe. They passed through the chestnut grove and through the
+vineyard toward Salingen. The doctor pushed on with long steps, his
+arms swinging back and forth. He was evidently pleased with the subject
+he had been reading. He had, on leaving the house, shaken Richard by
+the hand, and spoken a few friendly words, but not a syllable since.
+Richard knew his ways; and knew that it would take some time for him to
+thaw.
+
+They were passing between Siegwart's house and Salingen, when they
+beheld Angela, at a distance, coming toward them. She carried a little
+basket on her arm, and on her head she wore a straw hat with broad
+fluttering ribbons. Richard fixed his eyes attentively on her. This
+time, also, she did not wear hoops, but a dress of modest colors. He
+admired her light, graceful movement and charming figure. The
+blustering doctor moderated his steps and went slower the nearer he
+came to Angela, and considered her with surprise. Frank greeted her,
+touching his hat. She did not thank him, as before, with a friendly
+greeting, but by a scarcely perceptible inclination of the head; nor
+did she smile as before, but on this account seemed to him more
+charming and ethereal than ever. She only glanced at him, and he
+thought he observed a slight blush on her cheeks.
+
+These particulars were engrossing the young man's attention when he
+heard the doctor say,
+
+"Evidently the Angel of Salingen."
+
+"Who?" said Richard in surprise.
+
+"The Angel of Salingen," returned Klingenberg. "You are surprised at
+this appellation; is it not well-merited?"
+
+"My surprise increases, doctor; for exaggeration is not your fashion."
+
+"But she deserves acknowledgment. Let me explain. The maiden is the
+daughter of the proprietor Siegwart, and her name is Angela. She is a
+model of every virtue. She is, in the female world, what an image of
+the Virgin, by one of the old masters, would be among the hooped gentry
+of the present. As you are aware, I have been often called to the
+cabins of the sick poor, and there the quiet, unostentatious labors of
+this maiden have become known to me. Angela prepares suitable food for
+the sick, and generally takes it to them herself. The basket on her arm
+does service in this way. There are many poor persons who would not
+recover unless they had proper, nourishing food. To these Angela is a
+great benefactor. For this reason, she has a great influence over the
+minds of the sick, and the state of the mind greatly facilitates or
+impedes their recovery.
+
+"I have often entered just after she had departed, and the beneficial
+influence of her presence could be still seen in the countenances of
+the poor. Her presence diffused resignation, peace, contentment, and a
+peculiar cheerfulness in the meanest and most wretched hovels of
+poverty, where she enters without hesitation. This is certainly a rare
+quality in so young a creature. She rejoices the hearts of the children
+by giving them clothes, sometimes made by herself, or pictures and the
+like. Her whole object appears to be to reconcile and make all happy. I
+have just seen her for the first time; her beauty is remarkable, and
+might well adorn an angel. The common people wish only to Germanize
+'Angela' when they call her 'Angel.' But she is indeed an angel of
+heaven to the poor and needy."
+
+Frank said nothing. He moved on in silence toward the weather-cross.
+
+"I have accidentally discovered a singular custom of your 'angel,'
+doctor. There is at the weather-cross a Madonna of stone. Angela has
+imposed upon herself the singular task of adorning this Madonna, daily,
+with fresh flowers."
+
+"You are a profane fellow, Richard. You should not speak in such a
+derisive tone of actions which are the out-flowings of pious
+sentiment."
+
+"Every one has his hobby. What will not people do through ambition? I
+know ladies who torture a piano for half the night, in order to catch
+the tone of the prima-donna at the opera. I know women who undergo all
+possible privations to be able to wear as fine clothes, as costly furs,
+as others with whom they are in rivalry. This exhaustive night-singing,
+these deprivations, are submitted to through foolish vanity. Perhaps
+Angela is not less ambitious and vain than others of her sex. As she
+cannot dazzle these country folk with furs or toilette, she dazzles
+their religious sentiment by ostentatious piety."
+
+"Radically false!" said the doctor. "Charity and virtue are recognized
+and honored not only in the country, but also in the cities. Why do not
+your coquettes strive for this approval? Because they want Angela's
+nobility of soul. And again, why should Angela wish to gain the
+admiration of the peasants? She is the daughter of the wealthiest man
+in the neighborhood. If such was her object, she could gratify her
+ambition in a very different way."
+
+"Then Angela is a riddle to me," returned Richard. "I cannot conceive
+the motives of her actions."
+
+"Which are so natural! The maiden follows the impulses of her own noble
+nature, and these impulses are developed and directed by Christian
+culture, and convent education. Angela was a long time with the nuns,
+and only returned home two years ago. Here you have the very natural
+solution of the riddle."
+
+"Are you acquainted with the Siegwart family?"
+
+"No; what I know of Angela I learned from the people of Salingen."
+
+They arrived at the platform. Klingenberg stood silent for some time
+admiring the landscape. The view did not seem to interest Richard. His
+eyes rested on Angela's home, whose white walls, surrounded by
+vineyards and corn-fields, glistened in the sun.
+
+"It is worth while to come up here oftener," said Klingenberg.
+
+"Angela's work," said Richard as he drew near the statue. The doctor
+paused a moment and examined the flowers.
+
+"Do you observe Angela's fine taste in the arrangement of the colors?"
+said he. "And the forget-me-nots! What a deep religious meaning they
+have."
+
+They returned by another way to Frankenhoehe.
+
+"Angela's pious work," began Richard after a long pause, "reminds me of
+a religious custom against which modern civilization has thus far
+warred in vain. I mean the veneration of saints. You, as a Protestant,
+will smile at this custom, and I, as a Catholic, must deplore the
+tenacity with which my church clings to this obsolete remnant of
+heathen idolatry."
+
+"Ah! this is the subject you alluded to yesterday," said the doctor. "I
+must, in fact, smile, my dear Richard! But I by no means smile at 'the
+tenacity with which your church clings to the obsolete remnants of
+heathen idolatry.' I smile at your queer idea of the veneration of the
+saints. I, as a reasonable man, esteem this veneration, and recognize
+its admirable and beneficial influence on human society."
+
+This declaration increased Frank's surprise to the highest degree. He
+knew the clear mind of the doctor, and could not understand how it
+happened that he wished to defend a custom so antagonistic to modern
+thought.
+
+"You find fault," continued Klingenberg, "with the custom of erecting
+statues to these holy men in the churches, the forest, the fields, the
+houses, and in the market?"
+
+"Yes, I do object to that."
+
+"If you had objected to the lazy Schiller at Mayence, or the robber's
+poet Schiller, as he raves at the theatre in Mannheim, or to the
+conqueror and destroyer of Germany, Gustavus Adolphus, whose statue is
+erected as an insult in a German city, then you would be right."
+
+"Schiller-worship has its justification," retorted Frank. "They erect
+public monuments to the genial spirit of that man, to remind us of his
+services to poetry, his aspirations, and his German patriotism."
+
+"It is praiseworthy to erect monuments to the poet. But do not talk of
+Schiller's patriotism, for he had none. But let that pass; it is not to
+the point. The question is, whether you consider it praiseworthy to
+erect monuments to deserving and exalted genius?"
+
+"Without the least hesitation, I say yes. But I see what you are
+driving at, doctor. I know the remorseless logic of your inferences.
+But you will not catch me in your vise this time. You wish to infer
+that the saints far surpassed Schiller in nobility and greatness of
+soul, and that honoring them, therefore, is more reasonable, and more
+justifiable, than honoring Schiller. I dispute the greatness of the
+so-called saints. They were men full of narrowness and rigorism. They
+despised the world and their friends. They carried this contempt to a
+wonderful extent--to a renunciation of all the enjoyments of life, to
+voluntary poverty and unconditional obedience. But all these are fruits
+that have grown on a stunted, morbid tree, and are in opposition to
+progress, to industry, and to the enlightened civilization of modern
+times. The dark ages might well honor such men, but our times cannot.
+Schiller, on the contrary, that genial man, taught us to love the
+pleasures of life. By his fine genius and his odes to pleasure, he
+frightened away all the spectres of these enthusiastic views of life.
+He preached a sound taste and a free, unconstrained enjoyment of the
+things of this beautiful earth. And for this reason precisely, because
+he inaugurated this new doctrine, does he deserve monuments in his
+honor."
+
+"How does it happen then, my friend," said the doctor, in a cutting
+tone that was sometimes peculiar to him, "that you do not take
+advantage of the modern doctrine of unconstrained enjoyment? Why have
+you preserved fresh your youthful vigor, and not dissipated it at the
+market of sensual pleasures? Why is your mode of life so often a
+reproach to your dissolute friends? Why do you avoid the resorts of
+refined pleasures? Why are the coquettish, vitiated, hollow
+inclinations of a great part of the female sex so distasteful to you?
+Answer me!"
+
+"These are peculiarities of my nature; individual opinions that have no
+claim to any weight."
+
+"Peculiarities of your nature--very right; your noble nature, your pure
+feelings rebel against these moral acquisitions of progress. I begin
+with your noble nature. If I did not find this good, true self in you,
+I would waste no more words. But because you are what you are, I must
+convince you of the error of your views. Schiller, you say, and, with
+him, the modern spirit, raised the banner of unrestrained enjoyment,
+and this enjoyment rests on sensual pleasures, does it not?"
+
+"Well--yes."
+
+"I knew and know many who followed this banner--and you also know many.
+Of those whom I knew professionally, some ended their days in the
+hospital, of the most loathsome diseases. Some, unsatiated with the
+whole round of pleasures, drag on a miserable life, dead to all energy,
+and spiritless. They drank the full cup of pleasure, and with it
+unspeakable bitterness and disgust. Some ended in ignominy and
+shame--bankruptcy, despair, suicide. Such are the consequences of this
+modern dogma of unrestrained enjoyments."
+
+"All these overstepped the proper bounds of pleasure," said Richard.
+
+"The proper bounds? Stop!" cried the doctor, "No leaps, Richard! Think
+clearly and logically. Christianity also allows enjoyment, but--and
+here is the point--in certain limits. Your progress, on the contrary,
+proclaims freedom in moral principles, a disregard of all moral
+obligations, unrestricted enjoyment--and herein consists the danger and
+delusion. I ask, Are you in favor of restricted or unrestricted
+enjoyment?"
+
+Frank hesitated. He felt already the thumbscrew of the irrepressible
+doctor, and feared the inferences he would draw from his admissions.
+
+"Come!" urged Klingenberg, "decide."
+
+"Sound reason declares for restricted enjoyment," said Frank decidedly.
+
+"Good; there you leave the unlimited sphere which godless progress has
+given to the thoughts and inclinations of men. You admit the obligation
+of self-control, and the restraint of the grosser emotions. But let us
+proceed; you speak of industry. The modern spirit of industry has
+invoked a demon--or, rather, the demoniac spirit of the times has taken
+possession of industry. The great capitalists have built thrones on
+their money-bags and tyrannize over those who have no money. They crush
+out the work-shop of the industrious and well-to-do tradesman, and
+compel him to be their slave. Go into the factories of Elfeld, or
+England; you can there see the slaves of this demon industry--miserable
+creatures, mentally and morally stunted, socially perishing; not only
+slaves, but mere wheels of the machines. This is what modern industry
+has made of those poor wretches, for whom, according to modern
+enlightenment, there is no higher destiny than to drag through life in
+slavery, to increase the money-bags of their tyrants. But the
+capitalists have perfect right, according to modern ideas; they only
+use the means at their command. The table of the ten commandments has
+been broken; the yoke of Christianity broken. Man is morally and
+religiously free; and from this false liberalism the tyranny of
+plutocracy and the slavery of the poor has been developed. Are you
+satisfied with the development, and the principles that made it
+possible?"
+
+"No," said Frank decidedly. "I despise that miserable industrialism
+that values the product more than the man. My admissions are, however,
+far from justifying the exaggerated notions of the saints."
+
+"Wait a bit!" cried Klingenberg hastily. "I have just indicated the
+cause of this wretched egotism, and also a consequence--namely, the
+power of great capitalists and manufacturers over an army of white
+slaves. But this is by no means all. This demon of industry has
+consequences that will ruin a great portion of mankind. Now mark what I
+say, Richard! The richness of the subject allows me only to indicate.
+The progressive development of industry brings forth products of which
+past ages were ignorant, because they were not necessary for life. The
+existence of these products creates a demand. The increased wants
+increase the outlay, which in most cases does not square with the
+income, and therefore the accounts of many close with a deficit The
+consequences of this deficit for the happiness, and even for the morals
+of the family, I leave untouched. The increased products beget luxury
+and the desire for enjoyment; the ultimate consequences of which
+enervate the individual and society. Hence the phenomenon, in England,
+that the greater portion of the people in the manufacturing towns die
+before the age of fifteen, and that many are old men at thirty.
+Enervated and demoralized peoples make their existence impossible. They
+go to the wall. This is a historical fact. Ergo, modern industry
+separated from Christian civilization hastens the downfall of nations."
+
+"I cannot dispute the truth of your observations. But you have touched
+only the dark side of modern industry, without mentioning its benefits.
+If industry is a source of fictitious wants, it affords, on the other
+hand, cheap prices to the poor for the most necessary wants of life;
+for example, cheap materials for clothing."
+
+"Very cheap, but also very poor material," answered Klingenberg. "In
+former times, clothing was dearer, but also better. They knew nothing
+of the rags of the present fabrication. And it may be asked whether
+that dearer material was not cheaper in the end for the poor. When this
+is taken into consideration, the new material has no advantage over the
+old. I will freely admit that the inventions of modern times do honor
+to human genius. I acknowledge the achievements of industry, as such. I
+admire the improvements of machinery, the great revolution caused by
+the use of steam, and thousands of other wonders of art. No sensible
+man will question the relative worth of all these. But all these are
+driven and commanded by a bad influence, and herein lies the injury. We
+must consider industrialism from this higher standpoint. What advantage
+is it to a people to be clothed in costly stuffs when they are
+enervated, demoralized, and perishing? Clothe a corpse as you will, a
+corpse it will be still. And besides, the greatest material good does
+not compensate the white factory-slaves for the loss of their liberty.
+The Lucullan age fell into decay, although they feasted on young
+nightingales, drank liquified pearls, and squandered millions for
+delicacies and luxuries. The life of nations does not consist in the
+external splendor of wealth, in easy comfort, or in unrestrained
+passions. Morality is the life of nations, and virtue their internal
+strength. But virtue, morality, and Christian sentiment are under the
+ban of modern civilization. If Christianity does not succeed in
+overcoming this demon spirit of the times, or at least confining it
+within narrow limits, it will and must drive the people to certain
+destruction. We find decayed peoples in the Christian era, but the
+church has always rescued and regenerated them. While the acquisitions
+of modern times--industrialism, enlightenment, humanitarianism, and
+whatever they may be called--are, on the one hand, of little advantage
+or of doubtful worth, they are, on the other hand, the graves of true
+prosperity, liberty, and morality. They are the cause of shameful
+terrorism and of degrading slavery, in the bonds of the passions and in
+the claws of plutocracy."
+
+Frank made no reply.
+
+For a while they walked on in silence.
+
+"Let us," continued Klingenberg, "consider personally those men whose
+molten images stand before us. Schiller's was a noble nature, but
+Schiller wrote:
+
+          "'No more this fight of duty, hence no longer
+              This giant strife will I!
+            Canst quench these passions evermore the stronger?
+              Then ask not virtue, what I must deny.
+
+          "'Albeit I have sworn, yea, sworn that never
+              Shall yield my master will;
+            Yet take thy wreath; to me 'tis lost for ever!
+              Take back thy wreath, and let me sin my fill.'
+
+"Is this a noble and exalted way of thinking? Certainly not. Schiller
+would be virtuous if he could clothe himself in the lustre of virtue
+without sacrifice. The passionate impulses of the heart are stronger in
+him than the sense of duty. He gives way to his passions. He renounces
+virtue because he is too weak, too languid, too listless to encounter
+this giant strife bravely like a strong man. Such is the noble
+Schiller. In later years, when the fiery impulses of his heart had
+subsided, he roused himself to better efforts and nobler aims.
+
+"Consider the prince of poets, Goethe. How morally naked and poor he
+stands before us! Goethe's coarse insults to morality are well known.
+His better friend, Schiller, wrote of him to Koerner, 'His mind is not
+calm enough, because his domestic relations, which he is too weak to
+change, cause him great vexation.' Koerner answered, 'Men cannot
+violate morality with impunity.' Six years later, the 'noble' Goethe
+was married to his 'mistress' at Weimar. Goethe's detestable political
+principles are well known. He did not possess a spark of patriotism. He
+composed hymns of victory to Napoleon, the tyrant, the destroyer and
+desolator of Germany. These are the heroes of modern sentiment, the
+advance guard of liberty, morality, and true manhood! And these heroes
+so far succeeded that the noble Arndt wrote of his time, 'We are base,
+cowardly, and stupid; too poor for love, too listless for anger, too
+imbecile for hate. Undertaking everything, accomplishing nothing;
+willing every thing, without the power of doing any thing.' So far has
+this boasted freethinking created disrespect for revealed truth. So far
+this modern civilization, which idealizes the passions, leads to
+mockery of religion and lets loose the baser passions of man. If they
+cast these representatives of the times in bronze, they should stamp on
+the foreheads of their statues the words of Arndt:
+
+"'We are base, cowardly, and stupid; too poor for love, too listless
+for anger, too imbecile for hate. Undertaking every thing,
+accomplishing nothing; willing every thing, without the power of doing
+any thing.'"
+
+"You are severe, doctor."
+
+"I am not severe. It is the truth."
+
+"How does it happen that a people so weak, feeble, and base could
+overthrow the power of the French in the world?"
+
+"That was because the German people were not yet corrupted by that
+shallow, unreal, hollow twaddle of the educated classes about humanity.
+It was not the princes, not the nobility, who overthrew Napoleon. It
+was the German people who did it. When, in 1813, the Germans rose, in
+hamlet and city, they staked their property and lives for fatherland.
+But it was not the enlightened poets and professors, not modern
+sentimentality, that raised their hearts to this great sacrifice; not
+these who enkindled this enthusiasm for fatherland. It was the
+religious element that did it. The German warriors did not sing
+Goethe's hymns to Napoleon, nor the insipid model song of 'Luetzows
+wilder Jagd,' as they rushed into battle. They sang religious hymns,
+they prayed before the altars. They recognized, in the terrible
+judgment on Russia's ice-fields, the avenging hand of God. Trusting in
+God, and nerved by religious exaltation, they took up the sword that
+had been sharpened by the previous calamities of war. So the feeble
+philanthropists could effect nothing. It was only a religious, healthy,
+strong people could do that."
+
+"But the saints, doctor! We have wandered from them."
+
+"Not at all! We have thrown some light on inimical shadows; the light
+can now shine. The lives of the saints exhibit something wonderful and
+remarkable. I have studied them carefully. I have sought to know their
+aims and efforts. I discovered that they imitated the example of
+Christ, that they realized the exalted teachings of the Redeemer. You
+find fault with their contempt for the things of this world. But it is
+precisely in this that these men are great. Their object was not the
+ephemeral, but the enduring. They considered life but as the entrance
+to the eternal destiny of man--in direct opposition to the spirit of
+the times, that dances about the golden calf. The saints did not value
+earthly goods for more than they were worth. They placed them after
+self-control and victory over our baser nature. Exact and punctual in
+all their duties, they were animated by an admirable spirit of charity
+for their fellow-men. And in this spirit they have frequently revived
+society. Consider the great founders of orders--St. Benedict, St.
+Dominic, St. Vincent de Paul! Party spirit, malice, and stupidity have
+done their worst to blacken, defame, and calumniate them. And yet, in a
+spirit of self-sacrifice, the sons of St. Benedict came among the
+German barbarians, to bring to them the ennobling doctrines of
+Christianity. It was the Benedictines who cleared the primeval forests,
+educated their wild denizens, and founded schools; who taught the
+barbarians handiwork and agriculture. Science and knowledge flourished
+in the cloisters. And to the monks alone we are indebted for the
+preservation of classic literature. What the monks did then they are
+doing now. They forsake home, break all ties, and enter the wilderness,
+there to be miserably cut off in the service of their exalted mission,
+or to die of poisonous fevers. Name me one of your modern heroes, whose
+mouths are full of civilization, humanity, enlightenment--name me one
+who is capable of such sacrifice. These prudent gentlemen remain at
+home with their gold-bags and their pleasures, and leave the stupid
+monk to die in the service of exalted charity. It is the hypocrisy and
+the falsehood of the modern spirit to exalt itself, and belittle true
+worth. And what did St. Vincent de Paul do? More than all the gold-bags
+together. St. Vincent, alone, solved the social problem of his time. He
+was, in his time, the preserver of society, or rather, Christianity
+through him. And to-day our gold-bags tremble before the apparition of
+the same social problem. Here high-sounding phrases and empty
+declamation do not avail. Deeds only are of value. But the inflated
+spirit of the times is not capable of noble action. It is not the
+modern state--not enlightened society, sunk in egotism and gold--that
+can save us. Christianity alone can do it. Social development will
+prove this."
+
+"I do not dispute the services of the saints to humanity," said Frank.
+"But the question is, Whether society would be benefited if the
+fanatical, dark spirit of the middle ages prevailed, instead of the
+spirit of modern times?"
+
+"The fanatical, dark spirit of the middle ages!" cried the doctor
+indignantly. "This is one of those fallacious phrases. The saints were
+not fanatical or dark. They were open, cheerful, natural, humble men.
+They did not go about with bowed necks and downcast eyes; but affable,
+free from hypocrisy, and dark, sullen demeanor, they passed through
+life. Many saints were poets. St. Francis sang his spiritual hymns to
+the accompaniment of the harp. St. Charles played billiards. The holy
+apostle, St. John, resting from his labors, amused himself in childish
+play with a bird. Such were these men; severe toward themselves, mild
+to others, uncompromising with the base and mean. They were all
+abstinent and simple, allowing themselves only the necessary
+enjoyments. They concealed from observation their severe mode of life,
+and smiled while their shoulders bled from the discipline. Pride,
+avarice, envy, voluptuousness, and all the bad passions, were strangers
+to them; not because they had not the inclinations to these passions,
+but because they restrained and overcame their lower nature.
+
+"I ask you, now, which men deserve our admiration--those who are
+governed by unbounded selfishness, who are slaves to their passions,
+who deny themselves no enjoyment, and who boast of their degrading
+licentiousness; or those who, by reason of a pure life, are strong in
+the government of their passions, and self-sacrificing in their charity
+for their fellowmen?"
+
+"The preference cannot be doubtful," said Frank. "For the saints have
+accomplished the greatest, they have obtained the highest thing,
+self-control. But, doctor, I must condemn that saint-worship as it is
+practised now. Human greatness always remains human, and can make no
+claims to divine honor."
+
+The doctor swung his arms violently. "What does this reproach amount
+to? Where are men deified? In the Catholic Church? I am a Protestant,
+but I know that your church condemns the deification of men."
+
+"Doctor," said Frank, "my religious ignorance deserves this rebuke."
+
+"I meant no rebuke. I would only give conclusions. Catholicism is
+precisely that power that combats with success against the deifying of
+men. You have in the course of your studies read the Roman classics.
+You know that divine worship was offered to the Roman emperors. So far
+did heathen flattery go, that the emperors were honored as the sons of
+the highest divinity--Jupiter. Apotheosis is a fruit of heathen growth;
+of old heathenism and of new heathenism. When Voltaire, that idol of
+modern heathen worship, was returning to Paris in 1778, he was in all
+earnestness promoted to the position of a deity. This remarkable play
+took place in the theatre. Voltaire himself went there. Modern
+fanaticism so far lost all shame that the people kissed the horse on
+which the philosopher rode to the theatre. Voltaire was scarcely able
+to press through the crowd of his worshippers. They touched his
+clothes--touched handkerchiefs to them--plucked hairs from his fur coat
+to preserve as relics. In the theatre they fell on their knees before
+him and kissed his feet. Thus that tendency that calls itself free and
+enlightened deified a man--Voltaire, the most trifling scoffer, the
+most unprincipled, basest man of Christendom.
+
+"Let us consider an example of our times. Look at Garibaldi in London.
+That man permitted himself to be set up and worshipped. The saints
+would have turned away from this stupidity with loathing indignation.
+But this boundless, veneration flattered the old pirate Garibaldi. He
+received 267,000 requests for locks of his hair, to be cased in gold
+and preserved as relics. Happily he had not much hair. He should have
+graciously given them his moustaches and whiskers."
+
+Frank smiled. Klingenberg's pace increased, and his arms swung more
+briskly.
+
+"Such is the man-worship of modern heathenism. This humanitarianism is
+ashamed of no absurdity, when it sinks to the worship of licentiousness
+and baseness personified."
+
+"The senseless aberrations of modern culture do not excuse
+saint-worship. And you certainly do not wish to excuse it in that way.
+There is, however, a reasonable veneration of human greatness.
+Monuments are erected to great men. We behold them and are reminded of
+their genius, their services; and there it stops. It occurs to no
+reasonable man to venerate these men on his knees, as is done with the
+saints."
+
+"The bending of the knee, according to the teaching of your church,
+does not signify adoration, but only veneration," replied Klingenberg.
+"Before no Protestant in the world would I bend the knee; before St.
+Benedict and St. Vincent de Paul I would willingly, out of mere
+admiration and esteem for their greatness of soul and their purity of
+morals. If a Catholic kneels before a saint to ask his prayers, what is
+there offensive in that? It is an act of religious conviction. But I
+will not enter into the religious question. This you can learn better
+from your Catholic brethren--say from the Angel of Salingen, for
+example, who appears to have such veneration for the saints."
+
+"You will not enter into the religious question; yet you defend
+saint-worship, which is something religious."
+
+"I do not defend it on religious grounds, but from history, reason, and
+justice. History teaches that this veneration had, and still has, the
+greatest moral influence on human society. The spirit of veneration
+consists in imitating the example of the person venerated. Without this
+spirit, saint-worship is an idle ceremony. But that true veneration of
+the saints elevates and ennobles, you cannot deny. Let us take the
+queen of saints, Mary. What makes her worthy of veneration? Her
+obedience to the Most High, her humility, her strength of soul, her
+chastity. All these virtues shine out before the spiritual eyes of her
+worshippers as models and patterns of life. I know a lady, very
+beautiful, very wealthy; but she is also very humble, very pure, for
+she is a true worshipper of Mary. Would that our women would venerate
+Mary and choose her for a model! There would then be no coquettes, no
+immodest women, no enlightened viragoes. Now, as saint-worship is but
+taking the virtues of the saints as models for imitation, you must
+admit that veneration in this sense has the happiest consequences to
+human society."
+
+"I admit it--to my great astonishment, I must admit it," said Richard.
+
+"Let us take a near example," continued Klingenberg. "I told you of the
+singular qualities of Angela. As she passed, I beheld her with wonder.
+I must confess her beauty astonished me. But this astonishing beauty,
+it appears to me, is less in her charming features than in the purity,
+the maidenly dignity of her character. Perhaps she has to thank, for
+her excellence, that same correct taste which leads her to venerate
+Mary. Would not Angela make an amiable, modest, dutiful wife and
+devoted mother? Can you expect to find this wife, this mother among
+those given to fashions--among women filled with modern notions?"
+
+While Klingenberg said this, a deep emotion passed over Richard's face.
+He did not answer the question, but let his head sink on his breast.
+
+"Here is Frankenhoehe," said the doctor. "As you make no more
+objections, I suppose you agree with me. The saints are great,
+admirable men; therefore they deserve monuments. They are models of
+virtue and the greatest benefactors of mankind; therefore they deserve
+honor. '_Quod erat demonstrandum._'"
+
+"I only wonder, doctor, that you, a Protestant, can defend such views."
+
+"You will allow Protestants to judge reasonably," replied Klingenberg.
+"My views are the result of careful study and impartial reflection."
+
+"I am also astonished--pardon my candor--that with such views you can
+remain a Protestant."
+
+"There is a great difference between knowing and willing, my young
+friend. I consider conversion an act of great heroism, and also as a
+gift of the highest grace."
+
+
+Richard wrote in his diary:
+
+
+"If Angela should be what the doctor considers her! According to my
+notions, such a being exists only in the realm of the ideal. But if
+Angela yet realizes this ideal? I must be certain. I will visit
+Siegwart to-morrow."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV.
+
+                    THE BUREAUCRAT AND THE SWALLOWS.
+
+
+Herr Frank returned to the city. Before he went he took advantage of
+the absence of Richard, who had gone out about nine o'clock, to
+converse with Klingenberg about matters of importance. They sat in the
+doctor's studio, the window of which was open. Frank closed it before
+he began the conversation.
+
+"Dear friend, I must speak to you about a very distressing peculiarity
+of my son. I do so because I know your influence over him, and I hope
+much from it."
+
+Klingenberg listened with surprise, for Herr Frank had begun in great
+earnestness and seemed greatly depressed.
+
+"On our journey from the city, I discovered in Richard, to my great
+surprise, a deep-seated antipathy, almost an abhorrence of women. He is
+determined never to marry. He considers marriage a misfortune, inasmuch
+as it binds a man to the whims and caprices of a wife. If I had many
+sons, Richard's idiosyncrasy would be of little consequence; but as he
+is my only son and very stubborn in his preconceived opinions, you will
+see how very distressing it must be to me."
+
+"What is the cause of this antipathy of your son to women?"
+
+Herr Frank related Richard's account of his meeting with Isabella and
+his knowledge of the unhappy marriage of his friend Emil.
+
+"Do you not think that experiences of this kind must repel a
+noble-minded young man?" said the doctor.
+
+"Admitted! But Isabella and Laura are exceptions, and exceptions by no
+means justify my son's perverted judgment of women. I told him this.
+But he still declared that Isabella and Laura were the rule and not the
+exception; that the women of the present day follow a perverted taste;
+and that the wearing of crinoline, a costume he detests, proves this."
+
+"I know," said the doctor, "that Richard abominates crinoline. Last
+year he expressed his opinion about it, and I had to agree with him."
+
+"My God!" said the father, astonished, "you certainly would not
+encourage my son in his perverted opinion?"
+
+"No," returned the doctor quietly; "but you must not expect me to
+condemn sound opinions. His judgment of woman is prejudiced--granted.
+But observe well, my dear Frank. This judgment is at the same time a
+protest of a noble nature against the age of crinoline. Your son
+expects much of women. Superficiality, vanity, passion for dress,
+fickleness, and so forth, do not satisfy his sense of propriety.
+Marriage, to him, is an earnest, holy union. He would unite himself to
+a well-disposed woman, to a noble soul who would love her husband and
+her duties, but not to a degenerate specimen of womankind. Such I
+conceive to have been the reasons which have produced in your son this
+antipathy."
+
+"I believe you judge rightly," answered Frank. "But it must appear
+clear to Richard that his views are unjust, and that there are always
+women who would realize his expectations."
+
+The doctor thought for a moment, and a significant smile played over
+his features.
+
+"This must become clear to him--yes, and it will become clear to him
+sooner, perhaps, than you expect," said the doctor.
+
+"I do not understand you, doctor."
+
+"Yesterday we met Angela," said Klingenberg. "This Angela is an
+extraordinary being of dazzling beauty; almost the incarnation of
+Richard's ideal. I told him of her fine qualities, which he was
+inclined to question. But happily! was able to establish these
+qualities by facts. Now, as Angela lives but a mile from here and as
+the simple customs of the country render access to the family easy, I
+have not understood the character of your son if he does not take
+advantage of this opportunity to become more intimately acquainted with
+Angela, even if his object were only to confirm his former opinions of
+women. If he knew Angela more intimately, it is my firm conviction that
+his aversion would soon change into the most ardent affection."
+
+"Who is this Angela?"
+
+"The daughter of your neighbor, Siegwart."
+
+Frank looked at the doctor with open mouth and staring eyes.
+
+"Siegwart's daughter!" he gasped. "No, I will never consent to such a
+connection."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Well--because the Siegwart family are not agreeable to me."
+
+"That is no reason. Siegwart is an excellent man, rich, upright, and
+respected by the whole neighborhood. Why does he happen to appear so
+unfavorably in your eyes?"
+
+Frank was perplexed. He might have reasons and yet be ashamed to give
+them.
+
+"Ah!" said the doctor, smiling, "it is now for you to lay aside
+prejudice."
+
+"An explanation is not possible," said Frank. "But my son will rather
+die a bachelor than marry Siegwart's daughter."
+
+Klingenberg shrugged his shoulders. There was a long pause.
+
+"I renew my request, my friend," urged Frank. "Convince my son of his
+errors."
+
+"I will try to meet your wishes," returned Klingenberg. "Perhaps this
+daughter of Siegwart will afford efficient aid."
+
+"My son's liberty will not be restricted. He may visit the Siegwart
+family when he wishes. But in matters where the mature mind of the
+father has to decide, I shall always act according to my better
+judgment."
+
+The doctor again shrugged his shoulders. They shook hands, and in ten
+minutes after Herr Frank was off for the train. Richard had left
+Frankenhoehe two hours before. He passed quickly through the vineyard. A
+secret power seemed to impel the young man. He glanced often at
+Siegwart's handsome dwelling, and hopeful suspense agitated his
+countenance. When he reached the lawn, he slackened his pace. He would
+reflect, and understand clearly the object of his visit. He came to
+observe Angela, whose character had made such a strong impression on
+him and who threatened to compel him to throw his present opinions of
+women to the winds. He would at the same time reflect on the
+consequences of this possible change to his peace and liberty.
+
+"Angela is beautiful, very beautiful, far more so than a hundred others
+who are beautiful but wear crinoline." He had written in his diary:
+
+
+"Of what value is corporal beauty that fades when it is disfigured by
+bad customs and caprices? I admit that I have never yet met any woman
+so graceful and charming as Angela; but this very circumstance warns me
+to be careful that my judgment may not be dazzled. If it turns out that
+Angela sets herself up as a religious coquette or a Pharisee, her fine
+figure is only a deceitful mask of falsehood, and my opinion would
+again be verified. I must make observations with great care."
+
+
+Frank reviewed these resolutions as he passed slowly over the lawn,
+where some servants were employed, who greeted him respectfully as he
+passed. In the hall he heard a man's voice that came from the same room
+he had entered on his first visit. The door was open, and the voice
+spoke briskly and warmly.
+
+Frank stopped for a moment and heard the voice say,
+
+"Miss Angela is as lovely as ever."
+
+These words vibrated disagreeably in Richard's soul, and urged him to
+know the man from whom they came.
+
+Herr Siegwart went to meet the visitor and offered him his hand. The
+other gentleman remained sitting, and looked at Frank with stately
+indifference.
+
+"Herr Frank, my esteemed neighbor of Frankenhoehe," said Siegwart,
+introducing Frank.
+
+The gentleman rose and made a stiff bow.
+
+"The Assessor von Hamm," continued the proprietor.
+
+Frank made an equally stiff and somewhat colder bow.
+
+The three sat down.
+
+While Siegwart rang the bell, Richard cast a searching glance at the
+assessor who had said, "Angela is as lovely as ever."
+
+The assessor had a pale, studious color, regular features in which
+there was an expression of official importance. Frank, who was a fine
+observer, thought he had never seen such a perfect and sharply defined
+specimen of the bureaucratic type. Every wrinkle in the assessor's
+forehead told of arrogance and absolutism. The red ribbon in the
+buttonhole of Herr von Hamm excited Frank's astonishment. He thought it
+remarkable that a young man of four or five and twenty could have
+merited the ribbon of an order. He might infer from this that
+decorations and merit do not necessarily go together.
+
+"How glad I am that you have kept your word!" said Siegwart to Frank
+complacently. "How is your father?"
+
+"Very well; he goes this morning to the city, where business calls
+him."
+
+"I have often admired your father's attentions to Dr. Klingenberg,"
+said Siegwart after a short pause. "He has for years had Frankenhoehe
+prepared for the accommodation of the doctor. You are Klingenberg's
+constant companion, and I do not doubt but such is the wish of your
+father. And your father tears himself from his business and comes
+frequently from the city to see that the doctor's least wish is
+realized. I have observed this these last eight years, and I have often
+thought that the doctor is to be envied, on account of this noble
+friendship."
+
+"You know, I suppose, that the doctor saved my father when his life was
+despaired of?"
+
+"I know; but there are many physicians who have saved lives and who do
+not find such a noble return."
+
+These words of acknowledgment had something in them very offensive to
+the assessor. He opened and shut his eyes and mouth, and cast a
+grudging, envious look at Richard.
+
+The servant brought a glass.
+
+"Try this wine," said Siegwart; "my own growth," he added with some
+pride.
+
+They touched glasses. Hamm put his glass to his lips, without drinking;
+Frank tasted the noble liquor with the air of a connoisseur; while
+Siegwart's smiling gaze rested on him.
+
+"Excellent! I do not remember to have drank better Burgundy."
+
+"Real Burgundy, neighbor--real Burgundy. I brought the vines from
+France."
+
+"Do you not think the vines degenerate with us?" said Frank.
+
+"They have not degenerated yet. Besides, proper care and attention make
+up for the unsuitableness of our soil and climate.
+
+"You would oblige me, Herr Siegwart, if you would preserve me some
+shoots when you next trim them."
+
+"With pleasure. I had them set last year; they shot forth fine roots,
+and I can let you have any number of shoots."
+
+"Is it not too late to plant them?"
+
+"Just the right time. Our vine-growers generally set them too early. It
+should be done in May, and not in April. Shall I send them over?"
+
+"You are too kind, Herr Siegwart. My request must certainly destroy
+your plan in regard to those shoots."
+
+"Not at all; I have all I can use. It gives me great pleasure to be
+able to accommodate a neighbor. It's settled; I'll send over the
+Burgundies this evening."
+
+It was clear to Hamm that Siegwart desired to be agreeable to the
+wealthy Frank. The assessor opened and shut his eyes and mouth, and
+fidgeted about in his chair. While he inwardly boiled and fretted, he
+very properly concluded that he must consider himself offended. From
+the moment of Frank's arrival, the proprietor had entirely forgotten
+him. He was about to leave, in order not to expose his nerves to
+further excitement, when chance afforded him an opportunity to give
+vent to his ill-humor.
+
+Two boys came running into the room. They directed their bright eyes to
+Siegwart, and their childish, joyful faces, seemed to say,
+
+"Here we are again; you know very well what we want."
+
+One of them carried a tin box in his hand; there was a lock on the box,
+and a small opening in the top--evidently a money-box.
+
+"Gelobt sei Jesus Christus," said the children, and remained standing
+near the door.
+
+"In Ewigkeit," returned Siegwart. "Are you there again, my little ones?
+That's right; come here, Edward." And Siegwart took out his purse and
+dropped a few pennies into the box.
+
+"A savings-box? Who gave the permission?" said the assessor in a tone
+that frightened the children, astonished Richard, and caused Siegwart
+to look with embarrassment at the questioner.
+
+"For the pope, Herr von Hamm," said Siegwart.
+
+The official air of the assessor became more severe.
+
+"The ordinances make no exceptions," retorted Hamm. "The ordinances
+forbid all collections that are not officially permitted." And he eyed
+the box as if he had a notion to confiscate it.
+
+Perhaps the lads noticed this, for they moved backward to the door and
+suddenly disappeared from the room.
+
+"I beg pardon, Herr Assessor," said Siegwart. "The Peter-pence is
+collected in the whole Catholic world, and the Catholics of Salingen
+thought they ought to assist the head of their church, who is so sorely
+pressed, and who has been robbed of his possessions."
+
+"I answer--the ordinances make no exceptions; the Peter-pence comes
+under the ordinances. I find myself compelled to interpose against this
+trespass."
+
+"But the Peter-pence is collected in the whole country, Herr von Hamm!
+Why, even in the public journals we read the results of this
+collection, and I have never heard that the government forbade the
+Peter-pence."
+
+"Leave the government out of the question. I stand on my instructions.
+The government forbids all collections unless permission is granted.
+You must not expect an official to connive at an open breach of the
+ordinances. I will do my duty and remind the burgomaster of Salingen
+that he has not done his."
+
+The occurrence was very annoying to Siegwart; this could be seen in his
+troubled countenance. He thought of the reproof of the timid
+burgomaster, and feared that the collection might in future be stopped.
+
+"You have the authority, Herr Assessor, to permit it; I beg you will do
+so."
+
+"The request must be made in written official form," said Hamm. "You
+know, Herr Siegwart, that I am disposed to comply with your wishes, but
+I regret I cannot do so in the present case; and I must openly confess
+I oppose the Peter-pence on principle. The temporal power of the pope
+has become unnecessary. Why support an untenable dominion?"
+
+"I consider the temporal power of the pope to be a necessity," said
+Siegwart emphatically. "If the pope were not an independent prince, but
+the subject of another ruler, he would in many things have to govern
+the church according to the mind and at the command of his superior.
+Sound common sense tells us that the pope must be free."
+
+"Certainly, as far as I am concerned," returned Hamm. "But why drain
+the money out of the country for an object that cannot be accomplished?
+I tell you that the political standing of the bankrupt papal government
+will not be saved by the Peter-pence."
+
+"Permit me to observe, Herr Assessor, that I differ with you entirely.
+The papal government is by no means bankrupt--quite the contrary. Until
+the breaking out of the Franco-Sardinian revolution, its finances were
+as well managed and flourishing as those of any state in Europe. I will
+convince you of this in a moment." He went to the bookcase and handed
+the assessor a newspaper. "These statistics will convince you of the
+correctness of my assertion."
+
+"As the documents to prove these statements are wanting, I have great
+reason to doubt their correctness," said Hamm. "Paper will not refuse
+ink, and in the present case the pen was evidently driven by a friendly
+hand."
+
+"Why do you draw this conclusion?"
+
+"From the contradictions between this account of the papal finances and
+that given by all independent editors."
+
+"Permit me to call that editor not 'an independent,' but a 'friend of
+the church.' The enemies of the church will not praise a church which
+they hate. The papal government is the most calumniated government on
+earth; and calumny and falsehood perform wonders in our times. The
+Italian situation furnishes at present a most striking illustration.
+The king of Piedmont has been raised to the rulership of Italy by the
+unanimous voice of the people--so say the papers. But the revolution in
+the greater part of Italy at the present time proves that the unanimous
+voice of the people was a sham, and that the Piedmontese government is
+hated and despised by the majority of the Italians. It is the same in
+many other things. If falsehood and calumny were not the order of the
+day, falsehood and calumny would not sit crowned on the throne."
+
+"Right!" said Richard. "It is indisputable. It is nothing but the
+depravity of the times that enables the emperor to domineer over the
+world."
+
+Siegwart heard Frank's observation with pleasure. Hamm read this in the
+open countenance of the proprietor, and he made a movement as though he
+would like to tramp on Frank's toes.
+
+"I admit the flourishing condition of the former Papal States," said
+Hamm, with a mock smile. "I will also admit that the former subjects of
+the pope, who have been impoverished by the hungry Piedmontese, desire
+the milder papal government. 'There is good living under the crozier,'
+says an old proverb. But what does all this amount to? Does the
+beautiful past overthrow the accomplished facts of the present? The
+powers have determined to put an end to papal dominion. The powers have
+partly accomplished this. Can the Peter-pence change the programme of
+the powers? Certainly not. The papal government must go the way of all
+flesh, and if the Catholics are taxed for an unattainable object, it
+is, in my opinion, unjust, to say the least."
+
+The proprietor shook his head thoughtfully. "We consider the question
+from very different stand-points," said he. "Pius IX. is the head of
+the church--the spiritual father of all Catholics. The revolution has
+robbed him of his revenues. Why should not Catholics give their father
+assistance?"
+
+"And I ask," said Hamm, "why give the pope alms when the powers are
+ready to give him millions?"
+
+"On what conditions, Herr Assessor?"
+
+"Well--on the very natural condition that he will acknowledge
+accomplished facts."
+
+"You find this condition so natural!" said Siegwart, somewhat excited.
+"Do you forget the position of the pope? Remember that on those very
+principles of which the pope is the highest representative, was built
+the civilization of the present. The pope condemns robbery, injustice,
+violence, and all the principles of modern revolution. How can the pope
+acknowledge as accomplished facts, results which have sprung from
+injustice, robbery, and violence? The moment the pope does that, he
+ceases to be the first teacher of the people and the vicar of Christ on
+earth."
+
+"You take a strong religious position, my dear friend," said Hamm,
+smiling compassionately.
+
+"I do, most assuredly," said the proprietor with emphasis. "And I am
+convinced that my position is the right one."
+
+Hamm smiled more complacently still. Frank observed this smile; and the
+contemptuous manner of the official toward the open, kind-hearted
+proprietor annoyed him.
+
+"Pius IX. is at any rate a noble man," said he, looking sharply at the
+assessor, "There exists a critical state of uncertainty in all
+governments. All the courts and principalities look to Paris, and the
+greatest want of principle seems to be in the state taxation. The
+pope alone does not shrink; he fears neither the anger nor the threats
+of the powers. While thrones are tumbling, and Pius IX. is not master
+in his own house, that remarkable man does not make the least
+concession to the man in power. The powers have broken treaties,
+trampled on justice, and there is no longer any right but the right of
+revolution--of force. There is nothing any longer certain; all is
+confusion. The pope alone holds aloft the banner of right and justice.
+In his manifestoes to the world, he condemns error, falsehood, and
+injustice. The pope alone is the shield of those moral forces which
+have for centuries given stability and safety to governments. This
+firmness, this confidence in the genius of Christianity, this
+unsurpassed struggle of Pius, deserves the highest admiration even of
+those who look upon the contest with indifference."
+
+Siegwart listened and nodded assent. Hamm ate sardines, without paying
+the least attention to the speaker.
+
+"The Roman love of power is well known, and Rome has at all times made
+the greatest sacrifices for it," said he.
+
+The proprietor drummed with his fingers on the table. Frank thought he
+observed him suppressing his anger, before he answered,
+
+"Rome does not contend for love of dominion. She contends for the
+authority of religion, for the maintenance of those eternal principles
+without which there is no civilization. This even Herder, who is far
+from being a friend of Rome, admits when he says, 'Without the church,
+Europe would, perhaps, be a prey to despots, a scene of eternal
+discord, and a Mogul wilderness.' Rome's battle is, therefore, very
+important, and honorable. Had it not been for her, you would not have
+escaped the bloody terrorisms of the power-seeking revolution. Think of
+French liberty at present, think of the large population of Cayenne, of
+the Neapolitan prisons, where thousands of innocent men hopelessly
+languish."
+
+"You have not understood me, my dear Siegwart. Take an example for
+illustration. The press informs us almost daily of difficulties between
+the government and the clergy. The cause of this trouble is that the
+latter are separated from and wish to oppose the former. To speak
+plainly, the Catholic clergy are non-conforming. They will not give up
+that abnormal position which the moral force of past times conceded to
+them. But in organized states, the clergy, the bishops, and the pastors
+should be nothing more than state officials, whose rule of conduct is
+the command of the sovereign."
+
+"That is to make the church the servant of the state," said Siegwart.
+"Religion, stripped of her divine title, would be nothing more than the
+tool of the minister to restrain the people."
+
+"Well, yes," said the official very coolly. "Religion is always a
+strong curb on the rough, uneducated masses; and if religion restrains
+the ignorant, supports the moral order and the government, she has
+fulfilled her mission."
+
+The proprietor opened wide his eyes.
+
+"Religion, according to my belief, educates men not for the state but
+for their eternal destiny."
+
+"Perfectly right, Herr Siegwart, according to your view of the
+question. I admire the elevation of your religious convictions, which
+all men cannot rise up to."
+
+A mock smile played on the assessor's pale countenance as he said this.
+Siegwart did not observe it; but Frank did.
+
+"If I understand you rightly, Herr Assessor, the clergy are only state
+officials in clerical dress."
+
+The assessor nodded his head condescendingly, and continued to soak a
+sardine in olive-oil and take it between his knife and fork as Frank
+began to speak. The fine-feeling Frank felt nettled at this contempt,
+and immediately chastised Hamm for his want of politeness.
+
+"I take your nod for an affirmative answer to my question," said he.
+"You will allow me to observe that your view of the position and
+purpose of the clergy must lead to the most absurd consequences."
+
+The assessor turned an ashy color. He threw himself back on the sofa
+and looked at the speaker with scornful severity.
+
+"My view is that of every enlightened statesman of the nineteenth
+century," said he proudly. "How can you, a mere novice in state
+matters, come to such a conclusion."
+
+"I come to it by sound thinking," said Frank haughtily. "If the clergy
+are only the servants of the state, they are bound in the exercise of
+their functions to follow the instructions of the state."
+
+"Very natural," said the official.
+
+"If the government think a change in the church necessary, say the
+separation of the school from the church, the abolition of festivals,
+the appointing of infidel professors to theological chairs, the
+compiling of an enlightened catechism--and all these relate to the
+spirit of the times or the supposed welfare of the state--then the
+clergy must obey."
+
+"That is self-evident," said the assessor.
+
+"You see I comprehend your idea of the supreme power of the state,"
+continued Frank. "The state is supreme. The church must be deprived of
+all independence. She must not constitute a state within a state. If it
+seems good to a minister to abolish marriage as a sacrament, or the
+confessional, or to subject the teaching of the clergy to a revision by
+the civil authority, because a majority of the chambers wish it, or
+because the spirit of the age demands it, then the opposition of the
+clergy would be illegal and their resistance disobedience."
+
+"Naturally--naturally," said the official impatiently. "Come, now, let
+us have the proof of your assertion."
+
+"Draw the conclusions from what I have said, Herr Assessor, and you
+have the most striking proof of the absurdity and ridiculousness of
+your gagged state church," said Frank haughtily.
+
+"How so, how so?" cried Hamm inquiringly.
+
+"Simply thus: If the priest must preach according to the august
+instructions of the state and not according to the principles of
+religious dogma, he would then preach Badish in Baden, Hessish in
+Hesse, Bavarian in Bavaria, Mecklenburgish in Mecklenburg; in short,
+there would be as many sects as there are states and principalities.
+And these sects would be constantly changing, as the chambers or
+ministerial instructions would command or allow. All religion would
+cease; for it would be no longer the expression of the divine will and
+revelation, but the work of the chambers and the princes. Such a
+religion would be contemptible in the eyes of every thinking man. I
+would not give a brass button for such a religion."
+
+"You go too far, Herr Frank," said Hamm. "Religion has a divine title,
+and this glory must be retained."
+
+"Then the clergy must be free."
+
+"Certainly, that is clear," said the assessor as he arose, and, with a
+smiling face, bowed lowly. Angela had entered the hall, and in
+consequence of Hamm's greeting was obliged to come into the room. She
+might have returned from a walk, for she wore a straw hat and a light
+shawl was thrown over her shoulders. She led by the hand her little
+sister Eliza, a charming child of four years.
+
+The sisters remained standing near the door. Eliza looked with
+wondering eyes at the stranger, whose movements were very wonderful to
+the mind of the little one, and whose pale face excited her interest.
+
+Angela's glance seemed to have blown away all the official dust that
+remained in the soul of Hamm. The assessor was unusually agreeable. His
+face lost its obstinate expression, and became light and animated. Even
+its color changed to one of life and nature.
+
+To Richard, who liked to take notes, and whose visit to Siegwart's had
+no other object, the change that could be produced in a bureaucrat by
+such rare womanly beauty was very amusing. He had arisen and stepped
+back a little. He observed the assessor carefully till a smile between
+astonishment and pity lit up his countenance. He then looked at Angela,
+who stood motionless on the same spot. It seemed to require great
+resignation on her part to notice the flattering speech and obsequious
+attentions of the assessor. Richard observed that her countenance was
+tranquil, but her manner more grave than usual. She still held the
+little one by the hand, who pressed yet closer to her the nearer the
+wonderful man came. Hamm's voice rose to a tone of enthusiasm, and he
+took a step or two toward the object of his reverence, when a strange
+enemy confronted him. Some swallows had come in with Angela. Till now
+they were quiet and seemed to be observing the assessor; but when he
+approached Angela, briskly gesticulating, the swallows raised their
+well-known shrill cry of anxiety, left their perches and fluttered
+around the official. Interrupted in the full flow of his eloquence, he
+struck about with his hands to frighten them. The swallows only became
+the noisier, and their fluttering about Hamm assumed a decidedly
+warlike character. They seemed to consider him as a dangerous enemy of
+Angela whom they wished to keep off. Richard looked on in wonder,
+Siegwart shook his head and stroked his beard, and Angela smiled at the
+swallows.
+
+"These are abominable creatures," cried Hamm warding them off. "Why,
+such a thing never happened to me before. Off with you! you troublesome
+wretches."
+
+The birds flew out of the room, still screaming; and their shrill cries
+could be heard high up in the air.
+
+"The swallows have a grudge against you," said Siegwart. "They
+generally treat only the cats and hawks in this way."
+
+"Perhaps they have been frightened at this red ribbon," returned Hamm.
+"I regret, my dear young lady, to have frightened your little pets.
+When I come again, I will leave the object of their terror at home."
+
+"You should not deprive yourself of an ornament which has an honorable
+significance on account of the swallows, particularly as we do not know
+whether it was really the red color that displeased them," said she.
+
+"You think, then, Miss Angela, that there is something else about me
+they dislike?"
+
+"I do not know, Herr Assessor."
+
+"Oh! if I only knew the cause of their displeasure," said Hamm
+enthusiastically. "You have an affection for the swallows, and I would
+not displease any thing that you love."
+
+She answered by an inclination, and was about to leave the room.
+
+"Angela," said her father, "here is Herr Frank, to whom you are under
+obligations."
+
+She moved a step or two toward Richard.
+
+"Sir," said she gently, "you returned some things that were valuable to
+me; were it not for your kindness, they would probably have been lost.
+I thank you."
+
+A formal bow was Frank's answer. Hamm stood smiling, his searching
+glance alternating between the stately young man and Angela. But in the
+manner of both he observed nothing more than reserve and cold
+formality.
+
+Angela left the room. The assessor sat down on the sofa and poured out
+a glass of wine.
+
+Eliza sat on her father's knee. Richard observed the beautiful child
+with her fine features and golden silken locks that hung about her
+tender face. The winning expression of innocence and gentleness in her
+mild, childish eyes particularly struck him.
+
+"A beautiful, lovely child," said he involuntarily, and as he looked in
+Siegwart's face he read there a deep love and a quiet, fatherly
+fondness for the child.
+
+"Eliza is not always as lovely and good as she is now," he returned.
+"She has still some little faults which she must get rid of."
+
+"Yes, that's what Angela said," chattered the little one. "Angela said
+I must be very good; I must love to pray; I must obey my father and
+mother; then the angels who are in heaven will love me."
+
+"Can you pray yet, my child," said Richard.
+
+"Yes, I can say the 'Our Father' and the 'Hail Mary.' Angela is
+teaching me many nice prayers."
+
+She looked at the stranger a moment and said with childish simplicity,
+
+"Can you pray too?"
+
+"Certainly, my child," answered Frank, smiling; "but I doubt whether my
+prayers are as pleasing to God as yours."
+
+"Angela also said we should not lie," continued Eliza. "The good God
+does not love children who lie."
+
+"That is true," said Frank. "Obey your sister Angela."
+
+Here the young man was affected by a peculiar emotion. He thought of
+Angela as the first instructor of the child; placed near this little
+innocent, she appeared like its guardian angel. He saw clearly at this
+moment the great importance of first impressions on the young, and
+thought that in after life they would not be obliterated. He expressed
+his thoughts, and Siegwart confirmed them.
+
+"I am of your opinion, Herr Frank. The most enduring impressions are
+made in early childhood. The germ of good must be implanted in the
+tender and susceptible heart of the child and there developed. Many,
+indeed most parents overlook this important principle of education.
+This is a great and pernicious error. Man is born with bad
+propensities; they grow with his growth and increase with his strength.
+In early childhood, they manifest themselves in obstinacy, wilfulness,
+excessive love of play, disobedience, and a disposition to lie. If
+these outgrowths are plucked up and removed in childhood by careful,
+religious training, it will be much easier to form the heart to habits
+of virtue than in after years. Many parents begin to instruct their
+children after they have spoiled them. Is this not your opinion, Herr
+Assessor?"
+
+Hamm was aroused by this sudden question. He had not paid any attention
+to the conversation, but had been uninterruptedly stroking his
+moustache and gazing abstractedly into vacancy.
+
+"What did you ask, my dear Siegwart? Whether I am of your opinion?
+Certainly, certainly, entirely of your opinion. Your views are always
+sound, practical, and matured by great experience, as in this case."
+
+"Well, I can't say you were always of my opinion," said Siegwart
+smiling; "have we not just been sharply disputing about the
+Peter-pence?"
+
+"O my dear friend! as a private I agree with you entirely on these
+questions; but an official must frequently defend in a system of
+government that which he privately condemns."
+
+Frank perceived Hamm's object. We wished to do away with the
+unfavorable impressions his former expressions might have made on the
+proprietor. The reason of this was clear to him since he had discovered
+the assessor's passion for Angela.
+
+"I am rejoiced," said Siegwart, "that we agree at least in that most
+important matter, religion."
+
+Frank remembered his father's remark, "The Siegwart family is intensely
+clerical and ultramontane." It was new and striking to him to see the
+question of religion considered the most important. He concluded from
+this, and was confirmed in his conclusions by the leading spirit of the
+Siegwart family, that, in direct contradiction to modern ideas,
+religion is the highest good.
+
+"Nevertheless," said Siegwart, "I object to a system of government that
+is inimical to the church."
+
+"And so do I," sighed the assessor.
+
+Richard took his departure. At home, he wrote a few hasty lines in his
+diary and then went into the most retired part of the garden. Here he
+sat in deep thought till the servant called him to dinner.
+
+"Has Klingenberg not gone out yet to-day?"
+
+"No, but he has been walking up and down his room for the last two
+hours."
+
+Frank smiled. He guessed the meaning of this walk, and as they both
+entered the dining-room together his conjecture was confirmed.
+
+The doctor entered somewhat abruptly and did not seem to observe
+Richard's presence. His eyes had a penetrating, almost fierce
+expression and his brows were knit. He sat down to the table
+mechanically, and ate what was placed before him. It is questionable
+whether he knew what he was eating, or even that he was eating. He did
+not speak a word, and Frank, who knew his peculiarities, did not
+disturb him by a single syllable. This was not difficult, as he was
+busily occupied with his own thoughts.
+
+After the meal was over, Klingenberg came to himself. "My dear Richard,
+I beg your pardon," said he in a tone of voice which was almost tender.
+"Excuse my weakness. I have read this morning a scientific article that
+upsets all my previous theories on the subject treated of. In the whole
+field of human investigation there is nothing whatever certain, nothing
+firmly established. What one to-day proves by strict logic to be true,
+to-morrow another by still stronger logic proves to be false. From the
+time of Aristotle to the present, philosophers have disagreed, and the
+infallible philosopher will certainly never be born. It is the same in
+all branches. I would not be the least astonished if Galileo's system
+would be proved to be false. If the instruments, the means of acquiring
+astronomical knowledge, continue to improve, we may live to learn that
+the earth stands still and that the sun goes waltzing around our little
+planet. This uncertainty is very discouraging to the human mind. We
+might say with Faust,
+
+                "'It will my heart consume
+                  That we can nothing know.'"
+
+"In my humble opinion," said Frank, "every investigator moves in a
+limited circle. The most profound thinker does not go beyond these set
+limits; and if he would boldly overstep them, he would be thrown back
+by evident contradiction into that circle which Omnipotence has drawn
+around the human intellect."
+
+"Very reasonable, Richard; very reasonable. But the desire of knowledge
+must sometimes be satiated," continued the doctor after a short pause.
+"If the human mind were free from the narrow limits of the deceptive
+world of sense, and could see and know with pure spiritual eyes, the
+barriers of which you speak would fall. Even the Bible assures us of
+this. St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says, 'We see now through a
+glass in an obscure manner, but then face to face; now I know in part,
+but then I shall know as I am known.' I would admire St. Paul on
+account of this passage alone if he never had written another. How
+awful is the moral quality of the human soul taken in connection with
+its future capacity for knowledge. And how natural, how evident, is the
+connection. The human mind will receive knowledge from the source of
+all knowledge--God, in proportion as it has been just and good. For
+this reason our Redeemer calls the world of the damned 'outer
+darkness,' and the world of the blessed, the 'kingdom of light.'"
+
+"We sometimes see in that way even now," said Frank after a pause. "The
+wicked have ideas very different from those of the good. A frivolous
+spirit mocks at and derides that which fills the good with happiness
+and contentment. We might, then, say that even in this life man knows
+as he is known."
+
+The doctor cast an admiring glance at the young man. "We entirely
+agree, my young friend; wickedness is to the sciences what a poisonous
+miasma and the burning rays of the sun are to the young plants. Yes,
+vice begets atheism, materialism, and every other abortion of thought."
+
+Klingenberg arose.
+
+"We will meet again at three," said he with a friendly nod.
+
+Richard took from his room _Vogt's Physiological Letters_, went into
+the garden, and buried himself in its contents.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V.
+
+                       THE PROGRESSIVE PROFESSOR.
+
+
+When Frank returned from the walk, he found a visitor at Frankenhoehe.
+
+The visitor was an elegantly dressed young man, with a free,
+self-important air about him.
+
+He spoke fluently, and his words sounded as decisive as though they
+came from the lips of infallibility. At times this self-importance was
+of such a boastful and arrogant character as to affect the observer
+disagreeably.
+
+"It is now vacation, and I do not know how to enjoy it better than by a
+visit to you," said he.
+
+"Very flattering to me," answered Frank. "I hope you will be pleased
+with Frankenhoehe."
+
+"Pleased?" returned the visitor, as he looked through the open window
+at the beautiful landscape. "I would like to dream away here the whole
+of May and June. How charming it is! An empire of flowers and vernal
+delights."
+
+"I am surprised, Carl, that you have preserved such a love for nature.
+I thought you considered the professor's chair the culminating point of
+attraction."
+
+Carl bowed his head proudly, and stood with folded arms before the
+smiling Frank.
+
+"That is evidently intended for flattery," said he. "The professor's
+chair is my vocation. He who does not hold his vocation as the acme of
+all attraction is indeed a perfect man. Besides, it will appear to you,
+who consider everything in the world, not excepting even the fair sex,
+with blank stoicism--it will appear even to you that the rostrum is
+destined to accomplish great things. Ripe knowledge in mighty
+pulsations goes forth from the rostrum, and permeates society. The
+rostrum governs and educates the rising young men who are destined to
+assume leading positions in the state. The rostrum overthrows
+antiquated forms of religious delusion, ennobles rational thought,
+exact science, and deep investigation. The rostrum governs even the
+throne; for we have princes in Germany who esteem liberty of thought
+and progress of knowledge more than the art of governing their people
+in a spirit of stupidity."
+
+Frank smiled.
+
+"The glory of the rostrum I leave undisputed," said he. "But I beg of
+you to conceal from the doctor your scientific rule of faith. You may
+get into trouble with the doctor."
+
+"I am very desirous of becoming acquainted with this paragon of
+learning--you have told me so much about him; and I confess it was
+partly to see him that I made this visit. Get into trouble? I do not
+fear the old syllogism-chopper in the least. A good disputation with
+him is even desirable."
+
+"Well, you are forewarned. If you go home with a lacerated back, it
+will not be my fault."
+
+"A lacerated back?" said the professor quietly. "Does the doctor like
+to use _striking_ arguments?"
+
+"Oh! no; but his sarcasm is as cutting as the slash of a sword, and his
+logical vehemence is like the stroke of a club."
+
+"We will fight him with the same weapons," answered Carl, throwing back
+his head. "Shall I pay him my respects immediately?"
+
+"The doctor admits no one. In his studio he is as inaccessible as a
+Turkish sultan in his harem. I will introduce you in the dining-room,
+as it is now just dinner-time."
+
+They betook themselves to the dining-room, and soon after they heard
+the sound of a bell.
+
+"He is just now called to table," said Richard. "He does not allow the
+servant to enter his room, and for that reason a bell has been hung
+there."
+
+"How particular he is!" said the professor.
+
+A door of the ante-room was opened, quick steps were heard, and
+Klingenberg hastily entered and placed himself at the table, as at a
+work that must be done quickly, and then observed the stranger.
+
+"Doctor Lutz, professor of history in our university," said Frank,
+introducing him.
+
+"Doctor Lutz--professor of history," said Klingenberg musingly. "Your
+name is familiar to me, if I am not mistaken; are you not a
+collaborator on Sybel's historical publication?"
+
+"I have that honor," answered the professor, with much dignity.
+
+They began to eat.
+
+"You read Sybel's periodical?" asked the professor.
+
+"We must not remain entirely ignorant of literary productions,
+particularly the more excellent."
+
+Lutz felt much flattered by this declaration.
+
+"Sybel's periodical is an unavoidable necessity at present," said the
+professor. "Historical research was in a bad way; it threatened to
+succumb entirely to the ultramontane cause and the clerical party."
+
+"Now Sybel and his co-laborers will avert that danger," said the
+doctor. "These men will do honor to historical research. The
+ultramontanists have a great respect for Sybel. When he taught in
+Munich, they did not rest till he turned his back on Isar-Athen. In my
+opinion, Sybel should not have gone to Munich. The stupid Bavarians
+will not allow themselves to be enlightened. So let them sit in
+darkness, the stupid barbarians who have no appreciation for the
+progress of science."
+
+The professor looked astonished. He could not understand how an admirer
+of Sybel's could be so prejudiced. Frank was alarmed lest the professor
+might perceive the doctor's keen sarcasm--which he delivered with a
+serious countenance--and feel offended. He changed the conversation to
+another subject, in which Klingenberg did not take part.
+
+"You have represented the doctor incorrectly," said the professor,
+after the meal. "He understands Sybel and praises his efforts--the best
+sign of a clear mind."
+
+"Klingenberg is always just," returned Frank.
+
+On the following afternoon, Lutz joined in the accustomed walk. As they
+were passing through the chestnut grove, a servant of Siegwart's came
+up breathless, with a letter in his hand, which he gave to Frank.
+
+"Gentlemen," said Frank after reading the letter, "I am urgently
+requested to visit Herr Siegwart immediately. With your permission I
+will go."
+
+"Of course, go," said Klingenberg. "I know," he added with a roguish
+expression, "that you would as lief visit that excellent man as walk
+with us."
+
+Richard went off in such haste that the question occurred to him why he
+fulfilled with such zeal the wishes of a man with whom he had been so
+short a time acquainted; but with the question Angela came before his
+mind as an answer. He rejected this answer, even against his feelings,
+and declared to himself that Siegwart's honorable character and
+neighborly feeling made his haste natural and even obligatory. The
+proprietor may have been waiting his arrival, for he came out to meet
+him. Frank observed a dark cloud over the countenance of the man and
+great anxiety in his features.
+
+"I beg your forgiveness a thousand times, Herr Frank. I know you go
+walking with Herr Klingenberg at this hour, and I have deprived you of
+that pleasure."
+
+"No excuse, neighbor. It is a question which would give me greater
+pleasure, to serve you or to walk with Klingenberg."
+
+Richard smiled while saying these words; but the smile died away, for
+he saw how pale and suddenly anxious Siegwart had become. They had
+entered a room, and he desired to know the cause of Siegwart's changed
+manner.
+
+"A great and afflicting misfortune threatens us," began the proprietor.
+"My Eliza has been suddenly taken ill, and I have great fears for her
+young life. Oh! if you knew how that child has grown into my heart." He
+paused for a moment and suppressed his grief, but he could not hide
+from Frank the tears that filled his eyes. Richard saw these tears, and
+this paternal grief increased his respect for Siegwart.
+
+"The delicate life of a young child does not allow of protracted
+medical treatment, of consultation or investigation into the disease or
+the best remedies. The disease must be known immediately and efficient
+remedies applied. There are physicians at my command, but I do not dare
+to trust Eliza to them."
+
+"I presume, Herr Siegwart, that you wish for Klingenberg."
+
+"Yes--and through your mediation. You know that he only treats the sick
+poor; but resolutely refuses his services to the wealthy."
+
+"Do not be uneasy about that. I hope to be able to induce Klingenberg
+to correspond with your wishes. But is Eliza really so sick, or does
+your apprehension increase your anxiety?"
+
+"I will show you the child, and then you can judge for yourself." They
+went up-stairs and quietly entered the sick-room. Angela sat on the
+little bed of the child, reading. The child was asleep, but the noise
+of their entrance awoke her. She reached out her little round arms to
+her father, and said in a scarcely audible whisper,
+
+"Papa--papa!"
+
+This whispered "papa" seemed to pierce the soul of Siegwart like a
+knife. He drew near and leant over the child.
+
+"You will be well to-morrow, my sweet pet. Do you see, Herr Frank has
+come to see you?"
+
+"Mamma!" whispered the child.
+
+"Your mother will come to-morrow, my Eliza. She will bring you
+something pretty. My wife has been for the last two weeks at her
+sister's, who lives a few miles from here," said Siegwart, turning to
+Frank. "I sent a messenger for her early this morning."
+
+While the father sat on the bed and held Eliza's hand in his, Frank
+observed Angela, who scarcely turned her eyes from the sick child. Her
+whole soul seemed taken up with her suffering sister. Only once had she
+looked inquiringly at Frank, to read in his face his opinion of the
+condition of Eliza. She stood immovable at the foot of the bed, as
+mild, as pure, and as beautiful as the guardian angel of the child.
+
+Both men left the room.
+
+"I will immediately seek the doctor, who is now on his walk," said
+Frank.
+
+"Shall I send my servant for him?"
+
+"That is unnecessary," returned Frank. "And even if your servant should
+find the doctor, he would probably not be inclined to shorten his walk.
+Our gardener, who works in the chestnut grove, will show me the way the
+doctor took. In an hour and a half at furthest I will be back."
+
+The young man pressed the outstretched hand of Siegwart, and hastened
+away.
+
+In the mean time the doctor and the professor had reached a narrow,
+wooded ravine, on both sides of which the rocks rose almost
+perpendicularly. The path on which they talked passed near a little
+brook, that flowed rippling over the pebbles in its bed. The branches
+of the young beeches formed a green roof over the path, and only here
+and there were a few openings through which the sun shot its sloping
+beams across the cool, dusky way, and in the sunbeams floated and
+danced dust-colored insects and buzzing flies.
+
+The learned saunterers continued their amusement without altercation
+until the professor's presumption offended the doctor and led to a
+vehement dispute.
+
+Klingenberg did not appear on the stage of publicity. He left boasting
+and self-praise to others, far inferior to him in knowledge. He
+despised that tendency which pursues knowledge only to command, which
+cries down any inquiry that clashes with their theories. The doctor
+published no learned work, nor did he write for the periodicals, to
+defend his views. But if he happened to meet a scientific opponent, he
+fought him with sharp, cutting weapons.
+
+"I do not doubt of the final victory of true science over the
+falsifying party spirit of the ultramontanes," said the professor.
+"Sybel's periodical destroys, year by year, more and more the crumbling
+edifice which the clerical zealots build on the untenable foundation of
+falsified facts."
+
+Klingenberg tore his cap from his head and swung it about vehemently,
+and made such long strides that the other with difficulty kept up with
+him. Suddenly he stopped, turned about, and looked the professor
+sharply in the eyes.
+
+"You praise Sybel's publication unjustly," said he excitedly. "It is
+true Sybel has founded a historical school, and has won many imitators;
+but his is a school destructive of morality and of history--a school of
+scientific radicalism, a school of falsehood and deceitfulness. Sybel
+and his followers undertake to mould and distort history to their
+purposes. They slur over every thing that contradicts their theories.
+To them the ultramontanes are partial, prejudiced men--or perhaps asses
+and dunces; you are unfortunately right when you say Sybel's school
+wins ground; for Sybel and his fellows have brought lying and
+falsification to perfection. They have in Germany perplexed minds, and
+have brought their historical falsifications to market as true ware."
+
+The professor could scarcely believe his own ears.
+
+"I have given you freely and openly my judgment, which need not offend
+you, as it refers to principles, not persons."
+
+"Not in the least," answered Lutz derisively. "I admit with pleasure
+that Sybel's school is anti-church, and even anti-Christian, if you
+will. There is no honor in denying this. The denial would be of no use;
+for this spirit speaks too loudly and clearly in that school. Sybel and
+his associates keep up with the enlightenment and liberalism of our
+times. But I must contradict you when you say this free tendency is
+injurious to society; the seed of free inquiry and human enlightenment
+can bring forth only good fruits."
+
+"Oh! we know this fruit of the new heathenism," cried the doctor.
+"There is no deed so dark, no crime so great, that it may not be
+defended according to the anti-Christian principles of vicious
+enlightenment and corrupt civilization. Sybel's school proves this with
+striking clearness. Tyrants are praised and honored. Noble men are
+defamed and covered with dirt."
+
+"This you assert, doctor; it is impossible to prove such a
+declaration."
+
+"Impossible! Not at all. Sybel's periodical exalts to the seventh
+heaven the tyrant Henry VIII. of England. You extol him as a
+conscientious man who was compelled by scruples of conscience to
+separate from his wife. You commend him for having but one mistress.
+You say that the sensualities of princes are only of 'anecdotal
+interest.' Naturally," added the doctor contemptuously, "a school that
+cuts loose from Christian principles cannot consistently condemn
+adultery. Fie! fie! Debauchees and men of gross sensuality might sit in
+Sybel's enlightened school. Progress overthrows the cross, and erects
+the crescent. We may yet live to see every wealthy man of the new
+enlightenment have his harem. Whether society can withstand the
+detestable consequences of this teaching of licentiousness and contempt
+for Christian morality, is a consideration on which these progressive
+gentlemen do not reflect."
+
+"I admit, doctor," said Lutz, "that the clear light of free, impartial
+science must needs hurt the eyes of a pious believer. According to the
+opinions of the ultramontanes, Henry VIII. was a terrible tyrant and
+bloodhound. Sybel's periodical deserves the credit of having done
+justice to that great king."
+
+"Do you say so?" cried the doctor, with flaming eyes. "You, a professor
+of history in the university! You, who are appointed to teach our young
+men the truth! Shame on you! What you say is nothing but stark
+hypocrisy. I appeal to the heathen. You may consider religion from the
+stand-point of an ape, for what I care; your cynicism, which is not
+ashamed to equalize itself with the brute, may also pass. But this
+hypocrisy, this fallacious representation of historical facts and
+persons, this hypocrisy before my eyes--this I cannot stand; this must
+be corrected."
+
+The doctor actually doubled up his fists. Lutz saw it and saw also the
+wild fire in the eyes of his opponent, and was filled with apprehension
+and anxiety.
+
+Erect and silent, fiery indignation in his flushed countenance, stood
+Klingenberg before the frightened professor. As Lutz still held his
+tongue, the doctor continued,
+
+"You call Henry VIII. a 'great king,' you extol and defend this 'great
+king' in Sybel's periodical. I say Henry VIII. was a great scoundrel, a
+blackguard without a conscience, and a bloodthirsty tyrant. I prove my
+assertion. Henry VIII. caused to be executed two queens who were his
+wives--two cardinals, twelve dukes and marquises, eighteen barons and
+knights, seventy-seven abbots and priors, and over sixty thousand
+Catholics. Why did he have them executed? Because they were criminals?
+No; because they remained true to their consciences and to the religion
+of their fathers. All these fell victims to the cruelty of Henry
+VIII., whom you style a 'great king.' You glorify a man who for
+blood-thirstiness and cruelty can be placed by the side of Nero and
+Diocletian. That is my retort to your hypocrisy and historical
+mendacity."
+
+The stern doctor having emptied his vials of wrath, now walked on
+quietly; Lutz with drooping head followed in silence.
+
+"Sybel does not even stop with Henry VIII.," again began the doctor.
+"These enlightened gentlemen undertake to glorify even Tiberius, that
+inhuman monster. They might as well have the impudence to glorify
+cruelty itself. On the other hand, truly great men, such as Tilly, are
+abandoned to the hatred of the ignorant."
+
+"This is unjust," said the professor hastily. "Sybel's periodical in
+the second volume says that Tilly was often calumniated by party
+spirit; that the destruction of Magdeburg belongs to the class of
+unproved and improbable events. The periodical proves that Tilly's
+conduct in North Germany was mild and humane, that he signalized
+himself by his simplicity, unselfishness, and conscientiousness.
+
+"Does Sybel's periodical say all this?"
+
+"Word for word, and much more in praise of that magnanimous man," said
+Lutz. "From this you may know that science is just even to pious
+heroes."
+
+Klingenberg smiled characteristically, and in his smile was an
+expression of ineffable contempt.
+
+He stopped before the professor.
+
+"You have just quoted what impartial historical research informs us of
+Tilly, in the second and third volumes. It is so. I remember perfectly
+having read that favorable account. Now let me quote what the same
+periodical says of the same Tilly in the seventeenth volume. There we
+read that Tilly was a hypocrite and a blood-hound, whose name cannot be
+mentioned without a shudder; furthermore, we are told that Tilly burned
+Magdeburg, that he waged a ravaging war against men, women, children,
+and property. You see, then, in the second and third volumes that Tilly
+was a conscientious, mild man and pious hero; in the seventeenth
+volume, that he was a tyrant and blood-hound. It appears from this with
+striking clearness that the enlightened progressionists do not stick at
+contradiction, mendacity, and defamation."
+
+The professor lowered his eyes and stood embarrassed.
+
+"I leave you, 'Herr Professor,' to give a name to such a procedure.
+Besides, I must also observe that the strictly scientific method, as it
+labels itself at present, does not stop at personal defamation. As
+every holy delusion and religious superstition must be destroyed in the
+hearts of the students, this lying and defamation extends to the
+historical truths of faith. It is taught from the professors' chairs,
+and confirmed by the journals, that confession is an invention of the
+middle ages; while you must know from thorough research that confession
+has existed up to the time of the apostles. You teach and write that
+Innocent III. introduced the doctrine of transubstantiation in the
+thirteenth century; while every one having the least knowledge of
+history knows that at the council of 1215 it was only made a duty to
+receive the holy communion at Easter, that the fathers of the first
+ages speak of transubstantiation--that it has its foundation in
+Scripture. You know as well as I do that indulgences were imparted even
+in the first century; but this does not prevent you from teaching that
+the popes of the middle ages invented indulgences from love of money,
+and sold them from avarice. Thus the progressive science lies and
+defames, yet is not ashamed to raise high the banner of enlightenment;
+thus you lead people into error, and destroy youth! Fie! fie!"
+
+The doctor turned and was about to proceed when he heard his name
+called. Frank hastened to him, the perspiration running from his
+forehead, and his breast heaving from rapid breathing. In a few words
+he made known Eliza's illness, and Siegwart's request.
+
+"You know," said Klingenberg, "that I treat only the poor, who cannot
+easily get a physician."
+
+"Make an exception in this case, doctor, I beg of you most earnestly!
+You respect Siegwart yourself for his integrity, and I also of late
+have learned to esteem the excellent man, whose heart at present is
+rent with anxiety and distress. Save this child, doctor; I beg of you
+save it."
+
+Klingenberg saw the young man's anxiety and goodness, and benevolence
+beamed on his still angry face.
+
+"I see," said he, "that no refusal is to be thought of. Well, we will
+go." And he immediately set off with long strides on his way back.
+Richard cast a glance at the professor, who followed, gloomy and
+spiteful. He saw the angry look he now and then turned on the hastening
+doctor, and knew that a sharp contest must have taken place. But his
+solicitude for Siegwart's child excluded all other sympathy. On the way
+he exchanged only a few words with Lutz, who moved on morosely, and was
+glad when Klingenberg and Richard separated from him in the vicinity of
+Frankenhoehe.
+
+Ten minutes later they entered the house of Siegwart. The doctor stood
+for a moment observing the child without touching it. The little one
+opened her eyes, and appeared to be frightened at the strange man with
+the sharp features. Siegwart and Angela read anxiously in the doctor's
+immovable countenance. As Eliza said "Papa," in a peculiar, feverish
+tone, Klingenberg moved away from the bed. He cast a quick glance at
+the father, went to the window and drummed with his fingers on the
+glass. Frank read in that quick glance that Eliza must die. Angela must
+also have guessed the doctor's opinion, for she was very much affected;
+her head sank on her breast and tears burst from her eyes.
+
+Klingenberg took out his notebook, wrote something on a small slip of
+paper, and ordered the recipe to be taken immediately to the
+apothecary. He then took his departure.
+
+"What do you think of the child?" said Siegwart, as they passed over
+the yard.
+
+"The child is very sick; send for me in the morning if it be
+necessary."
+
+Frank and the doctor went some distance in silence. The young man
+thought of the misery the death of Eliza would bring on that happy
+family, and the pale, suffering Angela in particular stood before him.
+
+"Is recovery not possible?"
+
+"No. The child will surely die to-night. I prescribed only a soothing
+remedy. I am sorry for Siegwart; he is one of the few fathers who hang
+with boundless love on their children--particularly when they are
+young. The man must call forth all his strength to bear up against it."
+
+When Frank entered his room, he found Lutz in a very bad humor.
+
+"You have judged that old bear much too leniently," began the
+professor. "The man is a model of coarseness and intolerable bigotry."
+
+"I thought so," said Frank. "I know you and I know the doctor; and I
+knew two such rugged antitheses must affect each other unpleasantly.
+What occasioned your dispute?"
+
+"What! A thousand things," answered his friend ill-humoredly. "The
+old rhinoceros has not the least appreciation of true knowledge. He
+carries haughtily the long wig of antiquated stupidity, and does not
+see the shallowness of the swamp in which he wallows. The genius of
+Christianity is to him the sublime. Where this stops, pernicious
+enlightenment--which corrupts the people, turns churches into
+ball-rooms, and the Bible into a book of fables--begins."
+
+"The doctor is not wrong there," said Frank earnestly. "Are they not
+endeavoring with all their strength to deprive the Bible of its divine
+character? Does not one Schenkel in Heidelberg deny the divinity of
+Christ? Is not this Schenkel the director of a theological faculty? Do
+not some Catholic professors even begin to dogmatize and dispute the
+authority of the holy see?"
+
+"We rejoice at the consoling fact that Catholic _savants_ themselves
+break the fetters with which Rome's infallibility has bound in
+adamantine chains the human mind!" cried Lutz with enthusiasm.
+
+"It appears strange to me when young men--scarcely escaped from the
+school, and boasting of all modern knowledge--cast aside as old,
+worthless rubbish what great minds of past ages have deeply pondered.
+The see of Rome and its dogmas have ruled the world for eighteen
+hundred years. Rome's dogmas overthrew the old world and created a new
+one. They have withstood and survived storms that have engulfed all
+else besides. Such strength excites wonder and admiration, but not
+contempt."
+
+"I let your eulogy on Rome pass," said the professor. "But as Rome and
+her dogmas have overthrown heathenism, so will the irresistible
+progress of science overthrow Christianity. Coming generations will
+smile as complacently at the God of Christendom as we consider with
+astonishment the great and small gods of the heathen."
+
+"I do not desire the realization of your prophecy," said Frank
+gloomily; "for it must be accompanied by convulsions that will
+transform the whole world, and therefore I do not like to see an
+anti-Christian tendency pervading science."
+
+"Tendency, tendency!" said Lutz, hesitating. "In science there is no
+tendency; there is but truth."
+
+"Easy, friend, easy! Be candid and just. You will not deny that the
+tendency of Sybel's school is to war against the church?"
+
+"Certainly, in so far as the church contends against truth and thorough
+investigation."
+
+"Good; and the friends of the church will contend against you in so far
+as you are inimical to the spirit of the church. And so, tendency on
+one side, tendency on the other. But it is you who make the more noise.
+As soon as a book opposed to you appears,--'Partial!' you say with
+contemptuous mien; 'Odious!' 'Ecclesiastical!' 'Unreadable!' and it is
+forthwith condemned. But it appears to me natural that a man should
+labor and write in a cause which is to him the noblest cause."
+
+"I am astonished, Richard! You did not think formerly as you now do.
+But I should not be surprised if your intercourse with the doctor is
+not without its effects." This the professor said in a cutting tone.
+Frank turned about and walked the room. The observation of his friend
+annoyed him, and he reflected whether his views had actually undergone
+any change.
+
+"You deceive yourself. I am still the same," said he. "You cannot
+mistrust me because I do not take part with you against the doctor."
+
+Carl sat for a time thinking.
+
+"Is my presence at the table necessary?" said he. "I do not wish to
+meet the doctor again."
+
+"That would be little in you. You must not avoid the doctor. You must
+convince yourself that he does not bear any ill-will on account of that
+scientific dispute. With all his rough bluntness, Klingenberg is a
+noble man. Your non-appearance at table must offend him, and at the
+same time betray your annoyance."
+
+"I obey," answered Lutz. "Tomorrow I will go for a few days to the
+mountains. On my return I will remain another day with you."
+
+Frank's assurance was confirmed. The doctor met the guest as if nothing
+unpleasant had happened. In the cool of the evening he went with the
+young men into the garden, and spoke with such familiarity of Tacitus,
+Livy, and other historians of antiquity that the professor admired his
+erudition.
+
+Frank wrote in his diary:
+
+
+"May 20th.--After mature reflection, I find that the views which I
+believed to be strongly founded begin to totter. What would the
+professor say if he knew that not the doctor, but a country family, and
+that, too, ultramontane, begin to shake the foundation of my views?
+Would he not call me weak?"
+
+
+He laid down the pen and sat sullenly reflecting.
+
+
+"All my impressions of the ultramontane family be herewith effaced," he
+wrote further. "The only fact I admit is, that even ultramontanes also
+can be good people. But this fact shall in no wise destroy my former
+convictions."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+                   THE ULTRAMONTANE WAY OF THINKING.
+
+
+On the following morning, no message was sent for the doctor. The child
+had died, as Klingenberg foretold. Frank thought of the great
+affliction of the Siegwart family--Angela in tears, and the father
+broken down with grief. It drove him from Frankenhoehe. In a quarter of
+an hour he was at the house of the proprietor.
+
+A servant came weeping to meet him.
+
+"You cannot speak to my master," said she. "We had a bad night. My
+master is almost out of his mind; he has only just now lain down. Poor
+Eliza! the dear, good child." And the tears burst forth again.
+
+"When did the child die?"
+
+"At four o'clock this morning; and how beautiful she still looks in
+death! You would think she is only sleeping. If you wish to see her,
+just go up to the same room in which you were yesterday."
+
+After some hesitation, Frank ascended the stairs and entered the room.
+As he passed the threshold, he paused, greatly surprised at the sight
+that met his view. The room was darkened, the shutters closed, and
+across the room streamed the broken rays of the morning sun. On a
+white-covered table burned wax candles, in the midst of which stood a
+large crucifix; there was also a holy-water vase, and in it a green
+branch. On the white cushions of the bed reposed Eliza, a crown of
+evergreens about her forehead, and a little crucifix in her folded
+hands. Her countenance was not the least disfigured; only about her
+softly closed eyes there was a dark shade, and the lifelike freshness
+of the lips had vanished. Angela sat near the bed on a low stool; she
+had laid her head near that of her sister, and in consequence of a
+wakeful night was fast asleep. Eliza's little head lay in her arms, and
+in her hand she held the same rosary that he had found near the statue.
+Frank stood immovable before the interesting group.
+
+The most beautiful form he had ever beheld he now saw in close contact
+with the dead. Earnest thoughts passed through his mind. The
+fleetingness of all earthly things vividly occurred to him. Eliza's
+corpse reminded him impressively that her sister, the charming Angela,
+must meet the same inevitable fate. His eyes rested on the beautiful
+features of the sufferer, which were not in the least disfigured by
+bitter or gloomy dreams, and which expressed in sleep the sweetest
+peace. She slept as gently and confidingly near Eliza as if she did not
+know the abyss which death had placed between them. The only disorder
+in Angela's external appearance was the glistening curls of hair that
+hung loose over her shoulders on her breast.
+
+At length Frank departed, with the determination of returning to make
+his visit of condolence. After the accustomed walk with Klingenberg, he
+went immediately back to Siegwart's.
+
+When he returned home, he wrote in his diary:
+
+"May 21st.--Surprising and wonderful!
+
+"When my uncle's little Agnes died, my aunt took ill, and my uncle's
+condition bordered on insanity; tortured by excruciating anguish, he
+murmured against Providence. He accused God of cruelty and injustice,
+because he took from him a child he loved so much, he lost all
+self-control, and had not strength to bear the misfortune with
+resignation. And now the Siegwart family are in the same circumstances;
+the father is much broken down, much afflicted, but very resigned; his
+trembling lips betray the affliction that presses on his heart, but
+they make no complaints against Providence.
+
+"'I thank you for your sympathy,' said he to me. 'The trial is painful;
+but God knows what he does. The Lord gave me the dear child; the Lord
+has taken her away. His holy will be done.' So spoke Siegwart. While he
+said this, a perceptible pain changed his manly countenance, and he lay
+like a quivering victim on the altar of the Lord. Siegwart's wife, a
+beautiful woman, with calm, mild eyes, wept inwardly. Her mother's
+heart bled from a thousand wounds; but she showed the same self-control
+and resignation as Siegwart did to the will of the Most High.
+
+"And Angela? I do not understand her at all. She speaks of Eliza as of
+one sleeping, or of one who has gone to a place where she is happy. But
+sometimes a spasm twitches her features; then her eyes rest on the
+crucifix that stands amid the lighted candles. The contemplation of the
+crucifix seems to afford her strength and vigor. This is a mystery to
+me. I cannot conceive the mysterious power of that carved figure.
+
+"Misery does not depress these people: it ennobles them. I have never
+seen the like. When I compare their conduct with that of those I have
+known, I confess that the Siegwart family puts my acquaintance as well
+as myself to shame.
+
+"What gives these people this strength, this calm, this resignation?
+Religion, perhaps. Then religion is infinitely more than a mere
+conception, a mere external rule of faith.
+
+"I am beginning to suspect that between heaven and earth there exists,
+for those who live for heaven, a warm, living union. It appears to me
+that Providence does not, indeed, exempt the faithful from the common
+lot of earthly affliction; but he gives them strength which transcends
+the power of human nature.
+
+"I have undertaken the task of putting Angela to the test, and what do
+I find? Admiration for her--shame for myself; and also the certainty
+that my views of women must be restricted."
+
+He had scarcely written down these thoughts, when he bit impatiently
+the pen between his teeth.
+
+"We must not be hasty in our judgments," he wrote further. "Perhaps it
+is my ignorance of the depth of the human heart that causes me to
+consider in so favorable a light the occurrences in the Siegwart
+family.
+
+"Perhaps it is a kind of stupidity of mind, an unrefined feeling, a
+frivolous perception of fatality, that gives these people this quiet
+and resignation. My judgment shall not be made up. Angela may conceal
+beneath the loveliness of her nature characteristics and failings which
+may justify my opinion of the sex, notwithstanding."
+
+With a peculiar stubbornness which struggles to maintain a favorite
+conviction, he closed the diary.
+
+On the second day after Eliza's death, the body was consigned to the
+earth. Frank followed the diminutive coffin, which was carried by four
+little girls dressed in white. The youthful bearers had wreaths of
+flowers on their heads and blue silk ribbons about their waists, the
+ends of which hung down.
+
+After these followed a band of girls, also dressed in white and blue.
+They had flowers fixed in their hair, and in their hands they carried a
+large wreath of evergreens and roses. The whole community followed the
+procession--a proof of the great respect the proprietor enjoyed among
+his neighbors. Siegwart's manner was quiet, but his eyes were inflamed.
+As the coffin was lowered into the ground, the larks sang in the air,
+and the birds in the bushes around joined their sweet cadences with the
+not plaintive but joyful melodies which were sung by a choir of little
+girls. The church ceremonies, like nature, breathed joy and triumph,
+much to Richard's astonishment. He did not understand how these songs
+of gladness and festive costumes could be reconciled with the open
+grave. He believed that the feelings of the mourners must be hurt by
+all this. He remained with the family at the grave till the little
+mound was smoothed and finished above it. The people scattered over the
+graveyard, and knelt praying before the different graves. The cross was
+planted on Eliza's resting-place, and the girls placed the large wreath
+on the little mound. Siegwart spoke words of consolation to his wife as
+he conducted her to the carriage. Angela, sunk in sadness, still
+remained weeping at the grave. Richard approached and offered her his
+arm. The carriage proceeded toward Salingen and stopped before the
+church, whose bells were tolling. The service began. Again was Richard
+surprised at the joyful melody of the church hymns. The organ pealed
+forth joyfully as on a festival. Even the priest at the altar did not
+wear black, but white vestments. Frank, unfamiliar with the deep spirit
+of the Catholic liturgy, could not understand this singular funeral
+service.
+
+After service the family returned. Frank sat opposite to Angela, who
+was very sad, but in no way depressed. He even thought he saw now and
+then the light of a peculiar joy in her countenance. Madame Siegwart
+could not succeed in overcoming her maternal sorrow. Her tears burst
+forth anew, and her husband consoled her with tender words.
+
+Frank strove to divert Angela from her sad thoughts. As he thought it
+would not be in good taste to speak of ordinary matters, he expressed
+his surprise at the manner of the burial.
+
+"Your sister," said he, "was interred with a solemnity which excited my
+surprise, and, I confess, my disapprobation. Not a single hymn of
+sorrow was sung, either at the grave or in the church. One would not
+believe that those white-clad girls with wreaths of flowers on their
+heads were carrying the soulless body of a beloved being to the grave.
+The whole character of the funeral was that of rejoicing. How is this,
+Fraeulein Angela; is that the custom here?"
+
+She looked at him somewhat astonished.
+
+"That is the custom in the whole Catholic Church," she replied. "At the
+burial of children she excludes all sadness; and for that reason masses
+of requiem in black vestments are never said for them; but masses of
+the angels in white."
+
+"Do you not think the custom is in contradiction to the sentiments of
+nature--to the sorrowful feelings of those who remain?"
+
+"Yes, I believe so," she answered tranquilly. "Human nature grieves
+about many things over which the spirit should rejoice."
+
+These words sounded enigmatically to Richard.
+
+"I do not comprehend the meaning of your words, Fraeulein Angela."
+
+"Grief at the death of a relative is proper for us, because a beloved
+person has been taken from our midst. But the church, on the contrary,
+rejoices because an innocent, pure soul has reached the goal after
+which we all strive--eternal happiness. You see, Herr Frank, that the
+church considers the departure of a child from this world from a more
+exalted point of view, and comprehends it in a more spiritual sense,
+than the natural affection. While the heart grows weak from sadness,
+the church teaches us that Eliza is happy; that she has gone before us,
+and that we will be separated from her but for a short time; that
+between us there is a spiritual union which is based on the communion
+of saints. Faith teaches me that Eliza, rescued from all afflictions
+and disappointments, is happy in the kingdom of the blessed. If I could
+call her back, I would not do it; for this desire springs from egotism,
+which can make no sacrifices to love."
+
+Her eyes were full of tears as she said these last words. But that
+peculiar joy which Richard had before observed, and the meaning of
+which he now understood, again lighted up her countenance. He leaned
+back in the carriage, and was forced to admit that the religious
+conception of death was very consoling, even grand, when compared with
+that conception which modern enlightenment has of it.
+
+The carriage moved slowly through the silent court-yard, which lay as
+gloomy under the clouds as though it had put on mourning for the dead.
+The chickens sat huddled together in a corner, their heads sadly
+drooping. Even the garrulous sparrows were silent, and through the
+linden tops came a low, rustling sound like greetings from another
+world.
+
+Assisted by Richard's hand, Angela descended from the carriage. Her
+father thanked him for his sympathy, and expressed a wish to see him
+soon again in the family circle. As Richard glanced at Angela, he
+thought he read in her look a confirmation of all her father said.
+Siegwart's invitation was unnecessary. The young man was attracted more
+strongly to the proprietor's house as Angela's qualities revealed
+themselves to his astonished view more clearly. But Frank would not
+believe in the spotlessness and sublime dignity of a Christian maiden.
+He did not change his former judgment against the sex. His stubbornness
+still persisted in the opinion that Angela had her failings, which, if
+manifested, would obscure the external brilliancy of her appearance,
+but which remained hidden from view. Continued observation alone would,
+in Frank's opinion, succeed in disclosing the repulsive shadows.
+
+Perhaps a proud determination to justify his former opinions lay less
+at the bottom of this obstinate tenacity than an unconscious stratagem.
+The young man anticipated that his respect for Angela would end in
+passionate affection as soon as she stood before him in the full,
+serene power of her beauty. He feared this power, and therefore
+combated her claims.
+
+The professor had returned from his excursion into the mountains, and
+related what he had seen and heard. "Such excursions on historic
+grounds," said he, "are interesting and instructive to the historical
+inquirer. What historical sources hint at darkly become distinct, and
+many incredible things become clear and intelligible. Thus, I once read
+in an old chronicle that the monks during choral service sung with such
+enchanting sweetness that the empress and her ladies and knights who
+were present burst into tears. I smiled at this passage from the
+garrulous old chronicler, and thought that the fabulous spirit of the
+middle ages had descended into the pen of the good man. How often have
+I heard Mozart's divine music, how often have I been entranced by the
+stormy, thrilling fantasies of Beethoven! But I was never moved to
+tears, and I never saw even delicate ladies weep. Two days ago, I
+wandered alone among the ruins of the abbey of Hagenroth. I stood in
+the ruined church; above was the unclouded sky, and high round about me
+the naked walls. Here and there upon the walls hung patches of plaster,
+and these were painted. I examined the paintings and found them of
+remarkable purity and depth of sentiment. I examined the painted
+columns in the nave and choir, and found a beautiful harmony. I admired
+the excellence of the colors, on which it has snowed, rained, and
+frozen for three hundred and twenty years. I then examined the fallen
+columns, the heavy capitals, the beauty of the ornaments, and from
+these significant remnants my imagination built up the whole structure,
+and the church loomed up before me in all its simple grandeur and
+charming finish. I was forced to recognize and admire those artists who
+knew how to produce such wonderful and charming effects by such simple
+combinations. I thought on that passage of the chronicle, and I believe
+if, at that moment, the simple, pure chant of the monks had echoed
+through the basilica, I also would have been moved to tears. If the
+monks knew, thought I, how to captivate and charm by their
+architecture, why could they not do the same with music?"
+
+"The stupid monks!" said Richard.
+
+"If you had spoken those words at my side in that tone as I stood amid
+those ruins, they would have sounded like malicious envy from the mouth
+of the spirit of darkness."
+
+"Your admiration for the monks is indeed a great curiosity," said
+Frank, smiling. "Sybel's congenial friend a eulogist of the monks! That
+indeed is as strange as a square circle."
+
+"If I admire the splendor of heathenism, must I not also admire the
+fascinating, still depth of Christian childhood? In heathenism as well
+as in Christianity human genius accomplishes great and sublime things."
+
+"That, in its whole extent, I must dispute," said Frank. "Where is the
+splendor and greatness of heathenism? The heathen built palaces of
+great magnificence, but crime stalked naked about in them. When the
+lord of the palace killed his slaves for his amusement, there was no
+law to condemn him. When lords and ladies at their epicurean feasts
+would step aside into small apartments, there by artificial means to
+empty their gorged stomachs, they did not offend either against heathen
+decency or its law of moderation. The marble columns proudly supported
+gilded arches; but when beneath those arches a human victim bled under
+the knife of the priests, this was in harmony with the genius of
+heathenism. The amphitheatres were immense halls, full of art and
+magnificence, in which a hundred thousand spectators could sit and
+behold with delight the lions and tigers devour slaves, or the
+gladiators slaughtering each other for their amusement. No. True
+greatness and real splendor I do not find in heathenism. Where heathen
+greatness is, there terrible darkness, profound error, and horrible
+customs abound. Christianity had to contend for three hundred years to
+destroy the abominations of heathenism."
+
+"I will not dispute about it now," said Lutz. "You shall not destroy by
+your criticism the beautiful impressions of my excursion. I also met
+the Swedes on my tour. About thirty miles from here there is, among the
+hills, a valley. The peasants call the place the 'murder-chamber.' I
+suspected that the name might be associated with some historical event,
+and, on inquiry, I found such to be the case. In the Thirty Years' War,
+when Gustavus Adolphus, the pious hero, passed through the German
+provinces murdering and robbing, the inhabitants of the neighborhood
+fled with their wives, children, and property to this remote valley.
+They imagined themselves hid in these woods and defiles from the
+wandering Swedes, but they deceived themselves. Their hiding-place
+was discovered, and every living thing--Cows, calves, and oxen
+excepted--was put to the sword. 'The blood of the massacred,' said my
+informer, 'flowed down the valley like a brook; and for fifty years the
+neighborhood was desolate, because the Swedes had destroyed every
+thing.' Such masterpieces of Swedish blood-thirstiness are found in
+many places in Germany; and as the people celebrate them in song and
+story, it is certain that the pious hero has won for himself
+imperishable fame in the art of slaughter."
+
+"Do you not wish to have the 'murder-chamber' appear in Sybel's
+periodical?"
+
+"No; fable must be carefully separated from history; and in this case I
+want the inclination for the subject."
+
+"Fabulous! I find in the 'murder-chamber' nothing but the true Swedish
+nature of that time."
+
+The professor shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Gustavus Adolphus may wander for ever about Germany as the 'pious
+hero,' if for no other purpose than to annoy the ultramontanes."
+
+Frank thought of the Siegwart family.
+
+"I believe we are unjust in our judgments of the ultramontanes," said
+he. "I visit every day a family which my father declares not only to be
+ultramontane, but even clerical, and on account of it will not
+associate with them. But I saw there only the noble, good, and
+beautiful." And he reported circumstantially what he knew of the
+Siegwart family.
+
+"You have observed carefully; and in particular no feature of Angela
+has escaped you. This Angela," he continued jocosely, "must be an
+incarnate ideal of the other world, since she has excited the interest
+of my friend, even though she wears crinoline."
+
+"But she does not wear crinoline," said Frank.
+
+"Not!" returned the professor, smiling. "Then it is just right. The
+Angel of Salingen belongs to the nine choirs of angels, and was sent to
+the earth in woman's form to win my proud, woman-hating friend to the
+fair sex."
+
+"My conversion to the highest admiration of women is by no means
+impossible; at least in one case," answered Richard, in the same
+earnest tone.
+
+"I am astonished!" said the professor. "My interest is boundless. Could
+I not see this wonderful lady?"
+
+"Why not? It is eight o'clock. At this hour I am accustomed to make my
+visit."
+
+"Let us go, by all means," urged Lutz.
+
+On the way Frank spoke of Angela's charitable practices, of her love
+for the poor, her pious customs, and of her deep religious sentiment,
+which manifested itself in every thing; of her activity in household
+matters, of her modesty and humility. All this he said in a tone of
+enthusiasm. The professor listened with attention and smiled.
+
+As they went through the gate into the large court-yard, they saw
+Angela standing under the lindens. She held a large dish in her hand.
+About her pressed and crowded the representatives of all races and
+nations of that multitude which material progress has raised from
+slavish degradation. From Angela's hand rained golden corn among the
+chattering brood, who, pressed by a ravenous appetite, hungrily shoved,
+pushed, and upset each other. Even the chivalrous cocks had forgotten
+their propriety, and greedily snatched up the yellow fruit without
+gallantly cooing and offering the treasure to the females. Nimble ducks
+glided between the legs of the turkeys and snatched up, quick as
+lightning, the grains from their open bills. This did not please the
+turkeys, who gobbled and struck their sharp bills into the bobbing
+heads of the ducks. A solitary turkey cock alone scorned to participate
+in the hungry pleasures of the common herd. He spread his wings stiffly
+like a crinoline around his body, strutted about the yard, uttered a
+gallant guttural gobble, and played the fine lady in style.
+
+Near the gate stood the stalls. They all had double doors, so that the
+upper part could be opened while the lower half remained closed. As the
+two friends passed, they saw a massive head protruding through the open
+half of one of those doors. The head was red, and was set upon the
+powerful shoulders of a steer who had broken loose from his fastening
+to take a walk about the yard. When he saw the strangers, he began to
+snort, cock his ears, and shake his head, while his fiery eyes rolled
+wildly in his head.
+
+"A handsome beast," said Frank, as he stopped. "How wide his forehead,
+how strong his horns, how powerful his chest!"
+
+"His head," said Lutz, "would be an expressive symbol for the
+evangelist Luke."
+
+The steer was not pleased with these compliments. Bellowing angrily he
+rushed against the door, which gave way. Slowly and powerfully came
+forth from the darkness of the stall the colossal limbs of the
+dangerous beast. The friends, unexpectedly placed in the power of this
+terrible enemy, stood paralyzed. They beheld the colossus lashing his
+sides with his tail, lowering his head threateningly, and maliciously
+stealing toward them like a cat stealing to a mouse till she gets
+within a sure spring of it. The steer had evidently the same design on
+strangers. He thought to crush them with his iron forehead and amuse
+himself with tossing up their lifeless bodies. They saw this, clearly
+enough, but there was no time for flight. The red steer in his mad
+onset would certainly overtake and run them down. Luckily, the
+professor remembered from the Spanish bull-fights how they must meet
+these beasts, and he quickly warned his friend.
+
+"If he charges, slip quickly to one side."
+
+Scarcely had the words escaped his trembling lips, when the steer gave
+a short bellow, lowered his head, and, quick as an arrow, rushed upon
+Frank. He jumped to one side, but slipped and fell to the ground. The
+steer dashed against a wagon that was standing near, and broke several
+of the spokes. Maddened at the failure of his charge, he turned quickly
+about and saw Frank lying on the ground, and rejoiced over his helpless
+victim. Richard commended his soul to God, but had enough presence of
+mind not to move a limb; he even kept his eyes closed. The steer
+snuffed about, and Frank felt his warm breath. The steer evidently did
+not know how to begin with the lifeless thing, until he took it into
+his head to stick his horns into the yielding mass. The young man was
+lost--now the steer lowered his horns--now came the rescue.
+
+Angela had only observed the visitor as the bellowing steer rushed at
+him. All this took but a minute. The servants were not then in the
+yard; and before they could be called, Richard would be gored a dozen
+times by the sharp weapons of the steer. The professor trembled in
+every limb; he neither dared to cry for help, lest he might remind the
+steer of his presence, nor to move from the place. He seemed destined
+to be compelled to see his friend breathe out his life under the
+torturing stabs.
+
+Before this happened, however, Angela's voice rang imperatively through
+the yard. The astonished steer raised his head, and when he saw the
+frail form coming toward him with the dish in her hand, he gave forth a
+friendly low, and had even the good grace to go a few steps to meet
+her.
+
+"Falk, what are you about?" said she reproachfully. "You are a terrible
+beast to treat visitors so."
+
+Falk lowed his apology, and, as he perceived the contents of the dish,
+he awkwardly sank his mouth into it. Angela scratched his jaws, at
+which he was so delighted that he even forgot the dish and held still
+like a child. The professor looked on this scene with amazement--the
+airy form before the murderous head of the steer. As Master Falk began
+even to lick Angela's hand, the professor was very near believing in
+miracles.
+
+"So now, be right good, Falk!" said she coaxingly; "now go back where
+you belong. Keep perfectly quiet, Herr Frank; do not move, and it will
+be soon over."
+
+She patted the steer on the broad neck, and holding the dish before
+him, led him to the stall, into which he quickly disappeared.
+
+Frank arose.
+
+"You are not hurt?" asked Lutz with concern.
+
+"Not in the least," answered Frank, taking out his pocket handkerchief
+and brushing the dust from his clothes. The professor brought him his
+hat, which had bounced away when he fell, and placed it on the head of
+his trembling friend.
+
+Angela returned after housing the steer. Frank went some steps toward
+her, as if to thank her on his knees for his life; but he concluded to
+stand, and a sad smile passed over his countenance.
+
+"Fraeulein Angela," said he, "I have the honor of introducing to you my
+friend, Herr Lutz, professor at our university."
+
+"It gives me pleasure to know the gentleman," said she. "But I regret
+that, through the negligence of Louis, you have been in great danger.
+Great God! if I had not been in the yard." And her beautiful face
+became as pale as marble.
+
+Richard observed this expression of fright, and it shot through his
+melancholy smile like rays of the highest delight; but for his
+preserver he had not a single word of thanks. Lutz, not understanding
+this conduct, was displeased at his friend, and undertook himself to
+return her thanks.
+
+"You have placed yourself in the greatest danger, Fraeulein Angela,"
+said he. "Had I been able when you went to meet the steer, I would have
+held you back with both hands; but I must acknowledge that I was
+palsied by fear."
+
+"I placed myself in no danger," she replied. "Falk knows me well, and
+has to thank me for many dainties. When father is away, I have to go
+into the stalls to see if the servants have done their work. So all the
+animals know me, and I can call them all by name."
+
+They went into the house.
+
+"It is well that my parents are absent to-day, and that the accident
+was observed by no one; for my father would discharge the Swiss who has
+charge of the animals, for his negligence. I would be sorry for the
+poor man. I beg of you, therefore, to say nothing of it to my father. I
+will correct him for it, and I am sure he will be more careful in
+future."
+
+While she spoke, the eyes of the professor rested upon her, and it is
+scarcely doubtful that in his present judgment the splendor of the
+rostrum was eclipsed. Frank sat silent, observing. He scarcely joined
+in the conversation, which his friend conducted with great warmth.
+
+"This occurrence," said Lutz, on his way home, "appears to me like an
+episode from the land of fables and wonders. First, the steer fight;
+then the overcoming of the beast by a maiden; lastly, a maid of such
+beauty that all the fair ones of romance are thrown in the shade. By
+heaven, I must call all my learning to my aid in order to be able to
+forget her and not fall in love up to the ears!"
+
+Frank said nothing.
+
+"And you did not even thank her!" said Lutz vehemently. "Your conduct
+was more than ungallant. I do not understand you."
+
+"Nothing without reason," said Frank.
+
+"No matter! Your conduct cannot be justified," growled the professor.
+"I would like to know the reason that prevented you from thanking your
+preserver for your life?"
+
+Richard stopped, looked quietly into the glowing countenance of his
+friend, and proceeded doubtingly,
+
+"You shall know all, and then judge if my offensive conduct is not
+pardonable."
+
+He began to relate how he met Angela for the first time on the lonely
+road in the forest, how she then made a deep impression on him, what he
+learned of her from the poor man and from Klingenberg, and how his
+opinion of womankind had been shaken by Angela; then he spoke of his
+object in visiting the Siegwart family, of his observations and
+experience.
+
+"I had about come to the conclusion, and the occurrence of to-day
+realizes that conclusion, that Angela possesses that admirable virtue
+which, until now, I believed only to exist in the ideal world. If there
+is a spark of vanity in her, I must have offended her. She must have
+looked resentfully at me, the ungrateful man, and treated me sulkily.
+But such was not the case; her eyes rested on me with the same
+clearness and kindness as ever. My coarse unthankfulness did not offend
+her, because she does not think much of herself, because she makes no
+pretensions, because she does not know her great excellence, but
+considers her little human weaknesses in the light of religious
+perfection--in short, because she is truly humble. She will bury this
+dauntless deed in forgetfulness. She does not wish the little and great
+journals to bring her courage into publicity. Tell me a woman, or even
+a man, who could be capable of such modesty? Who would risk life to
+rescue a stranger from the horns of a ferocious steer without
+hesitation, and not desire an acknowledgment of the heroic deed? How
+great is Angela, how admirable in every act! I was unthankful; yes, in
+the highest degree unthankful. But I placed myself willingly in this
+odious light, in order to see Angela in full splendor. As I said," he
+concluded quietly, "I must soon confess myself besieged--vanquished on
+the whole line of observation."
+
+"And what then?" said the professor.
+
+"Then I am convinced," said Richard, "that female worth exists, shining
+and brilliant, and that in the camp of the ultramontanes."
+
+"A shaming experience for us," replied the professor. "You make your
+studies practical, you destroy all the results of learned investigation
+by living facts. To be just, it must be admitted that a woman like what
+you have described Angela to be only grows and ripens on the ground of
+religious influences and convictions."
+
+"And did you observe," said Richard, "how modestly she veiled the
+splendor of her brave action? She denied that there was any danger in
+the presence of the steer, although it is well known that those beasts
+in moments of rage forget all friendship. Angela must certainly have
+felt this as she went to meet the horns of the infuriated animal to
+rescue me."
+
+Frank visited daily, and sometimes twice a day, the Siegwart family; he
+was always received with welcome, and might be considered an intimate
+friend. The family spirit unfolded itself clearer and clearer to his
+view. He found that every thing in that house was pervaded by a
+religious influence, and this without any design or haughty piety. The
+assessor was destined to receive a striking proof of this.
+
+One afternoon a coach rolled into the court-yard. The family were at
+tea. The Assessor von Hamm entered, dressed entirely in black; even the
+red ribbon was wanting in the button-hole.
+
+"I have learned with grief of the misfortune that has overtaken you,"
+said he after a very formal reception. "I obey the impulse of my heart
+when I express my sincere sympathy in the great affliction you have
+suffered in the death of the dear little Eliza."
+
+The tears came into the eyes of Madame Siegwart. Angela looked straight
+before her, as if to avoid the glance of the assessor.
+
+"We thank you, Herr von Hamm," returned the proprietor. "We were
+severely tried, but we are reasonable enough to know that our family
+cannot be exempted from the afflictions of human life."
+
+Hamm sat down, a cup was set before him, and Angela poured him out a
+cup of fragrant tea. The assessor acknowledged this service with his
+sweetest smile, and the most obliged expression of thanks.
+
+"You are right," he then said. "No one is exempt from the stroke of
+fate. Man must submit to the unavoidable. To the ancients, blind fate
+was terrific and frightful. The present enlightenment submits with
+resignation."
+
+If a bomb had plunged into the room and exploded upon the table, it
+could not have produced greater confusion than these words of the
+assessor. Madame Siegwart looked at him with astonishment and shook her
+head. The proprietor, embarrassed, sipped his tea. Angela's blooming
+cheeks lost their color. Hamm did not even perceive the effect of his
+fatal words, and Frank was scarcely able to hide his secret pleasure at
+Hamm's sad mishap.
+
+"We know no fate, no blind, unavoidable destiny," said Siegwart, who
+could not forgive the assessor his unchristian sentiment. "But we know
+a divine providence, an all-powerful will, without whose consent the
+sparrow does not fall from the house-top. We believe in a Father in
+heaven who, counts the hairs of our heads, and whose counsels rule our
+destiny."
+
+Hamm smiled.
+
+"You believe then, Herr Siegwart, that divine providence, or rather
+God, has aimed that blow at you?"
+
+"Yes; so I believe."
+
+"Pardon me. I think you judge too hard of God. It is inconsistent with
+his paternal goodness to afflict your beloved child with such
+misfortune."
+
+"Misfortune? It is to be doubted whether Eliza's death is a misfortune.
+Perhaps her early departure from this world is precisely her happiness;
+and then we must reflect that God is master of life and death. It is
+not for us to call the Almighty to account, even if his divine
+ordinances should be counter to our wishes."
+
+"I respect your religious convictions, Herr Siegwart. Permit me,
+however, to observe that God is much too exalted to have an eye to all
+human trifles. He simply created the natural law; this he leaves to its
+course. All the elements must obey these laws. Every creature is
+subject to them; and when Eliza died, she died in consequence of the
+course of these laws, but not through God's express will. Do you not
+think that this view of our misfortunes reconciles us with the
+conceptions we have of God's goodness?"
+
+"No; I do not believe it, because such a view contradicts the Christian
+faith," replied Siegwart earnestly. "What kind of a God, what kind of a
+Father would he be who would let every thing go as it might? He would
+be less a father than the poorest laborer who supports his family in
+the sweat of his brow."
+
+"And the whole army of misfortunes that daily overtake the human
+family? Does this army await the command of God?"
+
+"Do not forget, Herr Assessor, that the most of these misfortunes are
+deserved; brought on by our sins and passions. If excesses would cease,
+how many sources of nameless calamities would disappear! For the rest,
+it is my firm conviction that nothing happens or can happen in the
+whole universe without the express will of God, or at least by his
+permission."
+
+The official shook his head.
+
+"This question is evidently of great importance to every man," said
+Frank. "Man is often not master of the course of his life; for it is
+developed by a chain of circumstances, accidents, and providential
+interferences that are not in man's power. I understand very well that
+to be subject to blind chance, to an irrevocable fate, is something
+disquieting and discouraging to man. Equally consoling, on the other
+hand, is the Christian faith in the loving care of an all-powerful
+Father, without whose permission a hair of our head cannot be touched.
+But things of such great injustice, of such irresistible power, and of
+such painful consequences happen on earth, that I cannot reconcile them
+with divine love."
+
+While Frank spoke, Angela's eyes rested on him with the greatest
+attention; and when he concluded, she lowered her glance, and an
+earnest, thoughtful expression passed over her countenance.
+
+"There are accidents that apparently are not the result of man's
+fault," said Siegwart. "Torrents sweep over the land and destroy all
+the fruit of man's industry. Perhaps these torrents are only the
+scourges which the justice of God waves over a lawless land. But I
+admit that among the victims there are many good men. Storms wreck
+ships at sea, and many human lives are lost. Avalanches plunge from the
+Alps and bury whole towns in their resistless fall. It is such
+accidents as these you have in view."
+
+"Precisely--exactly so. How will you reconcile all these with the
+fatherly goodness of God?" cried Hamm triumphantly.
+
+The proprietor smiled.
+
+"Permit me to ask a question, Herr Assessor. Why does the state make
+laws?"
+
+"To preserve order."
+
+"I anticipated this natural reply," continued the proprietor. "If
+malefactors were not punished, thieves and desperadoes, their bad
+practices being permitted, would have full play. Then all order would
+vanish; human society would dissolve into a chaos of disorder. God also
+created laws which are necessary for the preservation of the natural
+order. Storms destroy ships. If there were no storms, all growth in the
+vegetable kingdom would cease. Poisonous vapors would fill the air, and
+every living thing must miserably die. Avalanches destroy villages. But
+if it did not snow, the torrents would no longer run, the streams would
+dry up and the wells would disappear, and man and beast would die of
+thirst. You see, gentlemen, God cannot abolish that law of nature
+without endangering the whole creation."
+
+"That explains some, but not all," replied Hamm. "God is all-powerful;
+it would be but a trifle for him to protect us by his almighty power
+from the destructive forces of the elements. Why does he not do so?"
+
+"The reason is clear," answered Angela's father: "God would have
+constantly to work miracles. Miracles are exceptions to the workings of
+the laws of nature. Now, if God would constantly suppress the power,
+and unceasingly interrupt the laws of nature, then there would be no
+longer a law of nature. The supernatural would have devoured the
+natural. The Almighty would have destroyed the present creation."
+
+"No matter," said the official. "God might destroy the natural forces
+that are inimical to man; for all that exists is only of value because
+of its use to man."
+
+"Then nothing whatever would remain. All would be lost," said Siegwart.
+"We speak and write much about earthly happiness that soon passes away.
+We glorify the beauty of creation; but we forget that God's curse rests
+on this earth, and it does not require great penetration to see this
+curse in all things."
+
+"You believe, then, in the future destruction of the earth?" asked
+Hamm.
+
+"Divine revelation teaches it," said Siegwart. "The Holy Scriptures
+expressly say there will be a new earth and a new heaven; and the Lord
+himself assures us that the foundations of the earth will be overturned
+and the stars shall fall from the heavens."
+
+"The stars fall from the heavens!" cried Hamm, laughing. "If you could
+only hear what the astronomers say about that."
+
+"What the astronomers say is of no consequence. They did not create the
+heavenly bodies, and cannot give them boundaries; besides, we need not
+take the falling of the stars literally. This expression may signify
+their disappearance from the earth, perhaps the abolition of the laws
+by which they have heretofore been moved, and the reconstruction of
+those relations which existed between heaven and earth prior to the
+fall. God will then do what you now demand of him, Herr von Hamm,"
+concluded Siegwart, smiling. "He will destroy the inimical power of
+nature, so that the new earth will be free from thorns, tears, and
+lamentations."
+
+Thus they continued to dispute, and the debate became so animated that
+even Angela entered the list in favor of providence.
+
+"I believe," said she with charming blushes, "that the miseries of this
+earthly life can only be explained and understood in view of man's
+eternal destiny. God spares the sinner through forbearance and mercy;
+he sends trials and misfortunes to the good for their purification. God
+demanded of Abraham the sacrifice of his only son; but when Abraham
+showed obedience to the command, and consented to make that boundless
+sacrifice, he was provided with another victim to offer sacrifice to
+God."
+
+"Fraeulein Angela," exclaimed Hamm enthusiastically, "you have solved
+the problem. Your comprehensive remark reconciles even the innocent
+sufferers with repulsive decrees. O Fraeulein!"--and the assessor fell
+into a tone of reverie--"were it permitted me to go through life by the
+side of a partner who possesses your spirit and your conciliatory
+mildness!"
+
+Angela looked down blushing. She was embarrassed, and dared not raise
+her eyes. Her first glance, after a few moments, was at Richard.
+
+
+Frank wrote in his diary:
+
+"Even the preaching tone becomes her admirably. Morality and religion
+flow from her lips as from a pure fountain that vivifies her soul."
+
+
+As yet he had not surrendered to Angela.
+
+Frank sprang from an obstinate Westphalian stock; and that the
+Westphalians have not exchanged their stiff necks for those of
+shepherds, is sufficiently proved by their stubborn fight with the
+powers who menaced their liberties. Had Frank been a good-natured
+South-German or even Municher, he would long since have bowed head and
+knees to the "Angel of Salingen." But he now maintained the last
+position of his antipathy to women against Angela's superior powers.
+
+He visited the Siegwart family not twice, but thrice, even four times a
+day. He appeared suddenly and unexpectedly before Angela like a spy who
+wished to detect faults.
+
+Just as he was going over the court, on one occasion, a tall lad came
+up to him. The boy came from the same fatal door through which Master
+Falk had rushed out upon Richard with such bad intentions. The servant
+held his hat in his right hand, and with his left fumbled the bright
+buttons on his red vest.
+
+"Herr Frank, excuse me; I have something to say to you. I have wanted
+to speak to you for the last three days, but could not because my
+master was always in the way. But now, as my master is in the fields, I
+can state my trouble, if you will allow me."
+
+"What trouble have you?"
+
+"I am the Swiss through whose fault the steer came near doing you a
+great injury. It is inexplicable to me, even now, how the animal got
+loose. But Falk is very cunning. I cannot be too watchful of him. His
+head is full of schemes; and before you can turn around, he has played
+one of his tricks. The chain has a clasp with a latch, and how he broke
+it, he only knows."
+
+"It is all right," replied Frank. "I believe you are not to blame."
+
+"I am not to blame about the chain. But I am for the door being open,
+Miss Angela said; and she is perfectly right. Therefore, I beg your
+pardon and promise you that nothing of the kind shall happen in
+future."
+
+"The pardon is granted, on condition that you guard the steer better."
+
+"Miss Angela said that too; and she required me to ask your pardon,
+which I have done."
+
+Angela stood in the garden, hidden behind the rose-bushes, and heard,
+smiling, the conversation.
+
+As Frank passed over the yard, she came from the garden carrying a
+basketful of vegetables. At the same time a harvest-wagon, loaded with
+rapes and drawn by four horses, came into the yard.
+
+"Your industry extends to the garden also, Miss Angela," said Frank,
+"Now I know no branch of housekeeping that you cannot take a part in."
+
+"My work is, however, insignificant," she returned. "In a large house
+there is always a great deal to do, and every one must try to be
+useful."
+
+"Your garden deserves all praise," continued Richard, eyeing the
+contents of the baskets. "What magnificent peas and beans!"
+
+For the first time Frank observed in her face something like flattered
+vanity, and he almost rejoiced at this small shadow on the celestial
+form before him. But the supposed shadow was quickly changed into light
+before his eyes. "Father brought these early beans into the
+neighborhood; they are very tender and palatable. Father likes them,
+and I am glad to be able to make him a salad this evening. He will be
+astonished to see his young favorites of this year, eight days earlier
+than formerly. There he comes; he must not see them now." She covered
+them with some lettuce.
+
+And this was the shadow of flattered vanity! Childish joy, to be able
+to astonish her father with an agreeable dish.
+
+The loaded wagon stopped in the yard; the horses snorted and pawed the
+ground impatiently. The servants opened the barn-doors, and Frank saw
+on all sides activity and haste to house the valuable crop.
+
+Siegwart shook hands with the visitor.
+
+"The first blessing of the year," said the proprietor. "The rapes have
+turned out well. We had a fine blooming season, and the flies could not
+do much damage."
+
+"I have often observed those little flies in the rape-fields," said
+Frank. "You can count millions of them; but I did not know that they
+injured the crop."
+
+They both went into the house, where a bottle of Munich beer awaited
+them. Soon after, the servants went through the hall, and Frank heard
+Angela's voice from the kitchen, where she was busily occupied. The
+servants brought bread, plates, cheese, and jugs of light wine to the
+servants' room.
+
+"Neighbor," said Siegwart, "I invite you to-morrow afternoon at four
+o'clock to a family entertainment--providing it will be agreeable to
+you."
+
+The invitation was accepted.
+
+"You must not expect much from the entertainment. It will, at least, be
+new to you."
+
+Frank was much interested in the character of this ultramontane
+entertainment. He thought of a May party, a coronation party; but
+rejected this idea, for Siegwart promised a family entertainment, and
+this could not be a May party. He thought of all kinds of plays, and
+what part Angela would take in them. But the play also seemed
+improbable, and at last the subject of the invitation remained an
+interesting mystery to him, the solution of which he awaited with
+impatience.
+
+An hour before the appointed time Richard left Frankenhoehe, after
+Klingenberg had excused him from the daily walk. He took a roundabout
+way along the edge of the forest; for he knew that the Siegwart family
+would be at divine service, and he did not wish to arrive at the house
+a moment before the time. Sunday stillness rested on all. The mountains
+rose up a deep blue; the vari-colored fields were partly yellow; the
+vineyards alone were of a deep green, and when the wind blew through
+them it wafted with it the pleasant odors of the vine-blossoms.
+
+Madame Siegwart was just returning home from Salingen between her two
+children. Henry, a youth of seventeen and the future proprietor of the
+property, had the same manners as his father. He walked leisurely on
+the road-side, examining the blooming wheat and ripening corn. When he
+discovered nests of vine weevils, he plucked them off and crushed the
+eggs of the hated enemies of all wine-growers. Angela remained
+constantly at her mother's side, and as she accidentally raised her
+eyes to where Richard stood, he made a movement as though he was caught
+disadvantageously.
+
+A short distance behind them came Siegwart, surrounded by some men.
+They often stopped and talked in a lively manner. Frank thought that
+these men were also invited, and hoped to become acquainted with the
+_elite_ of Salingen. He was, however, disappointed; for a short
+distance from Siegwart's house the men turned back to Salingen. They
+had only accompanied the proprietor part of the way. The servants of
+Siegwart also came hastening along the road, first the men-servants,
+and some distance behind them the maid-servants. Frank had observed
+this separation before, and thought it must be in consequence of the
+strict orders of the master. Frank considered this narrow-minded, and
+thought of finding fault with it, in true modern spirit. But then he
+considered the results of his observations, which had extended to the
+servants. He often admired the industry and regular conduct of these
+people. He never heard any oath or rough expressions of passion; every
+one knew his work, and performed it with care and attention. He
+observed this regular order with admiration, particularly when he
+thought of the disobedience, dissatisfaction, and untrustworthiness of
+the generality of servants. Siegwart must possess a great secret to
+keep these people in agreement and order; therefore he rejected his
+former opinion of narrow-mindedness, and believed the proprietor must
+have good reason for this separation of the sexes.
+
+Frank remained for a time under the shadow of an oak, looked at his
+watch, and finally descended the shortest way. He was expected by
+Siegwart, and immediately conducted to the large room. The arrangement
+of the room showed at a glance its use. There was a small altar at one
+side, and religious pictures hung on the walls. There was also a
+harmonium, and on the windows hung curtains on which were painted
+scenes from sacred history. In the middle of the room there was a desk,
+on which lay a book. To the right of the desk sat the men-servants, to
+the left the maids, the Siegwart family in the centre. A smile passed
+over Frank's countenance at the present religious entertainment--for
+him, at least, a new sort of recreation. At his entrance the whole
+assembly rose. He greeted Angela and her mother, pressed warmly the
+hand of Henry, and took the seat allotted to him.
+
+Angela ascended the pulpit, sat down and opened the book. She read the
+life of the servant St. Zitta, whom the church numbers among the
+saints. Angela read in a masterly manner. The narrative tone of her
+soft, melodious voice ran like a quickening stream through the soul.
+Some passages she pronounced with plastic force, and into the delivery
+of others she breathed warm life. All listened with great attention.
+Zitta's childhood passed in quick review, then her hard lot with a
+master difficult to please. The servants listened with astonishment.
+They heard with pious attention of Zitta's pure conduct, of her
+fidelity and humility, of her industry and self-denial. They all felt
+personally their own deficiency in comparison with this shining model.
+When Angela closed the book, Frank saw that the servants were deeply
+impressed. Meditatively they left the room, as though they had heard a
+striking sermon.
+
+"Ah!" thought Frank. "Now I know one of the means by which Siegwart
+influences his people."
+
+"Now comes the second part of the entertainment," said the proprietor,
+taking Richard's arm. "We will now go into the garden."
+
+On the way thither Frank saw under the lindens a long table set with
+food and wine, and at it sat the servants. Richard heard their
+conversation in passing. They talked of St. Zitta and recounted the
+striking facts of her life.
+
+Near the garden wall grew a vine-arbor, which caught the cool air as it
+passed and loaded it with pleasant odors. Thousands of the flowers of
+the blooming vine appeared between the indented leaves. Each of these
+diminutive flowers breathed forth a fragrance which for sweetness of
+odor could not be surpassed.
+
+A young brood of goldfinches, who had taken possession of the arbor,
+now cleared off. They flew up on the dwarf trees, or hid among the
+roses, which of all colors and kinds grew in the garden. The hungry
+young ones cried incessantly, and tested severely the parental duty of
+support. But the old ones were not ashamed of this duty. Here and there
+they caught flies and other insects, and carried them to the young
+ones, who stood with outstretched wings and flabby bills wide open.
+Then the old ones would fly away again, light on the branches--mostly
+on bean-stalks--make quick dodges, wave their tails, smack their
+tongues, and seize as quick as lightning a harmless passing fly. The
+sparrows did not behave so harmlessly. They pecked at the bright
+shining cherries that hung in full clusters on the swaying branches.
+Others of this sharp-billed gentry hopped about on the strawberry-beds,
+and disfigured the large berries as they tore off great pieces of the
+soft meat. One of them had even the boldness to hop about on the
+decorated table that stood at the upper end of the arbor, to strike his
+sharp bill into the buttered bread, make an examination of the
+preserves, ogle the slices of ham, and admire the black bottles that
+stood on the ground. He also took to flight as the company arrived. The
+vine-blossoms seemed to send forth a sweeter fragrance as Angela,
+bright and beaming, approached, leaning on the arm of her mother.
+
+"Do you have this edifying reading every Sunday?" asked Richard.
+
+"Regularly," answered the proprietor. "It is an old custom of our
+family, and I find it has such good results that I will not have it
+abolished. The servants are not obliged to be present. They are free
+after vespers, each one to employ himself as best suits him. But it
+seldom happens that a servant or a maid is absent. They like to hear
+the legends, and you may have remarked that they listen with great
+attention to the reading."
+
+"I have observed it," said Frank. "Miss Angela is also such an
+excellent reader that only deaf people would not attend."
+
+She smiled and blushed a little at this praise.
+
+"I consider it a strict obligation of employers to have a supervision
+over the conduct of the servants," said Madame Siegwart. "Many, perhaps
+most, servants are treated like the slaves in old heathen times. They
+work for their masters, are paid for it, and there the relation between
+master and servant ends. This is why they neglect divine service on
+Sundays and feast-days; their moral wants are not satisfied, their
+natural inclinations are not purified by restraints of a higher order.
+The servants sit in the taverns, where they squander their wages, and
+the maids rove about and gossip. This is a great injustice to the
+servants, and full of bad consequences. It cannot be questioned that
+masters should shield their servants from error and keep them under
+moral discipline."
+
+"Precisely my opinion," returned Frank. "If servants are frequently
+spoiled and general complaint is made of it, the masters are greatly in
+fault. I have long since admired the conduct of your servants. I looked
+upon Herr Siegwart as a kind of sorcerer, who conjured every thing
+under his charge according to his will. Now a part of the sorcery is
+clear to me."
+
+"Well, you were favorable in your judgment," said the proprietor,
+laughing. "So you considered me a magician; others consider me an
+ultramontanist, and that is something still worse."
+
+Richard smiled and blushed slightly.
+
+"You no doubt have heard this honorable title applied to me, Herr
+Frank?"
+
+"Yes, I have heard of it."
+
+"And I scarcely deceive myself in supposing," continued Siegwart
+good-humoredly, "that your father has spoken to you of his neighbor,
+the ultramontane."
+
+"You do not deceive yourself at all," answered Frank. "I consider it a
+great honor to have become better acquainted with the ultramontane."
+
+"I have often wished to speak to you," continued the proprietor, "of
+the reason which called forth your father's displeasure with me. I
+suppose, however, that you have heard it."
+
+"My father never spoke of it, and I am eager to know the unfortunate
+cause."
+
+"It is as follows. About ten years ago your father, with some other
+gentlemen, wished to establish a great factory in this neighborhood.
+The land on which it was to stand is a marsh lying near a pond, the
+water of which was to be made of use to the factory. I tried with all
+my power to prevent this design, and even for social and religious
+reasons. Our neighborhood needed no factory. There are but few very
+poor people, and these support themselves sufficiently well among the
+farmers. Experience proves that factories have a bad effect on the
+people in their neighborhood. Our people are firm believers. The
+peasants keep conscientiously the Sundays and festivals. In all their
+cares for the earthly they do not forget the eternal life. This
+religious sentiment spreads happiness and peace over our quiet
+neighborhood. The factory, which knows no Sunday, and the operatives,
+who are sometimes very bad men, would have brought a harsh discordance
+into the quiet harmony of the neighborhood. I considered these and
+other injurious influences, and offered a higher price for the swamp
+than your father and his friends. As there was no other convenient
+place about, the enterprise had to be given up. Since that time your
+father is offended with me because I made his favorite project
+impossible. This is the way it stands. That it is painful to me, I need
+not assure you. But according to my principles and views I could not do
+otherwise. Now judge how far I am to be condemned."
+
+"I speak freely," said Frank. "You have acted from principles that one
+must respect, and which my father would have respected if he had known
+them."
+
+The proprietor could have observed that he had, in a long letter,
+justified himself to Herr Frank. But he suppressed the observation, as
+he felt it would be painful to his son.
+
+"Father," said Henry, "hunger and thirst are appeased. Can I ride out
+for an hour?"
+
+"Yes, my son; but not longer. Be back by supper-time."
+
+The young man promised, and, after a friendly bow to Frank, hastened
+from the garden. The little circle continued some time in friendly
+chat. The servants under the lindens became noisy and sang merry songs.
+The maids sat around the tea-table in the kitchen and praised St.
+Zitta.
+
+The cook appeared in the arbor and announced that Herr von Hamm was in
+the house, and wished to speak on important business to Herr and Madame
+Siegwart.
+
+"What can he want?" said the proprietor in surprise. "Excuse me, Herr
+Frank; the business will soon be over. I beg you to remain till we
+return. Angela, prevent him from going."
+
+Angela, smiling, looked after her retiring parents and then at Richard.
+
+"I must keep you, Herr Frank. How shall I begin?"
+
+"That is very easy, Fraeulein. Your presence is sufficient to realize
+your father's wish. A weak child of human nature cannot resist one who
+can conquer steers."
+
+"Now you make a steer-catcher of me. Such a thing never happened in
+Spain; for there the steers are not so cultivated and docile as they
+are with us."
+
+She took out her knitting.
+
+"This is Sunday, Miss Angela!"
+
+"Do you consider knitting unlawful after one has fulfilled one's
+religious duties?"
+
+"The case is not clear to me," said Frank, smiling secretly at the
+earnestness of the questioner. "My casuistic knowledge is not
+sufficient to solve such a question reasonably."
+
+"The church only forbids servile work," said she. "I consider knitting
+and sewing as something better than doing nothing."
+
+"I am rejoiced that you are not narrow-minded, Fraeulein. But this
+little stocking does not fit your feet?"
+
+"It is for little bare feet in Salingen," she replied, laying the
+finished stocking on the table and stroking it with both hands as a
+work of love.
+
+"I have heard of your beneficence," said Frank. "You knit, sew, and
+cook for the poor people. You are a refuge for all the needy and
+distressed. How good in you!"
+
+"You exaggerate, Herr Frank. I do a little sometimes, but not more than
+I can do with the house-work, which is scarcely worth mentioning. I
+make no sacrifice in doing it; on the contrary, the poor give me more
+than I give them; for giving is to every one more pleasant than
+receiving."
+
+"To every one, Fraeulein?"
+
+"To every one who can give without denying herself."
+
+"But you are accustomed also to visit the sick, and the hovels of
+poverty are certainly not attractive."
+
+"Indeed, Herr Frank, very attractive," she answered quickly. "The
+thanks of the poor sick are so affecting and elevating that one is paid
+a thousand times for a little trouble."
+
+Frank let the subject drop. Angela did not give charities from pride or
+the gratification of vanity, as he had been prepared to assume, but
+from natural goodness and inclination of the heart. He looked at the
+beautiful girl who sat before him industriously sewing, and was almost
+angry at his failure to detect a fault in her pure nature.
+
+"Do you always adorn the statue of the Virgin on the mountain?" said he
+after a pause.
+
+"No; not now. The month of our dear Lady is over. I always think with
+pleasure of the happy hours when in the convent we adorned her altar
+with beautiful flowers."
+
+"You must have a great reverence for Mary, or you would not ascend the
+mountain daily."
+
+"I admire the exalted virtues of Mary, and think with sorrow of her
+painful life on earth; and then, a weak creature needs much her
+powerful protection."
+
+"Do you expect, Miss Angela, by such attention as you show the statue
+to obtain protection of the saint?"
+
+"No, I do not believe that. The adorning of the pictures of saints
+would be idle trifling if the heart wandered far from the spirit of the
+saints. Our church teaches, as you know, that the real, true veneration
+of the saints consists in imitating their virtues."
+
+Frank sat reflecting. The examination and probation were thoroughly
+disgusting to him. Siegwart appeared in the garden, and came with quick
+steps to the arbor. His countenance was agitated and his eyes glowed
+with indignation. Without speaking a word, he drank off a glass of
+wine. Frank saw how he endeavored not to exhibit his anger.
+
+"Has Herr von Hamm departed?" asked Richard.
+
+"Yes, he is off again," said the proprietor. "Angela, your mother has
+something to say to you."
+
+"Now guess what the assessor wanted?" said Siegwart, after his daughter
+had left the arbor.
+
+"Perhaps he wanted the Peter-pence collection," said Frank, smiling.
+
+"No. Herr von Hamm wanted nothing more or less than to marry my
+daughter!"
+
+Frank was astonished. Although he long since saw through Hamm's
+designs, he did not expect so sudden and hasty a step.
+
+"And in what manner did he demand her?"
+
+"It is revolting," said the proprietor, much offended. "Herr von Hamm
+graciously condescends to us peasants. He showed that it would be a
+great good fortune for us to give our daughter to the noble, the
+official with brilliant prospects."
+
+"Herr von Hamm does not think little of himself," said Richard drily.
+
+"How did the man ever come to ask my daughter? He and Angela! What
+opposites!"
+
+"Which, of course, you made clear to him."
+
+"I reminded the gentleman that identity of moral and religious
+principles alone could render matrimonial happiness possible. I
+reminded him that Angela was an ultramontane, whose opinions would
+daily annoy him, while his modern opinions must deeply offend Angela.
+This I set before him briefly. Then I told him frankly and freely that
+I did not wish to make either him or Angela unhappy, and at this he
+went away angrily."
+
+"You have done your duty," said Frank. "I am also of opinion that
+similar convictions in the great principles of life alone insure the
+happiness of married life."
+
+When Richard came home, he wrote in his diary:
+
+
+"June 4.--Unconditional surrender. What I supposed only to exist in the
+ideal world is realized in the daughter of an ultramontane. Angela,
+compared to our crinolines, our flirts, our insipid coquettes--how
+brilliant the light, how deep the shadow!
+
+"My visits to that family have no longer a purpose. I feel they must be
+discontinued for the sake of my peace. I dare not dream of a happiness
+of which I am unworthy. But my future life will feel painfully the want
+of a happiness the possibility of which I did not dream. This is a
+punishment for presuming to penetrate the pure, glorious character of
+the Angel of Salingen."
+
+
+He buried his face in his hands, and leaned on the table. He remained
+thus a long time; when he raised his head, his face was pale, and his
+eyes were moist with tears.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII.
+
+                            POISONOUS FOOD.
+
+
+"Herr Frank has not been here for four days," said Siegwart as he
+returned one day from the field. "He will not come to-day, for it is
+already nine o'clock, I hope the young man is not ill."
+
+Angela started.
+
+"Ill? May God forbid!"
+
+"At least, I know no other reason that could prevent him from coming.
+He has become a necessity to me; I seem to miss something."
+
+Angela concealed her uneasiness in true womanly fashion. She busied
+herself about the room, dusted the furniture, arranged the vases, and
+trimmed the flowers; but one could see that her mind was not in the
+work.
+
+"Would it not be well, father, to send and inquire after his health?"
+
+"It would if we were certain that he was ill. I only made a conjecture.
+However, if he does not come to-morrow, I will send Henry over.
+
+"We owe him this attention; he is sensible, modest, and very
+intelligent. We find at present in the cities and first families few
+young men of so little assumption and so much goodness and manliness."
+
+Angela pricked her finger. She had incautiously wandered into the
+thicket, as if she did not know that roses have thorns.
+
+"Many things tell of his kind-heartedness," she replied, with averted
+face. "He sends five dollars every week to the old blind woman in
+Salingen; he often takes the money himself, and comforts the
+unfortunate creature. The blind woman is full of enthusiasm about him.
+He bought the cooper a full set of tools, that he might be able to
+support his mother and seven little sisters."
+
+"Very praiseworthy," said the father.
+
+As Siegwart came home in the evening, Angela met him in the yard. She
+carried a basket and was about to go into the garden.
+
+"Herr Frank is not unwell," said he; "I saw him in the field and went
+through the vineyard to meet him; but when he discovered my intention,
+he turned about and hastened toward the house. That surprises me."
+
+Angela went into the garden. She stood on the bed and gazed at the
+lettuce. The empty basket awaited its contents, and in it lay the knife
+whose bright blade glistened before the idle dreamer. She stood thus
+meditating, lost in thought for a long time, which was certainly not
+her custom.
+
+
+Herr Frank had returned from the city, and was roughly received by the
+doctor.
+
+"Have you spoken to your son?" said he sharply.
+
+"No! I have just alighted from the carriage," answered Frank in
+astonishment.
+
+The doctor walked up and down the room, and Frank saw his face growing
+darker.
+
+"You disturb me, good friend. How is Richard?"
+
+"Bad, very bad! And it is all your fault. You gave Richard those
+materialistic books which I threw out of the window. He has read the
+trash--not read, but studied it; and now we have the consequences."
+
+"Pardon me, doctor. I did not give my son those books. He was passing
+the window when you threw them out, and took them to his room."
+
+"You knew that! Why did you leave him the miserable trash?"
+
+"I had no idea of the danger of these writings. Explain yourself
+further, I entreat."
+
+"You must first see your son. But I bind it on your conscience to use
+the greatest precaution. Do not show the least surprise. We have to
+deal with a dangerous disorder. Do not say a word about his changed
+appearance. Then come back to me again."
+
+Greatly disturbed, the father passed to the room of his son. Richard
+sat on the sofa gazing at the floor. His cheeks had lost their bloom,
+his face was emaciated, and his eyes deeply sunken. Vogt's
+_Physiological Letters_ lay open near him. He did not rise quickly and
+joyfully to kiss his father, as was his custom. He remained sitting,
+and smiled languidly at him. Herr Frank, grieved and perplexed, sat
+down near him, and took occasion to pick up the book:
+
+"How are you, Richard?"
+
+"Very well, as you see."
+
+"You are industrious. What book is this?"
+
+"A rare book, father--a remarkable book. One learns there to know what
+man is and what he is not. Until now, I did not know that cats, dogs,
+monkeys, and all animals were of our race. Now I know; for it is
+clearly demonstrated in that book."
+
+"You certainly do not believe such absurdities?"
+
+"Believe? I believe nothing at all. Faith ends where proof begins."
+
+Herr Frank read the open page.
+
+"All this sounds very silly," said he. "Vogt asserts that man has no
+soul, and proves it from the fact that men become idiotic. If the
+functions of the brain are disturbed, the soul ceases, says Vogt. He
+therefore concludes that the spirit consists in the brain. The man must
+have been crazy when he wrote that. I am no scholar; but I see at the
+first glance how false and groundless are Vogt's inferences. Every
+reasonable man knows that the brain is the instrument of the mind,
+which enables it to participate in the world of sense; now, when the
+instrument is destroyed, the participation of the mind with the outward
+world must cease. Although a man may be an expert on the violin, he
+cannot play if the strings are broken or out of tune. But the player,
+his ideas, the art, still remain. In like manner the spirit remains,
+although it can no longer play on the injured or discordant fibres of
+the brain."
+
+"You must read the whole book, father, and then those others there."
+
+"But, Richard, you must not read books that rob man of all dignity."
+
+"Of course not. I should do as the ostrich. When he is in danger, he
+sticks his head into the bushes not to see the danger. A prudent plan.
+But I cannot close my eyes to the light, even if that light should
+destroy my human respect."
+
+Greatly afflicted, Herr Frank returned to the doctor.
+
+"Great God! in what a condition is my poor Richard!" said the oppressed
+father.
+
+"He will, I hope, be rescued. My stay at Frankenhoehe was to end with
+the month of May; but I cannot forsake a young man whom I love, in this
+helpless state of mental delirium."
+
+"I do not understand the condition of my son; and your words give me
+great anxiety. Have the goodness to tell me what is the matter with
+Richard, and how it came about."
+
+"It would be very difficult to make your son's condition clear to you.
+In you there is only business, lucrative undertakings, speculative
+combinations. The bustle of the money market is your world. You have no
+idea of the power of an intellectual struggle. You know the thoughtful,
+intellectual nature of your son; and here I begin. In the first place,
+I will remind you that Richard wishes to be governed by the power of
+deduction. With him fantasies and passions retreat before this force,
+although usually in men of his years, and even in men with gray hair,
+clearness of mind and keen penetration are often swept away by the
+current of stormy passions. Richard's aversion to women is the result
+of cool reflection and inevitable inference, and therefore on this
+question I do not dispute his views. I know it would be useless, and I
+know that the study of a pure feminine nature would overcome this
+prejudice. The same force of logical inferences places Richard in this
+unhappy condition. He read the writings of the materialist. There he
+found the physiological proofs that man is a beast. From these proofs
+Richard drew all the terrible consequences contained in those
+destructive doctrines. As the intellectual life predominates in him,
+and as he has a strong repugnance to materialistic madness, his nature
+must be stirred in its profoundest depths. If Richard succumbs, he will
+act in his habitual consistent manner. All moral basis lost, morality
+would be foolishness to him, since it is useless for beasts to curb the
+passions by moral laws. As with immortality disappears man's eternal
+destiny, it would be foolish to 'fight the giant fight of duty.' If he
+is convinced that man is a beast, he will live like a beast--although
+he might cloak his conduct with the varnish of decency--and thus
+suddenly would the sensible Richard stand before his astonished father
+a ruined man. This is one view; there is still another," said the
+doctor hesitatingly. "I remember in the course of my practice a suicide
+who wrote on a slip of paper, 'What do I here? Eat, drink, sleep,
+worry, and fret; much suffering, little joy; therefore--' and the man
+sent a bullet through his head. This suicide thought logically. This
+earthly life is insupportable; it is foolishness to a man who thinks
+and is at the same time a materialist."
+
+"What prospects--horrible!" cried Herr Frank, wringing his hands.
+"Accursed be those books; and I am the cause of this misfortune!"
+
+"The involuntary cause," said Klingenberg consolingly. "You now have a
+firm conviction of the devastating effects of those bad books. But how
+many are there who consider every warning in this connection an
+exhibition of prejudice or narrow-mindedness! How few readers are so
+modest as to admit that they want the scientific culture to refute a
+bad book, to separate the poison from the honey of sweet phrases and
+winning style! How few can see that they cannot read those bad books
+without detriment! No one would sit on a cask of powder and touch it
+off for amusement; and yet those hellish books are more dangerous than
+a cask full of powder. To me this is incomprehensible. Poisonous food
+is always injurious; yet thousands and millions drink greedily from
+this poisonous stream of bad reading which deluges all grades of
+society."
+
+"I will do immediately what must be done," said Herr Frank as he
+hastily rose.
+
+"What will you do?"
+
+"Take from my son those execrable books."
+
+"By no means," said Klingenberg. "This would be a psychological
+mistake. Richard would buy the same books again at the book-shop, and
+read them secretly. A man who has the resolution of your son must be
+won by honorable combat. Authority would here be badly applied.
+Therefore I forbid you to interfere. You know nothing of the matter.
+Treat him kindly, and have forbearance with his sensitiveness. That is
+what I must require of you."
+
+Greatly afflicted, Herr Frank left the doctor. Overwhelming himself
+with reproaches, he wandered restlessly about the house and garden. He
+saw Richard standing at the open window with folded arms, dreamy and
+pale, his hair in disorder like a storm-beaten wheat-field--truly a
+painful sight for the father. He went up to his room, where the small
+library stood in its beautiful binding. A servant stood near him with a
+basket. The works of Eugene Sue, Gutzkow, and like spirits fell into
+the basket.
+
+"All to the fire!" commanded Herr Frank.
+
+The doctor had compared bad literature to poisonous food. The
+comparison was not inapt; at least, it gave Richard the appearance of a
+man in whose body destructive poison was working. He was listless and
+exhausted; in walking, his hands hung heavily by his side. His eyes
+were directed to the ground, as if he were seeking something. If he saw
+a snail, he stopped to examine the crawling creature. He sought to know
+why the snail crawls about, and, to his astonishment, found that the
+snail always followed an object; which is not always the case with man,
+animal of the moment, who goes about without an object. If a
+caterpillar accidentally got under his foot, he pushed it carefully
+aside and examined if it had been hurt. It seemed to him logical that
+creeping and flying things had the same claims to forbearance and
+proper treatment as man, since according to Vogt and Buechner's striking
+proofs, all creeping and flying things are not essentially different
+from man.
+
+He paid particular attention to the spiders. If he came to a place
+where their web was stretched, he examined attentively the artistic
+texture; he saw the firmly fastened knot on the twig which held the web
+apart, the circular meshes, the cunning arrangement to catch the
+wandering fly. He was convinced that such a spider would be a thousand
+times more intelligent than Herr Vogt and Herr Buechner, with half as
+big a head as those wise naturalists. The enterprising spirit of the
+ants excited not less his admiration. He always found them busy and in
+a bustle, to which a market-day could not be compared. Even London and
+Paris were solitary in comparison to the throng in an ant-hill. They
+dragged about large pieces of wood, as also leaves and fibres, to
+construct their house, which was laid out with design and finished with
+much care. If he pushed his cane into the hill, there forthwith arose a
+great revolution. The inhabitants rushed out upon him, nipped him with
+their pincers, and showed the greatest rage against the invader of
+their kingdom, while others with great celerity placed the eggs in
+safety. He observed that the ants gave no quarter, and considered every
+one a mortal enemy who disturbed their state.
+
+The young man sat on a stone and examined a snail that crawled slowly
+from the wet grass. It carried a gray house on its back, and beslimed
+the way as it went, and stretched out its horns to discover the best
+direction. Its delicate touch astonished Frank. When obstacles came in
+its way which it did not see nor touch, it would perceive them by means
+of a wonderful sensibility.
+
+How stupid did Richard appear to himself, beside a horned, blind snail.
+How many men only discover obstacles in their way when they have run
+their heads against them, and how many wish to run their heads through
+walls without any reason! He arose and looked toward Angela's home. He
+was dejected, and heaved a sigh.
+
+"All is of no avail. The activity of the animal world affords no
+diversion, the benumbing strokes of materialism lose their effect. The
+rare becomes common, and does not attract attention. There walks an
+angel in the splendor of superior excellence, and I endeavor in vain to
+distract my mind from her by studying the animals. I follow willingly
+the professors' exact investigations, into the labyrinth of their
+studied arguments to make it appear that I am only an animal, that all
+our sentiment is only imagination and fallacy. It is all in vain. Can
+these gentlemen teach me how we can cease to have admiration for the
+noble and exalted? Here man forcibly breaks through. Here self,
+irresistible and disgusted with error, brings the nobility of human
+nature to consciousness, and all the wisdom of boasted materialism
+becomes idle nonsense."
+
+"Thank God! I see you again, my dear neighbor," said Siegwart
+cordially. "Where have you kept yourself this last week? Why do you no
+longer visit us? My whole house is excited about you. Henry is angry
+because he cannot show you the horses he bought lately. My wife bothers
+her head with all kinds of forebodings, and Angela urged me to send and
+see if you were ill."
+
+A new life permeated Frank's whole being at these last words; his
+cheeks flushed and his languid eyes brightened up.
+
+"I know no good reason as an apology, dear friend. Be assured, however,
+that the apparent neglect does not arise from any coolness toward you
+and your esteemed family." And he drew marks in the sand with his cane.
+
+"Perhaps your father took offence at your visits to us?"
+
+"Oh! no. No; I alone am to blame."
+
+Siegwart gave a searching glance at the pale face of the young man who,
+broken-spirited, stood before him, and whose mental condition he did
+not understand, although he had a vague idea of it.
+
+"I will not press you further," said he cheerfully. "But, as a
+punishment, you must now come with me. I received yesterday a fresh
+supply of genuine Havanas, and you must try them."
+
+He took Richard by the arm, and the latter yielded to the friendly
+compulsion. They went through the vineyard. Frank broke from a twig a
+folded leaf.
+
+"Do you know the cause of this?"
+
+"Oh! yes; it is the work of the vine-weevil," answered Siegwart. "These
+mischief-makers sometimes cause great damage to the vineyards. Some
+years I have their nests gathered and the eggs destroyed to prevent
+their doing damage."
+
+"You consider every thing with the eyes of an economist. But I admire
+the art, the foresight, and the intelligence of these insects."
+
+"Intelligence--foresight of an insect!" repeated Siegwart, astonished.
+"I see in the whole affair neither intelligence nor foresight."
+
+"But just look here," said Richard, carefully unfolding the leaf. "What
+a degree of considerate management is necessary to fix the leaf in such
+order. The ribs of this leaf are stronger than the force of the beetle.
+Yet he wished to fold the eggs in it. What does he do? He first pierces
+the stem with his pincers; in consequence of this, the leaf curls up
+and becomes soft and pliable to the frail feet of the insect. This is
+the first act of reflection. The piercing of the stem had evidently as
+its object to cause the leaf to roll up. Then he begins to work with a
+perfection that would do honor to human skill. The leaf is rolled up in
+order to put the eggs in the folds. Here is the first egg; he rolls
+further--here is the second egg, some distance from the first, in order
+to have sufficient food for the young worm--again an act of reflection;
+lastly, he finishes the roll with a carefully worked point, to prevent
+the leaf from unfolding--again an act of reflection."
+
+Siegwart heard all this with indifference. What Richard told him he had
+known for years. His employment in the fields revealed to his observing
+mind wonderful facts in nature and in the animal world. The wisdom of
+the vine-weevil gave him ho difficulty. He looked again in Frank's
+deep-sunken eyes and noticed a peculiar expression, and in his
+countenance great anxiety.
+
+He concluded that the work of the vine-weevil must have some connection
+with the young man's condition.
+
+"You see actions of reflection and design where I see only unconscious
+instinct."
+
+Frank became nervous.
+
+"The common evasion of superficial examination!" cried he. "Man must be
+just even to the animals. Their works are artistic, intelligent, and
+considerate. Why then deny to animals those powers which operate with
+intelligence and reflection?"
+
+"I do not for a moment dispute this power of the animals," replied the
+proprietor quickly. "You find mind in the animals?" interrupted Frank
+hastily. "This conviction once reached, have you considered the
+consequences that follow?"--and he became more excited. "Have you
+considered that with this admission the whole world becomes a fabulous
+structure, without any higher object? If the spider is equal to man,
+then its torn web that flutters in the wind is worth as much as the
+crumbling fragments of art which remain from classic antiquity. Virtue,
+the careful restraining of the passions, is stark madness. The
+disgusting ape, lustful and brutish, is as good as the purest virgin
+who performs severe penances for her idle dreams. It is with justice
+that the criminal scoffs at the good as bedlamites who, with fanatical
+delusion, strive for castles in the air. Every outcast from society,
+sunk and saturated in the basest vices, is precisely as good as the
+purest soul and the noblest heart; for all distinction between right
+and wrong, good and evil, is destroyed."
+
+Angela's father gazed with solicitude into the perplexed look and
+distorted countenance of the young man.
+
+"You deduce consequences, Herr Frank, that could not be drawn from
+my admissions," said he mildly. "There is no conscious power in
+animals--no reflecting soul. The animal works with the power that is in
+it, as light and heat in the fire, as in the lightning the destructive
+force, as the exciting and purifying effects in the storm. The animal
+does not act freely, like man; but from necessity--according to
+instinct and laws which the Almighty has imposed, upon it."
+
+"A gratuitous assumption! A shallow artifice," exclaimed Frank. "The
+animal shows understanding, design, and will; we must not deny him
+these faculties."
+
+"If the lightning strikes my house and discovers with infallible
+certainty all the metal in the walls, even where the sharpest eye could
+not detect it, must you recognize mental faculties in the lightning in
+discovering the metal?"
+
+Frank hemmed and was silent.
+
+"What a botcher is the most learned chemist compared with the
+root-fibres of the smallest plant," continued Siegwart. "Every plant
+has its own peculiar life; this I observe every day. All plants do not
+flourish alike in the same soil. They only flourish where they find the
+necessary conditions for their peculiar life; where they find in the
+air and earth the conditions necessary for their existence. Set ten
+different kinds of plants together in a small plat of ground. The
+different fibres will always seek and absorb only that material in the
+earth which is proper to their kind; they will pass by the useless and
+injurious substances. Now, where is the chemist who with such
+certainty, such power of discrimination, and knowledge of substances,
+can select from the inert clod the proper material? A chemist with such
+knowledge does not exist. Now, must you admit that the fibres possess
+as keen an understanding and as deep a knowledge of chemistry as the
+man who is versed in chemistry?"
+
+"That would be manifest folly."
+
+"Well," concluded Siegwart quietly, "if the vine-weevil weaves its
+wrapper, the spider its web, the bird builds its nest, and the beaver
+his house, they all do it in their way, as the root-fibres in theirs."
+
+Richard remained silent, and they passed into the house.
+
+Angela and her mother looked with astonishment and sympathy on their
+friend.
+
+Soon in the mild countenance of Madam Siegwart there appeared nearly
+the same expression as in the first days after the death of Eliza--so
+much did the painful appearance of the young man afflict her. Angela
+turned pale, her eyes filled, and she strove to hide her emotion. Frank
+only looked at her furtively. Whatever he had to say to her, he said
+with averted eyes. Siegwart expended all his powers of amusement; but
+he did not succeed in cheering the young man. He continued depressed,
+embarrassed, and sad, and constantly avoided looking at Angela. When
+she spoke he listened to the sound of her voice, but avoided her look.
+Presently a low barking was heard in the room and Hector, who had
+growlingly received Frank at his first visit, but who in time had
+become an acquaintance of his, lay stretched at full length dreaming.
+Scarcely did Richard notice the dreaming animal when he exclaimed,
+
+"The dog dreams! See how his feet move in the chase, how he opens his
+nostrils, how he barks, how his limbs reach for the game! The dog
+dreams he is in the chase."
+
+"I have often observed Hector's dreams," said Siegwart coolly.
+
+Frank continued,
+
+"Have you considered the consequences that follow from the dreams of
+the dog? Dreams show a thinking faculty," said he hastily. "Animals,
+then, think like men; thoughts are the children of the mind; therefore,
+animals have minds. Animals and men are alike."
+
+Angela started at these words. Her mother shook her head.
+
+"You conclude too hastily, my dear friend," said Siegwart coolly. "You
+must first know that animals dream like men. Men think, reflect, and
+speak in dreams. The dreams of animals are very different from those
+mental acts."
+
+"How will you explain it?" said Richard excitedly.
+
+"Very easily. Hector is now in the chase. The dog's sense of smell is
+remarkable. By means of the fragrant wind Hector smells the partridges
+miles away. He acts then just as in the dream; feet, nose, and limbs
+come into activity. Suppose that in the surrounding fields there is a
+covey of partridges. The air would indicate them to Hector's smelling
+organs; these organs act, as in the waking state, on the brain of the
+animal; the brain acts on the other organs. Where is there thought?
+Have we not a purely material effect? The cough, the appetite, the
+sneezing, the aversion--what have all these to do with mind or thought?
+Nothing at all. The dream of the dog is an entirely muscular process,
+the mere co-working of the muscular organs; as with us, digestion, the
+flowing of the blood, the twitching of the muscles--facts with which
+the mind has nothing to do."
+
+"Your assertion is based on the assumption that partridges are near,"
+said Richard; "and I will be obliged to you if, with Hector's
+assistance, you convince me of this fact."
+
+"That is unnecessary, my dear friend. Suppose there are no partridges
+in the neighborhood. The same affection of the brain which would be
+produced by the smell of the partridges could be produced by accident.
+If it is accidental, it will have the same effect in the sleeping
+condition of the dog.[2] Affections accidentally arise in man the
+causes of which are not known. We are uneasy, we know not why; we are
+discouraged without any knowledge of the cause. We are joyful without
+being able to give any reason for it. The mind can rise above all these
+dispositions, affections, and humors; can govern, cast out, and
+disperse them. Proof enough that a king lives in man--the breath of
+God, which is not taken from the earth, and to which all matter must
+yield if that power so wills."
+
+The dog stretched his strong legs without any idea of the important
+question to which he had given occasion.
+
+"Herr Frank," began Madam Siegwart earnestly, "I have learned to
+respect you, and have often wished that my son, at your years, would be
+like you. I see now with painful astonishment that you defend opinions
+which contradict your former expressions, and the sentiments we must
+expect from a Christian. Will you not be so good as to tell me how you
+have so suddenly changed your views?"
+
+"Esteemed madam," answered Frank, with emotion, "I thank you for this
+undeserved motherly sympathy; but I beg of you not to believe that the
+opinions I expressed are my firm convictions. No, I have not yet fallen
+so deep that for me there is no difference between man and beast. I can
+yet continue to believe that materialism is a crime against mankind. On
+the other hand, I freely acknowledge that my mind is in great trouble;
+that every firm position beneath my feet totters; that I have been
+tempted to hold doctrines degrading to the individual and destructive
+to society. I have been brought into this difficulty by reading books
+whose seductive proofs I am not able to refute. Oh! I am miserable,
+very miserable; my appearance must have shown you that already."
+
+He looked involuntarily at Angela; he saw tears in her eyes; he bowed
+his head and was silent.
+
+"I see your difficulties," said the proprietor. "They enter early or
+late into the mind of every man. It is good, in such uncertainties and
+doubts, to lean on the authority of truth. This authority can only be
+God, who is truth itself, who came down from heaven and brought light
+into the darkness. We can prove, inquire, and speculate; but the
+keenest human intellect is not always free from delusion. As there is
+in man a spiritual tendency which raises him far above the visible and
+material, God has been pleased to lead and direct that tendency by
+revelation, that man may not err. I consider divine revelation a
+necessity which God willed when he created the mind. As the mind has an
+instinctive thirst after truth, God must, by the revelation of truth,
+satisfy this thirst Therefore is revelation as old as the human race.
+It reached its completion and perfection by the coming of the Lord, who
+said, 'I am the truth;' and this knowledge of the truth remains in the
+church through the guidance of the Spirit of truth, till the latest
+generation. This is only my ultramontane conviction," said Siegwart,
+smiling; "but it affords peace and certainty."
+
+Angela had gone out, and now returned with a basket, in which lay a
+little dog, of a few days old, asleep. She set the basket carefully
+down before Frank, so as not to awaken the sleeper.
+
+"As you appreciate the full worth of striking proofs, I am glad to be
+able to place one before you, in the shape of this little dog," said
+she, appearing desirous of cheering her dejected friend. But Frank did
+not receive from her cheerful countenance either strength or
+encouragement, for he did not look up.
+
+"This little dog is only eight days old," she continued; "its eyes are
+not yet open; it can neither walk nor bark; it can only growl a little;
+and it does nothing but sleep and dream. I have noticed its dreams
+since the first day of its birth. You can convince yourself of its
+dreaming." She stooped over the basket and her soft hair disturbed the
+sleeper.
+
+For a moment Frank saw and heard nothing.
+
+"See," she continued, "how its little feet move, and how its body
+jerks. Hear the low growl, and see the hairs round the mouth how they
+twitch, how the nose shrinks and expands--all the same as in Hector.
+The little thing knows nothing at all of the world--no more than a
+child eight days old. We certainly, therefore, will not deceive
+ourselves in assuming that all these movements are only muscular
+twitchings; that neither the pup nor Hector dreams like a man."
+
+Frank first looked at the dog in great surprise, and then gazed
+admiringly on Angela.
+
+"O fraulein! how I thank you."
+
+She appeared most lovely in his eyes. He suddenly turned toward her
+father.
+
+"Your house is a great blessing to me. It appears that the pure
+atmosphere of religious conviction which you breathe victoriously
+combats all dark doubts, as light dissipates darkness."
+
+
+Angela stood in her room. She knew that the spirit of unbelief pervaded
+the world, taking possession of thousands and destroying all life and
+effort. She saw Richard threatened by this spirit, and feared for his
+soul. She became very anxious, and sank on her knees before the
+crucifix and cried to heaven for succor.
+
+Night was upon all things. The black clouds, lowering deep and heavy,
+shut out all light from heaven. The wind swept the mountains, the
+forest moaned, and thunder muttered in the distance. Klingenberg sat
+before his folios. A fitful light glimmered from the room of Richard's
+father. Richard himself came home late, took his supper, and retired
+to his chamber; there he walked back and forth, thinking, contending
+with himself, and speaking aloud. Before his door stood a dark
+figure--immovable and listening.
+
+It knocked at the door of the elder Frank. Jacob, a servant who had
+grown gray in the service of the house, entered. Frank received him
+with surprise, and awaited expectantly what he had to say.
+
+"We are all wrong," said Jacob. "My poor young master has now spoken
+out clearly. He is not sick because of the foolish trash in the books.
+He is in love, terribly in love."
+
+"Ah! in love?" said Herr Frank.
+
+"You should just have heard how he complains and laments that he is not
+worthy of her. 'O Angela, Angela!' he cried at least a hundred times,
+'could I only raise myself to your level, and make myself worthy! But
+your soul, so pure, your character, so immaculate and good, thrusts me
+away. I look up to you with admiration and longing, as the troubled
+pilgrim on earth looks up to the peace and grandeur of heaven.' This is
+the way he talked. He is to be pitied, sir."
+
+"So--so--in love, and with Siegwart's daughter," said Frank sadly. "The
+tragedy will change into comedy. Even if they were not so
+unapproachably high, but like other people on earth, my son should
+never take an ultramontane wife."
+
+"But if he loves her so deeply, sir?"
+
+"Be still; you know nothing about it. Has he lain down?"
+
+"Yes; or, at least, he is quiet."
+
+"Continue to watch him. I must immediately make known to the doctor
+this love affair. He will be surprised to find the philosopher changed
+into a love-sick visionary."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                                AVOWALS.
+
+
+In the same deep valley where the brook rippled over the pebbles in its
+bed, where the mountain sides rose up abruptly, where the moss hung
+from the old oaks, where Klingenberg plucked the tender beard of the
+young professor of history, took place the meditated attack of the
+doctor on the poison of materialism which was destroying the body and
+soul of Richard.
+
+Slowly and carefully the doctor advanced, as against an enemy who will
+defend his position to the last. But how was he astonished, when, being
+attacked, Frank showed no disposition to defend that most highly
+vaunted doctrine of modern science--materialism! This was almost as
+puzzling to the doctor as the eternity of matter. Tired of skirmishing,
+the doctor set to work to close with the enemy, and strike him down.
+
+"I have looked only cursorily at the writings of the materialists: you
+have studied them carefully; and you will oblige me much if you would
+give me the foundation on which the whole structure of materialism
+rests."
+
+"The materialistic system is very simple," answered Frank.
+"Materialists reject all existence that is not sensibly perceptible.
+They deny the existence of invisible and supersensible things. There is
+no spirit in man or anywhere else. Matter alone exists, because matter
+alone manifests its existence."
+
+"I understand. The materialist will only be convinced by seeing and
+feeling. As a spirit is neither spiritual nor tangible, then there is
+none. Is it not so, friend Richard?"
+
+"You have included in one sentence the whole of materialism," said
+Frank coolly.
+
+"I cannot understand," said Klingenberg hesitatingly, "how the
+materialists can make assertions which are untenable to the commonest
+understandings. Why, thought can neither be seen nor felt; yet it is an
+existence."
+
+"Thought is a function of the brain."
+
+"Then, it is incomprehensible how the sensible can beget the
+supersensible. How matter--the brain--can produce the immaterial, the
+spiritual."
+
+Richard was silent.
+
+"At every step in materialism I meet insurmountable difficulties,"
+continued the doctor. "I know perfectly the organization of the human
+body, as well as the function and purpose of each part. The physician
+knows the purpose of the lungs, heart, kidneys, and stomach, and all
+the noble and ignoble parts of the body. But no physician knows the
+origin of the activity of the organism. The blood stops, the pulse no
+longer beats, the lungs, kidneys, nerves, and all the rest cease their
+functions. The man is dead. Why? Because the activity, the movement,
+the force is gone. What, then, is this vivifying force? In what does it
+consist? What color, what taste, what form has it? No physician knows.
+The vivifying principle is invisible, intangible perfectly immaterial.
+Yet it exists. Therefore the fundamental dogma of materialism is false.
+There are existences which can neither be felt, tasted, nor seen."
+
+"The vivifying principle is also in animals," said Richard.
+
+"Certainly; and in them also intangible and mysterious. Materialism
+cannot even stand before animal life; for even there the vivifying
+principle is an immaterial existence."
+
+"The materialist stumbles at the existence of human spirit, because he
+cannot get a conception of it."
+
+"How could this be possible?" cried the doctor. "The conception is a
+picture in the mind, an apprehension of the senses. Spiritual being is
+as unapproachable by the senses as the vivifying principle, of which
+also man can form no conception. To deny existence because you cannot
+have a conception of it, is foolish. The blind would have the same
+right to deny the existence of colors, or the deaf that of music. And
+who can have a conception of good, of eternity, of justice, of virtue?
+No one. These are existences that do not fall under the senses. To be
+logical, the materialist must conclude that there is nothing good,
+nothing noble, no justice; for we have not yet seen nor felt nor smelt
+these things. Virtuous actions we can, of course, see; but these
+actions are not the cause but the consequence, not the thing working
+but the thing wrought. As these actions will convince every thinking
+man of the existence of virtue and justice, so must the workings of the
+spirit prove its existence."
+
+"Precisely," replied Frank. "Materialism only surprises and captivates
+one like a dream of the night. It vanishes the moment it is seen. I
+read the works of Vogt and Buechner only for diversion; my object was
+perfectly gained."
+
+"You read for diversion! What did you wish to forget?"
+
+"Dark clouds that lowered over my mind."
+
+"Have you secrets that I, your old friend and well-meaning adviser,
+should not know?"
+
+Frank was confused; but his great respect for the doctor forced him to
+be candid.
+
+"You know my views of women. When I tell you that Angela, the
+well-known Angel of Salingen, has torn these opinions up by the roots,
+you will not need further explanation."
+
+"You found Angela what I told you? I am glad," said Klingenberg. And
+his disputative countenance changed to a pleasant expression. "I
+suspected that the Angel of Salingen made a deep impression on you. I
+did not guess; I read it in large characters on your cheeks. Have you
+made an avowal?"
+
+"No; it will never come to that."
+
+"Why not? Are you ashamed to confess that you love a beautiful young
+lady? That is childish and simple. There is no place here for shame.
+You want a noble, virtuous wife. You have Angela in view. Woo her; do
+not be a bashful boy."
+
+"Bashfulness might be overcome, but not the conviction that I am
+unworthy of her."
+
+"Unworthy! Why, then? Shall I praise you? Shall I exhibit your noble
+qualities, and convince, you why you are worth more than any young man
+that I know? You have not Angela's religious tone; but the strong
+influence of the wife on the husband is well known. In two or three
+years I shall not recognize in the ultramontane Richard Frank the
+former materialist." And the doctor laughed heartily.
+
+"It is questionable," said the young man, "whether Angela's inclination
+corresponds to mine."
+
+"The talk of every true lover," said the doctor pleasantly. "Pluck the
+stars of Bethlehem, like Faust's Grethe, with the refrain, 'She loves,
+she loves not--she loves.' But you are no bashful maiden; you are a
+man. Propose to her. Angela's answer will show you clearly how she
+feels."
+
+The doctor was scarcely in his room when Richard's father entered.
+
+"All as you foretold," said Klingenberg. "Your son is cured of his
+hatred of women by Angela. The materialistic studies were not in
+earnest; they were only a shield held up against the coming passion.
+The love question is so absorbing, and the sentiment so strong, that
+Richard left me near Frankenhoehe to hasten over there. I expect from
+your sound sense that you will place no obstacles in the way of your
+son's happiness."
+
+"I regret," said Frank coldly, "that I cannot be of the same opinion
+with you and Richard in this affair."
+
+"Make your son unhappy?" said Klingenberg. "Do you consider the
+possible consequences of your opposition?"
+
+"What do you understand by possible consequences?"
+
+"Melancholy, madness, suicide, frequently come from this. I leave
+tomorrow, and I hope to take with me the assurance that you will
+sacrifice your prejudice to the happiness of Richard."
+
+
+Among the numerous inhabitants of Siegwart's yard was a hen with a
+hopeful progeny. The little chicks were very lively. They ran about
+after insects till the call of the happy mother brought them to her.
+Escaped from the shell some few days before, they had instead of
+feathers delicate white down, so that the pretty little creatures
+looked as though they had been rolled in cotton. They had black, quick
+eyes, and yellow feet and bills. If a hawk flew in the air and the
+mother gave a cry, the little ones knew exactly what it meant, and ran
+under the protecting wings of the mother from the hawk, although they
+had never seen one--had never studied in natural history the danger of
+the enemy. If danger were near, she called, and immediately they were
+under her wings. The whole brood now stopped under the lindens. The
+little ones rested comfortably near the warm body of the mother. Now
+here, now there, their little heads would pop out between the feathers.
+One smart little chirper, whose ambition indicated that he would be the
+future cock of the walk, undertook to stand on the back of the hen and
+pick the heads of the others as they appeared through the feathers.
+
+Angela came under the lindens, carrying a vessel of water and some
+crumbs in her apron for the little ones. She strewed the crumbs on the
+ground, and the old hen announced dinner. The little ones set to work
+very awkwardly. The old hen had to break the crumbs smaller between her
+bill. Angela took one of the chickens in her hand and fondled it, and
+carried it into the house. The hen went to the vessel to drink and the
+whole brood followed. It happened that the one that stood on her back
+fell into the water, and cried loudly; for it found that it had got
+into a strange element of which it had no more idea than Vogt and
+Buechner of the form of a spirit. At this critical moment Frank came
+through the yard. He saw it fluttering about in the water, and stopped.
+The old hen went clucking anxiously about the vessel. And although she
+could without difficulty have taken the chicken out with her bill, yet
+she did not do it. Richard observed this with great interest; but
+showed no desire to save the little creature, which at the last gasp
+floated like a bunch of cotton on the water.
+
+Angela may have heard the noise of the hen, for she appeared at the
+door. She saw Frank standing near the lindens looking into the vessel.
+At the same time she noticed the danger of one of her little darlings,
+and hastened out. She took the body from the water and held it sadly in
+her hands.
+
+"It is dead, the little dear," said she sadly. "You could have saved
+it, Herr Frank, and you did not do it." She looked at Frank, and forgot
+immediately, on seeing him, the object of her regrets. The young man
+stood before her so dejected, so depressed and sad, that it touched her
+heart. She knew what darkened his soul. She knew his painful struggle,
+his great danger, and she could have given her life to save him. She
+was moved, tears came into her eyes, and she hastened into the house.
+
+Siegwart was reading the paper when his daughter hastened in such an
+unusual way through the room and disappeared.
+
+This astonished him.
+
+"What is the matter, Angela?" he exclaimed.
+
+There was no answer. He was about to go after her when Frank entered.
+
+"I can give you some curious news of the assessor," said the proprietor
+after some careless conversation. "The man is terribly enraged against
+me and full of bad designs. The reason of this anger is known to you."
+And he added, "Angela is in the next room, and she must know nothing of
+his proposal."
+
+Frank nodded assent.
+
+"About ten paces from the last house in Salingen," continued Siegwart,
+"I have had a pile of dirt thrown up. It was now and then sprinkled
+with slops, to make manure of it. Herr Hamm has made the discovery that
+the slops smell bad; that it annoys the inhabitants of the next house;
+and he has ordered it to be removed."
+
+Richard shook his head disapprovingly.
+
+"Perhaps Herr Hamm will come to the conclusion that, in the interest of
+the noses, all like piles must be removed from Salingen."
+
+"But that is not all," said Siegwart. "It has been discovered that the
+common good forbids my keeping fowls, because my residence is
+surrounded by fields and vineyards, where the fowls do great damage.
+The Herr Assessor has had the goodness, accompanied by the guards, to
+examine personally the amount of destruction. So I have got
+instructions either to keep my fowls confined or to make away with
+them."
+
+"Mean and contemptible!" said Frank.
+
+Angela came into the room. Her countenance was smiling and clear as
+ever; but her swollen eyes did not escape Richard's observation. She
+greeted the guest, and sat down in her accustomed place near the
+window. Scarcely had she done this, when Frank stood up, went toward
+her, and knelt down before the astonished girl.
+
+"Miss, I have greatly offended you, and beg your pardon."
+
+Siegwart looked on in surprise--now at his daughter, who was perplexed;
+now at the kneeling young man.
+
+"For God's sake! Herr Frank, arise," said the confused Angela. She was
+about to leave the seat, but he caught her hand and gently replaced
+her.
+
+"If I may approach so near to you, my present position is the proper
+one. Hear me! I have deeply offended you. I could with ease have saved
+a creature that was dear to you, and I did not do it. My conduct has
+brought tears to your eyes--hurt your feelings. When you went away to
+regain your composure, and to show your offender a serene, reconciled
+countenance, it made my fault more distressing. Forgive me; do not
+consider me hard and heartless, but see in me an unfortunate who
+forgets himself in musing."
+
+She looked into Frank's handsome face as he knelt before her, in such
+sadness, lowering his eyes like a guilty boy, and smiled sweetly.
+
+"I will forgive yon, Herr Frank, on one condition."
+
+"Only speak. I am prepared for any penance."
+
+"The condition is, that you burn those godless books that make you
+doubt about the noblest things in man, and that you buy no more."
+
+"I vow fulfilment, and assure you that the design of those books, which
+you rightly call godless, is recognized by me as a crime against the
+dignity of man--and condemned."
+
+"This rejoices no one more than me," said she with a tremulous voice.
+
+He stood up, bowed, and returned to his former place.
+
+"But, my dear neighbor, how did this singular affair happen?" said the
+proprietor.
+
+Frank told him about the death of the chicken.
+
+"The love of the hen for her chickens is remarkable. She protects them
+with her wings and warns them of danger, which she knows by instinct.
+How easy would it have been for the hen to have taken the young one
+from the water with her bill--the same bill with which she broke their
+food and gave it to them. But she did not do it, because it is strange
+to her nature. This case is another striking proof that animals act
+neither with understanding nor reflection. Acts beyond their instinct
+are impossible to them. This would not be the case, if they had souls."
+
+
+The old servant stood with an empty basket before the library of the
+son, as he had stood before that of the father. Buechner, Vogt, and
+Czolbe fell into the fire. Jacob shook his head and regretted the
+beautiful binding; but the evil spirits between the covers he willingly
+consigned to the flames.
+
+
+Again the cars stopped at the station; again the two gentlemen stood at
+the open window of the car to receive their returning friends. The
+travellers took a carriage and drove through the street.
+
+"Baron Linden has indeed gone headlong into misery," said Lutz
+humorously. "Eight days ago the young pair swore eternal fidelity. It
+was signed and sealed. Until to-day no could one know that they were on
+the brink of misery."
+
+Richard remembered his remark on the former occasion, and wondered at
+his sudden change of opinion.
+
+"I wish them all happiness," said he.
+
+"Amen!" answered Lutz. "Richard, however, considers happiness in
+matrimony possible. So we may hope that he will not always remain a
+bachelor. How is the Angel of Salingen? Have you seen her since that
+encounter with the steer?"
+
+"The angel is well," said Richard, avoiding the glance of his friend.
+
+"What do you mean by the 'Angel of Salingen'?" said the father.
+
+"Thereby I understand the unmarried daughter of Herr Siegwart, of
+Salingen, named Angela, who richly deserves to be called the 'Angel of
+Salingen.'"
+
+Frank knit his brows darkly and drummed on his knees.
+
+"And the encounter with the steer?" continued he.
+
+The professor related the occurrence.
+
+"Ah! you did not tell me any thing of that," said the father, turning
+to Frank. "An act of such great courage deserves to be mentioned."
+
+The carriage passed into the court of a stately mansion. The servant
+sprang from his seat and opened the carriage-door. The professor looked
+at his watch.
+
+"Herr Frank, will you allow your coachman to drive me to the
+university? I must be at my post in ten minutes. I cannot go on foot in
+that time."
+
+"With pleasure, Herr Professor."
+
+"Richard," said the other friend, "shall we meet at the opera tonight?"
+
+"Scarcely. I must to-day enter upon my usual business."
+
+"Come, if possible. The evening promises great amusement, for the
+celebrated Santinilli dances."
+
+The accustomed routine of business began for Richard. He sat in the
+counting-room and worked with his habitual punctuality. Nevertheless
+invidious spirits lured him toward Salingen, so that the figures
+danced before his eyes, words had no meaning, and he was often lost in
+day-dreams. The watchful father had observed this, and was perplexed.
+
+Richard's plan of studies also underwent a change. He left the house
+regularly at half-past five and returned at half-past six. The father,
+desiring to know what this meant, set the faithful Jacob on the watch.
+
+"Herr Richard," reported the spy, "hears mass at the Capuchins."
+
+Frank drummed a march on his knees.
+
+"So, so!" he hummed. "The ultramontanes understand proselytizing. They
+have turned the head of my son. If I live long enough, I may yet see
+him turn Capuchin, build a cloister, and go about begging."
+
+When Herr Frank entered the counting-room, he found his son busy at
+work. He stood up and greeted his father.
+
+"I have observed, Richard," he began after a time, "that you go out
+early every morning. What does it mean?"
+
+"I have imposed upon myself the obligation of hearing mass every
+morning."
+
+"How did you come to take that singular obligation upon yourself?"
+
+"From the conviction that religion is no empty idea, but a power that
+can give peace and consolation in all conditions of life."
+
+"It is evident that you have breathed ultramontane air. This
+churchgoing is not forbidden--but no trifling or fanatical nonsense."
+
+"It is my constant care, father, to give you no cause of uneasiness."
+
+"I am rejoiced at this, my son; but I must observe that a certain
+gloomy, reserved manner of yours disturbs me. Your conduct is
+exemplary, your industry praiseworthy, your habits regular; but you
+keep yourself too much shut up; you do not give evening parties any
+more. You do not visit the concert-hall or theatre. This is wrong; we
+should enjoy life, and not move about like dreamers."
+
+"I have no taste for amusements," answered Richard. "However, if you
+think a change would be good, I beg you to permit me to take a run out
+to Frankenhoehe for a couple of days."
+
+"And why to Frankenhoehe? I do not know any amusement there for you."
+
+"I have planted a small vineyard, as you know, and I would like to see
+how the Burgundies thrive."
+
+Herr Frank was not in a hurry to give the permission. He thought and
+drummed.
+
+"You can go," he said resignedly. "I hope the mountain air will cheer
+you up."
+
+
+Herr Siegwart had remarked the same symptoms in his daughter that Herr
+Frank had in his son; but Angela did not give way to discontent. She
+was always the same obedient daughter. The poor and sick of Salingen
+could not complain of neglect. But she was frequently absent-minded,
+gave wrong answers to questions, and sought solitude. If Frank was
+mentioned, she revived; the least circumstance connected with him was
+interesting to her. Her sharp-sighted father soon discovered the inmost
+thoughts and feelings of his daughter. He thought of Herr Frank's
+ill-humor toward him, and was disposed to regret the hour that Richard
+entered his house.
+
+
+The Burgundies at Frankenhoehe were scarcely looked at. The young man
+hastened to Salingen. He found the landscape changed in a few weeks.
+The fields had clothed themselves in yellow. The wheat-stalks bent
+gracefully under their load. Everywhere industrious crowds were in the
+fields. The stalks fell beneath the reapers. Men bound the sheaves.
+Wagons stood here and there. The sheaves were raised into picturesque
+stacks. The sun beamed down hot, and the sweltering weather wrote on
+the foreheads of the men, "Adam, in the sweat of thy brow thou shalt
+eat thy bread."
+
+In the proprietor's house all was still, the old cook sat beneath the
+lindens, and with spectacles on her nose tried to mend a stocking which
+she held in her hand. She arose and smiled on Richard's approach.
+
+"They are all in the fields. We have much work, Herr Frank. The grain
+is ripe, and we have already gathered fifty wagon-loads. I am glad to
+see you looking so much better. The family will also be glad. They
+think a great deal of you--particularly Herr Siegwart."
+
+"Give them many kind greetings from me. I will come back in the
+evening."
+
+"Off so soon? Will you not say good-day to Miss Angela? She is in the
+garden. Shall I call her?"
+
+"No," said he after a moment's reflection; "I will go into the garden
+myself."
+
+After unlatching the gate, he would have turned back, for he became
+nervous and embarrassed.
+
+Angela sat in the arbor; her embroidery-frame leaned against the table,
+and she was busily working. As she heard the creaking of footsteps on
+the walk, she looked up and blushed. Frank raised his hat, and when the
+young woman stood up before him in beauty and loveliness, his
+nervousness increased, and he would gladly have escaped; but his spirit
+was in the fetters of a strange power, and necessity supplied him with
+a few appropriate remarks.
+
+"I heard that the family were absent; but I did not wish to go away
+without saluting you. Miss Angela."
+
+She observed the bashful manner of the young man, and said kindly, "I
+am glad to see you again, Herr Frank," and invited him to sit down. He
+looked about for a seat; but as there was none, he had to sit on the
+same bench with her.
+
+"Do you remain long at Frankenhoehe?"
+
+"Only to-day and to-morrow. Work requires dispatch, and old custom has
+so bound me to my occupation that the knowledge of work to be done
+makes me feel uneasy."
+
+"Do you work every day regularly in the counting-room?"
+
+"I am punctual to the hours, for the work demands regularity and order.
+There are every day some hours for recreation."
+
+"And what is the most pleasant recreation for you?"
+
+"Music and painting. I like them the best. But of late," he added
+hesitatingly, "unavoidable thoughts press on me, and many hours of
+recreation pass in useless dreaming."
+
+Angela thought of his former mental troubles and looked anxiously in
+his eyes.
+
+"Now, you have promised me," she said softly, "to forget all those
+things in those bad books that disturbed your mind."
+
+"The fulfilment of no duty was lighter or more pleasant to me than to
+keep my promise to you, Angela."
+
+His voice trembled. She leaned over her work and her cheeks glowed. The
+delicate fingers went astray; but Frank did not notice that the colors
+in the embroidery were getting into confusion. There was a long pause.
+Then Frank remembered the doctor's final admonition, "Be not like a
+bashful boy; put aside all false shame and speak your mind;" and he
+took courage.
+
+"I have no right to ask what disturbs and depresses you," said she, in
+a scarcely audible voice and without moving her head.
+
+"It is you who have the best right, Angela! You have not only saved my
+life, but also my better convictions. You have purified my views, and
+influenced my course of life. I was deeply in error, and you have shown
+me the only way that leads to peace. This I see more clearly every day.
+The church is no longer a strange, but an attractive place to me. All
+this you have done without design. I tell you this because I think you
+sympathize with me."
+
+He paused; but the declaration of his love hovered on his lips.
+
+"You have not deceived yourself as to my sympathy," she answered. "The
+discovery that one so insignificant as myself has any influence with
+you makes me glad."
+
+"O Angela! you are not insignificant in my eyes. You are more than all
+else on earth to me!" he cried. "You are the object of my love, of my
+waking dreams. If you could give me your hand before the altar in
+fidelity and love, my dearest wishes would be realized."
+
+She slowly raised her head, her modest countenance glowed in a virginal
+blush, and her eyes, which met Richard's anxious look, were filled with
+tears. She lowered her head, and laid her hand in that of the young
+man. He folded her in his arms, pressed her to his heart, and kissed
+her forehead. The swallows flew about the arbor, twittered noisily, and
+threatened the robber who was trying to take away their friend. The
+sparrows, through the leaves of the vines, looked with wonder at the
+table where Angela's head rested on the breast of her affianced.
+
+They arose.
+
+"We cannot keep this from our parents, Richard. My parents esteem you.
+Their blessing will not be wanting to our union."
+
+Suddenly she paused, and stood silent and pale, as though filled with a
+sudden fear. Richard anxiously inquired the cause.
+
+"You know your father's opinion of us," she said, disturbed.
+
+"Do not be troubled about that. Father will not object to my
+arrangements. But even if he does, I am of age, and no power shall
+separate me from you."
+
+"No, Richard; no! I love you as my life; but without your father's
+consent, our union wants a great blessing. Speak to him in love; beg
+him, beseech him, but do not annoy him on account of your selfishness."
+
+"So it shall be. Your advice is good and noble. As long as this
+difficulty exists, I am uneasy. I will therefore go back. Speak to your
+parents; give them my kind greeting, and tell them how proud I shall
+feel to be acknowledged as their son." He again folded her in his arms
+and hastened away.
+
+The old cook still sat under the lindens, and the stocking lost many a
+stitch as Frank, with a joyous countenance, passed her without
+speaking, without having noticed her. She shook wonderingly her old
+gray head.
+
+Angela sat in the arbor. Her work lay idly on the table. With a
+countenance full of sweetness she went to her room, and knelt and
+prayed.
+
+
+Herr Frank looked up astonished, as Richard, late in the evening,
+entered his chamber.
+
+"Excuse me, father," said he joyfully and earnestly; "something has
+happened of great importance to me, and of great interest to you. I
+could not delay an explanation, even at the risk of depriving you of an
+hour's sleep."
+
+"Well, well! I am really interested," said Herr Frank, as he threw
+himself back on the sofa. "Your explanation must be something
+extraordinary, for I have never seen you thus before. What is it,
+then?"
+
+"For a right understanding of my position, it is necessary to go back
+to that May-day on which we went to Frankenhoehe. Your displeasure at my
+well-grounded aversion to women you will remember."
+
+With childish simplicity he related the whole course of his inner life
+and trials at Frankenhoehe. He described the deep impression Angela had
+made upon him. He took out his diary and read his observations, his
+stubborn adherence to his prejudices, and the victory of a virtuous
+maiden over them. The father listened with the greatest attention. He
+admired the depth of his son's mind and the noble struggle of
+conviction against the powerful influence of error. But when Richard
+made known what had passed between himself and Angela, Herr Frank's
+countenance changed.
+
+"I have told you all," said Richard, "with that openness which a son
+owes to his father. From the disposition and character of Angela, as
+you have heard them, you must have learned to respect her, and have
+been convinced that she and I will be happy. Therefore, father, I beg
+your consent and blessing on our union."
+
+He arose and was about to kneel, when Herr Frank stopped him.
+
+"Slowly, my son. With the exception of what happened to-day, I am
+pleased with your conduct. You have convinced yourself of the injustice
+of your opinion of women. You have found a noble woman. I am willing to
+believe that Angela is a magnificent and faultless creature, although
+she have an ultramontane father. But my consent to your union with
+Siegwart's daughter you will never receive. Now, Richard, you can
+without trouble find a woman that will suit you, and who is as
+beautiful and as noble-minded as the Angel of Salingen."
+
+"May I ask the reason of your refusal, father?"
+
+"There are many reasons. First, I do not like the ultramontane spirit
+of the Siegwart family. Angela it educated in this spirit. You would be
+bound to a wife whose narrow views would be an intolerable burden."
+
+"Pardon, father! The extracts from my diary informed you that I have
+examined this ultramontane spirit very carefully, and that I was forced
+at last to correct my opinions of the ultramontanes--to reject an
+unjust prejudice."
+
+"The stained glass of passion has beguiled you into ultramontane
+sentiments; and further, remember that Siegwart is personally
+objectionable to me." And he spoke of the failure of the factory
+through Angela's father.
+
+"Herr Siegwart has told me of that enterprise, and, at the same time,
+gave me the reasons that induced him to prevent its realization. He
+showed the demoralizing effects of factories. He showed that the
+inhabitants of that neighborhood support themselves by farming; that
+the religious sentiment of the country people is endangered by Sunday
+labor and other evil influences that accompany manufacturing."
+
+"And you approved of this narrow-mindedness of the ultramontane?" cried
+Frank.
+
+"Siegwart's conduct is free from narrow-mindedness. You yourself have
+often said that faith and religion had much to fear from modern
+manufactories. If Siegwart has made great sacrifices, if he has
+interfered against his own interest in favor of faith and morality, he
+deserves great respect for it."
+
+"Has it gone so far? Do you openly take part with the ultramontane
+against your father?"
+
+"I take no part; I express frankly my views," answered Richard
+tranquilly.
+
+"The views of father and son are very different, and we may thank your
+intercourse with the ultramontanes for it."
+
+"Your acquaintance, father, with that excellent family is very
+desirable. You would soon be convinced that you ought to respect them."
+
+"I do not desire their acquaintance. It is near midnight; go to rest,
+and forget the hasty step of to-day."
+
+"I will never regret what has taken place with forethought and
+reflection," answered Richard firmly. "I again ask your consent to the
+happiness of your son."
+
+"No, no! Once for all--never!" cried Frank hastily.
+
+The son became excited. He was about to fly into a passion, and to show
+his father that he was not going to follow blind authority like an
+inexperienced child, when he thought of what Angela said, "Speak to
+your father in love;" and his rising anger subsided.
+
+"You know, father," he said hesitatingly, "that my age permits me to
+choose a wife without reference to your will. As the consent is
+withheld without valid reasons, I might do without it. But Angela has
+urgently requested me not to act against your will, and I have promised
+to comply with her wishes."
+
+"Angela appears to have more sense than you. So she requested this
+promise from you? I esteem the young lady for this sentiment, although
+she be a child of Siegwart, who shall never have my son for a
+son-in-law."
+
+The young man arose.
+
+"It only remains for me to declare," said he calmly, "that to Angela,
+and to her alone, shall I ever belong in love and fidelity. If you
+persevere in your refusal, I here tell you, on my honor, I shall never
+choose another wife."
+
+He made a bow and left the room. It was long past midnight, and Herr
+Frank was still sitting on the sofa, drumming on his knees and shaking
+his head.
+
+"An accursed piece of business!" said he. "I know he will not break his
+word of honor under any circumstances. I know his stubborn head. But
+this Siegwart, this clerical ultramontane fellow--it is incompatible;
+mental progress and middle-age darkness, spiritual enlightenment and
+stark confessionalism--it won't do. Angela certainly is not her father.
+She is an innocent country creature; does not wear crinoline, dresses
+in blue like a bluebell, has not a dainty stomach, and has no toilette
+nonsense. The nuns, together with perverted views of the world, may,
+perhaps, have taught her many principles that adorn an honorable woman;
+but--but--" And Herr Frank threw himself back grumbling on the sofa.
+
+On the following day Richard wrote Angela a warm, impassioned letter.
+The vow of eternal love and fidelity was repeated. In conclusion, he
+spoke of his father's refusal, but assured her that his consent would
+yet be given.
+
+Many weeks passed. The letters of the lovers came and went regularly
+and without interruption. She wrote that her parents had not hesitated
+a moment to give their consent. In her letters Richard admired her
+tender feeling, her dove-like innocence and pure love. He was firm in
+his conviction that she would make him happy, would be his loadstar
+through life. He read her letters hundreds of times, and these readings
+were his only recreation. He spoke not another word about the matter to
+his father. He kept away from all society. He devoted himself to his
+calling, and endeavored to purify his heart in the spirit of religion,
+that he might approach nearer to an equality with Angela. The father
+observed him carefully, and was daily more and more convinced that a
+spiritual change was coming over his son. Murmuringly he endured the
+church-going, and vexedly he shook his head at Richard's composure and
+perseverance, which he knew time would not change. The more quietly the
+son endured, the more disquieted Herr Frank became. "Sacrifice your
+prejudices to your son's happiness," he heard the doctor saying; and he
+felt ashamed when he thought of this advice.
+
+"What cannot be cured must be endured," he was accustomed to say for
+some days, as often as he went into his room. "The queer fellow makes
+it uncomfortable for me; this cannot continue; days and years pass
+away. I am growing old, and the house of Frank must not die out."
+
+One morning he gave Richard charge of the establishment. "I have
+important business," said he. "I will be back to-morrow."
+
+The father smiled significantly as he said this. Richard heard from the
+coachman that Herr Frank took a ticket for the station near
+Frankenhoehe. He knew the great importance to him of this visit, and
+prayed God earnestly to move his father's heart favorably. His
+uneasiness increased hourly, and rendered all work impossible. He
+walked up and down the counting-room like a man who feared bankruptcy,
+and expected every moment the decision on which depended his happiness
+for life. He went into the hall where the desks of the clerks stood in
+long rows. He went to the desks, looked at the writing of the clerks,
+and knew not what he did, where he went, or where he stood.
+
+The next day Herr Frank returned. Richard was called to the library,
+where his father received him with a face never more happy or
+contented.
+
+"I have visited your bride," he began, "because I had a curiosity to
+know personally the one who has converted my son to sound views of
+womankind. I am perfectly satisfied with your taste, and also with
+myself; for I have become reconciled with Siegwart, and find that he is
+as willing to live with his neighbors in harmony as in discord. You now
+have my blessing on your union. The marriage can take place when you
+please; only it would please me if it came off as soon as possible."
+
+Richard stood speechless with emotion, which so overcame him that tears
+burst from his eyes. He embraced his father, kissed him tenderly, and
+murmured his thanks.
+
+"That will do, Richard," said Herr Frank, much affected. "Your
+happiness moves me. May it last long. And I do not doubt it will; for
+Angela is truly a woman the like of whom I have never met. Her
+character is as clear and transparent as crystal; and her eyes possess
+such power, and her smile such loveliness, that I fear for my freedom
+when she is once in the house."
+
+
+Crisp, cold weather. The December winds sweep gustily through the
+streets of the city, driving the well-clad wanderer before them and
+sporting with the weather-vanes. A carriage stops before the door of
+the Director Schlagbein. Professor Lutz steps out and directs the
+driver to await him.
+
+Emil Schlagbein, Richard's unhappy married friend, had moved his
+easy-chair near the stove and leaned his head against its back. He
+looked as though despair had seized him and thrown him into it. Hasty
+steps were heard in the ante-room, and Lutz stood before him.
+
+"Still in your working-clothes, Emil? Up! the tea-table of the Angel of
+Salingen awaits us."
+
+"Pardon me; my head is confused, my heart is sad; grief wastes my life
+away."
+
+"War--always war; never peace!" said Lutz. "I fear, Emil, that
+all the fault is not with your wife. You are too sensitive, too
+particular about principles. Man must tolerate, and not be niggardly
+in compliance. Take old Frank as a model. With Angela entered
+ultramontanism into his house. Frank lives in peace with this
+spirit--even on friendly terms. Angela reads him pious stories from the
+legends of the saints. He goes with her to church, where he listens
+with attention to the word of God. He hears mass as devoutly as a
+Capuchin; not to say any thing of Richard, who runs a race with Angela
+for the prize of piety. Could you not also make some sacrifice to the
+whims of your wife?"
+
+"Angela and Ida--day and night!" said the director bitterly. "The two
+Franks make no sacrifice to female whims. They appreciate her exalted
+views, they admire her purity, her unspeakable modesty, her shining
+virtues. The two Franks acted reasonably when they adopted the
+principles that produced such a woman. Angela never speaks to her
+husband in defiance and bad temper. If clouds gather in the matrimonial
+heaven, she dissipates them with the breath of love. Is the sacrifice
+of a wish wanted? Angela makes it. Is her pure feeling offended by
+Richard's faults? She kisses them away and raises him to her level.
+My wife--is she not just the opposite in every thing? Is she not
+quick-tempered, bitter, loveless, extravagant, and stiff-necked? Has
+she a look--I will not say of love--but even of respect for me? Do not
+all her thoughts and acts look to the pleasures of the toilette, the
+opera, balls, and concerts? O my poor children! who grow up without a
+mother, in the hands of domestics. How is any concession possible here?
+Must not my position, my self-respect, the last remnant of manly
+dignity go to the wall?"
+
+"Your case is lamentable, friend! Your principles and those of your
+wife do not agree. Concession to the utmost point of duty, joined with
+prudent reform in many things, may, perhaps, bring back, harmony and a
+good understanding between you. You praise Angela: follow her example.
+She abominates the air of the theatre. The opera-glasses of the young
+men levelled at her offend her deeply, and bring to her angelic
+countenance the blush of shame. Her fine religious feeling is offended
+at many words, gestures, and dances which a pious Christian woman
+should not hear and see. Yet she goes to the opera because Richard
+wishes it. Her husband will at last observe this heroism of love, and
+sacrifice the opera to it. What Angela cannot obtain by prayers and
+representations, she gains by the all-conquering weapons of love. In
+like manner and for a like object yield to your wife. She is, at least,
+not a firebrand. Love must overcome her stubbornness."
+
+Schlagbein shook his head sadly.
+
+"A father cannot do what is inconsistent with paternal duty," said he.
+"Shall I join in the course of my wife? Whither does this course lead?
+To the destruction of all family ties, to financial bankruptcy--to
+dishonor. For home my wife has no mind, no understanding. My means she
+throws carelessly into the bottomless pit of pleasure-seeking and love
+of dress. She does not think of the future of her children. Every day
+brings to her new desires for prodigality. If her wishes are fulfilled,
+ruin is unavoidable. If they are not fulfilled, she sits ill-humored
+and obstinate in her room, and leaves the care of the house to her
+domestics, and the children to the nurses. How often have I consented
+to her vain desire for show, only to see her extravagant wishes thereby
+increased. She is without reason."
+
+The unfortunate man's head sunk upon his breast. Lutz stood still
+without uttering a word.
+
+"Yes, Angela is a noble woman," continued Emil, "she is the spirit of
+order, the angel of peace and love. Just hear Richard's father. He
+revels in enthusiasm about her. 'My Richard is the happiest man in the
+world,' said he to me lately. 'I myself must be thankful to him for his
+prudent choice. Abounding in every thing, my house was empty and
+desolate before Angela came; but now every thing shines in the sun of
+her orderly housekeeping, of her tender care. Although served with
+fidelity, I have been until the present almost neglected. But now that
+the angel hovers over me, observes my every want, and with her smile
+lights my old age, I am perfectly happy.' Has my wife a single
+characteristic of this noble woman?"
+
+"Angela is unapproachable in the little arts that win the heart and
+drive away melancholy," said Lutz. "A few weeks ago, Herr Frank came
+home one day from the counting-room all out of sorts. He sat silently
+in his easy-chair drumming on his knee. Angela noticed his ill-humor.
+She sought to dissipate it--to cheer him; but she did not succeed. She
+then arose, and, going to him, said with unspeakable affection,
+'Father, may I play and sing for you the "Lied der Kapelle?"' Herr
+Frank looked in her face, and smiled as he replied, 'Yes, my angel'
+When her sweet voice resounded in the next room in beautiful accord
+with the accompaniment, which she played most feelingly, the old man
+revived and joined in her song with his trembling bass."
+
+"How often we have twitted Richard with his views of modern women,"
+said Emil. "It was his cool judgment, perhaps, that saved him from a
+misfortune like mine."
+
+Just then a carriage stopped before the house. Emil went uneasily to
+the window, and Lutz followed him. Bandboxes and trunks were taken from
+the house. The professor looked inquiringly at his friend, whose hand
+appeared to tremble as it rested on the window-glass.
+
+"What does this mean, Emil?"
+
+"My wife is going to her aunt's for an indefinite time. She leaves me
+to enjoy the pleasures of Christmas alone. The children also remain
+here; they might be in her way."
+
+The professor pitied his unhappy friend.
+
+"Emil," said he, almost angrily, "it is for you to determine how a man
+should act in regard to the freaks and caprices of his wife. But you
+should not steep yourself in gall, even though your wife turn into a
+river of bitterness. Drive away sadness and be happy. Do not let your
+present humor rob you of every thing. Forget what you cannot change."
+
+A beautiful woman approached the carriage. Schlagbein turned away from
+the sight. Lutz observed the departing wife and mother. She did not
+look up at the window where her husband was. She got into the carriage
+without even saying farewell. She sat in the midst of bandboxes,
+surrounded by finery and tinsel; and as the wheels rolled over the
+pavement, the director groaned in his chair.
+
+"A happy journey to you, Xantippe!" cried the angry professor. "Emil,
+be a man. Dress yourself; forget at the Angel of Salingen's your
+domestic devil."
+
+Schlagbein moved his head disconsolately.
+
+"What have the wretched to do in the home of the happy? There I shall
+only see more clearly that I suffer and am miserable."
+
+Lutz, out of humor, threw himself into the carriage. With knitted brows
+he buried himself in one of its corners. That professional head was
+perplexed with a question which ordinary men would have quickly seen
+through and settled. Frank's happiness and Schlagbein's misery stood as
+two irrefutable facts before the mind of the professor. Now came the
+question. Why this happiness, why this misery? The dashing Ida he had
+known for years; also her enlightened views of life, and her flexible
+principles, perfectly conformable to the spirit of progress. Whence,
+then, the dissoluteness of her desires, the bitterness of her humor,
+the heartlessness of the wife, the callousness of the mother?
+
+The professor continued his musing. He gave a scrutinizing glance at
+the marriages of all his acquaintances. Everywhere he found a clouded
+sky, and, in the semi-darkness, lightning and thunder. Only one
+marriage stood before him bright and clear in the sunlight of
+happiness, in the raiment of peace, and that was ultramontane. That
+ultramontane principles had produced this happiness and peace, the
+professor's industrious mind saw with clearness. He raised his head and
+said solemnly, "Marriage is an image of religion. It proceeds from the
+lips of God, and is perfected at the altar. The marriage duties are
+children of the religious sentiment, fetters of the divine law. Ida was
+faithful and true so long as it agreed with the longings of her heart.
+But with the cooling of affection died love and fidelity. She
+recognizes no religious duty, because she has progressed to liberty and
+independence. From this follows with striking clearness the
+incompatibility of Christian marriage with the spirit of the age.
+Marriage will be a thing of the past as soon as intellectual maturity
+conquers in the contest with religion. Sound sense, liberty of emotion
+and inclination will supplant the terrible marriage yoke."
+
+The professor paused and examined his conclusion. It smiled upon him
+like a true child of nature. It clothed itself in motley flesh, and
+passed through green meadows and shady forests. It pointed
+encouragingly to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, long
+in possession of intellectual maturity. Sensual marriages, intended to
+last only for weeks or months, danced around the professor. Cannibal
+hordes, who extended to him their brotherly paws and claws, pressed
+about him. In astonishment, he contemplated his conclusion; it made
+beastly grimaces, knavish and jeering, and he dashed into fragments the
+provoking mockery.
+
+In strong contrast to the animal kingdom, stood before him again the
+Christian marriage. He cunningly tried to give his new conclusion human
+shape; but here the carriage stopped, and the speculation vanished
+before the clear light in the house of the "Angel of Salingen."
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTE TO ANGELA.
+
+[Footnote 2: This argument is not conclusive, nor is it at all
+necessary. Animals have memory; and there is no more reason why their
+waking sensations, emotions, and acts should not repeat themselves in
+dreams than there is in the case of men. The difference between the
+soul of man and the soul of the brute is constituted by the presence of
+the gift of reason, or the faculty of knowing necessary and universal
+truths in the former, and its absence in the latter.--Ed. Catholic
+World.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Progressionists, and Angela., by
+Conrad von Bolanden
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