Part 35 (1/2)
”Emily, thou shouldst have dealt more honestly with me. By G.o.d! I would have sacrificed every thing for thee. Wilt thou be happy when at thy wedding I sing a song of sorrow, that my friends may weep with me?
”Emily, I pray thee, for G.o.d's sake, by the happiness that thou yet hopest, be worthy of thyself: I cannot believe any thing bad of thy heart. Be the friend of thy father, if thou canst no longer be my beloved. If my kiss has not enn.o.bled thee, then am I an outcast, or thou a creature without mind. Do nothing--nothing secret. What I did was done on thy account; otherwise I walk ever in the light. For my sake, also, show this letter to thy parents; I will not, when occasion requires it, conceal from them that I have written this letter.
”Allow me once more to deceive myself with the sweet delusion of the harmony of our souls. Thou hast destroyed a beautiful work, love, which thou shouldst not have done, or shouldst not have helped to build it up. Thou askest what I think, and not what I feel? I am infinitely sorrowful; and of what kind my affections are thou mayst read hereafter in my countenance. I may, perhaps, never again be so happy as to speak another syllable with thee, but my heart will accompany thee, since I am unchangeable!
”S. ----.”
It is an old, old story, Yet bides for ever new; And he to whom it chances, It breaks his heart in two.
_Heyne_.
It came not truly so far with my friend; but happiness of his life was for a long period destroyed: the manly and high-toned character of his mind, however, saved him from sinking permanently under the weight which would have prostrated many a one of equally sensitive and strongly-devoted temperament. But, as an English poet has said, he resolved not to sacrifice
His name of manhood to a myrtle shade.
The fervour of his pa.s.sion for political liberty, his admiration of heroic actions, and his pride in his native country, were very near, in the excited state of his mind, leading him to involve himself in the grand but ill-digested plans of the Burschenschaft for the consolidation of Germany into one magnificent empire; and probably the blowing up of those plans by the government measures which followed on the wild deeds of Sand and others, just at that crisis, saved him from the fate which most probably would have awaited one so ardent and qualified to take a prominent part--flight, or exile, from his native country. Therefore, turning his eyes away from this hopeless track, he studied with renewed severity, pa.s.sed a splendid examination, and soon after wrote a work on the German political const.i.tution, which at once attracted attention, and excited the admiration of all the lawyers in Germany. It was soon translated into most of the languages of Europe, and brought him a call from the princ.i.p.al university of one of the first states of Germany, where he now occupies the chair of jurisprudence with the most splendid reputation. He is no less distinguished by the clearness and grasp of his reasoning powers, than by the eloquence of his style, by which he contrives to diffuse a charm and a life into the driest topics; and he is equally so for the liberality of his principles, and the ardent devotion of his mind to the liberties of mankind. He is beloved by the students who attend his lectures, for the affability of his manners, and by his cordial readiness on all occasions to give them his advice in any of their troubles or perplexities. Having himself fought his way through a narrow and a rugged path, he knows how to sympathize with others in the same circ.u.mstances. His triumphs over his own impediments have not inspired him with arrogance; nor the sorrows and disappointments of his dearest hopes seared his sensibilities, but on the contrary, softened and mellowed his heart. In public, he wears in his pale and grave countenance traces, not only of his native tone of mind, but of the shattering baptism of spirit that he has pa.s.sed through; but in the social circle, though often on his first entrance silent and reserved, the warmth of his imagination and heart are sure to triumph over the sadness of habitual reflection; and he charms every one with the poetry and the animated references to the great deeds and great men of his Fatherland, that show you that he is still at heart the same as when he listened in breathless attention to the stories of the old officer, or sung out Ossian on the forest hills.
Of Emily, we have little to say. Hidden, herself, in the retirement of private life, she would have seen with an inextinguishable regret the splendid career and wide fame of the man whom she had abandoned, had she possessed a mind worthy of becoming the companion of such a man and of such a destiny; but the great error of Stark's life was that of investing a lovely but not high-minded woman, with the poetry and the magnanimity of his own spirit. But he himself is a striking example of the virtues, the talents, and the indefatigable labours by which many a German Professor fights his way out of narrow circ.u.mstances, and through the shades of native obscurity, into the broad light of fame and public usefulness. Such instances are not rare, and they----but, hear I right? it even now strikes twelve!
In confirmation of this was heard on all sides the reports of fire-arms.
”Prost Neu-Jahr! gentlemen,” cried Freisleben. ”Prost Neu-Jahr!”
resounded they in reply. Freisleben declared that his story was at an end; they drank off their gla.s.ses _anstossing_ for the first time in the new year, and hurried into the street.
CONCLUSION OF NEW YEAR'S EVE--THE TORCH TRAIN--THE EXPLOIT OF THE RED FISHERMAN.
Following the distant sound of the fire-arms, they soon came to the troop of students, which was marching round to bring to the Prorector, and to some of the most popular professors, a ”Vivat!” Music went before, accompanied with torches; and a noisy swarm of students followed it,--some in cloaks and great coats; some in dressing-gowns, and with their long pipes in their mouths. You could easily see that they had all of them suddenly started away out of their kneips, where they had celebrated the termination of the old year. They now arrived at the dwelling of a professor. The musicians placed themselves in the centre of the street, surrounded by the torches; the students closed in around them in a dense circle, and the music played a tune. A student then stepped forward, and gave a loud ”hoch!” to the Professor. All joined in it three times, while the music blew a flourish, and the pistols thundered off all round. As the third ”hoch!” ceased, a window opened above, a dark figure showed itself, and immediately below ”Silentium” was commanded. All were still, and the Professor spoke as follows:--
”Gentlemen! Ever since I have resided in Heidelberg as teacher, have you annually paid me this testimony of your respect and esteem; but were I to live to be as old as Methuselah, and was this scene every year renewed, it would give me a fresh satisfaction.
”Gentlemen! Let the world judge of our worth as men; let the republic of the learned, which you are growing up to become a part of, decide on our services as learned men, on our ability as teachers,--the means of alone coming to a just conclusion oh those points will still lie constantly in the hands of the student youth. May they always use them with wise consideration, and free from all party spirit. So long as we are able to labour with the vigour of men for the good of the High-School, will our honest endeavours to fill our posts worthily as teachers, not be in vain; and we rejoice in this glad consciousness that we find in the acknowledgments of the student youth, only an echo of that which our inner self declares. But when the zenith of our career is past, so comes by degrees the weakness, and with it the doubtfulness of age; and then does it delight us to find in the acknowledgments of others, the conviction that, although our hair has become whitened with the snow of age, yet our labour still preserves its freshness and its green. And the Ruperto-Carola is also an ancient and venerable stem, which ages in their flight have already visited with their storms; but, if these storms have often and fiercely shook it, they have never been able to uproot it. So long as teachers dwell under the shadow of this tree, who, anxiously seeking its prosperity, cherish and nourish the old trunk; so long as scholars make to it their pilgrimage, who seek knowledge earnestly, so long shall Ruperto-Carola flourish and bloom.”
[Here the Professor went over the past year in review, and stated what it had brought both of good and evil to the university, and then continued.]
”May Ruperto-Carola ever possess scholars, of whose approval an honest man will be proud! May yet many an age on the festive day resound the cry of--'Vivat Ruperto-Carola!'”
The sons of the Muses here joined in with their thundering ”vivats!”
The music made a flourish--the pistols resounded.
”Once more,” cried the Professor, in conclusion, ”my hearty thanks for this proof of your love. May your Fatherland receive you in a while with pride from our arms, where it yet only reluctantly leaves you for your good. May you live long and happy!”
The professor withdrew from the window; the music played yet another tune, and the troop then marched onwards. The four friends having separated themselves from the throng, in order to return home, heard yet for a long time, the distant uproar of the merry students, and the sounding of the fire-arms.
We must here further observe, that not only such night-music is brought; but also on some occasions, in order to do the more honour to the professors, the so-called solemn night-music, attended by a greater procession of the students, who carry torches, and have their appointed marshals and officers, to maintain order in the procession. The description of a torch-train will yet follow. Before this arrives at the house of the Professor, two or three deputies proceed thither in a carriage. These, in full gala costume, wait upon him for whom the compliment is intended, and make him a short address. The Professor returns them his thanks, and as he has always become aware of the intention of the students, he has his bottle of champagne ready, which he sets before the deputies, and _anstosses_ with them. They retire as the torch-train approaches the house, and when the customary hochs!
have been given: first, by the students to the honour of the Professor; and then by the Professor in his speech to the prosperity of the university, the officers who have stepped forward for the purpose clash their swords wildly together. Before retiring they generally sing--”Stosst an! Heidelberg live thou!” and the torch-train marches away.