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Iputulm.
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THE FORESTER'S GRATE . " My heart is sour , Fred , and I am angry with myself that it is so . " " The state of the heart , they say , is often beyond the dominion of the will , Heinrich , " replied his friend . " Aye , aye , " retorted Heinrich , " but a man may relinquish his rational mastery in this affair ; he may pamper himself with dreams of coming
happiness , while each day warns him of the peril of the proceeding ; he may cast a kind of strontium sunshine round his life , and wilfully shut his eyes to the fact that is mere strontium . I have done so ; and now that the glare is gone I find myself , as it were , upon the stage of a theatre as the day dawns , inspecting by the grey twilight the pictures which enchanted me last night , and finding them all daub and deformity . "
In a room in the Wittergasse , Carburg , sat two students who carried on the foregoing dialogue . It was winter , but the atmosphere of the room was rendered genial by the radiation from a black stove which reared itself in one corner to a height of six or seven feet . Both students were smoking , and upon the pipe of each—a pipe , by the way , the supplying of which in England would lie heavier upon a man than the window tax—was a portrait of the other . " Only think of my attempting to make poetry , Fred ! " pursued Heinrich .
" The thing would seem ridiculous , perhaps , were it not so very common . " answered Fred . " But people in your state have a kind of music awoke within them which rejects the common law of utterance . The lover has as good a right to sing as the lark—high feelings demand high expression . " " This music of life would be very delightful , " returned Heinrich , " did it not require two to produce it , the will or caprice of either being able to convert it for the other into a most dreary wail . Six months ago I had other melodies to cheer me . I had my work first of a'l , and , retiring from this with the consciousness that I had done
it , I was receptive of many delightful influences . Sun , moon , and stars were sources of pleasure to me . Alone in the forest I did not feel lonely ; the tree leaves spoke and sung to me . I felt that a common life penetrated me and nature , and I rejoiced in the relationship . But I have forsaken these pleasures to pursue an ignus fatuus ; I have bartered the forest for the ball-room , and the stars for a maiden ' s eyes ; I have abandoned the change-Jcss and the true , and based my happiness upon a mass of tinted vapour which is now melted and : _ mne . I have been a fool , but a certain profit may \) c derived even from folly—the experience shall be laid to heart , and turned to some account . "
The last ; sentence was uttered by Heinrich with : v bitter energy , as if the individual had become dual , and one half was act'ng the part of an exasperated schoolmaster towards the other . Heinrich No . 1 , —he of the sun and the stars and the forest : ui < l the work , flourished his merciless thongs over { leinrich No . ' 2 , —him of the poetry , ball-room , and bright eyes . The lady—for a lady wan the origin of it all— - who caused Heinrich so much trouble , was not one calculated to subdue a man at a glance . Her beauty was not of that triumphant cast which suddenly
fascinates the beholder . When Heinrich first saw her , she appeared to him to be a gentle , timid being - ¦ . 'i weak snowdrop , which shook its pule petals in the slightest ; breeze . lie saw her again , ; ui ( l imagined that , the timidity had subsided a little . Then : was , indeed , an honesty and earnestness ; i !) oul ; Heinrich himself which wrn calculated to ( il ' iel . this . He soon discovered , however , that I'eliind this physical timidity reposed a courage vliich nobody would have calculated on , and of
which the possessor seemed perfectly iinconneiou . s llcinrieli was somewhat ; of a psychologist , and thin discovery interested him . He watched her her actions wen : the natural outflow of her spirit , nntiuct . ured by the Hlightenf , affectation . I leinrieh had a notion that , he could distinguish mere animal iKNiuty from that , which , permeating the countenance from within , l " usen the features into thought , and music ; and he observed at , times a depth of radiance in those eyes which led him to speculate on the purity and brightness of the soul from which
that radiance emanated . She was the only girl whom Heinrich in the course of bis life had thought that he could have dared to marry . He felt that she was worthy of his love , and he took no pains to check the growth of the seedling planted by this conviction . The utmost , however , he could gather from his intercourse with her was , that she did not hate him . This was the verdict of his calmer and truer hours ; but , naturally enough , be permitted
the delusion to creep in , that she evinced a partiality towards him . This he dreaded to forfeit . Alexander , with a world to gain , was braver than Alexander with a world to Jose . This thought destroyed the spontaneity of Heinrich ' s action ; he was anxious to please , fearful lest he should displease ; and , thus fettered , he lost the power and independence which would have most effectually charmed the girl he loved .
The night previous to his conversation with Fred , Heinrich attended the periodical meeting of the Sonntags-gesellschaft . Three or four of the higher families of Carburg , a few of the professors of the university , and a number of the older students , formed the core of this society , each member of which could invite as many guests as he pleased . On Sunday evenings , once a fortnight , the society came together . Plays , charades , and dancing filled up the time until twelve o'clock , at which hour the meeting usually separated .
On the night in question , the lady above described , whom we shall hereafter call Helen , was also present . Heinrich did not pay her his usual attention on this occasion , for a doubt had insinuated itself into his mind as to whether it was agreeable to her . Before supper , however , he summoned resolution to ask her if she would permit him to lead her to table . She replied that she was engaged , and he retired accordingly . There was nothing new in the fact of a lady ' s being engaged , the circumstance had occurred to him a
hundred times before , but he accepted it as an evil omen in his present state of mind . He saw Helen led to table by Herr Crick , a gentleman whom Tennyson might have had in his eye when he penned the " Character . " Heinrich was one of the few who had pierced the enamel which surrounded this person , and found an intriguer within ; and , though he had strong faith in the capacity of the maiden to distinguish true from false , he nevertheless would have rather seen her in any other company than that of Herr Crick .
Dancing was resumed after supper . At a certain period of the dance a basket full of little knots of ribbon , having various devices , was placed in the middle of the room . The ladies were led in turn to the basket ; each chose a knot and presented it to some one of the gentlemen standing round , who took the giver's hand and danced with her round the room . These little knots were often messengers of pleasure and of hope—sometimes the contrary . Helen was led to the basket , she chose a knot , and , approaching the portion of the ring where Heinrich stood , gave it—to Herr Crick who stood at his side .
Up to this moment the image of the maiden had lain like a bright daguerreotype upon his brain . A canker now attacked it , and the bliss of contemplating it was no more . He had sense enough to know that this was a subjective phenomenon , that the maiden had not changed , but had merely revealed to him the peril of the dream in which he had indulged . There was a steadiness and decision about her action which banished the thought that it was the result of levity . " She is right , " he thought . " 1 have been a fool and a coxcomb , and now the penalty is come . " A stroke of calamity is often accompanied by psychological results , the reverse , of those which might be anticipated . It
was so in the present ; ca . se . Heinrich mingled with his companions , none knew the nature of the change that had suddenly come , upon him , and it ; surprised even himself . He did not quiver ; lie was as rigid as a rock . His brain became clear and his glance concentrated , lie felt ; a sudden accession of intellectual power , enabling- him aH it were , to crush in an iiiHtjint ; problems which , under ordinary eireuiiiHtaricen , he might , have nibbled at for months . Nor was it the energy of despair which thiiH took possession of him ; he never once contemplated the thought of suicide . He (•( infronted the fact of bin position valiantly , and the swelling of his heart , neeined only to exalt , him into clearer day .
On the evening of the next ; day Ileinrich and his friend Fred sat together in the room of the former , and curried on the dialogue with which we have * introduced our narrative .
" I do not blame her /* continued Heinrich , " and when f use the term ignus fatuus I don't mean to apply it to her . The thing was my own creation solely . I collected her words and looks and tinged them with my own hopes . Like a fellow who sets out with a theory and then hunts for facts to support it , instead of first waiting humbly for the fact and placing it at the foundation . I have had my theory—bright and beautiful enough , but now in ruins . She , however , may banish uneasiness from her mind ; I shall see her again , and show her that her hints have been accepted . Beim Himmel , she has no spaniel at her feet ! Fred , my dear fellow , I bless the gods that I am a worker ; this fact i 3 my solace at present ; my work is my medicine ; on this fulcrum I know that I can poise myself ,
and , after a little time , look out once more upon the world unchagrined and self-possessed . A fortnight ' s struggle set Heinrich again in equilibrium . At the end of a fortnight he stood once more in the Sonntags-gesellschaft , and trod the floor of the ballroom with the assurance of a man who feels that he has subdued a stubborn foe . Helen was there , and so was Herr Crick , and so was Fred . There is a mystic transmission of intelligence between minds , and this without a word
indicated to Helen that a change had come over Heinrich . He neither sought her nor avoided her ; he spoke to her kindly , almost affectionately ; in fact , in this respect he went farther than he should have ventured in his days of thraldom . He did it without secpnd thought , without ulterior object , and , therefore , with dignity and freedom . Herr Crick joined them once while they conversed together ; after a little time Heinrich walked away and left Helen and him to continue the
conversation . The maiden was not prepared for this exhibition of character on the part of Heinrich . It was a new quality to her , but one between which and her own moral constitution there was the strongest affinity . A kind of spiritual gravitation operated between both which threatened more and more the orbit in which her life had hitherto revolved , and finally changed-that orbit . As the earth folds the moon in its everlasting embrace , and bends her from her forward course without an effort , so this strong man laid hold with silent force upon the maiden ' s feelings and held them by an irresistible attraction .
Heinrich had long speculated upon going to America , and the time drew near when the speculation was to be converted into fact . The summer had dawned , periodical land parties were formed , and excursions made through the forest . Heinrich and Helen often met on such occasions . The maiden grew paler as the time of his leaving drew near . Fred remarked this , but Heinrich did not . About a week before his departure a party was projected to the Glasskopf . It was Whitsuntide , and the sun beamed radiant all day . The party met in Fefer's garden , and walked thence to the rim
of the forest . Here , under the primeval beeches , the tablecloths were spread , fowls were dissected , sausages sliced , and maitrank poured out bounteously . After the repast little coteries dived into the forest . Ileinrich and Fred strolled off alone , and remained away until tlie sound of a distant horn at sunset warned them that the party was collecting for home . They turned in the direction of the sound . A long summer's day had just ended , and the sun teemed his last beaker of golden light from the crown of the Frauenberg . The souls of both were interpenetrated with the beauty
and repose of the scene around them . In this mood they opened the wicket of a little burial ground which lay athwart ; their path , and which contained one green grave . At . the head of the grave rose a pillar with rough rock fragments clumped around its base ; at ; the foot sprung three tall pines which spread their sombre branches , like hearse plumes , over the dead . The grave , was that of an ancient forester who had taken up his final lodging amid the scenes which most delighted him . Ah the friends entered , a lady , who appeared to have been reading the epitaph , retreated towards a gate at the opposite side of tho enclosure—both knew that ; if ; was Helen . " Friiulein ! " exclaimed Fred , impulsively , " you are surely not afraid of us . " The maiden stopped and turned ; the friends advanced towards her ; to Ileinrich she appeared the same trembling snowdrop as when he first ; beheld her . " ' Itina fitting place to say good-bye , " wiid Fred . " You will hardly have an opportunity of ( seeing each other again—would that I could have witnessed your union , instead of your separation !"
Iputulm.
Iputulm .
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , or the Useful encourages itself . —Gokthe .
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420 &fyt &tantx . [ SATtj * i > 4 Y ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 3, 1851, page 420, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1881/page/16/
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