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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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« A lone search was made , and at length they were both discovered by the police in the neighbouring village of Arendsee . They were iniTOedaately transported by Seeensd ' armes to Seehausen and put into prison . From there , at the command of the Biirgermeister , the child was taken by the soldiers , packed away in a basket , to the church , and with closed doors , the Burgermeister and gensd armes as witness , it was introduced into the great Christian family ; an ^ in a few minutes was carried back to its surprised parents a thoroughly baptised Christian child ! This was not the end of the matter . The mother , says the legal reporter of the Tossisdhe Zeitung , ' has been summoned before the court , for resistance to an officer of the Government , in the lawful performance of his duty , and has been sentenced to two months' imprisonment / From later accounts , it seems she has appealed to higher courtbut the sentence has been sustained ! '' - T
a , ..,, , " Kothino- has occurred for years , better fitted to throw light over the whole system of law in Prussia , and the feelings of certain classes as connected with it . Clergymen so horrified at democratic names , as to be willing to baptise at the pomt of the bayonet ! And courts able to decide what name a child shall have , and sentencing a mother to the cell of a convict for objecting I " Thisalso is worth noting : — GEBMAN AND AMEEICAN STUDENTS . « Whatever our colleges may have done , they have certainly in one respect proved a failure ; they have never succeeded in producing any genuine intellectual enthusiasm whatever , among the mass of the students . I never yet met a set of colleget
men in America , who took any deep interest in their pursuits . The idea wih most is , that college-life is a kind of wearisome sea-yoyage—the great object lying beyond—and that their first duty to the studies is to get rid of them . With some of the best minds , half of the most laborious efforts of the four years are spent in gulling tutors , and rushing through recitations on small capital . If the lesson is broken up , or the lecture put off , it is considered a victory . The teacher is the student ' s natural enemy in our colleges . Those who do study , work so mechanically for honours , or under some equally unworthy motive , that it is hard to imagine any high intellectual interest in the pursuit . The thing is the more remarkable , as in all the intellectual pursuits of active life we find in America the most absorbed enthusiasm and activity . But the moment we enter a college , even among men no younger than those without , it is all changed . The student ' s business is a bore—a task—a punishment—and the sooner it is over the better .
" There are exceptions to these remarks ; but I am sure that in their general truth , I shall have the agreement of the mass of college graduates throughout the country , whether-they care to express it or not . \ " The appearance of things in a German university is utterly different , and one sees at once that the common idea of their pursuits is quite another from that of our students at home . There is the deepest attention in the lectures . There is as much enthusiasm among them for an abstract theme , or a scientific subject they are investigating , as there is among the politicians or the business men without , in their pursuits . This studying is their business , their profession , and they know it ; and the mass" of them would no more think of shirking lectures , than a botanist would of getting rid of his flowers , or a lawyer of his briefs .
" The feeling towards the teachers , too , is very different . With less outward deference than with us , there is a far deeper love and reverence—a feeling that these are great men among them , who are helping them on to higher stages of knowledge , and that any assistance from them is a kindness , and that their intercourse and instruction is a privilege to be received with gratitude . " The great and prominent reason of this difference is in the fact that the German system is , from beginning to end , a voluntary system . No student is obliged
to attend lectures . No account is taken of presence or absence . No strict supervision is maintained over him with respect to his studies . The whole matter is left to his own sense of respectability , or his interest in the subjects taught . He is treated at once as a man—as a reasonable and responsible man . And the effect is , with a few exceptions , what we might expect—he acts like one . The idea is not in any way brought before his mind , that the studies are a task—a burden , placed on him by another . He can stay away or attend , as he chooses . The whole impression left is that study is a privilege , an intellectual pleasure . "
As an American , Mr . Brace was naturally struck with the absence of prudery in German women ; an absence creditable to their understandings and their modesty . In England , among the best and most refined circles , you may speak to a woman of everything a man need speak to her about , provided always that you do so naturally , directly , without misgiving , as without pruriency . "In another respect , it is a specimen of what I so much like in European society * the free , unasBailnblo manner , in which a refined lady will spoak of such subjects . That universal prudery , which so hampers a man in America , and makes him ignore half the facts of life , for fear of treading on some unknown delicato sensibility , is never scon in European circles . It is boldly assumed , what every ono knows to bo the fact , that both sexes are equally awaro of a great variety of things ; and whore the allusion is natural , no ono troubles himself about it .
" There- were in our company , this ovoning , two who were invited as betrothed , and I was very much struck with their manners towards ono another . I think in an Anglo-Saxon company , the fact would have boon dropped out of view as much as possi ble , and certainly tho slightest expression of thoir feelings would havo boon intensely dreaded by the parties . " But horo thoro was , tho wholo evening , an unconscious beautiful expression of affection and confidence , which really , I think , gladdonod tho wholo company . " You never thought of watching thorn for it , but you never thought of anything who with them . Lovo scorned to spoak out as naturally from their tones , und glance ami manner , uh friendl y feelin g did with us . Nothing cIho would havo seemed ' in l > laeo . It was above eriticiHm—above Hurpriso , oven—though if any other of the youn g bachelors were like myself , thoy retired with a sufficiently v . v ' id appreciation oi the woes of bachelordom . l
. ' I often havo observed this imturalnosn of expression among the Germans . It in more apparonjb in tho families , of course . There aro not in all my memories , I « ctnro 8 bo warm and glowing , as of Homo of thoso families in North Germany ; "uuhos where tho look find language of affection wore not blurred by that overlawt' »{? iownnliHin , and coldness , and selfishness which hangs over our houBoholdn ; n « ro love was without dissimulation , neither worn for duty , nor worn for effect ; > oro mutual kindness and eolf-Hacriilco and affection had bo long been , that the 1-y air and awpect eceined to welcomo and » un tho strungor . "
We agree with Mr . Brace in his admiration of this natural expression of feeling . To English tastes it is certainly offensive ; all expression of tenderness in presen ce of others is regarded as ridiculous , if not unpleasant ; but , like Mr . Brace , we always felt gladdened at the sight of happiness so naturally expressed : it may be ridiculous , but it may also be exquisitely beautiful .
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ARIADNE'S DREAM . What shape of sorrow slowly comes this way ? What phantom pale of deadly loveliness , Parting tKe thick boughs of the tangled wood Walks ankle-deep in moss and primrose leaves ? Misery in human form were not more sad , And Deity were scarce more beautiful . Nor right nor left it moves but noiselessly To yonder fountain glides that glitters pure And cold as polisht steel ; the writhing boughs Of gnarled trees , all blotcht with lichens old , Drop over it a solid roof of leaves . Mid rushes , palmy fern and blistery plants , Stiff with a monstrous and unnatural growth , Stands Silence with one finger on her lip , And there the shapeless family of Night , Suspicion , Fear , and Solitude abide . Gray trees , the giant fathers of the wood Keep watch around . Still , pale , and passionless , Hang from the branches of the kingly oak , Visions like clustered bees ; while calm and fair ,. On the tall elms sit dreams that lovers have , Hither her random steps that spectral form Directs , and underneath a roofing elm Finds shelter , giving soon her eyes to sleep . Then a fair Dream , in self-obscuring light , Dropt from a bough , and folding rainbow wing * Over its cloudy semblance , near her stood . Till thus a faint and inorganic voice In whispers came : O , maiden , I am sent To build up , in this airy world of Dream , Thy past and coming life . Behold this veil . She lookt , and reaching into endless space Beheld a veil whereon were charactered Such shapes as men half think that they have seen , Yet know not when , nor where , nor what they are . She gazed , till fairer far than Day , appeared One like Apollo , when on Delos isle Self-risen on the breast of the great sea , He leapt to light and glorified the earth , And glorified the ocean , and the air . Confronting him One likest Evening stood , Not Beauty ' s self more lovely when alone She woke the royal Shepherd in his tent , And brightened all the murmuring summer air That flowed round fountaincd Ida , night and day . One look , one smile , one short swift sobbing cry , One clasping of white arms round whiter necks , When lo ! the vision darkened suddenly , And on the level shore of their delight , Broke like a wave , a cold imperious voice : " O waste not thou in love-dreams , thus it cr ied , Hours that belong to the majestic Gods , But leayc the lovely maiden of thy thoughts , And with heroic deeds enrich the world . " Then over Ariadne sleeping crept A sudden shiver , such as in broad noon , When summer days arc longest , visits men , As some cold hand had toucht them unawares . But now appeared a . stately ship afloat , An < l fancy heard the shouts of answering men , The whistle and the cry of mariners , With splash of wave and strain of creaking mast
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August 6 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 765 _
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourage its eli . —Goethe .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 6, 1853, page 765, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1998/page/21/
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