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    August 6, 1853.] THE LEADIR. 765

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    piiiifilh

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    We should do our utmost to encourage the...

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    ARIADNE'S DREAM. What shape of sorrow sl...

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    Home Life In Germany. Some Life In Germa...

    "A long search was made , and at length they were both discovered by the police in the neighbouring village of Arendsee . They were immediately transported by the gensd ' 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 Biirgermeister and gensd ' armes as witness it was introduced into the great Christian family ; and 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 Vossische 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 a higher courtbut the sentence has been sustained !

    , " Nothing 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 . Cler-nrmen so horrified at democratic names , as to be willing to baptise at the point 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 !" This also is worth noting : —•

    GERMAN 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 collegemen in America , who took any deep interest in their pursuits . The idea with most is , that college-life is a kind of wearisome sea-voyage—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 tore—a task—a punishment—and the sooner it is over the better .

    " There are exceptions to these remarks j 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 retting 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 , unassailable manner , in which a refined lady will speak of such subjects . That universal prudery , which so hampers a man in America , and makes him ignore half the facts of lift ) , for fear of treading on some unknown delicate sensibility , ia never seen in European circles . It is boldly assumed , what every one knows to be the fact , that both hcxcs are equally awaro of a great variety of things ; and whore the allusion is natural , no one troubles himself about it .

    " There wore in our company , this evening , two who wcro invited as betrothed , and I was very much struck with their manners towards one another . I think in an Anglo-Saxon company , the fact would havo bcou dropped out of view as much as po 8 niblo , and certainly the slightest expression of their feelings would have been intensely dreaded by the parties . " But hero there was , tho whole evening , an unconscious beautiful expression of affection and confidence , which really , I think , gladdened the wholo company . " You never thought of watching them for it , but you never thought of anything else with thorn . Lovo scorned to speak out as naturally from their tones and glanco and manner , us friendly feeling did with ub . Nothing oIho would havo Hcemed in place . II was above criticism—above surprise , oven—though if any other of tho young bachelors were liko myself , they rotired with a sufficiently v . vid appreciation of iho woes of bacholordom .

    * I often "have observed this naturalness of expression among tho Germans . ' . It ih more apparent in tho families , of course . There aro not in all my momorien , pictures ho warm and glowing , an of some of thoso families in North Germany ; fumilies where tho look and language of affection wore not blurred by that everlasting formalism , and coldnctw , and solfihlmcHS which hangs over our households ; where lovo was without dissimulation , neither worn for duty , nor worn for effect ; whoro mutual kindness and self-sacrifice and affection had bo long been , that tho very air and aspect seemed to welcorao and sun tho etrunger . "

    We agree with Mr > Brace in his admiration of this nattnral expression of feeling . To English tastes it is certainl y offensive ; all expression of tenderness in presence 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 inay also be exquisitely beautiful . ,

    August 6, 1853.] The Leadir. 765

    August 6 , 1853 . ] THE LEADIR . 765

    Piiiifilh

    piiiifilh

    We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...

    We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourage itself . —Goethe .

    Ariadne's Dream. What Shape Of Sorrow Sl...

    ARIADNE'S DREAM . What shape of sorrow slowly comes this way ? What phantom pale of deadly loveliness , Parting the 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 bough * 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 fountained Id y d , 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 cried , Hours that belong to the majestic Gods , But leave 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 , And fancy heard the shouts of answering men , „ . s Tho whistle and the cry ' of mariners , i r ; ' . With splash of wave and strain of creaking ttltyt '

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 6, 1853, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06081853/page/21/