Memories

Memories

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Memories, by Max Muller, Translated
by George P. Upton
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.net

Title: Memories
Author: Max Muller
Release Date: December 29, 2004 [eBook #14521]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
MEMORIES***
E-text prepared by Al Haines, with thanks to David Bridson for
checking the German text

Transcriber's note: This book contains several brief passages in German,
each of which is followed by an English translation. Several of the
German words contain "o-umlaut", which has been rendered as "oe".
Several others contain the German "Eszett" character, which has been
rendered as "ss".

MEMORIES
A Story of German Love
Translated from the German of
MAX MULLER
by
George P. Upton
Chicago A. C. McClurg & Co.

1902

CONTENTS.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE AUTHOR'S PREFACE FIRST
MEMORY SECOND MEMORY THIRD MEMORY FOURTH
MEMORY FIFTH MEMORY SIXTH MEMORY SEVENTH
MEMORY LAST MEMORY

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
The translation of any work is at best a difficult task, and must
inevitably be prejudicial to whatever of beauty the original possesses.
When the principal charm of the original lies in its elegant simplicity,
as in the case of the "Deutsche Liebe," the difficulty is still further
enhanced. The translator has sought to reproduce the simple German in
equally simple English, even at the risk of transferring German idioms
into the English text.
The story speaks for itself. Without plot, incidents or situations, it is
nevertheless dramatically constructed, unflagging in interest,
abounding in beauty, grace and pathos, and filled with the tenderest
feeling of sympathy, which will go straight to the heart of every lover
of the ideal in the world of humanity, and every worshipper in the
world of nature. Its brief essays upon theology, literature and social
habits, contained in the dialogues between the hero and the heroine,
will commend themselves to the thoughtful reader by their clearness
and beauty of statement, as well as by their freedom from prejudice.
"Deutsche Liebe" is a poem in prose, whose setting is all the more
beautiful and tender, in that it is freed from the bondage of metre, and
has been the unacknowledged source of many a poet's most striking
utterances.
As such, the translator gives it to the public, confident that it will find
ready acceptance among those who cherish the ideal, and a tender
welcome by every lover of humanity.
The translator desires to make acknowledgments to J. J. Lalor, Esq.,
late of the Chicago Tribune for his hearty co-operation in the progress
of the work, and many valuable suggestions; to Prof. Feuling, the
eminent philologist, of the University of Wisconsin, for his literal

version of the extracts from the "Deutsche Theologie," which preserve
the quaintness of the original, and to Mrs. F. M. Brown, for her
metrical version of Goethe's almost untranslatable lines, "Ueber allen
Gipfeln, ist Ruh," which form the keynote of the beautiful harmony in
the character of the heroine.
G.P.U. Chicago, November, 1874.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Who has not, at some period of his life, seated himself at a
writing-table, where, only a short time before, another sat, who now
rests in the grave? Who has not opened the drawers, which for long
years have hidden the secrets of a heart now buried in the holy peace of
the church-yard? Here lie the letters which were so precious to him, the
beloved one; here the pictures, ribbons, and books with marks on every
leaf. Who can now read and interpret them? Who can gather again the
withered and scattered leaves of this rose, and vivify them with fresh
perfume? The flames, in which the Greeks enveloped the bodies of the
departed for the purpose of destruction; the flames, into which the
ancients cast everything once dearest to the living, are now the securest
repository for these relics. With trembling fear the surviving friend
reads the leaves no eye has ever seen, save those now so firmly closed,
and if, after a glance, too hasty even to read them, he is convinced these
letters and leaves contain nothing which men deem important, he
throws them quickly upon the glowing coals--a flash and they are gone.
From such flames the following leaves have been saved. They were at
first intended only for the friends of the deceased, yet they have found
friends even among strangers, and, since it is so to be, may wander
anew in distant lands. Gladly would the compiler have furnished more,
but the leaves are too much scattered and mutilated to be rearranged
and given complete.