Memories | Page 3

how, at another time, a new world
disclosed itself to me--more beautiful than the star-world or the violet
perfume. It was on an Easter morning, and my mother had dressed me
early. Before the window stood our old church. It was not beautiful, but
still it had a lofty roof and tower, and on the tower a golden cross, and
it appeared very much older and grayer than the other buildings. I
wondered who lived in it, and once I looked in through the iron-grated
door. It was entirely empty, cold and dismal. There was not even one
soul in the whole building, and after that I always shuddered when I

passed the door. But on this Easter morning, it had rained early, and
when the sun came out in full splendor, the old church with the gray
sloping roof, the high windows and the tower with the golden cross
glistened with a wondrous shimmer. All at once the light which
streamed through the lofty windows began to move and glisten. It was
so intensely bright that one could have looked within, and as I closed
my eyes the light entered my soul and therein everything seemed to
shed brilliancy and perfume, to sing and to ring. It seemed to me a new
life had commenced in myself and that I was another being, and when I
asked my mother what it meant, she replied it was an Easter song they
were singing in the church. What bright, holy song it was, which at that
time surged through my soul, I have never been able to discover. It
must have been an old church hymn, like those which many a time
stirred the rugged soul of our Luther. I never heard it again, but many a
time even now when I hear an adagio of Beethoven's, or a psalm of
Marcellus, or a chorus of Handel's, or a simple song in the Scotch
Highlands or the Tyrol, it seems to me as if the lofty church windows
again glistened and the organ-tones once more surged through my soul,
and a new world revealed itself--more beautiful than the starry heavens
and the violet perfume.
These things I remember in my earliest childhood, and intermingled
with them are my dear mother's looks, the calm, earnest gaze of my
father, gardens and vine leaves, and soft green turf, and a very old and
quaint picture-book--and this is all I can recall of the first scattered
leaves of my childhood.
Afterwards it grows brighter and clearer. Names and faces appear--not
only father and mother, but brothers and sisters, friends and teachers,
and a multitude of strange people. Ah! yes, of these strange people
there is so much recorded in memory.

SECOND MEMORY.
Not far from our house, and opposite the old church with the golden
cross, stood a large building, even larger than the church, and having
many towers. They looked exceedingly gray and old and had no golden
cross, but stone eagles tipped the summits and a great white and blue
banner fluttered from the highest tower, directly over the lofty doorway
at the top of the steps, where, on either side, two mounted soldiers

stood sentinels. The building had many windows, and behind the
windows you could distinguish red-silk curtains with golden tassels.
Old lindens encircled the grounds, which, in summer, overshadowed
the gray masonry with their green leaves and bestrewed the turf with
their fragrant white blossoms. I had often looked in there, and at
evening when the lindens exhaled their perfumes and the windows
were illuminated, I saw many figures pass and repass like shadows.
Music swept down from on high, and carriages drove up, from which
ladies and gentlemen alighted and ascended the stairs. They all looked
so beautiful and good! The gentlemen had stars upon their breasts, and
the ladies wore fresh flowers in their hair; and I often thought,--Why do
I not go there too?
One day my father took me by the hand and said: "We are going to the
castle; but you must be very polite if the Princess speaks to you, and
kiss her hand."
I was about six years of age and as delighted as only one can be at six
years of age. I had already indulged in many quiet fancies about the
shadows which I had seen evenings through the lighted windows, and
had heard many good things at home of the beneficence of the Prince
and Princess; how gracious they were; how much help and consolation
they brought to the poor and sick; and that they had been chosen by the
grace of God to protect the good and punish the bad. I had long
pictured to myself what transpired in the castle, so that the Prince and
Princess were already