The Breitmann Ballads | Page 5

reader be assured that not a single word was meant in a bitter or unkindly spirit. It is true that there is always a standpoint from which any effort may be misjudged, but this standpoint certainly did not occur to the writer when he wrote, with anything but misgiving, of his "hearty,?hard-fighting, good-natured old ex-student," who, in the?political ballads and others, appears to no moral disadvantage by the side of his associates.
Breitmann in several ballads is indeed a very literal copy or combination of characteristics of men who really exist or existed, and who had in their lives embraced as many extremes of thought as the Captain. America abounds with Germans, who, having received in their youth a "classical education," have passed through varied adventures, and often present the most startling paradoxes of thought and personal appearance. I have seen bearing a keg a porter who could speak Latin fluently. I have been in a beer-shop kept by a man who was distinguished in the Frankfurt Parliament. I have found a graduate of the?University of Munich in a negro minstrel troupe. And while mentioning these as proof that Breitmann, as I have depicted him, is not a contradictory character, I cannot refrain from a word of praise as to the energy and patience with which the German "under a cloud" in America bears his reverses, and works cheerfully and uncomplainingly, until, by sheer perseverance, he, in most cases, conquers fortune. In this respect the Germans, as a race, and I might almost say as individuals, are superior to any others on the American continent. And if I have jested with the German new philosophy, it is with the more seriousness that I here?acknowledge the deepest respect for that true practical?philosophy of life -- that well-balanced mixture of stoicism and epicurism -- which enables Germans to endure and to ENJOY under circumstances when other men would probably despair.
Breitmann is one of the battered types of the men of '48 -- a person whose education more than his heart has in every way led him to entire scepticism or indifference -- and one whose?Lutheranism does not go beyond "Wein, Weib, und Gesang." Beneath his unlimited faith in pleasure lie natural shrewdness, an?excellent early education, and certain principles of honesty and good fellowship, which are all the more clearly defined from his moral looseness in details which are identified in the?Anglo-Saxon mind with total depravity. In such a man, the?appreciation of the beautiful in nature may be keen, but it will continually vanish before humour or mere fun; while having no deep root in life or interests in common with the settled?Anglo-Saxon citizen, he cannot fail to appear at times to the latter as a near relation to Mephistopheles. But his "mockery" is as accidental and naif as that of Jewish Young Germany is keen and deliberate; and the former differs from the latter as the drollery of Abraham a Santa Clara differs from the brilliant satire of Heine.
The reader should be fairly warned that these poems abound in words, phrases, suggestions, and even couplets, borrowed to such an extent from old ballads and other sources, as to make acknowledgement in many cases seem affectation. Where this has appeared to be worth the while, it has been done. The lyrics were written for a laugh -- without anticipating publication, so far as a number of the principal ones in the first volume were concerned, and certainly without the least idea that they would be extensively and closely criticised by eminent and able?reviewers. Before the compilation the "Barty" had almost passed from the writer's memory, several other songs of the same?character by him were quite forgotten, while a number had formed portions of letters to friends, by one of whom a few were?published in a newspaper. When finally urged by many who were pleased with "Breitmann" to issue these humble lyrics in book form, it was with some difficulty that the first volume was brought together.
The excuse for the foregoing observations is the unexpected success of a book which is of itself of so eccentric a character as to require some explanation. For its reception from the public, and the kindness and consideration with which it has been treated by the press, the author can never be sufficiently?grateful.
CHARLES G. LELAND?London, 1871.
CONTENTS
HANS BREITMANN'S BARTY?BREITMANN AND THE TURNERS?BALLAD?A BALLAD APOUT DE ROWDIES?THE PICNIC?I GILI ROMANESKRO?STEINLI VON SLANG?TO A FRIEND STUDYING GERMAN?LOVE SONG?DER FREISCHÜTZ?WEIN GEIST?SCHNITZERL'S PHILOSOPEDE --
I. PROLOGUE?II. HANS BREITMANN AND HIS PHILOSOPEDE?DIE SCHÖNE WITTWE --
I. VOT DE YANKEE CHAP SUNG?II. HOW DER BREITMANN CUT HIM OUT?BREITMANN IN BATTLE?BREITMANN IN MARYLAND?BREITMANN AS A BUMMER
SECOND PART?BREITMANN'S GOING TO CHURCH?BREITMANN IN KANSAS?HANS BREITMANN'S CHRISTMAS?BREITMANN ABOUT TOWN?BREITMANN IN POLITICS --
I.
1. THE NOMINATION
2. THE COMMITTEE OF INSTRUCTIONS
3. MR. TWINE EXPLAINS BEING "SOUND UPON THE GOOSE" II.
4. HOW BREITMANN AND SMITH WERE REPORTED TO BE LOG-ROLLING
5. HOW