The Malady of the Century

red in a confused, restless throng in Unter den Linden; but the bustle on this hot summe

e detected the signs that overstrained nerves were now relaxed after long hours of weary suspense. What hundreds of thousands had wished and hoped for on that Friday in July had now come to its glorious fulfillment, and Berlin, as the proud capital of

e come to see this triumphant entrance, as he took very little pleasure in the noisy enthusiasm of crowds. A great deal of actual vulgarity is always exhibited on these occasions, mingled with some real nobility of feeling. Counter-jumpers and work-girls secure comfortable positions from which to see the processions, groups of calculating shopkeepers with advertisemen

her father, who, in all the difficult and responsible business of the French indemnity had found time to intercede for his little daughter with the burgomasters and magistrates, Loulou's dream was realized; a dream which all the prettiest girls in

s conscious of the propriety of their appearance, and felt quite heroic. It really was heroic to sit there hour after hour in the burning sun bareheaded, until all were gathered into one great picture, and a documentary proof could be handed down t

houts and cheers, deafening and almost stunning in intensity. It was impossible any longer to distinguish tone, but only a tumult, such as a diver in deep water might hear of the surface waves above him. The senses were bemused by the continual succession, of heads set close together like a mosaic, and covering the whole surface of the great street, an

and numberless seemed the ever-changing and richly-colored procession-Moltke, Bismarck, and Roon side by side, all statuesque figures, their eyes with stately indifference glancing at the rejoicing people. They seemed in the midst of this stormy wave of excitement like stern, immovable rocks, standing firm and high above the breaking surf at their feet. Many people had at the sight of them an intuitive feeling that they were not mortal men, but rather mystical embodiments of the power of nature, just as the gods of the sun, the sea, and the storm were the conceptions of the old religions. They passed on, and at a

ng girls who surrounded him before he could ride further. The train of individual heroes ended with hi

oldiers were garlanded with flowers and foliage, the horses' legs were twined with wreaths, and their feet trod on a mass of trampled flowers and leaves. The strength of the German army seemed to be decked and curled out of it; the lines of marching soldier

ld-trophies were carried past. Eighty-one standards and flags were there, from the battlefields of Russia, Italy, and Mexico, soaked through with men's blood, gloriously decomposed, torn, blackened with powder, and riddled with bullets. Now the strong arms of German non-commissioned officers carried them in

the rain of wreaths and flowers-"Look what makes the deepest impression on the peopl

by appearances, and not by the reason of things. The ideal results of victory one can

ed to rejoice and cheer in the same way when their victorious troops brought home the tutelary gods of

ch the people of the Stone Age or the savages of to-day would feast their heroes? Cannot one understand in this that at the beginning of civilization war was the highest object in state and society, an opportunity of enrichment by booty, and a festival for youth? Nowadays we ought to have got far enough to

o during twenty-seven years never redeemed his pledge to give the people a constitution. I am forty-eight years old, and yet I have not forgotten my youthful ideas. My generation looked forward to a united as well as to a free Germany, and hoped that unity would not come out of a war, but rather from the freewill of the German people. It is now with us through other means, but I fear not better ones. The aristocracy and the Church will assert themselves again, and the military system

ming in India to come home

s back on the Fatherland, and to find more agreeable conditions in a foreign country. But afterward one tells oneself that only egoists leave their own people fighting aga

r posts; the stands were beginning to empty, and Wilhelm and Dr. Schrotter tried to b

colossal. My eyes fill with tears when I see these men. For six or seven years they have shed their blood in these wars without a murmur, they have fought in a hundred battles without taking breath, they have neither counted the cost nor spare

rieve his friend by a contradiction, repressed a retaliat

actice to his heart's content. Wilhelm took up his work again at the Laboratory, and also resumed his visits to the Ellrichs, but it was with an increasing discomfort. The councilor, who had been distinguished for his services in the financial transactions with the French Government, had heard the story of the refusal of the Iron Cross. He thought it very ridiculous, and his early friendship for Wilhelm became markedly cooler. Even Frau Ellrich's motherly feeling for him received a check, and modesty and shyness no longer seemed a sufficient explanation of the unaccountable delay in his love-making. Only Loulou was apparently the same, whenever he came, always lively and friendly, but when he left she was affectionate without any display of emotion, grateful for tender glances, not withholding quiet kisses, but not

The simple thing to do seemed to wait, until, on the other side, they should grow disgusted with him, and would tell him to go. This agreed with his passive character, which was timidly inclined to draw back before the rushing current of events, and preferred to be carried along by them, just as a willow leaf is borne along on the surfa

ntations about him. There ought to be no more foolish loitering about. It was unpardonable to let the golden bird fly away so easily. Once open the hand, and she might be off. If Fraulein Ellrich was beginning to flirt with Pechlar, it was quite excusable, as Wilhelm's coolness might well drive her to it. But if he stuc

hat was a venial offense. He was also a common libertine, whose excesses were more like those of a pork-butcher than of a cultivated man. His companions were not disinclined for little amorous adventures-a joke with

and out of compassion for an inexperienced and guileless creature who was dear to him, he thought it his duty to warn her before she sullied herself

surprised. Herr von Pechlar sat there, and appeared to be in the middle of a conversation with Loulou. She smiled at Wilhelm, and beckoned to him to come and sit near her, without embarrassment. Wilhelm stayed a moment

who since Wilhelm's arrival had been tugging angrily at his red mustache, could

ver heard. May I ask first of all w

whom I esteem," said Wi

" flashed back P

een the cause of an outbreak of bad manners in your presence," then he bowed and left th

ictures unceasingly of violent deeds of revenge. He saw himself standing with a smoking pistol opposite the offender, who fell to the ground with a wound in his forehead; or he fought with him, and after a long struggle he suddenly pierced the hussar through the breast with his sword. By degrees his blood cooled, and with all the strength of his will he fought against the feelings wh

a housekeeper, also an Indian of about thirty-five, with a yellow face already wrinkled and withered, large dark eyes, and a gold-piece hanging from her nostrils. The old man maintained a respectful attitude toward her, which pointed to a great difference of caste between them. The woman showed by her small hands and feet, and the nobility o

beckoned to him to go and wait in the drawing-room, opening the door as she did so. As he went in she crossed her arms on her breast, bowed her he

t here and there a little toy-like table or stool made of sandalwood or ebony, inlaid with silver or mother-o'-pearl. Everything smelled strangely of sandalwood and camphor and unknown spices, everything seemed to spring and shake under a heavy European foot, everything had such an unaccustomed look, that one

e cried from the doorway. "Wi

engagement to Fraulein Ellrich to many of his old friends, but Dr. Schrotter had been told of it in all its circumstances by Paul Haber. Now, however, Wilhelm could not avoid the subject in his mind, and to make his last visit to the Ellrichs, and his behavior with rega

his eyes questioningly to Schrotter, t

his. For a young fellow of twenty-six with deep feelings it is littl

answered Wi

call out Her

N

von Pechlar c

alleng

t insulted him, which by a nice point of honor would justify him in taking the first steps. The man is evide

ar that I do not demand satisfact

s anothe

may involve serious conseq

me easy enough,

of an academic career

do not asp

come an insurmountable barrier in

m was

side of life. I want nothing more from the world. But those still on the sunny side have other things to consider. I think war is a horrible barbarism, still I would not advise any one to hold back from his duty in time of war. Men are often compelled to take

State compels me. I can struggle against these laws with my feeble forces, and I can exert myself to bring about their alteration; but so long as they exist I must submit to them,

s laws of the State. There are customs w

self into laws of the State, the gendarmes see to their enforceme

nspeakably bitter to live without th

every one saluted me, and if I respect myself, it does not trouble me if others hold me lightly. When I am not forcibly compelled I cannot let my own actions be guided by the caprices and fads of other pe

ions, by our own peculiar qualities, by the state of our bodily health, by unknown nervous sources of energy through what we see, hear, read, learn. You make your judgment the sole guide of your actions, but your judgment itself is the result of forces and influences unsuspected by yourself and depending on them. Well! you want to

is bachelor's table, neither wine nor anything else to drink being visible. Schrotter drank nothing but water, and he knew that Wilhelm's taste was similar. Bhani, as the Indian housekeeper was called, stood close behind her master's chair, never taking her eyes off him. The dishes were brought in by the white-bearded servant, and handed with a deep reverenc

riental scent through the ro

way you mean to accomplish your

e fair. I don't despise the world, I consider it merely as a phenomenon, val

ir own strength, who feel so overcome by the phenomenon that they undervalue it, and believe that they are able singly to fight against it. Or there are the weak natures, who think that they are capable of changing the phenomenon to suit themselves. As they are not in a position to strive against it they retire sullenly defeated. The story of the fox and the grapes would just express their case, and also an excess of the conscious

n early childhood, where I got into the habit of regarding

r shook

d and so-called inferior race, but I have lea

ng from my mother, who was very timid o

our reading? The un

smiled a

on of the mysteries of the world through the will is a joke. What he has

ou have got to

lm no

s only for his own 'ego.' But in the same measure that he transcends his limitation, the circle of his interest is widened; more actualities and existing phenomena are admitted, and come into sympathy with himself. All things mingle with and extend his own 'ego;' and that can be so widened as to embrace the interests of the whole world, until man can be in as much sympathy with a grain of sand, or the most distant star, and take as much share in the ant, and in the dwellers on Saturn, as in his own stomach and toes. In this way the whole universe becomes a constituent part of his 'ego;' thus his desires cease individually to exist, and

eer's Nirvana coincide with their ina

t; therefore the body must rest while the soul accomplishes its full measure of work, while it widens the circle of its interest, and absorbs into itself the phenomenal world

his new point of view,

e has no lasting importance in the world, but that in this transitory state eternal forces are at work, the same forces which drive the earth round the sun, and which operate on all men and things. Do not let us individualize too much; we are only a piece of

orgotten his adventure with Pechlar. He was reminded of it, however, on reaching h

cried he, coming ch

aulein Ellrich, to set t

ra

ot done it." And then he r

was speaking, and then sprang up in gr

t the scoundre

d Wilhelm

an officer-you have been a student-you will never let that fool of a fellow place you in a false position!" Wilhe

honor, if not to your own, to punish the fellow.

n odd kind

t of them. I am not a logician, but a man, and I feel a mort

break off my relations with Fraulein Ellrich, and

very ch

, and find the young girl, who is the cause of the quarrel, ready to offer me the prize. I answer: 'Many t

ed to sat

t fight you must," and he stopped suddenly, and th

you

o a more reasonable frame of mind. He spared no pains in explaining to him his views of the world's opinion, and that the real cowardice would be to f

e way with the painful knowledge that our friendship is no

, I must wink at the whole thing; but what I can't stand is your calli

regiments stationed at Potsdam called, and said he had come with a challenge from Herr von Pechlar; he decli

anding satisfaction. The questions as to who was the offender, and what weapons should be used, might now be decided by the s

the Reserve?" asked t

es

e shall bring the case before

rfectly fre

l seconds, then, with an expression of deep disgust, he spat on the floor, noisily turn

ant, and clutch his throat in its claws!-but Wilhelm conquered the new cravings of his instinct and stood still. He experienced a great self-c

. He took the journey the following evening, and at the appointed hour he was shown into the commandant's private room, where he found also his old captain

ordered to come here about the affair

ainly

relate wha

was followed by a short silence, during which

not fight?" as

, s

y n

rinciples do

the major again and the

ith you quite unofficially, you have to thank

nked the ma

ross, which is the pride of every other German soldier. We are not willing to condemn a mode of procedure, the meaning of which you evidently do not understand, and which all your vi

advice," answered Wilh

rshly than he intended, but he knew it was impossible to go into a lon

ise, major," said the commandant, and

ook. He felt, however, that this time things had been easier for him to bear, and that the only

f he were under the impression that he must console his friend in this great misfortune, and stand by him as firmly as possible. Wilhelm knew him as he did himself-how cautious and practically clever he was, and how dangerous it was for him in his own position as Reserve officer to keep up this confidential intercourse with one who had been turned from a hero to a judiciall

dignified letter, in which he begged her forgiveness for having been so long in finding out the state of his feelings, as the struggle had been hard and painful, but he could now no longer conceal the fact that their characters were not sufficiently in harmony to insure happiness together for a lifetime. He thanked her for the happiest week in his life, and for the deepest and sweetest feelings he had ever experienced, and which would always remain the dearest memory of his life. His photograph was shortly afterward sent back to him, from Ost

ked forward to his future it seemed like the gray surface of the sea at dusk, formless, limitless, without meaning or interest. Even the painful doubt he had been in, his hesitation between the resolve to persevere in the engagement, or to renounce it, the fight between his intelligence and his inclinations

e had been a disappointed girl. Paul, who was filling the place of an invalided professor of agricultural chemistry, and working hard after the college term began, found time to come every day for a long walk in the Thie

ow anything

d an unhappy love story-a subject so sympathetic to women? Anyhow she anticipated

ing-room; the teaurn steaming, and Bhani standing near, ready to obey her master's slight

t is obvious that you are still grieving, instead of fighting

is foolish; for I see that I do not love

isappears. People often do the maddest things in this period of unrest, which they repent all their after life. I have always mistrusted a first love. One must be quite satisfied that it is for an individual, and not merely the natural inclination for

so," sai

lasts. It is the most overpowering and yet the least dangerous of diseases. The patient gives himself up for lost, and the doctor can hardly help smiling, because he knows t

an again suddenly: "I will read you a story about this

ide with a word, and going into his study he appeared again bearing

en. There are three volumes already, and I began the fourth when I returned to Germa

im so, in enthusiastic speeches and letters. The father, however, had no sympathy with reactionaries, and soon conceived a violent antipathy for his future single-minded son-in-law. As long as the democratic party held the upperhand, he kept his feelings in the background, making nevertheless endless pretexts for delaying the marriage. The party of reactionaries broke up, however, and the bookseller declared war; he forbade the young democrat to enter his house, and even denounced him to the police. The young lovers were, of course, dreadfully unhappy, and vowed to be true to one another. He determi

die together? Was it possible that this quiet man with his apathetic calm could ever have been through these stormy times? It did not seem credible, and Schrotter seemed conscious of the immense difference between the man who had written the book and the man who now read it. His voice had a slightly ironical sound, and he parodied some of the scenes in reading the

gns of tears. Schrotter took the book into the other room, and when

oon I got over it. I often go past her shop in Unter den Linden, and see her through the window beyond all her brilliants and precious stones. She is still very pretty, and seems ha

at you are not sl

hauer's 'objectivity' out of your head; I don't believe in Plato's theory of the soul divided into two halves which are forever trying to joi

re to be an in

the widow or even the betrothed follows her husband to the grave of her own free will. This free-will offering only comes, however, by aid of the sharpest threatening of punishment. I have known fourteen-year-old wi

to him what he had vaguely suspected before. He turned his head sadly toward the window, and looked out into the foggy autumn