Emma Lazarus

“ No one would have recognized this pale, moping youth, as he pored over his books or roused himself to attend a medical lecture or to study every form of disease in the city hospitals, as the wild, buoyant lad who had illustrated with his inspiriting presence and his inexhaustible gifts a day of sunshine at the Duroc parsonage. In society he became so reserved and indifferent that he acquired the nicknames of the "wolf" and the "bear." It was no feeble sentiment that such a man could entertain, for he threw the whole force of his passionate nature into all that attracted and possessed him. ”

“ Why shall not we twain, so closely united by sympathy and love, draw from the same sublime source our courage and our consolation? This is a subject that I have never before dared to mention, and yet now I am bold to speak. What more fitting time, what more sacred place, could we find than now and here to fall upon our knees together and unite in adoration of that blessed Lamb of God who died on Calvary for man?"
A hot flush mantled Goethe's face, and an expression of weariness almost amounting to pain clouded his brow, as he listened to Alide's enthusiasm. ”

“ We cannot make our bleared old vision serve for these young people,—we see much that they may be happily blind to all their lives, and I warrant they have a world of wonderful sights around them that is closed to us. It is a miracle that two young hearts should know each other at sight, and make each other's sunshine for a lifetime, and yet it is a miracle that often comes to pass; there is a wiser One than we who watches over all. And do you know, Käthchen, when I look at our baby Alide's face now, I feel as young myself as though I were once again wooing thee. ”

“ She explained to him in a few words the discomfort and humiliation of her sister's position.
"Was that all?" he thought, with a sigh of relief, and he looked quickly and searchingly into Alide's ingenuous face. "I cannot dispute it," answered he: "poor Rahel has been miserably restless and unhappy here; the situation was a novel one for her, and its exactions have chafed terribly her wild spirit. But it is the more admirable how you, Alide, have fitted yourself to each new condition; everywhere you seem free as a bird in the branches." ”

“ They walked on for a few minutes in silence, Max with his hand still resting affectionately on Steck's shoulder, and Steck with his head upraised, eagerly inhaling the honeyed air of the harvest-fields, and, with the eyes of an artist rather than of a boy just turned twenty, gazing at the green and purple masses and sun-bathed outlines of the peaks that stood out against the pale gold sky. There was just enough breeze to make a continuous rustle and murmur in the glistening leaves overhead, and to send long-rolling ripples and waves of motion over the grass of the wide-lying meadows. ”

“ The shock of her words was so great to Goethe, as he stood in the bright sunshine, expecting momently to see the laughing face of Rahel beam out upon him from the door or the window, that the sudden tears started in his eyes. All that exuberant life and spirit already passed from earth! He was afraid to ask the child any more questions; but she had taken such a fancy to his appearance that she was bold enough to begin prattling herself. "Papa is away; but all the rest are at home,—grandpapa, and grandmamma, and Aunt Alide." ”

“ Steck was the first to interrupt the sweet quietness which was not silence. "How beautifully clear is this little mountain-brook alongside of us!" he said. "See, it has followed us all the way from the Drusenheim inn."
"I should rather say," answered Waldstein, "that we have followed it; and in truth it is the surest guide for us: as we keep along this path, bearing its channel always in sight, the first bend in its course will bring us in view of our goal."
A few paces more led them to the curve, and then only a single narrow field lay between them and the parsonage. ”

“ They had much to tell each other, for they now lived over together the days they had passed apart; now did Alide confess that her heart had prophesied his coming, and now she imparted to him her own serenity. The more familiar he became with this white maiden-soul, the more was he astonished at the circumspect cheerfulness, the naïveté combined with self-consciousness, the good and lovable qualities which at every word revealed themselves. ”

“ When she closed it, with a simple gesture she raised it to her lips and kissed it tenderly; her face wore an expression of celestial calm, and for a moment she sat with dreamy eyes, motionless, like one in a trance. Then, rousing herself abruptly, and breaking forth into a song half music and half laughter, she ran down the hill and home to the parsonage, for a walk with Rahel or a romp with Goetz. ”

“ New and unaccountable to plain Max were the mercurial moods, the exaltations and despondencies, the irrepressible, child-like delight occasioned by such simple things as a burst of sunlight on a cloudy day, the sudden, unexpected song of a bird, a glimpse of a fair woman-face, a rhyme of some old poet, a shade of color on some faded canvas, or, above all, the outlines and structure of Strasburg Cathedral. ”

“ How many hours of such unalloyed happiness dare one promise one's self from life? And yet these two filled this perfect moment by looking forward and backward. They arranged their plans for the day, and decided how, among all the guests and the various amusements, they would keep together in the dance and the game.
Though they walked slowly, with many loiterings by the road, they reached the church all too soon for Goethe. The open joyousness of Alide's face gave way to a decorous expression of seriousness as she passed from the sunshine into the twilight of the sacred building. ”

“ I have only spoken now because I did not wish to leave it too late; nothing is lost as yet."
"Oh, mamma," said Alide, upturning suddenly a face neither blushing nor tearful, but smiling, trustful, and composed, "you are very, very good to me, but you do not understand: it is not shame that I feel, it is pride and joy and happiness. I love him!"
"My child, you do not know what you are saying!" cried Madame Duroc; "you do not know what those words mean. You cannot realize what disgrace it is for one of our sex to take the initiative in such a matter as this. ”

“ The greater part of the day was spent in the open air, and the soft sunshine, the transparent haze, the delicate purity of the remote pale sky imperceptibly did their share towards filling with joyful serenity these two youthful hearts just expanding into the perfect blossom of love. The knowledge that each heart beat only for the other sufficed to make the presence of all this merry company unreal as any dream. The swift eyebeams interchanged, the pressure of a hand in the game, the close embrace in the rapid waltz, made a mute, delicious communication that satisfied them both for the time. ”

“ One could not behold the glad serenity of her countenance, which seemed like a finer, more ethereal grace superadded to her physical beauty, without fancying her a creature born and nurtured for happiness. The rare capacity for enjoyment was here in the highest degree developed. The subtle feminine faculty was hers of resting content in the conscious possession of a great joy. One could sooner imagine her gently withdrawn from existence in the flush of youthful love and beauty, than estranged from the brightness and hilarity which formed so essential a part of herself. ”

“ Around the wide gray meadows the mountains loomed huge and sombre against the faded sky, and the moon, still rosy from the vapors of the horizon, was slowly floating upward. Alide raised her head to see if any stars were yet shining, and all the white purity of heaven, which was neither light nor color, but something between the two, descended like a benediction upon the sweet flower-face. ”

“ Alide looked at her in surprise, and tried to calm her. "Yes," continued Rahel, when she had recovered sufficient composure to speak; "I have fought against it long enough. I can endure it no longer. Everything I do turns out to be a blunder. I sit among these fine ladies dumb and awkward as a peasant. I do not dress nor talk like them, nor belong to their world. When I am with Anna, I ask myself a hundred times a day what it is that puts her above me, that makes me feel like an ignorant child in her presence. ”

“ She called Goetz from his kennel, and in a little while she was bounding with the dog, laughing and singing, far ahead of Max and Rahel, or gayly chatting alongside of them.
There are women who especially please us in a room; others who look better in the open air. Alide belonged to the latter. Her whole nature, her form, never appeared more charming than when she moved along an elevated footpath. The grace of her deportment seemed to vie with the flowery earth, and the indestructible cheerfulness of her countenance with the blue sky. ”

“ The exhilaration of the night wind, the large expanse of the open meadows, the weird effects of light and darkness caused by the constant interchange of cloud and moonshine, added to his relief at finding himself once more outside the city-barriers and on the road to his beloved, made his heart swell with a feeling of reckless delight almost amounting to intoxication. He breathed freely, he took off his hat to let the wild breeze blow full upon his face ”

“ Alide!" It was the voice of her sister calling her. Immediately she recovered her composure, together with her perfect cheerfulness. "That will be a pretty story," said she. "She is coming hither on my side." And she bent forward so as half to conceal Goethe. "Turn yourself away, so that you may not be recognized at once."
As he did so, Rahel and Waldstein entered the grove, and both stood still as if petrified.
"What is this? what is this?" cried Rahel, with the rapidity of one who is frightened. "You hand in hand with Fritz,—how am I to understand this?" ”

“ With his lively feeling for everything present, he could not at once adapt himself to the contradiction of the moment. All this, however, was but a flash through his mind when he first caught sight of her; for when she rose with graceful, unconcealed pleasure to receive him, as composedly as she would have done in her own house, she was again his sweetheart and his pride. As he bent and kissed her ungloved hand, she did not see, and she would not have understood, the burning blush that tingled in his cheeks. "Dear friend," she murmured, innocently, "what a joy it is to be once more together!" ”

“ You have not recognized his power, my poor, confiding child; the whole world is open to one of his force and genius. He will despise the choicest gifts your simple heart can proffer him; he will——"
"Oh, mamma, hush!" interrupted Alide, springing to her feet. "It is you who do not know him, who do not know me: we are already betrothed."
"Betrothed!" exclaimed Madame Duroc, sinking back in her seat.
"Do not be angry, dear, good mamma," said Alide, kneeling before her and taking both her hands affectionately. "He was to tell you himself to-morrow. ”

“ Your ideas are somewhat exalted, my child: it is not expected of any woman that she should give up the instincts of her heart, the tender associations of her childhood, even for the man she is to wed. But take time, and reflect again, Alide. I shall not be present to disturb your choice. At the end of a fortnight I will return, and then, if your feelings have changed, you will know that I am still and always your own."
"But they will not change," she answered, with a quiet smile, as she rose to her feet.
They left the arbor in silence, as they had entered, and returned to the house. ”

“ An Englishman would have been highly amused at the naïf admiration, the frank suggestions, the astonishment and enthusiasm of this foreign circle.
"Do you not find rather inconsistent with Hamlet's tender and sensitive temperament, Herr Goethe," suggested old Mr. Burkhardt, "the summary manner in which he disposes of the body of Polonius?"
"Nature, nature, sir!" cried Goethe; "nothing so natural as Shakspeare's men. Alas! how can our age form a judgment as to what is natural; we who from youth upwards feel everything within us, and see everything in others, laced up and decorated? ”

“ He who felt conscious of a superabundant vitality that was to expend itself in every phase of experience, he who awoke daily to a keener perception of the capabilities of a worthily-developed soul, he who fancied in his exalted hours that he heard the voices of art, science, and nature invoking him, their darling son,—in the recklessness of his extravagant youth he had fettered himself for the remainder of his days, he had cramped his wide-soaring flight to keep pace with the halting footsteps of a child ”

“ The resources of his wit, liveliness, and spirits were never at an end. At the same time that he proved in countless ways his sincere and ardent attachment to Alide, he succeeded in making himself the object of the enthusiastic admiration and the warmest friendship of all her family and circle. Even the wary mother consented to throw aside, as a weak selfishness more akin to the pride of appropriation than to disinterested affection, the misgivings and suspicions which she had at first entertained. ”

“ He started, and looked at her for the first time during their interview: her cheeks were still flushed, her eyes glittered with a peculiar light which he had never seen in them before. Something of his old tenderness of manner returned as he beheld the beautiful, agitated little face.
"You foolish child," he began, and kissed the icy hand that rested upon his own. "But no: I have not the right to speak to you in this way. You are no child, but a noble, true-hearted woman. To speak the truth as you have done, Alide, simply and fearlessly, requires something heroic. ”