Joseph Spohr

“ We passed the evening most delightfully at Mendelssohn’s, who did his utmost to entertain and please Spohr. This family has for me something very idealistic about them, they present a combination of inward and external features, and withal so much beautiful domestic happiness, that one seldom sees the like of in actual life. In their establishment and whole manner of living there is so much unassuming modesty amid all the obvious luxury and wealth around them, that one cannot but feel at one’s ease. ”

“ Mademoiselle de Fontenailles earned three francs a day, which just enabled her to live in her modest room, in the Rue d'Argenteuil. It was on seeing her with her sad look and shabby attire, that Joseph's heart, very tender despite his rough soldierly manner, had been touched. He did not confess, but blushed, when the young ladies of the mantle department chaffed him; for the pattern-room was not far off, and they had often observed him prowling about the doorway.
"Joseph is somewhat absent-minded," murmured Clara. "His nose is always turning towards the under-linen department." ”

“ And also it is possible that Captain Joseph Joffre had not then begun to develop in himself those qualities which made him ready for greatness when the opportunity came.
If, however, any one has ever expressed surprise at Ferdinand Foch's attainment, I have not heard of it. He seems always to have impressed people with whom he came in contact as a man of tremendous energy, application, and thoroughness. ”

“ Moreover, recent polling data from the Pew Research Center shows very high levels of anti-­Jewish prejudice across the Muslim world. [15] Muslim anti-­Semites have certainly borrowed freely from Western anti-Semitic works such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, [16] but, as the aforementioned scholars show, they have also mined the Islamic tradition itself for raw materials with which to craft anti-­Semitic propaganda. A full understanding of Islamic anti-Semitism thus requires not only a survey of current events, but an understanding of the Islamic tradition and its treatment of Jews. ”

“ In his radio broadcasts for Nazi Germany, the founding father of the Palestinian Arab national movement, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, drew heavily on the Islamic tradition to craft his vicious anti-Semitic propaganda, telling his audience “Every Moslem knows that Jewish animosity to the Arabs dates back to the dawn of Islam. Every Moslem knows they opposed and hurt the prophet [...] So that the Koran says ‘You shall find that the most hostile people are the Jews’ [cf. Koran 5:82] .” ”

“ At this trial Joseph met Charles Foster, the doctor's brother, who attempted to shoot him, as soon as they met, but was hindered by Joseph's catching his hands, and holding him by main force, in which way Joseph was compelled to confine him above an hour, in order to preserve his own life.
Jackson and the apostates continued to gather strength, till, finally, they established a printing press in our midst. Through this organ they belched forth the most intolerable, and the blackest lies that were ever palmed upon a community. ”

“ Did not foreigners with guide-books ask to be taken out to Delphinenort, there to gloat over the sight of Spoelmann's house—many of them before they had seen the Old Schloss?
Were not both Schlosses, the Old and Delphinenort, about equally centres and foci of the city? To what circle of society belonged that human being who had been born Samuel Spoelmann's daughter, that creature without counterpart, without analogy? To whom should she attach herself, with whom have intercourse? Nothing could be less surprising, nothing more obvious and natural than to see Klaus Heinrich at her side. ”

“ He then called Sophronia to him, and said to her, "Sophronia, you must be a good girl, and do all you can for father and mother—never forsake them; they have worked hard, and they are now getting old. Be kind to them, and remember what they have done for us."
In the latter part of the fourth night he called for all the children, and exhorted them separately in the same strain as above. But when he came to Joseph, he said, "I am now going to die, the distress which I suffer, and the feelings that I have, tell me my time is very short. ”

“ The student Tring must have left for his home in Germany directly after the fire, for he was never seen again in Krakow. In later years he gained some fame in his own native village by the practice of magic, in which it was said that he often called upon the devil himself for assistance.
Joseph continued his studies in the university until he reached his twenty-second year, and then he returned to the Ukraine to manage his father’s estates. He was shortly afterward married to Elzbietka, the friend of his boyhood days. ”

“ Seidler, being seized with a hoarseness occasioned some obstruction. As the term of my leave of absence was nearly at an end, I made application for an extension of it. But the Elector had felt himself aggrieved by the obstacles thrown in [Pg 157] my way by Spontini and the Berlin intendance, and he allowed me but a few days more, after the expiration of which I was to return, whether the opera was brought out or not. Fortunately, Mdme. Seidler got better; I could now therefore direct in person the first representation of “Jessonda” in Berlin, and be witness to its very favourable reception. ”

“ Besides Theresa, my sister-in-law, Minchen Scheidler, who for some years since the death of my mother-in-law had resided with us, and who during our former journeys was accustomed to visit her brother professor Charles Scheidler at Jena, accompanied me on this journey, and both were exceedingly pleased with it. We de [Pg 189] scended the Rhine to Dusseldorf, where I had projected staying for a few days, as Mendelssohn, who had accepted the situation of director of music in the new theatre built by Immermann, now lived there. ”

“ Joseph took his stand in the reading desk, flageolet in hand, while a group of apple-cheeked cottagers—fishermen mainly, and plough-boys—grouped themselves in my father’s pew below. In one point at any rate Joseph had anticipated the ritual of later days; he repudiated all women from his choir. “’Taint no place for ’em,” he’d say; “I wonder what ’postle Paul ’d think, if he could ha’ heard they two women at S. Matthew’s screechin’ out ‘O ’twas a joyful sound to hear’—and none of us, let alone the choir, privileged to put in a joyful sound along wi ’em. If women p. ”

“ When therefore we characterise the Sophist as one who builds up phantasms for realities — who presents to us what is not, as being like to what is, and as a false substitute for what is — he will ask us what we mean? ”

“ Behind the glass and gilded window-frames sat Imma Spoelmann in veil and wreath, with an old Court lady as lady of honour at her side. Her dress of shimmering silk glittered like snow in the sunshine, and on her lap she held the white bouquet which Prince Klaus Heinrich had sent her an hour before. Her strangely childlike face was as pale as an ocean-pearl, and a smooth wisp of dark hair fell across her forehead under the veil, while her big black eyes threw glances of pleading eloquence over the close-packed throng. ”

“ That's my standpoint, sir.”
“I entirely understand,” said Klaus Heinrich. He sat up stiffly in his uniform and smiled uneasily.
“Of course it needs practice like everything else,” Mr. Spoelmann went on in a little less bitter tone of voice—“practice and training, I can see. For myself I shall never as long as I live cease feeling angry when I am obliged to play the prodigy.”
“I only hope,” said Klaus Heinrich, “that our people are not wanting in respect....”
“Thanks, not so bad,” answered Mr. Spoelmann. “The people are at least friendly here; one doesn't see murder written in their eyes.” ”

“ Mr. Spoelmann, as usual recently, was not present. He was in bed with poultices on. Percival, who lay curled up like a snail close by Imma's chair, beat the carpet with his tail by way of greeting. The gilding of the furniture looked dull, as the park beyond the glass door lay in a damp mist.
Klaus Heinrich exchanged a handshake with the daughter of the house, and kissed the Countess's hand, while he gently raised her from the courtly curtsey she had begun, as usual, to make.
"You see, summer has come," he said to Imma Spoelmann, offering her the rose. ”

“ That was his way of greeting Klaus Heinrich. He was an alien, an invalid, and a man apart as regards wealth. He was forgiven and nothing further was expected of him— Klaus Heinrich recognized the fact, and took pains to recover his self-control.
"You are at home here in a sense," added Mr. Spoelmann, cutting the conversation short, and a passing gleam of malice played round his clean-shaven mouth. Then he gave the others an example by sitting down. It was the chair between Imma and Klaus Heinrich, opposite the Countess and the veranda door, which the butler pushed under him. ”

“ More than once Klaus Heinrich showed in his face the look of pained bewilderment which he had noticed on a previous occasion on the face of the good sister, and yet he felt convinced that it was not Imma Spoelmann's intention to wound his feelings, that she did not consider him humbled because he was not successful in standing up to her, that she rather let his poor answers pass, as if she considered that he had no need of a sharp wit to defend him—it was only she who had. ”

“ Crimson, that night, had seen something that he would always tell about—a river lad who would not be daunted, and who turned to face whatever a reward of eleven hundred dollars might mean, for that sum was too large to have been offered for some whim, as a mere hundred dollar reward had seemed to be.
Quietly they drove down the long bend, turned safely into Ash Slough, and dropped down to Crimson’s boat. But Jep would not stop there, even to have a cup of coffee.
"We’ll go straight to headquarters!" he declared, now that his mind was made up. "You’ll get Mr. Carruth, won’t you?" ”

“ Spoelmann. "Do your military duties take so much time?"
Klaus Heinrich answered: "I'm no longer on the active list, Mr. Spoelmann. I am à la suite of my regiment. I wear the uniform, that's all."
"I see, make believe," said Mr. Spoelmann harshly. "What do you do all day, then?"
Klaus Heinrich had stopped drinking tea, had pushed his things away in the course of the conversation which demanded his undivided attention. He sat upright and defended himself, feeling the while that Imma Spoelmann's big, black, searching eyes were resting on him. ”

“ I recognized him as Jack Sprague, a young waddy which worked on a spread not far from War Paint. His face was pale and sot in a look of desprut resolution, like a man which has jest bet his pants on a pair of deuces, and he had a rope in his hand though I couldn't see nothing he might be aiming to lasso. He went fogging on up the trail into the mountains and I looked back to see if I could see the posse. Because about the only time a outlander ever heads for the high Humbolts is when he's about three jumps and a low whoop ahead of a necktie party. ”

“ But the soul which he breathes into his play, the flights of fancy, the fire, the tenderness, the intensity of feeling, the fine taste, and lastly his insight into the spirit of the most different Compositions, and his art of rendering each in its own peculiar spirit make him a real Artiste. This last faculty we have never seen possessed in so remarkable a degree as by Herr Spohr, and more especially in his Quartett-playing. It is therefore not surprising that he should please everywhere, and scarcely leaves any other sentiment behind, than the wish to detain and to hear him always. ”

“ Of us she dreams not, nor of wounds, nor war." But Sohrab answered him in wrath; for now The anguish of the deep-fixed spear grew fierce, And he desired to draw forth the steel, And let the blood flow free, and so to die. But first he would convince his stubborn foe; And, rising sternly on one arm, he said: "Man, who art thou, who dost deny my words? Truth sits upon the lips of dying men; And falsehood, while I lived, was far from mine. I tell thee, pricked upon this arm I bear That seal which Rustum to my mother gave, That she might prick it on the babe she bore." ”

“ These the mob swore they would take, and then burn every one of them. Accordingly, they obtained an execution upon them for an unjust debt of fifty dollars; but, by various stratagems, we succeeded in keeping them out of their hands.
The persecution finally became so violent, that Joseph regarded it as unsafe to remain any longer in Kirtland, and began to make arrangements to move to Missouri. One evening, before finishing his preparations for the contemplated journey, he sat in council with the brethren at our house. ”

“ Miss Imma told me that she knew nothing about the surrounding country. It was agreed that on the first fine day ... It's such a lovely day to-day.... It is of course subject to your approval...."
Mr. Spoelmann shrugged his shoulders, and made a face as if to say: "Approval—why so?"
"My daughter is grown up," he said. "I don't interfere. If she rides, she rides. But I don't think she has time. You must find that out for yourself. She's in there." And Mr. Spoelmann pointed his chin towards the tapestry door, through which Klaus Heinrich had already once passed.
"Thanks," said Klaus Heinrich. ”

“ Howard, our teamster, was an unprincipled and unfeeling wretch, by the way in which he handled both our goods and money, as well as by his treatment of my children, especially Joseph. He would compel him to travel miles at a time on foot, notwithstanding he was still lame. We bore patiently with his abuse, until we got about twenty miles west of Utica, when one morning, as we were getting ready to continue our journey, my oldest son came to me and said, "Mother, Mr. Howard has thrown the goods out of the wagon, and is about starting off with the team." ”