against superstition. We have to thank our half-sister
Jettchen for this: a maiden of rare gifts of mind. She pointed out to
us in simple words the laughable side of these tales. But the awful had
not the less great power over us, and we were often in fear when we
were obliged to wander in the dark through the long passage to the
front drawing-room.

"At the age of three years and a half old, I received my first
instruction. My brother could already almost read, and I soon advanced
enough to keep pace with him.

"I cannot say that we were fond of M. Kretzschmar, our first teacher,
for he was in some degree bizarre, and punched our heads abundantly. It
is scarcely credible but I can affirm that at five years old I only
read mechanically, thinking all the time of something else; for
example, of the flowers in our garden, or our little dog, &c. My own
words sounded strange in my ears. Therefore I was often dreaming when I
was asked a question; then followed the usual thump; but then I thought
of that. Why was it so? It was indisputably for this reason, that our
teacher did not know how to attract young minds to the subject. My
brother was a very rare exception of quiet earnestness; and yet who
knows how often even he may have been equally distracted?

"At five years old we began to learn Latin. Jettchen translated glibly
Cornelius and Phaedrus, and also the French New Testament. We boys
learnt assiduously from Langen's and Raussendorf's grammar, and I had
long written what we called 'small exercises,' before I clearly knew
what I was about. I remember distinctly that it was as if scales fell
from my eyes when, at six years old, I discovered that we were learning
the language of the ancient Romans." (Thus was instruction almost
universally carried on at that time!)

"Nevertheless, in many points of view, I have reason to thank this
teacher. He taught us to read well, and by the frequent recitation of
good verses--he did not write bad poetry himself--we imbibed early a
taste for melody and harmony. We learnt many, very many songs and
fables by heart. Learning by heart!--a now very antique expression; it
was then very frequent in the plan of lessons, and it was by this that
my memory became so strong. We were exercised in committing to memory
whole pages in a quarter of an hour, and later I often learnt off at
once eight, ten, or twelve strophes. In short, taken on the whole,
according to the standard of that time, the p