"Our sorrow was a little alleviated by our thoughts being distracted by
a new building of my father's, a new garden-house; he had long wished
for an extension and entire transformation of the garden. In less than
two years all was finished, and now we passed most of our summer
evenings there. The garden had ever been our place for exercise, and
now it was enlarged. What pleasure it was to us, on the finishing of
the new building, for the first time to eat our supper in the open air!
And then we were allowed to remain out till ten o'clock, and go about
under the starry heaven; and my father discharged small fireworks for
us!

"In May, 1782, our good teacher left us, having received the rectorship
at Seidenberg. Our sorrow was great, very great! He blessed us: 'Keep
steadfastly to the instructions I have given you! Fear God, and all
will go well with you!' These were his parting words. I threw myself on
my bed and wept upon my pillow.

"My father was a strict, upright, honourable man. He had raised himself
from bitter poverty to wealth, by his own exertions. With unremitting
activity he only thought of maintaining and extending his business; of
giving employment to many hundred manufacturers, and to securing an
independence for us, his children. He worked daily ten and often eleven
hours, only his garden drew him sometimes away; otherwise nothing else
in the world. He was born to be a merchant, but in the highest sense;
small accidental gains he despised, and I believe it would have been
impossible for him to have been a retail dealer. He never made use of
the frequent opportunities of becoming rich by bankruptcies; he walked
steadily in the straight path, and was angry if his servants, in his
absence at the fair, overcharged the purchasers. His external life was
as simple as his inward principles. His furniture remained almost
unchanged: the inherited plate kept its form; he only attached value to
fine linen and good Rhine wine. His table was frugal; with the
exception of high festival days, he had usually only one dish; of an
evening frequently only potatoes or radishes. Wine only on Sundays,
except on a summer evening in the garden. About once a year he gave an
entertainment, then father Haupt would not do the thing shabbily.
Champagne he could not bear; this, therefore, came very seldom. But he
delighted in old Rhine and Hungarian wine, and bishop made of Burgundy.
On Sunday evenings he walked in the fields, and no