their King, which between the 3rd of February and the
17th of March, calling out first volunteer riflemen, and then the
Landwehr, put the whole defensive force of Prussia under arms. Like a
spring storm that breaks the ice, they penetrated the souls of the
people. The flood rose high, all hearts beat with emotion of pleasure
and proud hope; and again at this moment of highest elevation, we find
the same simplicity and quiet composure. There were not many words, but
quick decision. The volunteers collected quietly in the towns of their
provinces, and marched, singing energetically, to the chief cities,
Koenigsberg, Breslau, and Colberg, and then to Berlin. The clergy
announced in their churches the proclamation of the King, but it was
hardly necessary. The people knew already what they were to do. When a
young theologian, taking his father's place, admonished his
parishioners from the pulpit to do their duty, and added that these
were not empty words, for, as soon as the service was over, he himself
would volunteer as a Hussar, a number of young men stood up in the
church and declared they would do the same. When a betrothed hesitated
to separate himself from his intended, and at last made known his
resolve to go, she told him she had secretly lamented that he had not
been one of the first to depart. Sons hastened to the army, and wrote
to their parents to tell them of their hasty decision, and the parents
approved; it was not surprising to them that their sons had done
spontaneously what was only their duty. When a youth had made his way
to one of the places of meeting, he found his brother already there,
who had come from the other side of the country; they had not even
written to one another.

The academies for lectures were closed at Koenigsberg, Berlin, and
Breslau. The University of Halle, also, still under Westphahan rule,
was closed; the students had gone, either singly or in small bands, to
Breslau. The Prussian newspapers mentioned laconically in two lines,
"Almost all the students from Halle, Jena, and Goettingen, are come to
Breslau, they wish to share in the fame of fighting for German
freedom."

At the gymnasium the taller and older ones were not considered always
the best scholars, and the teachers of the Greek grammar had looked
upon them with contempt; now they were the pride and envy of the
school, the teachers gave them a hearty shake of the hand, and the
younger ones looked on them with admiration a