seem to have taken the
old gentleman's bearing for a model, each of his steps is like the
other, none is longer or fails to keep the regularity of his tempo. If
one looks at him closer as he stands thus in the middle of his
creation, one sees that he has merely copied externally that of which
nature has created the model in himself. The regularity of the
different parts of his tall figure seems to have been as accurately
measured as the beds of the little garden. When nature formed him, her
countenance must have borne the same expression of conscientiousness
as the old man's face--an expression which, because of its strength,
would appear to be obstinacy if an expression of loving gentleness,
indeed almost of dreamy enthusiasm, were not mixed with it. And even
now nature seems to watch over him with the same care that his eye
shows when it looks over his little garden. His hair, cut short at the
back and twisted above his brow into a so-called "corkscrew-curl," is
of the same unblemished whiteness that is shown by his neckerchief,
waistcoat, collar and the apron over his buttoned-up coat. Here, in
his little garden, he completes the finished picture that it presents;
away from home his appearance and personality must appear a little
odd. His hat still has the high pointed crown, his blue overcoat the
narrow collar and padded shoulders of a long vanished fashion. These
offer opportunities enough for bad jokes; but no one makes them. It is
as if there were an invisible something emanating from the stately
figure that prevents the rise of flippant thoughts.

When the older inhabitants of the town, meeting Herr Nettenmair, pause
in their conversation to greet him respectfully, it is not alone the
magic something that has this effect. They know what it is that they
respect in the old gentleman; when he has passed, their eyes follow
him as they stand, still in silence, until he has disappeared round
the corner; then it may well be that a hand is raised and an extended
forefinger tells more eloquently than lips could of a long life
adorned with all the virtues of a good citizen and untarnished by a
single misdeed. He is never seen in a public place, unless indeed
something relating to the common welfare is to be discussed or
started. The recreation which he allows himself he seeks in his little
garden. At other times he sits over his ledgers or stands in the shed
superintending the loading and unloading of the slate which com