before he was twenty years of age. The
same organ had previously contained some of his lyrics and ballads.
The budding poet had belonged to a Lenau Club and the fondness he had
there acquired for Lenau's poetry remained unchanged throughout his
long life, which is more than can be said of many literary products
that won his admiration in youth. He also joined a Platen Club, which
afforded him less literary stimulus, but far more social pleasure.
During his year in Leipzig he brought himself to the notice of
literary circles by the publication, in the _Tageblatt_, of a
satirical poem entitled _Shakespeare's Stocking_. As a result he was
made a member of the Herwegh Club, where he met, among others, the
celebrated Max Mueller, who remained his life-long friend. After a year
in Dresden Fontane returned to Leipzig, hoping to be able to support
himself there by his writings. He made the venture too soon. When he
ran short of funds he visited his parents for a while and then went to
Berlin to serve his year in the army (1844). He was granted a furlough
of two weeks for a trip to London at the expense of a friend. In
Berlin he joined a Sunday Club, humorously called the "Tunnel over the
Spree," at the meetings of which original literary productions were
read and frankly criticised. During the middle of the nineteenth
century almost all the poetic lights of Berlin were members of the
"Tunnel." Heyse, Storm, and Dahn were on the roll, and Fontane came
into touch with them; he and Storm remained friends in spite of the
fact that Storm once called him "frivolous." Fontane later evened the
score by classing Storm among the "sacred kiss monopolists." The most
productive members of the Club during this period (1844-54) were
Fontane, Scherenberg, Hesekiel, and Heinrich Smidt. Smidt, sometimes
called the Marryat of Germany, was a prolific spinner of yarns, which
were interesting, though of a low quality. He employed, however, many
of the same motives that Fontane later put to better use. Hesekiel was
a voluminous writer of light fiction. From him Fontane learned to
discard high-sounding phrases and to cultivate the true-to-life tone
of spoken speech. Scherenberg, enthusiastically heralded as the
founder of a new epic style, confined himself largely to poetic
descriptions of battles.

When Fontane joined the "Tunnel" the particular _genre_ of poetry in
vogue at the meetings was the ballad, due to Strachwitz's clever
imitations of Scott