ch told of
the anguish of its young mother. But nowhere could he procure
employment--nowhere was there a situation for the son-in-law of
Gotzkowsky, who had accused the merchants, the magistrates, yea, even
the king! And now they were indeed poor, for they had no work; but,
condemned to inactivity, to comfortless brooding, they shudderingly
asked themselves what was to become of them--how this life of
privation was to end.

But while Bertram and Elise remained sad and dispirited, Gotzkowsky
suddenly brightened up. For a long time he had walked up and down in
silent thought. Now, of a sudden, his countenance assumed the cheerful
expression of former days, and energetic self-reliance was expressed
in his features. Elise looked on with astonishment. He drew out from
his chest the last remains of by-gone days, the silver oak-wreath set
with diamonds, presented him by the town of Berlin, and the golden
goblet given by the town of Leipsic. He looked at them for a long time
attentively, and then went out, leaving Elise alone, to weep and pray
to God to send them help, and to console Bertram when he came home
from his fruitless search after a situation.

It was some hours before Gotzkowsky returned, but his countenance
still retained its cheerfulness, and his features exhibited the energy
and activity of past days. He stretched out his hands to both of his
children, and drew them affectionately toward him and embraced them.
"Are we then really poor, possessing one another? I say that we are
still rich, for our hearts are yet warm, and our honor is not yet
lost. But we have not yet learned to bear the indigence of our outer
life, We have covered our poverty with the gloss of respectability; we
have been ashamed to appear in the streets in coarse clothes; we have
not yet learned to distinguish the necessary from the superfluous; we
have endeavored to be poor, and yet happy, in a city. That has been
our mistake. The happiness of poverty does not reside within the cold
walls of a town. It is not sown among the paving-stones of a street.
It is only in Nature, who is rich enough to nourish and give to all
those who trustingly cast themselves on her bosom--only in Nature, and
the privacy of country life, that we can find rest and peace. Come,
my children, let us leave this town; let us have the courage to become
children of Nature and free citizens of poverty. Let us cast the show
and glitter of a city life behind us, and wander for