Stieglitz, Wilhelm’s oldest friend, and who once saved his life in the Leine river (my brother cried out to him, with unexampled stoicism; “I die, but it does not matter,”) was to me a serious apparition of a ghost. The effect of his spirit upon me is uncomfortable.
32.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Sunday, October 22d, 1837.
Six o’clock, A. M.
I find after a week’s residence in Potsdam, which has very much discouraged me, your amiable souvenir. Receive, revered friend, this very evening, my warmest thanks; you have praised me for my most cherished aim, which is, that I may not become a fossil, as long as I move, and cling to the belief, “that nature has put her curse upon stagnancy and inertia.” Youth is the symbol of progress, and those, who rule now (the Berlin world’s elephants) sont des momies en service extraordinaire.
Good night,
A. Humboldt.
33.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
Berlin, Tuesday, November 7th, 1837.
The commencement of my letter is weak, the end of it more reasonable. But you should not lose the dramatic effect of the whole.