Many friends told me, "This new labor will wear you out."
Be it so, I am here to be of use.
CHAPTER IX.
THE old Burschenschafter[7]! Yes, treasured in secret and worn like an amulet of magic power, for the sake of which we suffered, are the colors of the new confederation. At first, the thought pained me; but perhaps it is all for the best. The Empire which is now being established, is not quite the one of which we sang and dreamed, or for the love of which we were thrown into dungeons. But it is full of a new and vigorous life, and instead of the golden glitter of poesy, we have the simple white of prose.
I am not of a combative disposition, and have always longed for a condition of affairs to which I could heartily assent. And now my greatest happiness is to know that I am no longer condemned to what I had feared would prove a life-long opposition to the powers that be.
The newly elected members had their rendezvous at the railroad junction. A majority were faithful to the Empire. The few who belonged to the progressives, or to the ultramontanes, were loud in their protestation of love for our newly-cemented union.
My friend Loedinger, that true old soul, was also elected. He studied with me at Jena, was with me in prison, and, for many years, sat near me in the Parliament. "We two have by this time become quite used to each other," were his words, as he took the seat next to me. And, as if by previous agreement, we were always together during the whole journey.
The days were fresh and spring-like, and, although our hearts were filled with solemn thoughts, nothing but jokes were heard. Next to Baribal, the gayest was Professor Rolunt, who, before he entered the military service, had studied in Berlin, and had here received the so-called finishing touch. On the way, there was much cheerful discussion of the peculiarities that distinguish various sections of our country and the fanaticism with which every district believes that its customs and modes of expression alone represent the real German mind.
Offenheimer, the lawyer, who had also been elected a member of the Reichstag, spoke quite forcibly on this subject, by demonstrating that we South Germans believed ours to be the veritable language of the soul. When there is a prejudice to combat, Offenheimer always is particularly eloquent. He knows Berlin, and lives here with relatives of his.
Cato Debold, the inveterate South German, thought it hard that the rough North German manner should now gain the supremacy. When he saw the first windmills, he scoffed at North German windbags; and when the Professor added that in North Germany there were no running springs, but only pumps, he was quite happy, and vaunted the number of springs we possessed at home.