THE TWO ROADS.
JEAN PAUL RICHTER.
Jean Paul Friedrich Richter was born in 1763 at Wunsiedel, in the principality of Bayreuth, where his father was at different times schoolmaster, organist, and preacher. His passion for letters developed at an early age, and he read by stealth in his father’s library at times when severer tasks were appointed him.
He attended the gymnasium at Hof and in 1781 matriculated as a student of theology in the University of Leipsic. He soon abandoned the study of theology for that of literature.
That his early works did not suit the popular taste is shown by the fact that in 1784 he was obliged to flee from Leipsic to escape the debtor’s prison. He persevered, however, with his writings, earning a bare livelihood by tutoring. He called the books he wrote “his own children,” as contrasted with those he taught.
Success came with hard work, and he was honored with a pension, was made Councilor of Legation, and received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Heidelberg.
He was an original thinker, a humorist, and a true poet.
His death occurred in 1825.
It was New Year’s night; and Von Arden, having fallen into an unquiet slumber, dreamed that he was an aged man standing at a window. He raised his mournful eyes toward the deep blue sky, where the stars were floating like white lilies on the surface of a clear calm lake. Then he cast them on the earth, where few more helpless beings than himself now moved toward their certain goal—the tomb.
Already, as it seemed to him, he had passed sixty of the stages which lead to it, and he had brought from his journeys nothing but errors and remorse. His health was destroyed, his mind was vacant, his heart sorrowful, and his old age devoid of comfort.