Here we will break off the description of this toast. It had touched the honest man very nearly that he had to share with so many others the honor of being godfather to the first-born son of his beloved Lepsius, and he would have liked to see the little one grow up with his own good name, as he had been led to expect. It was never his way to conceal his feelings; but nothing was farther from the childlike nature of this man, who in science was a giant, than any intention of giving pain.
His image still lives most vividly in my soul. For many years my mother, and I with her, inhabited the same house with the Grimms, in Lenné street, and I know how right Frau Lepsius was, when she said in her diary that there was in all the world nothing more benevolent and kind-hearted than William Grimm’s wife: that every one must feel to her as towards a beloved mother. The kindness and cheerful friendliness with which she added to the happiness of all of us brothers and sisters,—who among us has forgotten them? When Jacob met me on the way to school he always stroked my hair, and said: “Hurry, Flaxen-head.” It was Jacob Grimm who afterwards introduced me to Lepsius: Frau Grimm I saw for the last time when I was ill in bed, and she brought me a delicious cooling drink of fruit juice. Every memory of her is connected with something kind and lovely.
If we except Abeken, the most beloved of all the learned friends of the Lepsius family were the Grimms and Gerhard, whose wife was Frau Elizabeth’s intimate friend. This cordial feeling also extended to the children of William Grimm, and especially to Hermann, whose first poetic essays they watched with affection, but with impartial criticism.
So passed the weeks and months. The winter was given to work and social pleasures in the city; in the summer the wife and children went into the country. Longer journeys, such as the trip to upper Italy, were usually undertaken in the autumn. The family were very comfortable at Park-Birkenwäldchen near Berlin. In 1852 this was completely in the country, but it has long since been absorbed by the metropolis of Berlin. The husband often went thither to see his family, friends accompanied him, and in the repose of this rustic life Frau Elizabeth prepared the index for the letters from Egypt and Ethiopia. They were dedicated to A. v. Humboldt, and he received them with gratitude and emotion, although, to Lepsius’ regret, the friendship between them had been troubled, in consequence of an affair which concerns people who are still living, and therefore cannot be spoken of here.
In the summer of 1852, the first numbers of the great work on monuments were completed. But they had not yet been sent out, although Lepsius for several months had been insisting on their distribution. Finally he went once more to Sans Souci to urge the expediting of the matter upon Niebuhr, and found him walking with Gerlach upon a terrace. Just then the King stepped out on an upper terrace, and when he became aware of the Egyptologist called down to him “Lepsius, Lepsius.”
The monarch then shook him by the hand, and a conversation ensued which, on account of its characteristic turn, we will give just as it was recorded immediately afterwards.
King: “I have not seen you for along time. You have grown quite stout.”
Lepsius makes some reply, and then speaks of the delay in distributing the completed numbers of the great work.
King (to Niebuhr): “Tell me exactly how it stands?”
Niebuhr: “It is just as Lepsius represents it. Your Majesty has commanded the distribution, but the order has not been carried out.”