Lepsius was always ready to give and to advise, and delighted in all that his wife and daughters accomplished. The news from the seat of war was awaited with feverish excitement, and the successes of the victorious troops were celebrated with enthusiasm. The inmates of the Lepsius house received news at first hand from their many friends in high places. Amongst these was now Dr. Stephan, the head of the post-office department. The husband and wife also had a great liking for the minister Frommel; a divine whose sermons Lepsius, who was no regular churchgoer, liked because he “did not preach dogmatically but from and of real life.” These are Lepsius’ own words, and he esteemed Frommel not only as a divine, but as a clever, well-informed and agreeable companion.
During the following years life flowed on more quietly. One after the other the boys left school, and made substantial progress in their professions. The girls became mistresses of families and mothers, the garden ceased to be the scene of the merry games of childhood, the big house, deserted by many of its younger inhabitants, became too large for those who remained; but the old social life did not languish, and the father, with undiminished energy, was still busied in his work rooms. If a large number of friends was assembled in the Lepsius salons among them was usually the Minister of the American Republic. This was at first the grey haired historian Bancroft, afterwards the noble and accomplished poet, Bayard Taylor, who successfully translated Faust into English, and lastly Andrew White, the erudite and liberal-minded promoter of science in the new world.
When Lepsius did not prefer to play chess,—often four-handed chess, or, still better, with three players and a dummy,—he devoted many evenings, as of old, to the “Herrenkränzchen,” or social club of learned friends, in which he bore his part with pleasure, both giving and receiving.
Lepsius belonged to the old or little “Griechheit” during the first years of his marriage and before he built his own house. Its members were: Lepsius, E. Curtius, Gerhard, Abeken, Brandis, Wiese, and other intimate friends. They read Greek classics, and so kept up their familiarity with them and with the world of ancient Hellas, but this was not the sole object of the “Griechheit,” which was rather intended to enable friends of similar tastes and education to pass pleasant and inspiring evenings together, where they might be happy, unconstrained, and free from every sort of pedantry. After the reading and the discussion which followed it, two chosen friends, the diplomat v. Schlözer and the zoologist Peters, were admitted as so-called “commensals,” and they all went to supper. The wife of the member at whose house the society met presided at table, and often the friends remained till a late hour over the merry meal, amidst the clinking of glasses, and pleasant conversation.
With Abeken’s late marriage in 1866, the little “Griechheit,” so dear to all its members, came to an end, though its resurrection was celebrated some years afterwards. But in its new form the more critical and sharper spirit of the present learned society of Berlin prevailed, instead of the inoffensive cheerful tone, and the ideal humanistic thought of its predecessor. Members of the various Faculties, Mommsen, the philosopher Zeller, the mathematician Kronecker, H. Grimm, Wattenbach, the lawyer Bruns, the archæologist Schöne, v. Sybel, and Waitz took part in it, and among them, as representatives of the older “Griechheit” were E. Curtius and Lepsius. The English ambassador, Lord Russel, the Greek ambassador, Rangabé, and George v. Bunsen were also members.
The Wednesday or Literary Club had been founded by Bethmann-Hollweg and Dorner, who was also a friend of the Lepsiuses. The Berlin literati lived at wide distances apart, and this club was begun with the intention of enabling them to meet, and thus giving an opportunity to those who were conducting researches in the various domains of science to enrich each other intellectually, through conversation, and mutual communication of knowledge.
Each member was bound in turn to deliver a discourse upon some subject within his special department of science. Another member had to provide the entertainment, and thus the society met first at one house and then at another. Of the old members many are now dead; those who survive will recollect with satisfaction the delightful evenings in which Lepsius participated with such pleasure.
To this society belonged Bethmann-Hollweg (the president), Dorner, Braun the botanist, E. Curtius, Duncker the historian, Beseler and Bruns the lawyers, Müllenhof the student of German law, language and history, Twesten the grey-haired and vigorous theologian, Friedrichs the archæologist, and also, for several years, Wichern, and Bancroft the historian and American ambassador. Of the younger members we may name the astronomer Förster and the geologist and geographer v. Richthofen, who had returned from China, bringing with him important scientific results. After Hermann had made himself at home as president of the Supreme Church Council in Berlin, Dorner immediately inducted him into the “Wednesday Club.” The architect Adler also found admittance to this select circle, which was no less attractive to Lepsius than the “Griechheit,” which met on Friday.
He scarcely went once a year to the Monday Club, although he was a member of this very old society, to which Nicolai had once belonged, It was composed of officials of high rank, and a few scholars. When there was any matter regarding which Lepsius wished to have a personal interview with one of the former, he was glad to go thither to find him and engage his attention.
The Archæological and Geographical Societies he visited occasionally from scientific interest.