The memory of her John's father now taught her to change the "More, farther," of his motto into the maxim, "Learn to be content," the memory of the son, that every sacrifice which we make for the happiness of another is futile if, besides splendour and glory, fame and honour, it does not also gain the spiritual blessings whose possession first lends those gifts genuine value. These much-envied favours of Fortune had little to do with the indestructible monument which she erected in her heart to her son and her lover. What built it and lent it eternal endurance were the modest gifts of the heart.
She now knew the names of the blessings which might have guided her boy to a loftier happiness and, full of the love which even death could not assail and lessen, mourned by many, Barbara Blomberg, at an advanced age, closed her eyes upon the world.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
The greatness he had gained he overlooked
Who does not struggle ward, falls back
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS FOR THE ENTIRE "BARBARA BLOMBERG":
A live dog is better than a dead king
Always more good things in a poor family which was once rich
Attain a lofty height from which to look down upon others
Before learning to obey, he was permitted to command
Catholic, but his stomach desired to be Protestant (Erasmus)
Dread which the ancients had of the envy of the gods
Grief is grief, and this new sorrow does not change the old one
Harder it is to win a thing the higher its value becomes
No happiness will thrive on bread and water
Shuns the downward glance of compassion
That tears were the best portion of all human life
The blessing of those who are more than they seem
The greatness he had gained he overlooked
To the child death is only slumber
Who does not struggle ward, falls back
Whoever will not hear, must feel
A WORD, ONLY A WORD, Complete
By Georg Ebers
Translated from the German by Mary J. Safford