But Herman—he was never seen again!
Mr. Beal’s narrative nearly filled the evening. A few stories were told by other members of the Club, but they were chiefly from Grimm, and hence are somewhat familiar.
Charlie Leland closed the meeting with a free translation of a poem from Kerner.
Justinus Kerner was born in Ludwigsburg, in 1786. He was a physician and a poet. He belonged to the spiritualistic school of poets, and his illustrations of the power of mind over matter, in both prose and poetry, are often very forcible. The following poem will give you a view of his estimate of physical as compared with mental power:—
IN THE OLD CATHEDRAL.
In the vaults of the dim cathedral,
In the gloaming, weird and cold,
Are the coffins of old King Ottmar,
And a poet, renowned of old.
The king once sat in power,
Enthroned in pomp and pride,
And his crown still rests upon him,
And his falchion rusts beside.
And near to the king the poet
Has slumbered in darkness long,
But he holds in his hands, as an emblem,
The harp of immortal song.
Hark! ’tis the castles falling!
Hark! ’tis the war-cry dread!
But the monarch’s sword is not lifted,
There, in the vaults of the dead!
List to the vernal breezes!
List to the minstrels’ strain!
’Tis the poet’s song they are singing,
And the poet lives again.