"He was kindly disposed towards every one, and knew how to make himself useful and entertaining in every circle of society; and it was only against every species of inhumanity and coarseness, against every kind of insolence, injustice, or cruelty, that he ever manifested either scorn or indignation."
How the world loves "unselfish amiability;" a person who goes through life thinking for others, not irritable, not supersensitive, not censorious!
On Humboldt's return to Berlin in 1792, he was at once made "Assessor in the Administrative Department of Mines and Smelting Works," a position for which he had previously applied. As a rule, places do not seek persons, however brilliant; they must seek places.
This was a fine opening for a young man, not yet twenty-three. He went to work with unbounded energy. He investigated the general form of mountains, collected information as to former methods of working the mines, by having three chests of mining documents, belonging to the sixteenth century, brought to him for careful study, and made a report on the salt, alum, and vitriol works, and on the porcelain manufactory. The government authorities were so pleased with his thorough report that he was appointed superintendent of mines in the two Franconian duchies.
He wrote to Freiesleben: "I am quite intoxicated with joy.... Do not feel anxious about my health; I shall take care not to over-exert myself, and after the first the work will not be heavy. I cannot conclude without acknowledging that it is again to you that I am indebted for this happiness; indeed I feel it only too keenly. What knowledge have I, dear Freiesleben, that has not been taught me by you!... How sweet is the thought to me that it is to you that I owe all this; it seems as if it bound me closer to you, as if I carried something about me that had been planted within me and cultivated by yourself...."
Thus all through life was the appreciative, warm-hearted man glad to show his gratitude for the stimulus of intellectual friends.
Who does not love to be appreciated! How many of us wait to say kind things to our friends until death makes it impossible!
Again he wrote: "I possess a certain amount of vanity, and am willing to confess it; but I know the power of my own will, and I feel that whatever I set myself to do I shall do well."
While so earnestly engaged in study, Humboldt, with his benevolent heart, could not see the children of the miners grow up in ignorance. He therefore opened free schools for them, and paid the teachers from his own purse. Not many young men at twenty-four would have thought of so admirable a plan.
Meantime he was experiencing the first keen joy of fame. The Elector of Saxony had sent the author of "Flora Fribergensis" a gold medal. The Swedish botanist Vahl had named a magnificent species of an East Indian laurel after him, the laurifolia Humboldtia. It had paid to be a student; to be led by the "eager impulse" within him.