"We have here," said he, "in Heidelberg, the Herr Münich, who executes these things in first-rate style, and derives almost a livelihood alone from this branch of business. It is the same in other places. I have already passed some time in Jena, Berlin, and Bonn, and have enjoyed the friendship of many a brave Bursche. There, you see the views of many a city through which I have travelled. They will to the latest hour yield me delightful recollections." These, with the well-executed portraits of many professors, filled a second wall. Amongst them proudly displayed themselves several printed duplicates of the doctoral diplomas of his friends.
"And whose likeness is this which hangs in the midst?" I asked. "That," he replied, "is the portrait of our famous Pawk-doctor, which cannot be wanting in any kneip."
On the third wall I beheld pipes of all forms and sizes, from the meerschaum to the clay pipe; and my polite host promised me at the next opportunity, to give me a lecture, as he expressed it, on these articles of furniture. My eye was now caught by the garniture which I beheld about the looking-glass. It was hung round with ribands of various colours, and above it appeared the remains of garlands. As I noticed them my host said--"See, those are flowers out of the mourning garlands which deck many a departed friend who sleeps in the cool earth; which we carefully preserve."
"And the ribands with the many inscriptions and the dates?" I asked. "Those," said he, "are my Chore-brothers; and the date indicates the foundation-day of our Verbindung."
On the fourth wall were to be seen a Schläger with the Chore-colours; a chore-cap and a guitar, with several coloured rosettes. There stood also a little table, and upon it apparatus for drinking and smoking; a large Deckel-glass with a lid, having upon it an engraved inscription, "Traumansdorf to his Freisleben, 18th July, 1838;" an elegant little casket with tobacco, a spill-vase, a study lamp, a vessel denominated the Pope, to receive the ashes of the tobacco on emptying the pipe, and an incombustible spill, or Fidebus, a new discovery, and certainly one of the most useful of the nineteenth century. This consists of a small strong coloured glass tube, which is partly filled with spirits of wine, and closed with a cork; through which a wire is thrust, and to the bottom end of which wire is secured a small knob of wood wrapped in cotton wool. This wire has a ring at the top, by which it is pulled out, and the knob ignited at the lamp when it is wished to light a pipe--a convenient piece of machinery, and also forming an ornament to the table.
As 1 continued to observe these mysteries, my host took up the guitar, and touching the strings, sung,--
He who can neither drink, love, nor sing,
How scorneth the Bursche so mean a thing!
"I can guess, and therefore ask not," I observed, "what your rosettes mean." "It was a delightful August ball," said he to his friend significantly. "And this glass, too, I see, is the gift of a friend," I added. "Certainly, you are quite to be envied." "That is nothing extraordinary," he remarked; "it is the custom amongst students to compliment each other with, or to dedicate to each other, as we express it, such things. The inscriptions which you see on you pipe-heads, on those ribands, on this glass, we term dedications. They bear the name of the giver, and the day which is the most distinguished in our lives through some remarkable event, on which day such a gift is generally given. Let us add to the so-called gifts the silhouettes and the sword, and you have altogether what the student is accustomed to dedicate to his fellow-student. But be seated. The coffee will be cold, and my pipe is actually gone out. If you will have a morning-gown, I have another, and I am always sorry to see any one squeezed up in an uncomfortable schnippel (student term for a dress coat). Would you think that a German had so much regard to comfort? Ha! ha! Much more than you imagine. Fancy yourself before an English fireplace (opening the door of the stove); since, without that, I know you don't feel yourself comfortable; and that we also are aware of the pleasantness of a fireplace, is shown by our frequently having the stove open into the room. And do you know that we have an equivalent for your word comfort, of which you are so proud?"
"If you will tell me what it is," I answered, "I will believe it; but I have hunted through every dictionary for it in vain, since your words behaglich, gemüthlich, bequem, don't express the actual thing."
"Pomadig," cried he, laughing; "that's the lordly word! but it is only one of our termini technici, and is not yet sanctioned by Adelung."