So gladly each sans himself to-day!
* * * * *
Out of low houses, with damp, dull rooms;
Out of the bonds of labour and trade;
Out of the crash of the narrow alleys;
Out of the church's reverent night,--
They all are brought forth into the light.
See! only see! how nimbly sallies
The multitude, scattering through garden and field;
How it gaily again on the broad flood rallies,
Alive with all joys that boats can yield.
Who has not called to mind these lines of the great master, when he has looked on the stream of the popular throng that has swept on towards one of the resorts of holiday pleasures. In the midst of this tumult the students are also to be seen following the current of the great stream in smaller or greater companies. If in modern times the singular attire less distinguishes him from the crowd, yet the practised eye readily singles out the student from the Handwerksbursche and the shop assistant. On the countenance of the Handworker we see displayed the joy which he feels to find himself once more for a day able to flee from the dusty workship, and the pride of showing himself in his Sunday bravery, in the astonished eyes, as he believes, of the world. This holiday array he has truly often thrown upon his back in a queer enough style. In black frock coat, white trousers, high cravat, and glittering boots, stalks he clumsily along, and his rude taste extends itself to the very pipe which he carries in his hand. On the contrary, the Pendulum has clad himself after the newest French fashion. All is smoothed and polished off to a nicety. He looks like a dish that the hungry Nero has licked into the most elegant cleanness. Scarcely dare he turn himself in his beautiful clothes lest he should crumple the ornate and artistical knot of his neckcloth; lest he should derange the nice tornure of his locks. He wheels himself aside only to see whether the admiring gaze of the fair sex is not following him. "Nöthig," would the student say--that is, "it would be well for him if it did!"
The student disdains, Knoten-like, to beautify himself on a Sunday. One day is like another to him; he can devote it either to study or to pleasure. So, as on other days, he lounges carelessly along. His attire is not studied, but it is convenient; and according to individual taste, more or less excellently chosen. A short frock-coat, often of a peculiar cut, and the little cap, are all that distinguish him. Formerly, indeed, the costume, one entire singularity, and the coloured Chore-ribbands, the variegated cap, and the tri-colour of the Burschenschaft, were worn openly. But in spite of all this, nothing is so easy as to recognise the student by his free and self-possessed carriage. Saucily, often haughtily, he observes the groups of onward-pouring people, without turning a step out of his track; careless whether he be an object of notice, being only too secure that he is. So leaves he the city Besom to the Handwerksbursche, nodding, however, a passing greeting to this and the other as they go by, assured that, arrived at the dancing place, they will speedily forsake the Knoten to fly to the arms of the more favoured dancer.
I catch the hamlet's stir and cheer,
The people's genuine heaven is here!
Here great and small shoot glad and free,
Here I'm a man--here may one be!
The Kirchweihs which in the neighbourhood of Heidelberg are the most noted, are those of Neckarsteinach and Kirscheim. Thither, some years ago, some of the most conspicuous burger families were accustomed to make an annual rustic pilgrimage of pleasure. This glory is gone by; yet we would recommend the latter still as the best place in which for the stranger to witness this folks'-feast, if so we may term it. We follow the sound of obstreperous music, and enter a garden, where a motley multitude presents itself to our sight. All the tables are filled; people eat and drink, chatter and smoke, laugh and sing, all in one chaos of merry confusion. Hither and thither, where an impatient guest thumps vigorously on the table with his glass, run the waiters--in the student's tongue, Faxe. At one table an honest burger company has planted itself, and over a glass of wine, weigh seriously whether the European balance of power can be maintained, and criticise the government of the city.
No, no, I like him not; our span-new burgermaster,
As he's so bold already, he'll come it thick and faster.
And for the town, what doth he, pray?
Gets it not worse then every day!
Certain youngsters have seated themselves beside them in a state of considerable perplexity, whether they shall be held fast by the wise conversation of these elders, or shall follow the bewitching sounds of youthful merriment.
At the next table, a knot of Bauers carry on a zealous discourse, of which one catches these syllables in passing,--"Oney think o'that, now; that the thing can run so wi'out bosses. It's got the divil in't's body, an' that the outlandish folk have fun' out again!" It is the railroads that have thrown the fat farmers into such a heat, and they raise themselves into such a fidget with talking of the steam-engines, that they blow as much smoke out of their earthen pipes, called by the students earthly pipes, as the engines themselves can send out steam.
But at another table we behold the dear image of youth. The Handwerksbursch, who treats his maiden with wine and cakes; the school youth who is there playing off the bursche before them, but looks round, ever and anon, lest the original that he is counterfeiting be near, or his teacher, who walking this way might reprove his presumption; the fresh country maiden, and the gay damsel of the city, all desire to make themselves amiable, and seek by their tittering and laughter, to let every one observe that they are capitally entertained by their swains.
One table is occupied by the students, who, revelling in a rich repast, now look up at the beauty of the Neckar-Thal, and now mix themselves in the throng, whispering with this and that maiden, to whom their shepherds cast frowns like thunderclouds. But careless of this, the sons of the Muses conduct them forward to the dancing-floor: