The ranks of those illustrious men who a few decades ago, in war and
peace, stood by the side of Emperor Wilhelm I.--of glorious
memory--have gradually thinned. On the 9th of November, 1896, another
of the few then surviving--Dr. Emil Frommel, Supreme Councillor of
the Prussian Consistory, formerly chaplain to the Imperial Court and
pastor of the "Garnisonkirche" in Berlin--closed his eyes forever. He
was a man whose eminent gifts, both of mind and heart, had been
thoroughly tested and fully appreciated not only by his personal
friend, the old Emperor, but also by the latter's son, the
noble-hearted and much lamented Friedrich, and his grandson, Wilhelm
II., the present shaper of the destiny of the Fatherland. Frommel was
a minister of the gospel "by divine grace," possessed of a deep and
unaffected piety and love for mankind, an enrapturing pulpit-orator,
a scholar of clear and keen intellect, a man endowed with the purest
nobility of soul and intrepid courage, a writer for the masses, in
whom the acme of moral gravity appeared felicitously blended with an
always present and all refreshing humor, a fervent patriot and
accomplished courtier, though far from every courtly flattery and
obsequiousness.
Emil Frommel was a native of Southern Germany. Born at Karlsruhe, in
the grand-duchy of Baden, on January 5th, 1828, as the son of the
director of the ducal art gallery of that place, he devoted himself to
the study of theology at the universities of Halle, Erlangen, and
Heidelberg. In 1850, he was called as vicar to the village of
Alt-Lussheim, near Schwetzingen (Baden), whence four years later he
went as vicar to Karlsruhe, his native town. In 1864, he followed a
call to Barmen, that great industrial center of Westphalia, and again
five years later, he accepted the place as pastor of the
"Garnisonkirche" in Berlin. Hardly had he become familiar with his new
surroundings, when, in the summer of 1870, the Franco-German war broke
out. As a field chaplain he followed the army into France, camping
amidst his beloved "blue soldier-boys" during the siege of Strassburg,
and preaching to them, after the surrender of that old stronghold, the
first German sermon in St. Thomas' church.--In June, 1871, on the
triumphal return of the Berlin garrison, Frommel occupied again the
pulpit of the "Garnisonkirche" and delivered in the presence of the
Emperor and the allied German sovereigns that memorable sermon in
commemoration of the heroic dead. On the occasion of the 150th
anniversary of the consecration of the "Garnisonkirche," he was
created chaplain to the Imperial Court.
In an almost daily intercourse with his Imperial master, Frommel soon
had completely taken the heart of the affable old hero, whom from 1872
to 1887, year after year, he accompanied to "Wildbad Gastein," the
famous watering place in the Austrian Alps, where in the little
Protestant church of that Catholic district the old warrior joined the
few Lutheran mountaineers in their devotional exercises, listening to
the words of his chaplain, whose sermon he could not afford to
miss--as he said--for a single Sunday in the year. "I am particularly
indebted to you," once remarked the Emperor, "that in your sermons you
never refer to me."--"Well, your majesty," replied Frommel, "I think
that it must be quite a hard task for you to bear the crown six days
of each week, and that on the Sabbath you should have a right to be
relieved from your burden and feel like a plain Christian in the house
of the Lord."
It was by no means in the Imperial household alone that Frommel was so
exceptionally honored; the highest circles of Berlin society, artists,
diplomats, literary and military men, religious and infidels, all
strove in rivalry to pay homage to the popular pastor of the
"Garnisonkirche." His wedding-, christening-, and burial-sermons were
masterpieces of oratory; though plainly conceived and plainly
delivered and free from all and every unctious pathos, they abounded
with thought, true feeling, and poetical beauty. Frommel was destined
to speak at the graves of most of the great leaders of the war of
1870-71, including Prince August of Württemberg, Moltke, Roon,
Alvensleben, Kirchbach, and Kameke; the danger to become, on such
occasions, a panegyrist, he has always judiciously avoided, thanks to
his delicate taste and independence of conviction.
It would be a great mistake to suspect that the adulation of those
foremost in life and society had been able to dazzle even for a moment
Frommel's sound judgment or make him turn his back to the other half
of humanity. Quite the contrary! His generous heart beat warmest of
all for the great community of the poor and afflicted. The thousands
of Berlin cab-drivers were his most devoted friends, and to the
amelioration of the deplorable lot of the German waiters he directed
his loving interest. The endless train of mendicants who at all times
besieged the parsonage, never knew him but "from his very best side."
For an old vagabond tailor who had seen better days, he secures work,
thus laying a solid foundation for an honest and certain existence; in
the superannuated sick and penniless actor, who salutes him as "a
colleague in an allied profession," he readily discovers a parson's
scion, and dismisses him with a most positive proof of his generosity.
What wonder that the pastor of the "Garnisonkirche" had gradually
grown to be one of the most popular figures of the national capital of
Germany, and this all the more so as he, the southerner by birth,
education, and mode of viewing things, had so completely caught the
peculiar Berlin humor and ready wit in address and reply, that in no
wise he differed from the true-born Berliner! And on what excellent
terms was he with the young folks not only of his immense
congregation, but of Berlin, nay, of the whole country, wherever he
met them on his extended tours through the Empire!
Amidst the most various and trying engagements, Frommel lived in
Berlin for twenty-six years. What an immense amount of work he
accomplished within that time, can be understood from his own
statement in his farewell sermon of Sunday, April 19, 1896, where he
said: "While in Berlin, I have baptized 1838 children, united in
wedlock 1526 couples, confirmed 1980 school-children, and buried 1709
dead. Of the churches in Berlin, I have preached in all but one, and
in sixty-five cities all over Germany I have delivered either sermons
or lectures." So we cannot much wonder that on the occasion of the
twenty-fifth anniversary of his installation as pastor of the
"Garnisonkirche," he submitted to his Imperial master the petition for
retirement from his charge. His request was most graciously complied
with, and at the same time he was commissioned by Imperial brevet as
an "_officer à la suite of the army,_" a distinction never before in
the history of Germany conferred upon a military chaplain.--Soon
after, in the spring of 1896, Emperor Wilhelm II. called him to his
castle, Ploen, charmingly situated upon the shore of the Ploener Lake
in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein, to superintend the
tuition of his two oldest sons, Crown-Prince Wilhelm and Prince Eitel
Friedrich. Full of happy anticipation of a quiet and restful evening
of life in one of the most idyllic parts of Germany, Frommel entered
upon his new and honorable duties with a truly youthful vigor and
enthusiasm, but alas--after a few months' stay at Ploen, owing to an
old ailment which had reappeared under more alarming symptoms than
ever before, he had to submit to a chirurgical operation, and it was
under the knives of the surgeons that on the 9th day of November,
1896, Emil Frommel breathed his last, at the age of sixty-eight years.
Frommel's personal appearance was the harmonious representation of his
inner life. His kind and youthful face, brightened by benevolent blue
eyes, was encircled by long and full silver-white hair and made such a
deep impression, that once seen it could not easily be forgotten.
* * *
As a writer, Frommel is best known as the author of a long series of
stories for the masses, which on account of their unaffected piety,
vigorous language and healthy humor have become exceedingly popular
with all classes. They are published by Wiegandt & Grieben (Berlin),
in eleven volumes under the general title, {»Gesammelte
Schriften--Erzählungen, Aufsätze und Vorträge.«} Our story
{»Eingeschneit«} taken from the sixth volume ({»Aus der
Sommerfrische«}) relates a humorous travelling adventure from the
author's own merry college-life, when a student of divinity at the
university of Erlangen. It will not be a difficult task for the reader
to discover which of the three jovial young fellows, who, one fine
summer-day, started to see for themselves whether the world really is
as round as their professor had claimed, was the one who in after-life
became so widely known as "Emil Frommel."