Congenial Quiet.--Making Type again.--Gutenberg issues “Absies.”
--Peter Schoeffer.--Decides to remove to Mentz.--Emotions of
Gutenberg.--Fraternal Sympathy.--The Meeting with Faust.--Table
Talk.--Removal.
The dissolution of the firm was in some respects a benefit to the
lapidary. He had time for quiet thought, and, as in years gone by, his
shop was his sanctum. Feeling at ease, his work progressed rapidly,
and his day’s task was often accomplished ere the sun declined, when
instinctively his hand followed the bent of his mind, and engaged
in cutting _stucke_. He said nothing of this to Anna, until, by
accumulations of spare hours’ work, he had made a fount of type. He
then surprised her by showing his treasures.
“That is so much like thee, John!” she exclaimed. “I do believe thou
wilt yet even receive the reward of thy perseverance; but thou canst
not attempt great things now, not having the means of making a press,
and with no one to assist thee.”
“I have made this type in the leisure after my daily work,” was the
reply; “I can, moreover, devote a portion of my energies to preparing
apparatus for imprinting; it will, however, avail me little in this
place. Nevertheless, I shall work on, hoping that it will at some time
turn to account.”
Gutenberg’s evenings were henceforth occupied in constructing a frame
to inclose the type, and a printing-press; but it was some two years
from the time of the disbanding of the firm before he was ready to
print. He then issued an alphabetical table, called the “Absies.” This
was a one page book, and had besides the alphabet, an Address to the
Virgin Mary, and the Lord’s Prayer. He had designed it for the use of
the pupils in the Cathedral school, but it was some time before he had
courage to attempt introducing it.
A little incident decided him. It happened one morning that Peter
Schoeffer, a scholar who had assisted in selling the block books, and
now famed for his skill in penmanship, came into the shop. He had at
one period called often, and a friendship had sprung up between himself
and the inventor. The latter, sure of his sympathy, showed him a copy
of the “Absies.” Schoeffer was highly pleased, and said,--
“According to my thinking, this is what we need in our school. The
letters are regular and plain, and it would save great labor in
copying.” He then volunteered to bring the work to the notice of his
teacher; and after inquiry and examination the school was furnished
with the “Absies.”
Time passed, Gutenberg leading much the same life,--mostly engaged
in the lapidary business, and printing a small page occasionally; in
this last work having little patronage. It was, indeed, useless to
attempt printing at Strasbourg; the old prejudice reviving as soon as
it was known that he had made any new issues. He resolved, therefore,
to abandon the place forever. But where should he go? As was natural,
he decided to return to Mentz, the home of his childhood and youth. In
this decision Anna fully concurred, sensible that her husband could
never succeed in the place of his defeat.
Gutenberg was deeply moved on approaching his native city, Mentz.
He had left it in the buoyancy of youth, a chevalier; less than a
score of earnest, struggling, eventful years pass, and he returns an
artisan. Humiliation, indigence, and glory had wrestled in his destiny.
The lawsuit had spread his fame through Germany; but poor, ruined,
condemned, he comes back with aching heart and disappointed hopes to
reconstruct, if possible, his fallen fortunes. His parents were no
more; and hesitatingly he drew near the old home, a stately ancestral
dwelling. How would his brother receive him and his in the day of his
adversity? Would he find him estranged by the cruel slanders of the
Strasbourg busybodies? He well knew that he should miss the loving
ministrations of his sister Hebele, as, soon after his departure, she
had joined the St. Claire Convent; and now he realized as never before,
her living burial. Alas! she seemed dead to her friends. Forebodingly
he crossed the threshold of his fathers; but Friele, true brother that
he was, met him joyfully, bidding him welcome again and again. This
sympathy was most grateful to the wanderer in his reverses; still he
was only half-satisfied, he so much longed for help in his beloved
art; but how could he speak of it, and perchance break the spell of
their happy meeting? Friele had, however, learned many passages of his
late history from Gutenberg’s occasional letters to his mother, and
eagerly questioned him for farther particulars. This led the inventor
to dwell on his struggles to bring out an art which would multiply
books, and lessen the labor of making them. Friele listened intently,
yet was doubtful of new things. He promised, however, to aid him in
some feasible way. This might be the work of time, and meanwhile he
begged him to be hopeful and happy, expressing his conviction that all
would yet turn out for the best. This loving reception was balm to
the wounded spirit of the inventor; and feeling that he could safely
confide in his brother, he showed him some of the works he had printed,
and the printing materials which he had brought with him, at the
same time acknowledging more fully his strong wish of commencing the
business in Mentz.
Friele was increasingly interested, and hoped to be able to assist him;
meanwhile Gutenberg decided to rent a small cottage, and pursue his
business of the lapidary; occupying himself as he might be able, in
fitting up his printing apparatus.
One day, some time after, as he was passing the Church of St.
Christopher, he met his brother Friele in earnest discourse with a
stranger, whom he introduced as John Faust, saying to Gutenberg,
smilingly,--
“We were just speaking of thee, brother John!”
“I am most happy to meet thee!” said Faust, cordially. “I should know
you from your resemblance to your father. I am well-acquainted with
your cousins and all your kindred; I esteem them highly, and heartily
welcome back a former townsman,--a member of one of our patrician
families.”