TO FORM A MAN.
The Major sent no notice of his approaching visit; he came himself, he
looked very fresh with his reddish-brown face, and his snow-white,
short-cut hair, and he said that as often as he had bathed in the warm
spring, he felt as if he could remember the very first bath after he
was born. He seemed to himself, every time, literally like a new-born
child, with an unseen nurse, who bent smiling over him and dipped him
gently in the spring. He smiled at everything, at the trees, the roofs,
the houses, and now at the faces of his friends.
He was very glad that Eric had taken the boy out of the ranks and was
exercising him alone; it was hard, to be sure; but more progress could
be made in one day, than in weeks by the other method.
He begged Eric to excuse himself in a few words to Fraeulein Milch for
not visiting her when she was so lonely, and he urged Eric to come
soon, for the Grand Master was there.
The Major, as has been said, lived in a wing of the country-house,
beautifully situated on the mountain-side, of which he had the care.
With the greatest solicitude the Major preserved his own independence
in life, but he felt a deep obligation toward the Grand Master, whose
universal friendliness and agreeable conversation he was never weary of
extolling. He always wanted to share with him every pleasure and
advantage, and now what had he better than Eric, whom he praised so
continually that his stock of eulogistic expressions became completely
exhausted, and he found more than usual difficulty in saying what he
wished.
On his first leisure evening Eric visited the Major. He easily made
peace with the Fraeulein; and the Major laughed till he choked and had
to be brought to with a slap on the back, because he had made a joke, a
most unusual thing with him, about Eric's confinement for six weeks.
Fraeulein Milch told of Eric's glory at the singing festival, and the
Major said,--
"That's good. At our feasts, singers are very important. But can you
sing, 'These holy halls'?"
Eric regretted that the air was too low for his voice.
"Then sing something else; sing for Fraeulein Milch."
Eric had difficulty in declining this friendly request, and Fraeulein
Milch thanked him, and helped him carry out his wish to defer the
performance to some appointed evening. The so-called Grand Master was
as disagreeable in his behavior, as Fraeulein Milch was charming. There
was something unpleasantly patronizing in his manner; it seemed as if
he were so accustomed to flattery, that only a simple unpretending
nature, like the Major's, could be at ease with him. The Major took
great pains to bring his true friends together, but he did not succeed.
The Grand Master behaved arrogantly towards Eric throughout. He
addressed him only as "Young man," and gave him instruction and advice,
as if Eric were in his employ. It required all Eric's self-possession,
to show the man, good-temperedly, the impropriety of his treatment for
the Grand Master was so inconsiderate as to speak, even in Roland's
presence, of the want of experience of the "young man," who had, of
course, come to him only to listen to his oracular sayings; and his
whole manner of speaking had something oracular about it, as he
gesticulated with outstretched hands, as if sowing seed. Eric kept his
temper enough to treat this insolent creature as a singular, natural
phenomenon. He patiently allowed himself to be patronized, and when
Eric had gone, the Head Master said to the Major,--"That young man has
ideas."
It is true, Eric had not expressed any ideas, but he had listened well,
and so was awarded praise for them, which was a great deal from the
Grand Master, who considered that nobody but himself had properly any
ideas; and the whole world ought to come to him to be taught. When Eric
returned to the Major's, he found a messenger, who had come to say that
Clodwig, Bella, and Pranken would come there the next day. Roland had
gone into the court with Fraeulein Milch to admire the young ducks.
The Major now asked on what terms Eric stood with Pranken. Eric could
only answer that Pranken had been very friendly, and considerate, in
his treatment of him.
The Major, who had risen through every grade of the militia from
drummer-boy up, lived in a constant state of resentment against the
haughtiness of his noble-born comrades; he admonished Eric, however, to
conduct himself gratefully towards Pranken, who was really a very
well-mannered fellow, in spite of his noble birth; an obstacle that it
was very hard for the Major to get over. He thought that Pranken
deserved Eric's gratitude for having introduced him into his present
position, and reminded Eric that he had also been the means of his
gaining so valuable a friend as Clodwig.
As Eric and Roland were going towards home, Eric said,--
"Now, Roland, we will show that we do not allow ourselves to be
disturbed; come what will, we will have our studies uninterrupted; we
won't see visitors except in play-hours. You see, Roland, this is one
great difficulty in life. From complaisance towards the world, and from
an unwillingness to appear disobliging and ungracious to our friends,
we often allow our own privacy to be invaded. Against this we must
stand firmly: each must just be something for himself, and then come
out into the world. He who cannot exist for himself may possess the
world, but not himself."
In the consciousness of fulfilling his duty, Eric became again strong
and self-contained, and scattered every disturbing influence far away.