lready had the book in the side pocket of
his long coat, and when, beckoning significantly, he cried, "Come, Bear,"
I knew what was before me, and would have gladly resigned the most
enjoyable game, though he sometimes had books read which were by no means
easy for me to understand. I was then fourteen or fifteen years old.

Need I say that it was my intercourse with this man which implanted in my
heart the love of ancient days that has accompanied me throughout my
life?

The elevation of the Prussian nation led Langethal also from the
university to the war. Rumor first brought to Berlin the tidings of the
destruction of the great army on the icy plains of Russia; then its
remnants, starving, worn, ragged, appeared in the capital; and the
street-boys, who not long before had been forced by the French soldiers
to clean their boots, now with little generosity--they were only
"street-boys"--shouted sneeringly, "Say, mounseer, want your boots
blacked?"

Then came the news of the convention of York, and at last the irresolute
king put an end to the doubts and delays which probably stirred the blood
of every one who is familiar with Droysen's classic "Life of
Field-Marshal York." From Breslau came the summons "To my People," which,
like a warm spring wind, melted the ice and woke in the hearts of the
German youth a matchless budding and blossoming.

The snow-drops which bloomed during those March days of 1813 ushered in
the long-desired day of freedom, and the call "To arms!" found the
loudest echo in the hearts of the students. It stirred the young, yet
even in those days circumspect Langethal, too, and showed him his duty
But difficulties confronted him; for Pastor Ritschel, a native of Erfurt,
to whom he confided his intention, warned him not to write to his father.
Erfurt, his own birthplace, was still under French rule, and were he to
communicate his plan in writing and the letter should be opened in the
"black room," with other suspicious mail matter, it might cost the life
of the man whose son was preparing to commit high-treason by fighting
against the ruler of his country--Napoleon, the Emperor of France.

"Where will you get the uniform, if your father won't help you, and you
want to join the black Jagers?" asked the pastor, and received the
answer:

"The cape of my cloak will supply the trousers. I can have a red collar
put on my cloak, my coat can be dyed black and turned into a uniform, and
I have a hanger