or him to make up his mind
on any subject. He told us that he had offered to accompany the
commander of our army; he had written enough of history in dead
letters, and now he was anxious to witness living history, and perhaps
to assist in making it.

Annette had ordered the servant to bring wine, and Richard exclaimed:
"O father! it has come at last. Self-reliance now fills every heart,
and that is the rock of safety for the whole nation. I see it now; a
new element has entered our German world--a feeling that we are all
one. It is not a mere conglomerate of many thousand individuals; it is
something quite new and exalted--a divine revelation--the fire of pure
patriotism. We stand in the midst of a pillar of fire; every individual
is a spark; of no value by itself, but only as a portion of the pillar
of fire."

Richard's tall and commanding form trembled with emotion.

Annette placed her hand upon her heart and exclaimed, "And I too--I
too."

She had stretched forth her hand, but suddenly cast her eyes upon the
picture of her dead husband, and buried her face in her hands.

After a short pause, she said to Richard:

"Your mother announced this to me. 'He will live to see the day,' she
said, 'on which great things will happen to the world and to you all.'
I did not understand her words then, but now I believe I understand
them."

Richard replied, "How strange it is that you should be thinking of
mother at this moment; for I was thinking of her at the same time.

"Ah, father, when mother asked for water from her spring, and I ran
through the village down into the valley, and was nothing but a child
running to fetch a draught that would cool her parched lips and,
perhaps, save her, I could not, at times, help thinking of the story
told by Apuleius--how Psyche was obliged to bring water from the rocky
springs of the Styx.

"And, father, hard and puzzling as it then was to understand how trees
and houses could exist, and that men were working in the fields, while
the breath of life was flickering and expiring--now, all is clear
to my vision. I shall go off with the army; and if I can do nothing
more, I will, at all events, endeavor to refresh the spiritual and
physical wants of the children of the Fatherland for the sake of our
mother--unity. It would be glorious and happy to die when filled with
such emotions; but it is more genuine and more brave to persevere in
small services and sacrifices."

Annette, with