, Conrad, I had left it at home."

"No, sir; you gave your last thaler to the student who came this morning
and told you of his necessities, and complained so bitterly that he had
eaten nothing warm for three days. You gave your money to him, and that
was not right, for now we have nothing ourselves."

"Yes, Conrad, it was right, it was my duty; he hungered and I was
full; he was poor and in want, and I had money, and sat in my warm,
comfortable room; it was quite right for me to help him."

"Yes, you say so always, sir, and our money all goes to the devil,"
muttered Conrad. "With what shall we satisfy ourselves to-day?"

"Well," said Gellert, after a pause, "we will drink some coffee, and eat
some bread and butter. Coffee is an excellent beverage, and peculiarly
acceptable to poets, for it enlivens the fancy."

"And leaves the stomach empty," said Conrad.

"We have bread and butter to satisfy that. Ah, Conrad, I assure you we
would often have been very happy in my father's parsonage if we had had
coffee and bread and butter for our dinner. We were thirteen children,
besides my father and mother, and my father's salary was not more than
two hundred thalers. Conrad, he had less than I, and he had to provide
for thirteen children."

"As if you had not provided for yourself since you were eleven years
old--as if I had not seen you copying late into the night to earn money,
at an age when other children scarcely know what money is, and know
still less of work."

"But when I carried the money which I had earned to my mother, she
kissed me so tenderly, and called me her brave, noble son--that was
a greater reward than all the money in the world. And when the next
Christmas came, and we were all thirteen so happy, and each one received
a plate filled with nuts and apples and little presents, I received a
shining new coat. It was the first time I had ever had a coat of new
cloth. My mother had bought the material with the money I had earned.
She had kept it all, and now my writings had changed into a beautiful
coat, which I wore with pride and delight. No coat is so comfortable as
one we have earned ourselves. The self-earned coat is the royal mantle
of the poor."

"But we need not be poor," scolded Conrad. "It is that which makes me
angry. If we were careful, we could live comfortably and free from care
on two hundred and fifty thalers. But every thing is given away,
and every thing is done for others, until we have