e all need, for through this
the beautiful and noble build themselves up; need calls into being the
ideal, the virtuous. See here, Herr Captain Colleague, Herr Sonnenkamp,
who is a good deal of a man, of wide observation, says,--

"'I must not trouble myself concerning the people about me, neither
must Roland, for if he did, he would lose all comfort of his life; he
would never be able to ride out, without thinking of the misery and
suffering he witnessed in this place and in that.' See, here is our
riddle. How can one at the same time be a person of elevated thought,
and be rich? We teachers are the guardians of the ideal. Look at the
villages all around; there is in them all a visible and an invisible
tower, and the invisible is the ideality of the schoolmaster sitting
there with his children. I honor you, because you also have become a
schoolmaster."

Eric looked up in a sort of surprise, for his vanity was inwardly
wounded at being reckoned a schoolmaster, but he quickly overcame it,
and was happy in the thought. He prevailed upon the village
schoolmaster to go on with the history of his life. He was a good
mathematician, had been employed in the land-registry and in the
custom-house; he lost his situation when the Zollverein was
established; for two years he looked round for something to do, almost
in a starving condition, and then became a schoolmaster. He had married
well, that is, into a wealthy family, so that he was able to give his
sons a good education.

Evening had come on. Eric promised the village schoolmaster to give him
something to do with the instruction of Roland.

Knopf accompanied Eric for some distance, and then requested him to
mount his horse.

Knopf stood looking after Eric for a long time, until he was hidden by
a bend of the mountain, and his puffed lips addressed words in a low
tone to him, after he had disappeared.

On the way home, Eric was surprised that he thought less about Roland,
than he did about Manna, who was to arrive this evening.

Laughable old stories, how the tutor fell in love with the daughter of
the house, and was expelled by the hard-hearted, rich father, and here
he stands before the house all lighted up, he hears music; above, the
lovely one celebrates her marriage with a very noble coxcomb, and a
pistol-shot--no; it would be more practical to find some better
situation.

Eric had humor enough to dismiss every such fancy; he would remain
distant, composed, and