tic world problems back to
consciousness of herself.

The technical possibility of the Atlantic tunnel, upon which Kellermann
has founded his novel, is questioned by engineering experts.
Nevertheless, the idea of the tunnel remains a symbol of the need which
the continents of the earth feel, of overcoming the distances that
separate them and of approaching and comprehending one another in ever
closer commerce and mutually profitable exchange. Where technical means
fail, the problem remains unrestricted for the human mind. The more
each individual people gives full expression to its national character,
the better will that world literature for which we strive succeed in
contributing to a mutual understanding on the part of the several
peoples. And when, as at present, the sea is lashed by frightful
storms, a safe conduit must lead from one national spirit to the
other--a conduit in the deep, which remains undisturbed by the waves of
passion that agitate the surface.

HELEN E BOeHLAU

* * * * * *

THE BALL OF CRYSTAL (1903)

TRANSLATED BY A. I. DU P. COLEMAN, A. M.
Professor of English Literature, College of the City of New York

On the long, bare slope of the Ettersberg lay the buildings that
marked the centre of an estate, not far from the Sperber property, but
not, like it, embedded in swelling fields on the side of the steep road
where the land lay broader and less precipitous. It lay nearer to the
wooded mountainside, so that the farm-buildings could look down a
little haughtily on those of the Sperber place--although there was
really no reason for it, since the latter was not at all inferior
either in extent or in great straw-thatched barns and stables or the
stately dwelling-house.

The estate that lay nearer the woods belonged to an old soldier,
Captain Rauchfuss, who, after a busy life in war and peace, had retired
and come back to his native town a little stiff in the legs, to find a
corner where he could live on his little pension in quietness.

But after a few years of rest the querulous veteran had blossomed out
into the likeness of a lively fellow in the prime of life, who enjoyed
a special reputation among the Weimar townspeople as a jolly companion.
And so it came to pass that he finally installed as his wife up at the
Ettersberg the daughter of his housekeeper, a young widow, and thus
be