here was the homelier and more practical side
of life; then the life spent with Nature, especially forest-nature; then
also a life of the study, devoted to work at mathematics and languages;
and lastly, the time spent in gaining a knowledge of plants. My chosen
profession and the other circumstances of my position might have brought
me into contact with many kinds of men; but nevertheless my life
remained retired and solitary. My religious church life now changed to a
religious communion with Nature, and in the last half-year I lived
entirely amongst and with my plants, which drew me towards them with
fascination, notwithstanding that as yet I had no sense of the inner
life of the plant world. Collecting and drying specimens of plants was a
work I prosecuted with the greatest care. Altogether this time of my
life was devoted in many various ways to self-education,
self-instruction, and moral advancement. Especially did I love to
indulge my old habit of self-observation and introspection.

I must mention yet another event of the greatest importance from the
point of view of my inner life. An hour's walk from where I then lived
was a small country town. A company of strolling actors arrived there,
and played in the prince's castle in the town. After I had seen one of
their performances, hardly any of those which followed passed without my
attendance. These performances made a deep and lively impression upon
me, and this the more that I felt as if my soul at last received
nourishment for which it had long hungered. The impressions thus gained
lasted so much the longer, and had so much the greater influence on my
self-culture, in that after each performance my hour's walk home by dark
or in the starlight allowed me to recapitulate what I had heard, and so
to digest the meaning of the play. I remember especially how deeply a
performance of Iffland's _Huntsmen_ moved me, and how it inspired me
with firm moral resolutions, which I imprinted deep in my mind under the
light of the stars. My interest in the play made me seek acquaintance
with the actors, and especially with one of them, an earnest young man
who attracted my attention, and to whom I spoke about his profession. I
congratulated him on being a member of such a company, able to call up
such ennobling sentiments in the human soul; perhaps even expressed a
wish that I could become a member of such a company. Then the honest
fellow described the profession of an actor as