ass in procession before my mind's eye. The queen and
Bronnen are the only ones ever present; the king vanished with the
forgotten past. In my dreams, many visit me, but he never comes. Why, I
know not. I cannot solve the enigma.

To one who, when alone, stops to think, many things lose in value,
human beings among the rest. Personally, Gunther was no more to me than
another would have been. Emma was a mere echo.

If we thus reckon over our possessions, we find them little enough, and
I have left but little behind me in the world.

*

The ringing of the sleigh bells is the only sound one hears. The woods
are full of busy workmen. Snow and ice, which block the roads
elsewhere, here serve as highways.

*

Labor, by sending its fruits out into the world, places our vital force
at the disposal of others. The work which I have fashioned goes out
among men, and yet I am left undisturbed in my solitude and
concealment.

Man's work leaves him. It seems to me that I once met with the same
idea in Ottilia's journal.

*

The dog is the friend and confidant of solitary man. Lonely, deserted
spots, like this, aid one to appreciate his faithfulness, for he fails
not to give notice of every unwonted occurrence.

*

I often rush to the window when the dog barks--who knows what stranger
may have come?

Suppose the intendant or Gunther were suddenly to come, and ask me to
follow them back into the world?

The very thought makes me tremble.

Would I be obliged to obey?

*

To know that I had, at one time, renounced the world, and that it was
but a step and a leap--makes it easier to bear with life. I am now
beyond misfortune's reach.

And yet--if life were to claim me again--

*

I am but an ant dragging a pine-needle.

*

I am not quite forsaken. I bear, within me, memories of melodies and
pictures, and, above all, songs of our great master, Goethe.

"On every height there lies repose."

This passage has occurred to me hundreds of times, refreshing me just
as if it were a gentle, cooling dew, falling upon a parched field. I
delight in the harmonious cadence and in the simple words!

I could not rest until I had repeated the song to some one. I recit