ing no one with whom I can speak in my own
language, and--I hardly know how to express myself--in whom I can find
my own nature reflected. And yet, that which makes man human is
possessed by those about me, as much as by the most cultured. This
being the case, whence this fear? and of what benefit is culture? Do I
still mean to use it in the world? I do not understand myself.
Our fashionable culture cannot supplant religion, because, while
religion makes all men equal, education produces inequality. But there
must be a system of culture that will equalize all men, and that is the
only right and true system. We are, as yet, at the threshold.
*
I have a great work before me, and am determined to succeed.
Hansei put little Peter on the white horse and let him ride a few
steps. How happy the little fellow was! and how Wodan looked around at
father and son! I retained the scene in my memory, and am now working
at the group--Hansei, Peter, and the white foal, all together. If I
only succeed! I can scarcely sleep for thinking of it.
*
The group has proved a success, although not so great a one as I had
wished for. The human figures are stiff and without expression; but the
horse is full of life, and every one in the house is delighted with my
achievement.
Hansei wishes me to accompany him when he goes out hunting, so that I
may copy stags, deer, and chamois. Those, he thinks, are the best
subjects, after all.
*
I have tried to copy the animals in the forest, but did not succeed as
I did with the horse. I can only hold fast to that which has no fear of
me and which I, therefore, love. I shall stick to my horses and cows.
*
All the mountain summits that I see, have such strange and yet
appropriate names. Who bestowed them upon them? And who accepted them?
What names could we invent nowadays? The earth and language have both
become rigid and unyielding. I think I once heard the same thought
expressed one evening, while we were at tea with the queen.
*
The carnival is a great festival--the very realization of jollity.
Peasants from the village come to visit us. They often come on Sundays,
but I never heard them speak of anything but cattle, the crops, or the
price of grain. I sometimes remain in the room to listen to them, for I
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