ed
myself from many a later shipwreck, and how hard it was for me to
recover. And all the stories of mariners and fishermen are the same.
After the night of storm the shore is reached again; he who was wet
through dries himself, and the next morning when the beautiful sun
shines once more on the sparkling waves "the sea has regained its
appetite for new victims."

When we see not only that the world in general, and especially the
younger generation, are given over to their lusts and passions, but also
that what is best and highest in them is misplaced and distorted through
the serious follies of the age; when we see that what should lead them
to salvation really contributes to their damnation--to say nothing of
the unspeakable stress brought to bear upon them from without--then we
cease to wonder at the misdeeds which a man performs in rage against
himself and others. I believe I am capable of writing another _Werther_,
which would make people's hair stand on end, even more than the first
did. Let me add one remark. Most young people, who feel themselves
possessed of merit, demand of themselves more than is right. They are,
however, pressed and forced into it by their gigantic surroundings. I
know half a dozen of that kind who will certainly perish, and whom it
would be impossible to help, even if one could make clear to them where
their real advantage lies. Nobody realizes that reason, courage, and
will-power are given to us so that we shall refrain, not only from evil,
but from excess of goodness.

I thank you for your comments on the pages of my autobiography. I had
already heard much that was good and kind about them in a general way.
You are the first and only one who has gone into the heart of the
matter.

I am glad that the description of my father impressed you favorably. I
will not deny that I am heartily tired of the German bourgeois, these
_Lorenz Starks_, or whatever they may be called, who, in humorous gloom,
give free play to their pedantic temperament, and by standing dubiously
in the way of their good-natured desires, destroy them, as well as the
happiness of other people. In the two following volumes the figure of my
father is completely developed, and if on his side as well as on the
side of his son, a grain of mutual understanding had entered into this
precious family relationship, both would have been spared much. But it
was not to be; and indeed such is life. The best laid plan for a journey
is