FullReads

One day, a short time before my story opens, he found, in his wanderings from shelf to shelf, some nicely-bound volumes, one of which he opened, and straightway verses of the most attractive-looking metre met his eye, not, however, in German, but in a fair round Roman text, and, alas! in a language which he did not understand. There were customers in the shop, so he stood still in the corner with his nose almost resting on the bookshelf, staring fiercely at the page, as if he would force the meaning out of those fair clear-looking verses. When the last beard had vanished through the doorway, Friedrich came up to the counter, book in hand.

“Well, now?” said the comfortable bookseller, with a round German smile.

“This book,” said the boy; “in what language is it?”

The man stuck his spectacles on his nose, and smiled again.

“It is Italian, and these are the sonnets of Petrarch, my child. The edition is a fine one, so be careful.” Friedrich went back to his place, sighing heavily. After a while he came out again.

“Well now, what is it?” said the bookseller, cheerfully.

“Have you an Italian grammar?”

“Only this,” said the other, as he picked a book from the shelf and laid it on the counter with a twinkle in his eye. The boy opened it and looked up disappointed.

“It is all Italian,” said he.

“No, no,” was the answer; “it is in French and Italian, and was printed at Paris. But what wouldst thou with a grammar, my child?”

The boy blushed as if he had been caught stealing, and said hastily–

“I must read those poems, and I cannot if I do not learn the language.”

“And thou wouldst read Petrarch with a grammar,” shouted the bookseller; “ho! ho! ho!”

“And a dictionary,” said Friedrich; “why not?”

“Why not?” repeated the other, with renewed laughter. “Why not? Because to learn a language, my Friedrich, one must have a master, and exercises, and a phrase-book, and progressive reading-lessons with vocabulary; and, in short, one must learn a language in the way everybody else learns it; that is why not, my Friedrich.”

“Everybody is nobody,” said Friedrich, hotly; “at least nobody worth caring for. If I had a grammar and a dictionary, I would read those beautiful poems.”

“Hear him!” said the cheerful little bookseller. “He will read Petrarch. He! If my volumes stop in the shelves till thou canst read them, my child–ho! ho! ho!” and he rubbed his brushy little beard with glee.

Friedrich’s temper was not by nature of the calmest, and this conversation rubbed its tenderest points. He answered almost fiercely–

“Take care of your volumes. If I live, and they do stop in the shelves, I will buy them of you some day. Remember!” and he turned sharply round to hide the tears which had begun to fall.

For a moment the good shopkeeper’s little mouth became as round as his round little eyes and his round little face; then he laid his hands on the counter, and jumping neatly over flung his dead weight on to Friedrich, and embraced him heartily.

“My poor child! (a kiss)–would that it had pleased Heaven to make thee the son of a nobleman–(another kiss). But hear me. A man in Berlin is now compiling an Italian grammar. It is to be out in a month or two. I shall have a copy, and thou shalt see it; and if ever thou canst read Petrarch I will give thee my volumes–(a volley of kisses). And now, as thou hast stayed so long, come into the little room and dine with me.” With which invitation the kind-hearted German released his young friend and led him into the back room, where they buried the memory of Petrarch in a mess of vegetables and melted butter.

It may be added here, that the Petrarchs remained on the shelf, and that years afterwards the round-faced little bookseller redeemed his promise with pride.

Of these visits the father was to all intents and purposes ignorant. He knew that Friedrich went to see the bookseller, and that the bookseller was good-natured to him; but he never dreamt that his son read the books with which his neighbour’s shop was lined, and he knew nothing of the wild visions which that same shop bred and nourished in the mind of his boy, and which made the life outside its doorstep seem a dream. The father and son saw that life from different points of view. The boy felt that he was more talented than other boys, and designed himself for a poet; the tradesman saw that the boy was more talented than other boys, and designed him for the business; and the opposite nature of these determinations was the one great misery of Friedrich’s life.