Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh

by Thomas Carlyle

  CHAPTER II. IDYLLIC.

  "HAPPY season of Childhood!" exclaims Teufelsdrockh: "Kind Nature, thatart to all a bountiful mother; that visitest the poor man's hut withauroral radiance; and for thy Nursling hast provided a soft swathingof Love and infinite Hope, wherein he waxes and slumbers, danced round(_umgaukelt_) by sweetest Dreams! If the paternal Cottage still shuts usin, its roof still screens us; with a Father we have as yet a prophet,priest and king, and an Obedience that makes us free. The young spirithas awakened out of Eternity, and knows not what we mean by Time; as yetTime is no fast-hurrying stream, but a sportful sunlit ocean; years tothe child are as ages: ah! the secret of Vicissitude, of that slower orquicker decay and ceaseless down-rushing of the universal World-fabric,from the granite mountain to the man or day-moth, is yet unknown; and ina motionless Universe, we taste, what afterwards in this quick-whirlingUniverse is forever denied us, the balm of Rest. Sleep on, thou fairChild, for thy long rough journey is at hand! A little while, and thoutoo shalt sleep no more, but thy very dreams shall be mimic battles;thou too, with old Arnauld, wilt have to say in stern patience: 'Rest?Rest? Shall I not have all Eternity to rest in?' Celestial Nepenthe!though a Pyrrhus conquer empires, and an Alexander sack the world, hefinds thee not; and thou hast once fallen gently, of thy own accord, onthe eyelids, on the heart of every mother's child. For as yet, sleepand waking are one: the fair Life-garden rustles infinite around, andeverywhere is dewy fragrance, and the budding of Hope; which budding, ifin youth, too frost-nipt, it grow to flowers, will in manhood yield nofruit, but a prickly, bitter-rinded stone-fruit, of which the fewest canfind the kernel."

  In such rose-colored light does our Professor, as Poets are wont, lookback on his childhood; the historical details of which (to say nothingof much other vague oratorical matter) he accordingly dwells on with analmost wearisome minuteness. We hear of Entepfuhl standing "in trustfulderangement" among the woody slopes; the paternal Orchard flanking it asextreme outpost from below; the little Kuhbach gushing kindly by, amongbeech-rows, through river after river, into the Donau, into the BlackSea, into the Atmosphere and Universe; and how "the brave old Linden,"stretching like a parasol of twenty ells in radius, overtopping allother rows and clumps, towered up from the central _Agora_ and _CampusMartius_ of the Village, like its Sacred Tree; and how the old men sattalking under its shadow (Gneschen often greedily listening), and thewearied laborers reclined, and the unwearied children sported, and theyoung men and maidens often danced to flute-music. "Glorious summertwilights," cries Teufelsdrockh, "when the Sun, like a proud Conquerorand Imperial Taskmaster, turned his back, with his gold-purpleemblazonry, and all his fireclad bodyguard (of Prismatic Colors); andthe tired brickmakers of this clay Earth might steal a little frolic,and those few meek Stars would not tell of them!"

  Then we have long details of the _Weinlesen_ (Vintage), theHarvest-Home, Christmas, and so forth; with a whole cycle of theEntepfuhl Children's-games, differing apparently by mere superficialshades from those of other countries. Concerning all which, we shallhere, for obvious reasons, say nothing. What cares the world for our asyet miniature Philosopher's achievements under that "brave old Linden "?Or even where is the use of such practical reflections as the following?"In all the sports of Children, were it only in their wanton breakagesand defacements, you shall discern a creative instinct (_schaffendenTrieb_): the Mankin feels that he is a born Man, that his vocation isto work. The choicest present you can make him is a Tool; be it knife orpen-gun, for construction or for destruction; either way it is for Work,for Change. In gregarious sports of skill or strength, the Boy trainshimself to Co-operation, for war or peace, as governor or governed:the little Maid again, provident of her domestic destiny, takes withpreference to Dolls."

  Perhaps, however, we may give this anecdote, considering who it is thatrelates it: "My first short-clothes were of yellow serge; or rather,I should say, my first short-cloth, for the vesture was one andindivisible, reaching from neck to ankle, a mere body with four limbs:of which fashion how little could I then divine the architectural, howmuch less the moral significance!"

  More graceful is the following little picture: "On fine evenings I waswont to carry forth my supper (bread-crumb boiled in milk), and eat itout-of-doors. On the coping of the Orchard-wall, which I could reachby climbing, or still more easily if Father Andreas would set up thepruning-ladder, my porringer was placed: there, many a sunset, have I,looking at the distant western Mountains, consumed, not without relish,my evening meal. Those hues of gold and azure, that hush of World'sexpectation as Day died, were still a Hebrew Speech for me; neverthelessI was looking at the fair illuminated Letters, and had an eye for theirgilding."

  With "the little one's friendship for cattle and poultry" we shall notmuch intermeddle. It may be that hereby he acquired a "certain deepersympathy with animated Nature:" but when, we would ask, saw any man,in a collection of Biographical Documents, such a piece as this:"Impressive enough (_bedeutungsvoll_) was it to hear, in early morning,the Swineherd's horn; and know that so many hungry happy quadrupedswere, on all sides, starting in hot haste to join him, for breakfast onthe Heath. Or to see them at eventide, all marching in again, with shortsqueak, almost in military order; and each, topographically correct,trotting off in succession to the right or left, through its own lane,to its own dwelling; till old Kunz, at the Village-head, now left alone,blew his last blast, and retired for the night. We are wont to love theHog chiefly in the form of Ham; yet did not these bristly thick-skinnedbeings here manifest intelligence, perhaps humor of character; at anyrate, a touching, trustful submissiveness to Man,--who, were he but aSwineherd, in darned gabardine, and leather breeches more resemblingslate or discolored-tin breeches, is still the Hierarch of this lowerworld?"

  It is maintained, by Helvetius and his set, that an infant of geniusis quite the same as any other infant, only that certain surprisinglyfavorable influences accompany him through life, especially throughchildhood, and expand him, while others lie close-folded and continuedunces. Herein, say they, consists the whole difference between aninspired Prophet and a double-barrelled Game-preserver: the inner man ofthe one has been fostered into generous development; that of the other,crushed down perhaps by vigor of animal digestion, and the like, hasexuded and evaporated, or at best sleeps now irresuscitably stagnant atthe bottom of his stomach. "With which opinion," cries Teufelsdrockh,"I should as soon agree as with this other, that an acorn might, byfavorable or unfavorable influences of soil and climate, be nursed intoa cabbage, or the cabbage-seed into an oak.

  "Nevertheless," continues he, "I too acknowledge the all-but omnipotenceof early culture and nurture: hereby we have either a doddered dwarfbush, or a high-towering, wide-shadowing tree; either a sick yellowcabbage, or an edible luxuriant green one. Of a truth, it is the duty ofall men, especially of all philosophers, to note down with accuracy thecharacteristic circumstances of their Education, what furthered, whathindered, what in any way modified it: to which duty, nowadays sopressing for many a German Autobiographer, I also zealously addressmyself."--Thou rogue! Is it by short clothes of yellow serge, andswineherd horns, that an infant of genius is educated? And yet, asusual, it ever remains doubtful whether he is laughing in his sleeve atthese Autobiographical times of ours, or writing from the abundance ofhis own fond ineptitude. For he continues: "If among the ever-streamingcurrents of Sights, Hearings, Feelings for Pain or Pleasure, whereby, asin a Magic Hall, young Gneschen went about environed, I might venture toselect and specify, perhaps these following were also of the number:

  "Doubtless, as childish sports call forth Intellect, Activity, so theyoung creature's Imagination was stirred up, and a Historical tendencygiven him by the narrative habits of Father Andreas; who, with hisbattle-reminiscences, and gray austere yet hearty patriarchal aspect,could not but appear another Ulysses and 'much-enduring Man.' Eagerly Ihung upon his tales, when listening neighbors enlivened the hearth; fromthese perils and these travels, wild and far almost as Hades itself, adim
world of Adventure expanded itself within me. Incalculable alsowas the knowledge I acquired in standing by the Old Men under theLinden-tree: the whole of Immensity was yet new to me; and had not thesereverend seniors, talkative enough, been employed in partial surveysthereof for nigh fourscore years? With amazement I began to discoverthat Entepfuhl stood in the middle of a Country, of a World; that therewas such a thing as History, as Biography to which I also, one day, byhand and tongue, might contribute.

  "In a like sense worked the _Postwagen_ (Stage-coach), which,slow-rolling under its mountains of men and luggage, wended through ourVillage: northwards, truly, in the dead of night; yet southwards visiblyat eventide. Not till my eighth year did I reflect that this Postwagencould be other than some terrestrial Moon, rising and setting by mereLaw of Nature, like the heavenly one; that it came on made highways,from far cities towards far cities; weaving them like a monstrousshuttle into closer and closer union. It was then that, independentlyof Schiller's _Wilhelm Tell_, I made this not quite insignificantreflection (so true also in spiritual things): _Any road, this simpleEntepfuhl road, will lead you to the end of the World_!

  "Why mention our Swallows, which, out of far Africa, as I learned,threading their way over seas and mountains, corporate cities andbelligerent nations, yearly found themselves with the month ofMay, snug-lodged in our Cottage Lobby? The hospitable Father (forcleanliness' sake) had fixed a little bracket plumb under their nest:there they built, and caught flies, and twittered, and bred; and all, Ichiefly, from the heart loved them. Bright, nimble creatures, whotaught you the mason-craft; nay, stranger still, gave you a masonicincorporation, almost social police? For if, by ill chance, and whentime pressed, your House fell, have I not seen five neighborlyHelpers appear next day; and swashing to and fro, with animated, loud,long-drawn chirpings, and activity almost super-hirundine, complete itagain before nightfall?

  "But undoubtedly the grand summary of Entepfuhl child's culture,where as in a funnel its manifold influences were concentrated andsimultaneously poured down on us, was the annual Cattle-fair. Here,assembling from all the four winds, came the elements of an unspeakablehurry-burly. Nut-brown maids and nut-brown men, all clear-washed,loud-laughing, bedizened and beribanded; who came for dancing, fortreating, and if possible, for happiness. Topbooted Graziers from theNorth; Swiss Brokers, Italian Drovers, also topbooted, from the South;these with their subalterns in leather jerkins, leather skull-caps, andlong ox-goads; shouting in half-articulate speech, amid the inarticulatebarking and bellowing. Apart stood Potters from far Saxony, with theircrockery in fair rows; Nurnberg Pedlers, in booths that to me seemedricher than Ormuz bazaars; Showmen from the Lago Maggiore; detachmentsof the _Wiener Schub_ (Offscourings of Vienna) vociferouslysuperintending games of chance. Ballad-singers brayed, Auctioneersgrew hoarse; cheap New Wine (_heuriger_) flowed like water, stillworse confounding the confusion; and high over all, vaulted, inground-and-lofty tumbling, a particolored Merry-Andrew, like the geniusof the place and of Life itself.

  "Thus encircled by the mystery of Existence; under the deep heavenlyFirmament; waited on by the four golden Seasons, with their vicissitudesof contribution, for even grim Winter brought its skating-matches andshooting-matches, its snow-storms and Christmas-carols,--did the Childsit and learn. These things were the Alphabet, whereby in aftertimehe was to syllable and partly read the grand Volume of the World: whatmatters it whether such Alphabet be in large gilt letters or in smallungilt ones, so you have an eye to read it? For Gneschen, eager tolearn, the very act of looking thereon was a blessedness that gildedall: his existence was a bright, soft element of Joy; out of which, asin Prospero's Island, wonder after wonder bodied itself forth, to teachby charming.

  "Nevertheless, I were but a vain dreamer to say, that even then myfelicity was perfect. I had, once for all, come down from Heaven intothe Earth. Among the rainbow colors that glowed on my horizon, lay evenin childhood a dark ring of Care, as yet no thicker than a thread, andoften quite overshone; yet always it reappeared, nay ever waxing broaderand broader; till in after-years it almost overshadowed my whole canopy,and threatened to engulf me in final night. It was the ring of Necessitywhereby we are all begirt; happy he for whom a kind heavenly Sunbrightens it into a ring of Duty, and plays round it with beautifulprismatic diffractions; yet ever, as basis and as bourn for our wholebeing, it is there.

  "For the first few years of our terrestrial Apprenticeship, we have notmuch work to do; but, boarded and lodged gratis, are set down mostlyto look about us over the workshop, and see others work, till we haveunderstood the tools a little, and can handle this and that. If goodPassivity alone, and not good Passivity and good Activity together, werethe thing wanted, then was my early position favorable beyond the most.In all that respects openness of Sense, affectionate Temper, ingenuousCuriosity, and the fostering of these, what more could I have wished?On the other side, however, things went not so well. My Active Power(_Thatkraft_) was unfavorably hemmed in; of which misfortune how manytraces yet abide with me! In an orderly house, where the litter ofchildren's sports is hateful enough, your training is too stoical;rather to bear and forbear than to make and do. I was forbid much:wishes in any measure bold I had to renounce; everywhere a strait bondof Obedience inflexibly held me down. Thus already Freewill often camein painful collision with Necessity; so that my tears flowed, and atseasons the Child itself might taste that root of bitterness, wherewiththe whole fruitage of our life is mingled and tempered.

  "In which habituation to Obedience, truly, it was beyond measure saferto err by excess than by defect. Obedience is our universal duty anddestiny; wherein whoso will not bend must break: too early and toothoroughly we cannot be trained to know that Would, in this world ofours, is as mere zero to Should, and for most part as the smallest offractions even to Shall. Hereby was laid for me the basis of worldlyDiscretion, nay of Morality itself. Let me not quarrel with myupbringing. It was rigorous, too frugal, compressively secluded, everyway unscientific: yet in that very strictness and domestic solitudemight there not lie the root of deeper earnestness, of the stem fromwhich all noble fruit must grow? Above all, how unskilful soever, it wasloving, it was well-meant, honest; whereby every deficiency was helped.My kind Mother, for as such I must ever love the good Gretchen, did meone altogether invaluable service: she taught me, less indeed by wordthan by act and daily reverent look and habitude, her own simple versionof the Christian Faith. Andreas too attended Church; yet more likea parade-duty, for which he in the other world expected pay witharrears,--as, I trust, he has received; but my Mother, with a truewoman's heart, and fine though uncultivated sense, was in the strictestacceptation Religious. How indestructibly the Good grows, and propagatesitself, even among the weedy entanglements of Evil! The highest whomI knew on Earth I here saw bowed down, with awe unspeakable, before aHigher in Heaven: such things, especially in infancy, reach inwards tothe very core of your being; mysteriously does a Holy of Holies builditself into visibility in the mysterious deeps; and Reverence, thedivinest in man, springs forth undying from its mean envelopment ofFear. Wouldst thou rather be a peasant's son that knew, were it never sorudely, there was a God in Heaven and in Man; or a duke's son that onlyknew there were two-and-thirty quarters on the family-coach?"

  To which last question we must answer: Beware, O Teufelsdrockh, ofspiritual pride!