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580 THE OLD BACHELOR'S NIGHTCAP
And a pearl rolled out, and another, and another, and they sounded and glittered.
' This must be gout,' said the burgomaster. ' Something dazzles my eyes !'
They were tears, shed half a century before by old Anthony from Eisenach.
Every one who afterwards put that nightcap upon his head had visions and dreams. His own history was changed into that of Anthony, and became a story ; in fact, many stories. But some one else may tell them. We have told the first. And our last word is—don't wish for ' the Old Bachelor's Nightcap '. |
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SOMETHING
11 want to be something !' said the eldest of five brothers. ' I want to be of use in the world. I don't care how humble my position may be in society, if I only effect some good, for that will really be something. I'll make bricks, for they are quite indispensable things, and then I shall truly have done something.'
* But that something will not be enough !' quoth the second brother. ' What you intend doing is just as much as nothing at all. It is journeyman's work, and can be done by a machine. No, I would rather be a bricklayer at once, for that is something real; and that's what I will be. That brings rank : as a bricklayer one belongs to a guild, and is a citizen, and has one's own flag and one's own house of call. Yes, and if all goes well, I will keep journeymen. I shall become a master bricklayer, and my wife will be a master's wife—that is what i" call something.'
1 That's nothing at all ! ' said the third. ' That is outside of the classes, and there are many of those in a town that stand far above the mere master artisan. You may be an honest man ; but asa" master " you will after all only belong to those who are ranked among common men. I know something better than that. I will be an architect, and will thus enter into the territory of art and speculation. I shall be reckoned among those who stand |
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