DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62134#0098
90
AN ART-STUDENT IN MUNICH.
picturesquely drawn over their heads; little lads were busy
with their little wooden sledges; most quaint objects, many
of them., in their hooded cloaks, looking like little grey,
and brown, and black goblins. I greatly enjoyed my
snowy walk; and it rejoiced my heart, in all the cold and
winterly weather, to see the signs of busy industry which
met me in the streets; I mean the signs of busy learning
and study, which were quite in harmony with my frame of
mind. First, there were lots of little boys and girls rushing
out of a public school with their slates, and knapsacks,
and bags ; then there was the train of students returning
from some lecture in the University,—handsome vigorous
youths and young men, with their portfolios under their
arms, and their faces full of intelligence and animation;—
then, as I passed the Conservatorium, the Musical Academy,
a loud sound of chorus-singing burst upon my ear, and
from a door came forth a troop of boys, several of them
very young and small, carrying their violin cases;—they had
been learning.
What a beautiful thing, what a beautiful state is that
of the student, after all! the very aspiration, endurance,
patient labour, and uncertainty of this phase of human
life, engendering faith, and hope, and love, and humility,
throw a peculiar halo of beauty around it. I have often
felt this, but never more strongly than to-day. It seemed
to me that the acquiring, the accomplishing, was, as far as
the soul itself is concerned, really more than the acqui-
sition,—than that which is accomplished.
AN ART-STUDENT IN MUNICH.
picturesquely drawn over their heads; little lads were busy
with their little wooden sledges; most quaint objects, many
of them., in their hooded cloaks, looking like little grey,
and brown, and black goblins. I greatly enjoyed my
snowy walk; and it rejoiced my heart, in all the cold and
winterly weather, to see the signs of busy industry which
met me in the streets; I mean the signs of busy learning
and study, which were quite in harmony with my frame of
mind. First, there were lots of little boys and girls rushing
out of a public school with their slates, and knapsacks,
and bags ; then there was the train of students returning
from some lecture in the University,—handsome vigorous
youths and young men, with their portfolios under their
arms, and their faces full of intelligence and animation;—
then, as I passed the Conservatorium, the Musical Academy,
a loud sound of chorus-singing burst upon my ear, and
from a door came forth a troop of boys, several of them
very young and small, carrying their violin cases;—they had
been learning.
What a beautiful thing, what a beautiful state is that
of the student, after all! the very aspiration, endurance,
patient labour, and uncertainty of this phase of human
life, engendering faith, and hope, and love, and humility,
throw a peculiar halo of beauty around it. I have often
felt this, but never more strongly than to-day. It seemed
to me that the acquiring, the accomplishing, was, as far as
the soul itself is concerned, really more than the acqui-
sition,—than that which is accomplished.