f000001,17.720,19.120,"Start of chapter nine teen."
f000002,19.120,37.640,"There often happens to us in common life what, in an epic poem, we are accustomed to praise as a stroke of art in the poet; namely, that when the chief figures go off the scene, conceal themselves or retire into inactivity, some other or others, whom hitherto we have scarcely observed, come forward and fill their places."
f000003,37.640,44.920,"And these putting out all their force at once fix our attention and sympathy on themselves, and earn our praise and admiration."
f000004,44.920,52.280,"Thus, after the Captain and Edward were gone, the Architect, of whom we have spoken, appeared every day a more important person."
f000005,52.280,70.480,"The ordering and executing of a number of undertakings depended entirely upon him, and he proved himself thoroughly understanding and businesslike in the style in which he went to work; while in a number of other ways he was able also to make him self of assistance to the ladies, and find amusement for their weary hours."
f000006,70.480,75.160,"His outward air and appearance were of the kind which win confidence and awake affection."
f000007,75.160,98.720,"A youth in the full sense of the word, wellformed, tall, per haps a little too stout; modest without being timid, and easy without being obtrusive, there was no work and no trouble which he was not delighted to take upon himself; and as he could keep accounts with great facility, the whole economy of the household soon was no secret to Elective Affinities him, and everywhere his salutary influence made itself felt."
f000008,98.720,110.560,"Any stranger who came he was commonly set to entertain, and he was skilful either at declining unex pected visits, or at least so far preparing the ladies for them as to spare them any disagreeableness."
f000009,110.560,121.520,"Among others, he had one day no little trouble with a young lawyer, who had been sent by a neighboring noble man to speak about a matter which, although of no par ticular moment, yet touched Charlotte to the quick."
f000010,121.520,128.840,"We have to mention this incident because it gave occasion for a number of things which otherwise might perhaps have remained long untouched."
f000011,128.840,132.520,"We remember certain alterations which Charlotte had made in the churchyard."
f000012,132.520,140.200,"The entire body of the monu ments had been removed from their places, and had been ranged along the walls of the church, leaning against the stringcourse."
f000013,140.200,153.000,"The remaining space had been leveled, except a broad walk which led up to the church, and past it to the opposite gate; and it had been all sown with various kinds of trefoil, which had shot up and flowered most beautifully."
f000014,153.000,162.120,"The new graves were to follow one after another in a regular order from the end, but the spot on each occasion was to be carefully smoothed over and again sown."
f000015,162.120,169.760,"No one could deny that on Sundays and holidays when the people went to church the change had given it a most cheerful and pleasant appearance."
f000016,169.760,197.320,"At the same time the clergyman, an old man and clinging to old customs, who at first had not been especially pleased with the alteration, Elective Affinities had become thoroughly delighted with it, all the more because when he sat out like Philemon with his Baucis under the old linden trees at his back door, instead of the humps and mounds he had a beautiful clean lawn to look out upon; and which, moreover, Charlotte having se cured the use of the spot to the Parsonage, was no little convenience to his household."
f000017,197.320,208.360,"Notwithstanding this, however, many members of the congregation had been displeased that the means of mark ing the spots where their forefathers rested had been re moved, and all memorials of them thereby obliterated."
f000018,208.360,218.400,"However well preserved the monuments might be, they could only show who had been buried, but not where, and the where, as many maintained, was everything."
f000019,218.400,232.560,"Of this opinion was a family in the neighborhood, who for many years had been in possession of a considerable vault for a general restingplace of themselves and their relations, and in consequence had settled a small annual sum for the use of the church."
f000020,232.560,249.080,"And now this young law yer had been sent to cancel this settlement, and to show that his client did not intend to pay it any more, because the condition under which it had been hitherto made had not been observed by the other party, and no regard had been paid to objection and remonstrance."
f000021,249.080,262.440,"Charlotte, who was the originator of the alteration herself, chose to speak to the young man, who, in a decided though not a violent manner, laid down the grounds on which his client pro ceeded, and gave occasion in what he said for much serious reflection."
f000022,262.440,275.240,"Elective Affinities You see, he said, after a slight introduction, in which he sought to justify his peremptoriness; you see, it is right for the lowest as well as for the highest to mark the spot which holds those who are dearest to him."
f000023,275.240,291.160,"The poorest peasant who buries a child finds it some con solation to plant a light wooden cross upon the grave, and hang a garland upon it, to keep alive the memorial, at least as long as the sorrow remains; although such a mark, like the mourning, will pass away with time."
f000024,291.160,298.680,"Those better off change the cross of wood into iron, and fix it down and guard it in various ways; and here we have endurance for many years."
f000025,298.680,311.640,"But because this too will sink at last, and become invisible, those who are able to bear the expense see nothing fitter than to raise a stone which shall promise to endure for generations, and which can be restored and made fresh again by posterity."
f000026,311.640,319.600,"Yet this stone it is not which attracts us; it is that which is contained beneath it, which is entrusted, where it stands, to the earth."
f000027,319.600,326.160,"It is not the memorial so much of which we speak as of the person himself; not of what once was, but of what is."
f000028,326.160,335.840,"Far better, far more closely, can I embrace some dear departed one in the mound which rises over his bed than in a monumental writing which only tells us that once he was."
f000029,335.840,352.480,"In itself, indeed, it is but little; but around it, as around a central mark, the wife, the hus band, the kinsman, the friend, after their departure, shall gather in again; and the living shall have the right to keep far off all strangers and evilwishers from the side of the dear one who is sleeping there."
f000030,352.480,357.000,"Elective Affinities And, therefore, I hold it quite fair and fitting that my principal shall withdraw his grant to you."
f000031,357.000,364.960,"It is, indeed, but reasonable too that he should do it, for the members of his family are injured in a way for which no compen sation could be even proposed."
f000032,364.960,373.920,"They are deprived of the sad sweet feelings of laying offerings on the remains of their dead, and of the one comfort in their sorrow of one day lying down at their side."
f000033,373.920,381.080,"The matter is not of that importance, Charlotte an swered, that we should disquiet ourselves about it with the vexation of a lawsuit."
f000034,381.080,386.720,"I regret so little what I have done that I will gladly myself indemnify the church for what it loses through you."
f000035,386.720,403.120,"Only I must confess candidly to you your arguments have not convinced me; the pure feeling of a universal equality at last, after death, seems to me more composing than this hard, determined per sistence in our personalities and in the conditions and circumstances of our lives."
f000036,403.120,406.560,"What do you say to it ? she added, turning to the Architect."
f000037,406.560,411.120,"It is not for me, replied he, either to argue, or to attempt to judge in such a case."
f000038,411.120,415.800,"Let me venture, how ever, to say what my own art and my own habits of think ing suggest to me."
f000039,415.800,434.760,"Since we are no longer so happy as to be able to press to our breasts the inurned remains of those we have loved, since we are neither wealthy enough nor of cheerful heart enough to preserve them undecayed in large elaborate sarcophagi; since, indeed, we can not even find place any more for ourselves and ours in the churches, and are banished out into the open air, we all, A VOL."
f000040,434.760,438.840,"Elective Affinities I think, ought to approve the method which you, my gra cious lady, have introduced."
f000041,438.840,460.240,"If the members of a com mon congregation are laid out side by side, they are resting by the side of and among their kindred; and, if the earth be once to receive us all, I can find nothing more natural or more desirable than that the mounds, which, if they are thrown up, are sure to sink slowly in again together, should be smoothed off at once, and the cover ing, which all bear alike, will press lighter upon each."
f000042,460.240,466.920,"And is it all, is it all to pass away' said Ottilie, with out one token of remembrance, without anything to call back the past?"
f000043,466.920,474.040,"By no means, continued the Architect; it is not from remembrance, it is from place that men should be set free."
f000044,474.040,492.000,"The architect, the sculptor, are highly interested that men should look to their art to their hand, for a continuance of their being; and, therefore, I should wish to see welldesigned, wellexecuted monuments; not sown up and down by themselves at random, but erected all in a single spot, where they can promise themselves en durance."
f000045,492.000,503.920,"Inasmuch as even the good and the great are contented to surrender the privilege of resting in person in the churches, we may, at least, erect there or in some fair hall near the buryingplace, either monuments or monumental writings."
f000046,503.920,509.560,"A thousand forms might be sug gested for them, and a thousand ornaments with which they might be decorated."
f000047,509.560,517.720,"If the artists are so rich, replied Charlotte, then tell me how it is that they are never able to escape from little Elective Affinities obelisks, dwarf pillars, and urns for ashes?"
f000048,517.720,523.400,"Instead of your thousand forms of which you boast, I have never seen anything but a thousand repetitions."
f000049,523.400,533.240,"It is very generally so with us, returned the Archi tect, but it is not universal; and very likely the right taste and the proper application of it may be a peculiar art."
f000050,533.240,544.400,"In this case especially we have this great difficulty, that the monument must be something cheerful and yet commemorate a solemn subject; while its matter is mel ancholy, it must not itself be melancholy."
f000051,544.400,555.440,"As regards designs for monuments of all kinds, I have collected num bers of them, and I will take some opportunity of show ing them to you; but at all times the fairest memorial of a man remains some likeness of himself."
f000052,555.440,580.120,"This, better than anything else, will give a notion of what he was; it is the best text for many or for few notes, only it ought to be made when he is at his best age, and that is generally neglected; no one thinks of preserving forms while they are alive, and if it is done at all, it is done care lessly.and incompletely : and then comes death; a cast is taken swiftly off the face; this mask is set upon a block of stone, and that is what is called a bust."
f000053,580.120,584.960,"How seldom is the artist in a position to put any real life into such things as these!"
f000054,584.960,590.280,"You have contrived, said Charlotte, without per haps knowing it or wishing it, to lead the conversation altogether in my favor."
f000055,590.280,599.920,"The likeness of a man is quite independent; everywhere that it stands, it stands for itself, and we do not require it to mark the site of a partictt Elective Affinities lar grave."
f000056,599.920,606.120,"But I must acknowledge to you to having a strange feeling; even to likenesses I have a kind of dis inclination."
f000057,606.120,609.520,"Whenever I see them they seem to be silently reproaching me."
f000058,609.520,616.440,"They point to something far away from us gone from us; and they remind me how difficult it is to pay right honor to the present."
f000059,616.440,625.080,"If we think how many people we have seen and known, and consider how little we have been to them and how little they have been to us, it is no very pleasant reflection."
f000060,625.080,636.480,"We have met a man of genius without having enjoyed much with him a learned man without having learned from him a trav eler without having been instructed a man to love with out having shown him any kindness."
f000061,636.480,640.240,"And, unhappily, this is not the case only with acci dental meetings."
f000062,640.240,652.120,"Societies and families behave in the same way toward their dearest members, towns toward their worthiest citizens, people toward their most admi rable princes, nations toward their most distinguished men."
f000063,652.120,658.560,"I have heard it asked why we heard nothing but good spoken of the dead, while of the living it is never without some exception."
f000064,658.560,665.200,"It should be answered, because from the former we have nothing any more to fear, while the latter may still, here or there, fall in our way."
f000065,665.200,678.560,"So unreal is our anxiety to preserve the memory of others generally no more than a mere selfish amusement; and the real, holy, earnest feeling would be what should prompt us to be more diligent and assiduous in our attentions toward those who still are left to us."
f000066,678.560,678.760,"End of chapter"