The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-20
PRIVATE BOHEMLAS.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "EMr1Y CHESTER"


Inhabitants use a language closely resembling
that of angry horses; where, it would seem rom
all accounts, wounded prisoners of war do not
hnd that their lines (of battle) have fallen In
pleasant places "a region of which know little.
Neither do l allude to that universal empire,
whose spiritual capital is supposed to be Paris;
whose law is liberty; whose inhabitants live by
their wit or their wits; whose moral code is
scarcely the Ten CommandmentS--an empire of
which / know still less. My reference 10 to
private possessions, held by steady-going,
proper, pious citizens, whose social habits are
modelled to q sufficient degree upon those OF
the lark aud the lamb; who pay their bakers
bills, and whose washerWomen do not go away
sorrowing; who are sometimes pillars OF church
ana state, and who would generally be shocked
by the bare suggestion OF their ownership OF
such property.
It IS 10 these 1 wish to make known the
nature of their own rich estates; 1T Is to these,
who seeing see not, write.
Let me explain.
private Bohemian take TO be that small
portion OF time or space into which man may
transfer himself from out of his liked relations
with the external world, his habits and ordi-
nary frame OF mind. Entering it in mental
process somewhat AKIN to Sidney
and sitting in your bones. 1t is remov-
ing the harness from the working horse, aud
turning him out to gambo and Craze IN the
L
from ones self Escaping into his own small nook
OF tairy-laud, the soldier Cea,es to be soldier;
another inner sell, as 1t were, develops, and he
becomes an artist, perhaps with an eye tor all
lovely color, or an ear for all harmonious sound.
The lawyer, by the same process, sloughs off
the mortal coil TO such degree that he emerges
Tor the moment poet, with only rhyme and
rhythm swaylng thought and word, with meme
Sies OF the sweet singers OF every time and laud
returning to him and flowing from his lips. The
merchant iorgets hls stocks, and the builder his
stones, become Joyous ana jovial, god fel-
lows" in the best sense OF the words. Each one
changes 10 something which he apparently
is not
The evidence furnished by history on the sub
lect OF private Bohemias is very full, and well
worthy o. consideration,
The administration OF the kingdom of Prussia
under Frederic William would scarcely suggest
that its monarch could possibly claim sucn
dominion rs | have described. III those days all
Prussian souls wore unuorms, physically or
motaphorcally; they walked between straight
iiues, generally OF bayonets; they. improved
each shining hour 10 most painful degree;
ana the law of the land was a m Xture
OF the multiplication table and the right
angled triangle. Yet the man VINO per.
soulfed this whole system from VIII n 1t was
evolved, could only 1--we under it by periodically
escaping from it, He could not polish his
stanza," as Mr. Carlyle has IL, without con-
stantly throwing down his pen and rushing ont
to stretch his limbs and draw a breath OF fresh
air. Hence his tobaCCO-collegG; which impresses
me as the natural and II cessary Bohemia OF this
rough, II royal, member OF the brotherhO OOd.
Let us hope that it was as peculiar to himself as
many OF his habits ana CUSTOMS; let us stlll
more hope that his unfortunate subjects had
likewise their own means O escaping from the
yoke of such lie-some little resting place for
soul or body sacred rom reColleCtious OF Pots
dam guards and upllttcd walking g-sucks. Tier
continued existence is a guarantee that such
must have been the case-tlat IN this manner
was the wind tempered to these shorn Prussian
lambs.
When Frederick the Great inherited the crown
this portion OF the fathers domain dld not de-
scend TO him III form. But III sngularly di-
ferent guIse he stlll possessed it. Tnere has al
ways been, to me, some hing pathetic in his life
long eXeruOns to snare his private Bohemia with
kindred spirits in his undimmished faith and
labOrs to establish II As Il visible HingdOm. From
those early days, when he sought TO enthrone
Voltaire as its crowned head, TO old age, he
seems never to have surrendered this hope.
Poet philosopher, aud wit he wOoed, but never
permanently won. They seemed divided by
some invisible barrier, which neither could
pass. Tne electrlc chord would not
bind them, the divine fire which each
possessed failed to fuse their souls in one
Ny own suppositon is that he did not recognize
where alone hls real kingdom lay, he did not
fure. To him that hollow stick was the en-
Cl anter's wand. Though fighting the whole
world, though worn by sickness and trouble,
though overW helming defeat and national ia
NINE stared hun in the tace-he had but to take
out that small instrument and breathe upon
it, and about him lay the fair and sunny
land where the sky is ever blue, where the
flowers ever bloom, and the waters murmur and
sparkle in light. The musicians soul which
slept within him, which he carried about
aTmored by the nature and habits of the hard.
pressed practical soldier, then spread its wings
anu bore HIM far away to another country above
the pain and shadow of that in which he usually
lived and had his being.
Louis XVI OF France was another royal Fugitive
from himself and his surroundings; though his
refuge in locksmithy does not strike one at 6rst
sight as being private Bohemia. Yet such, |
am sure, 1t was TO him. 1t is only another IN
stance OF extremes meeting. Ia the surcharged
atmosphere of time and place which contained
that the perfectly prosaic would De a relief
and comfort to man who felt himself totally
unequal TO that which was present aud that
which was 10 come. Under the circumstances,
the exact reversal OF all precedents was a neces-
sary result. confess, also, that the possession
OF such very superior wife strikes me as, IN
Itself, demanding OF Providence some special
Compensat'Dg support and alleViation. Marie
AntoInette was undoubtedly a very beautiful
woman, who went to the guillotine with uu.
common grace and dignity Chat seeming to be
what she was chiefly fitted tor), bat | suspect
she must have been tral to ordinary nerves,
at ordinary times and seasons.
Thinking OF thus, as of MANY other phases in
the unfortunate kings existence, 1t has always
been great comfort 10 me to remember tht
lock- Fmlthy.
Americans, with their natures and habits a,
fluent and changetul as the sea ITSELF are suct
thorough Bohemiaus in every sense, that i
seems singular that the greatest OF them Is thu
very man OF all others with which II Is mos
impossible TO connect such an idea. The mos
VigOlous Imagination must stand in confessed
weakness before the effort TO endoW Genera
Washing on with priVatei Bohemia, l slmpl.
recommend the attempt, a more con
aTnUmnnt