Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1869-05-21
Gelrcte0 Ifltstcllunp.
THE THREE SOULS.


In 1S45 | finished my sixth year of
transcendental philosophy at Heidelberg
You know of what lorldly sort the uni
versity life is. You get up at mid day
smoke your old pipe, drink glass or two
of schuspps, and then you button your
coat up to the chin set your hat on one
side, and go to listen calmly for half an
hour to the illustrious Professor Hasen.
kopf Every one is free to do as he choos
es-to 60 to sleep if he likes. The lecture
over, You betske yourself to the tavern OF
Gambrinus, where the pretty servant
maids, in black silk bodices, bring you
plates Of sausages, with slices of ham, and
glasses of strong beer. You whistle an air
from the " Robbers" Of Schiier oae calls
his dog Hector; another seIzes Charlotte
or Gredale by the waist; or, sometimes a
quarrel begins, when in comes the wetch
man, and you are carried off to pass the
night in durance vile.
Ii this way the days, months and years
passed by.
was then thirty-twO years old, and the
bottle, the pipe, and saur kraut had begun
to fall in my estimation. felt the need
of a change. Often did | say to myself,
"Klsper Zlau, it is not good to know too
much nature has no more illusions for
theep
Such was my melancholy state of mind,
when, toward the close of the spring of
1S45, terrible event -harpened which
taught me that [ was far from knowing
everything, and that the path of the philos-
opher is not always strewn with roses.
Among my old comrades was certain
Wollgang Schart, the most indeXible logi-
clan had ever met with Figure to your
self little dried.up man, with white eye
lids, and eyes sunken in hls head, with
bushy red hair, and hollow cheeks adorned
with coarse beard; wearing, moreover,
tattered cloak over his broad shoulders
and you have him before you. Wolfgang
thought only of metaphysics. For five
or six years he had lived on bread and
water, in garret'of the old meat-market ;
so that the poor fellow was frightful to
look at. This strange being, in his volun
tary isolation, seemed to feel for me alone
a little sympathy. He came to see me
from time to time, and gravely seated in
my armchair, he would impart to me his
wild meditatiOns.
Kasper," said he to me one day-"Kas-
per, what is the soul ?"
Proud of displaying my learning to his
eyes, l replied, with pedantic air, "Ac.
cordlng to Thales, it is kind of magnet
according to AsClepiades, an excitatiOn
of the senses AnaXimander said"
eyes Yes but what think you of the
substance of the soul
"Me, Wolfgangg know nothing about
it. All judgment must come of the
senses; and since the soul does not fall
under my senses, | can make no judg-
ment concerning it,"
Nevertheless Kasper, see hOw many
animals, such as insects, fishes, etc, want.
ing one or more of the senses. How dc
we know whether we have them all our
selves? May there not exist some OF
which we have not even an idea?"
"Quite possible: but, ill the doubt,
hesitate to say"
Do you think, Kssper, that we can
know anything without having learned
itY
"No; all science proceeds either from
experience or from study"
"But, then, cOmade, how happens il
that the little chickens, when they break
(he shell, start off to run and take their
food of themselves. How is it that they
discover the hawk far up in the clouds,
and run to take refuge under the mothers
wings Did they learn to know theiI
enemy while they were in the egg"
All that is the result of instinct, Wolf
"Then it seems that instinct consists In
knowing what has never been learned ?"
"Ohl' said l, "you ask me too much
How can tell y
He smiled disdainfully, threw the cor
ner Of his cloak over his shoulder, snt
went out without al ling another word.
looked Upon him as lunstic, but of the
most harmless kind. Who would have
thought that the passion for metaphysics
could be dangerousS
THINGS stood thus when the old cake
woman, Catharine WOgel, suddenly disap
peared This good woman, as was hel
custom, came TO the beer-house of Gambri
nus at about eleven o'clock. The students
jokei with her about the freaks of hel
youthful days, at the remembrance 0
which she seemed much amused, anC
laughed heartily. Her disappearance cam
TO be remarked the third day after this.
"What can have become of Catharine
Can she be i'll ? She seemed so merry tn,
last time we saw her
NY opinion was that the old woman
having drank little too much kirsch
water, had fallen in TO the river during tn
night
Onthe morrow, coming out from Hasen
kops's lecture, | met WOlfgang. AS sool
me, his eye sparkling, and said. KaspeI
I've been looking for you; man, the hOu
of triumph has ccme-follow me-"
His look, his psllor, his very motion be
t7ayed agitation; and, as he seized me b!
the arm, leading me toward the quartz
of the tanners, | could not keep dow
the feeling of undedned fear that crep
over me. The street through which "
pro eeded ut sharp walk led behind tn
minister init a collection of houses old a
Heidelberg Itself The square roof, tn
wooden balconies, the exterior croote
stairway; the many wan and cuTiou
faces peering with eager air down on ID
strangers from the garret windows; th
long poles stretched from house to hOus
loaded with dripping skins the dens
smoke escaping from the rude ehimneys-
ali tins sceue passed before my eyes like
vision of the middle ages ami the fe
bright rays of light which found the
way through these many Obstruction
gliding the dilapidated walls where the
tonched, only added 70 my emotion by II
strange contrast they produced
There are moments when man los
all presence of mind. Il never occurr,
20 me 10 ask WOlfgang where we vel
going. Soon We reached the desertt
quarter of the old meatmarket. All Of