The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-08-12
1e.rre,i MISERY In Germany.

gFror, the German Tor APPseeon 'S'."..tv
We NAV form some, idea Of the poseI a,5
,bat IL go common among the learned, o'a
md Young, In Germany, from tae io n,.s,.
inr narrative which We nnd III he'p''s
paper: til, ,,otron of the
sciences and the arts OF Beri'n oneie ~ hest
of 900 thaers (about s14o) each Iol sne .oes
ESSAYS on the history OF tue l,'u 'oot.;rhr,
astronomy, geology, poetry, anu ls ,,,au:.
S;cs and 500 thalers each for the oest roihasoe
pa tho heat poem. A committee formed OF
,,e,nhers Of several university faculties was
y, .werd tbe prizes. A short time ago the
= Ssrds were made in the " Gewandhaus' IA
1sroe and beautiful hall in Leipsic, famous on
account of the concerts given IN lD. Inc
comneti,;on for the prizes was large, and
many of the essay lists had done good WORK.
| The names of the writers were iuclosed 10
sealed envelopes, on the outsldes Oh WHICH III
titious names were Inscribed.
The prize for the. essay on metaphysics
| was awarded to young man h'tl!ieu Mas
Markham. who had chosen for MS thci. u,
Rants " Antinomicn der reinen Vernun1s,"
and had sent in his essay unoer tno l'''' y
" Hans Wildenstein." .ho
When DIR. Schmidt, after opening Tue
| cover called out the pane Markmanh,
| male poorly clad, exceedingly "retcheu,
| iookinr Young man stepped forward, ana
wos salr,cd with q hearty round OF applause.
His hair was thin and already spr1nkled WIN
gray, and his whole appearance excited thc
| symnarby of the audience. After receiving
hi, priZe he quietly returned to bis seat.
| The astronomical essay con>ldercu Tue
movements and changes of the SternenneoeS
(nebulp) with especial regard TO tne crosse
Nobel lgreat neubla) i'll Orion. Here, 100,
the au,hor was found to be Max Markham.
| This announcement was received win
storm of applause, while he came for"aru
and received his prize, looking more melan-
choly and exhausted than before.
The next essay was devoted to review OF
certain historical works. Again Markmann
was the recipient Of the prize, and the spec
tacIe was repeated in awarding the other
prizes. The excitement among the students
present knew no bounds, and little more
and they would have borne him oil in
triumph.
The priZc.poem was also from his pen. In
the natural delicacy Of the language 1t re-
minded one of Ruquette, while the thoughts
would have done honor TO shakespeare or
a Goethe. The priZc-romancc, " The village
Scboolmastcr," Berthold Auerbach. who
was one of the committee, pronounced one
OF the most gracetully-written stories he had
ever read. The author was no other than
Max Markmann. This was the last prize
awarded: but hardly had the fortunate COIN
| Ictitor arisen TO 90 and receive it when he
| fell fiinting TO the floor. 4 death-like still.
ness rcigued in the hall while they carried
the poor young man into an adjoining room,
| where the physicians succeeded in restoring
| him to consciousness, but that was all, for
| four hours utterward he was corpse. His
death was the result of long years OF deprl-
| yation; he literally starved to death.
He who surcumbcd in the hour Of his trl-
umph had lived for several years IN miser-
ab!e chamber in an out-of.tbe-way street,
aud had cked out a miserable existence by
giving lessons in the modern languages, and
pcarly all the other liberal branches of learn
ing. His room contained unfinished models
of remarkable mechanical apparaluses, a
| broken chair, and piles of manuscript,
among which there were letters from some
| of the most distinguished men in Europe.
| He had for months been kept alive almost
solely by the tire of bis genius, and IN spite
| of every deprivation he had labored on usl'
| tirinely to win the prizes, which together
amounted to something more than TWO thou
sand thalerS. Then when the day came,
weak from hunger, he dragged himself to
the "GewannhallS," to receive them all, and
to die. Is there in the history of labor and
| genius, and their reward, another episode so
| sul1