St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1897-01-08
Sketches in German Universities
ozoRA S. DAVIS, Springfield, Vt.
I.-BERLIN.

small gossip about the looks ano
ways OF famous men. ust as one
feels really better acquainted with
Luther when one has seen his house.
coat in Weimar and visited his room
in the Wartburg, so we seem to know
more about the great instructors OF
the German universities if some one
tells US a few Of the COSBY details
about them.
The American student of theology
generally goes up to Berlin at least
tor one semester, and often, unless
he has been warned against it, gets
himself immatriculated there for his
first period of foreign study. Later
he repents and wishes he had gone
at first to a smaller institution. And
vet to miss Berlin altogether were to
have lost the most stimulating ele-
ment in all university life in Germany.
The ambitious university, which is
only young institution when com
pared with the venerable age Of
Leipzig, has drawn to itself the
brightest scholars OF the empire and
is thronged with students attracted
by them. The "theolog" finds a
magnificent faculty with Weiss,
Pfeiderer, Harnack, Rattan, Bath
gen and Won Soden reading and con-
Quoting their seminars. | can re-
member with what sort OF PERSONAL
ity | had associated each of these
names, and what surprises and dis
appointments awaited me | was
soon to learn when began to strug-
gle with the lectures in October of
ninety-four.
Weiss is now man Of almost sew
enty years, short in stature, with
white hair and beard closely cut = He,
appears somewhat stern in the lee.
ture room and one needs to meet him
in his home to feel the wealth of
kindness which lives beneath this ex
terror. He is not one of the men
who has grown sweet with age, and
he is still bitter opponent in his
controversies. Fifteen years ago,
Weiss was the brilliant light Of the
university, but now he lectures to an
average OF forty or fifty hearers.
He confines himself very closely to
the sheets OF his own printed books
and one soon loses enthusiasm after
listening to his elaboration of his
"Einleitung' or "Leben Jesu." The
great power of Weiss flashes out oc-
casionally when he comes to some
point concerning the Gospel of John
or is meeting some personal attack,
and, rising from his chair, becomes
for g moment an orator of genuine
charm. To see him at his best
is to see him in his seminar,
where his critical acumen and wide
knowledge is displayed in the most
painstaking and mastertul of exege.
sis. In spite of his years he remains
as active as ever and the detail work
which he is now doing in textual
criticism shows that his mental
force and method remain unbroken.
But personality that wins and
holds the lasting loyalty of his pupils
is that of Pheiderer. Tall, kindly,
calm, he reads to large bodies of
hearers. He is man OF insight and
a philosopher rather than critic.
He is suggestive and inspiring. The
lines of thought to which he points
one are tar better than those which
he himself discusses. What one gets
is not SO much the ideas of Pheiderer
as bit of Pheiderer himself, and
that is a permanent enthusiasm.
However much one may disagree
with him, one must feel ones self
drawn to him by the magnitude of
his range and the magnetism Of his
personality.
The brilliant, sincere Harnack,
only forty-6ve years old, himself the
son OF professor, reads to an en-.
thuslastic crowd of students at the
most unreasonable early morning
hours. Many a time when rushing
through the Tiergarten in the gray
morning | have wished that some
sense OF the htness of early slumber
might have been born to the brilliant
son OF the Dorpat Professor. Har-
mack was often in the same coupe
with me as | came to the university
on the elevated road. He was dressed
in black, wore long overcoat with
cape sleeves, and tall silk hat. |
Generally he sat reading the morning
paper which he seemed to know how
to absorb as Systematically as he