The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-12-20

asked Herr Won Puttkamef for the
hand of his only daughter is straight
forward and frank. He doubtless dWelt
at such length on his religious views
because of the reputation he had ac-
CURED in his student days that had
made lasting impression on the coun-
try squirearchy of his district. He had
lost his father, however, the year be-
FORE and had come into the family es-
tates Of Kniephof and Schonhausen,
situated on the Elbe. Bismarck had
not up till then regarded himself as a
marrying man, but circumstances con-
verted him, and he suddenly became
susceptible to the charms of the young
lady whom he selected to be his wife,
who was nine years his junior in age.
1t was not without difficulty that he
gained the consent of her father, but
| her own heart he secured at once He
writes to Herr Won Puttkamer about
his religious belief after asking for
the greatest treasure that you have
on this earth, to give away" I'm my
! earliest youth I became a stranger to
4 my parental roof and was never able
| to feel myself at home there since; my
|
that everything had to be subordinated
to the training of any reason and the
early attainment of positive knowledge.
After course of lessons in religion,
which We're irregularly attended and
not understood, / had no other belief at
the time when | was confirmed by
Schleiermacher, on my 10th birthday,
than that of naked deism, which did
not long remain without a mixture of
| pantheism. 1t was about this time
| that, not from Indifference, but as
consequences of careful consideration, 1
ceased to say my prayers every even
ing, as | had been accustomed to do
since childhood, because prayer seemed
to me to be q contradiction to my views
of the nature Of Cod for / said to my
self that either God himself, in accord
ance with His omnipresence, produced
everything, and therefore every one of
my thoughts, and so, in a certain sense,
would be praying through me to Him
self, or that il my will were indepen-
dent of the will of God, it was pre-
sumptucus and implied a doubt In the
immutability, and therefore in the per-
lection, of the Divine decree, if one be-
lieVed that any influence could be ex-
ercised upon it by human prayer, |
was not quite IL when / went TO the
university at Gottingen. / seldom went
home for the next eight years.
My father let me do as ] liked in an
indulgent sort of way, and my mother
reproved me from a distance when |
neglected my studies and my profess
'sional duties, imagining, | suppose,
that everything else had to be left to
the direction of my instructors and SUI
perlors. Except for this I received lit
orally no advice or instruction from
other people," EIe then tells Herr Won
Puttkamer and his sole solace in his
mental difficulties at that time was
to be found from the ancient phiosoph-
ers, from the writings of Hegel, which
he did not understand. and, above all,
from what seemed to him to be Spi-
noza' sapparent mathematical elearness.
The death of his mother had an effect
upon him and made him reflect, and
1.-THE inner voice soon began to be audi |
BILE, in my lonesomeness, representing
to me much as wrong that | had for
meply considered allowable. Mean |
while, however, my efforts to see and I
these things remained con- |
fined to the circle OF reason, and, as / |
read works such as those of Strauss, |
Feuerbach and Bruno Bauer, they only |
led me still further into the cul de sac
Of doubt" Bismarck then Acknowledges
that this state of mind gave him no i
peace, and that he often passed hours
Of desolate depression of spirits, think
ing that his own and the existence of
others were purposeless Then he says
that about four years before writing
this letter he met Moritz Blankenburg,
and that he introduced him to the fam
ly life of the Triglafs. THAT conf
1ence and peace dwelt among them did
not surprise me, for had never doubt
I'd that these were the companions of
faith; but faith cannot be given and
aiken, and I thought that / should
nave to walt submissively to see If
should become as they. I soon felt at
lome in that circle, and experienced a
ceiling of comfort that was hitherto
strange to me, family life that in
,luded me in it, almost a home.'
Certain events that he does not men
ion induced him to read the Bible he
lays, and to form a judgment for him.
elf. The death of mutual friend
made him offer up a fervent prayer to
Tod without considering whether it
we're reasonable or not to do So
God did not then grant the prayer / +,
ffered but He did not reject it, for
lave not again lost the power to petit
ion Him. and feel confidence and re-
'ival of vital energy, if not peace, such
$ | never experienced BEFORE
Herr Won Puttkamers reply to this
etter is not given. but the reader in
ers that Bismarck was invited to pay ,
is future parents-in-law a visit at
Tn July of the following year I
e married the young lady; the hesita-
ion of her parents cannot have lasted
Yer the term of his visit, for he writes =
Is first love letter to his betrothed on y
an. 20 of that year, in which he adj
resses her as Angel MIA and tells
err that his cousin speaks of her as
the flower of the desert" The tone of
lost of his letters is serious, and there
! little of the levity of love about
hem. The second one, written on Feb
[, 1S47 to MY only beloved Jeanette
r1ot to TT1oapora Dopo !