Friday, January 24:
R.’s night was a good one, and he works. At two o’clock we receive Dr. Jenkins, who has come to examine R.’s teeth, and he starts work immediately after lunch; R. is wonderfully patient and cheerful throughout. He takes a rest, and in the evening a curious conversation develops. The excellent American is certainly surprised by present conditions in Germany, but he has no doubt that the Germans will rise splendidly to the occasion.
R. says, “Yes, because we have had men like Goethe and Beethoven, but ask them what they feel about it!” He then enlarges upon the shortsightedness which has prevented efforts to bring the neighboring countries which are related to us, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, into an alliance with us. No ideas even of colonization!
“The German people,” he exclaims, “that is the poor man here in our district of whom Schnappauf recently told me; he spent ten nights out in the open, and then came into a barn where there was a stove, by which he sat down. Suddenly the other people notice that his clothing is on fire; they go to put it out and discover that the man is dead.” And if Bismarck were to come here, he continues, we would all creep around on our bellies before his arrogance.
When I smile skeptically at this, R. goes on: “That is to say, he would remark with such superiority, ‘Of course, my dear Herr Wagner, we have already considered all these ideas, but this wretched Empress Augusta and this what’s-his-name - so now we are going to have protective tariffs.’ And so on, till one says to him, ‘Excuse me for being such an ass as to have ideas!’ ”
The speech he put in Bismarck’s mouth is so witty and so like the renowned statesman that we all burst into laughter. Dr. Jenkins tells us some very interesting things about the Negroes, whom R. can hardly visualize taking part in public affairs; he feels that what has made them significant is their touching submission to a cruel fate.
Dr. Jenkins also talks about the admirable qualities of the Germans in America, and R. says, “Yes, the emigrants, those are the good ones, just as the earlier wanderers were the heroes; the ones who stayed at home were the Philistines.” When Dr. J. mentions the misfortune of having no fatherland, R. says, “Yes, where would the mourning come from, if one didn’t love it so much?”