The first love!  Who does not smile when he reads these words; before whose vision does not an Aennchen or a Gretchen hover, who once seemed to him to wear a starry crown and be arrayed in the blue of heaven and the gold of the morning, and who now perhaps—­it would be criminal to paint the reverse of the picture.  But who does not say to himself, too, that at that time he was carried, as though on wings, past every honey-cup in the garden of earth, too quickly indeed to become intoxicated, but slowly enough to breathe in the sacred morning fragrance.  It is therefore with emotion that I now smile when I think of the beautiful May morning on which actually took place that great event, long since resolved upon, repeatedly deferred, and at last unalterably appointed for a definite day—­I mean my departure from the paternal home to school.  “He will cry!” said Meta on the evening before, and nodded sibylline fashion, as though she knew everything.  “He will not cry, but he will get up too late!” rejoined neighbor Ohl’s wife.  “He will behave bravely, and be out of his bed at the right time, too!” threw in the good-natured old man.  Then he added, “I have something for him, and I’ll give it to him when he comes in at my door at seven o’clock tomorrow morning, washed and combed.”

At seven o’clock I was at our neighbor’s and as a reward was presented with a little wooden cuckoo.  Up to half past seven I was in good spirits and played with our pug-dog, at quarter to eight I began to weaken, but toward eight I was a man again, because Meta entered with a face full of malicious enjoyment, and I sat out courageously, the new primer, with John Ballhorn’s egg-laying cock under my arm.  My mother went with me in order to introduce me ceremoniously; the pug followed; I was not yet entirely forsaken, and stood in Susanna’s presence before I realized it.  In school-master fashion Susanna patted me on the cheek and stroked back my hair.  My mother, in a severe tone which she had great pains in assuming, bade me be industrious and obedient, and departed hastily, so as not to allow her emotion to get the better of her; the pug was undecided for some little time, but at last he went off to join her.  I was presented with a gold paper saint, then my place was shown me and I was incorporated into the humming, buzzing child-beehive, which, glad of the interruption, had watched the scene inquisitively.

It was some time before I dared to look up, for I felt that I was being inspected and this embarrassed me.  At last I did so, and my first glance fell upon a pale, slender girl who sat directly opposite to me; she was called Emilia and was the daughter of the parish clerk.  A thrill of emotion passed through me, the blood rushed to my heart, but a feeling of shame also mingled at once with my first sensation, and I dropped my eyes to the ground again as quickly as though they had committed a crime.