Many other verses, from a sonnet to the beautiful ears of a pretty cousin to the commencement of the tragedy of Panthea and Abradatus, were written at that time; but I owe The Poem of the World special gratitude, for it kept me from many a folly, and often held me for weeks at my desk during the evening hours which many of my comrades spent in the tavern.  Besides, it attracted the new head-master’s attention to my poetical tastes, for a number of verses had been left by mistake in an exercise-book.  He read them, and asked to see the rest.  But I could not fulfil the wish, for they contained many things which could not fail to offend him; so I gave him only a few of the tamest passages, and can still see him smile in his peculiar way as he read them in my presence.  He said something about “decided talent,” and when preparations for the celebration of the birthday of King Frederick William IV were made he gave me the task of composing an original poem.  I gladly accepted it.  Writing was a great pleasure, and though my productions at school were far too irregular for me to call them good, I was certainly the best declaimer.

The new head of the school.

Before passing on to other subjects, I must devote a few words to the remodelling of the school and its new head.

At the end of my first term in the first class we learned that we were to have a new teacher, and one who would rule with a rod of iron.  Terrible stories of his Draconian severity were in circulation, and his first address gave us reason to fear the worst, for the tall man of forty in the professor’s chair was very imposing in his appearance.  His smoothly shaven upper lip and brown whiskers, his erect bearing and energetic manner, reminded one of an English parliamentary leader, but his words sounded almost menacing.  He said that an entirely new house must be erected.  We and the teachers must help him.  To the obedient he would be a good friend; but to the refractory, no matter what might be their position, he would——­ What followed made many of us nudge one another, and the young men who attended the school merely for the sake of the examination left it in a body.  Many a teacher even changed colour.

This reorganizer, Professor Tzschirner, had formerly been principal of the Magdalen Gymnasium at Breslau.  In energy and authoritative manner he resembled Barop, but he was also an eminent scholar and a thorough man of the world.  The authorities in Berlin made an excellent choice, and we members of the first class soon perceived that he not only meant kindly by us, but that we had obtained in him a teacher far superior to any we had possessed before.  He required a great deal, but he was a good friend to every one who did his duty.  His kindly intention and inspiring influence made themselves felt in our lives; for he invited to his house the members of the first class whom he desired to influence, and his charming, highly