_21 April, Dresden_: Auerbach is a most charming man. Has given me a light.... He spoke of Christianity as the spirit of humanity, than which there is nothing higher. He reads verse enchantingly. Of Music as _Pflichtloser Genuss_ (dutyless pleasure).... He is 49 years old. Straightforward, youthful, believing, not troubled by negation. On another occasion Tolstoy expressed surprise at never having seen Auerbach's _Village Tales of the Black Forest_ in any German peasant's house, and declared that Russian peasants would have wept over such stories. From Dresden he wrote to his Aunt Tatiána: [44] Je me porte bien et brûle d'envie de retourner en Russie. Mais une fois en Europe et ne sachant quand j'y retournerai, vous comprenez que j'ai voulu profiter, autant que possible, de mon voyage. Et je crois l'avoir fait. Je rapporte une si grande quantité d'impressions, de connaissances, que je devrai travailler longtemps, avant de pouvoir mettre tout cela en ordre dans ma tête. I am bringing with me a German from the University, to be a teacher and clerk, a very nice, well-educated man, but still very young and unpractical. [44] I am in good health and burn with desire to return to Russia. But once in Europe and not knowing when I shall return, you understand that I wanted to benefit as much as possible by my travels. And I think I have done so. I am bringing back such a great quantity of impressions and facts, that I must work a long time before I can get it all in order in my head. I am bringing with me a German from the University, to be a teacher and clerk, a very nice, well-educated man, but still very young and unpractical. He adds that he intends to return to Yásnaya _viâ_ St. Petersburg, as he wants to obtain permission to publish an educational magazine he is projecting. On 22nd April he was already in Berlin, where he made the acquaintance of the head of the Teachers' Seminary, the son of the celebrated pedagogue Diesterweg, whom, to his disappointment, he found to be 'a cold, soulless pedant, who thinks he can develop and guide the souls of children by rules and regulations.' On 23rd April (old style) he re-entered Russia, after a stay abroad of nearly ten months. He brought with him complete editions of the works of several of the greatest European writers. They were kept at the Custom House to be submitted to the Censor, and, as Tolstoy plaintively remarked nearly half a century later, 'he is still reading them!' CHIEF AUTHORITIES FOR CHAPTER VI Birukof. Bitovt. Fet, _Moi Vospominaniya_: Moscow, 1890. Tolstoy's _Confession_. Golovatcheva-Panaeva, _Rousskie Pisateli i Artisty_. Tourgenef, _Letters_. S. Plaksin, _Graf L. Tolstoy sredi detey_. Tolstoy's works, vol. iv.: Moscow, 1903. R. Löwenfeld, _Leo N. Tolstoj_. R. Löwenfeld, _Gespräche über und mit Tolstoy_. CHAPTER VII