So gladly each sans himself to-day!
* * * * *
Out of low houses, with damp, dull rooms;
Out of the bonds of labour and trade;
Out of the crash of the narrow alleys;
Out of the church's reverent night,--
They all are brought forth into the light.
See! only see! how nimbly sallies
The multitude, scattering through garden and field;
How it gaily again on the broad flood rallies,
Alive with all joys that boats can yield.
Who has not called to mind these lines of the great master, when he has
looked on the stream of the popular throng that has swept on towards
one of the resorts of holiday pleasures. In the midst of this tumult
the students are also to be seen following the current of the great
stream in smaller or greater companies. If in modern times the singular
attire less distinguishes him from the crowd, yet the practised eye
readily singles out the student from the Handwerksbursche and the shop
assistant. On the countenance of the Handworker we see displayed the
joy which he feels to find himself once more for a day able to flee
from the dusty workship, and the pride of showing himself in his Sunday
bravery, in the astonished eyes, as he believes, of the world. This
holiday array he has truly often thrown upon his back in a queer enough
style. In black frock coat, white trousers, high cravat, and glittering
boots, stalks he clumsily along, and his rude taste extends itself to
the very pipe which he carries in his hand. On the contrary, the
Pendulum has clad himself after the newest French fashion. All is
smoothed and polished off to a nicety. He looks like a dish that the
hungry Nero has licked into the most elegant cleanness. Scarcely dare
he turn himself in his beautiful clothes lest he should crumple the
ornate and artistical knot of his neckcloth; lest he should derange the
nice tornure of his locks. He wheels himself aside only to see whether
the admiring gaze of the fair sex is not following him. "_Nöthig_,"
would the student say--that is, "it would be well for him if it did!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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