Goethe's life fascinated me for a time to such an extent that I found
duplicates of the characters in the book everywhere. An old language
master, to whom I went early in the morning, in order to acquire from
him the knowledge of English which had not been taught me at school,
reminded me vividly, for instance, of the old dancing master in Goethe,
and my impression was borne out when I discovered that he, too, had two
pretty daughters. A more important point was that the book awoke in me a
restless thirst for knowledge, at the same time that I conceived a
mental picture of Goethe's monumental personality and began to be
influenced by the universality of his genius.
Meanwhile, circumstances at home forced me, without further vacillation,
to take up some special branch of study. The prospects literature
presented were too remote. For Physics I had no talent; the logical bent
of my abilities seemed to point in the direction of the Law; so
Jurisprudentia was selected and my studies commenced.
The University lectures, as given by Professors Aagesen and Gram, were
appalling; they consisted of a slow, sleepy dictation. A death-like
dreariness brooded always over the lecture halls. Aagesen was especially
unendurable; there was no trace of anything human or living about his
dictation.
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