MEN OF NOTE IN BERLIN -1879 -1881 561 



nies and the Jewish rabbis had each been preaching to 

 their flocks that the judgments of Heaven would fall upon 

 the city if the erection of a statue to such a monstrous 

 atheist were permitted, and the authorities had to station 

 troops to keep the mob from stoning us and pulling down 

 the statue. Think of such a charge against the Gottbe- 

 trunkener Mensch/ who gave new proofs of God s exist 

 ence, who saw God in everything ! 



Another literary man whom I enjoyed meeting was 

 Julius Rodenberg; his &quot;Reminiscences of Berlin, &quot; which 

 I have read since, seem to me the best of their kind. 



I also came to know various artists, one of them being 

 especially genial. Our first meeting was shortly after my 

 arrival, at a large dinner, where, as the various guests were 

 brought up to be introduced to the new American minister, 

 there was finally presented a little, gentle, modest man as 

 &quot;Herr Knaus.&quot; I never dreamed of his being the fore 

 most genre-painter in Europe ; and, as one must say some 

 thing, I said, t You are, perhaps, a relative of the famous 

 painter/ At this he blushed deeply, seemed greatly em 

 barrassed, and said: &quot;A painter I am; famous, I don t 

 know. (Holer bin ich; beruhmt, das weiss ich nicht.)&quot; 

 So began a friendship which has lasted from that day to 

 this. I saw the beginning, middle, and end of some of his 

 most beautiful pictures, and, above all, of the &quot;Hinter 

 den Coulissen,&quot; which conveys a most remarkable philo 

 sophical and psychological lesson, showing how near mirth 

 lies to tears. It is the most comic and most pathetic of 

 pictures. I had hoped that it would go to America; but, 

 after being exhibited to the delight of all parts of Ger 

 many, it was bought for the royal gallery at Dresden. 



Very friendly also was Carl Becker. His &quot;Coronation 

 of Ulrich von Hutten,&quot; now at Cologne, of which he al 

 lowed me to have a copy taken, has always seemed to me 

 an admirable piece of historical painting. In it there is 

 a portrait of a surly cardinal-bishop ; and once, during an 

 evening at Becker s house, having noticed a study for this 

 bishop s head, I referred to it, when he said: &quot;Yes, that 



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