112 ANDREAS KURTZ 



Andreas Kurtz was only about thirteen 

 years of age when his native town was 

 exposed to the disasters of war. Trade was 

 paralysed, his father ruined, and the home- 

 stead burnt, and from amidst the misery and 

 desolation, he came forth resolved that, child 

 as he was, he would go out and alone seek 

 his fortune. The boy bade a long farewell 

 to all that was dearest to him on earth, and 

 left behind him the happy scenes of home 

 and childhood. 



" Lebt wohl ihr Berge, ihr geliebten Triften, 

 Ihr traulich stillen Thaler lebet wohl ! " 



The child's star led him to Paris ; on he 

 trudged from day to day, footsore and weary, 

 away from his fatherland, away from his 

 mother tongue. What ideas inspired him we 

 fail to surmise. Was it that France seemed 

 to him the great nation, whose armies had 

 subdued all her enemies, and that work and 

 wealth were to be found in her? that she 

 was the land of liberty and learning ? had the 

 schoolboy heard of her glories and longed to 

 see them ? Whatever may have been the 

 incentive that induced him to encounter the 

 difficulties and dangers of so long and perilous 

 a journey, they were sufficient to enable him 



