18 Caroline Lucretia Hcrschcl. [1764-1707. 



home, but several of the precious days of his stay were 

 spent in a visit to the Griesbachs at Coppenbriigge, 

 and the Sunday fixed for his departure was the very 

 day on which she was to receive her first communion. 



" The church was crowded and the door open : the Ham- 

 burger Postwagen passed at eleven, bearing away my dear 

 brother, from whom I had been obliged to part at 8 o'clock. 

 It was within a dozen yards from the open door ; the 

 postilion giving a smettering blast on his horn. Its effect 

 on my shattered nerves, I will not attempt to describe, nor 

 what I felt for days and weeks after. I wish it were 

 possible to say what I wish to say, without feeling anew that 

 feverish wretchedness which accompanied my walk in the 

 afternoon with some of my school companions, in my black 

 silk dress and bouquet of artificial flowers the same which 

 had served my sister on her bridal day. I could think of 

 nothing but that on my return I should find nobody but 

 my disconsolate father and mother, for Alexander's engage- 

 ments allowed him to be with us only at certain hours, 

 and Jacob was seldom at home except to dress and take his 

 meals." 



From the state of hopeless lethargy in which the 

 poor sister describes herself as going mechanically 

 about her daily tasks after that memorable clay, she 

 was roused by a calamity which affected all alike. 

 The father had a paralytic seizure the August follow- 

 ing, by which he lost the use of his right side almost 

 entirely, and although he so far recovered as to be 

 able still to receive pupils in his own house, he never 



