AUNT GROTE. 7 



to facilitate the same by removing her from the 

 parental roof. But the young folk were manifestly 

 possessed by the spirit of the new era. for on the 

 morning of the arranged departure my grandfather 

 received the dire intelligence, that the young baron 

 had carried off his daughter the previous night. Where- 

 upon great excitement and hot pursuit of the flown 

 birds by the grandfather and his five grown-up sons. 

 The trail of the fugitives was followed to Blankenburg 



o o 



and there ended in the church. When entrance had 

 been effected the young couple were found stationed 

 at the altar, where the pastor had just pronounced 

 the nuptial benediction! 



How the family drama immediately thereafter 

 developed itself it is no longer in my ability to say. 

 Unhappily the young husband after a few blissful 

 married years died without leaving any progeny. The 

 barony of Schauen passed therefore to collateral rela- 

 tions, with the annexed burden it is true of the obli- 

 gation to pay aunt Sabina for nearly half a century the 

 statutory imperial -baronial widow's pension. When a 

 * young artillery -officer I often visited the amiable and 

 sprightly old lady at Kolleda in Thuringia, whither she 

 had retired. "Aunt Grote"' was still beautiful even 

 in her old age, and formed at that time the acknow- 

 ledged centre of our family. For us young people she 

 possessed an almost irresistible charm, and it was a 

 real treat to hear her speak of the persons and scenes 

 of her to us dimly remote early life. 



My father was a clever, well-educated man. He 



or THE 

 UNIVERSITY 



