4 EARLIEST YOUTHFUL REMEMBRANCE. 



we reached the yard-gate, the gander ran towards 

 us with outstretched neck and terrible hissing. My 

 sister turned tail shrieking, and I was strongly tempted 

 to follow suit, but I trusted the paternal counsel and 

 encountered the monster, with eyes shut indeed, but 

 hitting out doughtily with the stick right and left. 

 And lo, fear came upon the gander, and he returned 

 cackling noisily to the flock of geese that had also 

 betaken themselves to flight. 



It is curious what a deep and lasting impression 

 this first victory made on my childish mind. Even 

 now. after well nigh 70 years, all the persons and 

 surroundings, associated with this important event, 

 stand clearly before my eyes. With it too is connected 

 the only remembrance that remains to me of the 

 appearance of my parents in their younger years: and 

 numberless times in difficult situations of life the 

 victory over the gander has unconsciously stimulated 

 me, not to yield to threatening dangers, but to over- 

 come, by boldly confronting, them. 



| My father came of a family settled since the Thirty 



Years War on the northern declivity of the Harz 

 mountains, and engaged for the most part in agri- 

 culture and forestry. An old family legend, which it 

 is true is rejected as unproven by recent historians, 

 runs, that some venerable ancestor came in the Thirty 

 Years War to North Germany with the troops of Tilly, 

 was present at the storming of Magdeburg, then 

 married a citizen's daughter whom he had snatched 

 from the flames, and settled in the Harz region. As 



