What
our father did was simply money thrown away, whereas the excessive
amounts given away by our mother were always unselfishly given and
carried with them a quiet blessing. No doubt a certain desire to be,
so far as possible, a _grande dame_, if only in a very small degree,
had something to do with it, but then all our doings show some
elements of human weakness. Later in life, when we talked with her
about these things, she said: "Certainly, I might have refrained from
doing many things. We spent far more than our income. But I said to
myself: 'What there is will be spent anyhow, and so it is better for
it to go my way than the other.'"
These summer months, from the middle of June on, were often made
especially charming by the numbers of visitors in our home, mostly
young women relatives from Berlin, who were both cheerful and
talkative. The household was then completely changed, for weeks at a
time, and, the hatchet being temporarily buried, merriment and playing
of sly tricks, with occasional boisterous pranks, became the order of
the day. The most brilliant performer in the fun-making competitions
that frequently arose was always my father himself. He was, as
handsome men often are, the absolute opposite of Don Juan, and proud
of his virtue. But by as much as he was unlike Don Juan, he was
charming as a Gascon, when it came to a spirited discussion of pert
and often most daring themes, with young ladies, of whom he made but
one requirement, that they be handsome, otherwise it was not worth his
while.
Pages:
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600