Page:Auld lang syne by Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max).djvu/17



are you to do when you are sent away by your doctor for three or four weeks of perfect rest? You are made to promise that you will lie perfectly fallow, take no books and allow no proofsheets to reach you. A very eminent German professor, the late Dr. Neander, the famous Church historian, solved the difficulty in his own way. He had faithfully promised his physician that he would take no books with him to Karlsbad, but had at last, as a great favour, obtained permission to take at least one work with him on his journey. On the morning of his departure the doctor wished to say good-bye to his patient, and calling at his door saw a cart laden with heavy folios. "But, dear professor," he said, with considerable surprise and displeasure, "you had promised me to take no books with you." "Yes, doctor," the professor replied, "but you allowed me one work, so I thought I might take the Fathers with me to Karlsbad." I might have done the same, if I had taken the "Rig Veda" only, or the Sacred Books of the East with