Page:Selected letters of Mendelssohn 1894.djvu/19

Rh make him happy, namely, a robber and a bride. Then he railed against the universal sentimentality of young people, and their perpetual melancholy. He told us stories about a young lady whom he had courted once, and who also had taken a certain interest in him. Then came the turn of the bazaar for the benefit of the unfortunate, at which the Weimar ladies acted as saleswomen, and where he maintained it was impossible to buy a single thing, because the young people arranged beforehand between themselves who everything was to go to, and then it was hidden away till the right buyer appeared; and so forth. After dinner, he all at once began to hum, “Gute Kinder—hübsche Kinder muss immer lustig sein—tolles Volk,” and his eyes grew like those of an old lion just falling asleep. Presently I had to play to him, and he said it was very strange to him to think how long it was since he had heard any music, and meanwhile great advances had been made and he knew nothing of them. There were many things I must explain to him, “some time we must have a reasonable talk together.” Then he said to Ottilie, “No doubt you have made all your wise arrangements, but that doesn’t avail against my commands, which are, that you are to make tea here to-day, so that we may keep each other company.” She asked if it would not be too late, as Riemer would be coming and expect to work with him; but he replied: “You gave your children a holiday from their Latin this morning to hear Felix play, so you can let me off my work too.” Then he invited me to dinner to-day, and I played to him for a long time in the evening. My three Welsh