"
There is, by the way, much of the natural animal in "little
boys." It takes years to make a fairly reasonable creature of a
young human. For that reason many ignorant parents are foolishly
distressed at juvenile displays of animalism, which are perfectly
natural. ----
The same Heine, whose writings you ought not to neglect,
describes beautifully a human menagerie. We'll quote that, and
then let you off for the day. Heine was living in Paris in the
forties, and used to visit a curious revolutionary freak named
Ludwig Borne. Of this man's house Heine wrote:
"I found in his salon such a menagerie of people as can hardly be
found in the Jardin des Plantes (the Paris zoological garden).
In the background several polar bears were crouching, who smoked
and hardly ever spoke, except to growl out now and then a real
fatherland 'Donnerwetter' in a deep bass voice. Near them was
squatting a Polish wolf in a red cap, who occasionally yelped out
a silly, wild remark in a hoarse tone. There, too, I found a
French monkey, one of the most hideous creatures I ever saw; he
kept up a series of grimaces, each of which seemed more lovely
than the last," etc.
If Heine's polar bears, wolf and monkey had studied themselves,
as we advise you to study yourself, they might have escaped the
sarcasm of the sharpest tongue ever born in or out of Germany.
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