THE REMINISCENCES OF CARL SCHURZ
and to lead a somewhat freer life. Among my schoolmates I always had friends of my own age, but none whose endeavors and ambitions accorded much with my own tastes. Now I became acquainted with a circle of youths who, like myself, wrote verses, and read them, and encouraged each other in the study of literature. The two with whom I came into closest intimacy were Theodore Petrasch, the son of a secretary of the provincial government, and Ludwig von Weise, a descendant of a patrician family of Cologne. Petrasch was an uncommonly bright youth of a most amiable, cheerful and exuberant nature. Weise, while possessing excellent abilities and a strong character, had developed rather the critical than the productive faculties of his mind. Both discussed political, as well as religious, subjects with far more freedom and assurance than I had dared to do, and their liberal utterances had already attracted the notice of the gymnasium authorities. Petrasch had been called to account by the instructor of religion and had made certain heretical confessions with such frankness that the shocked schoolmaster suspended him from all religious observances until a new light should break in upon him, and he invited him to further talks upon sacred subjects.
To me, questions of religious faith had for some time caused many hours of most serious reflection. I have already narrated how in earliest childhood my belief in the everlasting punishment of the heterodox, and in the infallibility and moral perfection of the priesthood, had been severely shaken. Since then I had pondered much upon kindred subjects, and the time had now come for me to be “confirmed.” In preparation for this rite, the Roman Catholic priest, our instructor, especially indoctrinated us in the tenets of the church. I threw myself into this study with an earnest desire to overcome all doubts. It
[ 69 ]
