picture.

Little by little a desire gained strength within me to free myself from
my engagement at the Model School, to which I had bound myself as
teacher for at least three years. The headmaster (Gruner), whom I have
already named, was sufficiently a student of men to have perceived that
so excitable a man as I could never work harmoniously in such an
institution as that which he directed; so I was released from my
engagement, under the condition that I should provide a suitable
successor. Fate was propitious to me once more. I found a young private
tutor with whom I had long been in friendly correspondence, and who had
all those qualities which were lacking in me. He was not only thoroughly
proficient in the grammar of his mother tongue (German), but also in the
grammar of the classical tongues; and, if I am not mistaken, in French
also. He had a knowledge of geography far beyond anything I could boast,
was acquainted with history, knew arithmetic, possessed some familiarity
with botany,--much greater, indeed, than I suspected. And what was worth
more than all this, he was full of vigour in mind, heart, and life.
Therefore the school was every way the gainer by my departure, so
greatly the gainer indeed, that from that time no further change has
been necessary. That same teacher still lives and works in that same
post.[58]

Before I begin a new chapter of my career, there are yet a few things
which need mention.

To know French was at that time the order of the day, and not to know it
stamped a man at once as of a very low degree of culture. To acquire a
knowledge of French, therefore, became one of my chief aims at the
moment. It was my good fortune to obtain instruction from an unrivalled