Tuesday, April 23:
R. had a tolerable night, though he had a very absurd dream about Major Muller, who was courting me so energetically that he drew my attention to it; I was quite annoyed over the prospect and at last, when the disagreeable man became importunate, hit him over the head with a roll of music I had in my hands. We discuss the things that disturb our life. “You are always ready to make sacrifices,” R. says to me; “if we are talking about kindness, then only you deserve mention.” When I object he says, “The only sacrifice I make is that for your sake I continue to work for this evil world.” The Ezra Apocalypse and Clement of Rome’s Epistle bring him back once more to the wretchedness of the church: “I repeat, the three greatest scandals are the Sultan in Constantinople, the Pope in Rome, and Hülsen in Berlin,” he says with a laugh. We also laugh over how Renan depicts Jesus and describes the Gospel According to Saint Matthew in a very modern way, entirely from the viewpoint of present-day Paris society; if Christ were to appear to him, R. feels, he would say, “Au plaisir de vous revoir.” We also laugh about Hugo, who always uses the German word for “department,” as if it were something very mysterious, and portrays the people in this Abteilung at the Battle of Sedan as if they were paid assassins! R. stays home all day; in the evening we read C. Frantz’s letter in reply to the challenge made to him in What Is German? We were alone, and very happy to be that way! Much in C. Fr. makes one wonder, but it is always well considered; R. says, “Just as one begins to think he is blathering, a thought always emerges.” Referring to our reading, R. says, “All that remains for us is to give each other pleasure.”