Sunday, July 21:
Much work in the house, my worry about my child has upset me, and according to R. I had a very restless night; but under his protecting hand I succeed, with thoughts of him, in dispelling all evil effects, and we gain for ourselves another very cheerful day.
After the lively Frau Jager and the W.'s have dined with us, we go to Frau J.'s apartment, in the old palace, with the children to watch a company of tightrope walkers. The spacious square, the people in their Sunday best in the sunset glow, the characteristic houses, and on top of that the great skill of the performers, make a merry scene. "How boring we would find a show like this in Berlin or any other great city!" says R. "In the Prater in Vienna, for instance."
I did not watch when the younger son walked up the rope right to the roof, boldly and easily, as I was told. It is not the danger that makes me afraid, but a curious feeling of watching my brother fight for his miserable existence with just such an inner application of courage and presence of mind. All the pity of it overcomes me, and I cannot watch.
R. is highly delighted with the skill and assurance of one of the men, and, responding to my persuasions, he goes up to him at the end with the children, to make a substantial extra contribution to the collection; I am told the young man behaved with uncommon courtesy when he did so. R. looked at him for a long while and said, "You have great talent." "How much more pleasure," I said to R., "does one get from giving a little bit more than one intended to such people, than from paying for a box in some theater or other!" A lot of talk, too, about the plucky boy who calmly allowed himself to be carried by the tightrope walker along the rope. I cannot remember when a show gave us so much pleasure as a whole; it has no place at all in our present times. In the morning R. worked without interruption on his article and found enjoyment in it; he says that he is taking on Nietzsche in it, but in such a way that a reader who is not fully in the know will not notice.