Saturday, August 9:
R. had a good night, but he is awakened by a dream in which he wept: I had been cold and strange toward him and had wanted to leave him!
Not vivisected but vivified is our feeling as we invoke blessings on the day. R. writes to the animal-protection society in Dresden; yesterday he said that when one joined such a demonstration, one must become like Kohlhaas; that reminds us of the beauty of this story, pleasure in which is spoiled only by the fairy-tale ending; when I observe that in Käthchen von Heilbronn the arrival of Emperor Maximilian also has a disturbing effect, he says, “The power of blood is raised to magical levels - she could not be a child of the people.”
We go for a walk in the garden and are delighted with the children’s description of the arrival of the 1,600 singers. In the evening R. recalls it and gets Herr Rub. to play the 3rd act of Die Meistersinger; blissful delight - what nation ever had its great men so ideally restored to it as with Sachs, Wolfram, Heinrich?
R. had a talk with Dr. Landgraf about vivisection; the latter denies that the animals feel any pain, saying that if they did, one would be unable to make any observations on them. R. is sent a protest against the Jews from Dresden.