Friday, July 22:
Start of our spa cure; we walk in the morning in the garden, R. and I, and discuss the war. All at once one can feel where one belongs, there is a connection which in times of peace cannot make itself felt, since only the bad things float to the surface. Inside one feels something which cannot be talked about, yet it is present in everything, and in this emotion one puts all one’s hopes and wishes. Thus says R.
The University of Kiel wants to join in, lock, stock, and barrel; the merchants are making great sacrifices, and the clerics are obliged to keep silent. In contrast, there is a great deal of lying and boasting going on in France. Bismarck says in the Lower Chamber that he has not even informed the King about Gramont’s talk with Werther, since he found the demand for a letter of apology ridiculous. The Viennese students want to join Germany; the Catholic-dominated Chambers in Bavaria quite shameless.
Eva suddenly becomes ill, with convulsions. As I am standing beside her bed, Vreneli brings me the news that our dairy farmer, who supplied us with fish, has been drowned, and right in front of our house; what life can bring us, Vreneli says drily and rightly.
In the evening the Mendès couple; R. and Richter play the F Major Symphony and the last movement of the Eroica.