CHAPTER VI.

MY INTRODUCTION TO ART, AND ACQUAINTANCES GREAT AND SMALL IN THE
LENNESTRASSE.

The Drakes mentioned in my sister's journal are the family of the
sculptor, to whom Berlin and many another German city owe such splendid
works of art.

He was also one of our neighbours, and a warm friendship bound him and
his young wife to my mother. He was kind to us children, too, and had us
in his studio, which was connected with the house like the other and
larger one in the Thiergarten. He even gave us a bit of clay to shape. I
have often watched him at work for hours, chattering to him, but happier
still to listen while he told us of his childhood when he was a poor boy.
He exhorted us to be thankful that we were better off, but generally
added that he would not exchange for anything in the world those days
when he went barefoot. His bright, clear artist's eyes sparkled as he
spoke, and it must indeed have been a glorious satisfaction to have
conquered the greatest hindrances by his own might, and to have raised
himself to the highest pinnacle of life--that of art. I had a dim
impression of this when he talked to us, and now I consider every one
enviable who has only himself to thank for all he is, like Drake, his
friend in art Ritschl, and my dear friend Josef Popf, in Rome, all three
laurel-crowned masters in the art of sculpture.