Notice our whitewashed tower, and the church we have newly rebuilded? 
Are not all praising our pavement? the covered canals full of water,
Laid with a wise distribution, which furnish us profit and safety,
So that no sooner does fire break out than ’tis promptly arrested? 
Has not all this come to pass since the time of our great conflagration? 
Builder I six times was named by the council, and won the approval,
Won moreover the heartfelt thanks of all the good burghers,
Actively carrying out what I planned, and also fulfilling
What had by upright men been designed, and left uncompleted. 
Finally grew the same zeal in every one of the council;
All now labor together, and firmly decided already
Stands it to build the new causeway that shall with the high-road
          
                                           connect us. 
But I am sorely afraid that will not be the way with our children. 
Some think only of pleasure and perishable apparel;
Others will cower at home, and behind the stove will sit brooding. 
One of this kind, as I fear, we shall find to the last in our Hermann.”

Straightway answered and said the good and intelligent mother: 
“Why wilt thou always, father, be doing our son such injustice? 
That least of all is the way to bring thy wish to fulfilment. 
We have no power to fashion our children as suiteth our fancy;
As they are given by God, we so must have them and love them;
Teach them as best we can, and let each of them follow his nature. 
One will have talents of one sort, and different talents another. 
Every one uses his own; in his own individual fashion,
Each must be happy and good.  I will not have my Hermann found fault with;
For he is worthy, I know, of the goods he shall one day inherit;
Will be an excellent landlord, a pattern to burghers and builders;
Neither in council, as I can foresee, will he be the most backward. 
But thou keepest shut up in his breast all the poor fellow’s spirit,
Finding such fault with him daily, and censuring as thou but now hast.” 
And on the instant she quitted the room, and after him hurried,
Hoping she somewhere might find him, and might with her words of affection
Cheer him again, her excellent son, for well he deserved it.

Thereupon when she was gone, the father thus smiling continued:  “What a strange folk, to be sure, are these women; and just like
                                                 the children;
Both of them bent upon living according as suiteth their pleasure, While we others must never do aught but flatter and praise them.  Once for all time holds good the ancients’ trustworthy proverb:  ‘Whoever goes not forward comes backward.’  So must it be always.”  Thereupon answered and said, in a tone of reflection, the doctor:  “That, sir neighbor, I willingly grant; for myself I am always Casting about for improvement,—­things new, so they be not too costly.