WhenwereachedDresdenweyoungerchildrenwerelefttospendthesummerinthehouseofHerrMinckwitz，amemberofeithertheMunicipalortheSaxonGovernment——Ihaveforgottenwhich。ItwashopedthatinthiswaywewouldacquiresomeknowledgeoftheGermanlanguageandliterature。Theyweretheverykindestfamilyimaginable。
Ishallneverforgettheunweariedpatienceofthetwodaughters。Thefatherandmother，andashy，thin，studentcousinwhowaslivingintheflat，werenolesskind。WheneverIcouldgetoutintothecountryIcollectedspecimensindustriouslyandenlivenedthehouseholdwithhedge-hogsandothersmallbeastsandreptileswhichpersistedinescapingfrompartiallyclosedbureaudrawers。ThetwosonswerefascinatingstudentsfromtheUniversityofLeipsic，bothofthembelongingtoduelingcorps，andmuchscarredinconsequence。One，afamousswordsman，wascalled/DerRotheHerzog/theRedDuke，andtheotherwasnicknamed/HerrNasehorn/SirRhinocerosbecausethetipofhisnosehadbeencutoffinaduelandsewnonagain。I
learnedagooddealofGermanhere，inspiteofmyself，andaboveallIbecamefascinatedwiththeNibelungenlied。GermanproseneverbecamereallyeasytomeinthesensethatFrenchprosedid，butforGermanpoetryIcaredasmuchasforEnglishpoetry。Aboveall，IgainedanimpressionoftheGermanpeoplewhichInevergotover。FromthattimetothisitwouldhavebeenquiteimpossibletomakemefeelthattheGermanswerereallyforeigners。Theaffection，the/Gemuthlichkeit/aqualitywhichcannotbeexactlyexpressedbyanysingleEnglishword，thecapacityforhardwork，thesenseofduty，thedelightinstudyingliteratureandscience，theprideinthenewGermany，themorethankindandfriendlyinterestinthreestrangechildren——allthesemanifestationsoftheGermancharacterandofGermanfamilylifemadeasubconsciousimpressionuponmewhichIdidnotintheleastdefineatthetime，butwhichisveryvividstillfortyyearslater。
WhenIgotbacktoAmerica，attheageoffifteen，IbeganseriousstudytoenterHarvardunderMr。ArthurCutler，wholaterfoundedtheCutlerSchoolinNewYork。IcouldnotgotoschoolbecauseIknewsomuchlessthanmostboysofmyageinsomesubjectsandsomuchmoreinothers。InscienceandhistoryandgeographyandinunexpectedpartsofGermanandFrenchIwasstrong，butlamentablyweakinLatinandGreekandmathematics。MygrandfatherhadmadehissummerhomeinOysterBayanumberofyearsbefore，andmyfathernowmadeOysterBaythesummerhomeofhisfamilyalso。AlongwithmycollegepreparatorystudiesIcarriedontheworkofapracticalstudentofnaturalhistory。Iworkedwithgreaterindustrythaneitherintelligenceorsuccess，andmadeveryfewadditionstothesumofhumanknowledge；
buttothisdaycertainobscureornithologicalpublicationsmaybefoundinwhicharerecordedsuchitemsas，forinstance，thatononeoccasionafish-crow，andonanotheranIpswichsparrow，wereobtainedbyoneTheodoreRoosevelt，Jr。，atOysterBay，ontheshoreofLongIslandSound。