Pagina 202 di 788

"In the botanical garden at Wilno I have seen those vaunted trees

that grow in the east and the south, in that fair Italian

land-which of them can be compared to our trees? The aloe with

its long stalk like a lightning rod? Or the dwarfish lemon tree

with its golden balls and lacquered leaves, short and dumpy, like

a woman who is small and ugly, but rich? Or the much-praised

cypress, long, thin, and lean, which seems the tree, not of

grief, but of boredom? They say that it looks very sad upon a

grave; but it is like a German flunkey in court mourning, who

does not dare to lift his arms or turn his head, for fear that he

may somehow offend against etiquette.