THE STORY OF MY LIFE FROM ***
Produced by David Widger
THE STORY OF MY LIFE FROM CHILDHOOD TO MANHOOD
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GEORG EBERS, Complete
Volume 1.
Translated from the German by Mary J. Safford
TO MY SONS.
When I began the incidents of yore, Still in my soul's depths treasured, to record, A voice within said: Soon, life's journey o'er, Thy portrait sole remembrance will afford.
And, ere the last hour also strikes for thee, Search thou the harvest of the vanished years. Not futile was thy toil, if thou canst see That for thy sons fruit from one seed appears.
Upon the course of thine own life look back, Follow thy struggles upwards to the light; Methinks thy errors will not seem so black, If they thy loved ones serve to guide aright.
And should they see the star which 'mid the dark Illumed thy pathway to thy distant goal, Thither they'll turn the prow of their life bark; Its radiance their course also will control.
Ay, when the ivy on my grave doth grow, When my dead hand the helm no more obeys, This book to them the twofold light will show, To which I ne'er forget to turn my gaze.
One heavenward draws, with rays so mild and clear, Eyes dim with tears, when the world darkness veils, Showing 'mid desert wastes the spring anear, If, spent with wandering, your courage fails.
Since first your lips could syllable a prayer, Its mercy you have proved a thousandfold; I too received it, though unto my share Fell what I pray life ne'er for you may hold.
The other light, whose power full well you know, E'en though in words I nor describe nor name, Alike for me and you its rays aye glow-- Maternal love, by day and night the same.
This light within your youthful hearts has beamed, Ripening the germs of all things good and fair; I also fostered them, and joyous dreamed Of future progress to repay our care.
Thus guarded, unto manhood you have grown; Still upward, step by step, you steadfast rise The oldest, healing's noble art has won; The second, to his country's call replies;
The third, his mind to form is toiling still; And as this book to you I dedicate, I see the highest wish life could fulfil In you, my trinity, now incarnate.
To pay it homage meet, my sons I'll guide As I revere it, 'mid the world's turmoil, Love for mankind, which putteth self aside, In love for native land and blessed toil.
GEORG EBERS.
TOTZING ON THE STARNBERGER SEE, October 1, 1892.
INTRODUCTION.
In this volume, which has all the literary charm and deftness of character drawing that distinguish his novels, Dr. Ebers has told the story of his growth from childhood to maturity, when the loss of his health forced the turbulent student to lead a quieter life, and inclination led him to begin his Egyptian studies, which resulted, first of all, in the writing of An Egyptian Princess, then in his travels in the land of the Pharaohs and the discovery of the Ebers Papyrus (the treatise on medicine dating from the second century B.C.), and finally in the series of brilliant historical novels that has borne his name to the corners of the earth and promises to keep it green forever.
This autobiography carries the reader from 1837, the year of Dr. Ebers's birth in Berlin, to 1863, when An Egyptian Princess was finished. The subsequent events of his life were outwardly calm, as befits the existence of a great scientist and busy romancer, whose fecund fancy was based upon a groundwork of minute historical research.
