228 SYBEL, THE GERMAN TEACHER.

of the most athletic exercises ; to self-denials of the
severest sort; and to songs and music which inflamed
the soul. No wonder that they were frequented by
multitudes, and that they absorbed all juvenile sports
in their vortex. All distinctions of rank were levelled.
They were met, according to Jahn’s idea, to rescue and
elevate their dismembered and endangered country. It
is impossible to comprehend the character of Sybel,
unless we remember that it was formed in this unusual
school. A Spartan discipline was brought in, to cure the
effeminacy of luxurious ease, and this was accompanied
by all possible appliances of poetry and art. One trait
of this scheme is peculiar. It made war against the
voluptuous curiosity and heats of adolescence, and in-
culcated a virginal chastity, in language, demeanour,
and life. If it were seemly, we might give striking
proofs of the extent to which this prevailed. Under
the harangues of Jahn, and the Tyrtcean songs of
Koerner, Schenkendorf, and Arndt, the youthful
assemblies were borne up to an extraordinary height of
animation. It was the call of God, as they said, that
they should save their country. Little armies of these
youth, under their leaders, with chorus and music,
traversed whole provinces and states on their expedi-
tions. The effect may be imagined, which such stimu-
lants would produce in a mind susceptible -as that of —
Sybel, when, at fifteen, he joined in such an expedition
through Thuringia and the Hartz, and when, at dawn,