“It was especially distasteful to [my aunt] that from the very beginning I threw myself on the newspapers. There was at my disposal for this only the quarter of an hour when the table was being laid for supper, during which I had to interrupt my school preparation work, but then I at once snatched up the Strassburg Post, the Mülhausen Daily Mail, and the New Mülhausen Times.

On the alleged grounds that I read nothing but the stories in the ‘Literary Supplement’ and the murder cases, my aunt did her best to get my newspaper reading prohibited, but I asserted that what specially interested me was the politics, that was to say, contemporary history. The dispute— I was then about eleven—came before the uncle. ‘We’ll soon see,’ said he during supper, ‘whether the young rascal reads the political news!’ And then he began to examine me as to who the ruling princes in the Balkans were, and what the names of their prime ministers. Next I had to describe to him the composition of the three last French cabinets. Finally I had to summarize to him the contents of Eugen Richter’s last speech in the Reichstag.

Out of this examination, with its accompaniment of baked potatoes and salad, I came with flying colours, and thereupon the decision was given that I might read the papers not only while the table was being laid, but also when I had finished my lessons later on. This permission I naturally used to refresh my soul with the stories in the Literary Supplement, but the politics were after all the main thing, and from that time my uncle began to treat me like a grown-up person, and to talk about politics with me at meals."

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