(From Mrs. William T. Gauss to her son Theodore).
Hildesheim, Germany
July 28, 1911
My dear Theodore -
Before starting
to Goettingen at one o'clock, I'm going to write you about our visit
from Carl Gauss yesterday, but will add more after we reach there.
In reply to a note from Helen,
our cousin said he would come to see us and stated the hour he expected
to be here, four P.M. He arrived promptly and stayed with us until
time to catch the eight o'clock train from Hameln, so we had supper
together and time for much cousinly chat on many subjects. He's
two years older than your father, slightly built but not thin, and has
a rather handsome, I should say interesting face, of great refinement
of feature; at first I thought I saw in it some resemblance to your
uncle John Gauss, but later I didn't see it. His face and his
eyes are expressive of his thought and feeling, and we like him very
much indeed, and felt as if we might have known him for years.
He doesn't speak English very fluently, so came armed with a small dictionary,
and in the same package he had brought the photograph of his four children,
three sons (one married) and his married daughter; the eldest son is
a physician in Freiburg, unmarried and thirty-five, and the other two
sons are officers in the German army, stationed somewhere in Saxony,
one married and the father of two pretty children. I had forgotten
that Cousin Carl is a widower, but he told us with evident feeling that
he had lost his wife eleven years ago - said all of his children had
left home, and that he lived alone except for a servant; said he often
visited his children, however, and travelled more or less, had been
everywhere that we have. We asked about the order of exercises
at Goettingen, or rather Hohenhagen, the hill on which the Tower stands,
and he said there would be three speeches; the chief address by Herr
Geheimrat Giesecke, followed by the president (Rector) of the University;
and the last, I believe, is some official of the town; then cousin Carl
responds in behalf of the descendants of Gauss, both here and in America,
there being in Europe, he said, only the descendants of his father,
or in other words, his own, since he was an only child, but this
of course we knew. He will refer to Helen's being the representative
of the American descendants. We asked him about Herr Geheimrat
Giesecke, and he said he was now retired, but had held a high office,
as he was one of the Emperor's cabinet, also the head official of the
Postal Department; we asked by he should have been so deeply interested
in the erection of the Gauss Tower, and he told us that from his earliest
childhood he had been interested in Gauss and his work, for he is the
son of a clergyman who lived in a village very near Hohenhagen, and
in his earliest years his father used to take him to the hill on which
the Tower now stands, and tell him of Gauss' work and of the new method
he took to measure distances, telling him also of the instrument which
Gauss invented for that purpose. It is the Heliotrope and
by it, I believe, distance is calculated by the time it takes light
to travel from an angle of a triangle to the other angles, mirrors being
used. Hohenhagen was the point at which Gauss carried on his experiments,
his assistants being stationed at the other far distant angles of the
triangle. It's the highest point near Goettingen. It seems
Herr Giesecke visited Carl Gauss in Hameln a year ago in order to get
from him family and other data, which he will use in the coming address.
We also asked Cousin Carl, why Mr. Georg Heib was so deeply interested,
and he said it was the personality of Gauss had simply taken hold of
him, though he had never seen him, had only heard about him - his interest,
he said, had impelled him to do much, all that he could do, to
have a Gauss memorial room in the house where he was born, and he had
absolutely refused the request from Goettingen to have the Gauss relics
in Brunswick taken to Goettingen. He told us himself, indeed,
that it was only right they should remain in Brunswick.
Cousin Carl said Mr. Heib had exerted himself to secure the Gauss wardrobe
which I wrote of seeing in the Memorial Room, and he had gone to Goettingen
to find it, buying from an old servant who had bought it when all the
household goods were sold at Goettingen, for sold they were, and scattered
far and wide. Mr. Heib, in showing the wardrobe to us, said nothing
about who had bought it, or how it came to be in the room - all the
photographs in the room he had got from cousin Carl. It was something
to have seen such deep, warm-hearted enthusiasm for a man whom he knew
only by reputation, and I know your father's letter of appreciation
will mean much to him. Then, no relative could have shown us about
in a kinder manner, though his manner was more than kind, it was warm-hearted.
I write all these things now, fearing they might have been crowded out
if I had waited until they had been pushed into the background by more
important events in Goettingen. Cousin Carl will reach there tomorrow
and his oldest son will come from Freiburg, and we shall all stay at
the same hotel. It will be nice to have our relatives show us
about there. To reach the Tower, it seems we take a run by train
of fifteen minutes from Goettingen, and then drive in carriages nearly
an hour to Hohenhagen, which I suppose is a high hill, though possibly
it may be a low mountain.
(Continued next day. Goettingen, July 29).
We arrived
here a little after three yesterday, after being on the way a little
more than two hours. It was a very hot day, so we were glad to
see that the park adjoined the station, for we had longed for a little
bit of green and here we have it for the first time almost. In
the park are some fine flower-beds, and our hotel is just on the edge
of all this, about a block-and-a-half from the station, and just
inside the old wall, which surrounds the old part of Goettingen - inside
it, they say, are many quaint houses, but we've seen nothing yet bur
part of the University buildings, which are about three blocks beyond
us, situated on the broad walk just inside the wall, as this hotel is.
When its cooler, we shall walk all around the walk inside the wall,
but it has been too hot today. ...................... It has been
hot for a week, so are glad to be quiet. Are expecting Carl Gauss
and his son tonight, and they will stay at this hotel, one of the best
here, and seemingly a rallying-place for students, as I saw many of
them around their tables last night; for the college year here doesn't
end until the first part of August, and I understand the vacation lasts
only six weeks. The college buildings I saw (there may be others)
are not impressive in appearance, not being on a great scale at all,
and your Aunt Mary says this was also the case at Heidelberg.
I haven't yet seen the Library (College), as it is a little walk from
here, but am anxious to do so, as it contains a bust of Gauss, and we
think ours may be an enlarged replica, for Carl Gauss says he has one
which is small. He will take us about tomorrow to the Observatory,
to see the Gauss-Weber statue, to the grave of Gauss, etc. I think
in speaking of Carl Gauss, I forgot to say that he has very gentle manners
- am sure we shall enjoy having him and his son in the same house with
us. .................... Perhaps I haven't told any of you
that the our at which the dedication ceremonies take place is three
P.M. I don't know who will be present, but doubtless many eminent
men, and all the professors in the University have accepted the invitations
sent them. .......................
Your loving Mother
Note: In the copy of another letter from Helen Worthington
Gauss, it is noted that although her handwriting is attractive, it is
difficult to read at times. I assume this is the reason for the
elisions.
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