Father Johann Rudolf Meyer, Citizen of Aarau: A Memorial

whom he always revered as his second mother. This was Miss Susanna Meyer, a lady who, besides having a decent fortune, possessed a higher education than many of her contemporary fellow citizens. She was pleased by the boy's childlike attachment, liked having him around, sought to transform his overly anxious shyness into noble modesty, spurred his thirst for knowledge, and did whatever could be done for its satisfaction in Aarau, then a little significant protectorate town of Bern. However little this might have been, the bond of friendship he formed with a few schoolmates, which he preserved for his entire life, was worth as much—or more—to him than everything learned there. Even as an old man, he spoke several times with emotion about the origin of youth friendships as an essential benefit of schools.

After he had brought the art of arithmetic and calligraphy—though not spelling—to moderate proficiency, and had simultaneously imprinted upon his memory a treasure trove of instruction for his whole life in the catechism and in Gellert's songs referring to the hymns and moral poems of Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, a popular 18th-century German poet, and as a lavish addition,