Father Johann Rudolf Meyer, Citizen of Aarau: A Memorial

consists more in indication than in the consumption of a great fortune. He was in every respect too rich to have need of pretense. As before, his clothing and lifestyle proclaimed in their outward appearance the old-Swiss simplicity of his inner self. He rose early at five o'clock and dressed himself completely immediately, so as not to lose the time he valued above all else by changing clothes. The coat, without a standing collar, the long waistcoat, and the short breeches were all of gray cloth—not very fine—as a memento of the color of that fabric with whose profitable sale his commercial success had begun; the shirt and the narrow, neatly folded necktie were all the finer. For "the shirt," he used to say, "is for me, the coat only for the sake of appearances for others." On his head he wore a short crop, well-powdered, and a small triangular hat. Simple order and cleanliness were spread over his entire person. He refreshed himself from his work at eleven o'clock at the table in intimate, lively conversation with his family. "All worries," he said, "I leave down in the Ferkstube expediting office 4) Ferken, ferggen, contracted from fertigen, i.e., to finish, to forward, used for both things and people. A Swiss expression, for which one uses "expedite" in newspaper German. Stalder explains the word with fitting examples in his Swiss Idiotikon.." He ate and drank little and very simply. From his youth on, apples remained his daily favorite food. After the meal, back to work until the vesper bell rang. Then he enjoyed sitting for an hour in his study with a glass of his own wine, brooding over various plans. He often praised these hours of solitude as the happiest of his life: they had given him the most suitable tools for the expansion of his trade and had awakened many a proposal for the public good. His thoughts then roamed freely, and his gaze rested with particular pleasure on the maps hanging on the walls. Just as he could hardly see an unproductive patch of land without being overcome by an innate desire to build and improve, so he could not resist this desire when he saw the vast wastes of Russia there.