On the 10th of December in the same year he left Richembourg with this certificate from his master:--"Karl Sand belongs to the small number of those elect young men who are distinguished at once by the gifts of the mind and the faculties of the soul;in application and work he surpasses all his fellow-students,and this fact explains his rapid progress in all the philosophical and philological sciences;in mathematics only there are still some further studies which he might pursue.The most affectionate wishes of his teacher follow him on his departure.
"J.A.KEYN,"Rector,and master of the first class.
"Richembourg,Sept.15,1814"
But it was really the parents of Sand,and in particular his mother,who had prepared the fertile soil in which his teachers had sowed the seeds of learning;Sand knew this well,for at the moment of setting out for the university of Tubingen,where he was about to complete the theological studies necessary for becoming a pastor,as he desired to do,he wrote to them:--"I confess that,like all my brothers and sisters,I owe to you that beautiful and great part of my education which I have seen to be lacking to most of those around me.Heaven alone can reward you by a conviction of having so nobly and grandly fulfilled your parental duties,amid many others."After having paid a visit to his brother at St.Gall,Sand reached Tubingen,to which he had been principally attracted by the reputation of Eschenmayer;he spent that winter quietly,and no other incident befell than his admission into an association of Burschen,called the Teutonic;then came tester of 1815,and with it the terrible news that Napoleon had landed in the Gulf of Juan.
Immediately all the youth of Germany able to bear arms gathered once more around the banners of 1813and 1814.Sand followed the general example;but the action,which in others was an effect of enthusiasm,was in him the result of calm and deliberate resolution.He wrote to Wonsiedel on this occasion:--"April 22,1813
"MY DEAR PARENTS,-Until now you have found me submissive to your parental lessons and to the advice of my excellent masters;until now I have made efforts to render myself worthy of the education that God has sent me through you,and have applied myself to become capable of spreading the word of the Lord through my native land;and for this reason I can to-day declare to you sincerely the decision that I lave taken,assured that as tender and affectionate parents you will calm yourselves,and as German parents and patriots you will rather praise my resolution than seek to turn me from it.
"The country calls once more for help,and this time the call is addressed to me,too,for now I have courage and strength.It cast me a great in ward struggle,believe me,to abstain when in 1813she gave her first cry,and only the conviction held me back that thousands of others were then fighting and conquering for Germany,while I had to live far the peaceful calling to which I was destined.
Now it is a question of preserving our newly re-established liberty,which in so many places has already brought in so rich a harvest.
The all-powerful and merciful Lord reserves for us this great trial,which will certainly be the last;it is for us,therefore,to show that we are worthy of the supreme gift which He has given us,and capable of upholding it with strength and firmness.
"The danger of the country has never been so great as it is now,that is why,among the youth of Germany,the strong should support the wavering,that all may rise together.Our brave brothers in the north are already assembling from all parts under their banners;the State of Wurtemburg is,proclaiming a general levy,and volunteers are coming in from every quarter,asking to die for their country.
I consider it my duty,too,to fight for my country and for all the dear ones whom I love.If I were not profoundly convinced of this truth,I should not communicate my resolution to you,;but my family is one that has a really German heart,and that would consider me as a coward and an unworthy son if I did not follow this impulse.Icertainly feel the greatness of the sacrifice;it costs me something,believe me,to leave my beautiful studies and go to put myself under the orders of vulgar,uneducated people,but this only increases my courage in going to secure the liberty of my brothers;moreover,when once that liberty is secured,if God deigns to allow,I will return to carry them His word.
"I take leave,therefore,for a time of you,my most worthy parents,of my brothers,my sisters,and all who are dear to me.As,after mature deliberation,it seems the most suitable thing for me to serve with the Bavarians.I shall get myself enrolled,for as long as the war may last,with a company of that nation.Farewell,then;live happily;far away from you as I shall be,I shall follow your pious exhortations.In this new track I shall still I hope,remain pure before God,and I shall always try to walk in the path that rises above the things of earth and leads to those of heaven,and perhaps in this career the bliss of saving some souls from their fall may be reserved for me.
"Your dear image will always be about me;I will always have the Lord before my eyes and in my heart,so that I may endure joyfully the pains and fatigues of this holy war.Include me in your Prayers;God will send you the hope of better times to help you in bearing the unhappy time in which we now are.We cannot see one another again soon,unless we conquer;and if we should be conquered (which God forbid!),then my last wish,which I pray you,I conjure you,to fulfil,my last and supreme wish would be that you,my dear and deserving German relatives,should leave an enslaved country for some other not yet under the yoke.