German composition

Section 112 On Travelling (S. 3, N. 2)

I⁠1 wish folks⁠2 in general would keep their eyes a little more open when they travel by rail⁠3. When I see young people rolling along in a luxurious⁠4 carriage, absorbed (S. 102, N. 3) in a trashy⁠5 shilling novel⁠6, and⁠7 never lifting up their eyes to look out of the window, unconscious⁠8 of all that⁠9 they are passing;—of⁠10 the reverend antiquities, the admirable⁠11 agriculture, the rich and peaceful scenery⁠12, the⁠13 like of which no other country upon earth can show (App. § 18); unconscious⁠14, too, of how much they might⁠15 learn of botany and geology, by⁠16 simply watching the flowers along the railway banks, and the sections⁠17 in the cuttings⁠18;—then it grieves me to see what⁠19 little use people make of the eyes and the understanding which God has given them. They complain of⁠20 a dull⁠21 journey: but⁠22 it is not the journey which is dull; it⁠23 is they who are dull. Eyes⁠24 have they, and see not; ears have they, and hear not; mere⁠25 dolls in smart clothes, too many of them, like the idols of the heathen.—Charles Kingsley, Town Geology.

Notes

1 Ich möchte wohl.

2 Say ‘(the) people (die Leute) would use (Imperf. Subj. of brauchen, App. § 32) in general the eyes a little more’, etc.

3 mit der Eisenbahn reisen.

4 luxurious = splendid; for the rendering of the verbs in this passage consult S. 78, N. 14, and for their position, App. § 19; to roll along, dahin´rollen.

5 schlecht.

6 Form comp. n. according to S. 76, N. 22, B.

7 and — eyes = so that they never lift up their eyes. This constr. is necessary to avoid a repetition of participles.

8 nichts ahnend.

9 woran sie vorüberfahren.

10 Say ‘nothing of’.

11 excellent.

12 landscape.

13 the — which = as, wie sie (grammatical object); comp. S. 51, N. 13.

14 auch nicht einmal ahnend.

15 I might learn much of botany, ich könnte viel Botanik lernen. The subject ‘they’ place after ‘geology’ and before the two verbs.

16 by — watching = if they would only watch (beobachten); along — banks = on (an) the sides of the railway.

17 Bahnprofil, n.

18 Durchstich, m. The two verbs must, of course, stand at the end of the whole passage.

19 wie wenig, little (denoting quantity).

20 über, with Acc.

21 dull = wearisome, langweilig.

22 but — dull = but not the journey is dull.

23 sie selbst sind es (Comp. S. 104, N. 19).

24 The inverted constr. would not read well here; use therefore the ordinary constr.

25 are nothing but (als) dolls in fine clothes, and like (gleich, with Dat.) the idols (Götzenbilder) of the heathens are there too many of them (sind ihrer zu viele).