In such moments
a whole people will become united into one being, swayed by the
mastery of a single mind, and await the commands of a single will.
It comes, no one knows from whom--all blindly follow. In spite of
the superficial differences which men find in one another under
similar conditions, the powerful effect of unconscious imitation is
surprisingly apparent, and under its operation personal
peculiarities disappear.
Wilhelm and Paul that same evening sat at one of the windows of
Spargnapani's, looking on the Lindens. The small rooms were filled
to overflowing, and the guests were crammed together in the open
doorways, or on the stone staircase, where their loud talking
mingled with the noise of the people in the street. The king's
carriage had hardly passed, when several young men sprang shouting
into the room, threw a quantity of printed leaflets, still damp from
the press, on the nearest table, and rushed out again. These were
the proofs of an address on the war to the king. No one knew who had
written it, who had had it printed, who the people were who had
distributed it, but everyone crowded excitedly round it, and begged
for pens from the counter to add their signatures to it. A few
specially enthusiastic souls even put a table with inkstands and
pens out on the pavement, and called to the passers-by to sign the
paper.
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