abstract
| - Wilhelm Krieger was an intellectual from Berlin. While prominent in Berlin, he was not particularly well-known outside of Germany. When hearing of Grantville, Krieger visited the town to meet its "philosophers". After several fruitless stops in town, including at the police station and the post office, Krieger was directed to self-proclaimed philosopher Jimmy Dick Shaver. Krieger arranged to meet Jimmy Dick over dinner at Grantville Fine Foods. When Dick and his associates Joseph Jenkins and Emmanuel Onofrio met Krieger, Krieger realized he'd been duped after his interpreter explained Dick's derogative nickname. However, Krieger and his guests continued their conversation regardless. Krieger was impressed with Jenkins' Latin and was more surprised how quickly Jenkins had learned it. Krieger asked Dick whether war was mankind's greatest glory or its greatest shame? Dick answered it was neither and explained to the confused Krieger with Jenkins and Onofrio's help; discussing the glory and shame of war by necessity included genocide, although Krieger was clearly skeptical towards the up-timers' descriptions of the murders of millions. Dick concluded that mankind's greatest shame "is an uncherished child. A man's greatest glory is to love his wife and raise his children well." Dick was referring to his family: his daughter had been born with fragile bones, and he and his wife eventually divorced. Krieger, not understanding the background of Dick's answer, was infuriated with it and the Americans, branding them as "hopeless romantics". Personally, he believed Dick's answer that raising children was mankind's greatest shame. He angrily announced that he was being played for a fool and stormed out of the restaurant with the intention of leaving Grantville.
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