other day who, after many
years of faithful service, left her employers to spend her old age in
a _Stift_. No social stigma attaches to the women living in one, and
they are as free, in some cases as well placed and well born, as the
English women living at Hampton Court. Some friction and some gossip
is presumably inevitable wherever women herd together in an unnatural
segregation from men and children. But at any rate the German _Stift_
saves many a woman from the tragic struggle with old age and poverty
to which the penniless incapable spinster is condemned in our country.
It may not be a paradise, but it is a haven. As I said at the
beginning, the Frenchman dowers and marries his girl, the German buys
her a refuge, the Englishman leaves her to fate.

On the whole, the German believes that the woman's province is within
the limits of the household. He wants her to be a home-maker, and in
Germany what "he" wants her to be still fixes the standard. But as the
census reveals the existence of large numbers of single women, and as
"he" often has a thoughtful and benevolent mind, more and more is done
there every year to prepare those women who must earn their living to
earn it capably. It has been understood for some time past that Herr
Riehl's plan of finding a family roof for every woman without one
presents difficulties where there are 400,000-odd women to provide for
in this way. One of the people who first saw this clearly, and
supported every sensible undertaking that came to the assistance of
women, was the Empress Frederick; and one of the institutions that she
encouraged and esteemed from the beginning was the _Lette-Verein_ in
Berlin.

The _Lette-Verein_, named after its originator, Dr. A. Lette, was
founded, says its prospectus, to further the education of women and to
increase the efficiency of women dependent on themselves for support.
What it actually does is to train for housekeeping and office work,
and for some trades. Its interest lies in the ordered and thoughtful
provision it makes both for the woman who means to devote herself body
and soul to the family; and for the woman who prefers, or who is
driven, to stand in the market-place and compete with men. The
_Lette-Verein_ does not train servants or admit servants to its
classes. It occupies a large block of buildings in the west of Berlin,
for its various schools and hostels require a great deal of room.
Students who live in the city can attend dail