for their training. I asked if they easily found
regular work later, and was told that at present the demand for
expert women bookbinders exceeded the supply. The _Lette-Haus_ trains
women to be photographers, printers, and clerks. In fact, with German
thoroughness and foresight it does all one big institution can to save
the women of the nation from the curse of incompetence. It turns them
out efficient housewives or efficient craftswomen, according to their
needs.

The German woman of to-day has travelled far from the ideal set up by
Herr Riehl, and still upheld by his disciples. Women have found that
the realities of life clash with that particular ideal, and rudely
upset it. Just like any man, a woman wants bread when she is hungry,
and when there is no man to give it to her she must raven for it
herself. She has been driven from a family hearth that has no fire on
it, and from a family roof that cannot afford her shelter. On the
whole, if I may judge from personal observation, it has done her good.
The traditional old maid is dying out in Germany as assuredly as she
is dying out in England, and who shall regret her? Her outlook was
narrow, her temper often soured. She had neither self-reliance nor
charm. She was that sad, silly spectacle, a clinging plant without
support. Now that she is learning to grow on her own account, she
finds that there is a good deal in life a sensible plant can enjoy
without clinging. The German "old maid" of the twentieth century has,
like her English sister, transformed herself into a "bachelor," a
person who for this reason or that has not married, and who
nevertheless has a cheerful time. She has her own work, she often has
her own flat, and if she lives in one of the big cities she has her
own club.

There are at present three Ladies' Clubs in Berlin all flourishing.
The subscription to the _Berliner Frauenklub_ is only six marks a
year, yet it provides the members with comfortably furnished rooms
and well cooked meals at low prices. A member of this club can dine
for ninepence, and have a hot dish from fourpence to sevenpence. She
has access to a library of 1300 volumes, to the leading papers and
reviews, and to magazines in four languages. She can entertain women
at the club, but not men; though she can meet men there at certain
hours of the day. Social gatherings of various kinds are arranged to
meet the various needs and ages of the members; and one night a week
four or five