are only digging in a sand heap or weeding their plots of ground. Each
child has a bath at school once a week, and at first the mothers are
uneasy about this part of the programme, lest it should give their
child cold. But they soon learn to approve it, and however poor they
are they do their utmost to send a child to school neatly shod and
clad.

As a rule German children of all classes are treated as children, and
taught the elementary virtue of obedience. _Das Recht des Kindes_ is a
new cry with some of the new people, but nevertheless Germany is one
of the few remaining civilised countries where the elders still have
rights and privileges. I heard of an Englishwoman the other day who
said that she had never eaten the wing of a chicken, because when she
was young it was always given to the older people, and now that she
was old it was saved for the children. If she lived in Germany she
would still have a chance, provided she kept away from a small loud
set, who in all matters of education and morality would like to turn
the world upside down. In most German homes the noisy, spoilt American
child would not be endured for a moment, and the little tyrant of a
French family would be taught its place, to the comfort and advantage
of all concerned. I have dined with a large family where eight young
ones of various ages sat at an overflow table, and did not disturb
their elders by a sound. It was not because the elders were harsh or
the young folk repressed, but because Germany teaches its youth to
behave. The little girls still drop you a pretty old-fashioned curtsey
when they greet you; just such a curtsey as Miss Austen's heroines
must have made to their friends. The little boys, if you are staying
in the house with them, come and shake hands at unexpected
times,--when they arrive from school, for instance, and before they go
out for a walk. At first they take you by surprise, but you soon learn
to be ready for them. They play many of the same games as English
children, and I need hardly say that they are brought up on the same
fairy stories, because many of our favourites come from Germany. The
little boys wear sensible carpenters' aprons indoors, made of leather
or American cloth; and the little girls still wear bib aprons of black
alpaca. Their elders do not play games with them as much as English
people do with their children. They are expected to entertain and
employ themselves; and the immense educational value of