fluence of the ballad.

"How were we children trained?" asks Fontane in _My Childhood Years_.
"Not at all, and excellently," is his answer, referring to the lack of
strict parental discipline in the home and to the quiet influence of
his mother's example.

[Illustration: _Permission Berlin Photo Co, New York_
THEODOR FONTANE HANNS FECHNER]

Among the notable events of the five years Theodor spent in
Swinemuende, were the liberation of Greece, the war between Russia and
Turkey, the conquest of Algiers, the revolution in France, the
separation of Belgium from Holland, and the Polish insurrection.
Little wonder that the lad watched eagerly for the arrival of the
newspapers and quickly devoured their contents.

In Swinemuende the family again lived beyond their means. The father's
extravagance and his passion for gambling showed no signs of
abatement. The mother was very generous in the giving of presents, for
she said that what money they had would be spent anyhow and it might
as well go for some useful purpose. The city being a popular summer
resort, they had a great many guests from Berlin during the season,
and in the winter they frequently entertained Swinemuende friends.

Theodor left home at the age of twelve to begin his preparation for
life. The first year he spent at the gymnasium in Neu-Ruppin. The
following year (1833) he was sent to an industrial school in Berlin.
There he lived with his uncle August, whose character and financial
management remind one of our poet's father. Theodor was irregular in
his attendance at school and showed more interest in the newspapers
and magazines than in his studies. At the age of sixteen he became the
apprentice of a Berlin apothecary with the expectation of eventually
succeeding his father in business. After serving his apprenticeship he
was employed as assistant dispenser by apothecaries in Berlin, Burg,
Leipzig, and Dresden. When he reached the age of thirty he became a
full-fledged dispenser and was in a position to manage the business of
his father, but the latter had long ago retired and moved to the
village of Letschin. The Fontane home was later broken up by the
mutual agreement of the parents to dissolve their unhappy union. The
father went first to Eberswalde and then to Schiffmuehle, where he died
in 1867; the mother returned to Neu-Ruppin and died there in 1869.

The beginning of Theodor's first published story appeared in the
_Berliner Figaro_ a few days