of battle, and
had remained in the service. Madame Pfann had not waited for some great
event before she set herself to work. Years before she had commenced
the work of philanthropy, and carried it out with a zeal that was
universally acknowledged. She was the daughter of a plain professor in
the gymnasium at the capital; and she took pleasure in saying that she
owed her capacity for her work to her father's simple and noble
character.

She was aware that people called her conduct eccentric and sentimental;
but she cared nothing for that.

An old-time saying tells us that on the path of heroic deeds a man has
to battle with giants and monsters. Madame Pfann had had to battle with
a great and noble intellect. She remembered Goethe's cynical words,
that finally the world would be bereft of all beauty, and each one
would be only his neighbor's benevolent brother.

Veneration for our great poet was an heir-loom in her girlhood's home.
Fierce was the conflict before she overcame the mighty coercion of the
master mind, but she gained at last that liberty which shakes off the
fetters of an undue veneration. She was convinced that even a Goethe
cannot give precepts for all time. Our age has made the unity of human
interests its law, and no longer tolerates a mere aesthetically selfish
life. Yes, out of a life devoted to the common welfare, springs a new
beauty of being.

Madame Pfann often met with rudeness and thoughtlessness where she
least expected it, so that her experiences were sometimes painful; but
she remained steadfast.

In her visits to the prisons, she refused to interfere in the least
degree with the course of the law. She only desired to comfort the
prisoners; to make them at peace with themselves; and above all things
she wished to help their friends who were left destitute at home. Here,
too, she had sorry experiences. Rascals imposed upon her, and amused
themselves in sending her on fruitless missions, and would even give
her directions whose baseness she could not suspect.

She knew that baseness and uncleanness existed, and yet clung to her
faith in greatness, nobility, and purity.

In the course of time she settled upon a regular method of talking with
the prisoners. She sought to learn of their early life, but she found
that they distrusted her motive, suspecting that she was seeking to
discover some crime which they might have committed, and she had to
contend with their cunning, which led them to