In winter the boys amused themselves with the mimic warfare of snowballing, and here again Otto was to be found at the head of his comrades. Two parties were generally formed, one defended and the other attacked the terrace which led to the garden. Needless to say, Bismarck was always in the forefront of the battle, directing the attack.

The life at this school, though undoubtedly rough, affected his spirit but little. The holidays at home or the days passed with his parents, who spent a few weeks in the winter months at the capital, only incited him to tackle his work with redoubled energy on his return to school.

A daughter, Malwine, was born to the Bismarcks on the 29th June, 1827, a few months before Otto left the school to enter the lower third class of the FriedrichWilhelms Gymnasium (or high school) in Berlin, which his brother Bernhard had entered four years before.

Otto had been thoroughly grounded in the various subjects taught, more especially so in history and geography, for which he displayed a natural ability. Dr. Augustus Schmidt gives in his history of the Friedrich-Wilhelms Gymnasium an interesting description of Bismarck's progress at that school. first entry is dated "21st September, '27, von Bismarck, Edward Otto Leopold, aged twelve years, born at Schoenhausen near Rathenow, Protestant, son of a retired cavalry captain, admitted to the lower third class."

The

A very different tone prevailed in his new school from that to which he had been accustomed at the Plamann Institute. The whole atmosphere of the school was more liberal, and it can easily be imagined that the day of his entry at the beginning of a new term was one full of anticipations of a happier time. Even on this first day the bright intelligent face of the boy had attracted the attention of one of the senior masters, Dr. Bonnell, who afterwards was on terms of the closest intimacy with Otto.

Bismarck's first report at Christmas, 1827, proved the accuracy of Dr. Bonnell's estimate of his character and ability, for he obtained the fourth place in his class, with the general report of "excellent." He received the following

marks in the various branches of instruc

tion : "General behavior: no fault to be found, modest and well-mannered. Attentiveness: excellent, in Cæsar, Ovid, Latin, Greek, History, Grammar, Religious instruction, German, French, and Mathematics. Progress: well-sustained and marked in all branches."

Otto kept his place as fourth at Easter, 1828, and obtained his promotion to the Upper Third, where his reports varied between "excellent" and "good." Bernhard left the gymnasium at Michaelmas, 1829, to study law in Berlin, after remaining eighteen months in the First Class. Dr. Bonnell was transferred about that time to the Grey Friar's Gymnasium, and was followed next Easter by Otto, who felt more attracted to Dr. Bonnell than to his other masters. Up to that time the two brothers had lived together in their father's residence in the Behren Strasse, but since Bernhard was now serving in the Guards, Otto entered the house of Professor Prevost as a boarder. A year later, after being confirmed at the Church of the Holy Trinity by the Rev. Dr. Schleiermacher, the celebrated divine, he moved to Dr. Bonnell's house. The latter, who was afterwards appointed Professor and Director of the Friedrich-Wilhelms Gymnasium, gives the following description of the boy's life in his house: Otto felt quite at ease in my humble home, and his behavior was always modest and unpretentious in the extreme. He seldom went out in the evening, but when I was not at home used to spend the time in conversing with my wife and gave evidence of his strong domestic tastes."

Bismarck was much attached to his old master, and in later years took great pleasure in visiting his house and looking at the tiny attic where he had spent so many happy days. Moreover, he sent his two sons, William and Herbert, to the Friedrich-Wilhelms Gymnasium, which was then under Bonnell's direction.

The solemnity of his confirmation left a deep and ineffaceable impression on the boy's mind, and the text of the preacher may be said to have formed his motto through life, "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not unto men."

Many tales are related of his innate sense of humor, which seems to have invariably broken out on his return to his father's estate for the holidays.

was one day returning from a shooting expedition through the park, and had to pass the statue of Hercules, which stands near the wooden bridge spanning the little stream that forms the boundary of the park. Perhaps his bag was empty, or it may have been only an irresistible influence, but the fact remains that young Bismarck fired at the defenseless, old mythological gentleman, and plastered him well with small shot from behind. His father happening to notice the marks on the statue, and, being much annoyed, asked his son, "Otto, did you fire at the Hercules? ' With a twinkle in his eye, the boy replied, "Yes, father, but I really did not think that I should have hurt him much, for he clapped his hands at once on the place where I hit him."

His father laughed, His father laughed,

and there the incident ended, but to this

day the statue bears the marks of Bismarck's waggishness.

Otto remained two years at the Grey Friar's Gymnasium, and passed his final (Abiturienten) examination on the 3d of April, 1832, with the certificate of good!" He was praised for his proficiency in French and English, which latter language he employed in writing his theme, for it appears that the French master had in some way offended Bismarck's loyal German spirit. His school career thus closed within a few days of his seventeenth birthday, and though it had been entirely successful, none of his masters would have ventured to predict that he would one day take the lion's share in welding the distracted German States into a homogeneous German Empire.

(Tr.)

SIDNEY WHITMAN.

A SOCIAL STUDY

URING the early years of the present century, a young man, with his younger wife, resolved to make a home on some of the wild land in western New York. They had but little money, yet they possessed certain characteristics, such as patience, industry, economy, hopefulness and mutual trust, which enabled them to keep up courage under adverse circumstances.

In the course of years, many sons and daughters were born to them, or in this instance I should say daughters and sons, for their five eldest children were girls. There are people who might have questioned the Providence manifested in this series of feminine blessings, but these parents had a philosophy, here as elsewhere, that helped them to pluck the sting from the nettle of circumstance.

The eldest daughter became her father's assistant on the farm. She was obviously doing a man's work; but if any public solicitude was felt or expressed on that account, the records have not come down to us.

The second daughter became her mother's assistant. Under experienced guidance, she became an expert in not only the daily duties of the household, but also in many kinds of labor unknown to

the modern housekeeper. She learned to bake and to brew; she searched the forests for the roots and herbs that, under her treatment, entered into the family pharmacopoeia; she learned to prepare the beef, pork and mutton for winter consumption; to pickle and preserve the fruits that grew on the farm; to make sugar from the sweet juices of the home maples; and to make cheese, butter, soap, candles, and many other commodities that were necessaries in the home.

The third daughter, with whom in later years I became somewhat intimately acquainted, had a different class of duties; she was taught to card, spin and weave the wool and flax that were also home productions. From an experienced tailor she learned to make the clothing worn by her father and brothers. She took pardonable pride in the fact, when she saw them arrayed in their Sunday suits, that in its transition from the back of a sheep to that of American citizens, the material had passed through no hands but her own. She learned to cut and make dresses, to braid hats and bonnets, to bleach and repair them, and to make gloves and mittens. She taught her younger sisters to spin, weave, braid and sew and her young brothers to braid straw and whip-lashes. The family knit

ting was done during the long winter evenings while the mother read aloud.

It will be admitted that these young women were both producers and manufacturers. The family formed a community that, with the exception of books, tea and coffee, pins and needles, and possibly shoes, was practically independent of the outer world. If they had little money they had but little need for it. They grew to womanhood under their father's roof, and from that home went as wives to their own.

That hard-working father was able to keep his daughters at home until they married, not because he earned higher wages than he could get to-day, considering the purchasing power of money, but because there was under the shelter of the home abundant labor for all, equally honorable and equally necessary.

I shall not claim that marriage was at this time the wholly ideal and beautiful co-partnership that it may become, but its conditions were certainly less complex and possibly less hazardous than they are to-day. A young man in inviting one of those young women to become his wife was establishing a limited manufacturing company, and with a prospect of success in direct proportion to his own efficiency and the wisdom of his selection.

If that father had felt the need of supplying by his own labor the necessaries and luxuries of life for his five daughters, we should sympathize with his very reasonable interest in the appearance of the future husband; but their labor was as important in the family scheme as was his own. Enduring with him the common privations, they enjoyed with him the common independence. Had they preferred to remain single, their labor, being productive, would still have made them useful members of society.

The order under which such a life is practicable has passed away. We may regret but we cannot recall it. The introduction of machinery has displaced the home industries of women even more effectually than those of men. Indeed a large share of the work then done by women is now done by men.

It requires but little reflection to see that the young couple who are starting in life to-day, and who may choose the farm as the basis of their hopes, must read the logic of events to a different conclusion. If we look in upon them at

a period corresponding to the one we have been considering, we shall see a picture quite different from the earlier one. The eldest daughter may indeed be her father's out-of-door assistant, but in this instance the tailor-made gown is not of home production; in truth, her serviceable and neat fitting gloves bear a Parisian trade-mark. She is seated on one of those complex triumphs of human genius known as a reaper. A large adjustable umbrella protects her complexion from the rays of the morning It is not an unpleasing vision. We know that she may drive for her father for a few hours, and that later in the day we may find her attending a Browning Club or listening to a University Extension lecture. And where are the sisters? Not making cheese, soap or candles; not spinning or weaving: those industries and many others have been taken away from them. And yet, as they have even more complex necessities than had their grandmothers, we may be sure that they are not idle.

sun.

The introduction of machinery has revolutionized modern life. It has increased wealth and leisure; it has also, alas! increased poverty and crime. It has taken bread from the laborer to give additional luxury to the capitalist. It has opened the eyes of men to new possibilities of the glory and grandeur of life, while at the same moment it has wrung a wail of despair from the wretch who is dying from starvation. But whatever may be its prizes or penalties, machinery is here an actual force in our lives,— and the lesson of our time is to adjust our energies to the new order with as much patience and charity as we can command.

Every transitional period has its peculiar trials and dangers; but we shall not lessen them by mistaking the direction of the current. For the ideal marriage, for the man or woman perfectly adjusted to environment, we must look forward, and not backward.

In the larger measure of liberty given to women in these latter days, in the results of her more liberal education and greater diversity of employment, there has been some sensible disturbance of the old conditions of marriage. There is a certain restlessness which, if we consider carefully, will be found to be less unpromising than it at first appears. Again we must look, not to the past, but to the

future. If we spend our days in vain longings for the" good old times" we shall be but blind leaders of the blind, and shall fall into the pit of confusion.

Let us accept as our ideal of marriage, the welfare, not merely of the man, nor of the woman, but of the family. We desire to realize at some time in the future the union of the woman with the man in such freedom as shall permit the development of the two "distinct in individualities," and such as shall secure to the family the best influences of both. Once more, I say, we must look to the future. We have not suddenly fallen upon evil days and so lost a blissful condition, once ours.

In ruder ages man strode forth to slay. In self-defense he slew his enemy; for food he slew the wild beast. His instinct of self-preservation demanded of him great expenditure of brute force, and in the uncertain and irregular hours passed in cave or wigwam he was entitled to rest. The savage woman gave to the fields whatever tillage they received; she dressed the meat her lord had secured in the chase, and did by far the larger part of the drudgery their wandering life entailed. It is so among savage tribes of Indians to-day. The women are veritable beasts of burden; they are given - or taken—in marriage, and it would be hard indeed to find grounds for belief in their "elegant leisure," or in their ennobling influence.

Following the savage, came the pastoral period. Man had now become sufficiently civilized to build permanent homes, and with the aid of a standing army to protect him, he tilled the fields and engaged in various other industries. Woman's work became now sheltered work. Except in those countries where the size of the standing army was so great that her labor was still necessary in the field, she remained at home- a vast improvement, certainly. Still women worked and still were they "given in marriage." Except in very infrequent instances a woman did not receive or control her own earnings, and so was not free either to marry or to refuse marriage under the guidance of her affections.

Indeed, history furnishes us with no pictures of women who are so free. We read of the princess being brought a shuddering victim to the man whose face she had never seen. If her marriage

with him proved a happy one that result was quite incidental to the main purpose of the union. The woman who inherits wealth is so hedged about that she has little opportunity to meet men who may seek her in marriage for purely personal considerations. We admit this to be true of women in other lands, and even in our own country, less hampered by traditions, marriage is not yet, for the average woman, the matter of deliberate choice that it should be. There are many social considerations which may be regarded as lions guarding the way. While it is true that many young women are now bravely testing the length of the monsters' chains by taking an independent course, it is also true that as a young girl comes to womanhood many subtle devices conspire to turn her thoughts in the direction of "a good marriage." good marriage." The small craft of her womanly ambitions is skilfully guided into the harbor of "eligible opportunities.” She is admonished to the effect that "golden days are passing." She meets a man who may desire to marry her. She reflects, "I am not particularly drawn to that man; I do not love neither do I hate him. Possibly I may not meet one toward whom I shall feel more warmly. True, I have had dreamsbut I must marry; no other course is open to me." I think it will be admitted that I state the case mildly when I say that not only are many marriages made under these conditions, but that more occur under influences even more directly commercial.

A third period, which for our purposes we may call the period of machinery, has succeeded the pastoral age. Its results have been already stated. It has taken the greater part of the manual industries out of the home and given them to the supervision of man. It has given to one class of women leisure, but not independence; from another class it has taken the sheltered employment and sent its members out to labor among men. That this is wholly a misfortune I cannot admit. No one trained to a wise love of uses has a right to speak of labor as degrading.. As to competition, it seems quite time that men who object strongly to this feature of the problem should search their motives and make quite sure that they are worthy and unselfish ones. To-day, as of old, the peasant woman of Continental Europe may be seen plowing in

the field harnessed with a dog, while her husband or son is loafing in the army. She is brutalized and degraded almost beyond the semblance of womanhood; but we hear no protest. Is it because she receives no wages?

With woman's more liberal education, the opening of various avenues of paid labor and of the professions offers to her not only wider fields of usefulness and enjoyment, but for the first time in the history of mankind it offers her financial independence and the possibility of a marriage under the guidance of the affections.

In

As all transitional periods have their dangers, probably the one we are considering is not wholly without them. this newly-found freedom of financial independence there may be women as there have been and are men who may unwisely refuse the inevitable sacrifices that marriage and the establishing of a home entails. I cannot think that this manifest perversion of the womanly nature can prevail to any serious extent. Woman's

inherent femininity will generally care for itself. She desires her home, her husband and her children as strongly as the best of men can desire them for himself or for her, and the fact that she is not willing to sell her birthright for a mess of pottage should fill the hearts of all true men with thankfulness and hope.

Let us have faith and patience, and we shall see that the disturbance of the old conditions of marriage are the heralds of a new and better order of things. If women are less amenable to authority than of old, it may be because new impulses are arousing them to a sense of higher responsibilities. If a few may prefer to live alone and earn their own bread rather than make a loveless marriage, the least that men can do is to allow them to do so on fair and equitable terms. They can do more: they can believe that it is because women are loyal to higher ideals that they may prefer to work and wait.

ADÈLE M. GARRIGUES.

T was John Brown's purpose to establish in the mountains of Virginia, an impregnable underground railroad station.

He intended to keep up an open line of communication with the slaves, and aid them in escaping to the North. He evidently knew of a system of secret communication extending throughout all the larger plantations in the South. The same system of secrecy among black men was afterward noticed during the war. They frequently aided the commanders of the Northern armies in ways mysterious and unaccountable.

To a friend in Kansas, John Brown had declared that if Nat Turner, with fifty men, could hold Virginia for five weeks, the same number of men well organized and armed could shake slavery out of the State. "Give a slave a pike and you make him a man," said Brown. 'Deprive him of the means of existence and you keep him down. The land belongs to the bondman. He has enriched it and has been robbed of its fruit. I would not give Sharp's rifles to more than ten black men in a hundred, and then only when they have learned to use them. It is not every man who knows

how to use a rifle. A few men in the right, and knowing they are, can overturn a throne. A ravine in the mountains is better than a plain. Woods and mountain sides can be held by resolute men against ten times their force. When the bondsmen stand like men, the Nation will respect them. It is necessary to teach them this."

John H. Kagi, one of the insurrectionists, had spoken to several of his friends. of Brown's plans for an attack on Harper's Ferry. He had marked out a chain of counties extending continuously through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. He had travelled over a large portion of the region indicated, and from his own personal knowledge, and with the assistance of Canadian negroes who had escaped from those States, they had arranged a general plan of attack. The counties in the chain were those which contained the largest proportion of slaves, and would, therefore, be the most suitable.

The attack on Harper's Ferry was to be in the spring, when the planters were busy, and slaves most needed. The arms in the Arsenal were to be taken to the mountains, with such slaves as joined.