The Jewish advance., 1880-11-19

Moses Mendelssohn was followed in
every direction. In no city of Germany
were to be found so many educated
women and girls as in Berlin; and as
then the Christian circl4s of that city
could offer nothing similar in polish and
education, the fashionable and intel
lectual world of the capital gathered in
several Jewish houses.
Next to the house of Moses Mendels
sohn, that of the aulic counselor Herr
was the centre of an intellectual and
social circle and the pride and orna
ment Of this house was the beautiful,
highly celebrated wife,
HENRIETTA HERR.
Henrietta was born on the 9th day Of
September, 1864 She was the daughter
of the physician de Lemos, who had re-
moved from Hamburg to Berlin; he was
a jew of Portuguese descent, and had
married an Alsatian- German lady, a
Miss Charleville, against the will Of her
parents. They were both beautiful: the
father a tall, noble figure with a hand
some. regular face full of mildness and
amiability; tie mother, somewhat pas
sionate and capricous, but at all times
obligng, of1icious, the active helper of
the poor. Henrietta, who had inherited
the rare beauty, the figure and air Of
her father, very early united also his
lovable nature with the industry Of
her mother. When still a child she was
already so lovely that the Jews Of Ber
lin very often obtained the parents
consent of her presence at their feStlvl-
ties. Once, when Princess Amelie, sis
ter of Frederick the Great, visited the
tabernackle Of one of the richest Jews
of Berlin, little Henrietta was brought
to her as the most beautiful ornament
of the splendidly decorated rooms; and
when, some time hereafter, Queen
Ulrike, her sister, appeared at Jewish
wedding, the beautiful Jewish child was
likewise introduced.
These exhibitions, of course, fed the
vanity of the child, and the good parents
who otherwise raised their children in
religious sincerity and patriarchal
simplicity, neglected all care in this
dangerous particular. Thus they once
allowed the nine year old Henrietta as
recompense for having been prevented
by an inflammation of the eye from pre-
senting carmen to a princely parsonage,
to play piano at a public concert; she
was overloaded with rapturous praise
not because she played so we'll but be-
cause she appeared so charming. 1t
also happened that the little girl danced
minuet with her dancing master, an
old Frenchman, at which performance
the audience mounted the tables and
benches so as to be better able to see
her.
The beautiful girl, prematurely ripen-
ed into womanhood, attracted the
attention of the young men of Berlin,
at school and upon the street, to such
an extent, that the parents held it for
advisable to no longer send her to school
but complete her education at home.
The intellectual father who himself
partly undertook this task, wished to
make Of his daughter learned woman.
Very early she showed especial aptitude
in linguistic studies and easily mastered
French, English, some Latin and par
ticularly Hebrew, which language, ac-
cording to her own assertion, she so
completely understood that she trans
lated Holy Writ and several comment
aries from the original text into Ger
man.
Henriettawa was twelve and half years
old when the highly esteemed physician,
DR., Marcus Herr, the pet pupil of Kant
and one Of the most ingenious men of
Berlin, asked for her hand in marriage.
The parents gave their consent and,
without stopping to question the child
bride, she was led into the arms of the
man nearly twice her age. The bride