The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-11-03

TREND to her brothers nome IOT tne
holidays, and as her fathers bright
and intelligent companion, sweeten-
ing his leisure hours.
But we now live in a time of tran
sition, and new ideas are making way
which open larger activity to the
fair sex. Deaconesses institutions,
which exercise their beneficial activi-
ty all over Germany and beyond her
frontiers for now fifty years, gave I'M
married women a noble calling to
nurse the sick, to visit the poor, and
to bring to both the glad tidings of
the Gospel. We find all classes of
society represented in these institu-
tons. Higher schools for girls, and
seminaries for female teachers, also
prepare women for larger activity,
and quite recently number of in
fuent;al men have started gym
nasium," as we here term the upper
schools, where Latin and Greek are
taught preparatory to the university,
for young women. The admission of
the latter to our universities is only
question of time. Yet according to
German ideas all these things are
only meant for the number of I'M
married women who have no home
and are obliged to earn their bread.
The home is always considered the
woman's chief place. We have now,
thank God, number of ladies who
do voluntary mission work, but this
should never interfere with the home
duties. The influence the women ex-
ercise on the nation by the training of
its future members as mother, is con-
sidered to be not only her chief duty,
but only so grand and so important
that it is well worth dedicating life
to it. One of our great German
writer's says, 81 am glad that l had a
mother who was not one of the mod
ern ladies who seek their activity in
number of associations out of the
house, but who belonged to me and
watched anxiously over my child
hood" There may be just little
narrowness in this view OF woman's
duty, but it would be shortsighted
not to recognize it's lofty side, and we
hope that the progress of time will
not quite do away with the good old
tradition.
Music has a great place in the
German home. There is hardly a
home where not one member at least
is endowed with this gift. The
greatest masters of music were Ger
mans. How attractive is the simple
German song, how deeply moving
the German hymn (''choral'). The
gift of singing is widely spread in
our nation, and excellent conservato-
ries, which are also an attraction for
foreigners, cultivate this art for church
and home. A favorite recreation of
the German is to sit with his family
in the open air as soon as the Sum-
mer weather permits it. In the large
towns every small bit of garden is
carefully cultivated-one often sees
families sitting together on the bal
cony, and when time allows, the faith
er likes to take his whole family with
him on an excursion and to sit with
them in a public garden listening to
music.
On the whole society is simple. In
old times very good example was
given in this respect by our sover-
eigns. How simple were the parties
given by the Kings Frederick Will
lam III. and ". of Prussia; hardly
as much was given as would now be
placed on the table of nobleman,
not to speak of rich man of bust
ness. Our kings liked to draw emf
nent men, poets, writers, artists, to
their table, and the intellectual part
of society was the prominent one.
This is also changing now under the
influence of the times. We see in
many houses a society which is more
an unpleasant duty than recreation.
Large dinners and suppers often ex-
coed the means of those who give
them; but nobody likes to remain
behind his friends and colleagues,
and 90 many people rather renounce
part of their domestic comfort than
forego these invitations, which they
consider as a social duty springing
from their position in life. But even
if materialism has increased in this
respect, literature and science and
intellectual conversation still hold
large part of German society. Many
wish to shine by knowledge and wit,
and the tendency to defend ones own
opinion is perhaps one of the sides of
the German character which does not
always make it popular to strangers.
The family tie is sacred in Germa-