Evening star., 1901-09-21

shorten the grand personage's brevet title
by so much as a single consonant. To the
EXcelenZa-the Frau Generalin-iS assigned
the place of honor on the stiff-backed sofa
before which is planted the small, lace
covered table. When she enters all rise,
the Frau Haptmann-the wife of the cap
tain-the Frau Professorin, the Frau Kauf
mann and, no matter their graces, wealth
and virtue they remain standing until the
great lady is seated. All have brought their
work sewing or knitting, in pretty work
bags; coffee and cakes are served and the
time is devoted to talk-or, rather, the dis
cussion of the servant question, the price
Of veal or beef, with any permissible scam
dal, which, however, must be dealt with
discreetly, since young girls are present.
Men are not invited. Invitations to a kaf-
fee Klatsch are usually from to s.
Dinner is much more solemn occasion,
and upon the arrival of the guests the hus-
bands betake themselves to separate
apartment, where they smoke and talk poll
tics-guardedly in these days, with the fear
of lese majeste ever present-while their
wives in the drawing room gossip and knit
the knitting occupying them on almost all
occasions. Preliminary tea and cakes serve
to ameliorate the pangs of waiting for the
more formal feast to follow. In the draw
ing room and at table the Frau Generalin
takes her proper place, the humblest of the
guests-fxed by her husbands vocation
bringing up the rear of the procession, and
being assigned an unobtrusve seat below
the salt.
Few in Business.
There are few opportunities for German
women to engage in business independent
ly, the law Of the land, as in France and
elsewhere, giving the husband entire con-
troll of the wifes earnings. Women carry
on small shops, and, in the country, not
only work in dairieS, but in the actual
labor of tilling the SOIL sowing the grain
and gathering the harvests. In the vine
growing districts they also form an i'm
DOrtant industrial factor i'm the cn1fiVa tiOn
of the vines, and through every stage of
the vintage In the cities they sell their
garden produce in the markets and are fire.
quently employed as hod carriers and mes
sengers-labor necessitated by the absence
of men, a large proportion of whom are
serving in the army.
Midwives and trained nurses are employ
ed-the former In every town and city in
the empire-and are carefully trained for
their calling. Women physicians have made
their way for some time two of eminence,
DR.. Siebel and Fraulein Dorothea Chris
tfana EreXleben, having distinguished
themselves SO long ago as the reign of
Frederick the Great. Fraulein EreXleben
obtained permission to practice, after hav-
ing received the doctorate degree from the
University of Halle.
Professional Pioneers.
Two others of note - pioneers in these
latter days-were Frauein Francisco Ii
bertius, the daughter Of farmer on the
Island Rigus, and DR.. Emily Lehmus, the
daughter of clergyman in Furth. Both
settled In Berlin, where they found DR..
Henrietta Hirshfield, dentist, already es-
tablfshed. She had studied her profession
in Philadelphia, received her degree and
returned to practice in Germany.
The objection to German women entering
professions seems to be largely theoretical;
a prejudice against class, not the indi-
vidual, since these women, and others who
succeeded them, married Germans of high
professional position.
Notwithstanding the general policy OF
repression that has discouraged women
from engaging in professional work or
seeking broader intellectual culture, Ger
many has produced women Of notable force
and intelligence. The Empress Augusta,
grandmother Of the present emperor, pro-
fessed an interest, as became her rank, in
literature art and science. The present
empress, who was the Princess Augusta
Victoria of Schleswig, while by no means
brilliant possesses those sterling virtues
and mother. 1t has been said that she
lacks amiability, but this is the verdict of
enemies-for even an empress has her de-
tractors. At the same time. her simplicity
and modesty and devotion to her husband
are fully acknowledged
"A Progressive Empress.
But it was the Empress Frederick, the
eldest daughter Of Queen Victoria, that
Germany is indebted for innovations that
no German woman would have had the