assembling only on particular occasions. The girls and boys are in separate houses. Each group or family is under the management of an assistant master or "Brother," the whole being under the general superintendence of M. Wichern, who appears to breathe his spirit into the entire establishment. These Brothers, at first selected and appointed especially with a view to this institution only, now form a society which supplies missionaries and teachers to various parts of Germany, from which they are sent here to receive a most admirable preparation for future usefulness. "The assistants of the institutions," says the report, "called by the children Brothers, receive no salary, but in its stead such instruction from the superintendent as may enable them hereafter to take the management of similar institutions. They are young men acquainted with some manual trade or with agriculture, or able in other ways to make themselves practically useful, and who are willing, from Christian love, to devote themselves to these destitute children."

M. Wichern's guiding principle in this institution is thus stated by him. "One great cause of demoralization of the lowest class, is the pressure of shameless, selfabandoned poverty. We therefore establish as a principle that the way of life in our institution shall not tend to make the children forget that they belong to this class of the poor; the children on the other hand, shall be trained to feel that poverty in itself is not an evil, but depends upon the spirit in which it is borne. According to this principle will be regulated the clothing, and the food, which must be wholesome, but as simple as possible, also the instruction, which will be limited to reading, writing, arithmetic, and singing. The children shall indeed learn to implore their daily bread from their Father in Heaven; but at the same time to earn it from their fellow men honestly and unrepiningly, in the sweat of their brow; and the whole course of life and occupation will have for its aim to prepare them for obtaining by their own energies, those comforts and necessaries which some procure with great expense from the labor of others."

Let us now then trace M. Wichern's experience by extracting passages from his annual reports, occupying a period from April, 1835, to the present time. We give his own simple details.

"1834. It has often been asked, how these boys, almost all accustomed to theft, behave in this respect. Every occasional visitor may see, that with regard to our own property we employ no precautions, and suffer no loss. Nor have we had complaints on this points from without, though from the first I have daily sent out many of the children into the town, or for miles into the country around. From the commencement, however, we have expressly excluded them from the kitchen. Their lingering propensity to theft principally takes the form of gluttony, which in some is its only manifestation. Single instances, however, may show the prevailing spirit. Last summer, three boys had plucked three gooseberries in the garden; the others learned it, and would not be satisfied till the three came to me and confessed their fault. Once, after some serious conversation, one, among several others, came to tell me of his having gathered the pease of another, and his regret for the vexation and disappointment which he had caused. "1835. Lying, and a spirit of disorder and indecorum, are the dark side of the picture which we have to present, and often tax severely the most enduring patience. At one period, in consequence of repeated acts of pilfering, &c., I ordered the morning and evening family-worship to be for a time suspended. This produced a powerful effect on the minds of all. And after our regular services had been resumed, I learnt, for the first time, that during their suspension many little associations had been formed among the children, for reading and explaining the Word of God among themselves. One evening, as I was passing through the garden, I heard singing, and found seven or eight boys, who had assembled to hear one of their companions read the Scriptures. A party of boys planned and completed a hut similar to that built by D. But they discovered in the timber-work a piece of wood, which one of their number had abstracted without permission from the larger building. This discovery excited them all against G.; and a boy of 12 years, a favorite for his obliging disposition, ran eagerly to fetch an axe, with which, in presence of the offender, he struck so lustily on the laboriously-crected edifice, that the whole was soon a heap of ruins. None of the before delighted builders ever took any farther account of it.

"1837.

For a year and a half no child has run away. It has been again proved that for an institution which is pervaded by the right spirit, no wall is precisely the strongest wall, and thus such an institution seems enabled to spread an attracting influence, like a net, around it, beyond its local limits. With regard to the children who

have left us, all are in the service of artizans, except one, who is an errand boy. One girl is in service. Hitherto we have not had any instances of relapse into evil habits; on the contrary, those who have left us persevere in the way of life to which they have been trained. To this their employers bear witness. One master having had a boy from the institution a year in his service, has asked for and engaged a second in addition."

"The progress made by the children in their education is on the whole satisfactory. All the boys, except one, will soon be able to read fluently; this one, 18 years old, will probably never do so. In winter, about three hours daily are given to instruction; in summer about 2 1-2. The remaining time, excepting holidays, and prayer-hours, are devoted to labor We still require a more advanced practical training and employment for those boys whose superior faculties demand further development. I have however always avoided merely mechanical trades. Our object is to call all the powers into exercise, in combination with moral aims. The four assistants who have entered since the beginning of 1836, were previously artizans, or practical men in some department.

"Some lads, on visiting their parents, and finding the house unswept, have taken up a broom, and performed voluntarily that to which no compulsion could force them. And when the parents have wished the children to remain with them for the night, the reply has been: That will not do; not one of us can be spared, we are all wanted to help each other.'

"Last year 11 or 12 pieces of money were taken from a grown up member of the family; suspicion could of course fall only upon the boys; but our search was unavailing. After more than six weeks, some of us heard several of the boys, in conversing together, make great use of the work eleven. I accordingly sent for these boys, without letting them know for what purpose, or allowing them to speak to each other. There were five of them. From the first, whom I spoke to in my room, nothing could be extracted; and it was afterwards discovered that he had really not been concerned in the affair. The rest were called in, one by one, and all persisted that they had only been talking of 11 nails. All agreed in referring to an incident that had occurred that day to which the 11 nails bore reference. Nearly half a year afterwards it was discovered that they had really been speaking of the 11 pieces of money, which one of them had stolen; and had been much perplexed at finding themselves overheard. But, while prevented by the presence of an overlooker from speaking, one of them had stealthily pointed to his hand, then touched with one finger a nail in a bench; the other three understood the sign, and all accordingly agreed in one tale.

"I have allowed certain boys, who have proved themselves trustworthy, and who are old onough, to take a share in superintending the others, under the name of PeaceBoys. They have no positive authority, either to command or even to reprove; but are only to influence and remind. They are chosen every month, in the family gatherings on Saturday evening; any one who proves himself wholly unworthy, being excluded.

"Any one acquainted with the daily outbreaks among us of rudeness and coarseness, of obstinacy, audacity, and shameless lying, will easily believe that corporal chastisement is sometimes necessary. For serious offences also, I have found special oversight, combined with silence, extremely effectual. A boy under sentence of silence may not speak to any but the grown up residents; he is closely watched both in work and in leisure hours, to maintain this isolation. Against the incredibly numerous instances of destructiveness, we have long contended in vain; no oversight, nor even corporal punishment, avails to check them. All is however altered, since I have assigned regular pocket-money to each boy, and deducted, from the fund so applied, part at least in payment of damages. All destructible articles seem suddenly to have acquired at least a negative worth for all.

"The state of health has been satisfactory. During the 4 1-2 years since the foundation of the institution, we have had, thank God! no death, among children or elders The scrofulous tendency, with which most on their entrance are infested, remains our greatest evil. Accidents occupy the next place.

1838. A change of assistants has caused much difficulty. The superintendent of the girls' house had left, and her place was not immediately supplied. The old sin quickly reappeared among them with a few consolatory exceptions. All our regulations, and the efforts of three plain tradesmen's wives, selected one after the other to superintend them, proved unavailing. The utmost that could be attained was superficial decorum, which might have partially deceived me, had I not lived so entirely among the children. The girls' department was like a garden from which the care of the gardener had been withdrawn. Among other bad symptoms were the gradual Cessation of the songs, before so frequent; and the extinction of all interest in God's Word.

"Among the boys the evil took a different form. We need only hint at the disorders resulting among them from the irregularities of the girls. Hypocricy, and mutual accusations are other features of the picture, which became daily more gloomy.

Frivolity, shamelessness, grevious ingratitude, audacious perverseness, excessive laziness, strife and ill-nature, were the more ordinary manifestations of the inward evil. A certain satiety of bodily food even, no less than the bread of life, prevailed; and we tried the experiment of enforced abstinence from both. The experiment succeeded to a great extent with a considerable number, but only temporarily. The crisis had not yet arrived. Several attempts at escape, false accusations, and a series of offences of the most scandalous character, gradually drew attention to two boys as the principal authors of the mischief. One, 19 years old, had for three years abused our pa tience; the other had been four years with us. Both finally made their escape, and fell into the hands of the police. From this time our community gradually recovered its moral health.

"1843. During the past year we have had eleven attempts at escape (successful and unsuccessful.) Three of these originating in temporary causes, are of little importance; the other eight were serious, planned deliberately and cunningly, residents of some standing, and accompanied by aggravating circumstances. The majority of the boys showed themselves very zealous in the pursuit. It has occurred that a runaway has voluntarily returned; but most have been traced with much difficulty. There have also, of course, been many instances of underhand disobedience and bad conduct in the course of the year.

"We now turn to the brightest side; but here the very multiplicity of instances baffles our endeavor to give a just notion of our progress. On the whole, the spirit of obedience, gratitude, industry, reverence for God's Word, and religious ordinances, the spirit of love and truth, reign among our children; so that any one dwelling among them must be happy, notwithstanding occasional temporary disturbances, from which no society can be exempt.

"I instance first, the renewed love of the children to their parents and relations. This is almost always the result of their residence here; and none can fully appreciate the change, without being aware of the dreadful estrangement, or ill-treatment on one side or both, which before existed, Money has more than once been offered me by parents as the price of their children's amendinent.

-, a girl, who had formerly attacked her mother's life, now sits in tears a whole afternoon, if disappointed of a visit from her. When asked the cause, she replied that when she lived with her mother, she did not love her, and often wished to leave her; but that she now loves her infinitely. And her actions prove that love and fidelity, not only to her mother, but to all, have become part of her being. We sometimes overhear, (without listening, which is wholly forbidden here,) two children talking together of their love for parents and brethren, a feeling before unknown to them. When the Brothers' visit the parents on Sunday, they are frequently shown letters received by them from the children, often most expressive of renewed filial love. One young boy had wholly estranged the affection of his parents by his excesses; when he one afternoon went from us to visit them, they wholly ignored his presence, not recognizing him by even an angry word. Yet at length a letter from him rejoiced them with the conviction of his amendment; the means remained a riddle to them. These people were in comparatively easy circumstances. Another mother, excellent but poor, had wholly despaired for her son; now this boy is often accessible to no other influence than that exercised on him by the mention of his mother, and after a visit from hin she repeated his words, addressed to her: How glad I am to have gone to the Rauhe Haus; now if my mother should die, I should not be the cause of it, as I should have been before when I gave her so much trouble.' A gay, powerful lad returned weeping from a visit to his parents. His brother had run away from home. When he described his mother's grief, he wept still more violently; but in relating how his father had bade her not trouble herself so much about the lad, his heart seemed ready to break. All night he could not sleep, and next morning insisted on starting off to Hamburgh in search of his brother. And this boy when he came to us three years ago, had nearly destroyed his mother by twenty attempts at running

away.

"We might go on to speak of those already long dismissed, who have commended their brothers to us, or have supported their families by their own labor.

"We frequently allow the children to go home; last year nearly fifty have sometimes visited their parents on the same afternoon. At certain hours, 7, 7 1-2, or 8, all return punctually, and never but once has any real evil arisen.

"The mutual influence of the children on each other is wonderful. For instance : A very wild intractable boy, of considerable age, entered, after his novitiate, one of the families. A certain gentleness, and susceptibility to affection, occasionally gleamed through his rude nature. He seemed to suit none of the boys in that house; but another boy, far less developed in all respects, attached himself to him. The intercourse was undisguised, and gave cause for both hope and fear. The younger seemed bound to the elder by some instinct, till his milder nature, without intention on his own part, seems to have leavened the whole character of the other. "We have little difficulty in disposing of our dismissed pupils; on the contrary, it is impossible for us to comply with all the applications from master artizans in Ham

burgh and its environs, and even more remote districts. At Easter, 1845, 33 such applications were made, and several who had before had apprentices from us.

"Our surveillance of those who have left us is in no respect altered. It is no police superintendence, but a paternal oversight, exercised by the writer of this report, in co-operation with the resident brothers. If necessary we visit the apprentices at their masters' houses weekly, but in the ordinary way, only once a fortnight; and every fortnight I assemble them on Sunday afternoon or evening, in summer at the Institution, in winter in the town. When on Good Friday 70 of us celebrated the Lord's supper, there were among the number all our apprenticed pupils but one, who was hindered by no fault of his own. It is not to be expected that among so many young people no disorders should arise; but a whole month frequently passes without any complaints of the apprentices; and when such do occur, they are mostly of such faults as are common among all apprentices; there are individuals, however, of whom no complaint has ever been heard. Our correspondence, were its publication allow able, would be the strongest proof that our labor has not been lost."

The daily routine of the families is thus given in the Report for 1843-4.

"The best houses (unfortunately only three) have the rooms on the ground floor. Each contains a dwelling room, with tables, benches, and chests; and a sleeping-room adjoining for the 12 children. The 'brother' or 'sister' shares both rooms with them. These three houses have an adjoining kitchen, with an apparatus for washing, shoe cleaning, &c. All the furniture is home-made. Before the house is a play-ground, more or less shaded. Round the play-ground lie the flower beds of the twelve inmates and of the brothers;' adjoining is a well-kept kitchen garden. Such vegetables as are raised by the childrens' own labor, afford the family certain extra delicacies for the table, instead of being merely converted, like the rest, into common soup.

an

"At half-past four in summer, five in winter, the tower bell rings, and the whole family rises. The brother or sister pronounces a short morning prayer; the beds are made, and all wash and dress. In summer all the boys go to bathe in the pond. The rooms are then arranged, the shoes cleaned, &c. Those who have time sit down to study, or work in the kitchen garden. The brother regulates all. At six the bell again rings, and the family accompany the brother, their bibles under their arm, to the prayer hall, where the whole number are assembled to family devotion. After about hour the several families return to breakfast in their own dwellings. Then the family is dispersed among the various workshops till twelve. (An hour's instruction, however, generally precedes these labors.) At twelve the family reassemble, with the brother. One of them appointed to that office, has already prepared the table; two others fetch from the mother-house' the food prepared in the general kitchen, the brother pronounces a short prayer at the commencement and conclusion, and all eat their meal amid familiar conversation; each having his own plate. Then follows a free interval, in which they play, cultivate their flower-beds, read, &c. The table waiters' for the day wash the dishes and arrange the room. An hour from the commencement of the meal the bell rings for work. At half-past four each family reassembles for the evening repast. From five to seven, work and instruction, not in the private dwelling. From seven to eight, leisure time, each family circle reassembling; at eight, the general family devotion; and at a quarter to nine, having supped, each family withdraws to its dwelling, and shortly after to bed. The brother sleeps in the midst of his family but goes later to bed. Every Saturday two or three children of each family scour the house thoroughly; and from five to six in the evening, the whole family unite to put their play-ground and kitchen garden in order."

The weekly conferences and the peculiar occupations of the Sundays and holidays must not be omitted. They are recorded in the reports for 1845 and 1846.

"From six to seven on Saturday evening each family holds a weekly discourse;' that is, a weekly text' is selected at this hour by the family; and the following Saturday the brother makes this the ground of an address to the children on the domestic occurrences of the past week. Each member is now instructed, by a table of occupations,' what employment is allotted to him for the following week; and all those who have had charge of the domestic affairs during that just past, are required to deliver back their various utensils, in good order to the presiding brother.

"The weekly conferences are as follows: Each brother writes, in the course of the week, a journal, in which he notes everything worthy of remark respecting his children. These papers are delivered to the superior, for careful perusal; and these furnish materials for the conference at which all the brothers, without exception, are present.

"On Sunday none but indispensable work is done. Clean linen and best clothes are put on. The families take it by turns to go early in the morning, with gardening implements, to the Rauhe Haus grave' in the churchyard, where three inmates have reposed for nearly eleven years. The grave is marked by a tall oaken cross, with the words: Christ is my life. The children put the spot in order, weed the flower-bed

round the cross, and sometimes hang up a garland. In the afternoon, after the short service, all the families go for a walk, greeting kindly many whom they meet. A few children are visited by their parents, others go to visit them.

"Many festivals are celebrated. At Advent, the children have each their own poor allotted to them; these they visit, with gifts purchased from their savings, or made by themselves. The birthdays of the father' and the 'brothers' are generally discovered, however carefully concealed, and gifts are prepared with all possible secrecy in play-hours. One of themselves, on his birthday, is often awakened by the song and greetings of his comrades; and when the family is gathered at table, he has generally a gift from each. One boy, on such an occasion, remained so melancholy as to cause questions; it was found on that very day twelve months, he had tried to escape. Nine days before the present birthday, he had vainly endeavored to dissuade a new comer from doing the like.

66

Every superintendent of a family is confined to his own circle, in which he is in like manner free from the interference of others; while the neighborly intercourse of the various families is also a peculiar and valuable feature."

Since the foundation of the Institution in 1833, 207 children, 157 boys and 50 girls have been received into it:

"117 have left us; the condition of these is as follows:

Now under the exclusive care of their parents

21

26985

48

1

13

6

117."

Of all these only five can be deemed failures, three males and one female having been imprisoned, one female having become a vagrant.

Such are the results of nearly twenty years of patient labor; labor made sweet by the consciousness that it was God's work which was being carried on. The spirit which animated it is manifested in the following address of its founder on one of their anniversaries.

"For the Anniversary of the Swiss House, July 20, 1834.

"Yearly, on the 20th of July, the Rauhe Haus, with all therein small and great, remembers how on this day, in the year 1834, our dear Swiss House was consecrated to the Saviour, as the good Shepherd; on a Sunday noon, in such bright sunshine that only God's love could shine more brightly.

"But since God has blessed us with rich and manifold blessings through the erection of this house, and since besides this house was the first which the hands of our dear boys aided, strongly and strenuously, to build, for themselves and their succeeding brothers, we will relate among ourselves the history of this house; how it originated, when it was begun, and, how it was finally completed, to God's honor, his ereatures' joy, his childrens' blessing.

"Therefore we thus relate:

"We know of the 12th Sept., 1833, in what spirit and with what aim the Rauhe Haus was founded, and how it was occupied by twelve boys to the end of that year. These twelve boys were our William, Charles, Christian, David I., Edward, John, Cornelius, Nicholas, George I., Thomas, Augustus, Frederick; all of honorable memory among us; who have adorned the Rauhe Haus with many a permanent memorial of their joint industry, not to be forgotten. We will name in this place only one ;the removal of the wall, which once surrounded our garden to the west and south. The labor was completed on 25th Jan. 1834. They designed to show thereby to all future comrades and friends forever, that the Rauhe Haus is a house of free love, which suffers no walls, no bolts; because the love of Christ binds more strongly than either walls or bolts. At times even till late in the night, by lamplight, these boys spared not the sweat of their brow, to accomplish this first united labor, till house and garden lay clear to all eyes; a sign at the same time that our work is not done in a corner, but publicly before the eyes of men, as before God.

"Then came the month of February, and with it the first life of spring in the year 1834. Many blessed and sanctifying days had the Father in heaven already bestowed on his poor family in the Rauhe Haus, to his praise be it said, hope glanced with longing toward our native city, asking whether the faithful God would make it possible