was that we learnt very little, and I was sent to an old Jew to
learn French and a little English. That old Jew, called Levy Rubens,
was a perfect gentleman. He probably had been a commercial traveller
in his early days, though no one knew exactly where he came from or
how he had learnt languages. He had taught my father and grandfather
and he was delighted to teach the third generation. He certainly spoke
French and English fluently, but with the strongest Jewish accent, and
this was inherited by all his pupils at Dessau. I feel ashamed when I
think of the tricks we played the old man--putting mice into his
pockets, upsetting inkstands over his table, and placing crackers
under his chairs. But he never lost his temper; he never would have
dared to punish us as we deserved; but he went on with his lesson as
if nothing had happened. He took his small pay, and was satisfied
when his lessons were over and he could settle down to his long pipe
and his books. He lived quite alone and died quite alone, a
hardworking, honest, poor Jew, not exactly despised or persecuted, but
not treated with the respect which he certainly deserved, and which he
would have received if he had not been a Jew.

Our public school was as good as any in Germany. These small duchies
generally followed the example of Prussia, and they carried out the
instructions issued by the Ministry of Education at Berlin according
to the very letter. Besides, several of the reigning dukes had taken a
very warm and personal interest in popular education, and at the
beginning of the century the eyes of the whole of Germany, nay, of
Europe, were turned towards the educational experiments carried on by
my great-grandfather, Basedow,[6] at the so-called Philanthropinum at
Dessau under the patronage of the Duke and of several of the more
enlightened sovereigns of Europe, such as the Empress Catherine of
Russia, the King of Denmark, the Emperor Joseph of Austria, Prince
Adam Czartoryski, &c. Even after Basedow's death the interest in
education was kept alive in Dessau, and all was done that could be
done in so small a town to keep the different schools--elementary,
middle-class, and high schools--on the highest possible level of
efficiency.

[6] Johann Bernhard Basedow, von seinem Urenkel, F. M. M.
(Essays, Band IV).

Bathing was a very healthful recreation, though I very nearly came to
grief from trusting to my seniors. They could swim and I could not
yet. But wh