take the bath, and Uncle Braun can give me the
eight cents, which is just the same to him as if I took the bath."

"Oh, Fritz, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!" exclaimed Paul. "It
was not money, but a bath that Uncle Braun offered us."

Fritz had thought of this before Paul spoke, and his face had turned
very red, and he could not raise his eyes to the face of his old friend.

But Uncle Braun laughed heartily at the different expressions upon the
countenances of the three boys.

"I am much older than our little man, Fritz, and I must say that I would
be tempted to strike a bargain with somebody if every penny was stolen
from me. Now in such a predicament, I think we should help each other,
so I will give Fritz five nickels to put in his empty pocket which will
at least make a jingle."

"No, no, I will not take them!" cried Fritz, flushing warmly, "I am
ashamed of myself."

"Fritz," said Paul, "it is a very different thing for you to take the
money that Uncle Braun offers you as a gift, than to ask for money in
place of a bath when he offers you the bath."

Franz saw the affair in the same light and advised the acceptance of the
nickels, but added that it would take too much time to take a bath when
there was so much they wished to see.

They passed on to the residence streets of the city where were some
elegant dwellings, one of which especially attracted the attention of
Fritz.

"Does a Rothschild live there?" he asked.

"No; there is no male descendant of Mayer Anselm Rothschild living now
in Frankfort; nor is there now a Rothschild banking house."

"Was Mayer Anselm always rich?" asked Fritz.

"No. He came of poor Jewish parentage, and lived in his childhood in a
poor little dwelling in a narrow street, but by his honesty and strict
integrity he became the founder of a banking house known over the world,
and his five sons, Anselm, Solomon, Nathan, Charles and James, became
heads of great banking houses in different cities."

"Then the father was born in Frankfort?" remarked Paul.

"Yes. Mayer Anselm Rothschild was born in Frankfort in the year 1743,
and died here in 1812."

"Then he was six years older than Goethe," commented Paul.

"Yes, they were great men in their different lines, and were
contemporaries; that is, they lived at the same time."

"But it must have been tiresome to stay in a bank and count money,"
remarked Franz. "I would rather be a forester and live in the woods. My
father