hrough the great gateway between nine and
ten o'clock, the steeds of their State carriage were champing, and
pawing the pavement of the quadrangle, held in check by the officials
who were awaiting their return.
The Crown Princess Frederick was the patroness of nearly every
undertaking in Berlin for the good of women and children, and, with
her noble husband, often visited among them. "On one occasion," said a
German lady to me, "some one asked of the Crown Prince the particulars
of a certain benevolent enterprise. 'Ask my wife,' replied the Prince;
'she knows everything,'" It is certain that, from Kindergarten and
other schools, to cooking-schools, training-schools for nurses,
hospitals, and a school for the daughters of officers who would be
taught art, literature, science, as a practical help in the battle of
self-support, there seemed to be no enterprise which could not count
as its chief patron the Crown Princess Victoria. The aged Empress
Augusta was also the patron of girls' schools and soup-kitchens, to
the number of more than a dozen, and was counted by many the especial
friend of the very poor.
One of the most interesting institutions to which we had access was
founded upwards of twenty years ago by Dr. Adolph Lette, of Berlin,
whose plans have since his death been faithfully carried out by his
daughter, Frau Schepeler-Lette, who devotes nearly her entire time to
its supervision. It was also under the patronage of the Crown
Princess. Its object is to promote the higher education and practical
industry of women, and to render single and friendless women the help
and protection so much needed in all large cities. Many English and
some American girls have reason to bless this institution, which knows
no rank, no nationality, but only need, as the password to its
gracious and abounding ministries.
One of its departments is the Charlotten-Stiftung, intended to help
destitute daughters of German noblemen and military and civil officers
to earn their own livelihood by giving them a practical education,
especially in dress-making, cooking, and the management of a
household. This department was founded and endowed by a noble German
lady with property yielding an annual income of nearly twenty thousand
dollars.
Another department is the Bank of Loans. Its object is to assist
unmarried women in establishing and maintaining shops, especially
those who wish to establish business in some art-industry. No
individual
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