make use of this feature in his character; and
would thereby save themselves from the first outburst of his anger.
They confessed beforehand to the Mother their bits of misdoings, and
begged her to inflict the punishment, and prevent their falling into
the heavier paternal hand. Towards the Son again, whose moral
development his Father anxiously watched over, his wrath was at times
disarmed by touches of courage and fearlessness on the Boy's part.
Thus little Fritz, once on a visit at Hohenheim, in the house where
his Father was calling, and which formed part of the side-buildings of
the Castle, whilst his Father followed his business within doors, had,
unobserved, clambered out of a saloon-window, and undertaken a voyage
of discovery over the roofs. The Boy, who had been missed and
painfully sought after, was discovered just on the point of trying to
have a nearer view of the Lion's Head, by which one of the
roof-gutters discharges itself, when the terrified Father got eye on
him, and called out aloud. Cunning Fritz, however, stood motionless
where he was on the roof, till his Father's anger had stilled itself,
and pardon was promised him.'--Here farther is a vague anecdote made
authentic: 'Another time the little fellow was not to be found at the
evening meal, while, withal, there was a heavy thunderstorm in the
sky, and fiery bolts were blazing through the black clouds. He was
searched for in vain, all over the house; and at every new
thunder-clap the misery of his Parents increased. At last they found
him, not far from the house, on the top of the highest lime-tree,
which he was just preparing to descend, under the crashing of a very
loud peal. "In God's name, what hast thou been doing there?" cried the
agitated Father. "I wanted to know," answered Fritz, "where all that
fire in the sky was coming from!"

'Three full years the Schiller Family lived at Lorch; and this in
rather narrow circumstances, as the Father, though in the service of
his Prince, could not, during the whole of this time, receive the
smallest part of his pay, but had to live on the little savings he had
made during War-time. Not till 1768, after the most impressive
petitioning to the Duke, was he at last called away from his post of
Recruiting Officer, and transferred to the Garrison of Ludwigsburg,
where he, by little and little, squeezed out the pay owing him.

'Upon his removal, the Father's first care was to establish his little
Boy, now