THE Reformatory of John Falk, at Weimar, was the imperfect beginning of a movement which has spread largely over Germany. The work has branched out into many forms of Christian effort, and has borne manifold fruit. Foremost among the noble workers and leaders stands Dr. Wichern, who passed away to his eternal rest in April, 1881.

Left fatherless at an early age, the scanty means of his mother sustained him at the University, where he manifested the first fruits of that piety and consecration to God which so signally marked his career to its close. We see him now as a candidat awaiting ordination and a pastorate. He is with his mother in his native city of Hamburg, a city full of sins and sorrow. Cholera had been making fearful ravages, and was yet striking down its victims, when, in October, 1832, Wichern and a few congenial friends met in the room of a humble schoolmaster. The men were for the most part poor, some of them artisans. They were a society for visiting the sick. Wichern had already given himself to diligent work as a Sunday-school teacher. He studied deeply the state and need of the juvenile population of large cities, gathering statistics over a wide field. He felt that the great need of the young was home, and home-like Christian influences. Amidst the most harrowing scenes Wichern found his benign employment. One little circumstance which he himself tells us may serve to illustrate the whole. A brother and sister were sitting together in one of the dens of Hamburg. "What shall I do ?" moans the boy. "Go and drown yourself," said the girl, "and I'll follow you.' He went to the water, and had taken off his clothes, when God in mercy sent a friendly hand to save him. The young candidat, then twenty-four years of age, brooded anxiously over these things; and then he prayed and thought again, nor did he rest till he saw a way by which, with God's help, he might haply succor those "ready to perish."

The story of those early struggles is a very affecting one, and is told at some length in John de Liefde's "Charities of Europe," and Stevenson's "Praying and Working." Statistics of Hamburg in 1848 show that out of every five children born one was illegitimate; and the condition of the lower and poorer class was something terrible. In other places earnest men had begun to bestir themselves; and Falck at Weimar, Zellar at Beuggen, and others, were already putting forth fruit-bearing efforts to reclaim the moral and spiritual wastes. They had established "houses of refuge and redemption" for the abandoned and neglected children of their neighborhoods, and their example so fired the mind of Wichern that he could get no rest till a similar effort was in operation for Hamburg.

He had neither money nor influence-nothing but his own warm, throbbing heart, and a strong faith in God. As a Sunday-school teacher and as a visitor of the poor he had become acquainted with the awful need for rescuework; for even if the case of the adults was hopeless, that of the children, at any rate, was not. A House of Refuge must be founded-"not in Hamburg, of course, for that would be keeping the children in the very atmosphere they ought to be removed from; but near Hamburg, somewhere down in the country, where fresh air and wholesome labor would invigorate the body, and a Christian family life, carried on with patriarchal simplicity, would revive the spirit."

"About this time," he says, "a little, unknown child

These were the thoughts which, on one October evening in 1832, he discussed with his friends and fellow-laborers, the members of the Visiting Society-men as poor as himself in this world's wealth, but rich in faith and love. Ere the meeting broke up the little band had determined, in God's name, to establish a Reformatory. They solemnly promised one another to give their minds no rest till the Rettungshaus was "prayed down from heaven." When meeting in the streets after this, they would whisper to each other, "You don't forget praying, do you?" And such prayers were not to be gainsayed.

One day a gentleman, a Government secretary, who knew nothing of their plan, handed to one of the friends seventy-five dollars to be used for some charitable purpose, and especially to help in raising up an institution for reclaiming criminals. A few weeks later, a clergyman, to whom the distribution of a bequest for benevolent purposes was intrusted, assigned five thousand dollars to the proposed Rettungshaus. Nor did their encouragement end here. "In January some of them started a periodical, which was to spread reformatory intelligence. On the very day of its first publication a lady left a large donation; in a few weeks it crept out that some servant-girls were collecting their mites; a journeyman shoemaker emptied out his saving-box with both gold and silver; many similar gifts flowed in, some of them wrapped up in encouraging texts of Scripture. It was felt that God was strangely working for them; the sympathies and sacrifices of the poor gave them hopefulness and strength; and at length they began to look for some suitable building."

But it was not all unalloyed, uninterrupted success. Far from it; and here it was that the strength of Wichern's character was seen.

There was then in Hamburg the Syndic Sieveking, and there is still near Hamburg the pretty village of Wandsbeck; and to those who have read the very touching and noble memoir of the bookseller Perthes, neither of these names will be unfamiliar; the one the name of a family loved and honored through many generations; the other known as the chosen home of Matthias Claudius. Sieveking had a considerable estate lying round the town, and on that part of it which verged upon Wandsbeck he presented ground for the Reformatory. It was one of the most charming spots in the neighborhood, and a most choice and picturesque site, and promised to be every way suitable and convenient. Very late on a Winter's evening Wichern hurried into town with the good news; but, late as it was, he assembled his friends for a thanksgiving, for had they not been simply waiting for what God would give them? and now, in three months, they had friends and money and lands!

In a day or two, however, tidings came that the will already mentioned was disputed; a few days latter it was found that the site was useless for building on. This was no light blow, and men less firm might have lost faith and let their purpose slip through their wavering, unsteady hold. But they were perfectly clear about their way, that it was the right way to reach their object, and that God would not disappoint their trust. They might have been

hasty and over-confident; they might be trusting in their success; they might need a warning; and they read the lesson truly, "That we should never build on anything but Him-no, not even on His gifts." And so they went on precisely as before, in prayer and calmness, and as hopeful as when they began. The issue deserves special heed. Mr. Sieveking bethought him one morning of a little place he had in Horn, between Wandsbeck and the Elbe. Unfortunately, it was leased, and the lease had some time to run; and as he went over to try what could be done with the tenants he felt by no means sanguine. Singularly enough, they were anxious to leave. The ground was not extensive, yet admirably adapted to the purpose; and there was a house upon it, no way remarkable, certainly, for it

was a little cottage half in ruins, but the rooms could be easily improved; the thatch was pretty good; there was a deep well close by, the finest chestnut of the neighborhood flung its shadow over the roof; there was a garden, and even a fish-pond, and the name of this spot from time immemorial had been, "Das Rauhe Haus." Improvements were immediately begun (it was the end of April); the will case went in favor of the charities, and was decided with an unusual quickness, and by August the friends were in possession of the money and the building.

The name Rauhe Haus, which in German means rough house-is really but an awkward translation of an original patois name into the more aristocratic vernacular. The house

was built some one or two hundred years

| cause they see." A large meeting was held on the 12th of September, 1833, at which resolutions were carried with enthusiastic applause, and a society was formed. On the 1st of November, Wichern, his mother by his side, entered the Rauhe Haus to begin the great work which the Saviour of the lost had prepared for him. There was no public inauguration, no festival, no shouting and applauding. The only demonstration was in the two pictures Sieveking, the honored Syndic, had hung up in the sittingroom-"Christ's Entry into Jerusalem," and "Jesus Blessing Little Children." Nothing could have been more appropriate.

Well, prayer had brought money and house, but what about children? Would the shy, restless, lawless street Arabs of Hamburg go

ago, by a certain Mr. Ruge, who was, perhaps, as little of a rough fellow as need be. The people had known it ever since by the name of its founder, "Ruge's House," but as the Saxon word ruge is the same as the English rough and the Dutch ruig, learned men thought that it ought to be translated by the corresponding German word rauh, just as the French tourist translated "Coward House" by la Maison du poltron. The boys of the neighborhood, however, know nothing of this scientific development, and continue to call the house by the name which good Mr. Ruge had thought proper to give it.

But to resume the thread of our story. Courage now came flying back to the faint-hearted. Now that Wichern's faith had created money and house, these in their turn induced faith among his friends. "It is the old story: some men see because they believe, and others believe be

out to the little country house to be taught and trained by the young minister? And, supposing they came, I would he be able to endure constant contact with such halfsavage, vicious, debased creatures? Prayer prevailed in this also.

Before a week had elapsed three boys came, and the year had not closed when there were twelve, with which number the little house was quite full. This was the first family. Wichern slept with them in the same bedroom, and took his meals with them in the same parlor. It was not exactly the most agreeable company one could wish for one's pleasure. Eight of them were illegitimate; four were brought up by drunken and criminal parents; one lad was known to the police for ninety-two thefts; one had escaped from

prison. But Wichern and his mother were but too happy to have them. Here was something for which to pray and to suffer, to wrestle and to toil. And what could love more delight in, provided there were some likelihood of saving a few ? Certainly it was an arduous task for the young man, who never had such work in hand before. But what he lacked in experience was made up by his kind mother's wisdom. And true, genuine love certainly imparts a wonderful talent for the work of training. The problem which was to be grappled with was, how to win the confidence of young liars and thieves who distrust everybody; how to make obedience a pleasure to young rascals who are resolved to obey nobody; and how to reconcile with an orderly and decent life young vagabonds who claimed the liberty of turning day into night, of running half-naked about the streets, and of dining off

potato-skins and other offal, with a pudding of tallow, such as is used for greasing shoes, by way of additional dainty.

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The boys learnt from Wichern the existence of that love which is plenteous in forgiveness, which "believeth all things and hopeth all things, endureth all things," and yet rejoiceth not in iniquity but in truth." Regular labor in the field and in the workshop soon came to be liked as a recreation, and the school-teaching as an amusement. Freedom, too, was honored as a queen. That ugly earth-bank, which inclosed the place like a prison, was dug away amidst loud hurrahs. Everybody could run away now whenever he liked. But nobody did, or the few who tried came back of their own accord. They found, after all, that the Ruge Hoos was the best place anybody could dream of.

One of the most striking, proofs that Providence had gifted Wichern with an extraordinary genius for administrative philanthropy, and with uncommon wisdom in the training of children, was afforded by his adoption of the family system, which was afterward so successfully imitated at the French and Dutch Mettrays. When the old Rauhe Haus was full with its twelve children, he did not think of enlarging it to hold more. He felt that this patriarchal number was quite sufficient for 8 man to be

stow his par

the centre. Each home is adapted for forty youths and and one or more care-takers, so that the establishment altogether consists of nearly eight hundred boys, forming about twenty large families, who unite in the culture of an extensive farm, and also when assembled for public worship and for military drill, but who are otherwise worked, lodged and fed in their respective homes, under their own "house-father." One of the houses, more prettily surrounded with flowers and ornamental shrubs than any of the others, is allotted to a number of the younger criminals and deserted children under the age of ten years. The other houses, which are named respectively after persons or places, as Paris, Tours, Orleans, Poictiers, Benjamin Delesseret, etc., contain groups of older boys, all of whom have been placed under arrest for leading criminal or vagrant lives, and are committed to Mettray as a place of reformation and detention.

A strict discipline, we are told by an experienced writer, is maintained at Mettray. The punishments inflicted are private remonstrance, public reprimands,

ental affection and care upon. There was room enough for building a house for a second family, and he had no objection to enlarge the place for more houses; but to enlarge the house for more children-never!

Upon this principle several family-houses were successively built in the course of the ensuing years, pretty little buildings, scattered all over the place in rather irregular order, for the one was built before it was known where the next one was to be located. They took their names from their peculiar form, or from some peculiar event, or other circumstance. And so there are "The Swiss House," and "The Green Fir," and "The Gold Bottom," and "The Beehive," and several others, all peopled with little families of boys or girls.

We have just referred to Mettray, and though we dare not linger now on the tempting theme, we should like just to glance en passant at the little township forming the agricultural colony and reformatory of Mettray, a short distance from the city of Tours. It consists of about twenty châlets, or homes, arranged in convenient order, and interspersed with trees and avenues, and having a church in

confinement during recreation hours, withdrawal of privileges and prizes, a dietary of bread and water, and imprisonment in a cell, light or dark, according to the nature of the offense. In connection with petty thefts, an opportunity for re-consideration is afforded each offender by the

erection, in an easily accessible but private spot, of a large box inscribed, "For things lost." When any object is missing no further inquiry is made if, within a day or two, it is found to be placed in this box, whence it can be promptly and quietly restored to its rightful owner. The "colony" possesses a banner, or flag, like that of an army regiment. This is, from time to time, entrusted to the care of the lads in the house whose inmates have received the smallest number of punishments. This mark of trust and honor is highly appreciated, and tends to increase the collective good influence of the members of each household. Thus, at times, when a lad is about to do a wrong act, his companions are bound to exclaim, "Don't do that, or you will prevent us from getting the flag!" On the occasion when the flag is formally entrusted to any particular household, its members take the first rank in a long procession, which, with the music of the band accompanying, files in military order through the extensive walks and avenues of the estate. The two chief elements of the remarkable reformatory success which has characterized Mettray are, first, the adoption of the family system, and, secondly, the

exercise of a permanent kindly oversight over all the youths, even after their dispersion to distant parts of France. The French Government pays 250 francs per annum for each boy sent to Mettray; but the actual cost is about $90 per head. The average annual value of each lad's labor is about $7.50. Hence a balance of about $35 each has to be made up by the voluntary subscriptions of the benevolent.

But this is a long digression. To return to the Rauhe Haus and Dr. Wichern. We have not space to trace the growth of the noble institution through its several stages of development, but we cannot resist quoting from The Charities of Europe two or three illustrative passages.

On the 3d of October, 1841, "The Beehive" was solemnly opened. It was so named because the twelve boys who entered it were compared to a swarm of bees, flying from one hive (the Swiss House) into another. It is pretty, strongly-built, and contains six spacious rooms. It is adorned by a beautiful veranda, a present from two ladies, who, after having inspected the house and learned its story, were pleased to give the boys this permanent token of their esteem and satisfaction.

In May, 1842, the first printing press was set up, the first sheet struck off being the Twenty-third Psalm. Just afterward, fire laid the city of Hamburg in ruins.

On the 19th of October, 1842, we find Wichern at a meeting of his committee in the midst of the débris of Hamburg. The Rauhe Haus had not been behind in coming to the rescue; it had proved a place of refuge to many a helpless family, driven out of its home by the raging flames. The fearful disaster had greatly increased the number of destitute children. Urgent applications came in on behalf of at least twenty-four, but there was not room for one. A new house ought to be built, but could this be thought of in present circumstances? There was not a cent left in the Rauhe Haus box, and it was doubtful whether for a year or two to come one cent would be received, so much being required to replace the damage of the fire. Still the cries of the homeless and helpless children were too loud for any objections. The committee resolved to feel the pulse of the public liberality at this critical moment. An advertisement was put in the papers asking $750 for the building of a house for twentyfour children, at a time when nearly the whole of Hamburg required to be rebuilt! It seemed an injudicious if not an absurd appeal. The advertisement was published on the 21st, and by the 27th $775 were sent in! I was a touching repetition of the beautiful old story of Exodus xxxvi. 6: "The people bought much more than enough for the service of the work." Another advertisement was issued to stop the pouring in of the gifts, but before this had fully taken effect the treasurer had $1,000 in hand.

Another festival period now came on for the Rauhhausler. No sooner had the breath of Spring freed the frozen fields from their Winter fetters than the boys rushed to the work, and on the 23d of June, 1843, a large double house, capable of containing two families, stood as a new monument of the power of Christian faith and love. These two dwellings, being on their rear, as it were, attached to the chapel, and facing the rising sun, obtained the name of "The Swallows' Nests" (Die Schwalbennester). They were destined for two families of girls. So the girls who crowded the Ruge Hoos removed to their new abode, and the old house was at once peopled with a fresh supply of boys.

The Revolution of 1848 added many to the inmates, and they came from all parts of Germany. A pensionat was built, to receive, as into a boarding-school, the incorrigible sons of persons better off. A training-school for helpers

("brothers" they are called) was established, and these have gone forth to all parts of Germany, and to other parts of Europe, including England. The little "Rauhe Haus" has grown into a village, the different houses clustering within the grounds of fifty acres, as thousands who have gone forth from its hallowed influence cluster around the name and memory of its now sainted founder. "How did you get all the money," Wichern was asked. "At the beginning," he says, "we had to ask that question in another form. How shall we get all the money? and we had to answer it before going further. Silver and gold," he adds, "I have none; but we work, and God blesses our work. And whatever else we want we pray for, and expect out of His rich hand, in certain faith it is a faithful and true word He spoke when He pointed us to the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field."

An additional house was wanted, but they had no money. The case was laid before God. One evening Wichern sat talking to two old friends, when one of them asked how much the house would cost. The sum was stated, and the money was promised. More was wanted to pay for windows and painting, and the exact amount came from three ladies in different towns, who had had the case laid on their minds. When the chapel was to be built there was no money, but it came in due time, several thousand marks being sent by American friends. In 1843 the lease of the tillage ground expired, and it was necessary to purchase, instead of renting. A suitable plot was procurable for 7,000 Hamburg marks, but 3,000 must be paid at once. They sought the Lord in prayer, and resolved to buy. Just as the cash was wanted, information came that a lady had left 3,000 marks to the Rough House, and that the money was ready. The year 1853 was one of very special need; 8,000 marks were required for current expenses. "Where is now their God?" said some.

"Now they will

go down. Now we shall see what will become of this fine piety, and living by faith," said others. The cloud was dark, but it had a silver lining. Prayer was heard. A statement was made of their need in the organ of the Rough House, Das Fliegende Blütter, and contributions came in from all quarters, including six silver spoons from a clergyman, a necklace from his wife, and ten half-farthings from some poor children she taught sewing, and sums large and small from rich and poor.

Of the general success of the institution, Wichern himself shall speak: "A glance round the circle of those who were children in the house carries us into every region of the world. We find them in every grade and social position. One is a clergyman, another a student of theology, and another of the law; while others are teachers. We find among them officers in the German armies, agriculturists, merchants, partners in honorable firms, presidents of industrial institutions, landscape gardeners, lithographists and artisans of every conceivable craft. One is a sea captain, some are pilots, others are sailors, and some colonists in America and Australia. Besides those who are better off, some may be found among day-laborers, some are men-servants or women-servants, and a few only have been lost sight of."

Of the history of each house-for each has its own, and in some cases, a remarkable one-we cannot speak, nor otherwise than just name the House of the Brethren of St. John, at Berlin, toward the establishment of which, in 1858, the King and Queen of Prussia gave 10,000 crowns. Space will allow us to add only brief reference to the last days of Dr. Wichern, and of the high appreciation of his character and worth by competent witnesses.

A sealed letter given to his family four years before his death, then to be opened, expressed his simple trust in

Christ, his reliance on the merits of His blood for acceptance with Ged, and his confident hope that God would give him a portion according to the prayer of the great Advocate: "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory."

In an article on "The Rauhe Haus and its Brotherhood," appearing in an English magazine in 1879, many interesting facts as to the organization of Dr. Wichern's noble life-work, and especially as to the "Brethren," are given. Says the writer: The work commenced in 1833, or nearly half a century ago, with a small thatched cottage, into which a few vagabond lads had been gathered. But, year after year, it has gradually expanded into an estate of now more than two hundred acres, on which are erected twenty-five houses, larger and smaller, whose inmates number one hundred and eighty children, and nearly sixty teachers and caretakers. Most of the latter are named "the Brethren of the Horn," and they form, in some respects, the most interesting and characteristic feature of the establishment.

For the Rauhe Haus has largely developed its original plan of a reformatory for neglected or troublesome children. It is the training-place and head-centre of one of the most completely organized systems of popular philanthropy and evangelization that the world has ever seen, by means of its confraternity of "Brothers of the Horn," so called from the village of Horn, a pretty suburb of Hamburg, in which the Rauhe Haus is situated. Another branch of the same brotherhood is located near Berlin, at an establishment named after the apostle St. John. But the confraternities at the Horn and of St. John form really one brotherhood, both founded by Dr. Wichern, both engaged in the same kind of Christian work, and both conducted on the same general and fundamental principles.

The young people at present consist of three divisions. There are sixty boys and sixty girls of the neglected and "Arab" classes, the original objects, as already explained, for whom the institution was founded. These are divided amongst a number of neat cottage homes, containing about a dozen children in each, and each forming a distinct family. During the day these one hundred and twenty children work in larger groups at various industries, and also gather in classes in the schoolrooms. But each dozen return to their own home for meals, play, devotion, and sleep. The home-feeling is most carefully cherished, and in each home are several adult "Brothers "acting as caretakers. These are the teachers, companions, playmates, religious guides, trade and handicraft instructors, nurses, exemplars, and parent-like friends of the little groups under their respective care. The girls are under the management of the Sisters, of whom there are comparatively few.

And this, of course, we deem a matter of the very highest importance, for we believe most thoroughly in the maxim of a modern writer, that "without religion prisons may be reformed, but never the prisoners themselves "; or, as an eminent Frenchman, M. De Tocqueville, declares, no human power is comparable to religion in its efficacy to reform criminals; and it is upon religion mainly that the future of penitent reform must depend."

"Were half the power that fills the world with terror,

Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts, Given to redeem the human mind from error,

There were no need for arsenals nor forts."

How much solemn truth there is in these noble lines of Longfellow; and it should surely be the true Christian's ardent desire to render the poet's aspirations something more than a mere lofty dream.

The visitor

The Brethren are the labor-instructors. enters one shop and finds a respectably-dressed Brother acting as a blacksmith, and, at a forge, teaching his little group of pupils how to work in metals. In another building, classes of young carpenters, shoemakers or tailors are similarly busy at their respective handicrafts, under the guidance of the Brothers. One building of considerable size is devoted to printing and bookbinding; for the establishment carries on a large publishing and bookselling business of its own. It further issues one or two serials for its former and present inmates, and for other readers. The outdoor labors also are continuous, year in and year out. Many tons of vegetables, of apples, and other fruits are grown on the estate by the young cultivators. The dairy and the piggery afford useful practice in the care of live stock, and also furnish good food for the establishment.

There are certain specialties in the working of Dr. Wichern's institution that it may be well to enumerate. Thus, in several larger buildings-which are, in fact, handsome boarding-schools-a superior class of children are received, on the payment of comparatively liberal sums by their parents or friends. These "boarders" are youths whose conduct at home has proved so unmanageable that their friends have been glad to consign them to the care of the "Brethren," in order both to reform and educate them. Then, again, a system of patronage is encouraged at the Rauhe Haus. The well-to-do and philanthropic citizens of Hamburg are, individually, invited to become the special patrons of some one of the homes on the establishment, or at least of one or several of the children. This relation being accepted, the gentleman who thus becomes the patron of any of the inmates acts, thenceforth, as a sort of practical "godfather" to each and several of them. He occasionally invites them to his house, or makes them presents, giving them good advice, and assisting them in any special need. And, in particular, when the time arrives for them to leave the institution, he charges himself with the duty of endeavoring to procure them situations, or some means of useful livelihood, where also he continues to exercise some degree of oversight for their good. The children thus patronized in their turn pay special honor to their own particular patrons, and are sometimes permitted to entertain them at their own home on the Rauhe Haus estate.

The custom is kept up of celebrating the anniversary of the foundation of each house in a festival way. Then the house is adorned with wreaths and flowers. The family has a holiday, and a large cake for a treat. The families of the other houses meet with that family at the prayer-room, to offer up thanks for the blessings with which it has been favored during the past year. The history of the foundation, and of some of the events concerning that house, is read; and thus every family keeps up an interest in its own dwellingplace, while at the same time all the children every year have an account of the origin and progress of the entire institution.

Further, every household is under a kindly, paternal and brotherly management. In addition to its care by the elder teachers, each household has a sort of chief monitor or "boy of peace," whose special duty it is to promote good feeling and harmony amongst his comrades. The little boys are also cared for by the older lads in a very brotherly sort of way, both at work and school, and during the hours of relaxation.

And now a few concluding words as to the mainstay of the entire system, the Brothers. They are about forty in number, and are carefully selected from amongst young men of whose religious character, good common-sense, and general handiness and skill, satisfactory proofs and