agitation. Over a wide surface-in fact, from Cornwall to Caithness-his labours have extended (latterly at intervals too wide), imparting to thousands of youthful souls something of his own fire, energy, and truthfulness.

With this brief but sincere recognition of the early temperance reformers we must close. If Preston did not originate the doctrine, it had the great and unquestioned honour of being the cradle and nurse of Teetotalism-of that living child of truth and virtue which has grown into the strong giant that now treads with assured steps the pathway that leads to conquest and victory.

ART IV.-AMELIA SIEVEKING.

1. Life of Amelia Wilhelmina Sieveking. London: Longman and Co. 1863.

2. Englishwoman's Journal. 1860.

F I were to write my own life, I should call it the "Memoirs of a Happy Old Maid," Miss Sieveking once remarked; and it is not to be doubted that, besides being eminently useful, her life was very happy. Yet she had no peculiar advantages for enjoyment. She laboured almost without intermission from the time when she partly supported herself at fifteen until the last stage of her mortal illness at the age of sixty-four. Though she was sprung from a good family in Hamburg, her income was always narrow; and her shy and reserved disposition in her girlhood prevented her taking pleasure in the amusements natural to her age. She says of herself, 'I never was young,' but, it may be justly added, she never was old.' Nevertheless Miss Sieveking had one great advantage, i.e., the power of finding her happiness in promoting the welfare of her fellow-creatures. She was, perhaps, one of the first among that glorious band of women who have made this century memorable by the willing devotion of their lives to some great and good work. These, as is often the case with the leaders of any great movement, had to encounter the prejudices of opponents, who imagined that a woman could not be actively philanthropic without degrading her womanhood; that contact with or even knowledge of the sin to be crushed, or the ignorance to be enlightened, must of necessity harden her character, or lower the tone of her mind. If these dangers were by any chance avoided, then it was averred that

home

home duties could not fail to be neglected, and 'charity begins at home,' was the cry. In fact, a female philanthropist must be, they said, either a Mrs. Pardiggle or a Mrs. Jellaby. Nor did some fail to insinuate that these women were actuated by base motives, the desire for notoriety, or for undue influence, instead of a determination to do the work which, in their belief, was plainly set before them.

Let us give them all honour by 'whose patience in well doing' prejudice has been disarmed, and an easier path opened for those who follow in their steps. Indeed, opinion has now so changed that it is quite customary for a lady to devote some part of her time to philanthropic pursuits, and though mistakes occur, which are sometimes serious, and often ridiculous, yet women are better employed in working out these social problems for themselves, with a due appreciation of their importance, than in the trifling employments to which the other sex would have formerly condemned them.

The biography from which we chiefly draw our materials is written by a German lady, the personal friend of Miss Sieveking, and has been admirably translated, partly by Miss Catherine Winkworth, and partly by a lady under her superintendence. It is a valuable addition to our literature, and is supplemented by a volume containing Miss Sieveking's reports, and extracts from her writings.

Amelia Wilhelmina Sieveking, the only daughter among five children, was born in Hamburg, July 25, 1794. She seems to have been a shy, reserved, and most sensitive child, endowed with considerable powers of imagination; but she was quick and peevish in temper, which we attribute, in great part, to the want of maternal care (her mother dying when she was but five years old), and to her weakly state of health, for she suffered much in early life from some disease in the bones of the hand. Her constitution, however, strengthened as she grew older, and when she reached adult age, she seemed to be able to endure with impunity any amount of fatigue, and any neglect of even the commonest rules of health.

From various causes her childhood was passed devoid of most of the recreations natural to that state, so that she had recourse to other means of amusement; and essays, tales, and plays, full of startling incidents and wonderful adventures, flowed from her prolific pen, and were recounted to her brothers during play hours. The vacant maternal place among the Sievekings was supplied by a young cousin, Miss Hosch, earnest and zealous, indeed, but hasty and inexperienced. One little anecdote plainly shows what was wanting to satisfy the affectionate little girl. Amelia was found crying piteously one

day,

day, and on being asked what was the matter, she said, "There is no one to love me and call me Malchen.'

This stage of her life was cut short by the death of her father, and the consequent separation of the family, whose means were very small. Of her two surviving brothers, the elder obtained a clerkship in London, and the younger was sent to a boarding-house for boys, while Amelia and Miss Hosch went to reside with a Miss Dimpfel.

Miss Sieveking was now fifteen, and she was considered old enough to do something towards her own support. She, therefore, spent many hours in embroidering muslin. Though troubled with no false pride, she particularly disliked this task, feeling, perhaps, that her time might have been spent in a more worthy manner. 'It is something frightful,' she says, 'to have toiled as hard as I can for a whole day, and know at the end that the only thing I have accomplished is that some one will possess an embroidered pillow-case who would sleep just as well on a plain one.' This labour, humble and distasteful as it was, doubtless had its use in giving her early habits of steady industry, and helping to eradicate a disposition to indolence, which she often deplores in her letters, though, to tell the truth, we can see but slight indications of it. She was now developing into womanhood, and was of a deeply earnest and thoughtful character. She could adopt nothing merely on the recommendation of others, or until she had thoroughly worked the question out for herself. embroidery, while it employed her fingers, left her mind free to brood over subjects which, though intensely interesting, were as yet too deep for it; while neither from her former instructions, nor from her present companions, could she obtain the help which she so greatly needed. Consequently, for several years, she appears to have been in an unsettled state of feeling, as to how far she could conscientiously subscribe to the tenets of the Lutheran faith, which she afterwards thoroughly embraced. This lasted until her mind became fully occupied in her teaching; then her doubts melted completely away, to be succeeded by a happy, trusting spirit, constantly breaking forth into expressions of gratitude to the Almighty.

The

A little niece of Miss Dimpfel lived in the same house, and, being thoroughly spoilt, gave a great deal of trouble. Amelia took her in hand, and, by gentle but firm control, soon reduced her to obedience. Indeed, Amelia was gifted with a peculiar talent for the management of children; and from this time she carried on to the very end of her life a course of instruction for little girls, having a class of about six or eight of the same age, training

Her Method of Teaching.

143

training them up to the epoch of their confirmation,-a most important rite in the Lutheran Church, not only in a religious, but in a social point of view. For instance, no servant can obtain a hiring without a certificate of confirmation. The course being then terminated, she commenced with a fresh number, while in several instances continuing to give occasional instruction for some years to the former classes. Indeed, at one time she undertook a class of younger children as well as of elder; but finding that this was more than she could accomplish with her other occupations, she was compelled to relinquish the younger one. She would never receive any payment for her services, though it was often pressed upon her by the parents of her pupils, looking as she did upon her teaching as the chief recreation and delight of her life.

Having herself been subjected to preceptors whose lessons were tedious to the last degree, she was impressed with the necessity of making her instructions interesting, and she therefore generally passed several hours before her lessons in careful preparation, both regarding what was to be taught, and as to how the teaching should be conducted; considering the latter duty fully as important as the former. We cannot do better than give in her own words her method of imparting English to her pupils, which we quote from a letter to her brother in 1849. Her plan consisted in making

So minute an analysis that sometimes a single phrase of an English writer will occupy us during a whole lesson. First, we fix the exact meaning of every expression. I require the analysis of the commoner words, such as weather, for instance, the explanation of which is often more difficult than that of more precisely scientific expressions. Then we search for synonymes, or for words of the exactly opposite signification; we examine the word in its various senses, both literal and figurative, search out its derivation, or its combination with others, &c. You will easily understand that this method requires very careful preparation on my part, and that I should be quite at a loss without Webster's excellent dictionary.'

Nor did she confine her instructions merely to the minds of her pupils. Both by precept and example she inculcated their moral duties, avoiding, however, set phrases or hard texts. She entered upon her Scriptural lessons with a sense of great responsibility, and with earnest thought and prayer that she might not lead her children astray; but, determining to have no concealment with them, in her first years, when religious difficulties stood in her way, after reading a passage she gave the usual explanation frankly, adding at the same time that her own opinion differed from that which she had set before them.

Feeling the importance of her undertaking,

'I must take care,' she says, 'that, in the ardour of my occupation, I never forget the lovingness with which it should be carried on.' 'A loving heart is far more necessary to the children than knowledge.' It has always seemed to me that nothing

so lowers our influence over children, and the respect they have for us, as temper and that calmness and a kindliness which shines through her most serious reproofs are those qualities which a teacher must most strive to attain.'

And, speaking of her labour in preparation, she says:

'That with all this my method remains most imperfect I feel vividly; at least in my better moments, and if, as I confess not seldom happens, vanity and self-complacency for a while conceal these numerous deficiencies from me, my faithful Heavenly Teacher takes care ere long to point them clearly out anew through humbling failures.'

Her intercourse with her pupils was a never-failing source of happiness. She speaks of it continually in her letters, during a period of more than forty years, and always in the same enthusiastic terms.

On beginning a fresh class she says:

'I cannot tell you with what delight I picture to myself my work with this new set of children; and yet the one which now surrounds me has grown very dear to me, and I wish heartily I need not yet part from it. Is not my life, in truth, over rich? What a rare happiness do I not possess, if only in this one point of having a vocation whose daily exercise opens to me daily new sources of enjoyment.' 'A few days before Easter I dismissed, as being now ready for confirmation, the set of girls to whose instruction for the last eight years I have devoted so large a part of my time and strength; but I have no idea of giving up this branch of my employments. No, that would deprive me of an essential part of the happiness of my life.

*

I shall return with quickened zeal to the circle of little ones which I have formed around me, and devote myself with fresh love and interest to their education. My spirit rejoices in the thought of it, and I think to be a child again among the children.'

Before dismissing this topic we must quote an extract from a letter to her brother in 1816, as it evinces how truly she desired not to run counter to the prejudices of others, and shows how diffident she was of her own judgment when in opposition to those around her. She refers to the formation of her classes:

'For some time past my mind has been troubled by a most disquieting doubt whether my present occupation might not be leading me too much away from my proper sphere as a woman. I felt that there was much to be said on both sides, and the conflict of opposing thoughts troubled me greatly; for, above all things, it is necessary to my peace to have a clear and satisfactory conception of my whole life before my mind's eye. At last I have attained it. I am peaceful and happy again, and I owe this to a solitary hour, when I took a courageous resolve to think over my whole position without reserve, from which I had always recoiled before-and then to take my stand on whatever I might come to see to be my duty.' Then, after speaking of home obligations, she goes on, The education of children-in which light, and not as mere instruction, I wish my occupation to be regarded belongs of right, according to my ideas, to the proper sphere of woman; still it forms only a portion of her sphere, and perhaps I devote too much time in proportion to this part of the whole.'

She decides that she knows enough of housekeeping to be able to undertake the duty, should it be needful; also how to make and mend her clothes:

But it is not merely in particular acts, but in the whole manner and feeling,

true