Natural History in Foreign Countries. 4'S^- 



have something which he can call his own ; something on which he cai^ 

 bestow labour, and from which he can, in consequence, extract enjoyment," 

 The absolute necessities of life are few, and derived directly from the soil; 

 the labouring man, therefore, who has a house and a few roods of land, is 

 certain of a home and food ; he increases the interest of his home by a wife ; 

 and parental care and solicitude, with connubial and filial attachment, fill 

 up the measure of his happiness. These are the essential purposes and 

 enjoyments of life, which nature intended for all men ; which the poor man 

 can enjoy as well as the rich ; and for which no other enjoyment, either of 

 the rich or the poor, the wise or the learned, can entirely compensate. In 

 no part of Europe^have we seen, or thought we have seen, these enjoyments 

 so generally diffused as in the countries we have recently passed through, 

 and more especially Wurtemberg. We entered on these countries, expect- 

 ing to find the people not much better off' than in France ; but we could 

 not resist the conviction, produced by constant observation, and the result 

 of various enquiry, that comfort and happiness exist to a much greater de- 

 gree among the labouring classes of society in the south of Germany, than 

 they do in Britain. The people, at first sight, have a milder and more 

 civilised aspect. The dress of the country labourers, male and female, does 

 not consist of such fine materials as in England ; but one part of the dress 

 is of a quality consistent with the others, and the whole is in a superior 

 style, compared with the dress of the other classes of society. There is no 

 such thing, in this part of Germany, as a man or woman in rags, or with a 

 coat or gown of the best quality, and the hat or stockings in tatters, as is 

 frequently the case, not only among labourers, but even among mechanics, 

 in England. In short, the dress in Germany is in much better keeping. 

 Both men and women of the labouring class here are more intelligent in 

 their aspect, much more civil and polite on a first acquaintance, and much 

 better furnished with conversation, than the British labourers. What struck 

 us particularly were, the great rarity of exceptions to this general descrip- 

 tion, the general uniformity of manner and character throughout the whole 

 country, and the total absence of public beggars. On enquiry, we found 

 that there were few or no poor supported publicly, though every parish is 

 obliged to support its poor when unable to work ; and, also, that there were 

 very few people in prison, either for debt or for crime of any kind. 



This state of things more particularly applies to Wurtemberg ; and the 

 causes, we think, may be very easily traced. The first and principal cause 

 is a law respecting schools, which has existed, more or less, in the states of 

 the south of Germany, for above a century, but which has been greatly im- 

 proved within the last thirty years. By this law, parents are compelled to 

 send their children to school, from the age of six to fourteen years, where 

 they must be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, but where they may 

 acquire as much additional instruction in other branches as their parents 

 choose to pay for. To many of the schools of Bavaria large gardens are 

 attached, in which the boys are taught the principal operations of agriculture 

 and gardening in their hours of play ; and, in all the schools of the three 

 states, the girls, in addition to the same instruction as the boys, are taught 

 knitting, sewing, embroidery, &c. It is the duty of the police and priest 

 (which may be considered equivalent to our parish vestries) of each com- 

 mune or parish, to see that the law is duly executed, the children sent re- 

 gularly, and instructed duly. If the parents are partially or wholly unable 

 to pay for their children, the commune makes up the deficiency. Religion 

 is taught by the priest of the village or hamlet ; and where, as is frequently 

 ■ the case in Wurtemberg, there are two or three religions in one parish, 

 each child is taught by the priest of its parents ; all of which priests are, 

 from their office, members of the committee or vestry of the commune. 

 The priest or priests of the parish have the regular inspection of the school- 

 master, and are required by the government to see that he does his duty. 



