114: COUNT RUMFORD. 



were to be taught, not only to the soldiers and th-ir 

 children, but to the children of the neighbouring peas- 

 antry. The paper used in the school would, it was urged 

 be practically free of cost, as it would serve afterwards 

 for cartridges. 



The marshes near Mannheim were dreary bogs, use- 

 less for cultivation and ruinous to the health of the 

 city. Thompson drained them, banked them in, and 

 converted them into a garden for the use of the garrison 

 For the special purpose of introducing the culture of 

 the potato, he extended the plan of military gardens 

 to all other garrisons. The gardens were tilled, and their 

 produce was owned by noncommissioned officers and 

 privates, each of whom had a plot of 365 square feet 

 allotted to him. Gravel walks divided the plots from 

 each other. The plan proved completely successful. 

 Indolent soldiers became industrious, while soldiers on 

 furlough, spreading abroad their taste and knowledge, 

 caused little gardens to spring up everywhere over the 

 country. Having secured this end, he converted it into 

 a means of suppressing the enormous evils of mendicity. 

 Bavaria was infested with beggars, vagabonds, and 

 thieves, native and foreign. These mendicant tramps 

 were in the main stout, healthy, and able-bodied fellows, 

 who found a life of thievish indolence pleasanter than 

 a life of honest work. " These detestable vermin had 

 recourse to the most diabolical arts and the most horrid 

 crimes in the prosecution of their infamous trade. 

 They robbed, and maimed and exposed little children, 

 so as to extract money from the tender-hearted. In the 

 cities the beggars formed a distinct caste, with profes- 

 sional rules to guide them. Their training was a train- 

 ing in robbery; the means they employed for extort- 

 ing support being equivalent to direct plunder. Seeing 

 no escape from the incubus, the public had come to 



