Page:The Chimney-Corner.djvu/205

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How shall we he amused? 195 ances were under the immediate supervision of men of grave morals, who allowed nothing corrupting to appear, and the effect of this administration and restraint is to be seen in Berlin even to this day. The public gardens are full of charming little resorts, where, every afternoon, for a very moderate sum, one can have either a concert of good music, or a very fair dramatic or operatic performance. Here whole families may be seen enjoying together a wholesome and refreshing entertainment, — the mother and aunts with their knitting, the baby, the children of all ages, and the father, — their faces radiant with that mild German light of contentment and good-will which one feels to be characteristic of the nation. When I saw these things, and thought of our own outcast, unpro- vided boys and young men, haunting the streets and alleys of cities, in places far from the companionship of mothers and sisters, I felt as if it would be better ' for a nation to be brought up by a good strict school- master king than to try to be a republic." " Yes," said I, " but the difficulty is to get the good schoolmaster king. For one good shepherd, there are twenty who use the sheep only for their flesh and their wool. Republics can do all that kings can, — witness our late army and Sanitary Commission. Once fix the idea thoroughly in the public mind that there ought to be as regular arid careful provision for