The original Rauhe Haus.
repairs as were absolutely necessary were made, he en- tering the premises himself as an inmate. The day of opening was marked by the admission of three boys; in a short time the number increased to twelve, and thus humbly began beneath that roof of straw, on the Seiveking estate, a movement for the neglected youth' of Germany whose influence is seen and felt not only in] that country, but all over the Continent and far beyond it, and whose results can never be estimated by mortal man. A careful examination shows that, so far as the children of the Rauhe Haus alone are concerned, a very moderate estimate gives eighty per cent, of them as saved from what would inevitably have been a life of vice or crime. Describing this most Christian charity, Elihu Burritt says:
"These boys had been treated or regarded as a species of human vermin, baffling the power of the authorities to suppress. They had slept under carts, in doorways, herd- ing with swiue and cattle by night, wheu begging or thieving hours were past. Such were the boys that found themselves looking at each other in wonder and surprise the first evening ihey gathered around the hearth-stone of that cottage-home. There was no illusion about this sudden transformation in their experience. In their midst was that bland, benevolent man, with his kind eyes and voice, looking and speaking to them as a father to his children. And there was his mother, with the law of kindness on her lips, in her looks, in every act and word ; and he called her mother, and they call her mother; and the first evening of their common life she became the mother of their love and veneration; and they, ragged, for.-aken, hopeless castaways, conceived in sin and shapen m iniquity, became the children of her affection. This cottage, away from the city and its haunts, with its bright fire by night and the little beds under the roof— with its great Bible and little Psalm-books, was to be their home. The great chestnut-tree that threw out its arms over it, and all the little trees, and the ditches, hillocks, and bushes of that acre, were their own. . . . The feeling of home came warming into their hearts like the emotions of a new existence, as the father spoke to them of our house, our trees, our cabbages, turnips, potatoes, pigs, and geese and ducks, 'which we will grow for our com- fort.'"
The boys at once set to work. At the end of the first week they had made a year's progress in this new life and its hopes and expectations. The faith that they could do something, be something, and own something grew daily within them. " So eager did they become," says the first report of the institution, "to accomplish the undertaking that they frequently worked by lan- tern-light in the evening, rooting up bushes and trees, in spite of snow or rain."
As the number of pupils increased, and there seemed danger that the size of the family would seriously affect | its domestic character, Mr. Wiehern divided the com- pany into households, containing from twelve to fifteen each— the children themselves, as each new house was required, performing a large part of the work. The first colony, "under the care," as the report says, "of I an earnest young disciple of the law of love, who had come from a distance to discipline his heart and life to the regime of kindness, and who had lived in their midst as an elder brother," commenced their separate family life with affecting ceremonies. On a bright Sabbath morning, and in the presence of sev- eral hundred friends, the new cottage was dedicated "to the Good Shepherd, through whose love and help twenty-seven boys had already been gathered into a sheltering fold." With numbers and resources increased, new cottages of the same unpretending character were built in a semicircle around the Rough House. Girls were admitted, and separate cottages were constructed for them; and a new building was erected which afforded a more commodious residence for the superin- tendent, a chapel, kitchen, and other apart- ments for the general use of the little com- munity, which grew to be quite a village. In 1851 Mr. Burritt found a considerable cottage- village, with workshops, dwelling-houses, a little chapel, a wash- and drying - house, a
RATTHE IJ.vrs
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KAUMEll
printing-office, bake-house, and other buildings. There wire in all about seventy boya and twenty-five girls. constituting four families of boys and two of girls. Each family-house was und< c the charge of a superintendent (male or female), assisted by one or more brothers, as they arc called the superintendent being ordinarily a candidate for the ministry. The brothers arc young men of the best character, who undergo a training of ; mr \ ears, after which they devote themselves to the can' of similar institutions now rising all over Germany, quickened into life by this blessed experi- ment; or they become city missionaries, carrying the Gospel personally to the neglected and wretched. From thirty to forty brothers are inmates of this institution at one time, receiving no remuneration but their living, superintending the industry and aiding in conducting the moral discipline of the establishment. In its daily life this singular village is separated into three impor- tant divisions: domestic, educational, and industrial. Each family is to some extent an independent commu- nity. The members eat and sleep in their own dwell- ing, and the children belonging to each look up to their own particular father or mother as home-bred children to a parent. Each household has thus its individual character, its peculiar interest and history, and each bears some name of its own. such as the Beehive, the Dove's-nest, and the like. The bond of union is the loving father at the head of the whole institution: closely drawn by the morning and evening gatherings for prayer in the chapel or mother-house, and the cele- bration in common ofthe many festivals of the Church. The superintendents of the several houses meet the chief weekly to render their reports, and to discuss all questions of discipline. In their turn, each separate family visits him once a -week in his study; and the record of each member, whether good or bad, is fully considered and passed upon— any child being admitted, at the close of the interview, to private conference with him, a privilege that is often improved. The children were told at the beginning that labor is the price of living, and that they must earn their own bread if they would enjoy it. Mr. Wichern did not point them to ease and affluence, bul to an honorable poverty, -which tbe\ were taughl was not in itself an evil. In illustra- tion of this, the dress, food, and furniture ofthe cottages are ofthe simplest character. The secular education given is ofthe most rudimental description, reaching about the average ofthe German primary schools three quarters ofthe weekly recitations being devoted to the study of the Bible Catechism, Church history, and to music. The principal labor, farming, is carefully taught in all its branches; in addition, instruction is given by the brothers in printing and other trades. The boys remain at the Rough House about four years, and the girls five. They are then apprenticed to service, chiefly in the city of Hamburg, whenever the work of redemption is sufficiently confirmed to admit of their exposure again to temptation. Bul it must not be in- ferred fmui the duration of their term of reform that the Rough House holds iis inmates by force. As they come voluntarily, so they stay until dismissed by their own choice. The simple means relied upon for the ac- complishment of this great reform work are prayer, the Bible, singing, affectionate conversation, severe punish- ii unavoidable, and constant, steady employ- useful labor. " In a peculiar manner." says Dr. Peirce, "Wichern relied upon the Word of Cod. He made th whole Bible the familiar companion and food ofthe pupil. The whole Scripture was made to open to their minds, in an impressive scries of readings, like a mine of prici It as metal reaching a climax in the 1 of the New Testament The thought that,