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    GERMAN LITERATURE. 347

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    German Litjehatuhe.

    timental and self-dissective ; yet ¥ e do not despair o £ finding a fair amount of light and useful literature which may interest the

    readers of the English "Woman ' s Journal . Our first selections raust be from a work entitled " Woman's

    Happiness , " * written "by Julie Burow , ( Frau Pfannenschmidt , ) an authoress whoduring several yearshas exercised an important

    , , influence upon society at large . She first obtained a reputation by the publication of simple romances , f unpretending and womanly

    in their tone , and yet in their healthy earnestness presenting a striking contrast to those psychological diagnoses which abound in her

    native country . The prestige excited by these genial stories was soon heightened by the appearance of another a more work practical addressed essay on to

    " Female Education . " J This and , mothers on the instruction and management of daughters , were gladly welcomed bthe publicand treated leniently by the critics . The

    volume before y us , on the , happiness which is attached to the path of duty , is a fair example of Frau Pfannenschmidt ' s style . "We are

    reminded by an old saying , that " what comes from the heart goes straiht to the heart ; " and extreme simplicity of maimer , when

    united g with a deep love of the beautiful , and great human sympathy , is often more captivating in an author than mere intellectual power .

    The simplicity of this little book is sometimes almost monotonous , and yet it has a peculiar grace of its own . Much voluminous trash

    has been written on woman's " mission , " and the grandeur of her " vocation . " We dislike false counterfeits of real things , and canbad

    not bear to see . domestic virtues hawked about the world like spoilers pictures . who But would Frau drag Pfannenschmidt all that is good is not and one beautiful of those from literary its

    natural hiding-place , and who attempt to define what can only be accomplished by invisible means . The pedant would do well to

    leave untouched that mysterious and beautiful paradox which adduces dignitfrom submission and strength from weakness , for

    to eak of it is y onlto involve himself in a maze of riddlesand ther sp e is alreadtoo y much talk about artificial barriers and fanciful , y

    codes of etiquette . Far different is the quiet manner in which our authoress brings forward her protest against the pretended struggle

    for emancipation which has lately been agitating the stronger minded of her sex in Germany . Her argument is a very simple

    one , —that nothing which is abnormal can _Tbe becoming , or can conduce to real happiness . It is only shiftless housewives who ,

    having mislaid an article , throw everything else into confusion in searching for it * but to those whowithout fuss and worry , are

    oontent to pursue , their ordinary routine , of duties , the missing article is almost sure to turn up in time . We need not be

    always seeking for pleasure , for the search defeats its object . So * " Das Glitch eines Weibes _^ von Julie Burow . Bromb erg 1860 .

    4 + : For " Ueber example die _JErzieJiung , " Der Gluclistern des _weibliclien , " von Julie Geschlichts Burow . . Zweite , Auf-lage _"

    German Literature. 347

    GERMAN LITERATURE . 347

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1862, page 347, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011862/page/59/