Letters to the Editor
• [Correspondents are requested to keep their tellers as brief as is reasonably possible. The most
suitable length is that of one of our " News of the Week " paragraphs.—Ed. SexcrAiron] THE EMPRESS• FREDERICK AND THE JEWS [To the Editor of Tax SPECTATOR.[ Ens - just now, when the cruel persecution of the Jews in Germany is much before our minds, the following anecdote about the high-souled Empress Frederick, which has never appeared in print, may be of interest to your readers.
The Froebel 'Educational Institute was founded by the late Mrs. Salis Schwabe, a devoted friend of the Empress, about the year 1892. The late Sir William Mather was its first President. It was to include both a Training College for Teachers and a Demonstration School for Children. The Empress took a great interest in its establishment and became its Patroness. I had to go and see her two or three times in those early days, and to tell her about all that was being done. The Principal of the College and of the Institute as a whole had been chosen. But " who," she asked, at one of my interviews with her, " are you going to appoint as head- mistress of the School ? " I replied (partly, I admit, to see what she would say) : " Well, the best lady we know of, or can find, is a certain Miss Lawrence, but there is one possible objection to her, which makes us hesitate." " What may that be ? " said the Empress. I said, " It is easier for me than it would be for any other member of the Committee to tell you. The fact is, Miss Lawrence is a Jewess, and we are not sure whether, in an entirely new institution, and in view of possible prejudices on the part of some parents, it would be wise to appoint her." (I was the only Jew on the Com- mittee.) The Empress almost jumped up from her chair, and said with the utmost emphasis, and almost with indignation,
Of course you must appoint her : the best person must certainly be chosen ; that she is a Jewess must make no difference at all." I replied, " I was pretty sure that you would say that : your Majesty, as a warm friend of religious toleration generally, has always been a generous advocate of the just rights of the men of my own particular religious brotherhood." " Yes," she answered, with much vivacity and smiling, " I have been,—and often enough have I burnt my fingers because of them ! " I may add that the advice of the Empress was followed by the Committee, and Miss Lawrence became the successful head of the School, and afterwards, for thirty years, the no less successful and beloved head of the College and of the Institute as a whole.—I am,
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