CHAPTER VII.

NEWS FROM THE PROVINCES.

ALL young men of the age of twenty are required to enrol themselves within three days. Agnes’ brother is among this number. The “National Bulwark,” as it is called, is to be organised and armed with all speed. The spacious buildings of the War Ministry were to have been converted into a vast infant’s school for the sake of the fine gardens adjoining. (This school was to have been, too, the scene of my wife’s labours.) It is, however, now determined to leave things as they were.

CHAPTER VIII

THE LAST DAY TOGETHER.

I HAVE had rather a bad time of it to-day with my two women folk, my wife and Agnes. It was mother’s birthday, a day whose return I have for the last twenty-five years greeted with joy. On the present occasion, alas! there was nothing but heaviness in our hearts. To-morrow Franz is to set out for Leipsig, and on the same day we must yield up our other two children. Grandfather is to remove into the Refuge for People of Advanced Years.

CHAPTER IX.

THE GREAT MIGRATION.

IN place of the cab which we had expected to fetch away grandfather and the children, a furniture-van pulled up before the house in the early morning. An official who accompanied it said that we had no occasion to move out before the evening; his instructions at present were merely to fetch the furniture.

“Fetch the furniture?” said my wife in amazement. “I thought that household goods were to remain private property.”

CHAPTER X.

THE NEW CURRENCY.

TRADE is very brisk with the photographers. All persons between the ages of twenty-one and sixty-five years, that is to say, all those who are not inmates of State establishments, have received instructions to have their likenesses taken. This step is an essential part of the Government plan for the introduction of the new currency. The old system of bank-notes and coins is to be abolished, and so-called money certificates issued instead.

CHAPTER XI.

THE NEW DWELLINGS.

THE universal dwelling-house lottery has taken place, and we are now in possession of our new home; but I cannot exactly say that we have bettered our position. We used to live S.W., at the front of the house, on the third storey. Oddly enough, a dwelling has fallen to our lot on the very same premises, only it happens to be at the back of the house, and quite in the back-yard, in fact. It is likewise on the third storey. My wife’s disappointment is considerable.

CHAPTER XII.

THE NEW STATE COOKSHOPS.

IT was, indeed, a wonderful achievement that to-day, in Berlin, one thousand State cookshops, each one capable of accommodating 1,000 persons, should have been opened at one stroke. True, those persons who had imagined that it would be like the table d’hôte of the great hotels of the past days, where a pampered upper class continually revelled in every refinement of culinary art—such persons, I say, must feel some little disappointment.

CHAPTER XIII.

A VEXING INCIDENT.

OUR Chancellor is not made so much of as he used to be. I am sorry to see this, because it is impossible to find anywhere a more capable, energetic, and active State leader, or a more thorough and consistent Socialist. But, then, it is not everybody who is as unbiased as I am. There are a great many people who don’t quite care for the new order of things, or who are somewhat disappointed in their expectations; and all these persons lay the blame on the Chancellor.

CHAPTER XIV.

A MINISTERIAL CRISIS.

THE Chancellor has tendered his resignation. All well-intentioned persons must sincerely regret this step, especially after yesterday’s event. But the Chancellor is said to be in an overwrought and nervous state. And, indeed, this can scarcely be wondered at, for he has had a hundred times more thought and work than any chancellor under the old system had. The ingratitude of the mob has deeply wounded him, and the incident of yesterday was just the last drop which has made the cup run over.

CHAPTER XV.

EMIGRATION.

THE ministerial crisis called forth by the boot-polishing question is not yet over. Meantime, a decree has been issued against all emigration without the permission of the authorities. Socialism is founded upon the principle that it is the duty of all persons alike to labour, just as under the old regime the duty to become a soldier was a universally recognised one.

CHAPTER XVI.

RETIREMENT OF THE CHANCELLOR.

MY ardent wish has not been fulfilled. The Chancellor’s resignation has been accepted, and the President of the Chamber has been nominated as his successor. It seems the Cabinet was not able to come to a unanimous determination to accept the responsibility of allowing the Chancellor to engage a few servants for his private convenience. The chief ground for this was, that such an infraction of the principle of social equality would lead to altogether incalculable consequences.