It may be proper to observe, that, not the whole army of the Elector, but only the fifteen Bavarian regiments, are furnished with clothing from the Military Work-house at Munich. The troops of the Palatinate, and those of the Duchies of Juliers and Bergen, receive their clothing from a similar establishment at Manheim.
The Military Work-house at Manheim was indeed erected several months before that at Munich; but as it is not immediately connected with any institution for the poor,—as the poor are not fed in it,—and as it was my first attempt, or coup d'essai,— it is, in many respects, inferior in its internal arrangements to that at Munich. I have therefore chosen this last for the subject of my descriptions; and would propose it as a model for imitation, in preference to the other.
As both these establishments owe their existence to myself, and as they both remain under my immediate superintendence, it may very naturally be asked, why that at Manheim has not been put upon the same footing with that at Munich?—My answer to this question would be, that a variety of circumstances, too foreign to my present subject to be explained here, prevented the establishment of the Military Work-house at Manheim being carried to that perfection which I could have wished[12].
But it is time that I should return to the poor of Munich; for whose comfort and happiness I laboured with so much pleasure, and whose history will ever remain by far the most interesting part of this publication.
CHAPTER. VII.
A further account of the poor who were brought together in the
house of industry:—and of the interesting change which was
produced in their manners and dispositions.
Various proofs that the means used for making them industrious,
comfortable, and happy, were successful.
The awkwardness of these poor creatures, when they were first taken from the streets as beggars, and put to work, may easily conceived; but the facility with which they acquired address in the various manufactures in which they were employed, was very remarkable, and much exceeded my expectation. But what was quite surprising, and at the same time interesting in the highest degree, was the apparent and rapid change which was produced in their manners,—in their general behaviour,—and even in the very air of their countenances, upon being a little accustomed to their new situations. The kind usage they met with, and the comforts they enjoyed, seemed to have softened their hearts, and awakened in them sentiments as new and surprising to themselves, as they were interesting to those about them.
The melancholy gloom of misery, and air of uneasiness and embarrassment, disappeared by little and little from their countenances, and were succeeded by a timid dawn of cheerfulness, rendered most exquisitely interesting by a certain mixture of silent gratitude, which no language can describe.
In the infancy of this establishment, when these poor creatures were first brought together, I used very frequently to visit them,—to speak kindly to them,—and to encourage them;—and I seldom passed through the halls where they were at work, without being a witness to the most moving scenes.
Objects, formerly the most miserable and wretched, whom I had seen for years as beggars in the streets;-young women,—perhaps the unhappy victims of seduction, who, having lost their reputation, and being turned adrift in the world, without a friend and without a home, were reduced to the necessity of begging, to sustain a miserable existence, now recognized me as their benefactor; and, with tears dropping fast from their cheeks, continued their work in the most expressive silence.