When my sisters went skating, I remained at home to study; when they went to balls and theaters, I was thought the proper person to stay to watch the house. Having become so much older, I was now of great assistance to my mother in her business. No one complained any longer of my ugliness or my rudeness. I was always busy, and, when at liberty, always glad to do what I could for others; and though these years were full of hardships, I consider them among the happiest of my life. I was as free as it was possible for any German girl to be. CHAPTER VI _Decides to qualify herself as midwife--Meets great difficulties due to being unmarried and too young--Studies privately under Dr. Schmidt--History and organization of the School for Midwives: first school established through Justina Ditrichin (obstetric surgeon and writer about 1735); after her death, owing to the opposition of medical men, educated women withdrew from the profession which then deteriorated; it became legally standardized in 1818 with the present school, and women of the higher classes returned to the profession--Marie being refused for the third time, Dr. Schmidt obtains an order from the King for her admission to the school--Becomes assistant teacher under Dr. Schmidt--Receives diploma of highest degree, and the class which she taught makes the highest known record. (Eighteen to twenty-two years of age: 1847-1851.)_ My household duties, however, continued distasteful to me, much to the annoyance of my father who still contended that this was the only sphere for woman. From being so much with my mother, I had lost all taste for domestic life--anything out of doors was preferable to the monotonous routine of the household. I at length determined to follow my inclinations by studying, in order to fit myself to become a practitioner of midwifery, as is usual in Berlin. My father was satisfied and pleased with this idea, which opened the way to an independent, respectable livelihood, for he never really wished to have us seek this in marriage. My mother did not like my resolution at all. She practiced, not because she liked the profession, but because in this way she obtained the means of being independent and of aiding in the education of the children. I persisted, however, in my resolution, and immediately took measures to carry it into effect by going directly to Dr. Joseph Hermann Schmidt, the Professor of Midwifery in the University and the School for Midwives, and Director of the Royal Hospital Charité; while my father, who for several years held the position of a civil officer, made the application to the city magistrates for me to be admitted as a pupil to the School for Midwives, in which my mother had been educated. In order to show the importance of this step, it is necessary to explain more fully the history and organization of the school.