But commerce and learning are not for girls. They are generally incapacitated for the first by their onerous duties of home; and learning, at least a knowledge of the Sacred language and its lore, has never been regarded as a requisite of woman. She received her religious instruction and ethical training by means of Judeo-German books which owe their very origin to the necessity of educating her. The name of the script in which all these books of the past three centuries are printed is _Weiberdeutsch_, indicating at once the use to which it was put. The title-pages of the works generally tell that they are 'gar hübsch bescheidlich far frumme Weiber un' Maidlich,' or that 'die Weiber un' Meidlich di Weil damit vertreiben die heiligen Täg.' The Biblical injunction 'fructify and multiply yourself' invests family life with a special sacredness, throws a gloom over the childless home, and leads this people to regard motherhood as the ideal state of the Jewish woman. All these sentiments find frequent expressions in their songs, and while the infant boy is lulled to sleep with a recitation of his future manly virtues, the baby girl hears in her cradle, 'In the month of Tamuz, my little lady, you will become a mother!' Childhood alone claims exemption from oppressing thoughts and gloom: childhood must have its merriments, its pranks, its wantonness, no matter how serious life is to become later, or how soon it is to be ended. With the Jew youth, indeed, lasts but 'an hour,' and in after-life he has many an occasion to regret its short duration: Jāhren klēine, Jāhren schoene, Wās sent ihr asō wēnig dā? Ihr sent nor gekummen, Me hāt euch schoen aufgenummen, Un' sent nor gewe'n bei uns ēin Scho? Jāhren junge, Jāhren g'ringe, Wās sent ihr asō gich aweg? Es seht euch nit kēin Äugel, Es derjāgen euch nit die Voegel, Ihr sent aweg gār ohn' ein Eck'! Little years, beautiful years, why are there so few of you? You had scarcely come, you were well received, and you stayed but an hour with us!--Young years, light years, why have you passed so quickly? Not an eye can see you, not a bird can fly as swiftly, you have passed without return! The number of ditties sung by children is very great. They do not in general differ from similar popular productions of other nations, either in form or content; some are evidently identical with German songs, while a few are Slavic borrowings. But there are two classes of songs peculiarly Jewish: the mnemonic lines for the study of Hebrew words, and those that depict the ideal course of a boy's life. To the second belongs: