The Poverty of German Students.
Nothing like the extreme destitution that prevails among the humbler class of students in some of the German universities is to be found in the very poorest of our seats of learning. M. A. Martha, who contributes a paper on the German pauper students, to the Revue Scientifique, states that the number is largely on the increase, and is causing much uneasiness to the university authorities, Professor Bilroth in particular having frequently drawn public attention to the danger with which this large influx of starving students menaces the universities and society. As examples of the straits to which these hapless hungerers after knowledge are reduced,509M. Martha quotes from a Berlin paper the application made some time ago to the municipality by a university student, who asked to be employed as a night sweeper; a post which, however modest, would not interfere with the prosecution of his studies. In the Galician and Hungarian universities poor students sell matches in the streets, or if they have a musical gift, eke out existence by singing or playing in cafés. Many of them, for want of books and leisure to study, never manage to pass the examinations, and settle down at thirty to the very humblest occupations, while not a few take to evil courses and swell the army of crime.—Pall Mall Gazette.