selling.  The family never succeeded in recovering from the state of confusion into which this misfortune had thrown them; they went to Dresden, where the father hoped to find remunerative employment as a skilled mechanic, especially in the manufacture of pianos, of which he supplied separate parts.  He also brought away with him a large quantity of the fine wire which had been destined for the manufacture of the cards, and which he hoped to be able to sell at a profit.  The ten-year-old Minna was commissioned to sell separate lots of it to the milliners for making flowers.  She would set out with a heavy basketful of wire, and had such a gift for persuading people to buy that she soon disposed of the whole supply to the best advantage.  From this time the desire was awakened in her to be of active use to her impoverished family, and to earn her own living as soon as possible, in order not to be a burden on her parents.  As she grew up and developed into a strikingly beautiful woman, she attracted the attention of men at a very early age.  A certain Herr von Einsiedel fell passionately in love with her, and took advantage of the inexperienced young girl when she was off her guard.  Her family was thrown into the utmost consternation, and only her mother and elder sister could be told of the terrible position in which Minna found herself.  Her father, from whose anger the worst consequences were to be feared, was never informed that his barely seventeen-year-old daughter had become a mother, and under conditions that had threatened her life, had given birth to a girl.  Minna, who could obtain no redress from her seducer, now felt doubly called upon to earn her own livelihood and leave her father’s house.  Through the influence of friends, she had been brought into contact with an amateur theatrical society:  while acting in a performance given there, she attracted the notice of members of the Royal Court Theatre, and in particular drew the attention of the director of the Dessau Court Theatre, who was present, and who immediately offered her an engagement.  She gladly caught at this way of escape from her trying position, as it opened up the possibility of a brilliant stage career, and of some day being able to provide amply for her family.  She had not the slightest passion for the stage, and utterly devoid as she was of any levity or coquetry, she merely saw in a theatrical career the means of earning a quick, and possibly even a rich, livelihood.  Without any artistic training, the theatre merely meant for her the company of actors and actresses.  Whether she pleased or not seemed of importance in her eyes only in so far as it affected her realisation of a comfortable independence.  To use all the means at her disposal to assure this end seemed to her as necessary as it is for a tradesman to expose his goods to the best advantage.