Meantime, both the burgomeister and burgomeisterinn did their utmost
to forget that the gentle little girl was not their own; they set all
their hopes and joys on her, and, making her supply the place at once
of son and daughter, they bred her up in all the refinements and
accomplishments in which the free citizens of Germany took the lead
in the middle and latter part of the fifteenth century. To aid her
aunt in all house-wifely arts, to prepare dainty food and varied
liquors, and to spin, weave, and broider, was only a part of
Christina's training; her uncle likewise set great store by her sweet
Italian voice, and caused her to be carefully taught to sing and play
on the lute, and he likewise delighted in hearing her read aloud to
him from the hereditary store of MSS. and from the dark volumes that
began to proceed from the press. Nay, Master Gottfried had made
experiments in printing and wood-engraving on his own account, and
had found no head so intelligent, no hand so desirous to aid him, as
his little Christina's, who, in all that needed taste and skill
rather than strength, was worth all his prentices and journeymen
together.
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