BITZIUS

bitzius, albrecht (1797-1854), swiss novelist, best known by his pet name of "jeremias gotthelf," was born on the 4th of october 1797 at morat, where his father was pastor. in 1804 the home was moved to utzenstorf, a village in the bernese emmenthal. here young bitzius grew up, receiving his early education and consorting with the boys of the village, as well as helping his father to cultivate his glebe. in 1812 he went to complete his education at bern, and in 1820 was received as a pastor. in 1821 he visited the university of gottingen, but returned home in 1822 to act as his father's assistant. on his father's death (1824) he went in the same capacity to herzogenbuchsee, and later to bern (1829). early in 1831 he went as assistant to the aged pastor of the village of lutzelfluh, in the upper emmenthal (between langnau and burgdorf), being soon elected his successor (1832) and marrying one of his granddaughters (1833). he spent the rest of his life there, dying on the 22nd of october 1854, and leaving three children (the son was a pastor, the two daughters married pastors). his first work, the _bauernspiegel_, appeared in 1837. it purported to be the life of jeremias gotthelf, narrated by himself, and this name was later adopted by the author as his pen name. it is a living picture of bernese (or, strictly speaking, emmenthal) village life, true to nature, and not attempting to gloss over its defects and failings. it is written (like the rest of his works) in the bernese dialect of the emmenthal, though it must be remembered that bitzius was not (like auerbach) a peasant by birth, but belonged to the educated classes, so that he reproduces what he had seen and learnt, and not what he had himself personally experienced. the book was a great success, as it was a picture of real life, and not of fancifully beribboned 18th-century villagers. among his later tales are the _leiden und freuden eines schulmeisters_ (1838-1839), _uli der knecht_ (1841), with its continuation, _uli der pachter_ (1849), _anne babi jowager_ (1843-1844), _kathi die grossmutter_ (1847), _die kaserei in der vehfreude_ (1850), and the _erlebnisse eines schuldenbauers_ (1854). he published also several volumes of shorter tales. one slight drawback to some of his writings is the echo of local political controversies, for bitzius was a whig and strongly opposed to the radical party in the canton, which carried the day in 1846. lives by c. manuel, in the berlin edition of bitzius's works (berlin, 1861), and by j. ammann in vol. i. (bern, 1884) of the _sammlung bernischer biographien_. his works were issued in 24 vols. at berlin, 1856-1861, while 10 vols., giving the original text of each story, were issued at bern, 1898-1900 (edition not to be completed). (w. a. b. c.) bivouac (a french word generally said to have been introduced during the thirty years' war, perhaps derived from _beiwacht_, extra guard), originally, a night-watch by a whole army under arms to prevent surprise. in modern military parlance the word is used to mean a temporary encampment in the open field without tents, as opposed to "billets" or "cantonment" on the one hand and "camp" on the other. the use of bivouacs permits an army to remain closely concentrated for all emergencies, and avoids the necessity for numerous wagons carrying tents. constant bivouacs, however, are trying to the health of men and horses, and this method of quartering is never employed except when the military situation demands concentration and readiness. thus the outposts would often have to bivouac while the main body of the army lay in billets.