title: German life in town and country,
text: .■,')!■■ ,% ,-f y'l:'. '9s> fm^^.^ ^ v^^ ^m^-^.'^ -^0^ v^^ •^^.. ^0O^ K*-*"- ■&"■% Oo, ^^^^ ^ <?■ "^ym^^ X^' 'f^. ^^. % ^;^Si(^ V •^.0,"^- '^^%, "^'^W^.^ /% ^ a 0- '.S A-:.:^>^ ..*^^l?^'. m^ ^ ^' <V ?/, % /: nO°<. i<^ ^^^v ^ -v , ^ s A. %. oo^ /:--.%:-^" v^*^.■»-v•■•■•/■ : ■^^"■'^ a\ ■J' * .^ ,4 , , - ^^" '^- v^.--'> ^""^^i:i!^V^^^^/:^v-; V- ,^\ ^ly^-/^ -,^, ^^ -J^y.. v-Jy ' ,0- "o, * O OUR EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURS EDITED BY WILLIAM HARBUTT DAWSON GERMAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY pu^^i; OLD BRUNSWICK GERMAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY^ OS BY William Harbutt Dawson AUTHOR OF " GERMANY AND THE GERMANS," ETC. ILLUSTRATED G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON ^be 1R:ntcl?erbocker press 1901 THE LIBRARY OF CONQRESS, Two Copies Receiveo APR. 6 1901 Copyright entry CLASS Ct XXa N«. 6y3f COPY B. Copyright, 1901 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Zhe Itnkfceiboclier preaa, mew fort CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS THE GERMAN'S FATHERLAND . . I CHAPTER 11 SOCIAL DIVISIONS 22 CHAPTER III THE "ARBEITER" ... . . 46 CHAPTER IV RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR .... 68 CHAPTER V MILITARY SERVICE 92 CHAPTER VI PUBLIC EDUCATION 122 CHAPTER VII RELIGIOUS LIFE AND THOUGHT . . . I42 vi Contents PAGE CHAPTER VIU WOMAN AND THE HOME . . . . 182 CHAPTER IX PLEASURES AND PASTIMES .... 207 CHAPTER X THE BERLINER 236 CHAPTER XI POLITICAL LIFE 2'^2 CHAPTER XII LOCAL GOVERNMENT 269 CHAPTER XIII THE  . . l8 PEASANT COSTUMES 26 PEASANT COSTUMES 40 PEASANT COSTUMES 52 A FETE CHAMPETRE 76 Knaus. THE bride's DEPARTURE , . . . 80 Fautier. REVIEW ON THE TEMPLEHOF FIELD, BERLIN . 94 STUDENTS FENCING 120 THE CIVIL MARRIAGE IN THE COUNTRY . . I48 Vautier. A WESTPHALIAN FUNERAL . . . . I56 F. Hiddemann Illustrations PAGE A BLACK FOREST PEASANT GIRL . . . 224 C. Hey den. THE RIVER ROADS OF THE SPREE FOREST . 2^0 Kretschmer. OLD NUREMBERG 234 A VILLAGE INN 246 Breitbach. THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT HOUSE, BERLIN . 266 GERMAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY GERMAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY CHAPTER I WHAT IS THE GERMAN'S FATHERLAND IN one of the fervid songs which Ernst Moritz Arndt wrote to nerve his countrymen, in the time of national crisis and awakening nearly a century ago, the poet foretold the growth of a new and greater Germany, whose boundaries should be co-extensive with the German speech. "What is the German's fatherland?" he asked. The answer was that in the time which he knew to be coming there would be one father- land for all the Germanic races, which should be neither Prussia nor Austria, neither Bavaria nor Swabia, in particular, but these and every other piece of European territory on which Ger- man was the people's language. When Arndt sang, and prophesied, and fought for national 2 German Life unity, Germany was little more than a geographi- cal expression, and more than half a century had yet to pass before the movement which he and countless other patriots, both of the pen and the sword, laboured and lived to advance, took practical form. Only in 1871 did Germany as we now know it become united, but the unity then cemented proved very different from that which most of the national leaders of Arndt's day anticipated, since the largest of the German States was excluded from the ring-fence which Prince Bismarck drew around the twenty-five sovereignties which still retained their independ- ence, and to which, with due regard to the tra- dition of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which came to an end in 1800, he gave the name of "German Empire." Important though the part which Germany has played in the politics of Europe during the generation which has succeeded the crowning act of unity, and great though the significance of the Empire for England in particular, both as an intellectual and an economic force, it may be questioned whether hazier ideas prevail among us concerning the constitution of any other part of Europe than concerning this country. The average mind vaguely conceives of Russia as an amorphous monster of a land extending from a vague line, running somewhere down the centre of Europe, eastward to the Ural Mountains ; and The German's Fatherland 3 ignores the vast Russia wliichi spreads tlience into the illimitable tracts of Asia. The confusion is increased by the titular posi- tion bestowed by the imperial constitution upon the kings of Prussia. In reality the position carries with it little personal power. It is a presidency, not a sovereignty. As German Em- peror the King of Prussia simply stands among the rest of the princes as primus inter pares. The real power belongs to the representative Council of the Federal Governments (the Bund- esrath) and to the elected Assembly of the Em- pire (the Reichstag), between which it is divided equally, so that the one is a perfect counterpoise to the other. In the Federal Council, Prussia naturally, owing to its size and population, en- joys a much larger voting power than any other State, — having seventeen members out of a total of fifty-eight ; but even so its strength is barely 4 German Life more than one against three. The remaining members are divided in the following propor- tions, — the Kingdom of Bavaria follows Prussia with six, then come the Kingdoms of Saxony and Wurtemberg with four each, the Grand Duchies of Baden and Hesse with three each, the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg- Schwerin and the Duchy of Brunswick with two each, and the remaining seventeen States one each. Hence, even were the interests represented in the Fed- eral Council not so various, and in part so con- flicting, as they are, Prussia does not possess the means, even had it the will, to force upon the Imperial Government a special policy of its own which does not receive the full endorsement of a considerable number of its allies. Yet Prussia is none the less the backbone of the Empire, and it was by no accident that it fell to its sovereigns to head the movement which led the German States to unity, on the basis of a confederation under the perpetual presidency of the kings of Prussia. Strange and romantic is the story which tells how the patch of sandy plain lying between the Elbe and the Havel, which Henry the Fowler took from the Wends to rule himself a thousand years ago, developed into the monarchy of Prussia, which was to give imperial Germany its head. ' ' Good old Henry, " as Carlyle calls him, created margraves to watch his boundaries or marches, and keep his trouble- The German's Fatherland 5 some neighbours in order. Among tlie mar- graviates were those of Meissen (the nucleus of Saxony), Austria, and Brandenburg. Four cent- uries later the Mark of Brandenburg reverted, owing to the failure of the ruling line, to the Emperor Sigismund, who, in consideration of money advanced and other services rendered, bestowed it, with the title of elector, in pledge — not to be redeemed — upon Frederick IV., Burg- grave of Nuremberg (141 5), a member of the Swabian family of Hohenzollern. Land was added to land, by marriage, by inheritance, by conquest, and especially Prussia, lying to the east, which was snapped off the old Polish kingdom. Finally the Elector of Brandenburg became King of Prussia by his own act of coronation (1701), and in the monarchy the old Mark was formally absorbed, though ever to be regarded as the heart of the realm and the bright, particular jewel of the Hohenzollern Crown. It was fitting, nay, was inevitable, that the line of rulers which had accomplished this marvellous expansion should lead Prussia to a still higher destiny. In his essay Shooting Niagara, and After — of which the title rather than the thoughts have been appreciated by the British public to whom it was addressed — Thomas Carlyle wrote (the date was 1867, just after the Austrian war) : "It was a clear prophecy that Germany would either become honourably Prussian or go to gradual 6 German Life extinction ; but who of us expected that we ourselves, instead of our children's children, should live to behold it ; that a magnanimous and fortunate Herr von Bismarck, whose dis- praise was all in the newspapers, would, to his own amazement, find the thing was doable ; and would do it, do the essential of it, in a few of the current weeks?" And yet the becoming " honourably Prussian " is a fate which the non- Prussian portions of the Empire have consistently resisted with all their might, so that even now, when over three decades have passed, Germany has not yet disappeared in Prussia, nor has Prussia succeeded in inducing the allied States consciously to accept German development on specifically Prussian lines. It is necessary at the outset to iixake these points clear. Perhaps ninety times out of a hun- dred the allusions made in English newspapers to Germany and German institutions and cus-. toms relate merely to a part of the country, and, as often as not, words and acts attributed to the Emperor do not concern the Empire at all, but relate exclusively to the person and functions of the King of Prussia. The Emperor is, of course, Emperor every moment of his life, but in State affairs he possesses two distinct capacities, the imperial and the royals and the one has not necessarily even the remotest connexion with the other. Moreover, while the imperial senti- The German's Fatherland 7 ment of the nation is on the whole strong and well-rooted, the individual life of the federated States and peoples has been but little influenced by the political unity which was consummated thirty years ago, and especially is this so in the larger States. The lustre of the Empire has not diminished the self-pride and self-consciousness of any of its component parts, and though im- perial laws have decreed that the German's fa- therland is coterminous with the entire Empire, there is still for each citizen a smaller and nearer and dearer fatherland — the monarchy or duchy or principality to which he and his fathers be- longed when the Empire was no more than an idea. The figure-head of the Empire may impress his mind ^nd imagination, but his affections belong to iiis own ruler, be his Court never so modest and his territories never so restricted. In Prussia only can it be said that the terms Emperor and King convey the same idea of sovereignty to the popular mind, since there is here identity of person, but outside Prussia there is still lack- ing to the imperial title and position the subtle magic and the deep sentiment which have gathered round the name and person of the immemorial " Landesvater." Travel in Bavaria, in Saxony, in Wurtemberg, and you cannot fail to be impressed by the State-consciousness, as opposed to the Empire-consciousness (if the words may be allowed) which characterises 8 German Life the people. The Empire and the Emperor are gala-day institutions, — very real and dignified, yet uninspiring, and remote from the common interests of life. Viewed thoughtfully, all this is no misfortune, but the reverse. As imperial sovereignty is im- possible in Germany, it is obvious that the po- litical future of the country is best secured by the preservation in undiminished health and vigour in every individual State of the old sentiment of loyalty and personal attachment to the ruling head. We are learning that this sentiment affords one of the strongest guarantees of national stability in these days. It is one of the remarkable facts of modern times that, in spite of the spirit of unrest which is abroad, and of the strong democratic tendency which has revolutionised old systems of government, the monarchical principle appears to commend itself more and more strongly to all the most enlightened and progressive countries which have not done vio- lence to their natural development. The princi- The German's Fatherland 9 palities of Germany passed through their time of trial half a century ago, and it was severe ; but by adapting themselves to the changed condi- tions, by making concessions, larger or smaller, to the nev^er conceptions of personal liberty which had become current, their position was strengthened rather than weakened, while their political efficiency was vastly increased. ' ' March Revolutions" , are so inconceivable in modern Germany that even in the residence-city of Berlin demonstration - loving Socialists are permitted once a year to pay reverent tribute, in the form of ribbon, wreath, and oration, to the memory of the insurrectionaries of 1848, who lie in a well-trimmed cemetery of their own. Yet one of the most canvassed questions in German politics has come to be this one of the permanency or otherwise of the Empire. It is wonderful how often the stability of the im- perial edifice is endangered in the eyes of short- sighted politicians and sensational journalists. To judge by the ill-balanced utterances of a certain section of the Press, — that which is con- sistently opposed to the Ministry of the day, — no great question of imperial policy ever crops up without the parliamentary system being exposed to a tension which it cannot possibly bear, and the Empire receiving a new and graver menace. The late Professor Rudolf von Gneist declared shortly before his death: "Discontent with the lo German Life course of public affairs is the natural condition of the German, varied only by rare episodes of patriotic enthusiasm." It is a severe criticism, but a true one. When any party powerful enough to be regarded as a serious factor in the political situation fails to get what it wants — ^to secure the passing of a pet measure, to force the Government to adopt its line of policy, or to re- frain from following some other — it is the com- monest thing in the world for its organs in the Press to startle the country with a solemn inti- mation that the Empire is in danger. Serious disaffection is reported to have broken out in the South German States. Particularism has risen from the grave to which it was unceremoniously committed in 1871. The Federal Government can with difficulty preserve even a threadbare appearance of harmony. The aristocracy is rest- ive ; the burgher parties are anxiously won- dering what the morrow will bring forth ; and the Social Democrats are already by anticipa- tion dividing the spoils of a sundered society. In short, the Empire is visibly going to pieces, and Crown and Sceptre are not worth a week's purchase. This, of course, according to the Press ! Here is an actual sample of the sort of foreboding in which newspapers of this stamp — and they are not all insignificant newspapers, either — have periodically indulged ever since the Empire became a fact : The German's Fatherland ii " Things have not for a long time been as they ought to be. The artificial rejoicings which a few Court purveyors and firms that deal in de- corations and illuminations propose to arrange on the return of the Emperor ought to cause no illusion on this point. The feeling in wide cir- cles, particularly in the South, is not favourable at the present moment to those who hold the reins of power in Prussia. The same may be said of many of the Courts in the German States, as anyone who watches the Press will easily discern." "Anyone who watches the Press !" That is, indeed, the secret of the whole matter. For any one who watches the Press, or, better still, takes the trouble to go behind the Press and ask on whose authority and responsibility these national crises are so portentously notified to an unsus- pecting but too easily disturbed public, will dis- cover the utter hollowness and cant of the whole system of sensation-mongering. Germany, like some other countries, suffers from newspaper vanity. There, as elsewhere, the journalist is apt to magnify his profession and position, and, under the influence of an unfortunate inflation of ideas, he falls at times into the error of imagin- ing that he, the journalist, is the true ruler, and that kings and governments and parliaments simply move to his hand like so many pieces on a chess-board. Such a misconception is excus- 12 German Life able now and then, but when it becomes a set- tled conviction incalculable harm is done, and most of all to the newspaper, which abdicates a position which it may fill with honour, and in which it is at any rate taken seriously, in favour of one which it cannot really fill at all, and if it could, would occupy illegitimately and as a usurper. It is undeniable that questions have arisen from time to time, and still arise, bringing to light the fact that State rights are not under the new regime just what they were under the old. Disputes have occurred over the jurisdiction of the Federal Council, as against the individual States which it represents, over the exact degree of independence reserved to those countries (Bavaria and Wurtemberg) which retained a qualified control of their postal or military sys- tems, and even over the constitutional position and prerogatives of the Emperor himself. But such disputes were and are inevitable, and not The German's Fatherland 13 the most perfect imperial constitution humanly conceivable could have averted them. The wonder is that they have not been more numer- ous, and have on the whole produced so little visible friction amongst the federated States. But the Empire is stable and permanent because the prosperity of all the States, and the inde- pendence and the very life of most of them, depend upon its continuance. Political idealism apart, the instinct of self-preservation alone will compel the States to preserve the tie which has held them together for thirty years, and has vastly increased their strength, both collectively and individually. But there are more obvious and more tangible reasons to cause them to work together peaceably and with united will in the new traces. Since the Empire was estab- lished, the German States have enjoyed a meas- ure of material prosperity such as, relatively, has fallen to hardly another country in the world. In the practical arts and sciences, in commerce and industry, Germany has leaped to the very front rank of world-Powers. The example of Belgium and Switzerland has shown what is possible in the way of mercantile progress to small States whose people are imbued with Northern energy and enterprise, and it is no doubt true that even on the old basis — given the absence of internal disruption and external disturbance — Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria 14 German Life would at least have won a creditable place in the international race for industrial prestige and wealth. But no one can doubt that the natural progress of these and other of the States has been immensely stimulated and increased by the political advantages which the creation of the Empire placed at their disposal, — the higher place which the States in combination took in the political councils of the world ; their unas- sailable defensive strength, which won for them, and compelled, attention and respect where hitherto the German name had carried little or no weight ; and the fact that the foreign policy of the Imperial Government, while primarily devoted, according to traditional principles, to maintaining territorial and treaty rights intact, has never ignored the opportunity of doing commerce a good turn. Prince Bismarck showed a true appreciation of Germany's political situa- tion as well as the instinct of a true statesman- ship when, after his retirement, he addressed (in 1895) to his fellow Prussians this appeal : "We Prussians, we Bavarians, we Saxons," he said, " we are Germany, and we remain so, and we must study Germany's interests. Cling fast to the Imperial idea, even in the Prussian Diet. Do not forget that you are citizens of an Empire, and to think of him who is your King and Emperor, and who has duties towards the Empire and his confederates. I beg you The German's Fatherland 15 not to pursue a Brandenburg or a Prussian- national policy, but a German-imperial policy." Prussia is alive enough to the wisdom of this policy, while out of Prussia both its wisdom and its necessity are practically acknowledged. Prussia would be a Great Power even if it stood alone, but three-quarters of the smaller princi- palities would soon cease to be were the Empire to be dissolved. Hence, though the imperial idea may not have become so thoroughly naturalised as the best friends of German unity would like, and though slight and harmless ebullitions of particularism have not been rare in recent years, and may not be wanting in coming ones, there is little need to apprehend that the work of Prince Bismarck will ever be undone. That Germans in general indulge the ambition of further territorial expansion in Europe may well be questioned. None the less, there are national idealists — and some of them very practical idealists, with swords hanging at their sides — who profess to anticipate a time when the Empire will correspond far more faithfully than now to the prediction of Arndt. Pan-Germanism is an attractive, though at pre- sent a very select and uninfluential, cult ; and Pan-Germanism means, according to its inspir- ers and exponents, not simply a Germany which extends from the Rhine to the Vistula, but one 1 6 German Life which includes Holland, Luxemburg, part of Belgium, and the bulk of Austria, — in the words of the patriot-poet, "Where'er resounds the German tongue." There is in wide circulation in Germany a "Pan-Germanic Atlas" {All- deutscher Atlas), which lays down in black and white this programme of a larger confederation. Taking time by the forelock, the authors of the atlas have already added to the Empire, so far as printed frontiers and colouring go, all those portions of the Continent which are inhabited overwhelmingly by the Germanic stock, what- ever their existing rulers and constitutional arrangements. It would be unfair to attribute to the Pan-Germanic movement serious sig- nificance, and unjust to assume that there lives any responsible statesman who regards it with anything more than a pious curiosity ; yet the fact that the idea underlying it is in the air gives to the subject at least a speculative interest. While there is no German who is not proud, even to a certain degree of overbearing vanity, of his country's ascent in the political scale, there are very many Germans, out of sympathy with material aims and successes of all kinds, who shrug their shoulders at the mention of its recent economic development. Trained in the school of the idealists, and forgetful of the realities of this most realistic age, they prefer to live in the poetry of the past, and would The German's Fatherland 17 barter all the modern millionaires of Germany for the brain and soul of another Fichte, all its manufactories and workshops for one more play by Schiller. It is refreshing to find in a country which is at present the world's wonder for rapid advancement in commerce and wealth, so strong a counter-balance of idealism, which recks nought of gold and gain, and deplores as an irreparable misfortune Germany's rush to the front as a mercantile Power. None the less, the Germany of to-day is essentially a land of shrewd-headed, practical-minded, deft-handed men and women, who are determined that, in the race for material wealth, their country shall never be found far behind. Not only so, but the Governments have, in every possible way, encouraged the commercial and industrial spirit, conscious, not only that the extension of Germany's markets is the sole way of finding employment for, and thus keeping at home, its growing population, but also that the coun- try's costly military system can only be upheld so long as its material resources continue to increase, A flourishing commerce is the goose that lays the golden egg, and that is one reason why the bitter opposition of the agrarian classes to all recent measures for promoting trade at home and abroad has been resolutely brushed aside by the Imperial Government. Yet it has certainly not all been gain, this 1 8 German Life wonderful progress which has made Germany a land of countless millionaires in marks, and has drawn upon it the impatience and dis- pleasure of not a few older and still wealthier competitors. The quiet and peaceful life of a generation ago has gone, and in its place are found the feverish haste and Ugly scramble for wealth which everywhere so conspicuously characterise the age of "getting on." The ex- ternal appearance of the country has changed. Not the capitals and cities only, but many a small provincial town, which once on a time abounded in historical, archaeological, and pictur- esque charm, bears witness to-day to the modern "progressive" spirit, which values everything according to its exchangeability for metallic wealth. There is, it is true, a mediaeval Germany which still defies end-of-the-century innovation with success. Go to Nuremberg, to Brunswick, to Augsburg, and you are at once transported into the age of the patricians, the Meistersinger, the cunning craftsmen, whose productions in wood, in glass, in enduring metals, both precious and base, and in decorative work are still the pride and wonder of industry and art. Many another ancient German town has so far compromised with modernity as to build outside the historic boundaries, so that the Neustadt ("New town " ) and the Altstadt (" Old town ") meet and merge without quarrelling ; and the effect of this :,.t' tHHi I [^ ■111 J NUREMBERG PATRICIAN HOUSE The German's Fatherland 19 happy arrangement is that the olden charm and picturesqueness are preserved in their en- tirety. While thus the nineteenth century suc- cessfully asserts its claim to recognition, the centuries of the Fuggers, of Diirer, of Hans Sachs, have been guarded with delicate and reverent hand. But in many towns it is otherwise, and where vandalism has triumphed the result is wreck and desolation indeed. There come to my mind at the moment two pictures — pictures of the same town, though they relate to different periods. Only a dozen years or so divide the one from the other, but the effect of that brief lapse of time was that of a fundamental transformation. It is a town in Central Germany, of great historic interest, which long seemed to have escaped altogether the tide of progress — for such let us call it — which began to sweep over the country at the begin- ning of the seventies. Situated amongst the primeval forest, the railway which passed by seemed almost to ignore its existence, as if it had neither time nor desire to cultivate an acquaintance with a place so old-fashioned. Passing into the town beneath the ancient Stadt- thor, you found yourself in a quaint, grass- grown market-place, which, save on fair days, and on summer evenings, when work was over, was wrapt in an air of old-world quiet and sleepiness. Mounting the hills at whose feet the 20 German Life little town lies, you looked down upon an ex- panse of red roofs and rambling Gassen, with an ancient brick church rising in the middle, and the only sign of modernity the line of glit- tering rails that emerged from, and lost them- selves in, the forest in the distance. Twelve years passed, and what a change had occurred in the meantime ! The hand of the in- novator, the improver, the reformer, had been laid upon this unique relic of antiquity, and its charm, its picturesqueness, and its poetry had gone. Ancient buildings, whose eaves you might have touched with your walking-stick, had given place to huge stucco structures which seemed to dispute with the very hill-tops their place in the landscape. The old timbered cottages had for the most part disappeared, and gaudy villas reigned in their stead, made to order in vulgar styles, and flaunting themselves with all the airs of ill-bred snobbishness. The quiet shops of old, to which neither name nor sign had been attached, had given place to great modern bazaars. The pure, translucent atmo- sphere of the valley had been fouled by factory chimneys. In short, the sweet, peaceful, sim- ple old life had altogether passed away, and the town and everything in it had become sadly and tragically new. The fate of this town is the fate of many another, and it is but typical of the great economic upheavals which belong to The German's Fatherland 21 the present generation. Germany has, in fact, entirely passed over to the industrial and com- mercial pursuits of nations. Not long ago, the late Imperial Chancellor, Prince Hohenlohe, de- clared it to be his conviction that genuine social progress had for the time been arrested, and the reason he gave was that the struggle for ma- terial advancement had checked the visible growth of all higher tendencies. Granting that Prince Hohenlohe's outlook may have been dark- ened by the distrust and apprehension which are more natural to age than to youth, nevertheless, no one can reasonably doubt that the spirit of materialism has laid hold upon Germany quite as strongly as upon other countries. What this means we shall know in coming years. ^v^^^^^^^^ps^ CHAPTER II SOCIAL DIVISIONS SOCIAL divisions are very fine and precise, and jealously observed, in Germany. Tiie rea- son is not, hov/ever, tlie influence of wealth, but rather the fact that v/ealth in that unspoiled and unsophisticated land has not yet become the standard of personal worth, or the ultimate factor in the determination of social rank. A man may have at command the gold of a Croesus, but if he have nothing more he will knock in vain for entrance into good society. Hence it is, that between "society," as Germany defines it, and the moneyed commercial classes, there exists a gulf deeper than any which divides the dollar from the dime in England or the United States. It is not by any means jealousy of wealth which causes the official, the military, and the educated classes generally to surround themselves with a sort of Chinese wall, but jeal- ousy lest wealth should arrogate an influence which only belongs to it in societies of low or Social Divisions 23 decadent culture. That there is just a faint sug- gestion of snobbishness in this scrupulous isola- tion and reserve must, perhaps, be conceded ; but in the main the prejudice is intensely honest and real, and it must be regarded as such by anyone who would truly comprehend the spirit of German society. The merely opulent have, of course, their compensations ; they cultivate their own cliques, entertain each other sump- tuously, and give the world to understand that they are of some account ; but they are not society, and they do not give the tone to the community of which they form part. You will hear this social ostracism of unadorned wealth indignantly, and even furiously, ridiculed by those who suffer from it, but the slight goes deep, and is accountable for a good deal of the disharmony which characterises class relation- ships in Germany. In the towns the sharp distinction which is drawn between education and money has simply the effect of allotting to each a social sphere of its own, and as the sphere is wide and varied, no great practical in- convenience is felt. In the country, however, the division is more searching, for there society is limited, and the operation of its unwritten laws is consequently more invidious. How little culture and money are necessary associates in Germany may be judged from an instructive classification of the nation which 24 German Life was drawn up some time ago by Professor Gustav Schmoller, the well-known economist. Schmoller divides the people into four broad groups. The first is an "aristocratic and well- to-do" group of 250,000 families, consisting (such is his conclusion) of large landowners, princes of industry, the highest State officials, popular doctors, and artists, and also rentiers, with incomes exceeding ;^450 a year. Then he places in the "upper middle-class" 2,750,000 families, including members of the landowning and commercial classes in medium circum- stances, the majority of higher officials, and many members of the liberal professions, with incomes ranging between ^135 and ;!^450. A third group takes in 3,750,000 families of the "lower middle-class," made up of farmers, art- isans, small tradespeople, officials, and the better- paid skilled work-people, with incomes ranging from £,()0 to ;!^i35. Lastly come 5,250,000 families, which he assigns to the " lower classes," comprising principally wage-earners, but also the humbler officials, and artisans and peasants of the poorer class, whose incomes fall below ;^45 a year. The classification at best can, of course, only be approximately accurate, yet it is significant of the comparatively small incomes generally ruling in Germany amongst the classes superior in education and social rank. \ e- And here a noteworthy social characteristic Social Divisions 25 must be named in passing. The existence of so many universities, scattered over the length and breadth of the land, has the effect of distributing culture more evenly than would otherwise be the case. A considerable educated society is for this reason found not merely in one or two choice centres, but in a multitude of towns, and in this respect provincial Germany — if I may use that inexact but convenient term, for the Berliner is really as much a provincial to the Dresdener as vice versa — presents marked contrast to provin- cial England. Moreover, the ubiquity and multi- plicity of Government officials, who are largely educated men, offer in almost the smallest of towns the nucleus of a cultivated circle, to which, thanks to the diffusion of university in- fluence, the normal elements of its population invariably contribute. Hence the vastly greater amenity of life for educated people in the Klein- stadt (little town) as compared with England, and the facility with which the new-comer of that class finds and settles down in a congenial social sphere. But the strongest and narrowest of all social prejudices are those which are indulged by the military class. It would be impossible to exag- gerate the feeling of superiority entertained by the officer towards civilians in general, saving those of higher official rank, between whom and himself he is compelled to recognise a certain 26 German Life identity of interest, in virtue of a common rela- tionship to the Crown — not, be it noted, to the State, though it is the State which keeps both army and bureaucracy going. It is, of course, in garrison towns that military exclusiveness is car- ried to the farthest extreme. There but one society exists, and it is comprised of the ofiFicers' families. Into this charmed circle no one else can enter save by some rarely and discriminately bestowed act of grace. It lives its own separate life, and cultivates its own special interests, without the slightest thought of who exists or what goes on outside. To all intents and pur- poses, the ins and the outs, so far as this privileged coterie is concerned, constitute distinct socia. worlds, and if one talked German and the other Hebrew the alienage could not be more com- plete. The garrison town is thus no paradise for the civilian ; or, rather, its paradise is one which he may not enter. Like the Peri in Thomas Moore's poem, he must stand at the door disconsolate, with pain and tribulation pro- portionate to his ambition and vanity. There is, however, one bridge by which the civilian mav cross the gulf of pri'-' and prejudice and shak hands with the officer, and of course it is a gjolden one. The young officer is the most depi'-ed of matches, not because he is a fine fell*^ in him- self and dances like a sylph, but bf ^e of the distinction which belongs to his p'-jfession. A Social Divisions 27 military marriage is the dream of every girl of social aspirations, but it is a dream which can only be said to have even a remote correspond- ence with the facts of life when her rank is something more than tolerable, and when, above all, her father is well provided with this world's goods and is willing to share them with a mar- tial son-in-law. For the junior officer excuse can be found for thus putting a price upon his own head. Unless he be possessed of private means marriage is impossible, for the pay is very small, and below a minimum income he is forbidden to covet a fireside of his own. It is only when the rank of captain is reached that this prohibition is removed, though even then the advantage of an independent fortune is a very real one. But here the officer does not stand alone. A peculiarity of professional life generally in Ger- many is the comparatively late age, according to English ideas, at which men seriously enter on their careers. The reason is the long and severe course of training which the State requires as a condition of entering any department of the public service or of following either the medical or the legal profession. At an age when with us many a man has already made a name, and won for himself a position which satisfies a fair human ambition, the German is still patiently and indus- triously overcoming the preliminary obstacles to 28 German Life his onward march. Hence come the late mar- riages which are so common, and the universal disparity between the years of husband and wife. Both law and medicine are hedged round by conditions and requirements which make suc- cess a very real index of merit. Both the judge and the advocate of the future must have pur- sued systematic legal study at one or more of the universities and have passed searching examina- tions before being permitted to place foot on the lowest rung of the professional ladder. Practical experience in the courts of law follows, and only after further State examinations have been successfully gone through is the way to an inde- pendent career and a livelihood clear. The legal openings are many and various, though few are brilliant. The great majority of jurists elect to continue in the service of the State, for judge- ships of all degrees of importance and dignity, besides a multitude of administrative positions presuming legal training, are within reach ; but, so far as income goes, the private practitioner of ability has a far better prospect. The entrance to the medical profession is equally guarded by regulations. The theory of the law is that the practice of medicine, like every other occupation, is free, but this franchise is merely apparent, and only applies, as with us, to such irregular professors of the healing art as ca»-2 to dabble in drugs and lotions, and take the Social Divisions 29 risk, which is a serious one. The use of any sort of title whatever is an illegality of the grav- est kind, unless the bearer has passed through the university course of study which the State prescribes, and has duly taken his diplomas. For it is the State, and no private corporation, however august, which confers on a man the right to dispense physic and to relieve you of your limbs, just as it is the State which author- ises him to contend, at the risk of his soul, that black is white and wrong right in the courts of law. Even in the very personal matter of the highness or lowness — and it is generally the latter — of his fees, the State Department for Pub- lic Health claims a right to be consulted in the rare cases where the local arrangements between the medical faculty and the public break down. How doctors charge has always been a problem of the utmost mystery to the average English citizen, who is more concerned to keep the fam- ily physician, much as he respects him, out of the house than to squabble about the precise meaning of the term " medical attendance." In Germany the matter is extremely simple. The family doctor does not charge at all. You fix your own fee, send it to him on New Year's Day, with a host of good wishes, and both parties to the transaction live happily for a whole twelve- month afterwards. It is, of course, understood that the sum handed to the doctor shall be in just 30 German Life proportion to the services wliich have been ren- dered, so far as the fallible judgment of the debtor can determine so exact a point, but as the relation- ship between Hausarit and patient is of the usual friendly and intimate character, it is only in exceptional cases that misunderstandings occur. One result of the educational and legal restric- tions which surround the medical profession is that a very high standard of ability is preserved all round, and another is that the profession is much closer than in England, and its members not so numerous in proportion to population. Public confidence in the entire class of medical practitioners is unquestionably strengthened by the public conviction, which nothing can shake, that there is only one possible kind of doctor, and only one way of making him, — he must have passed through a university and taken there a full degree bearing the seal of State authority. No small proportion of the pseudo-doctors who thrive on the ailments and the credulity — mostly the latter — of English people of certain classes would in Germany speedily find them- selves in the clutches of the law, for the legal enactments against imposture of the kind are very drastic and do not stand much on ceremony. Not long ago a German provincial doctor, possessing the full medical qualifications, left the monotonous paths of orthodox pathology Social Divisions 31 and began to practise homoeopathy, and soon he won such notoriety that persons consulted him from far and near. It was a very remunerative departure, for he posed now as a specialist, and charged fees accordingly. Unfortunately, a case in which he prescribed a phial of innocent glob- ules, where amputation of the limb was the proper and only cure, ended fatally, and a jealous Public Prosecutor took the matter up. The trial came on duly, and it proved a national nine days' wonder. All that could be alleged against the defendant was that homoeopathy was no substi- tute for surgery ; there was no suggestion that the medicines given, such as they were, had done injury ; yet the Court summarily sent the indiscreet practitioner to prison for several years, and dispossessed him of ;^i50 of his abundant profits, by way of fine. The public with one voice applauded the verdict, for on this subject of medical propriety public opinion is very strong in Germany, yet perhaps not more strong than wholesome. 