eshed, not lost, by a romp. Who has not seen
distinguished Americans and distinguished Englishmen, in their own or
in their friends' houses, or at one or another of our innumerable
games, behaving like boys out of school, crawling about beneath
improvised skins and growling and roaring in charades; indulging in
flying chaff of one another; in the skirts of their wives and sisters
playing cricket, or base-ball, or tennis with the one hand only;
caricaturing good-humoredly some of their own official business, or
arranging a match of some kind where their own servants join in to
make up a side; or, and well I remember it, half a dozen youths of
about fifty playing cricket with one stump and a broom-handle for an
hour one hot afternoon, amid tumbles and shouts of laughter, and a
shower of impromptu nicknames, and one or two of them bore names known
all over the English-speaking world. Nobody loses any dignity, any
importance; but there is an unconquerable stiffness in Germany that
makes me laugh almost as I make this suggestion. We have only a
certain reserve of serious work in us. To attempt to be serious all
the time is never to be at rest. This worried busyness, which is a
characteristic of the more mediocre of my own countrymen also, is
really a symptom of deficient vitality. Things are in the saddle and
you are the mule and not the man, if you are such an one. The
stiffness and self-consciousness of the Germans is really a sign of
their lack of confidence in themselves. Youth is always more serious
than middle age, for the same reason. A man who is at home in the
world laughs and is gay; he who is shy and doubtful scowls. It is the
God-fearing who are not afraid, it is the man-fearing who are awkward
and uncomfortable.

The first thing to be afraid of is oneself, but after oneself is
conquered why be afraid to let him loose!

It would be quite untrue to give the impression that there is no fun,
no harking, no chaff, in Germany, although I am bound to say that
there is little of this last. I can bear witness to a healthy love of
fun, and to an exuberant exploitation of youthful vitality in many
directions among the students and younger officers, for example.
Better companions for a romp exist nowhere. Having been blessed with
an undue surplus of vitality, which for many years kept me fully
occupied in directing its expenditure, alas, not always with success,
I can only add that I found as many youthful companions in a