one, for ladies in
Germany, I have heard not from a dozen, but in a chorus from German
ladies themselves. I am reciting no grievances of my compatriots, for
I have seen next to nothing of Americans for a year or more, and I
have no personal complaints, for these soft adventurers scent danger
quickly, and give the masters of the world, whether male or female, a
wide berth.

These gross manners are the result of two factors in German life that
it is well to keep in mind. They are a poor people, only just emerging
from poverty, slavery, and disaster; poor not only in possessions, but
poor in the experience of how to use them. They do not know how to use
their new freedom. They are as awkward in this new world of theirs, of
greater wealth and opportunity, as unyoked oxen that have strayed into
city streets. The abject deference of the women, who know nothing
better than these parochial masters, adds to their sense of their own
importance. It is largely the women themselves who make their men
insupportable.

The other factor is the rigid caste system of their social habits.
There is no association between the officers, the nobility, the
officials, the cultured classes, and the middle and lower classes. The
public schools and universities are learning shops; they do not train
youths in character, manners, or in the ways of the world. They do not
play together, or work together, or amuse themselves together. The
creeds and codes, habits and manners of the better classes are,
therefore, not allowed to percolate and permeate those less
experienced. There is no word for gentleman in German. The words
gebildeter and anstaendiger are used, and it is significant to notice
that the stress is thus laid on mental development or upon obedience
to formal rules. A man may be a very great gentleman and a true
gentleman and not be a scholar. The late Duke of Devonshire cared more
for horses than for books and pictures, and Abraham Lincoln was one of
the greatest gentlemen of all time.

In Homburg one day I saw a tall, fine-looking, elderly man step aside
and off the sidewalk to let two ladies pass. It was for Germany a
noticeable act. He turned out to be a famous general then in waiting
upon the Emperor. There are not a few such courtly gentlemen in
Germany, not a few whose knightliness compares with that of any
gentleman in the world. Alas for the great bulk of the Germans, they
never come into contact with them, their example is lost,