k, even to the
little three-year-old toddler whose business it was to look after the
brooms, dust rags and other household utensils. There was nothing of
cheerfulness or even of the dignity of labor about this. It was hard,
unceasing, grinding toil which crushed the spirits of the people. It was
part of the system to cause them to welcome war as a diversion.

To the German mind everything had an aspect of seriousness. The people
took their pleasures seriously. On their holidays, mostly occasions on
which they celebrated an event in history or the birthday of a monarch
or military hero, or during the hours which they could devote to
relaxation, they gathered with serious, stolid faces in beer gardens. If
they danced it was mostly a cumbersome performance. Generally they
preferred to sit and blink behind great foaming tankards and listen to
intellectual music. No other nation had such music. It was so
intellectual in itself that it relieved the listeners of the necessity
of thinking. There was not much of melody in it; little of the dance
movement and very little of the lighter and gayer manifestations of
life. It has been described as a sort of harmonious discord, typifying
mysterious, tragic and awe-inspiring things. The people sat and ate
their heavy food and drank their beer, their ears engaged with the
strains of the orchestra, their eyes by the movements of the conductor,
while their tired brains rested and digestion proceeded.

To the average German family a picnic or a day's outing was a serious
affair. The labor of preparation was considerable and then they covered
as much of the distance as possible by walking in order to save carfare.
In the parade was the tired, careworn wife usually carrying one,
sometimes two infants in her arms. The other children lugged the lunch
baskets, hammocks, umbrellas and other paraphernalia. At the head of the
procession majestically marched the lord of the outfit, smoking his
cigar or pipe; a suggestion of the goose-step in his stride, carrying
nothing, except his dignity and military deportment. With this kind of
start the reader can imagine the good time they all had.

MILITARISM AND AUTOCRACY DOOMED Joy to the German mind in mass was an
unknown quantity. The literature on which they fed was heavier and more
somber than their music. When the average German tried to be gay and
playful he reminded one of an elephant trying to caper. Their humor in
the main, manifested itself in