The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1870-06-25

from the tenth to the thirteenth century Ger
many was in higher state of cultivation than
any other country in Europe, and most of
the reforms tina. have brought about the humane
age N which We lie had their origin in Ger
many. At the present time education in most
OF the German states is compulsory. Every
child must be seut to school at least five years
during his minority. In that land Of such
splendid educational opportunities there are no
less than twenty.four universities, to which
America has not one that bears comparison in
point OF scientific advantages,) not to mention
the theological. mining and agricultural colleges,
and academies where navigation, the fine arts
and all the sciences are taught and to these facts
may be attributed the capability of the German
mind to scientific investigation, which chal.
lenges comparison with every other nation. And
though we find many Germans in our midst of
high degree of cultivation, speaking several
languages, and capable OF filling the professors
chair of ancient and modern languages in any of
our colleges, yet, unlike Americans of half their
culture, We find them modest OF their attain.
ments, leading lives of self denial, and free from
all appearance of pedantry.
The German mind is unable, even from a thee.
logical point Of view, to comprehend our extreme
reverence tor days. To their way of thinking,
unschooled in the spirit of Puritanism, when
man has honestly labored through six days of the
week. fed and clothed his large family of children,
and broken no moral law, he has no conception
OF tho necessity requiring of him confession of
uncommitted sins by going about with a counte-
nance of despair on the seventh. With labor
ing man, occupying a small house filled with
children, fresh air and social relaxation are
the requisite relaxation needed, and without
which he would consider life an eternal working
day; and he sees reason why he should not
take his rest unmolested. The Germans, from
their earliest history have been noted for their
hospitality. The master of the house welcomed
his guest or a friend and regaled him with the
best his house afforded In their amusements
the Germans are thoroughly democratic. The
price Of admission is in the means of the poorest
They are educated and discriminating in music
but they 60 to be happy and forget tor an hour
all their hardships. The family, from the head
OF the family to the baby at the breast, are all
joyous group. They have no false notions of
appearances to sustain, and the beauty of this
relationship, is that the presence Of the family
adds to the fathers happiness which is not
American by any means. Wherever the Ger
man man is found there the wife and children
are welcome. We, as people, run to melan.
choly. A writer on Americans some years ago
said: II never saw a people so Invested of
gayety; there are no merry.msking, no Jetes, no
fairs, no music in the streets, no nothing that Is
cheerful and calculated to relax their the fea.
lures Of their sombre faces" Thus, in the Uni.
ted States, where it is an sbomination to dance
and play, and where melancholy and religion
are supposed to walk hand in hand, the Ger
man, with his logical mind, industrious habits
| and liberal views, must benefit America.