Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-02-02
Ihe SIRE Dress.
a TALK ABOI GERMANY.


our stay III the German countries Wlthol
attempting anything like a history of I'll
people as whole, or of any one of the man
races, which make up the mighty Gcrma
Empire, welded together by the genius G
Bismarck and shall only touch upon thos
matters to be found in guide books an
history where it becomes necessary TO max
myself understood.
One of the chief charms TO an American
visiting Europe is to see in country OF les
territory than our own, even less diversified
in character and physical characteristics
people differing so radically from cac
other.
One lands in France, and finds Frcncl
people with all their vivacity, politcncss an,
refinement. Thrift, close economy and ute
frivoousncss rs ii seems to US, and then bu
few hours from Paris, and one is in Bel
GUM; where in the Capital, Brussels, Frencl
is the spoken tongue but among the pcopl
one hears the unpronounceabe. nOn-under
standaGc Flemish. Another hour bring
ono into plucliy little Holland, among tn
Dutch, with their strange language a eros
between a squeak a grunt and choke; sol
Id and phlegmalic but game 10 the back
bone, and cnlerprisng to wonderful degree
in Their own plain mattcr-of-fact way living
in land they have won from the cold Nortl
Sea by gigantic engineering fcats and which
Spain when Spain was the dominant power
of Europe. Another hour brings us to Ger.
many, where again our cars are puzzled by
another tongue and Our eyes greeted by an.
other race of people differing in physical
characteristics, habits, methods OF thought,
tastes and dress from any we have yet seen
in this little Journey We have made in a day
And 50 one goes on through the whole of
Europe, and each day if one wishes he can
see a new people wholly different from and
havlu, nothing in common with the last, cx-
Ccpt those things all mankind have, hungry
stomachs to he filed and naked backs to be
covered. While, go where you will, the one
thing ever present aud all pcrvading is the
mighty hosts Of soldiers preserving Il costly
peace among the nations.
1t is q strange and interesting sight to us
Americans accustomed as VIC are to a nearly
homo cucous people, occupying ono vast and
diversified country, all speaking the same
language, all having common interest in
one ccntra'S government which all have
community of interest in upholding Fifty
millions of people without Il standing army,
save such as is necessary to do police duty
against Il few wandering tribes of Indians,
and then in ten days voyage across The At
lantic, to be plunged into the midst of
number Of nations with their entire young
manhood organized into vast, costly arma-
mcnts with enormous navios, each grnning
at the other across imaginary barriers, 10 pre-
serve peace which can bc broken at the
will of any one ol the hereditary sovereigns,
who are all by marriage and inter-malrage
50 closely related that it is hard To tell which
brother on uncle, or cousin shall fill the next
vacant throne.
The people there, while wholly distinct as
nations, ar. yet joined by royal families. In
To-, 4 IL
dominates In England which we regard
as our mother country almost without OK
ception tic Old nobility and the present roy
al family are from German or Norman stock
while all lhe s1vcrcgns on tho continent of
Europe mostly seek their wives or husbands
among a certain number of royal families
To get clearer idea of the difference be-
tween Europeans and Americans, let lis
imagine each Of uur States to lc pc0plcd with
a separate race # men with wide difference
ii government, laws, customs. d,esS, rclig-
ion, Temperament and physique, each with
huge standing army TO keep Il labored and
doubtful peace and each ruled over by gov
errors who all spring from the same family
stock or are SO closely intCrmariiud as 10
amount to the same thing.
1t is these radical changes which make
Europe so attractive TO our eyes, aside from
tlie wonders of art and the civilization which
is the outgroWth of thousand years of
evolution, from the collapse of the mighty en-
pires of Greece aud Rome and the utter night |
in which for ages the whole of the known
world was plunged after the fall of tic l'o
man Empire. Rome fell by the hand OF early |
Germany, and to-day Germany stands al the |
head of European nations in might and val0r |
She is the grand cOnscrvator of peace, TIE |
mighticst military power on the face Of The |
earth as well rs being by far the most
highly educated race Of pc 'ple, asa whole |
in the world. Her system Of education is |
the most perfect and the best carried into |
practice. They have not only compulsory |
education, but that of the very best Of its |
kind. It's great centres of earning are on |
every side. llcidclburg, Bohp. Freiburg |
Hanover, Leipsic, Dresden, Berlin, Dusse- |
dorf, Munich, and many others are the
places from which the world takes its learn |
ing, both in the abstract sciences in Ian
guagc, music, painting. sculpture rs well as
the more commercial and material sciences
of mining, engineering, forestry and the
like. All the world comes to Germany TO be
educated. In her Gymnasums and Univer-
stiles can be found students from every CIV
lized nation under the sun; while pretty
much all We know Of Etymology, the science
of language and archaeology comes directly
or indirectly from the German scholars or
students All she needs is liberty, and this |
need it is, that has sent throngs of her people |
to this country and has given us the best
class OF immigrants that come TO our
shores.
As a military power, Germany stands at
the head Of all European nations, but 10 give |
n full account OF the formation and working
of her stupcndous military system would far
exceed the limits OF q paper like this. | will
therefore hurrcdly run over the general fea-
lures of her army. Every able bodied male
German owes seven years of his life, from |
eighteen to twenty-five to his Emperor; three
years of which are occupied in his education
us a soldier, four years rs a soldier in the
land iCeir and the balance OF his life up to
the age of folty-llvc in the reserves, during
which time he may at any moment be
called upon to lay aside his avocltion, Shout |
der his rifle and march whittier his Emperor
directs, The only way to avoid the three
years Of actual scrvitude, being by an extra
amount of hard work and study to reduce
the timo 10 one year. This can only he Gc-
complisllCd by The candidate passing such
rigorous and severe examination as will
prove him qualified to act us an officer.
A recruit is first drafted into the army, the
first thing that is done is to put him under
competent drill master who teaches him
how to walk. This occupies fully three
months.
AT Dusseldorf, where we made our head
quarters for nearly year, we had an cx-
cellent opportunity of seeing the whole pro-
cess of converting the raw recruit into the
finished soldier. The entire centre of the
town is occupied by enormous barracks capa-
bic of holding six thousand men, and the
great place OF exercise.
Here morning after morning we used to 20
down under the shade of the beautiful
lindcnsj and looking across the moat watch
the men at drill, The first thing in teaching
man to walk is 10 put him through what
is technically known us the goose STEP
most ridiculous TO look at but most effective
L L.