The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-02-01

Il is peculiar part OF German
life. Though its dangers and draw
backs are very generally recognized.
it is yet surrounded by an undenia-
BILE halo in public opinion. The stu
dent, with his colored cap, which is
so small that it can hardly be said to
cover the head, with his high boots
and sword, and perhaps with the big
dog at his side, is popular figure.
When the life of our great statesman,
Bismarck, is described, Bismarck as
student will certainly not be want
ing. Even old men like to remember
that part Of their life time. The pu-
pills of the higher schools Called here
gymnasiums) do not enjoy the same
liberty here as in the United States
and in England. They are kept un-
der close control. The change from
this life to the perfectly unfettered
one of student is a great tempta-
tion to young men. They are often
not able to make good use of that
liberty, to which they have not grad
ually been trained. But most men
like to be entirely free for once in
their lives, and they will not deny to
their children what they enjoyed in
their own youth. Therefore the un-
limited freedom of the student, which
is larger in Germany than in any
other country, remains unchanged.
Practical Training.
The young man who begins his
academical studies at the age between
seventeen and nineteen, takes for the
first time lodgings of his own-the
students do not live in closed institu-
tions or otherwise together in Ger
maryland he is virtually his own
master. Even his studies are under
very small control. Tie examinar
tion by which he has to prove the
results of his studies is three years
off, and therefore very little influences
this new time of freedom. The prep
aration for the examination is gener-
ally left to the very last part of the
triennium, and is then not done by
attending lectures of the professors,
but by private lessons received from
individuals who make business of
coaching students for the examina
tion The student has to pay for
the lectures, and at the end of the
half year the professor has to give
certificate that the lectures have really
been heard; but the general practice
is very lenient in this respect. 1t is
pretty generally recognized that the
requirement of knowledge is not the
only, or even the most important OBJ
ject of the years of study, but that it
is chiefly an education for life, that
young men are to learn to use their
freedom, and to behave among other
men. The students world is small
world in itself, preparatory for the
great world in which every man has
to fight his own. The German stu
dent finds himself privileged being
he comes down from a certain
height when the triennium is over
and the ordinary routine of life be-
gins.
Beer Drinking and Dueling.
Two great features of student life
imprint their character on these
years. The one is the excessive
drinking of beer. Even those who
are not abstainers, and who find the
moderate use Of our light beer an al
lowed recreation, must regret that
young men should have the tendency
to learn to drink fifteen to twenty
glasses of beer at night, not for the
sake of enjoyment, but for the honor
of being able to drink so much. This
takes place every night, and the in
dividual has difficulty to withdraw
himself from what all his comrades
think necessary. Many a student
takes from this habit the germ of i'll
health into his later life. The second
dark point is dueling. 1t is true that
these duels are not of a very danger
GUS character. The places where a
wound might become fatal are care
fully bandaged. 1t is also true that
they do not result from real enmity,
They are in truth hardly more than
an athletic sport. The young man
who wields the sword strengthens his
arm and learns to keep firm nerve
in danger. In the vast majority of
cases the consequences are only
slight cuts, which disfgure the face,
but are considered as tokens of hon
or. A decision of our Supreme
Court of Justice at Leipzig, that
these students duels are real duels.
was strongly criticised in the German