Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-10
IN BERLIN
NO REAL CLUBS THERE AS UN-
DERsTooD BY LONDON.
They Are Not Used for Social Purposes
in the German
Capital.
From the London Sketch.

From the London Sketch
Clubs, understood by us in London,
are to all intents and purposes quite un-
known in Berlin Not that there are no
clubs. There are clubs innumerable. clubs
for every species of humanity. There are
literary clubs, sport clubs, chess clubs,
clubs corresponding 10 our Foresters' clubs
and Masons' clubs; clubs for women. clubs
for girls, and even clubs for smokers. But
clubs of the kind that are found so useful
by Londoners-for instance, the Savage
Club, the Army and Navy, the Carlton. and
so forth-are simply non-existent. The
reason of this absence Of social clubs seems
to lie in the very nature of the average
German. Whether It is the direct result Of
the German system of machinery as TO be
noted in the army, the state and an the
thousand-and-one branches of bureaucratic
departments, l know not; but certain il is
that Germans must always wait to be told
TO do a thing before it ever occurs to them
TO launch out on their own account TO
start any thing. however simple. The idea
of casually slipping in Ito see if any one is
at the club would be something too un-
methodical and preposterous to the German
to be ever even dreamed of. The result Is
that only those clubs exist that have speci-
fed days whereon they meet and have ihe,r.
regulation sittings. One German club
there is in Berlin that was founded on The
English plan, but il is always deserted It's
headquarters are nothing short of magnifi-
cent and "splendiferous." The rooms are
well furnished. the cuisine is excellent the
service first class; but nobody ever goes
there except by appointment with some one
else.
Run on Different Lines.
On the other hand, the German clubs
proper flourish and thrive like so many
young bay trees; their members have one
day set apart wherein they assiduously
70 her
Jects with all the heat of the Teuton and
the thoroughness and thoughtfulness OF
the Rants, the Treitsches and the Schopen-
hauers. There are even foreign language
clubs One, THE English Conversational
Club, has existed ever since 1872 To
this club come Misunderstanding Germans
who are dcsirious OF not forgetting their
already acquired knowledge of English
1t is debating club, pure and simple: de-
bates on every imaginable subject are con-
Quoted and threshed out in excellent Eng
lish every Friday, from s to 10 in the eVen-
ing 1t Is CONDUCTED on the same lines as
are the Union Clubs at Oxford and Gem
bridge; not a single word of German is
spoken the whole time, and the English is
extraordinarily good. / have attended sew
eral of the debates and have always been
greatly struck by the purity of the English
and the fiuency of the speakers.
Germans Chief Idea.
But the great idea of the German is TO
meet at restaurant and drink his beer in
comfort and smoke his beloved cigar. For
this reason nearly all these clubs or
'Vereins' meet in some large restaurant,
a room in which is provided free of cost.
the willy host being only too well aware
that the cost will be more than betrayed
by the profit on the beer consumed. In
many of these clubs, too, those of the fair
sex are allowed to attend the meetings;
they, too, by means bashful-they
all drink their beer with as much relish as
do their husbands. brothers and cousins,
though, Of course, in less quantities. Once
or twice a year these "Vereins' celebrate
the foundation-day of their club with music
and professions. Only today there passed
my window a huge procession; it was a
club called the "Rauch-Verein,' or "Smok-
ing Club" The members all wended their
way to the largest public house in the
place.