The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-13
ADJUSTMENTS IN GERMANY.
Working Folks There Don't Spend Much on Mere Diversion.

London Times.
 Amusements play a comparatively small part
 in the lives of German workpeople. and such
 as they have are mostly confined to Sunday.
 Games have not taken hold of them; they go to no football or cricket matches. although there are matches, and other classes in Germany show a growing taste for games and sport. went to see a football match between Duessel- dorf and a neighboring manufacturing town. It took place on Sunday afternoon The day was fine and the ground very handy to both towns
 l A similar match anywhere in manufacturing England would have attracted from 10000 to 20. 900 sons of to who would have shouted themselves hoarse from beginning to end At the German match not one put in an appear ance. When l left the field. toward the close of the game, the spectators. who had slowly increased during the afternoon. numbered ex- actly sixty-five. They were not working men and they showed no excitement whatever. noticed a curious difference in the behavior
 of spectators and players In England the
 former keep up an almost continual noise.
 shouting at nearly every kick. and bursting
 into a prodigious roar when a good point Is
 made. The players. on the contrary. maintain
 an almost unbroken silence. It was just the
 opposite in Germany. The spectators only
 raised c feeble sound when goal was kicked.
 and for the rest were silent, but the players
 called out necessarily. directing. exhorting
 and representing each other. They played the
 association game. and not very well.
 Tho national game in Germany is kegel., a
 kind of skittles. and 1t Is played at public
 houses but not by working men, or seldom by
 them. They play cards sometimes, but not a
 great deal.
 Theatres and music halls count for more. but
 for nothing like so much in England and in
 America. They are less numerous fin propor-
 tion to population, and are only visited by
 the working classes to a limited extent on
 Saturday and Sunday Sunday is the great
 day: there are always two performances, In
 AzAA RVtA ANt tr1na "A
 in the morning at I2 o'clock as well. The
 audiences very large. but consist chiefly
 of the bourgeois class. The places most fre-
 quented by working men ere the small. cheap
 musical halls.
 The entertainment given at German music
 halls closely resembles the English variety
 show, and often includes English performers.
 The variety stage is indeed becoming nearly
 as international as the opera. I have seen some very witty entertainments at these places in Germany, and some rather extensively gross. Some of the newer music halls are magnificent. far more spacious and comfortable than any thing of the kind in England America. There is one at Duesseldorf which seats some 4, 900 people more. and does 1t handsomely.
 with tables, ample elbow room. wide spaces
 everywhere for walking and an excellent view of the stage from all parts. The prices are
 moderate, from Cd. up to 3s.
 This is sort of hall the patronage of the working classes would not keep 1t going for a week. Another sort is a room of mod crate size, not resembling theatre, but fitted with a small stage; the entrance is few | pence. Here the working men come on Sunday. l but not in large numbers. Drink Is always. and food generally served in the music halls. The theatres proper in industrial towns are | always run by the municipality Every large l town has one and no more. but those of mid l dle size generally do not. For instance, Muen- chen Gladbach with 60 900 inhabitants has
 no regular theatre, and 1t may bc taken as a | rule that towns below this size have no place | of entertainment.
 In England little manufacturing towns of | 10000 or 30 900 inhabitants such Bliston | in the black country, or Fenton in the Pot teFiss, generally have a theatre, which is en- | tirely supported by the laboring classes. The | spectacle which may be seen night after night
 in every industrial town of gallaries crammed with boys-in music halls smoking cigarettes | is unknown in Germany. They are brought | up to do something better with their money. The musical theatres have stock companies and very varied repertories; they include seri- ous opera of all nationalities, comic operas. Shakespeare, modern dramas. comedies and lighter pieces such farces and charming | fairy tale pantomimes. No piece Is played | twice running. high aim is maintained in | the choice of works. play of Haupt- mann or Sudermann will be mounted as soon | as possible at every municipal theatre in the | country. Last Winter "Monna Wanna" was | being played twice a week more in every | large town I visited. and Mime. Masterlnck | was touring in most of them. The perform | ances are generally of fair merit.
 l mathematician in Cologne recently calcu- | lated the cost of the municipal theatre there
 and found that the town pays an average of | Iolad to each spectator at every performance. The principal amusement of the German | working classes appear to be dancing sitting | in the parks in Summer and listening to bands. | The dancing is carried on in public houses, | generally at some popular resort in the neigh l borhood of a town. and takes place on Sun day evening" I have visited some of these dancing rooms and have found a large hall connected with the public house. in which a number of young people were dancing while | others sat at tables and drank beer. It was | all highly decorous and not In the least excit- | ing