New-York tribune., 1908-12-27
CAN'T ABUSE YOUR
BODY In GERMANY
POLICE WON'T LET YOU
TAKE COLD.
Phusical WelIbeing a Cult Whose
RuIes 4re Enforced by Cor
ernment Regulations.
Ry Cecil ]. Dorian

,,-,s, ,or so 10 Germany you may let your body
relax for you can feel comfortably sure laaI II
xo, do not take care of yourself. everybody there
All rise up and take Of you. In America
,z,era bua1an life is as cheap a soup meat-and
far cheaper than turkey-we quickly learn TO ioF-
get that We have bodies at all In fact, we reh1en-
'her them only when We have pain in them. MOST
OF US run twenty-four hours day, eat on the
wing take our pleasures entre-act- and If we feel
& little out toward spring we wonder Wha'
can be the matter
F3ut this is typically American. The belief that
the body is and as such must be forsot-
lne IS not numbered among the religions IN Ger
many. Ard the more one learns Of Germans the
less one would expect 10 find Il there Body is
. religion in itself-but not in the way OF the
Greeks For II beauty and comfort conflict, away
with beauty. Have you examined into the reform
movement in Germany? The women are its chlet
axponen1s-perhaps better exposees. II IS safe to
say that few American women would take i'm
mortal life in payment for one walk down Broad
way in q German reform gown. The French d.
-ectoIre ana the German reform are alike in haV-
ing nothing beneath-unlike in that the French
form is sheathed. the German unsheathed. But In
Ihe latter II is really only an outcome OF the
German search for heavenly comfort
Both their laws and their ideas protect them
not only from others. but from themselves. The
easily reused German temper is likely to make
SIS possessor his enemy, and this fact is
recognized by these keen self-critics
Have you ever noticed the life preservers that
ElWeSs must hang on q posi- by lhe ran oL NeI-
man river bridEes7 This rule is most strongly In
force in ana around large cities. There is very
.little FOR them because most Of the Jumpers
IN America waiting their turn at the Brooklyn
Bridge But the prese-vers hang there on the end
Of q long rope in case any one should feel an In
clination for the plunge.
A short time I sitting on the River Ter
sssse, at Dresden, eating luncheon A beautifuI
high bridge the Elbe near by. and
crowds OF foot passengers were crossing all the
time Suddenly there shout. ] looked up
just in tine TO see a form falling swiftly through
the air ana disappearing with a splash In the
river. A man had jumped from the bridge There
was the most furious excitement. People in the
restaurant left their tables and rushed tc the
Banks The bridge black with the halted
rtrearn Of excited oniookers. High-prowed dUgouts
put of from the shore and oUcked the current IN
answer long poles OF their crews But the
man who was giving the show rose to the surface
his derby hat still on and started swimming with
Vigorous strokes down the centre Of the river.
He refused 20 be rescued by the boats, and swan
stlIrdiIz On till he turned a curve in the stream
and was lost 10 sight. Not a soul returned 10 eat
till he could no longer he seer. ana the chorus OF
sAch.r and All and Was den@' IN deeply
Sncved voices was continuous.