Germany and the Germans from an American Point of ViewCollier, Price
History
Germany and the Germans from an American Point of View
Collier, Price
Germany; National characteristics, German
In any given semester the number of students in one of these corps
varies from as few as ten, to as many as twenty-five, depending, much
as do our Greek-letter societies and college clubs, upon the number of
available men coming up to the university. Certain corps are composed
almost exclusively of noblemen, but none is distinctly a rich man's
club.
An active member of a corps during his first two semesters may do a
certain amount of serious work, but as a rule it is looked upon as a
time "to loaf and invite one's soul," and little attempt is made to do
more. Not a few men whom I have known, have not even entered a class-room
during the two or three semesters of this blossoming period.
I have spent many days and nights with these young gentlemen, at
Heidelberg, at Leipsic, at Marburg, at Bonn, and been made one of them
in their jollity and good-fellowship, and I have agreed, and still
agree, that "Wir sind die Koenige der Welt, wir sind's durch unsere
Freude."
They are by no means the swashbuckling, bullying, dissolute companions
painted by those who know nothing about them. They may drink more beer
than we deem necessary for health, or even for comfort; and they may
take their exercise with a form of sword practice that we do not
esteem, they may be proud of the scars of these imitation duels, but
these are all matters of tradition and taste.
When one writes of eating and drinking, it is hardly fair to make
comparisons from a personal stand-point. An adult of average weight
requires each day 125 grams of proteid or building material, 500 grams
of carbohydrates, 50 grams of fat. This equals, in common parlance,
one pound of bread, one-half pound of meat, one-quarter pound of fat,
one pound of potatoes, one-half pint of milk, one-quarter pound of
eggs, assuming that one egg equals two ounces, and one-eighth pound of
cheese. Divided into three meals, this means: for breakfast, two
slices of bread and butter and two eggs; for dinner: one plateful
potato soup, large helping of meat with fat, four moderate-sized
potatoes, one slice bread and butter; for tea: one glass of milk and
two slices of bread and butter; for supper: two slices of bread and
butter and two ounces of cheese.
Plain white bread supplies more caloric, or energy, for the price than
any other one food, and, with one or two exceptions, more proteid, or
building material, than any other one food.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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