Of course you hear a lot of talk about _echt deutsche_ things, and that now nothing is worth anything unless it is "made in Germany" and is pure German. They call that patriotism, but the far-thinking German realizes that it is the _Ausländerei_ that keeps a nation young, and it was that which made Germany what she was before the war. The count said that the Germans were "copy cats"--but was not this one of the cleverest things about the German nation? WAR CHARITIES. Almost every day is tag day in Berlin. You can't poke your head out of the door without a collection-box being shoved at you. Boys and girls work at this eternally. They go through the trains and the cafés and restaurants, not one at a time but in steady streams. You may be walking along a very quiet street and you will see a lady come smiling toward you. Apparently she is empty-handed, but just as she comes up to you, she whisks a box out from behind her muff or newspaper and politely begs a mite. The Germans give unceasingly to these collections. They put in only ten pfennigs at a time, but I have often watched men and women in the cafés, and they will give to half a dozen youngsters in half an hour. They really prefer to give their charity donations in this way instead of in a large lump. They get more pleasure out of it. [Illustration: _Traveling Soup Kitchen._] The day just before I left Berlin for Copenhagen, I had been pestered about ten times in one square. The collection was called the _U-Boot-Spende_, and it was a collection for the wives and children of the sailors who had lost their lives on the U-boats. At one corner a boy of about thirteen years stopped me by raising his hat and asking if he dared beg a few pfennigs for the _U-Boot-Spende_. [Illustration: _The Roland of Brandenburg, Original Statue._] "Now, look here," I said to him, "Why should I give to this? I am a _feindliche Ausländerin_ (an enemy foreigner) and if I give you any money it encourages you Germans to go on sinking American ships. I must save my money for the wives and the children of the men who have lost their lives by the U-boats." [Illustration: _The Iron Roland of Brandenburg._] The boy blushed deeply. "That is true," he said, "I beg your pardon. I feel for those people too. And if you will allow me I would like to donate something for your charity," and the little fellow pulled a mark out of his pocket and handed it to me. I found out afterwards that the boy was the son of one of Germany's richest and most aristocratic princes. Besides the tag days there are many women who go around selling little picture sheets for ten pfennigs. Countless numbers of these sheets have sprung up since the war. The companies that publish them make only a small profit and the rest of the money goes to charity. [Illustration: _The Blacksmith of Bochum in Westphalia._]