Germany in War Time: What an American Girl Saw and HeardMcAuley, Mary Ethel
History
Germany in War Time: What an American Girl Saw and Heard
McAuley, Mary Ethel
World War, 1914-1918 -- Germany
One day I paid a visit to the studio of Herr Franz von Stuck. He was
very cordial. He is a splendid, big, strong man. Lately he has built an
addition to his house so that he can have more room for his work, and
he has one of the finest studios I have ever seen. The first floor is
for modeling, and the second floor is for painting. He said that it was
very hard to get good models now as all the men of fine physique were
in the war.
"Do you get the same amount of bread as an ordinary man?" I asked him.
"Exactly the same," he answered. "The poorest workingman in the streets
gets the same as I. That is why our system is so splendid."
He hardly mentioned his work at all, indeed he seemed quite shy about
it. On his table was a dish made of Brazilian butterflies. He picked
it up and turned it so that it showed blue, then brown, and then green.
"Isn't it beautiful!" he said enthusiastically, "Look at it now!"
I looked around the room at all his wonderful pictures. I thought of
all the fame that was his and of all the honors that had been heaped at
his feet, and yet there he was admiring a butterfly's wing. I had the
feeling that a great man stood before me.
FROM BERLIN TO VIENNA IN WAR TIME.
You would naturally think that it would be a very easy matter to go
from Berlin to Vienna in war time, because Germany and Austria are
allies, and that it would be as easy as traveling around Germany; that
all you would have to do would be to pack your trunk, go down to the
station, buy your ticket and get on the train. Of course you must do
all these things, but you must do a great many other things before you
do that.
The first thing that you do is to go to the police where you are
registered and get what they call a _Fragebogen_, which means a
question sheet. You cannot get this sheet unless you have a letter from
some important person or firm stating that it is necessary for you to
go. Your reason must be a very good one.
[Illustration: _Vienna--Along the Danube._]
You fill out your _Fragebogen_, the police look up your record
and if it is found out to be all right, they put your letter of
recommendation, your passport, the _Fragebogen_ and half a dozen
pictures of yourself in an envelope and seal it. You take this sealed
envelope to the main police station in the district in which you
live. Here the package is opened by several different men in several
different rooms, and finally, after many questions and much stamping,
you are told to write your name across your picture which has been
pasted on a card.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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