The rings to which the rhyme refers are of huge size, of silver, with a sharp-edged square of the same metal. They are heirlooms among the peasants, and are worn on the middle finger. It is the custom in a quarrel to hit one's adversary with the _Stozzring_ on the cheek, which it tears open. In Germany many of the great breweries have summer gardens in the suburbs of the cities. In Berlin there are magnificent _Biergärten_, where the two most necessary elements of German existence, beer and music, are united. I need only refer to the Hof Jäger, with its flowers, fountains, miniature lake, and open-air theatre, where popular comedies are performed. Three times per week there is an afternoon concert by one or two regiment bands. Thither the Germans conduct their families. In the winter there are concert rooms in the cities, where "music is married," not "to immortal verse," but to beer; and these classical concerts are patronized by people of high respectability. Beer is peculiarly suited to the American temperament, too nervous and sensitive. It is certain that the human race always has, and probably always will, resort to beverages more or less stimulating. The preaching of moralists and the efforts of legislators will not exclude them permanently from our use. It is not in the use but in the abuse of these that the difficulty lies. Neither tea nor coffee answers for all temperaments and all occasions as nervous aliments. The extraordinary and increasing diffusion of liquors is one of the social ulcers of modern society, particularly in America. It is unfortunately true that the use of strong alcoholics is increasing every day, to the great detriment of public health and morals. Taken merely to kill time, they often end by killing the individual. One of the great advantages of beer, too much forgotten even by physicians, is that it reverses the influence of alcohol, by which it loses its irritating properties on the mucous membrane of the stomach. The celebrated Dr. Bock (late professor of pathological anatomy in the university at Leipsic) says, "Beer exercises on the digestion, on the circulation, on the nerves, and above all on the whole system, a beneficial effect."[F] It would be well if Americans would adopt it instead of the innumerable harmful beverages which ruin the health and poison the peace of society. S. G. YOUNG. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote A: "Quadri della Natura Umana."] [Footnote B: The local term in Bavaria for a glass of beer.] [Footnote C: There you will drink good beer.] [Footnote D: There you drank good beer.] [Footnote E: A _mass_ equals fifteen-sixteenths of a quart.] [Footnote F: "Buch vom gesunden und kranken Menschen" (9th edition).] ON READING SHAKESPEARE. PLAYS OF THE THIRD PERIOD.