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TJie Country Gcntlcnimis ]\Iagazine 



national government, is that of acquiring a 

 piece of land of his own. He has the 

 disadvantage of a less thorough education 

 than the urban workman, but his duties are 

 also of a simpler nature ; and he always 

 learns at least to read, write, and cast up 

 sums, and to " fear God and honour the 

 king;" so that his education is equal at 

 least to the best that is to be obtained in 

 England, Scotland, or any average agricul- 

 tural district. In social life the German 

 Bauer's manners, are consistent with his 

 humble station in life. He is less sceptical 

 than the native of the town, and shews 

 great reverence and respect towards his 

 superiors. On meeting a stranger in 

 the public road he generally lifts his hat 

 and salutes him with a " Guten Morgen " or 

 " Guten Tag." He still maintains a reverence 

 for the church and for religion, in contra-dis- 

 tinction to the ". Gottlosigkeit " (godlessness) 

 of the civic population, and conducts himself 

 like a God-fearing man. He eats the simplest 

 food, and it is seldom that either beef or 

 mutton comes on his table. By far the 

 greater part of the German population being 

 engaged in agricultural pursuits, the compara- 

 tively small consumption of. animal food in 

 Germany to that in England is thus explained, 

 for, from what I have seen, the town's people 

 eat quite as much animal food here as in 

 Britain. It is a notorious fact that the 

 German peasant, from motives of frugality, 

 seldom tastes animal meat, living almost 

 entirely upon vegetable food. He, however, 

 in common with the whole race, is very fond 

 of coffee. A very characteristic strike of 

 farm labourers was reported some time ago 

 from Bavaria, in an agricultural newspaper, 

 in which coffee instead of sour milk to 

 breakfast was demanded. Their dress is 

 also of a plain nature, but I have never 

 seen, either in town or country, a single 

 ragged person of either sex of the class, and 

 on Sundays, if not engaged in working, he 

 comes abroad in very decent and substantial 

 garments. The women, however, who are 

 largely engaged in out-door agricultural 

 v.'ork, are, I think, scarcely so well clad as 

 those engaged in the south of Scotland, 



similarly employed. Their dresses are gene- 

 rally of a blue-spotted gingham ; as regards 

 length, made with the greatest view to 

 economy of cloth ; and for the larger part of 

 the year they dispense with boots and stock- 

 ings, and wear no other superfluous encum- 

 brances to the free use of their limbs. Their 

 dwellings are of plain brick, but neat and 

 clean, and almost always covered with vines 

 and surrounded with neatly-kept gardens, all 

 shewing industry and frugality, and bearing 

 ■an air of comparative comfort about them. 

 Indeed, a more frugal, saving, industrious, 

 and generally well-behaved class of people 

 could not be found anywhere. They do not 

 taste spirits, and though, of course, they swill 

 considerable quantities of their famous Lager 

 beer, it never seems to take any effect upon 

 their equilibrium. 



The whole of Germany, however, stands in 

 a bad position as regards illegitimacy. In 

 Prussia, which occupies the best position in 

 this respect, the proportion of illegitimate to 

 legitimate births is scarcely one to twelve, 

 which, too, varies very much in different dis- 

 tricts, according to the social conditions 

 peculiar to them. In Saxony the proportion 

 is one illegitimate to something more than 

 six legitimate births. In Mecklenburg, owing 

 to repressive marriage laws, and other bad 

 social and political conditions, the amount of 

 illegitimacy is greatest, being throughout the 

 whole country, in the year 1864, at the rate 

 of nearly one to three, but varying very much 

 in different districts. In some districts a 

 third, in others a half, and in not a few the 

 whole of the births were illegitimate. And 

 this is a Protestant country ! Bavaria is also 

 in a bad condition, but since the amendment 

 of the marriage laws, it has shewn a steady 

 improvement. This is the greatest blot upon 

 the German character. 



As regards wages, he is indeed never bur- 

 dened with an over supply of money, but on 

 account of the large emigration, the demand 

 for his labour is now great enough to enable 

 him to make a fair bargain with his employer; 

 and he too, like everybody else in Germany, 

 has recently had an increase to the remunera- 

 tion for his labour. A farmer in the neigh- 



