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There was no such thing as the College system, as it is in 
England. There was no Proctor or Bulldog. The students were 
solely concerned with the police, like any other citizen. They lodged 
where they liked, and the most comfortable place, and by no 
means the dearest, was in an hotel. While the English student 
after his meal takes exercise, the German takes to his book. 
The enormous capacity of the German student for work he had 
never seen equalled. 
The evenings were spent at the Verein, or Club, partly in 
reading and partly in German conversation. Students usually 
joined a Wissenschafts Verein, or a Scientific Club, or a Fighting 
Corps. He and his friends jomed a Wissenschafts Verein. For 
one night a week they had solid work until about eleven o'clock ; 
after eleven o’clock they had what was called a Gemiitigabend— 
they sang songs, and learned all the intricacies of the beer law— 
the etiquette regarding beer. A queer custom obtained when 
anybody was making a noise, he was commanded by the chair- 
man to drink, so that, obviously, he could not make a noise and 
drink at the same time. 
The fighting corps were strict about drill and fencing. There 
was a great deal of nonsense talked in England about the fighting 
of the German students. There was in it an amount of folly, 
but the ugliest scar had nothing to do with the principle of the 
thing. There was no more danger in duels than in football. He 
had seen some hundreds of German duels, but had only seen two 
which could in any way be called serious. In Universities there 
are a great many Verein fighting corps. They fought one with 
another. The Emperor, from time to time, moved by old maids 
or other persons who thought the game was wrong, issued an 
edict forbidding duelling in the German Empire. Now and 
again a young man was caught and imprisoned in a fortress, 
which meant that he was removed from {the university town to a 
garrison town, where all the soldiers and smart people took him 
up with great éclat. There was enormous competition to lionise 
this wonderful man who was being punished by the Emperor for 
duelling. The duelling professor was State paid to teach them 
the proper method of fighting. In describing duelling scenes he 
had witnessed, the Lecturer explained the precautions which 
were taken, how the fighters were protected by being swaithed in 
silk and jute, with a metal protection over the eyes, so that the 
neck, head and arm, were absolutely ungetatable. The chest 
was also protected with leather. The sword, which was light, 
was cut square at the tip, but sharpened at both sides, literally 
like a razor. If in the encounter the foot was moved backward, 
the name of the fighter was removed from the list of the corps. 
The fight consisted of sixty rounds, and a point was gained every 
