XXXV 



WHAT shall be said of the German rider ? That, within 

 certain limits of his own, and these are practically con- 

 fined to cavalry methods, the German rides well, no one 

 can deny. A squadron, or a regiment, or a brigade of 

 cavalry moves in an irreproachable manner; the troops 

 drill like automata ; their conduct in the field is worthy of 

 their history ; but when you see the men by themselves 

 they do not always impress you as easy at their work. It 

 may safely be assumed that the Germans know what they 

 are about ; and that they can organize and drill cavalry 

 has been sufficiently demonstrated. Our comment can 

 extend no further than the individual. 



When, as a boy, I was in Prussia, there was nothing 

 more revolting to the sense of propriety of the average 

 citizen than matters English ; now there is a strong pro- 

 clivity to the international disease. On a number of oc- 

 casions in my youth I visited school friends at their homes 

 in the country, and there found a deal of excellent riding. 

 In those days German was the home language, but French 

 \vas universally employed in social intercourse, and the 

 mother-tongue was interlarded with Gallic phrases. We 

 would be comfortably talking German, perhaps even in- 

 dulging in the old Berlin patois, which included in its 

 vocabulary the " Ne !" or the soft pronunciation of " g," 

 which gave rise to the phrase " Eene jute jebratene Jans 

 ist eene jute Jabe Jottes," when a runaway ring at the 

 bell would startle all of us out of, or rather into, our pro- 



