4 
Compared with the English, the German nation is suffering from an inordinate 
longing after good living, which has increased all the more because there is no 
healthy sport or healthy games to go hand-in-hand with it and check it as in 
England. 
What I am writing concerns principally the officers of both nations. In Ger¬ 
many it is the custom to copy too much those above you. 
Everybody who does not go in for this kind of thing is looked down upon, and 
consequently many are compelled to live more or less above their means; they look 
about for some way of adding to their income, and have recourse to the quickest 
and easiest—namely, gambling. 
The above is the cause of the encouragement of gambling. It is true that the 
passion for gambling is slumbering more.At the Biding 
Establishment, at Hanover, I have myself seen many of the officers under in¬ 
struction sitting down at the gambling table who had absolutely no desire to play 
but who were compelled to do so in order to pay debts incurred by imitating the 
mode of living of their richer brother officers. The above explains the tempta¬ 
tion to gamble held out to the large number of officers who are attached to the 
Eiding Establishment at Hanover, and this is exactly what happens on a smaller 
scale amongst the officers in every regiment. 
How is this to be remedied? 
To totally prohibit a jolly, merry way of living is impossible. 
It would also be a sad state of affairs if the only object in life was to consider 
how best to fight or die. Ear better to follow the example of the Athenians, 
namely, to enjoy life in its most beautiful and noble form, and, at the same time, 
to be always ready and prepared to face our enemies. . .. 
The nation, in the present day, which follows the example of the ancient Greeks 
most is the English. 
In England a glass of good wine is very much appreciated, and similar pleasures 
are just as much enjoyed there as in Germany. But healthy bodily sport is 
enjoyed still far more. Every Officers’ Mess has, at least, a good ground for two 
tennis courts and, besides this, grounds for two or more games quite close to the 
Mess, similarly the N.-C.O’s. Mess; and here, in India, every private family even 
has a tennis ground, and every Cavalry Mess a polo ground besides. Clubs for 
these purposes are formed where it is impossible for individuals to enjoy them, on 
account of want of space or from considerations of expense. “That’s all very 
well for the wealthy English, but we poor Germans cannot afford all this,” is said 
with a certain right. But much could be done in German Officers’ Messes if 
some of the money spent in oysters and the almost daily champagne was expended 
for such healthy bodily recreation. 
Eacts speak better than “Ifs” and “Buts.” A few days ago I saw a Colonel 
of a Eegiment, at the head of twelve of his best officers, winning a quarter-mile 
handicap foot race; in another town I saw an Inspector of Artillery just beaten 
by a Colonel. 
In Germany this sounds funny, and a good many will laugh at it; but these 
latter have never felt that sport gives activity and courage to dare anything; that 
it makes voung and preserves youth; these also do not think that a regiment may 
be as keen as it likes, but, nevertheless, every opportunity to distinguish itself is 
allowed to slip by, because its commander does not keep young or enterprising. 
Everybody who has had anything to do with sport knows what an invigorating 
effect the preparation for a race, or the race itself, has, not only on the circulation 
of the blood in the body, but also on mental work, and how enjoyment of life 
becomes now healthier for the mind and more refined in a good sense. 
Everybody who knows what it is to see the morning dawning—and every true 
sportsman breathes in the fresh morning air, otherwise he is not a true sports¬ 
man—hates the lamplight on the green cloth, and the close air which hovers 
