German Aristocracy.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 17, 23 April 1913, Page 48

German Aristocracy.

There arc complaints that Prussian aristocracy is socially exclusive, is given office both in the Army and in civil life too readily; but what an aristroeacy it is! These are tire men whose families gave, often their all, to make Prussia, and then to make Germany. Service of King and country is in their blood. They get small remuneration for their service. There is no luxury. They spurn the temptations of money. Hundreds and hundreds of them have never been inside the house of a rich parvenu, nor have their women. They work as no other work, they live on little, they and their women and children; and you may count yourself happily privileged if they permit you the intimacy of their home life.

Officers and gentlemen there are, living on £5OO a year, and most of them much less, and their wives, as well-born as themselves, darning their socks and counting the pfennigs with scrupulous care. These are the women whose ancestors flung themselves against the Roman foe, beside their husbands and brothers; these are the women who gave their jewels to save Prussia: these are the women with the glint of steel and the light of summer skies braided in their eyes, who have taken their hard, self-denying part in making Prussia and the German Empire. No wonder they despise the mere money-maker, no wonder they will have none of his softness for themselves, and hate what Milton calls “lewdly pampered luxury,” as a danger to their children. They know well the moral weapon that won for this starved and tormented and poverty-stricken land its present place in the world as a great Power.

Perhaps no feature of German life is so little known, so little understood, as this simple-living, proud, and exclusive caste, who have made and still protect and guard, Prussia and Germany. They say: —“We made Prussia and Germany, and wo intend to guard them, both from enemies at home and from abroad!” My admiration for these meir and women is so unbounded that I would no more carry criticism with me into their homes than I would carry mud into a sanctuary. They have done much for Germany, but the best perhaps of all is that they have made economy and simple living feasiblg and even fashionable; they have made talent aristocratic; they have insisted that social life shall be founded on service and breeding and ability. They will have no dealings with Herr Muller, the rich shopkeeper, but whatever name the distinguished artist, or public servant, or man of science, or young giaut in any field of intellectual prowess may bear, he is welcomed. In general, thia welcome given by German society to talent holds good. There is, however, a society composed of the great landed proprietors, who live in the. country, who come to Berlin rarely, and whose horizon is limited severely to their own small interests, their restricted circle, and by their provincial pride. They recognise nobody but themselves, for the reason that they know nobody and nothing else. There is an exclusiveness born of stupidity, just ns there is an exclusiveness born of a sense of duty to one's position nnd traditions in the world. One must recognise that this aide of social life exists in Germany Just as it exists in England, and France, ■nd Austria, hut it is fast Inning it* importance and ita power.—“ Scribner’s Magazine.”