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diff --git a/5782.txt b/5782.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2396614 --- /dev/null +++ b/5782.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1737 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Tramp Abroad, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Tramp Abroad + Part 1 + +Author: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +Release Date: March 1994 [EBook #5782] +Posting Date: June 3, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRAMP ABROAD *** + + + + +Produced by Anonymous Volunteers, John Greenman and David Widger + + + + + + + +A TRAMP ABROAD, Part 1 + +By Mark Twain + +(Samuel L. Clemens) + +First published in 1880 + +Illustrations taken from an 1880 First Edition + + * * * * * * + +ILLUSTRATIONS: + + + 1. PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR + 2. TITIAN'S MOSES + 3. THE AUTHOR'S MEMORIES + 4. THE BLACK KNIGHT + 5. OPENING HIS VIZIER + 6. THE ENRAGED EMPEROR + 7. THE PORTIER + 8. ONE OF THOSE BOYS + 9. SCHLOSS HOTEL + 10. IN MY CAGE + 11. HEIDELBERG CASTLE + 12. HEIDELBERG CASTLE, RIVER FRONTAGE + 13. THE RETREAT + 14. JIM BAKER + 15. "A BLUE FLUSH ABOUT IT" + 16. COULD NOT SEE IT + 17. THE BEER KING + 18. THE LECTURER'S AUDIENCE + 19. INDUSTRIOUS STUDENTS + 20. IDLE STUDENT + 21. COMPANIONABLE INTERCOURSE + 22. AN IMPOSING SPECTACLE + 23. AN ADVERTISEMENT + 24. "UNDERSTANDS HIS BUSINESS" + 25. THE OLD SURGEON + 26. THE FIRST WOUND + 27. THE CASTLE COURT + 28. WOUNDED + 29. FAVORITE STREET COSTUME + 30. INEFFACEABLE SCARS + 31. PIECE OF SWORD + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER I A Tramp over Europe--On the +Holsatia--Hamburg--Frankfort-on-the- Main--How it Won its Name--A Lesson +in Political Economy--Neatness in Dress--Rhine Legends--"The Knave +of Bergen" The Famous Ball--The Strange Knight--Dancing with the +Queen--Removal of the Masks--The Disclosure--Wrath of the Emperor--The +Ending + +CHAPTER II At Heidelberg--Great Stir at a Hotel--The Portier--Arrival +of the Empress--The Schloss Hotel--Location of Heidelberg--The River +Neckar--New Feature in a Hotel--Heidelberg Castle--View from the +Hotel--A Tramp in the Woods--Meeting a Raven--Can Ravens Talk?--Laughed +at and Vanquished--Language of Animals--Jim Baker--Blue-Jays + +CHAPTER III Baker's Blue-Jay Yarn--Jay Language--The Cabin--"Hello, I +reckon I've struck something"--A Knot Hole--Attempt to fill it--A Ton +of Acorns--Friends Called In--A Great Mystery--More Jays called A Blue +Flush--A Discovery--A Rich Joke--One that Couldn't See It + +CHAPTER IV Student Life--The Five Corps--The Beet King--A Free +Life--Attending Lectures--An Immense Audience--Industrious +Students--Politeness of the Students--Intercourse with the Professors +Scenes at the Castle Garden--Abundance of Dogs--Symbol of Blighted +Love--How the Ladies Advertise + +CHAPTER V The Students' Dueling Ground--The Dueling Room--The Sword +Grinder--Frequency of the Duels--The Duelists--Protection against +Injury--The Surgeon--Arrangements for the Duels--The First +Duel--The First Wound--A Drawn Battle--The Second Duel--Cutting and +Slashing--Interference of the Surgeon + +CHAPTER VI The Third Duel--A Sickening Spectacle--Dinner between +Fights--The Last Duel--Fighting in Earnest--Faces and Heads +Mutilated--Great Nerve of the Duelists--Fatal Results not +Infrequent--The World's View of these Fights + +CHAPTER VII Corps--laws and Usages--Volunteering to Fight--Coolness +of the Wounded--Wounds Honorable--Newly bandaged Students around +Heidelberg--Scarred Faces Abundant--A Badge of Honor--Prince Bismark +as a Duelist--Statistics--Constant Sword Practice--Color of the +Corps--Corps Etiquette + + + +CHAPTER I + +[The Knighted Knave of Bergen] + + +One day it occurred to me that it had been many years since the world +had been afforded the spectacle of a man adventurous enough to undertake +a journey through Europe on foot. After much thought, I decided that +I was a person fitted to furnish to mankind this spectacle. So I +determined to do it. This was in March, 1878. + +I looked about me for the right sort of person to accompany me in the +capacity of agent, and finally hired a Mr. Harris for this service. + +It was also my purpose to study art while in Europe. Mr. Harris was in +sympathy with me in this. He was as much of an enthusiast in art as +I was, and not less anxious to learn to paint. I desired to learn the +German language; so did Harris. + +Toward the middle of April we sailed in the HOLSATIA, Captain Brandt, +and had a very pleasant trip, indeed. + +After a brief rest at Hamburg, we made preparations for a long +pedestrian trip southward in the soft spring weather, but at the +last moment we changed the program, for private reasons, and took the +express-train. + +We made a short halt at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and found it an +interesting city. I would have liked to visit the birthplace of +Gutenburg, but it could not be done, as no memorandum of the site of the +house has been kept. So we spent an hour in the Goethe mansion instead. +The city permits this house to belong to private parties, instead +of gracing and dignifying herself with the honor of possessing and +protecting it. + +Frankfort is one of the sixteen cities which have the distinction of +being the place where the following incident occurred. Charlemagne, +while chasing the Saxons (as HE said), or being chased by them (as THEY +said), arrived at the bank of the river at dawn, in a fog. The enemy +were either before him or behind him; but in any case he wanted to get +across, very badly. He would have given anything for a guide, but none +was to be had. Presently he saw a deer, followed by her young, approach +the water. He watched her, judging that she would seek a ford, and he +was right. She waded over, and the army followed. So a great Frankish +victory or defeat was gained or avoided; and in order to commemorate the +episode, Charlemagne commanded a city to be built there, which he named +Frankfort--the ford of the Franks. None of the other cities where this +event happened were named for it. This is good evidence that Frankfort +was the first place it occurred at. + +Frankfort has another distinction--it is the birthplace of the German +alphabet; or at least of the German word for alphabet --BUCHSTABEN. +They say that the first movable types were made on birch +sticks--BUCHSTABE--hence the name. + +I was taught a lesson in political economy in Frankfort. I had brought +from home a box containing a thousand very cheap cigars. By way of +experiment, I stepped into a little shop in a queer old back street, +took four gaily decorated boxes of wax matches and three cigars, and +laid down a silver piece worth 48 cents. The man gave me 43 cents +change. + +In Frankfort everybody wears clean clothes, and I think we noticed that +this strange thing was the case in Hamburg, too, and in the villages +along the road. Even in the narrowest and poorest and most ancient +quarters of Frankfort neat and clean clothes were the rule. The little +children of both sexes were nearly always nice enough to take into a +body's lap. And as for the uniforms of the soldiers, they were newness +and brightness carried to perfection. One could never detect a smirch +or a grain of dust upon them. The street-car conductors and drivers wore +pretty uniforms which seemed to be just out of the bandbox, and their +manners were as fine as their clothes. + +In one of the shops I had the luck to stumble upon a book which has +charmed me nearly to death. It is entitled THE LEGENDS OF THE RHINE FROM +BASLE TO ROTTERDAM, by F. J. Kiefer; translated by L. W. Garnham, B.A. + +All tourists MENTION the Rhine legends--in that sort of way which +quietly pretends that the mentioner has been familiar with them all his +life, and that the reader cannot possibly be ignorant of them--but no +tourist ever TELLS them. So this little book fed me in a very hungry +place; and I, in my turn, intend to feed my reader, with one or +two little lunches from the same larder. I shall not mar Garnham's +translation by meddling with its English; for the most toothsome thing +about it is its quaint fashion of building English sentences on the +German plan--and punctuating them accordingly to no plan at all. + +In the chapter devoted to "Legends of Frankfort," I find the following: + +"THE KNAVE OF BERGEN" "In Frankfort at the Romer was a great mask-ball, +at the coronation festival, and in the illuminated saloon, the clanging +music invited to dance, and splendidly appeared the rich toilets and +charms of the ladies, and the festively costumed Princes and Knights. +All seemed pleasure, joy, and roguish gaiety, only one of the numerous +guests had a gloomy exterior; but exactly the black armor in which he +walked about excited general attention, and his tall figure, as well as +the noble propriety of his movements, attracted especially the regards +of the ladies. + + + +Who the Knight was? Nobody could guess, for his Vizier was well closed, +and nothing made him recognizable. Proud and yet modest he advanced to +the Empress; bowed on one knee before her seat, and begged for the favor +of a waltz with the Queen of the festival. And she allowed his request. +With light and graceful steps he danced through the long saloon, with +the sovereign who thought never to have found a more dexterous and +excellent dancer. But also by the grace of his manner, and fine +conversation he knew to win the Queen, and she graciously accorded him +a second dance for which he begged, a third, and a fourth, as well as +others were not refused him. How all regarded the happy dancer, how +many envied him the high favor; how increased curiosity, who the masked +knight could be. + +"Also the Emperor became more and more excited with curiosity, and with +great suspense one awaited the hour, when according to mask-law, each +masked guest must make himself known. This moment came, but although all +other unmasked; the secret knight still refused to allow his features +to be seen, till at last the Queen driven by curiosity, and vexed at the +obstinate refusal; commanded him to open his Vizier. + + + +He opened it, and none of the high ladies and knights knew him. But from +the crowded spectators, 2 officials advanced, who recognized the black +dancer, and horror and terror spread in the saloon, as they said who the +supposed knight was. It was the executioner of Bergen. But glowing with +rage, the King commanded to seize the criminal and lead him to death, +who had ventured to dance, with the queen; so disgraced the Empress, +and insulted the crown. The culpable threw himself at the Emperor, and +said-- + + + +"'Indeed I have heavily sinned against all noble guests assembled here, +but most heavily against you my sovereign and my queen. The Queen is +insulted by my haughtiness equal to treason, but no punishment even +blood, will not be able to wash out the disgrace, which you have +suffered by me. Therefore oh King! allow me to propose a remedy, to +efface the shame, and to render it as if not done. Draw your sword and +knight me, then I will throw down my gauntlet, to everyone who dares to +speak disrespectfully of my king.' + +"The Emperor was surprised at this bold proposal, however it appeared +the wisest to him; 'You are a knave,' he replied after a moment's +consideration, 'however your advice is good, and displays prudence, as +your offense shows adventurous courage. Well then,' and gave him the +knight-stroke 'so I raise you to nobility, who begged for grace for your +offense now kneels before me, rise as knight; knavish you have acted, +and Knave of Bergen shall you be called henceforth,' and gladly the +Black knight rose; three cheers were given in honor of the Emperor, and +loud cries of joy testified the approbation with which the Queen danced +still once with the Knave of Bergen." + + + +CHAPTER II + +Heidelberg + +[Landing a Monarch at Heidelberg] + + +We stopped at a hotel by the railway-station. Next morning, as we sat in +my room waiting for breakfast to come up, we got a good deal interested +in something which was going on over the way, in front of another hotel. +First, the personage who is called the PORTIER (who is not the PORTER, +but is a sort of first-mate of a hotel) [1. See Appendix A] appeared +at the door in a spick-and-span new blue cloth uniform, decorated with +shining brass buttons, and with bands of gold lace around his cap and +wristbands; and he wore white gloves, too. + + + +He shed an official glance upon the situation, and then began to give +orders. Two women-servants came out with pails and brooms and brushes, +and gave the sidewalk a thorough scrubbing; meanwhile two others +scrubbed the four marble steps which led up to the door; beyond these we +could see some men-servants taking up the carpet of the grand staircase. +This carpet was carried away and the last grain of dust beaten and +banged and swept out of it; then brought back and put down again. The +brass stair-rods received an exhaustive polishing and were returned to +their places. Now a troop of servants brought pots and tubs of blooming +plants and formed them into a beautiful jungle about the door and the +base of the staircase. Other servants adorned all the balconies of the +various stories with flowers and banners; others ascended to the +roof and hoisted a great flag on a staff there. Now came some more +chamber-maids and retouched the sidewalk, and afterward wiped the marble +steps with damp cloths and finished by dusting them off with feather +brushes. Now a broad black carpet was brought out and laid down the +marble steps and out across the sidewalk to the curbstone. The PORTIER +cast his eye along it, and found it was not absolutely straight; he +commanded it to be straightened; the servants made the effort--made +several efforts, in fact--but the PORTIER was not satisfied. He finally +had it taken up, and then he put it down himself and got it right. + +At this stage of the proceedings, a narrow bright red carpet was +unrolled and stretched from the top of the marble steps to the +curbstone, along the center of the black carpet. This red path cost the +PORTIER more trouble than even the black one had done. But he patiently +fixed and refixed it until it was exactly right and lay precisely in the +middle of the black carpet. In New York these performances would have +gathered a mighty crowd of curious and intensely interested spectators; +but here it only captured an audience of half a dozen little boys who +stood in a row across the pavement, some with their school-knapsacks on +their backs and their hands in their pockets, others with arms full of +bundles, and all absorbed in the show. Occasionally one of them skipped +irreverently over the carpet and took up a position on the other side. +This always visibly annoyed the PORTIER. + + + +Now came a waiting interval. The landlord, in plain clothes, and +bareheaded, placed himself on the bottom marble step, abreast the +PORTIER, who stood on the other end of the same steps; six or eight +waiters, gloved, bareheaded, and wearing their whitest linen, their +whitest cravats, and their finest swallow-tails, grouped themselves +about these chiefs, but leaving the carpetway clear. Nobody moved or +spoke any more but only waited. + +In a short time the shrill piping of a coming train was heard, and +immediately groups of people began to gather in the street. Two or three +open carriages arrived, and deposited some maids of honor and some male +officials at the hotel. Presently another open carriage brought the +Grand Duke of Baden, a stately man in uniform, who wore the handsome +brass-mounted, steel-spiked helmet of the army on his head. Last came +the Empress of Germany and the Grand Duchess of Baden in a closed +carriage; these passed through the low-bowing groups of servants and +disappeared in the hotel, exhibiting to us only the backs of their +heads, and then the show was over. + +It appears to be as difficult to land a monarch as it is to launch a +ship. + +But as to Heidelberg. The weather was growing pretty warm,--very warm, +in fact. So we left the valley and took quarters at the Schloss Hotel, +on the hill, above the Castle. + + + +Heidelberg lies at the mouth of a narrow gorge--a gorge the shape of +a shepherd's crook; if one looks up it he perceives that it is about +straight, for a mile and a half, then makes a sharp curve to the +right and disappears. This gorge--along whose bottom pours the swift +Neckar--is confined between (or cloven through) a couple of long, steep +ridges, a thousand feet high and densely wooded clear to their summits, +with the exception of one section which has been shaved and put under +cultivation. These ridges are chopped off at the mouth of the gorge +and form two bold and conspicuous headlands, with Heidelberg nestling +between them; from their bases spreads away the vast dim expanse of the +Rhine valley, and into this expanse the Neckar goes wandering in shining +curves and is presently lost to view. + +Now if one turns and looks up the gorge once more, he will see the +Schloss Hotel on the right perched on a precipice overlooking the +Neckar--a precipice which is so sumptuously cushioned and draped with +foliage that no glimpse of the rock appears. The building seems very +airily situated. It has the appearance of being on a shelf half-way +up the wooded mountainside; and as it is remote and isolated, and very +white, it makes a strong mark against the lofty leafy rampart at its +back. + +This hotel had a feature which was a decided novelty, and one which +might be adopted with advantage by any house which is perched in a +commanding situation. This feature may be described as a series of +glass-enclosed parlors CLINGING TO THE OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE, one against +each and every bed-chamber and drawing-room. They are like long, narrow, +high-ceiled bird-cages hung against the building. My room was a corner +room, and had two of these things, a north one and a west one. + + + +From the north cage one looks up the Neckar gorge; from the west one he +looks down it. This last affords the most extensive view, and it is one +of the loveliest that can be imagined, too. Out of a billowy upheaval +of vivid green foliage, a rifle-shot removed, rises the huge ruin +of Heidelberg Castle, [2. See Appendix B] with empty window arches, +ivy-mailed battlements, moldering towers--the Lear of inanimate +nature--deserted, discrowned, beaten by the storms, but royal still, +and beautiful. It is a fine sight to see the evening sunlight suddenly +strike the leafy declivity at the Castle's base and dash up it and +drench it as with a luminous spray, while the adjacent groves are in +deep shadow. + + + +Behind the Castle swells a great dome-shaped hill, forest-clad, and +beyond that a nobler and loftier one. The Castle looks down upon the +compact brown-roofed town; and from the town two picturesque old bridges +span the river. Now the view broadens; through the gateway of the +sentinel headlands you gaze out over the wide Rhine plain, which +stretches away, softly and richly tinted, grows gradually and dreamily +indistinct, and finally melts imperceptibly into the remote horizon. + +I have never enjoyed a view which had such a serene and satisfying charm +about it as this one gives. + +The first night we were there, we went to bed and to sleep early; but +I awoke at the end of two or three hours, and lay a comfortable while +listening to the soothing patter of the rain against the balcony +windows. I took it to be rain, but it turned out to be only the murmur +of the restless Neckar, tumbling over her dikes and dams far below, in +the gorge. I got up and went into the west balcony and saw a wonderful +sight. Away down on the level under the black mass of the Castle, the +town lay, stretched along the river, its intricate cobweb of streets +jeweled with twinkling lights; there were rows of lights on the bridges; +these flung lances of light upon the water, in the black shadows of the +arches; and away at the extremity of all this fairy spectacle blinked +and glowed a massed multitude of gas-jets which seemed to cover acres of +ground; it was as if all the diamonds in the world had been spread +out there. I did not know before, that a half-mile of sextuple +railway-tracks could be made such an adornment. + + + +One thinks Heidelberg by day--with its surroundings--is the last +possibility of the beautiful; but when he sees Heidelberg by night, a +fallen Milky Way, with that glittering railway constellation pinned to +the border, he requires time to consider upon the verdict. + +One never tires of poking about in the dense woods that clothe all +these lofty Neckar hills to their beguiling and impressive charm in any +country; but German legends and fairy tales have given these an added +charm. They have peopled all that region with gnomes, and dwarfs, and +all sorts of mysterious and uncanny creatures. At the time I am writing +of, I had been reading so much of this literature that sometimes I was +not sure but I was beginning to believe in the gnomes and fairies as +realities. + +One afternoon I got lost in the woods about a mile from the hotel, and +presently fell into a train of dreamy thought about animals which talk, +and kobolds, and enchanted folk, and the rest of the pleasant legendary +stuff; and so, by stimulating my fancy, I finally got to imagining I +glimpsed small flitting shapes here and there down the columned +aisles of the forest. It was a place which was peculiarly meet for the +occasion. It was a pine wood, with so thick and soft a carpet of brown +needles that one's footfall made no more sound than if he were treading +on wool; the tree-trunks were as round and straight and smooth as +pillars, and stood close together; they were bare of branches to a point +about twenty-five feet above-ground, and from there upward so thick with +boughs that not a ray of sunlight could pierce through. The world was +bright with sunshine outside, but a deep and mellow twilight reigned in +there, and also a deep silence so profound that I seemed to hear my own +breathings. + +When I had stood ten minutes, thinking and imagining, and getting +my spirit in tune with the place, and in the right mood to enjoy the +supernatural, a raven suddenly uttered a horse croak over my head. It +made me start; and then I was angry because I started. I looked up, and +the creature was sitting on a limb right over me, looking down at me. +I felt something of the same sense of humiliation and injury which +one feels when he finds that a human stranger has been clandestinely +inspecting him in his privacy and mentally commenting upon him. I eyed +the raven, and the raven eyed me. Nothing was said during some seconds. +Then the bird stepped a little way along his limb to get a better point +of observation, lifted his wings, stuck his head far down below his +shoulders toward me and croaked again--a croak with a distinctly +insulting expression about it. If he had spoken in English he could not +have said any more plainly than he did say in raven, "Well, what do YOU +want here?" I felt as foolish as if I had been caught in some mean act +by a responsible being, and reproved for it. However, I made no reply; +I would not bandy words with a raven. The adversary waited a while, with +his shoulders still lifted, his head thrust down between them, and +his keen bright eye fixed on me; then he threw out two or three more +insults, which I could not understand, further than that I knew a +portion of them consisted of language not used in church. + + + +I still made no reply. Now the adversary raised his head and +called. There was an answering croak from a little distance in the +wood--evidently a croak of inquiry. The adversary explained with +enthusiasm, and the other raven dropped everything and came. The two sat +side by side on the limb and discussed me as freely and offensively as +two great naturalists might discuss a new kind of bug. The thing became +more and more embarrassing. They called in another friend. This was too +much. I saw that they had the advantage of me, and so I concluded to get +out of the scrape by walking out of it. They enjoyed my defeat as much +as any low white people could have done. They craned their necks and +laughed at me (for a raven CAN laugh, just like a man), they squalled +insulting remarks after me as long as they could see me. They were +nothing but ravens--I knew that--what they thought of me could be a +matter of no consequence--and yet when even a raven shouts after you, +"What a hat!" "Oh, pull down your vest!" and that sort of thing, it +hurts you and humiliates you, and there is no getting around it with +fine reasoning and pretty arguments. + +Animals talk to each other, of course. There can be no question about +that; but I suppose there are very few people who can understand them. +I never knew but one man who could. I knew he could, however, because he +told me so himself. He was a middle-aged, simple-hearted miner who had +lived in a lonely corner of California, among the woods and mountains, +a good many years, and had studied the ways of his only neighbors, the +beasts and the birds, until he believed he could accurately translate +any remark which they made. This was Jim Baker. According to Jim Baker, +some animals have only a limited education, and some use only simple +words, and scarcely ever a comparison or a flowery figure; whereas, +certain other animals have a large vocabulary, a fine command of +language and a ready and fluent delivery; consequently these latter talk +a great deal; they like it; they are so conscious of their talent, +and they enjoy "showing off." Baker said, that after long and careful +observation, he had come to the conclusion that the bluejays were the +best talkers he had found among birds and beasts. Said he: + +"There's more TO a bluejay than any other creature. He has got more +moods, and more different kinds of feelings than other creatures; and, +mind you, whatever a bluejay feels, he can put into language. And +no mere commonplace language, either, but rattling, out-and-out +book-talk--and bristling with metaphor, too--just bristling! And as for +command of language--why YOU never see a bluejay get stuck for a word. +No man ever did. They just boil out of him! And another thing: I've +noticed a good deal, and there's no bird, or cow, or anything that uses +as good grammar as a bluejay. You may say a cat uses good grammar. Well, +a cat does--but you let a cat get excited once; you let a cat get to +pulling fur with another cat on a shed, nights, and you'll hear grammar +that will give you the lockjaw. Ignorant people think it's the NOISE +which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain't so; it's +the sickening grammar they use. Now I've never heard a jay use bad +grammar but very seldom; and when they do, they are as ashamed as a +human; they shut right down and leave. + + + +"You may call a jay a bird. Well, so he is, in a measure--but he's got +feathers on him, and don't belong to no church, perhaps; but otherwise +he is just as much human as you be. And I'll tell you for why. A jay's +gifts, and instincts, and feelings, and interests, cover the whole +ground. A jay hasn't got any more principle than a Congressman. A jay +will lie, a jay will steal, a jay will deceive, a jay will betray; and +four times out of five, a jay will go back on his solemnest promise. The +sacredness of an obligation is such a thing which you can't cram into +no bluejay's head. Now, on top of all this, there's another thing; a +jay can out-swear any gentleman in the mines. You think a cat can swear. +Well, a cat can; but you give a bluejay a subject that calls for his +reserve-powers, and where is your cat? Don't talk to ME--I know too much +about this thing; in the one little particular of scolding--just good, +clean, out-and-out scolding--a bluejay can lay over anything, human or +divine. Yes, sir, a jay is everything that a man is. A jay can cry, +a jay can laugh, a jay can feel shame, a jay can reason and plan and +discuss, a jay likes gossip and scandal, a jay has got a sense of humor, +a jay knows when he is an ass just as well as you do--maybe better. If +a jay ain't human, he better take in his sign, that's all. Now I'm going +to tell you a perfectly true fact about some bluejays." + + + +CHAPTER III + +Baker's Bluejay Yarn + +[What Stumped the Blue Jays] + + +"When I first begun to understand jay language correctly, there was a +little incident happened here. Seven years ago, the last man in this +region but me moved away. There stands his house--been empty ever since; +a log house, with a plank roof--just one big room, and no more; no +ceiling--nothing between the rafters and the floor. Well, one Sunday +morning I was sitting out here in front of my cabin, with my cat, taking +the sun, and looking at the blue hills, and listening to the leaves +rustling so lonely in the trees, and thinking of the home away yonder in +the states, that I hadn't heard from in thirteen years, when a bluejay +lit on that house, with an acorn in his mouth, and says, 'Hello, I +reckon I've struck something.' When he spoke, the acorn dropped out of +his mouth and rolled down the roof, of course, but he didn't care; his +mind was all on the thing he had struck. It was a knot-hole in the roof. +He cocked his head to one side, shut one eye and put the other one to +the hole, like a possum looking down a jug; then he glanced up with +his bright eyes, gave a wink or two with his wings--which signifies +gratification, you understand--and says, 'It looks like a hole, it's +located like a hole--blamed if I don't believe it IS a hole!' + +"Then he cocked his head down and took another look; he glances up +perfectly joyful, this time; winks his wings and his tail both, and +says, 'Oh, no, this ain't no fat thing, I reckon! If I ain't in luck! +--Why it's a perfectly elegant hole!' So he flew down and got that +acorn, and fetched it up and dropped it in, and was just tilting his +head back, with the heavenliest smile on his face, when all of a +sudden he was paralyzed into a listening attitude and that smile faded +gradually out of his countenance like breath off'n a razor, and the +queerest look of surprise took its place. Then he says, 'Why, I didn't +hear it fall!' He cocked his eye at the hole again, and took a long +look; raised up and shook his head; stepped around to the other side of +the hole and took another look from that side; shook his head again. He +studied a while, then he just went into the Details--walked round and +round the hole and spied into it from every point of the compass. +No use. Now he took a thinking attitude on the comb of the roof and +scratched the back of his head with his right foot a minute, and finally +says, 'Well, it's too many for ME, that's certain; must be a mighty long +hole; however, I ain't got no time to fool around here, I got to "tend +to business"; I reckon it's all right--chance it, anyway.' + +"So he flew off and fetched another acorn and dropped it in, and tried +to flirt his eye to the hole quick enough to see what become of it, +but he was too late. He held his eye there as much as a minute; then he +raised up and sighed, and says, 'Confound it, I don't seem to understand +this thing, no way; however, I'll tackle her again.' He fetched +another acorn, and done his level best to see what become of it, but he +couldn't. He says, 'Well, I never struck no such a hole as this before; +I'm of the opinion it's a totally new kind of a hole.' Then he begun +to get mad. He held in for a spell, walking up and down the comb of the +roof and shaking his head and muttering to himself; but his feelings got +the upper hand of him, presently, and he broke loose and cussed himself +black in the face. I never see a bird take on so about a little thing. +When he got through he walks to the hole and looks in again for half a +minute; then he says, 'Well, you're a long hole, and a deep hole, and +a mighty singular hole altogether--but I've started in to fill you, and +I'm damned if I DON'T fill you, if it takes a hundred years!' + + + +"And with that, away he went. You never see a bird work so since you was +born. He laid into his work like a nigger, and the way he hove acorns +into that hole for about two hours and a half was one of the most +exciting and astonishing spectacles I ever struck. He never stopped to +take a look anymore--he just hove 'em in and went for more. Well, at +last he could hardly flop his wings, he was so tuckered out. He comes +a-dropping down, once more, sweating like an ice-pitcher, dropped his +acorn in and says, 'NOW I guess I've got the bulge on you by this time!' +So he bent down for a look. If you'll believe me, when his head come up +again he was just pale with rage. He says, 'I've shoveled acorns enough +in there to keep the family thirty years, and if I can see a sign of one +of 'em I wish I may land in a museum with a belly full of sawdust in two +minutes!' + +"He just had strength enough to crawl up on to the comb and lean his +back agin the chimbly, and then he collected his impressions and +begun to free his mind. I see in a second that what I had mistook for +profanity in the mines was only just the rudiments, as you may say. + +"Another jay was going by, and heard him doing his devotions, and stops +to inquire what was up. The sufferer told him the whole circumstance, +and says, 'Now yonder's the hole, and if you don't believe me, go and +look for yourself.' So this fellow went and looked, and comes back and +says, 'How many did you say you put in there?' 'Not any less than +two tons,' says the sufferer. The other jay went and looked again. He +couldn't seem to make it out, so he raised a yell, and three more jays +come. They all examined the hole, they all made the sufferer tell +it over again, then they all discussed it, and got off as many +leather-headed opinions about it as an average crowd of humans could +have done. + +"They called in more jays; then more and more, till pretty soon this +whole region 'peared to have a blue flush about it. There must have been +five thousand of them; and such another jawing and disputing and ripping +and cussing, you never heard. Every jay in the whole lot put his eye to +the hole and delivered a more chuckle-headed opinion about the mystery +than the jay that went there before him. They examined the house all +over, too. The door was standing half open, and at last one old jay +happened to go and light on it and look in. Of course, that knocked the +mystery galley-west in a second. There lay the acorns, scattered all +over the floor.. He flopped his wings and raised a whoop. 'Come here!' +he says, 'Come here, everybody; hang'd if this fool hasn't been trying +to fill up a house with acorns!' They all came a-swooping down like a +blue cloud, and as each fellow lit on the door and took a glance, the +whole absurdity of the contract that that first jay had tackled hit him +home and he fell over backward suffocating with laughter, and the next +jay took his place and done the same. + +"Well, sir, they roosted around here on the housetop and the trees for +an hour, and guffawed over that thing like human beings. It ain't any +use to tell me a bluejay hasn't got a sense of humor, because I know +better. And memory, too. They brought jays here from all over the United +States to look down that hole, every summer for three years. Other +birds, too. And they could all see the point except an owl that come +from Nova Scotia to visit the Yo Semite, and he took this thing in on +his way back. He said he couldn't see anything funny in it. But then he +was a good deal disappointed about Yo Semite, too." + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Student Life + +[The Laborious Beer King] + + +The summer semester was in full tide; consequently the most frequent +figure in and about Heidelberg was the student. Most of the students +were Germans, of course, but the representatives of foreign lands +were very numerous. They hailed from every corner of the globe--for +instruction is cheap in Heidelberg, and so is living, too. The +Anglo-American Club, composed of British and American students, had +twenty-five members, and there was still much material left to draw +from. + +Nine-tenths of the Heidelberg students wore no badge or uniform; +the other tenth wore caps of various colors, and belonged to social +organizations called "corps." There were five corps, each with a color +of its own; there were white caps, blue caps, and red, yellow, and green +ones. The famous duel-fighting is confined to the "corps" boys. The +"KNEIP" seems to be a specialty of theirs, too. Kneips are held, now and +then, to celebrate great occasions, like the election of a beer king, +for instance. The solemnity is simple; the five corps assemble at night, +and at a signal they all fall loading themselves with beer, out +of pint-mugs, as fast as possible, and each man keeps his own +count--usually by laying aside a lucifer match for each mug he empties. + + + +The election is soon decided. When the candidates can hold no more, a +count is instituted and the one who has drank the greatest number of +pints is proclaimed king. I was told that the last beer king elected +by the corps--or by his own capabilities--emptied his mug seventy-five +times. No stomach could hold all that quantity at one time, of +course--but there are ways of frequently creating a vacuum, which those +who have been much at sea will understand. + +One sees so many students abroad at all hours, that he presently begins +to wonder if they ever have any working-hours. Some of them have, some +of them haven't. Each can choose for himself whether he will work or +play; for German university life is a very free life; it seems to have +no restraints. The student does not live in the college buildings, but +hires his own lodgings, in any locality he prefers, and he takes his +meals when and where he pleases. He goes to bed when it suits him, and +does not get up at all unless he wants to. He is not entered at the +university for any particular length of time; so he is likely to change +about. He passes no examinations upon entering college. He merely pays +a trifling fee of five or ten dollars, receives a card entitling him to +the privileges of the university, and that is the end of it. He is now +ready for business--or play, as he shall prefer. If he elects to +work, he finds a large list of lectures to choose from. He selects the +subjects which he will study, and enters his name for these studies; but +he can skip attendance. + + + +The result of this system is, that lecture-courses upon specialties +of an unusual nature are often delivered to very slim audiences, +while those upon more practical and every-day matters of education are +delivered to very large ones. I heard of one case where, day after day, +the lecturer's audience consisted of three students--and always the +same three. But one day two of them remained away. The lecturer began as +usual-- + +"Gentlemen," --then, without a smile, he corrected himself, saying-- + +"Sir," --and went on with his discourse. + +It is said that the vast majority of the Heidelberg students are hard +workers, and make the most of their opportunities; that they have +no surplus means to spend in dissipation, and no time to spare for +frolicking. One lecture follows right on the heels of another, with very +little time for the student to get out of one hall and into the next; +but the industrious ones manage it by going on a trot. The professors +assist them in the saving of their time by being promptly in their +little boxed-up pulpits when the hours strike, and as promptly out again +when the hour finishes. I entered an empty lecture-room one day just +before the clock struck. The place had simple, unpainted pine desks and +benches for about two hundred persons. + + + +About a minute before the clock struck, a hundred and fifty students +swarmed in, rushed to their seats, immediately spread open their +notebooks and dipped their pens in ink. When the clock began to strike, +a burly professor entered, was received with a round of applause, moved +swiftly down the center aisle, said "Gentlemen," and began to talk as he +climbed his pulpit steps; and by the time he had arrived in his box and +faced his audience, his lecture was well under way and all the pens were +going. He had no notes, he talked with prodigious rapidity and +energy for an hour--then the students began to remind him in certain +well-understood ways that his time was up; he seized his hat, still +talking, proceeded swiftly down his pulpit steps, got out the last word +of his discourse as he struck the floor; everybody rose respectfully, +and he swept rapidly down the aisle and disappeared. An instant rush for +some other lecture-room followed, and in a minute I was alone with the +empty benches once more. + + + +Yes, without doubt, idle students are not the rule. Out of eight hundred +in the town, I knew the faces of only about fifty; but these I saw +everywhere, and daily. They walked about the streets and the wooded +hills, they drove in cabs, they boated on the river, they sipped beer +and coffee, afternoons, in the Schloss gardens. A good many of them wore +colored caps of the corps. They were finely and fashionably dressed, +their manners were quite superb, and they led an easy, careless, +comfortable life. If a dozen of them sat together and a lady or a +gentleman passed whom one of them knew and saluted, they all rose +to their feet and took off their caps. The members of a corps always +received a fellow-member in this way, too; but they paid no attention +to members of other corps; they did not seem to see them. This was not +a discourtesy; it was only a part of the elaborate and rigid corps +etiquette. + +There seems to be no chilly distance existing between the German +students and the professor; but, on the contrary, a companionable +intercourse, the opposite of chilliness and reserve. When the professor +enters a beer-hall in the evening where students are gathered together, +these rise up and take off their caps, and invite the old gentleman to +sit with them and partake. He accepts, and the pleasant talk and the +beer flow for an hour or two, and by and by the professor, properly +charged and comfortable, gives a cordial good night, while the students +stand bowing and uncovered; and then he moves on his happy way homeward +with all his vast cargo of learning afloat in his hold. Nobody finds +fault or feels outraged; no harm has been done. + + + +It seemed to be a part of corps etiquette to keep a dog or so, too. +I mean a corps dog--the common property of the organization, like the +corps steward or head servant; then there are other dogs, owned by +individuals. + +On a summer afternoon in the Castle gardens, I have seen six students +march solemnly into the grounds, in single file, each carrying a bright +Chinese parasol and leading a prodigious dog by a string. It was a very +imposing spectacle. Sometimes there would be as many dogs around the +pavilion as students; and of all breeds and of all degrees of beauty and +ugliness. These dogs had a rather dry time of it; for they were tied +to the benches and had no amusement for an hour or two at a time except +what they could get out of pawing at the gnats, or trying to sleep and +not succeeding. However, they got a lump of sugar occasionally--they +were fond of that. + + + +It seemed right and proper that students should indulge in dogs; but +everybody else had them, too--old men and young ones, old women and +nice young ladies. If there is one spectacle that is unpleasanter than +another, it is that of an elegantly dressed young lady towing a dog by a +string. It is said to be the sign and symbol of blighted love. It seems +to me that some other way of advertising it might be devised, which +would be just as conspicuous and yet not so trying to the proprieties. + + + +It would be a mistake to suppose that the easy-going pleasure-seeking +student carries an empty head. Just the contrary. He has spent nine +years in the gymnasium, under a system which allowed him no freedom, but +vigorously compelled him to work like a slave. Consequently, he has left +the gymnasium with an education which is so extensive and complete, that +the most a university can do for it is to perfect some of its profounder +specialties. It is said that when a pupil leaves the gymnasium, he not +only has a comprehensive education, but he KNOWS what he knows--it is +not befogged with uncertainty, it is burnt into him so that it will +stay. For instance, he does not merely read and write Greek, but speaks +it; the same with the Latin. Foreign youth steer clear of the gymnasium; +its rules are too severe. They go to the university to put a mansard +roof on their whole general education; but the German student already +has his mansard roof, so he goes there to add a steeple in the nature of +some specialty, such as a particular branch of law, or diseases of the +eye, or special study of the ancient Gothic tongues. So this German +attends only the lectures which belong to the chosen branch, and drinks +his beer and tows his dog around and has a general good time the rest of +the day. He has been in rigid bondage so long that the large liberty +of the university life is just what he needs and likes and thoroughly +appreciates; and as it cannot last forever, he makes the most of it +while it does last, and so lays up a good rest against the day that must +see him put on the chains once more and enter the slavery of official or +professional life. + + + +CHAPTER V + +At the Students' Dueling-Ground + +[Dueling by Wholesale] + + +One day in the interest of science my agent obtained permission to bring +me to the students' dueling-place. We crossed the river and drove up +the bank a few hundred yards, then turned to the left, entered a narrow +alley, followed it a hundred yards and arrived at a two-story public +house; we were acquainted with its outside aspect, for it was visible +from the hotel. We went upstairs and passed into a large whitewashed +apartment which was perhaps fifty feet long by thirty feet wide and +twenty or twenty-five high. It was a well-lighted place. There was no +carpet. Across one end and down both sides of the room extended a row of +tables, and at these tables some fifty or seventy-five students [1. See +Appendix C] were sitting. + +Some of them were sipping wine, others were playing cards, others chess, +other groups were chatting together, and many were smoking cigarettes +while they waited for the coming duels. Nearly all of them wore colored +caps; there were white caps, green caps, blue caps, red caps, and +bright-yellow ones; so, all the five corps were present in strong +force. In the windows at the vacant end of the room stood six or eight, +narrow-bladed swords with large protecting guards for the hand, and +outside was a man at work sharpening others on a grindstone. + + + +He understood his business; for when a sword left his hand one could +shave himself with it. + +It was observable that the young gentlemen neither bowed to nor spoke +with students whose caps differed in color from their own. This did not +mean hostility, but only an armed neutrality. It was considered that +a person could strike harder in the duel, and with a more earnest +interest, if he had never been in a condition of comradeship with his +antagonist; therefore, comradeship between the corps was not permitted. +At intervals the presidents of the five corps have a cold official +intercourse with each other, but nothing further. For example, when the +regular dueling-day of one of the corps approaches, its president calls +for volunteers from among the membership to offer battle; three or more +respond--but there must not be less than three; the president lays their +names before the other presidents, with the request that they furnish +antagonists for these challengers from among their corps. This is +promptly done. It chanced that the present occasion was the battle-day +of the Red Cap Corps. They were the challengers, and certain caps of +other colors had volunteered to meet them. The students fight duels in +the room which I have described, TWO DAYS IN EVERY WEEK DURING SEVEN +AND A HALF OR EIGHT MONTHS IN EVERY YEAR. This custom had continued in +Germany two hundred and fifty years. + +To return to my narrative. A student in a white cap met us and +introduced us to six or eight friends of his who also wore white caps, +and while we stood conversing, two strange-looking figures were led in +from another room. They were students panoplied for the duel. They were +bareheaded; their eyes were protected by iron goggles which projected an +inch or more, the leather straps of which bound their ears flat against +their heads were wound around and around with thick wrappings which +a sword could not cut through; from chin to ankle they were padded +thoroughly against injury; their arms were bandaged and rebandaged, +layer upon layer, until they looked like solid black logs. These weird +apparitions had been handsome youths, clad in fashionable attire, +fifteen minutes before, but now they did not resemble any beings one +ever sees unless in nightmares. They strode along, with their arms +projecting straight out from their bodies; they did not hold them out +themselves, but fellow-students walked beside them and gave the needed +support. + +There was a rush for the vacant end of the room, now, and we followed +and got good places. The combatants were placed face to face, each with +several members of his own corps about him to assist; two seconds, well +padded, and with swords in their hands, took their stations; a student +belonging to neither of the opposing corps placed himself in a good +position to umpire the combat; another student stood by with a watch and +a memorandum-book to keep record of the time and the number and nature +of the wounds; a gray-haired surgeon was present with his lint, his +bandages, and his instruments. + + + +After a moment's pause the duelists saluted the umpire respectfully, +then one after another the several officials stepped forward, gracefully +removed their caps and saluted him also, and returned to their places. +Everything was ready now; students stood crowded together in the +foreground, and others stood behind them on chairs and tables. Every +face was turned toward the center of attraction. + +The combatants were watching each other with alert eyes; a perfect +stillness, a breathless interest reigned. I felt that I was going to +see some wary work. But not so. The instant the word was given, the two +apparitions sprang forward and began to rain blows down upon each other +with such lightning rapidity that I could not quite tell whether I saw +the swords or only flashes they made in the air; the rattling din of +these blows as they struck steel or paddings was something wonderfully +stirring, and they were struck with such terrific force that I could not +understand why the opposing sword was not beaten down under the assault. +Presently, in the midst of the sword-flashes, I saw a handful of hair +skip into the air as if it had lain loose on the victim's head and a +breath of wind had puffed it suddenly away. + +The seconds cried "Halt!" and knocked up the combatants' swords with +their own. The duelists sat down; a student official stepped forward, +examined the wounded head and touched the place with a sponge once or +twice; the surgeon came and turned back the hair from the wound--and +revealed a crimson gash two or three inches long, and proceeded to bind +an oval piece of leather and a bunch of lint over it; the tally-keeper +stepped up and tallied one for the opposition in his book. + + + +Then the duelists took position again; a small stream of blood was +flowing down the side of the injured man's head, and over his shoulder +and down his body to the floor, but he did not seem to mind this. The +word was given, and they plunged at each other as fiercely as before; +once more the blows rained and rattled and flashed; every few moments +the quick-eyed seconds would notice that a sword was bent--then they +called "Halt!" struck up the contending weapons, and an assisting +student straightened the bent one. + +The wonderful turmoil went on--presently a bright spark sprung from +a blade, and that blade broken in several pieces, sent one of its +fragments flying to the ceiling. A new sword was provided and the fight +proceeded. The exercise was tremendous, of course, and in time the +fighters began to show great fatigue. They were allowed to rest a +moment, every little while; they got other rests by wounding each other, +for then they could sit down while the doctor applied the lint and +bandages. The law is that the battle must continue fifteen minutes if +the men can hold out; and as the pauses do not count, this duel was +protracted to twenty or thirty minutes, I judged. At last it was decided +that the men were too much wearied to do battle longer. They were led +away drenched with crimson from head to foot. That was a good fight, but +it could not count, partly because it did not last the lawful fifteen +minutes (of actual fighting), and partly because neither man was +disabled by his wound. It was a drawn battle, and corps law requires +that drawn battles shall be refought as soon as the adversaries are well +of their hurts. + +During the conflict, I had talked a little, now and then, with a young +gentleman of the White Cap Corps, and he had mentioned that he was to +fight next--and had also pointed out his challenger, a young gentleman +who was leaning against the opposite wall smoking a cigarette and +restfully observing the duel then in progress. + +My acquaintanceship with a party to the coming contest had the effect of +giving me a kind of personal interest in it; I naturally wished he might +win, and it was the reverse of pleasant to learn that he probably would +not, because, although he was a notable swordsman, the challenger was +held to be his superior. + +The duel presently began and in the same furious way which had marked +the previous one. I stood close by, but could not tell which blows told +and which did not, they fell and vanished so like flashes of light. They +all seemed to tell; the swords always bent over the opponents' heads, +from the forehead back over the crown, and seemed to touch, all the +way; but it was not so--a protecting blade, invisible to me, was always +interposed between. At the end of ten seconds each man had struck twelve +or fifteen blows, and warded off twelve or fifteen, and no harm done; +then a sword became disabled, and a short rest followed whilst a new one +was brought. Early in the next round the White Corps student got an ugly +wound on the side of his head and gave his opponent one like it. In the +third round the latter received another bad wound in the head, and the +former had his under-lip divided. After that, the White Corps student +gave many severe wounds, but got none of the consequence in return. +At the end of five minutes from the beginning of the duel the surgeon +stopped it; the challenging party had suffered such injuries that any +addition to them might be dangerous. These injuries were a fearful +spectacle, but are better left undescribed. So, against expectation, my +acquaintance was the victor. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +[A Sport that Sometimes Kills] + + +The third duel was brief and bloody. The surgeon stopped it when he saw +that one of the men had received such bad wounds that he could not fight +longer without endangering his life. + +The fourth duel was a tremendous encounter; but at the end of five or +six minutes the surgeon interfered once more: another man so severely +hurt as to render it unsafe to add to his harms. I watched this +engagement as I watched the others--with rapt interest and strong +excitement, and with a shrink and a shudder for every blow that laid +open a cheek or a forehead; and a conscious paling of my face when I +occasionally saw a wound of a yet more shocking nature inflicted. +My eyes were upon the loser of this duel when he got his last and +vanquishing wound--it was in his face and it carried away his--but no +matter, I must not enter into details. I had but a glance, and then +turned quickly, but I would not have been looking at all if I had known +what was coming. No, that is probably not true; one thinks he would not +look if he knew what was coming, but the interest and the excitement are +so powerful that they would doubtless conquer all other feelings; and +so, under the fierce exhilaration of the clashing steel, he would yield +and look after all. Sometimes spectators of these duels faint--and it +does seem a very reasonable thing to do, too. + +Both parties to this fourth duel were badly hurt so much that the +surgeon was at work upon them nearly or quite an hour--a fact which is +suggestive. But this waiting interval was not wasted in idleness by +the assembled students. It was past noon, therefore they ordered their +landlord, downstairs, to send up hot beefsteaks, chickens, and such +things, and these they ate, sitting comfortable at the several tables, +whilst they chatted, disputed and laughed. The door to the surgeon's +room stood open, meantime, but the cutting, sewing, splicing, and +bandaging going on in there in plain view did not seem to disturb +anyone's appetite. I went in and saw the surgeon labor awhile, but could +not enjoy; it was much less trying to see the wounds given and received +than to see them mended; the stir and turmoil, and the music of the +steel, were wanting here--one's nerves were wrung by this grisly +spectacle, whilst the duel's compensating pleasurable thrill was +lacking. + +Finally the doctor finished, and the men who were to fight the closing +battle of the day came forth. A good many dinners were not completed, +yet, but no matter, they could be eaten cold, after the battle; +therefore everybody crowded forth to see. This was not a love duel, but +a "satisfaction" affair. These two students had quarreled, and were here +to settle it. They did not belong to any of the corps, but they were +furnished with weapons and armor, and permitted to fight here by the +five corps as a courtesy. Evidently these two young men were unfamiliar +with the dueling ceremonies, though they were not unfamiliar with the +sword. When they were placed in position they thought it was time +to begin--and then did begin, too, and with a most impetuous energy, +without waiting for anybody to give the word. This vastly amused the +spectators, and even broke down their studied and courtly gravity and +surprised them into laughter. Of course the seconds struck up the swords +and started the duel over again. At the word, the deluge of blows began, +but before long the surgeon once more interfered--for the only reason +which ever permits him to interfere--and the day's war was over. It was +now two in the afternoon, and I had been present since half past nine in +the morning. The field of battle was indeed a red one by this time; +but some sawdust soon righted that. There had been one duel before I +arrived. In it one of the men received many injuries, while the other +one escaped without a scratch. + +I had seen the heads and faces of ten youths gashed in every direction +by the keen two-edged blades, and yet had not seen a victim wince, nor +heard a moan, or detected any fleeting expression which confessed the +sharp pain the hurts were inflicting. This was good fortitude, indeed. +Such endurance is to be expected in savages and prize-fighters, for they +are born and educated to it; but to find it in such perfection in these +gently bred and kindly natured young fellows is matter for surprise. +It was not merely under the excitement of the sword-play that this +fortitude was shown; it was shown in the surgeon's room where an +uninspiring quiet reigned, and where there was no audience. The doctor's +manipulations brought out neither grimaces nor moans. And in the fights +it was observable that these lads hacked and slashed with the same +tremendous spirit, after they were covered with streaming wounds, which +they had shown in the beginning. + +The world in general looks upon the college duels as very farcical +affairs: true, but considering that the college duel is fought by boys; +that the swords are real swords; and that the head and face are exposed, +it seems to me that it is a farce which had quite a grave side to it. +People laugh at it mainly because they think the student is so covered +up with armor that he cannot be hurt. But it is not so; his eyes and +ears are protected, but the rest of his face and head are bare. He +can not only be badly wounded, but his life is in danger; and he would +sometimes lose it but for the interference of the surgeon. It is +not intended that his life shall be endangered. Fatal accidents are +possible, however. For instance, the student's sword may break, and the +end of it fly up behind his antagonist's ear and cut an artery which +could not be reached if the sword remained whole. This has happened, +sometimes, and death has resulted on the spot. Formerly the student's +armpits were not protected--and at that time the swords were pointed, +whereas they are blunt, now; so an artery in the armpit was sometimes +cut, and death followed. Then in the days of sharp-pointed swords, a +spectator was an occasional victim--the end of a broken sword flew five +or ten feet and buried itself in his neck or his heart, and death ensued +instantly. The student duels in Germany occasion two or three deaths +every year, now, but this arises only from the carelessness of the +wounded men; they eat or drink imprudently, or commit excesses in the +way of overexertion; inflammation sets in and gets such a headway that +it cannot be arrested. Indeed, there is blood and pain and danger +enough about the college duel to entitle it to a considerable degree of +respect. + +All the customs, all the laws, all the details, pertaining to the +student duel are quaint and naive. The grave, precise, and courtly +ceremony with which the thing is conducted, invests it with a sort of +antique charm. + +This dignity and these knightly graces suggest the tournament, not the +prize-fight. The laws are as curious as they are strict. For instance, +the duelist may step forward from the line he is placed upon, if he +chooses, but never back of it. If he steps back of it, or even leans +back, it is considered that he did it to avoid a blow or contrive an +advantage; so he is dismissed from his corps in disgrace. It would seem +natural to step from under a descending sword unconsciously, and against +one's will and intent--yet this unconsciousness is not allowed. Again: +if under the sudden anguish of a wound the receiver of it makes a +grimace, he falls some degrees in the estimation of his fellows; his +corps are ashamed of him: they call him "hare foot," which is the German +equivalent for chicken-hearted. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +[How Bismark Fought] + + +In addition to the corps laws, there are some corps usages which have +the force of laws. + +Perhaps the president of a corps notices that one of the membership who +is no longer an exempt--that is a freshman--has remained a sophomore +some little time without volunteering to fight; some day, the president, +instead of calling for volunteers, will APPOINT this sophomore +to measure swords with a student of another corps; he is free to +decline--everybody says so--there is no compulsion. This is all +true--but I have not heard of any student who DID decline; to decline +and still remain in the corps would make him unpleasantly conspicuous, +and properly so, since he knew, when he joined, that his main +business, as a member, would be to fight. No, there is no law against +declining--except the law of custom, which is confessedly stronger than +written law, everywhere. + + + +The ten men whose duels I had witnessed did not go away when their hurts +were dressed, as I had supposed they would, but came back, one after +another, as soon as they were free of the surgeon, and mingled with the +assemblage in the dueling-room. The white-cap student who won the second +fight witnessed the remaining three, and talked with us during the +intermissions. He could not talk very well, because his opponent's sword +had cut his under-lip in two, and then the surgeon had sewed it together +and overlaid it with a profusion of white plaster patches; neither could +he eat easily, still he contrived to accomplish a slow and troublesome +luncheon while the last duel was preparing. The man who was the worst +hurt of all played chess while waiting to see this engagement. A good +part of his face was covered with patches and bandages, and all the rest +of his head was covered and concealed by them. + + + +It is said that the student likes to appear on the street and in other +public places in this kind of array, and that this predilection often +keeps him out when exposure to rain or sun is a positive danger for +him. Newly bandaged students are a very common spectacle in the public +gardens of Heidelberg. It is also said that the student is glad to +get wounds in the face, because the scars they leave will show so well +there; and it is also said that these face wounds are so prized that +youths have even been known to pull them apart from time to time and +put red wine in them to make them heal badly and leave as ugly a scar +as possible. It does not look reasonable, but it is roundly asserted +and maintained, nevertheless; I am sure of one thing--scars are plenty +enough in Germany, among the young men; and very grim ones they are, +too. They crisscross the face in angry red welts, and are permanent and +ineffaceable. + + + +Some of these scars are of a very strange and dreadful aspect; and the +effect is striking when several such accent the milder ones, which form +a city map on a man's face; they suggest the "burned district" then. We +had often noticed that many of the students wore a colored silk band +or ribbon diagonally across their breasts. It transpired that this +signifies that the wearer has fought three duels in which a decision +was reached--duels in which he either whipped or was whipped--for drawn +battles do not count. [1] After a student has received his ribbon, he +is "free"; he can cease from fighting, without reproach--except some one +insult him; his president cannot appoint him to fight; he can volunteer +if he wants to, or remain quiescent if he prefers to do so. Statistics +show that he does NOT prefer to remain quiescent. They show that the +duel has a singular fascination about it somewhere, for these free +men, so far from resting upon the privilege of the badge, are always +volunteering. A corps student told me it was of record that Prince +Bismarck fought thirty-two of these duels in a single summer term when +he was in college. So he fought twenty-nine after his badge had given +him the right to retire from the field. + +1. FROM MY DIARY.--Dined in a hotel a few miles up the Neckar, in a room +whose walls were hung all over with framed portrait-groups of the Five +Corps; some were recent, but many antedated photography, and were +pictured in lithography--the dates ranged back to forty or fifty years +ago. Nearly every individual wore the ribbon across his breast. In one +portrait-group representing (as each of these pictures did) an entire +Corps, I took pains to count the ribbons: there were twenty-seven +members, and twenty-one of them wore that significant badge. + +The statistics may be found to possess interest in several particulars. +Two days in every week are devoted to dueling. The rule is rigid that +there must be three duels on each of these days; there are generally +more, but there cannot be fewer. There were six the day I was present; +sometimes there are seven or eight. It is insisted that eight duels a +week--four for each of the two days--is too low an average to draw +a calculation from, but I will reckon from that basis, preferring an +understatement to an overstatement of the case. This requires about four +hundred and eighty or five hundred duelists a year--for in summer the +college term is about three and a half months, and in winter it is four +months and sometimes longer. Of the seven hundred and fifty students in +the university at the time I am writing of, only eighty belonged to the +five corps, and it is only these corps that do the dueling; occasionally +other students borrow the arms and battleground of the five corps in +order to settle a quarrel, but this does not happen every dueling-day. +[2] Consequently eighty youths furnish the material for some two hundred +and fifty duels a year. This average gives six fights a year to each +of the eighty. This large work could not be accomplished if the +badge-holders stood upon their privilege and ceased to volunteer. + +2. They have to borrow the arms because they could not get them +elsewhere or otherwise. As I understand it, the public authorities, all +over Germany, allow the five Corps to keep swords, but DO NOT ALLOW THEM +TO USE THEM. This is law is rigid; it is only the execution of it that +is lax. + +Of course, where there is so much fighting, the students make it a point +to keep themselves in constant practice with the foil. One often sees +them, at the tables in the Castle grounds, using their whips or canes to +illustrate some new sword trick which they have heard about; and between +the duels, on the day whose history I have been writing, the swords were +not always idle; every now and then we heard a succession of the keen +hissing sounds which the sword makes when it is being put through its +paces in the air, and this informed us that a student was practicing. +Necessarily, this unceasing attention to the art develops an expert +occasionally. He becomes famous in his own university, his renown +spreads to other universities. He is invited to Goettingen, to fight +with a Goettingen expert; if he is victorious, he will be invited +to other colleges, or those colleges will send their experts to him. +Americans and Englishmen often join one or another of the five corps. A +year or two ago, the principal Heidelberg expert was a big Kentuckian; +he was invited to the various universities and left a wake of victory +behind him all about Germany; but at last a little student in Strasburg +defeated him. There was formerly a student in Heidelberg who had picked +up somewhere and mastered a peculiar trick of cutting up under instead +of cleaving down from above. While the trick lasted he won in sixteen +successive duels in his university; but by that time observers had +discovered what his charm was, and how to break it, therefore his +championship ceased. + +A rule which forbids social intercourse between members of different +corps is strict. In the dueling-house, in the parks, on the street, +and anywhere and everywhere that the students go, caps of a color group +themselves together. If all the tables in a public garden were crowded +but one, and that one had two red-cap students at it and ten vacant +places, the yellow-caps, the blue-caps, the white caps, and the green +caps, seeking seats, would go by that table and not seem to see it, nor +seem to be aware that there was such a table in the grounds. The student +by whose courtesy we had been enabled to visit the dueling-place, wore +the white cap--Prussian Corps. He introduced us to many white caps, but +to none of another color. The corps etiquette extended even to us, who +were strangers, and required us to group with the white corps only, and +speak only with the white corps, while we were their guests, and keep +aloof from the caps of the other colors. Once I wished to examine some +of the swords, but an American student said, "It would not be quite +polite; these now in the windows all have red hilts or blue; they will +bring in some with white hilts presently, and those you can handle +freely." When a sword was broken in the first duel, I wanted a piece +of it; but its hilt was the wrong color, so it was considered best and +politest to await a properer season. + + +It was brought to me after the room was cleared, and I will now make +a "life-size" sketch of it by tracing a line around it with my pen, to +show the width of the weapon. [Figure 1] The length of these swords is +about three feet, and they are quite heavy. One's disposition to cheer, +during the course of the duels or at their close, was naturally strong, +but corps etiquette forbade any demonstrations of this sort. However +brilliant a contest or a victory might be, no sign or sound betrayed +that any one was moved. A dignified gravity and repression were +maintained at all times. + +When the dueling was finished and we were ready to go, the gentlemen of +the Prussian Corps to whom we had been introduced took off their caps +in the courteous German way, and also shook hands; their brethren of the +same order took off their caps and bowed, but without shaking hands; the +gentlemen of the other corps treated us just as they would have treated +white caps--they fell apart, apparently unconsciously, and left us an +unobstructed pathway, but did not seem to see us or know we were there. +If we had gone thither the following week as guests of another corps, +the white caps, without meaning any offense, would have observed the +etiquette of their order and ignored our presence. + +[How strangely are comedy and tragedy blended in this life! I had not +been home a full half-hour, after witnessing those playful sham-duels, +when circumstances made it necessary for me to get ready immediately to +assist personally at a real one--a duel with no effeminate limitation in +the matter of results, but a battle to the death. An account of it, in +the next chapter, will show the reader that duels between boys, for fun, +and duels between men in earnest, are very different affairs.] + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Tramp Abroad, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRAMP ABROAD *** + +***** This file should be named 5782.txt or 5782.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/7/8/5782/ + +Produced by Anonymous Volunteers, John Greenman and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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