Show DUELS I I GERMANY I Students Slash Each Other on Slender Provocation I INSULTS ARE KOT NECESSARY I The Philosophy of the Teutonic Code of Honor Courage Iot a Settlement of Differences For THE SUNDAY HEKALD CopyrightedJ MONGST tho many peculiarities peculiari-ties of German student life J I k which call for 1 I comments from I the visiting is foreigner tho duel While the c German student 4 0 may count upon some sympathy with his chivalrous t rous method of settling difflcul rit7ties on the Part of the gallant na orm STUDr TS WEAPONS tions of western and southern Europe his AngloSaxon cousins shortly end all discussion by calling the custom semibarbarous or even ridiculous ridicu-lous But notwithstanding people with whom boxing is a national sport who oven pay money to see human beings Injure each other have no right condemn the manly nrt of selfdefense in another form I think that with this as with other unfamiliar unfamil-iar customs we should try to understand before we pass judgment What I propose in trying to give the philosophy of the duel is not so much to defend the custom which seems not to come up to tho standard of civilization as to explain it Wo must distinguish between two kinds of duels fought in German universities One kind which is not peculiar to students nor to Germans is a contest for life and death to settle some serious difficulty some point of honor This is common to nil nations on the European continent Even in this country such duels have not yet quite disappeared In Europe they will not disappear as long as society thinks it beneath the dignity of a gentleman to bring certain offenses into court or considers a mans honor stained by insults for which there is no redress in law How powerful a hold this code of honor has upon society is shown by the fact that military officer can keep his epaulettes who declines a duel 1 or who under certain circumstances does not challenge To take a single instance a man like Ferdinand Lassalle who personally per-sonally was creatly opposed to tho duel felt himself obliged submit to the custom and died its victim This duel to the death may have originated in a desire for vengeance ven-geance in many cases it was undoubtedly an invocation of a higher power to provo the falseness of the charge implied in the insult Tho modern duelist though the baser feeling of revenge may often guide his deadly weapon has another philosophy It is not the destruction of his opponent which he desires he tries by exposing himself to the danger of being killed and wounded to prove his courage which is the first of manly virtues aud thus to clear his honor This is the reasoning of society which will not accept any one as a gentleman who declines de-clines to show his courage in this way Most duels are fought for this reason it is the condemnation of society which is feared more than the weapons of the opT R T 1V A STUDENT DUEL poncnt In fact tho weapons commonly chosen pistols do not call for much courage cour-age The danger is over in a moment there is not much chance for a display of skill and experience shows that such duels very seldom have a serious ending Such duels as we read of in novels are few and far between and when they occur there is something more serious on the bottom of them than the requirements of society some mortal fued in which the contestants feel that the earth can not bear both of them alive Such characters strong and noble in love and hate are not found as often in life as in novels and are such as will always make their own moral laws Wo areall bound to obey tho rules of that society in which we live We may try to change the samewo may show their absurdity absurd-ity but nevertheless we must submit to them or give up our social position There lore in Europe the individual engaging in a duel under this code of honor is not to be blamed for it But there is a question whether we should be more ready to condemn society for maintaining this custom To call it barbarous may be superficial and pedantic Behind this absurd custom is a feeling of honor which makes the foundation of that social intercourse which belongs to all civilized civ-ilized nations It forms tho controlling power of refined society in old Europe vhJch does not rely upon police force for its own government Whiles in this country coun-try and in England we think it quito natural nat-ural for instance that a girl who is left by hep lover after the engagement should sue nrm for damages such a step would be considered con-sidered mercenary and low in Europe where money is not regarded as an equiva lent for honor and where marriage is not taSked upon simply as an affair of business I One may call this prejudice but the life of the highest society is built upon it and a single persouAvho calls the custom of duel ling absurdmust submit to it if he does not want tQbe called a coward Few would lave and could be expected to have that ngber moral courage to stand for the sake of their opinions tho scorn of those among I hom they have grown up and with I whom all their inclinations and interests arcAs I said before this kind of duel is supposed sup-posed to be of a more serious character In many cases however it is simply a farce entered upon to satisfy the demands of society so-ciety As a rule a duel with pistols is a game of hazard aiming is not permitted and one may bo sure that often the witnesses wit-nesses fail to putbullets in the murderous weapons So it is Generally considered avery a-very harmless affair The start in the dusk of the morning the pretended secrecy the romantic spot generally chosen bring every participant to the agreeable deluson that something extremely interesting is going on and the contestants arc led to believe be-lieve themselves real heroes But there is hardly more chance for injur in a pistol duel than in a journey over a well managed railroad Besides thisbazardous character of the pistol duel which is duo to tho way it is managed the weapon itself lacks another an-other quality for a chivalrous contest It offers no possibility for defense Fencing duels with any weapon are of amore a-more dangerous character and therefore require more courage Even when as in certain notorious French duels the first 1 drop of blood drawn no matter how slight a wound is inflicted ends the contest one I tT WOUNDED has to look his enemy in the face for sometime some-time and see the blade ready to punish him Hash before his eyes The most serious seri-ous duel is that fought with heavy curved sabers Krummsaebel which mostly inflict in-flict severe wounds The duel is generally continued until one of tho contestants is unable to go on Many die in consequence or arc crippled for life The successful handling of the weapon requires coolness presence of mind skill of hand and eye both sharp and quick The lastnamed weapons or pistols are chosen by German university students incase in-case of a serious duel challenged one generally has the privilege of choice If be is trained in fencing he will as a rule choose the saber If his adversary cannot handle the saber he may either change to pistols or else time will bo given him to train himself In fencing Older students however who belong to clubs whoso members mem-bers aro pledged to the acceptance of any challenge unbedingte satisfaction are supposed to need no more training But one must not think that such duels for life or death are entered upon lightly Before the advcr > anes are allowed to enter the field df battle a court of honor cpmposed of representatives of both par tics must have decided that there is sufficient suffi-cient cause to jUstify i a serious contest To satisfy the law which requires the seconds to do their bestto prevent hol el wnen both parties stanti ready the seconds on the spot advise th6 duelists to reconciled This however is a purely formal demand and a duelist would expose himself to the greatest possible ridicule should ho follow this advice Although many things here said about the serious duel bold good also for thecoin mon students duel the latter inGermany is not regarded as a duel at all indeed it 5b not called so Its German name men sur of Latin root originally means the pace measured off for the duelists to stand upon so as to keep the right distance At present most people take it in the sense of a contest in which the contestants measure their relative strength In fact it is not anything more than a fencing match There tao adversaries need not be any illfeeling between The challenge brought about different differ-ent ways Two bands of students come from different quarters where they have had a jolly night Their heated spirits easily enough bring aboutaquarrel alook a meaningless word failure to give ample room to pass being sufficient to start one Instead of engaging then aud there in I free light visiting cards are most politely exchanged and the parties separate quietly t meet ajain weapons in hand on the fencing ground A student who does not care to wait for such an occasion occa-sion meeting another whom he regards as about his equal will politely inform him tnat desires a fencing contest with him The custom of causing this contest oy in iiicling a slight ln = ult uso called reecho is more and more disappearing There aro certain conventional forms which clearly show its purpose namely to provoke a chal lenpe for instance one student says t another an-other You arj u dunce sic sind cia dummer junge Tho one who is addressed ad-dressed in this way hardly thinks of the meaning of these words ho simply understands un-derstands that he is wanted for a duel sit s-it has often happened in this method of challenging that the contestants were of unequal skill and strength the provoked one became the victim of a brutal superiority superi-ority Today most of the students clubs send a list to their rivals containing the names of such members as are willing to fight The challenged club then chooses out of its own number such a are regarded re-garded as the equals of the others to meet them This list may bo corrected several times until in the judgment of both sides the couples a evenly matched A n cea 1 A V i sary provision is made to prevent serious consequences The arms are rnplere long straight blades half an inch wide sharp on I both edges for about eleven inches from the I point Only the chest tne face and the skull i are open for the blows every other part especially the eyes and the throat bing protected The contest takes generally gen-erally fifteen minutes of actual lighting it j a wound is not sooner inllictcJ which falls for tho immediate atcndunce of coo surgeon sur-geon The latter is always present with nis professional utensils ready for use As I no pauses are counted the time the contestants con-testants stand opposite each other often exceeds an hour As the serious duel appears to many barbarous bar-barous so this which has deadly I consequences conse-quences only in gross carelessness on the part of the wounded or by accident is considered con-sidered ridiculous And ct its defender may find something lo say in its favor There is in every youth SOml thing inherited inher-ited from his savage ancestors certain amount of rudeness an overflowing vigor I of his maturing physique This needs to come out somehow and it is entirely 10 strained only by a fetv The freshlyac quired feeling of manhood wants to assert itself and if often enough runs riot Those man Mtnsmeu conduct this vigor into well regulated channels While it is I thus satisfied it is at the same time put I under certain control which in itself is an educational force As long as men have their passions courage wilt always be deemed a manly virtue but how many have occasion to exercise it how many fail in this quality in the moment of need Not every one has a chance t have his courage tested by saving some fellowman from the danger of drowning of from a burning house This duel affords such a test In it the contestant shows his metal and ho comes out of it with straightened selfreliance which often in later life distinguishes him favorably from those who have never I gone through such an experience Take wen of high standing in science and public life in Germany You will find tnt a large number of such have taken a very active part in this juvenile sport The pride therefore tbat some of these young men take in the scars which deface their countenance hardly deserve the sneer they so often get It rather shows their chivalrous chival-rous mind they are prouder of these marks ot manly character tbai of effeminate effemi-nate beauty it is a fact mat cowards afrala of thescoru of their fellow students ovcicomo their fear of pain and after fighting two or three of thtse duels wonderfully won-derfully improve in their character and may bo placed afterwards in the same rank as with their most courageous comrades com-rades For it takes a great amount of selfcontrol for a man especially when bo is bleeding with painful wounds to stand unflinchingly un-flinchingly for over an hour before his antagonist an-tagonist Unflinchingly is i used here in its strictest sense for the slightest sound of pain or movement of the mind or even of the head under a heavy blow will bring disgrace both on him who bears himself so unmanly on his friends for tvhesd Jlors he fights and who surround him with anxious anx-ious and tender looks Besides testing courage these contests fester self control presence of mind selfreliance and a feeling solidarity and so servo as useful discipline dis-cipline for later life These are the advantages of a custom which fathers with gray hair and the mature judgment of year recall with in the homo circle and pleasure am encourage their sons to follow After my remarks I hardly need mention that duels of cither kind never gain the character of an evhibi tfon It is hard for un Outsider to gain permission per-mission to witness them Students who boast of their victories in Gucb arc not tho tcr I J J I 1 tt i IJJ JZ i I fP z o P I B f sif2z IJ j 7h Mst M-st c I rmixo AT THE wonn most respected and no one who is not I considered a gentleman is allowed to take active part in them It may seem strange that these duels aLd lan other thincs that students do arc more or less connived at by the authorities author-ities But we should not forget that in Germany the young mad until he goes to the university that is until ho is eighteen or nineteen ears of age is considtrcd a mera sjhoolboy without with-out any freedom at p11 after the university life is over the dignity of his office or profession leaves him far less freedom free-dom of movement than men of any other calling Therefore the fpw academical years are tho only ones given him in which he may enjoy life to his hearts content This is the way in whie > the duel is regarded re-garded in those countries where i is asocial aso-cial institution and fall before the progress of Democracy but of that society where it i recognized it is decidedly an integral part6 and appears neither so barbarous nor so ripiculous a custom as to a superficial observer might appear appearERSST RiciunD |