A CAPITAL DEVOID OF PROPRIETY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4090, 30 August 1884, Page 6 (Supplement)

A CAPITAL DEVOID OF PROPRIETY.

A writer in the Nouvelle Revue (Paris) says : —" Berlin society is not like other societies. It has none of our intelligent scepticinm. It is even devoid,-as regards the upper classes, of natural German propriety. It has something archaic and non-civilised, which"seems to date from the first ages* of history: (I am speaking, of course, of questions of morality). It is perfectly unconscious of its actions. Its manners are neither vicious nor degenerate ; they are simply what were tlie : manners of our ancestors; before the, meaning of propriety was invented. 'Most married women have a lover, or long to have one. : Yico is riot looked upon as vice, and virtue is among the things reckoned useless.' Aa to love, it is seldom met with. Laisons are formed according to caprice and instinct. • Gallantry is unknown.; A Lduzun or a Richelieu would be impossible. Everything is carried on vulgarly; without poetry or' gracefulness, without that half-restless,!half-hypocriticalpre-occupation which in other countries is at .'least a;hbmage- rendered to virtue. -But the people * of; this-society, so unscrupulous in their own manners,*are very severeon the morals of others. One-half of Berlin may be said to pass their; lives :in spying on the other half: As regards intellect, ho* attempt is ; made to cultivate it. --The' Berlin lady of the upper classes; does not read, or work, or have- any occupation.! Her life is -spent: -in .'dressing, and undressing. She is -ill-bred, tactless,- noisy,' and.perfectly ignorant of-what is going on in .the world. .Alongside her is the woman, of; the home, who,! however, ! is too respectable to be described, and who, like happy, peoples, has no history. •As regards the: nien, ! they excel tlie women in gossip, and when .young their only thought is of food; Yet' Berlin society, in spite of its vices, is interesting to observe. One.can admirei.'in' it a certain pride, not lacking - power,. in. a victorious people.: The. Germans -disdain othor- peoples, and accuse s them -of, all./the defects they possess themselves. That a race is of easy morals is their,; most frequent accusation. You see this accusation-may bo turned against -- themselves. If they have ..not .the lighthcartedness ■ of Frenchmen,- it. is perhaps .because their mental equipment is-etill smaller."..-: ..-■. ,i ■•;!':' ■ -. - v.t ■•