FIGHTING DUELS FOR FUN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 81, 1 May 1909, Page 3

FIGHTING DUELS FOR FUN.

'Something like consternation has been caused in German educational circles by the conviction on charges of duelling of live students, who have been sentenced to incarceration in a fortress. For unuiimliered years the "inensur." or student's duel, lias flourished at certain universities, notably at Heidelberg, where it originated, lint now th ( . Kaiser has detonimicd that it shall be suppressed, and has issued orders accord? inglv. 11 will be well for Immunity if he succeeds, for a more barbarous custom it is impossible to conceive of. The young men are practically compelled to" tight with one another, and for no earthly reason except to show their mettle. SCARS HIGHLY ESTEEMED.

Tlie weapons arc always swords of exceeding lightness and sharpness, and with these each combatant Ivies lo e\it the other's faee. The resnllant sears are highly esteemed, as they are. from the student's point of view, exceedingly honnrahle. Sometimes, indeed, when a duellist feels that lie ha* not lieen sufficiently injured, and that his wound will not make a respectable showing, he will surreptitiously rub ashes into it, thereby ensuring tlie formation of a good notifiable cicatrice, or "si'hmiss." as a student duel scar is termed. strut conn of lmQUF.rre. 0;i the day after the encounter, if tlie wound* are of a particularly pleasing, i.e.. ghastly, character, the contestants have their portraits taken, anil aftcrwurds pay a round of visits to receive the congrtulatious of their friends. Duels are always fought in a semipnlilic room, although none but members of the univei'Mlv are supposed Iff lie present. A strict code of etiquette is enforced, r.oud talking or laughing is prohibited. Th,. only drink permissible is white wine, and of this each spectator must consume one bottle, neither more nor less.

Tlie duelli>ts wear pads over the heart and lungs, the neck is swathed in fiilk hanilages, and the ~yes are protected by liuge goggles of wire gauze.—Pearson's Weekly. '