Germany. The
children's school books show German "colonies" in Southern
Brazil.

As Sainte Beuve said, there is a fashion in intellect. The German
to-day is essentially practical, cold, cynical, and calculating.
The poetry and the Christmas trees, the sentiment and sentimentality,
remain like the architectural monuments of a vanished race, mere
reminders of the kindlier Germany that once was, the Germany of
our first impressions, the Germany that many once loved. But that
Germany has long since disappeared, buried beneath the spiked
helmets of Prussianism, and another intellect is in vogue.

That older, kindlier Germany was the nation tempered and softened
by the suffering of the Napoleonic wars. After the battle of
Jena, where Napoleon rubbed the face of Prussia in the mud of
defeat, there came on Germany that period of privation which left
its impress so deeply on the German as to make thrift his first
characteristic. A spirit of lofty, self-sacrificing patriotism
imbued the whole people. Young girls cut off their long golden
hair to be sold for the Fatherland. Jewels were given by all who
possessed them. "Gold gab ich fuer Eisen" (I gave gold for iron)
became a saying based on the readiness with which the rich made
sacrifices to the cause of country. And with this patriotism, and
with this penury, came into every home a more intimate family
life, a greater earnestness, a deeper religious sentiment, a
turning towards the idealistic side of life; but all was changed
by the successful wars of Prussia that gave Prussia the
leadership, the right to rule Germany. Then, with the end of the
Franco-Prussian war, came a period of material prosperity, the
rush of the population to the cities, and the building of great
manufactories, of enormous shipping interests, of powerful
banking institutions, of trusts and combinations which marked the
Germany of 1914.

The fashion in intellect had changed, and the grasping,
successful Prussian of 1914 was far removed from the ruined,
chastened Prussian of 1810.

Nations, like individuals, change in character with the stress of
life. From 1810, the period of a sorrowing Germany, to 1914 is
one hundred and four years. The same number of years subtracted
from the year 1796, when our new Republic was firmly established,
and when George Washington made his noble farewell address,
brings us to 1692, when nineteen persons were legally hanged,
charged with witchcraft in Massachusetts, and