igh empty steps leading into the cathedral.
The air is cold and still, and heavy with the scent of the Christmas
trees brought from the forest for the pleasure of the children. Day by
day you see the rows of them growing thinner, and if you go to the
market on Christmas Eve itself you will find only a few trees left out
in the cold. The market is empty, the peasants are harnessing their
horses or their oxen, the women are packing up their unsold goods. In
every home in the city one of the trees that scented the open air a
week ago is shining now with lights and little gilded nuts and apples,
and is helping to make that Christmas smell, all compact of the pine
forest, wax candles, cakes, and painted toys, you must associate so
long as you live with Christmas in Germany.

CHAPTER XVII

EXPENSES OF LIFE

A few years ago a German economist reckoned that there were only
250,000 families in the empire whose incomes exceeded L450, a year.
There were nearly three million households living on incomes ranging
from L135 to L450, and nearly four millions with more than L90 but
less than L135. But there were upwards of five millions whose incomes
fell below L45. Since that estimate was made, Germany has grown in
wealth and prosperity; and in the big cities there is great
expenditure and luxury amongst some classes, especially amongst the
Jews who can afford it, and amongst the officers of the army who as a
rule cannot. But the bulk of the nation is poor, and class for class
lives on less than people do in England. For instance, the headmaster
of a school gets about L100 a year in a small town, and from L200 to
L300 in a big one. A lieutenant gets about L65 a year, and an
additional L12 if he has no private means. His uniform and mess
expenses are deducted from this. He is not allowed to marry on his
official income, unless he or his wife has an income of L125 in
addition to his pay, as even in Germany an army man can hardly keep up
appearances and support a wife and family on less than L190 a year. It
is quite common to hear of a clerk living on L40 or L50, or of a
doctor who knows his work and yet can only make L150. The official
posts so eagerly sought after are poorly paid; so are servants,
agricultural labourers, and artisans. When you are in Germany, if you
are interested in questions of income and expenditure, you are always
trying to make up your mind why a German family can live as
successfully on L400 as an Engl