le were content
to get over the ground, to mix with their friends, to have hot drinks
at the booths that sprang up in long lines by the chief track, and
even to stroll about without skates and watch the fun. All classes,
all ages, and both sexes skate nowadays, but some fifty or sixty years
ago German ladies were not seen on the ice at all. Skating, like most
exercises that are healthy and agreeable, was considered unfeminine,
and men had the fun to themselves. In the mountain districts of
Germany winter sports are growing in favour every year, and people go
to the Riesengebirge or to the Black Forest for tobogganing and
ski-ing. The German illustrated papers constantly have articles about
these winter pastimes, and portraits of the distinguished men and
women who took part in them. The history of cycling in Germany is not
unlike its history here. The boom subsided some years ago, but a
steady industry survives. In Berlin you see officers in uniform on
bicycles, but you see hardly any ladies. That is because the Emperor
and Empress disapprove of cycling for women, and their disapproval has
made it unfashionable. Ten years ago, two years, that is, after the
English boom, no woman on a bicycle had ever been seen in the remoter
valleys of the Black Forest. One who ventured there used to be
followed by swarms of wondering children, who wished her _All Heil_ at
the top of their voices. They did not heave bricks at her.

Tennis has not been blighted by the imperial frown, and is extremely
popular in Germany. Hockey, as far as I know, is not played yet;
certainly not by women. Cricket and football are played, but not very
much. An Englishman teaching at a gymnasium, told me that the
authorities discouraged outdoor games, as they were considered waste
of time. Gymnastics is the form of athletics really enjoyed and
practised by Germans. Every boy, even every girl, begins them at
school, and the boy when he leaves school joins a _Turnverein_. For
wherever Germans foregather, and whatever they do, you may be sure
they have a _Verein_, and that the _Verein_ has feasts in winter and
_Ausfluege_ in summer. When a man is young and lusty, the delights of
the _Verein_, the _Ausflug_, the feast, and the walking tour are often
combined. You meet a whole gang of pleasure pilgrims ascending the
broad path that leads to the restaurant on the top of a German
mountain, or you encounter them in the restaurant itself making
speeches to the hono