hat characterized
the early German people, and we may infer that the home life, though of
a somewhat rude nature, was genuine, and that the home circle was not
without a salutary influence in those times of wandering and war. The
mother, as we may well surmise, was the ruler of the home, had the care
of the household, deliberated with the husband in the affairs of the
tribe, and even took her place by his side in the field of battle when
it seemed necessary. In truth, if we may believe the chroniclers,
woman was supposed to be the equal of man.

But returning to the tribal life, we find that the houses were of the
rudest kind, made of undressed lumber or logs, with a hole in the roof
for the smoke to pass out, with but one door and sometimes no window.
There were no cities among the Germans until they were taught by
contact with Rome to build them. The villages were, as a rule, an
irregular collection of houses, more or less scattered, as is customary
where land is {287} plentiful and of no particular value. There were
no regularly laid out streets, the villagers being a group of kinsmen
of the same tribe, grouped together for convenience. Around the
village was constructed a ditch and a hedge as a rampart for
protection. This was called a "tun" (German _Zoun_), from which word
we derive our name "town." The house generally had but one room, which
was used for all purposes.

There was another class of houses, belonging to the nobility and the
chiefs, called halls. They consisted of one long room, which sometimes
had transepts or alcoves for the women, partitioned off by curtains
from the main hall. This large room was the place where the lord and
his companions were accustomed to sit at the great feasts after their
return from a successful expedition. This is the "beer hall" that we
read so much about in song, epic, and legend. Here the beer and the
mead were passed; here arose the songs and the mirth of the warriors.
On the walls of the hall might be seen the rude arms of the warrior,
the shield and the spear, or decorations composed of the heads and the
skins of wild beasts--all of which bring us to the early type of the
hall of the great baron of the feudal age.

Until the age of chivalry, women were not present at these rude feasts.
The religious life of the early Germans was tribal rather than personal
or of the simple family. There were certain times at which members of
the same tribe were wont to a