I learned that in the Empire more children committed
suicide than in any other country.

But soon this discord was lost amid the massive Teutonic polyphony of
well-being. Of this well-being knowledge was enlarged by excursions to
various towns. To Worms, for instance, that we might see the famous
Luther Monument. Part of the journey thither lay through a fine
forest. This the city of Frankfurt-am-Main owns and has forested for
seven hundred years; using the wood all the time, but so wisely that
the supply has maintained itself against the demand. I thought of our
own forests, looted and leveled, and of ourselves boasting our
glorious future while we obliterated that future's resources.
Frankfurt was there to teach us better, had we chosen to learn.

IV

In Frankfurt-am-Main was born one of the three supreme poets since
Greece and Rome--Goethe--from whom I shall quote more than once; but
Frankfurt has present glories that I saw. It is one of many
beautifully governed German cities. I grew even fond of its Union
Station, since through this gate I entered so often the pleasures and
edifications of the town. The trains were a symbol of the whole
Empire. About a mile north of Nauheim the railroad passes under a
bridge and curves out of sight. The four-fifteen was apt to be my
express to Frankfurt. I would stand on the platform, watch in hand,
looking northward for my train. At four-eleven the bridge was
invariably an empty hole. Invariably at four-twelve the engine filled
the hole; then the train glided in quietly, and smoothly glided on,
almost punctual to the second. So did the other trains.

The conductors were officials of disciplined courtesy and informed
minds. They appeared at the door of your compartment, erect,
requesting your ticket in an established formula. If you asked them
something they told you correctly and with a Teutonic adequacy that
was grave, but not gruff. Once only in a score of journeys did I
encounter bad manners. Now I should never choose these admirable
conductors for companions, but as conductors they were superior to the
engaging fellow citizen who took my ticket down in Georgia and, when
I asked did his train usually make its scheduled connection at
Yemassee Junction, cried out with contagious mirth:

"My Lawd, suh, 'most nevah!"

In these German trains another little discord jarred with some
regularity: the German passengers they brought from Berlin, or were
taking back to Ber