twenty days among Germans, crossing
the Atlantic under the flag of the Empire?

He had sailed from Buenos Aires in a steamer of the Hamburg line, the
Koenig Frederic August. The world was in blessed tranquillity when
the boat left port. Only the whites and half-breeds of Mexico were
exterminating each other in conflicts in order that nobody might believe
that man is an animal degenerated by peace. On the rest of the
planet, the people were displaying unusual prudence. Even aboard the
transatlantic liner, the little world of passengers of most diverse
nationalities appeared a fragment of future society implanted by way of
experiment in modern times--a sketch of the hereafter, without frontiers
or race antagonisms.

One morning the ship band which every Sunday had sounded the Choral of
Luther, awoke those sleeping in the first-class cabins with the most
unheard-of serenade. Desnoyers rubbed his eyes believing himself
under the hallucinations of a dream. The German horns were playing the
Marseillaise through the corridors and decks. The steward, smiling at
his astonishment, said, "The fourteenth of July!" On the German steamers
they celebrate as their own the great festivals of all the nations
represented by their cargo and passengers. Their captains are careful
to observe scrupulously the rites of this religion of the flag and its
historic commemoration. The most insignificant republic saw the ship
decked in its honor, affording one more diversion to help combat the
monotony of the voyage and further the lofty ends of the Germanic
propaganda. For the first time the great festival of France was being
celebrated on a German vessel, and whilst the musicians continued
escorting a racy Marseillaise in double quick time through the different
floors, the morning groups were commenting on the event.

"What finesse!" exclaimed the South American ladies. "These Germans are
not so phlegmatic as they seem. It is an attention . . . something very
distinguished. . . . And is it possible that some still believe that
they and the French might come to blows?"

The very few Frenchmen who were travelling on the steamer found
themselves admired as though they had increased immeasurably in public
esteem. There were only three;--an old jeweller who had been visiting
his branch shops in America, and two demi-mondaines from the rue de
la Paix, the most timid and well-behaved persons aboard, vestals with
bright eyes and disdainful noses who