The pride of the German nation was in its efficient workmen.  Friends of the country and its system have pointed to the fact of universal labor as its great virtue; because to work is good.  Really, they were compelled to work.  Long hours and the last degree of efficiency were necessary in order to meet the requirements of life and the tremendous burdens of taxation caused by the army, the navy, the fortifications and the military machine in general; to say nothing of the expense of maintaining the autocratic pomp of the Kaiser, his sons and satellites.  Every member of the German family had his or her task, even to the little three-year-old toddler whose business it was to look after the brooms, dust rags and other household utensils.  There was nothing of cheerfulness or even of the dignity of labor about this.  It was hard, unceasing, grinding toil which crushed the spirits of the people.  It was part of the system to cause them to welcome war as a diversion.

To the German mind everything had an aspect of seriousness.  The people took their pleasures seriously.  On their holidays, mostly occasions on which they celebrated an event in history or the birthday of a monarch or military hero, or during the hours which they could devote to relaxation, they gathered with serious, stolid faces in beer gardens.  If they danced it was mostly a cumbersome performance.  Generally they preferred to sit and blink behind great foaming tankards and listen to intellectual music.  No other nation had such music.  It was so intellectual in itself that it relieved the listeners of the necessity of thinking.  There was not much of melody in it; little of the dance movement and very little of the lighter and gayer manifestations of life.  It has been described as a sort of harmonious discord, typifying mysterious, tragic and awe-inspiring things.  The people sat and ate their heavy food and drank their beer, their ears engaged with the strains of the orchestra, their eyes by the movements of the conductor, while their tired brains rested and digestion proceeded.

To the average German family a picnic or a day’s outing was a serious affair.  The labor of preparation was considerable and then they covered as much of the distance as possible by walking in order to save carfare.  In the parade was the tired, careworn wife usually carrying one, sometimes two infants in her arms.  The other children lugged the lunch baskets, hammocks, umbrellas and other paraphernalia.  At the head of the procession majestically marched the lord of the outfit, smoking his cigar or pipe; a suggestion of the goose-step in his stride, carrying nothing, except his dignity and military deportment.  With this kind of start the reader can imagine the good time they all had.

Militarism and autocracy doomed Joy to the German mind in mass was an unknown quantity.  The literature on which they fed was heavier and more somber than their music.  When the average German tried to be gay and playful he reminded one of an elephant trying to caper.  Their humor in the main, manifested itself in coarse and vulgar jests.