On a summer afternoon in the Castle gardens, I have seen six students march solemnly into the grounds, in single file, each carrying a bright Chinese parasol and leading a prodigious dog by a string.  It was a very imposing spectacle.  Sometimes there would be as many dogs around the pavilion as students; and of all breeds and of all degrees of beauty and ugliness.  These dogs had a rather dry time of it; for they were tied to the benches and had no amusement for an hour or two at a time except what they could get out of pawing at the gnats, or trying to sleep and not succeeding.  However, they got a lump of sugar occasionally—­they were fond of that.

It seemed right and proper that students should indulge in dogs; but everybody else had them, too—­old men and young ones, old women and nice young ladies.  If there is one spectacle that is unpleasanter than another, it is that of an elegantly dressed young lady towing a dog by a string.  It is said to be the sign and symbol of blighted love.  It seems to me that some other way of advertising it might be devised, which would be just as conspicuous and yet not so trying to the proprieties.

It would be a mistake to suppose that the easy-going pleasure-seeking student carries an empty head.  Just the contrary.  He has spent nine years in the gymnasium, under a system which allowed him no freedom, but vigorously compelled him to work like a slave.  Consequently, he has left the gymnasium with an education which is so extensive and complete, that the most a university can do for it is to perfect some of its profounder specialties.  It is said that when a pupil leaves the gymnasium, he not only has a comprehensive education, but he knows what he knows—­it is not befogged with uncertainty, it is burnt into him so that it will stay.  For instance, he does not merely read and write Greek, but speaks it; the same with the Latin.  Foreign youth steer clear of the gymnasium; its rules are too severe.  They go to the university to put a mansard roof on their whole general education; but the German student already has his mansard roof, so he goes there to add a steeple in the nature of some specialty, such as a particular branch of law, or diseases of the eye, or special study of the ancient Gothic tongues.  So this German attends only the lectures which belong to the chosen branch, and drinks his beer and tows his dog around and has a general good time the rest of the day.  He has been in rigid bondage so long that the large liberty of the university life is just what he needs and likes and thoroughly appreciates; and as it cannot last forever, he makes the most of it while it does last, and so lays up a good rest against the day that must see him put on the chains once more and enter the slavery of official or professional life.

Chapter V
At the Students’ Dueling-Ground
[Dueling by Wholesale]