Line 0.0.0 THE MEDIOCRITY OF BERLIN.

Line 0.0.1 With a thorough knowledge of Ger-

Line 0.0.2 man life, acquired through years of

Line 0.0.3 close association with various classes

Line 0.0.4 of society, Mr. Poultney Bigelow, a

Line 0.0.5 much-travelled American, gives in his

Line 0.0.6 latest book, "Prussian Memories," his

Line 0.0.7 impressions of so-called "art" in the

Line 0.0.8 capital of the German Empire:

Line 0.0.9 "Berlin is to-day a byword among

Line 0.0.10 artists for mediocrity if not vulgarity

Line 0.0.11 in the way of imperial statuary and

Line 0.0.12 architecture. To one who is fresh

Line 0.0.13 from the semi-Latin Bavarian capital

Line 0.0.14 and who after a night in the train

Line 0.0.15 suddenly finds himself in Berlin face

Line 0.0.16 to face with a wilderness of stone and

Line 0.0.17 marble representing millions of

Line 0.0.18 marks paid out to architects, sculp-

Line 0.0.19 tors, and stonemasons, the melan-

Line 0.0.20 choly conclusion forces itself upon

Line 0.0.21 him that all this imperial quarry

Line 0.0.22 would scarcely repay to a successful

Line 0.0.23 French army the cost of carriage-at

Line 0.0.24 least not the latter-day stuff.

Line 0.0.25 'Yet the specimens in Berlin are

Line 0.0.26 not a criterion of what Germany

Line 0.0.27 could produce to-day if her best ar-

Line 0.0.28 tists had been consulted. Berlin has

Line 0.0.29 more painters, sculptors, architects,

Line 0.0.30 and engineers than any other German

Line 0.0.31 city-at least a larger proportion of

Line 0.0.32 money-makers in these departments.

Line 0.0.33 But the city as a whole disguises this

Line 0.0.34 fact with Prussian thoroughness, and

Line 0.0.35 the stranger is made to feel that

Line 0.0.36 while the streets are clean and the

Line 0.0.37 buildings uniformly placed, and every

Line 0.0.38 detail of municipal activity attended

Line 0.0.39 to with the intelligence and efficiency

Line 0.0.40 of a military camp, there is scarcely

Line 0.0.41 a monument, square, blind alley, or

Line 0.0.42 nook where we would linger as we

Line 0.0.43 would in dozens I could name in

Line 0.0.44 Paris, London, or Munich.

Line 0.0.45 "And the people reflect this perfec-

Line 0.0.46 tion of mediocrity--they are all sol-

Line 0.0.47 diers or merchants or offilcials or ar-

Line 0.0.48 tisans, each one labelled and dressed

Line 0.0.49 as per catalogue and wholly incapable

Line 0.0.50 of being mistaken for anything indi

Line 0.0.51 vidual or interesting. Occasionally

Line 0.0.52 there obtrudes a civilised stranger

Line 0.0.53 from Boston, Paris, or Oxford, and he

Line 0.0.54 is at once stared at and audibly dis-

Line 0.0.55 cussed."

Line 0.0.56 IIe: you are the sunshine of my

Line 0.0.57 life.

Line 0.0.58 She: Yes.

Line 0.0.59 lie: You reign in my'heart alone.

Line 0.0.60 She: What is this--a proposal or

Line 0.0.61 a weather report?

Line 0.0.62 "I've just got back from a trip to

Line 0.0.63 the West Indies. There wasn't a

Line 0.0.64 single passenger on the boat.besides

Line 0.0.65 muyself,"

Line 0.0.66 That's' strange "

Line 0.0.67 "Not at all. They iyere all mar