But if any person refuses either to fight or to
appeal to such arbitration, he is mercilessly excluded from all polite
society wherever the facts are known. The customs of the country
being of this nature, the existence of fighting associations among
students can be both explained and defended. That some other nations
consider the practice of duelling as altogether barbarous and
antiquated, has nothing to do with the case in hand. An individual
cannot change the conditions of the society in which he is obliged to
live, and must either conform to them or be excluded from intercourse
with his fellows. To learn to fight is, in Germany, as necessary as
learning to eat decently is in England, and the schools of fighting are
the Korps and other University unions. As a direct consequence, they
are also schools of life, and in some degree of etiquette. A man learns
there exactly what sort of language is courteous, what words may be
spoken without giving offence, and in what an insult really consists.
By this means a vast amount of trouble is saved for society, and a
uniform standard of behaviour is secured which is universally respected
and adhered to by all who call themselves gentlemen. The council of the
Korps represents the council of the regiment, or the social court of
honour appealed to by civilians. The conversation of the members with
each other, though familiar in the extreme, is regulated by rigid
rules. The slightest approach to discourtesy between members of the
same Korps must be followed by an instant apology, the refusal of which
entails the immediate ejection of the offender with ignominy, and what
is more, the announcement of the fact by circular letter within the
month to every Korps student in every one of the numerous Universities
of the empire.
Pages:
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113