Читать книгу The Student-Life of Germany - William Howitt - Страница 11

Now first of all, to drive scholastic folly,

I'll bring thee to a jovial set, and jolly.

Goethe's Faust.

The different Chores have adopted their names, exactly like the early landsmanschafts, from the different German nations. Yet are these, as we have already hinted, no longer so scrupulous in the reception of the new members as those were, to which none could belong but the actual natives of that country whose appellation the union bore. If any man would still persuade himself that the ancient practice is yet continued, he must construct in his own head a very peculiar geography. As these unions bear the names of the different nations, so the members of each wore publicly their respective colours, which, since the interdict against them, of course, is no longer the case. These colours were not only displayed on the cap, but also on a broad band which was worn over the breast. The prohibition of the Chore colours was a severe blow to the unions, and the students sought in various ways waggishly to surmount it. Instead, therefore, of one student, as before, wearing the three united colours, as it might be green, white, and black,--each Chore having, for the most part, like its nation, three,--now went three students arm in arm, each of them wearing one of the three colours, so that the whole three colours were combined in three friends. This attempt, however, led its authors no further than into the student-prison.

The principal of the regular Chores are--

The Rhenish, whose colours are--	blue, red, and white.
The Hanseatic, " "	white, red, and white.
The Westphalian, " "	green, white, and black.
The Swabian, " "	black, yellow, and white.
The Nassau, " "	blue, white, and orange.
The Swiss, " "	green, red, and gold.
The Sachsen-Borussen, or Prussian,	white, green, black and white.
The English, in Leipsic only.

Besides this, each Chore has its sign, or token; that is, certain letters curiously interwoven, with which it signs its documents, and which is known to all the other Chores. The number of these Chores is not always the same in the universities. Now one dissolves itself on account of the fewness of its members; and now a new one shows itself. When a number of students find themselves together, who regard themselves numerous enough to constitute a Chore, and are desirous to become such, the first thing which they proceed to do is to elect their leaders. These, as the representatives of the new union, appear before the S. C.--that is, the senior convent, or assembly of seniors--which is the highest tribunal of the students for the settlement of all affairs occurring amongst them. This tribunal inquires into the sufficiency of the aspirants, and if the result is satisfactory, gives its consent. The Chore appears as such at the next Allgemeine. By the Allgemeine is understood the meeting of the whole united Chores, which takes place from time to time in an Allgemeine Kneipe, or general drinking company, in the same manner as each particular Chore holds, every evening, its meeting, where the members drink, sing, and entertain each other. In this Allgemeine, or general meeting, the members of the different Chores have a fine opportunity to pick quarrels with one another,--in student phrase, to touchiren each other; that is, to give offence, so that the swords may not rust. The newly established Chore now takes the customary course. It strikes up a friendly alliance with one of the already existing Chores, in which its members find the greatest number of their acquaintances, at the same time that it assumes a hostile attitude to another. It falls into dispute with the hostile Chore, and what is called the Chore-hatze, a regular Chore-baiting, breaks out; that is, there ensues a general challenging between the members of the two Chores.

The duels thus originated are fought in succession, and the Chore is said to pawk itself out; that is, to drum or fight itself forward. Hereby it testifies its mastership with its weapons, and intense is the interest which hangs on the result of the Paw-kereien, or fights, between the leaders of each Chore. The conquerors have their victory celebrated by their companions the same evening in the Kneipe, where they triumph over their antagonists. When a Chore has thus proved itself, it holds its Antritt-Commers--entrance, or opening commerce, or festivity, of which more hereafter; and to which the new Chore invites the leaders of the other Chores. The qualifications by which a member of a Chore can raise himself in it, are practice in the exercise of arms, bodily and intellectual dexterity in general; a good stomach, that he may be able to carry plenty of beer; and, besides these, a powerful voice is a grand requisite. As observed, the members of the Chore elect their leaders. The first of these is the Senior. He must possess the qualifications we have mentioned in a preeminent degree, and must have already passed through the other offices of the Chore, as here following. He possesses a great and scarcely limited power, and his duty in return is to advance every where the interests of the Chore, to exert himself for its credit in connexion with and in reference to the other Chores, and thus to maintain its respect, so as much as possible to raise its splendour and reputation; in short, he must, on every occasion, defend the honour of the Chore. He who possesses the next place of honour is called the Consenior, or Zweiter Chargirte, that is, holder of the second charge; and next to him stands the Dritte Chargirte, or third officer. The Consenior is, as it were, war-minister and general in the same person. All that relates to weapons and their use belongs to his department; he has therefore the care of the Fecht-boden, or fencing-school, and the weapons of the duel. He must be a good swordsman, as he is bound to act as second in every occurring case, when any one fights with the weapons of the Chore, and no other able swordsman is ready to do the duty of his office; he must be careful to have the weapons of the Chore, that is, an armoury of all things which belong to the different species of duel, always in the best condition. The Dritte Chargirte represents the finance-minister. He has to manage all the money affairs of the Chore, and the Chore treasury is under his superintendence. This is, in fact, a treasury, into which every member of the Chore pays a determinate sum, out of which all expenses of the union are defrayed. The remainder of the members of the Chore are styled Chore-Burschen, and Renoncen; and to these, lastly, add themselves the Mit-kneipanten, or boon-companions, who belong not properly to the Chore itself. These are such students as join themselves to the Chore, frequent the meetings at the Kneipe, and take part in their other pleasures, without involving themselves with the affairs of the Chore. They maintain a friendly intercourse with the students of the Chore, augment the appearance of the Chore by their numbers, and in return enjoy from the union a certain degree of protection, with whose weapons they also fight. They pay less for the loan of the weapons than the other students and are allowed to use them for a fixed sum for a whole course, that is, for the half-year.

On the very lowest step of the Chore stands the Renoncen, who has neither seat nor voice in the Chore-Convent, or official meeting of the Chore. The Renoncen are for the most part harassed with menial services. They must convey the weapons--which are usually kept in the place of contest, locked up, those of each Chore in its own chest--in case of danger from the authorities, or of any necessity, to a place of safety; when there is singing in the Kneipe, they must hand round the Commers-Books, the song-books; and besides this, on occasion of every duel that is to be fought with the weapons of the Chore, they must go at night, after the Kneipe is over, to the house of the Pawk-doctor, the surgeon of the students, who is always in attendance at the duels--and announce to him the fact, with the time at which it is to take place. In all the Chores they are bound to appear at the Kneipe, on certain days, and failing in this respect, are mulct in a pecuniary fine. In different Chores this attendance of the Renonce is different: in some, it must be daily; in others, three or four times a week; and is not to be omitted without substantial reason.

Between the Renoncen and the Chore-Burschen, stands the Fuchs-major--the greater Fox--who is always the oldest Renonce, and has the right to go into the Chore-Convent, but is not entitled there to speak. If the Renonce will advance to the rank of Chore-Bursch, it is indispensable that he shall have fought three duels.

The Chore-Bursch has this peculiar duty; he must settle and determine with the strange Kneipe; that is, when a duel is to be fought with the weapons of his Chore, he must seek out him who has challenged, in his Kneipe, and announce to him the spot and hour at which the duel is to take place. One of the Chore-Burschen must always be present at every duel which is fought with the weapons of their Chore. When the Dritte-Chargirte, that is, the treasurer, is unable, from any cause, to fulfil the duties of his office, the oldest Chore-Bursch must officiate for him; so also in cases of similar emergency, the Dritte-Chargirte steps into the place of the second, and he into that of the Senior. Besides the obligation to appear on the appointed Kneipe days, the Chore members must also, at the fixed hours, attend the fencing-school, or pay a pecuniary penalty. The reception of a Renonce into the Chore, as well as his advancement to the rank of Bursch, is accompanied by certain solemnities, and by the reading of the constitution of the union. This constitution is held profoundly secret, and cannot pass out of the hands of the three Chargirten, who received it at the opening of the Chore, from the Senioren-Convent, or official meeting of the Seniors of the different Chores--the so-called S. C. Every Chore has its weekly Chore-Convent, wherein the Senior presides, and the Chore-Burschen are present. Here the affairs of the Chore are discussed, and resolutions passed. The Consenior opens these resolutions to the Renouncen, in the likewise weekly held Renoncen-Convent, or official meeting of the Renoncen, which has to carry them into effect, without power to alter them.

As the Chore-Convent in each Chore is, so to say, its first board of Administration, so there is a supreme board over all the Chores, and thus, to a certain degree, over the whole body of students. It constitutes the highest court of honour of the students. It is composed of the whole Chargirten of the whole Chores. Each Chore possesses, in alphabetical rotation, the presidency; and the Convents, or meetings, held at the Kneipe-room of that Chore which at that time is in power. The presidency changes monthly, so that, as the court is held four times in each month, it falls four times in each Chore, which has to defray the cost of the beer that is therein drunk. The Senior of this Chore is president, the Consenior vice-president, and the Dritte-Chargirte secretary. Under the jurisdiction of this court fall general affairs, those which affect the interests of all students; and it passes all the resolutions, to which the whole student-body of the university must submit itself. It keeps what students call Allgemeine Comment, that is, the student code of laws. It addresses itself, to protect their rights from all encroachments. It hurls the terrors of its Bannstrahl, that is, of its power of excommunication, upon students or citizens, upon individuals or large bodies. When a burger of the university city, or of the vicinity, whose trade derives benefit from the students--for example, an innkeeper, or a shopkeeper--treats a student harshly or unjustly, the complaint must lay his charge before this court. His memorial to the S. C. must be drawn up in due form, according to the nature of its contents, and established custom, and must bear the signature of one of the Seniors. The S. C. now makes inquiry into the guilt or innocence of the accused. If he be found guilty, it decrees the punishment, which consists in proscription, for a longer or shorter period. This state of proscription, or being under the bann, is very exactly determined in years, months, weeks, and days; and during this period no student, be he in Chore or not in Chore, dare to purchase any thing from the condemned, or enter his house, otherwise he exposes himself to the certain danger of being also laid under the bann, and the Chores regularly send their people to see whether any violation of their edict take place. For instance, should a proscribed innkeeper have a ball or dance in his house, the Chore emissaries will be there to see whether any student shows himself at it. The student falls under similar punishment who is accused and found guilty of refusing to give satisfaction by duel to another that he has insulted. Yet is no one compelled to the duel by this regulation. If a student will not fight, whether from a principle against it, or any other cause, he must, once for all, announce this fact to the S. C, and he stands exempt, only, he cannot be allowed to make any exception to the rule which he has himself thus laid down. If he commits assault or aggression against any student or students, having thus sheltered himself from the necessity of the duel, though he be no longer amenable to this particular law of the student world, he is still amenable to the laws of his country, and may be summoned before the amtmann to answer for his offence. Should he meanly avail himself of such a declaration against fighting, and yet permit himself to insult or annoy his fellow-students, so cunningly as not to come within the operation of any civil statute, and yet to be offensive and obnoxious to the rules and maxims of social life, he will be shunned and despised by the students, and will find himself pretty much in the same situation as he who is actually under the bann. The bann is chiefly launched against students for such offences as are considered to amount to loss of honour--such as one student giving another a box on the ear, or a student committing a theft; and therefore to him who lies under the Verruf, or proscription, on such account, there remains scarcely an alternative but to quit the university, where every channel of intercourse would be closed against him, and where he would be shunned by all. Whole university cities have at times been laid under the bann, examples of which we shall give as we proceed.

The Chargirten watch over the institutions of the Chores and of the students in general,--or, in other words, over the so-called Allgemeine Comment. They settle also the time, place, and manner of all the public festivities and celebrations. They determine whether, and in what style, a torch-train, or a "Vivat," shall be got up; in what manner a deceased member of the Chore shall be interred; and how the studentship shall be represented in the public solemnities of the High School. They direct the choice of the ball directors, who take part in the direction of the public balls, as, for instance, in those at the Museum at Heidelberg. The presiding Chore fixes the Allgemeine, or general assembly, and announces it to the other Chores.

Besides this court of honour, there also exists a Beer court, which has to settle all contentions that arise in the drinking companies on points of drinking etiquette, which, as we shall hereafter find, are no few in number. To the constitution of this beer court, one man is chosen out of each Chore, and the oldest Chore-Bursch is generally elected for this purpose. It is held in regular routine at every Kneipe-room of the Chores in succession. Of the beer court generally we shall, anon, speak more particularly, and here need say no more than that before the principal Beer court, the accuser must have two witnesses, who must give their statements on their word of honour,^[3] and the accused must in his defence be supported by two witnesses also. Thus constitute, as may be seen from what is already stated, these unions, an aristocracy amongst the students, which exercises a certain influence over the general academical class; which contributes to establish a principle of unity amongst them; and whose members are ready to give up some portion of their personal freedom, for the consideration and authority which they acquire in the social system; and so alluring is the feeling of the members of Chores in public processions, Commerses,--parties which they make to some place in the country for a day's jollification, and whither they go in a long train of carriages with outriders; and in Comitaten,--processions formed to accompany a departing fellow-student with public honour out of the city,--being enabled to play the gentleman, and to renommiren, or in English popular phrase, "to cut a swell," that members are never wanting to these societies.

There yet remains to be mentioned the numerous class of students termed, in student phrase, Camels--amongst whom are again contemptuously distinguished those who live totally isolated and retired, and never on any occasion, or on any account, visit the Chores, their Kneips, or take any part in their festivities and processions, and are therefore ignominiously dubbed Kettles, Bookworms, etc. In conclusion, we must employ a few sentences on the early Burschenschaft and the modern fragments of its wreck.