374

DOMESTIC MANNEIiS OF THE PKÜSSIANS.

— look for their fee at parting as naturally as a fashionablepbysician.*

Moreover, tlie System of bribery is practised by every shop-keeper upon every German domestic: for a servant never paysa bill for her master but what she expects her customary allow-ance of a groschen out of every tbaler. In the same manner, ifyou happen to enter a shop with one of your young children,the cunning tradesman will be sure to present the little thingwith some trifling article, as a means of bribing you yourself toreturn to his establishment at a future time; and that this isthe real motive for the gratuity there cannot be a doubt, since,owing to the utter selfishness of the people, no one in Prussiawould ever dream of giving airything for nothing.

This bribery and corruption of an entire household is fraughtwith considerable inconvenience: the smallest evil in connexionwith the practice being that the groschens given to the servantare added to the price of the articles you pay for; since, inaddition to this, your cook never rests quiet until she hasworried you into dealing with the butcher or baker who allowsher the highest per-centage out of your month's bills. If yougo to any other shop than her own favourite, either she dailydeclares that the meat is tough, or the coffee has more than theusual amount of burnt acorns with it, or eise the " milk breads"are not so large as at Herr Kartofien's; so tuat not a morningpasses without some complaint about the tradespeople, untilshe fairly worries or wheedles you into her own " Lagers.''''Moreover, whenever you change maids you have the same

* During our stay at Coblenz a new Englisli chaplain came to do duty at thetown, and, being of a " sporting" turn of mind, he went into the fields one dayto shoot krammets-vogel (field-fares). The sentries on duty at the Karthauserfortress heard the report of the clergyman's gun, and the field-police was directedto look to the matter. The minister was found with two birds in possession andno " schiesse-erlaubniss." The policeman vowed that he must have theclergyman up betöre the court; but, on some half-dozen groschens being pre-sented to the fellow, nothing more was heard of the matter.