evinced by the fact that in Berlin workers and
their wives may view fashion shows, and the more
inquisitive are given admittance in a hall where
theater and circus managers try out aspiring performers.
 
 With respect incidentally to the costume
shows, a minor but interesting sidelight on these
enterprises has been obtained. At a costume festival 
in Hamburg the writer observed that t-he costumes 
were all new and asked his Strength thorough
Joy guide, a radical young National Socialist, concerning 
this circumstance. The latter asserted
that it was not only the function of Strength
through Joy to preserve the costume-wearing tradition 
among country people but also to revise the
patterns of these costumes. He explained that
owing to Germany's unfortunate wars, in particular
the Thirty Years' War, and owing to the sobering 
influence of the Church, costumes had become too
somber and too much tinged with black. It was the
aim of Strength through Joy, he said, to reintroduce 
the original bright and gay colors and consequently 
the organization spent a certain amount of
money in helping country people make up new patterns.
 
 The Office for Leisure Time also actively
encourages the pursuit of hobbies. As mentioned
before, it gets up workers' concerts and is now