, 1880-07-11
IN. While Tramping in Europe, I'm
= dertakes to Study German By !,
+ Book.
=. cats Lost in the Genders, and 0hoked
by the Length Of Words.
..c,,1I,r Construction Of sentences-Pfoposed
pejorms Of the Teltonic Tongue.

oraAtly lnIeTeSteu1 dlio *'4'@A h"u s"lASo
eewl;|e he said nly German was very rare,
nos,ibly ssunique;;'' and wanted to add it
tn bis museum.
r. he had known what it had cost me to
.ao,,ire nv art, lie would also have known
.hst il would break any collector to buy it.
Tarris 1 and had been hard at work Oh our
csrnan during several weeks at that time,
snd although, We had made good progress, it
nd heen accomplished under great difficulty
. 1nd annoyance, for three of our teachers had
d;al In the meantime. A person who has
mi studied German can form no Idea Of
rhat perplexins language it is.
Surely there is not another language that Is
en- sli,tshod and systemless, and so slippery
and elusive to the grasp. One Is washed
shout in it, hither and thither, in the, most.
hrlpless way; and, when at last he thinks lie
has capturrd rule which offers firm ground
tn 1ake rest on amid the general rage and
turuioil Of the ten parts Of speech, he turns
oyer the page and reads, Let the pupilnl
careful note of the. following crceptions.'
n runs his eye down, and finds that there
are more exceptions 10 the rule than in
Stances Of it. So. overheard he goes again,
to hunt for another Ararat and find another
ouioksand. Such has been, and continues to be,
nv experience. Every time l think haYe
put one Ut these four confusing leases"
Where nm master Of it, 4 seemingly insig-
niicant proposition intrudes itself into my
pected power, aud crumbles the ground from
Under me- For instance, my book inquiries
after certain blrd-(it is always inQuiring
after things which are Of no sort Of canse-
ouence to anybody: - Where is the bird 81
Now the answer to this notwithstanding
@ bS9Ss o that the ecoS oa Is s TSn a 1n IN 6s
course no bird would do that but then you
mu:t stick to the book. Very well, begin
to clpler out the German for that answer. l
begin at the wrong end, necessarily, for that
Is The German Idea I say to myself, IRE
feninine-or possibly neuter-lt is too much
trouble to look, now. Therefore, it Is either
der lfhe1 Reeen. or die {thel Regeu, or das
ithe} Regen, according to which gender it
may turn out to be when look. In tha i'll
terest Of scienre will cipher it out on tie
hypothesis that it is masculine. Very we'll
fbeh the rain is der Regen it is Simply
in the ouiescent state OF being men
toned. without enlargement or discus
sioll-nominatiye case; but if this
rajn il Iying around, in a kind Of general
Way On The ground. it is then detinitly To-
(which is one Of Tie German gr.inlmar's ideas
Of donr s0luethingl. aud this throws the rain
iuto rhe datiye case. and makcs it dem
Regen. However, this rain Is not resting,
but is doing something actively, Is falling,
indicates movement mel Which has lie effect Of
sIiljnr if into tha aocusatiye case
and AND chanping AZ rpto dem mo Re@en % into den den
RreenD Having cnn,nleted 1nn gra,nlnatical
toroscope Of th{s matter. I ans3Ser up con
fdeutly aud state in German that the bird is
accoilnt nf1.de1t He@en.n > Then the teacher
lets me- softly down with the remark that
whenpyar tha w,ord s.wpe-en,' i iro1,s into a
sentence. it 0l1ru1js throws that subject into
the Gcnitirc case. regardless OF conse-
Quences,-an that, therefore, this bird staid
u 1he Blacksmith shop :. wegen des Regens.''
\. B.-l was informed later, by a higher
authority, that there was an exception
which permits one to say"w dc7, Eegen:'
III certain peculiar and complex circum-
stances, but that this exception is not ex-
tended 10 anything but rain.
There are len parts of speech, and they are
ali troublesome. An average sentence, in
German newspaper, is sublime and inl-
pressire curiosity; it occupies quarter OF
column; it contains all the ten parts OF
speech in regular order, but mixed; it
= built mainly Of compound words COLI
@tTueted by the writer. OIL tile spot, and not to
,e found in any dic1ionary-six or seven
rords compacted into one, without joint or
eeam-that is, without hyphens;: it treats of
fourteen OR fifteen different subjects, each
1lcloSed III parenthesis of its own, with
neTe aud there extra parentheses which re-
tnclose three Or four Of the minor
ear.atheses,, making pens within pens;
chilly, all the. parentheses and
fepafentneseS are Hassed together between
acouple Of king ng-pa:entheses, une Of which is
placeu III lie nrst line Of the majestic SELL
teice ana the other III the middle Of the last
1ine q it-79JttT qcttch canes the verb, and
you mud out for the trst time what the man
mas peen talking about; and after the verb
merely ny way Ut ornament, Us far as can
MAKE ont,-the writer shovels' IN "habcn
sl'A 0etccscn yctaDt hube1l gctco7Gcn scin,"
4., u WoI9s " tnat e1fect. ana the monument Is
Hnasnta. snpptse that this closing hurrah
IN tne nature of the flourish to 4 mans
s1ghalule-not necessary, but pretty. Ger
Maa books are easy enough to read when
YOU aolu them before the looking glass or
s1altu on your head,-s as to reverse the
cohstrnGtlola,- | think that to learn to
1eaa anu understand German newspaper is
tnlns which Wilch must always. remain an
A!posslblllty to foreigner.
j., ~ even the taer1nan books are not entire
y Hee from attacks Of the Parauthesis dis
.e!nper,-t10ugll they are usually SO mild us
" cover only few lines, and therefore when
YOU III last get down to the verb it carries
s9iAe meaning 70 your mind because you aN
ape 10 remember Il g0ud deal Of what has
e9ne oe1ore-
Wy, Sow mere Is sentence from = popular and
eac1EAent eae1t Gernl;ln noyel,-with 4 slight par
ftnmSsls IN IL will ma ke Il perfectly literal
.aaIon. nansla11on. and throw in the parenthesis-
a.sIks w ana some hyphcns for the assistance ),
W. y. ne readcr,-though in the original there
f1str< t1xe>,$