Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-03-18

/ dams iusaunr?
! | was fairly stumpe,i again; AHl again
| blushCI painfully an hrai;.led, AZ ]
my companion al IlLshc and Looked
painfully confused. No wonder lie
! felt for ne, for NY embarrassment was
excessive. We sat staring ..t each other
in helpless, idiotic srr; e war for a
few moments in most u"hW,.l silence,
until feeling the desperate nee. ssily o:
saying something as relief to our
mutual embarrassment, | said quite
reck!essly and utterly iniiiiorcat to
consequences:
Ah--oui -Mon--seer-je pensez--
lie plus bon hotel" Perhaps hy repeat
ing some Of his words he might think |
was corroborating what he had said.
He said Merce with bewildered
sort Of air, but with an evident sigh of
relief, and sank back again in his cush-
ion. There was an unb.oken silence in
that compartment for the space Of about
three hours following. AS l occasion
ally glanced at him 1 detected him
always looking at me. There was a
peculiar expression on his face at such
times-with oil his native politeness he
could not repress (which unmistak-
ably denoted pity struggling with con-
tempt, and upon catching my eye he
would look quickly away, to conceal
from me his only too-plaiHly apparent
opinion of me. l would avert my gaze
as quickly, with sickenlng sense of
humiliation.
Morning began to break among the
lovely Swiss mountains, which were
now becoming quite visible. We both
gazed eagerly from our respective wiz
dows. 1t had stopped raining and
cleared away, and the view was beauti-
full in the extreme. Sunrise among the
Swiss mountains; what could have been
lovelier? 1t was beautiful enough to
have moved the most unimprcssionable
to an enthusiastic expression Of de-
light.
1t was too much for the Frenchman,
and he exclaimed, turning raplurously
to me:
"GrGnde! magaifque! II est IN
grand pays, ce Suisse!"
AS enthusiastic as himself at the
beautiful prospect before US, ex-
claimed, forgetting my timidity and
utterly Indifferent to all the grammati-
cal prophecies of the Gallo tongue:
"Oui, oui, Mun-seer; grando. jjIie.
magn fisant If l could but have
expressed r.y sentiments aloul III Eng
lish, and given full vent to Liy feelings
in my mother tongue, I though shat
q satisfaction it would hive BIN TO
me. Bat to have dope so III language
unintelligi5le to my companion [ felt
would have been impolite.
We continued gazing out in silence
until we reached Pontarlicr, where wc
alighted to take stretch ard attenI to
the inspection of our trunks. This
ordeal gone through, we remoun'ed.
Combining our sociability to such occa-
sional remarks as grand, magnifqxe,
Iolie, and splondeed, we ut last reached
the next station. My companion was
going to remain over here for the next
following trsin-that was what I i'm
agined he told me, at any rate--and
was quite sorry to lose his company.
1t had begun to rain again very hard,
which sadly marred the view.
Trop mauvais," he said, evincing |
an equal disgust with myself at the
state OF the weather. We had our tRa-
Va SAA"o ny 90 WO WCIC ot0A0l1S OA tuo |
platform of the station; and as, after
shaking hands with him, turned to
leave him, I could not help exolaiming
to myself:
"This is simply beastly."
Hey, what do you say ," cried my
in an astonished tone, turn. |
ing suddenly toward me.
"What, do You talk English?" I
in equal establishment.
"Of course l do, he replied, "it's
my native tongue. I'm au American"
And so am l." I said. We burst
into roar, and shook hands again.
Il took you for Frenohman," said,
" and was awfully afraid of venturing
on the language before you"
" And l teok you for one," he replied,
and was dreadfully scary about airing
my French before YOU"
=" am sorry you are not going further
with -"
"Montez! montez!" shouted the
guard, cutting me short. l had Just
time to jump into my seat and the train
was off. waved my hand to my fell
low traveller and compatriot, as d part.
ing salute. and that was the last ever
saw of him.--IT. FL. Farnham.