Dodge City times., 1890-06-20

AOI my uiSIOTtuue, anu am nappy.-
n. Y. EUening World.
THE BERLIN SHOP GIRL.
Half Her Heart Is for the Gay Student and
Half for Plain Fritz.
The Berlin shop girl is not so attract
i've in appearance as the New York
shop girl. She has round face. short
neck. square shoulders. thick waist. and
big feet. Her voice is rather harsh. hci
forehead low. and her hair not oveI
abundant. She knows nothing about
tailor-made suits, patent leather shoes,
Easter bonnets. silk stockings, or c..i-
broidered undcr-clOthcs. She is r.;rci y
stylish and never chic.
On the other hand. she has many
agreeable qualities which are not gen
orally attributed to the New York shop
girl. She is unobtrusive, unselfish, and
contented. She is phenomenally af-
fectionate and faithful. She has good
health. good nature. and a head
crammed full of ideals She writes and
speaks her own language pretty cor
rectly. knows good bit of German.
Please" and Time is money" in
English. Moreover, she has great big
heart.
As in the case of most German women
the key to the whole life of the Berlin
shop girl is to be found in the heart and
not in the head. Her heart is divided
in two quite unsympathetic halves.
One half belongs entirely to her gay
student. The other half belongs en-
tirely to her plain Fritz. Her gay
student is usually a well-to-do young
scapegrace who is trying to learn all
there is to know about the nensur and
life in big city, while making his
parents away off in the provinces he
lieve that he has an eye single to the
dignity of becoming a Herr Doctor.
He may be u plain Schulze or Schmidt.
Often enough he is baron or a count.
Now and then he is even petty prince
ling or a rich American. Whatever
his rank or nationality may be, the shop
girl loves him with astounding ardor
after the first ten days of her acquaint-
ance with him. For her the mutations
of his tickle finances are entirely in-
significant. He is her student and she
loves him Just the same whether he
dimes her in the students quarter or
Under the Linden, whether he takes
her to the American Theatre or to the
big Imperial Opera House, near the
palace. She begins to quote Schiller's
poetry to him two or three evenings
after she first spoke to him across the
cho A Oh .
writing it to him. In a month she is
passing all her spare time while away
from him in composing original Ger
man love doggerel. This she sends to
him in regular daily installments.
despite the expense for postage, which
she can i'll spare out of her s. week
salary. When out with him she never
lets go of him. In the concert halls, in
the Philharmonic, at the theatre, or in
the cafe. all alone with him or in the
presence of hundreds. she must pat him,
or pinch him, or squeeze his hand, or
pick threads from his coat. This
superabundance of love aud poetry and
demonstrativepess. of course. soon clOys
the palate even of a romantic German
student. After few months of it, the
frequency of the concert hall and
theatre parties, the late wine suppers
and the like begins to abate. Despite
redoubled doses of love doggerel and
abject worship the student falls off
more and more, and eventually ter
inmates the shop girls little romance
by going away to another university.
While the aristocratic half of her
heart has been whirling the shop girl
through all these sentimental and poe
tic high jinks with the gay student, the
humber half has been leading her
through q much more commonplace
love affair. The hero of the prosaic
half of her dual life is plain Fritz. He
is generally q shOe-maker's or a bakers
earning a dollar or SO
week. and altogether pretty poor
apology for hero. Nevertheless. the
shop girl loves him with the whole half
of her heart. She drinks his two-cent
glass of beer as contentedly as she
drinks the students five-cent glass of
wine. is Just as grateful for the ten-cent
seat he buys her in the theatre gallery
as for the students orchestra chair. and
loves him almost as hard on the way
home in horse car after the perform
ance as she is wont to love the student
in first-class cab. She is faithful to
him IS he is faithful to her. and despite
her student and ideals and Schiller and
doggerel eventually settles down IS
solid Frau Fritz to rearing his bow
legged little Fritzes after the approved
German fashion.