The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1890-11-22
A TRUE GERMAN GIRL
THERE CANNOT BE ANYTHING
NICER WHEN ALL IS SAID.

She Is Not 'Great Fun,' but There IL an
Entire Absence Of Afectation-A1ways
q Constant Sweetheart and . Faithful
and Devoted Wife.
The German girl is not like other girls.
She is not SO piquant as the American girl
nor SO stylish as the French girl, and not
SO sympathetic as the English girl. She
has neither the persuasive magnetism of
the Viennese, nor the burning presence OF
the Italian, nor the versatility of the Rus
sian. Her lack of these conventional at
fractions usually leads men who do not
know her to imagine the German girl to
be a rather inferior and uninteresting
young mi Men who have been for
tunate enough to know thoroughbred con
~tinental German girls, however, think diff
ferently.
Physically the German girl is not SO
charming as the American girl. Her
waist is neither round nor tapering. Her
shoulders do not slope. Her carriage lacks
spirit. Her face is round rather than oval,
and her hands and feet are not strikingly
trim. On the other hand she has a we'll
turned arm, a smooth pink and white skin
untouched by modern improvements, an
abundance of well kept hair and a delight
full neck. Her figure is full, but not over
sed. Her eyes are clear, though unsug-
gestive.
NOT A CooUETTE.
The fine art of fascinating men by in
1nitesimal gestures or suggestions of gest-
ures is not hers. She cannot sway feeling
by the turn of the head, a droop of the fig
ure, a sinking of the hand, or a curve of
the neck. She may have an idea or two
about managing her eyelids, tossing her
head, plucking apart rosebuds, and other
like elementary practices, but the wide
world of elaborate feminine coquetry with.
out words is beyond her ken.
Despite all these deficiencies the pres,
ence of the typical German girl is some
thing of an inspiration. She does not over
whelm a man with vivacity, nor burden
him with highly wrought %affectation Of
attention. She does not mobilize her face
for a campaign of grimaces and express
sions the minute he opens his mouth. She
listens somewhat impassively, though not
phlegmatically, to all he says. Her repose
is natural and sympathetic. It was born
and bred in her, is a part of her, and SO is
remarkably refreshing to a man who has
worn his way repeatedly through the
pantomimic routine of the tete-a-te' with
women of other breeding and tempera-
ment.
In conversation the German girl is en-
couraging rather than exciting and enter
tanning. She does not try to "keep up her
end" She never carries on" She is not
SHARP" nor "keen," nor 'smart," nor
''great fun" She cannot even "take care
Of herself" conversationally. She does not
know all about operas she has never heard
and sciences she has never studied. She
does not adore calculus" and is not Jaw
fully fond of metaphysics" She rarely
generaliyes brilliantly concerning novels
she has only heard others tell of, and she
is far from clever at cribbing colloquial
witticisn,s. She is, however, intelligent
and well educated, and has an abundance
of ideas of her own. Although she knows
little Latin and less Greek, she can speak
French fairly we'll, understands some En-
glish, and has a smattering of Italian or
Spanish. She is full of information rs to
the great elector Frederick the Great, the
iron days between 1907 and 1915, and the
modern German triumvirate. She is we'll
acquainted with the works of Goethe,
Shakespeare, Heine and Moliere. She can
quote Ivy the page from her favorite poet
Schiller. In case of need she can follow
aNA AOotU "AOA In uA1O ~ Ouku i'll du
astonishing quantity of sentimental verses
On slight provocation. She loves music,
and is familiar with most of the grand
operas.
The German girl has all these things to
talk Of Understandings, yet she never
sweeps q man off his feet with a flood of
conversational pedantry. When a subject
she is acquainted with turns up she talks
on it easily, without an effort to appear
brilliant or unique or deep. She is very
%worshipful of the great masters, but does
not exhaust her breath and vocabulary to
say SO. She never uses slang. She speaks
her native tongue plainly without a~vailing
herself Of expressions like saint" hadn't
ought" or 'like you and l." Her correct
ness of speech, however, is not studied,
and she never tries to get under cover with
a "dear me-, I always get that wrong"
Her Ga is as sweet as the American girls
Eyes," and her 'nein" falls from her lips
with a soft indecision that mitigates'half
the pain of the refusal.
SWEETHEART N WIFE.
When the German girl has had her little
fling, and it is a very little one, her Frau
Mamma gets her engaged. Her new social
status is published at once to the whole
. world around her. Unannounced engage.
ments are unknown to the German girl.
The instant she acceptsa young mans pro-
posal every one knows it, and regards her
as already half married. She does not
court the pleasures of a helter-skelter, fast
and loose love affair. She becomes all
wrapped up in her Fritz, or Hans, or Will
helm at once. THERE'S no more flirting. or
corresponding, or skating, or dancing with
other men. She loves her fiance with an
absorbing devotion which is seldom dupli-
Gated on this side of the Atlantic. She gets
no special pleasure from ~"playing" him,
teasing him, exciting his jealousy or lead
ing him on" All she wishes is to have
him right at hand all the time, holding her
hand while others are present and her
when alone with him. This answering
faithfulness and chidlike devotion con.
tinues well along into her married life and
usually to the end. The quiet, responsive.
undemonstrative, trustful German frau il
only a natural development Of the well
bred German girl.
The German girl has many other miscel-
laneous accomplishments and virtues
which are little known, and IL known are
misunderstood by her foreign critics. She
does not drink beer or eat blood sausage.
She never takes q cigarette into her mouth,
and does not longt be a a She does
not drop her handkerchief or fan to see q
q - l..--H