The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-11-02
THAT GERMAN GIRL.

in the yellow dust of the chief street in
the little New Jersey village, and a
voice belonging to the owner of the legs
shouted .Key!' Alan, who had one
foot on the step of the bus that was to
take. him and other ardent fishermen
down to the landing, whence they would
sail out to Barnegat bay, stood still.
The brown legs bore down on Alan,
and the boy above them thrust tele-
gram into his hands, Alan tore it open
and read:
'sCome to New York on the first train"
ssWhat's the natter" asked Captain
Wilkins.
'sMy uncle wants me to come to New
York. said Alan. 81 can't go out today.
I'll catch the 10 o'clock train up"
s'Don't seem to mind getting dis
patches no more'n sif they's postal
cards." remarked the captain, and two
or three other boys respectfully followed
Alan as he hurried down the road to the
hotel where he was spending the sum-
.mer.
It was little after 1 o'clock when
Alan walked into his uncle's Office in
Wall street and found that gentleman
sitting at his desk and gazing abstract
eddy at nothing.
"Glad to see you, my boy" said his
uncle as he heard his step. In fact I'm
very glad to see you.
"What's wrong, uncle? Is it mamma"
"No, no; your mothers all right. Its
l. I'm in a lot of trouble and maybe you
L IA hot IS
why sent for you"
ssWhat's the matter? Failed?"
Failed! OF course not. Business is
good enough. It's that girl.
"Girl? Why, uncle, it seems to me
you are getting pretty old
"Alan, it is one of the misfortunes of
life in this age that there comes time
to every boy when he thinks he is called
on to say smart things. They are not
smart, but the boy thinks they are. The
girl I have in mind is not the kind of
girl you mean. In fact she's a Dutch
girl, or German, or something of that
sort"
"Well, there are nice Dutch girls,
aren't there?"
ssOh, confound it; it's that girl out at
the house-your mothers girl; the serv-
ant"
s'Why, what's she been doing?"
sShe's been talking Dutch"
"Well, that's rather natural, isn't it!''
"It's inhuman. She talks Dutch, but
doesn't understand it; at least when ]
talk it to her."
.But l don't see what you want of
me-"
s'I'll tell you. You've studied German
in school, haven't you?''
eyes; one term
"Good. This is the way it is: Your
Aunt Louisa is in some sort of trouble
making jelly and it won't come, or
broken her leg, or something serious.
Anyway she sent for your mother in
a hurry, and away she went. told her
not to worry about me. / used to know
good deal of German, and could get
along with Marie, or whatever her name
is, for couple of weeks. But I don't
get along. can't make her understand
what / say, and she doesn't speak any
kind of German I ever heard. We
don't seem to chord, as they say in the
orchestra"
Sand you want me to help you talk to
her and understand her"
''That's just it,
''Well," said the boy, "we'll both try
her. I'll go owe to the house and spend
the afternoon oudying my German
grammar-all about 'Haben sic meine
mutter gesehen? and list das Ihr bru-
derY and that sort of thing. want
some luncheon first, though"
ssAll right said uncle. "Well go up
to the Rathskeller and eat frankfurters
and potato salad. There's nothing like
laying a good foundation, and maybe
we can pick up some bits Of German fly
ing around there"
1t was o'clock that evening when
Alan and his uncle descended to the
dining room of their home. Alan car
ried his grammar and his uncle die
tionary in his hand. There was trou-
bled, even anxious, look on the uncle's
face, and Alan did not appear entirely
at ease. They seated themselves at the
table and presently Marie appeared
bearing tureen of soup. There was a
GTOupl6Q HOOK Oh ll5T AdC6J LOO-tIdG u.s.
as much of a look as ever comes to the
face of German servant girl. Suisse
quently Alan described it as the look of
a tortured saint
"Guten abend," said uncle with cheer
full civility.
"Guten abend," answered Marie with
equal cheerfulness, as she sat the tureen
before him and then retreated.
''Good start, uncle" said Alan APP
proyingly. liam glad, though, we didn't
have to say anything about soup, for ]
couldn't find the word for it in my gram
mar. You see, came down to the
kitchen this afternoon and nosed around
to see what we were going to have for
dinner, and made list of the things
and then looked up as many of them 40
/ could find in my grammar. But !
couldn't find SOUP"
''There are two words here, said uncle,
after searching the dictionary. 81 can't
make out what one of them is, though
it looks like 'suhp.'"
''Ess 90 ha pay" said Alan.