The Anaconda standard., 1895-11-21

/ memDer all about Stares. decagrammeS,
litres. hectares. millimetres and doz-
| en- other hectic hacto and millomme
| things. whenever YOU want to buy any
| thing or want to know how far Vt is
to some place.
I'm afraid" confided De Vile one
evening. that / shall never again feel
quite at home in a New York bank.
Whenever I've gone into a bank at
home / know I've Immediately become
an object of suspicion. / was simply
surrounded by an atmosphere of dis
trust the moment 1 went up TO the
little shelf where the various blanks
for deposftors are kept on file. The
officials. believe. suspected me of a
constant desire to swipe the calendar
on the shelf or to embezzle the two
pronged pens. The bank people never
failed to get rid of me in FIVE minutes.
1t isn't so here. The bank fellows in
Germany trust me with a lamblike
simplicity, but they haven't a particle
Of faith in my convertible securities
Give them an hour or so and they'll
advance me a few pounds on my letter
of credit. but checks or drafts make
'em shy like a year-old colt at a steam
roller But I'm getting to like their de-
liberate ways. l was intended by ma
ture to be a gentleman of leisure, and
only a man of that ilk should do busi-
ness at a continental bank. Whenever
I've an hour or so to spare and want
to get absolutely away from all scenes
OF turmoil. 1 take my letter of credit
around in the Deutsche bank and draw
a few cards on IT. There is little
room for strangers containing a hat
rack map of Berlin and a table with
O. carafe of water with glasses on 1t.
OF course 1 don't touch the water, but
II gives me a honey feeling to see a
jug of water again. The carafe Is such
a gentle act of Difference to Americans
that 1 always bow to 1t. just as l doff
my hat when i see an American flag
floating anywhere' abroad. After Civ
ing the man at the little window my
letter of credit. / sit down and give
myself up TO quiet meditation until 20
minutes or so have elapsed, and the
bank man mods to me. at the same
time holding out two papers for me to
sign. 1 haven't the faintest idea what
they are. They may be judgment notes
or first mortgages on this hotel for all
care A fellow over here gets so in
the way of signing his name to any
thing any foreign official may happen
to ask him to. Then / sit down again.
The bank man disappears, probably
to eat one of his five little daily meals.
Then he comes to the window once
more and gives me the money. Some
II
in bank notes that must be modelled
after the lottery tickets that you see
sold at nearly every cigar store. After
that / unhang my hat and overcoat.
and tiptoe out of the bank as / would
IL / had to go out of church during
services"
De VILE does so like to hear himself
talk. / had to interrupt him by tell
ing about the bank at Magdeburg,
where the English speaking young
man behind the counter greeted me
with,-"Well. what's the matter with
your" He was laboring under the inn
preston that he was using a very ele-
CANT greeting. and was probably look |
ed up to by manv of his fellow bank |
clerks as a superior linguist.
l caught Boggs fust now in the act |
of dating "a letter to a friend in Brook |
Iyn thus Berlin on the Bum"
The authorities III get after him |
again IL he doesn't look out
Charles Lederer.