The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-02-18

liards, and they apparently decided to
obtain table by strategy Naturally
their plan did not involve a Saxo- Borus-
sen table, for the students might make
trouble; they therefore drifted on to the
table at which Hansen and his friend
were playing. First they stared the
two civilians out of countenance, then
they began criticising the shots. Still
Hansen and his friend stuck to their
guns. Then one lieutenant laid his
hands on the cushion lust as Hansen
drove the cue bail round the table.
The bali struck the lieutenant's fingers.
Thunder and lightning, you block
head, didn't you ever have any bring
ing up?" shouted the lieutenant, ad-
vancing on Hansen, while his compan-
ions encouraged him to teach the
shameless fellow some manners"
But you put your fingers there after
l shot protested Hansen.
"Blockhead, hold your tongue before
give you q lesson!"
The lieutenant put his hand on his
sword hilt and Hansen ran. There
was table i'll the way, and Hansen fell
over it. There was a chair, too, and he
stumbled on it. He grasped his hat
and coat fled with them to the street,
put them on as he ran, and did not stop
running until he turned into the Gals
berg strasse. He closed his narrative
with the question:
Did you ever hear Of such rude be-
havior? Is it not a shame for an officer
to attack peaceable man in this way?'
The Cincinnati young man eyed the
stalWart German angrily.
What did YOU run for?" he asked.
What did l run for?" reiterated the
haber dasher. what did l run for?
Why the man might have killed me If
/ hadn't run. You don't know how
crazy these fellows are when they are
provoked He would have run me
through with his sword"
"Why didn't you hit him in the jaw?
He wouldn't remember long about his
sword if you landed once with that
right of yours"
The suggestion seemed to daze Han
sen. After a little meditation he re-
piled, however, with a mixture of awe,
pride and contempt:
That would cause a great scandal.
We do not do such things in Germany.
You may in America, but here we don t
punch like rowdies."
This reply put the whole thing in a
nutshell; it was the proper thing, ac-
cording to the customs of the country,
for a civilian to run from an army Off
Ger; it was the improper thing to return
blow for an insult, or to knock down
a lieutenant before ne could draw his
sword to run you through. This view
did not appeal to the Cincinnati mans
sense of propriety, however: in fact,
Hansen's development of it reused his
ire Thereby hangs a sequence of tales
which is calculated to teach a lesson
to foreigners ambitious to demonstrate
their superiority to the traditions of
militarism in Germany.
THE YANKEE WAY.
few days after Hansen's sllirmish
at Haeberlen's the Cincinnati young
man. who. for convenience, may be
called Newhill. sat at dinner in the res
tauranth Of Luhr's hotel, in the Haupt-
strasse Every time man in uniform
entered Newhill eyed him as if he had
a special grievance against him. Four
young officers came in together and sat
down two tables from the American
party. The gayest of the four had a
single eyeglass, through which he mus
tered the room with ostentatious salts
faction. When the glass was levelled
at the Americans Newhill pushed back
his chair. folded his arms leaned
back, and stared as If life, outside of
that lieutenant, had ceased to be. The
lieutenant evidently regarded himself
as fixed" (iXirD by NeWhill, for his
expression of cOmplacency gave place
to one of astonishment, followed quick
ly by anger and resentment. An ac-
clmated American nudged Newhill and
told him not to pick a quarrel, but
NeWhill remained rigid and stared on
The lieutenant rose slowly, evidently
intending to descend upon Newhill and
demand an explanation. NeWhill, too
rose slowly, his mouth set and his face
gradually losing color. When two meh
face each other thus in Germany ii
panorama of cards, seconds. doctors
duels, and hospitals Whirls past the
minds eye of every spectator, an ava
lanche of events is supposed to be
started in the direction of the field OF
honor and its course is regarded as ir-
resistible. So at Luhr's hotel on that
evening everybody ceased eating and
gazed as if hypnotized on the two mer
who stood and faced each other. The
lieutenant took a step or to toward
NeWhill, and his three fellow Officers
affected to pass a few derisive com
ments on Newhill's behavior. New
hill did not move. His eyes We're fast
ened on the advancing lieutenant, anC
his hands We're clenched in a way that
the Americans understood. even if the
Germans did not. Just before tbs
lieutenant was within arms reach, he
opened his mouth to address NeWhill
but something must have told him thai
he had reached the danger line, for ht
suddenly turned to a table of diners
politely asked for a match, lighted {
cigarette and returned to his party. II
was a clear case of funk To be sure
the lieutenant's companions tried tC
cover his retreat by casting scornfu
looks on Newhill and remarking Rid.
cuIous!" in audible tones. hut Newhil
looked back with as much scOrn anC
more defiance, and remarked "Ridicu
lous" still more loudly. NeWhill's pur'
pose was to meet the lieutenant a
every point, and he carried II out, fol
the officers, without further Remarks
left the restaurant a few minutes later
This little success gave Newhill The
idea that he had solved the lieutenan
problem. He told his friends that if {
man would only show the needfu
amount of grit, he could meet these
fellows and beat them at their owl
game.
1t would be purposeless to trace New
hills course through all the numerous
| little scenes, like the one at Luhr's
| which We're enacted by him at the City
| Park concerts, on the Castle Terrace
| and in Haeberlein's. Suffice it here t
| saw that within a few weeks he re
| garded himself as competent to handl,
.f L.