The evening times., 1899-06-24
TENEMENT PEOPLE.
A Character study I'm Mixed Nation
alities.


II 1t were not for Frau Linde the second
| floor would be the happiest in the tene-
| ment house. She is the only woman IN the
building who goes to church. She Is re-
ligious enthusiast and extremely good
natured, but she is also extremely quarrel
| some and jealous. Herr Linde, who is a
| slender. good-looking. effeminate man of
| thirty-two. is her second husband. Being
| about fifteen years his senior. and dumpy.
| broad-shouldered woman, with a gnarled
pug nOsed face, she always is in a quiver of
| anxiety lest he should be snatched from
her. That's why she hates to see him visit
her neighbOrs. or to have any Of the women
call on her when papa" is in.
Once Frau Wahlteich, who is something
Of a wit. asked her why she did not keep
papa" in an icebox. She forthwith tried
to swallow her words. assuring Frau Linde
that she meant 1t for a joke. but it was too
late, and the scene which followed en-
broiled the other two housewives OF the
second floor, one OF the third. and the
housekeeper who lives in the basement.
All these the infuriated woman openly ac-
cused OF trying to f1irt with her husband.
AS their bad luck would have it, Herr
Linde was not the kind Of man even 10 look
at a lot Of frights like them, she said.
The other three women form a separate
little world in the big tenement house, and
the soul Of that world is Mrs. McAllister.
She is full OF life and grace, and her two
friends like her for this. and respect her
for her polite, bass-voiced, lordly husband,
and because she is the only married wo-
man in the house who understands every
English word"
Mrs. McAllister does not speak English;
she understands it. Nor does Mr.. McAllis-
ter speak a word Of German. or understand
it when it is spoken by any one except his
wife. They have been married now eight
years, and get along better than any other
couple in the house, conversing in the two
languages in the most matter Of fact way.
SO that the Czech woman who lives on
the stoop originally thought that they
spoke two slightly different dialects OF the
same tongue. Their little girl speaks Ger
man to her mother and English to her
father, although she seems to prefer the
latter. Sometimes she forgets herself
and addresses Mrs. McAllster in Anglo
Saxon, and then the young woman laugh
ingly pretends to be deaf, and Lizzie must
repeat her question or request In Hamburg
Deutsch, pronounced with American RS.
Mrs. MoAllister made several attempts
10 speak English to her husband, but she
made mess of it, but as he never en-
couraged her and seemed to prefer good
Hamburg slang TO her bad English, she
gave it up. AS to Mr.. McAllister, he never
tried to speak German. People look funny
when they use foreign language, he
thought, and he would rather be dumb
than funny.
He is a tall, stately man of fifty, with
close clipped dark side whiskers and gold
trimmed spectacles. His bass voice. his
grand bearing, and soft, genteel manner
toward everybody in the tenement house
have won the hearts of all the neighbo-s.
To be sure, he holds himself at a respect
full distance from them, but then he could
not speak to them II he would, and as he
is the only man in the house who never
passes any OF the housewives without tax
ing off his hat, the respect which he in
spires knows no bounds.
At first the neighbors thought he was
bookkeeper in some big store downtown.
Mrs. McAllister soon disabused their
minds. Her husband was a watchman in
a warehouse, one Of the biggest on Woos-
ter Street. she boasted. The revelation
was a severe disappointment to her friends
but Mr.. McAllister continued to raise his
hat to them and to say, "Ah, good even
ing!" in his genteel soft basso. and so
the respect for him is profound as ever He
is extremely polite to his wife, too. at
least when strangers are near; and so
while man Of very few words himself. he
will listen to Mrs. McAllister's chatter by
the half hour. smoking his pipe and SOL
emnly looking into her eyes, even when
her chubby checks become dimpled and her
blue eyes half shut with laughter. When
they are alone she calls him dale (dar-
ling), the only English word she uses out
side of such phrases as "all righd" or
never min'," which she and all the other
tenants treat as part and parcel of their
German. When there are strangers in the
house she calls him Mr.. McAllister
"Und warum den nicht Mr.. McAllister?"
"Oh. l don't know, l don't think It's
worth WHILE" he answers politely.
Mrs. Wahlteich is an elderly woman.
Her husband is a carping old street musi-
clan. They have been about thirty years
in this country, and all their children were
born in New York, and are all well fixed
They have offered to support them SO as to
free the old man from his occupation. but
he prefers TO make his own living. He does
not believe in American children support
ing their father, he says. II they were all
in Europe it would be another matter.
There one has genuine respect for ones
father, but in America, In. the land of loaf
ers and ighters-ist es allies humbug un'
dat's all!
His sons are interested in politics and
vote straight, but he won't even become a
citizen of 1.-The land of loafers and fiRht-
ers." sfi
He is a loyal subject Of the Fatherland |
and curses every German who is not. or |
ten upon reading of a murder he loses his |
temper and reviles the country of fighters !
and loafers for it.
Frau Wahlteich has good deal of trou-
BILE with him. She treats him like ;,etu- |
liant child, and that's what he sometimes |
likes. She makes jokes at his expense, as !
surfing her friends that "her old baby" is !
very fond Of America, and that all he SAYS
against the country is mere goff
why. We once had a good chance to 20 !,
home and make a fine living there, but |
he wouldn't bulge. He is so used to Sixth |
Street and his saenger verein and Klein !
Fritzs kneipe, he could not get away from /
it,
Frau Koch Is the most reticent OF the |
She has nothing to say, ex-
cept, perhaps. to praise her husband But,
then, she is good listener and when the
other two babble she mods assent and
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