Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1899-04-26
SHE WAS A GERMAN.
AND COULD NOT TRAVEL BY
HERSELF.
Envied the American Women - Frau
Verwittwete Had Always Wanted to
Roam the World but When Her
Chance Came Her Nationality Interfered

This particular Mrs. Widow, as the
Germans put it, was the relict of
Leipsio merchant, who had left her
well r..ovided for, says the New York
Commercial Advertiser She was a
short, stout, prosperous looking wom-
an of somewhere about go, with beau
tiful white hair. She bought it at that
nice place in Munich and with it
dressed her head in a more elaborate
and French way than is common
among German women of her years.
She also eschewed the caps with which
they commonly make themselves so
unnecessarily "old lady" In fact, so
far as looks went, the Frau Verwitt-
wete ran the American mamma in the
pension close second And they ad-
mired each other mutually-when they
were on speaking terms. The Frau
Verwittwete was on her travels. too.
To be sure she was not dozen blocks
away from where she had always liv-
ed, having married and settled in Leip-
sic and stayed in it right along with
only an occasional break in the way
Of cure" at some Bad. But all
through the years when she had had
to bide at home and keep her hus-
bands house, as German wives are ex-
pected to do, she had nourished a Sc
cret desire to see the world. a longing
to travel. And the death of her Herr
Gemahl, which is to say her lord and
MASTER together with his substantial
nachlass, had set Ter free at last to
indulge her lifelong wish. She &C
cordingly sold her house and estab-
lished herself in that popular pension
through which cosmopolitan stream
of travel poured 1t was vicarious
way of seeing the world, but German
women, even in their Cos, are shy
about setting off on their travels alone.
especially Frau Verwittwete. The hab-
it of being looked after and decided
for by man keeps them down, even
after he is gone. The principle on
which all German life is based, that
the man is herr i'm hause as well as
in the shop, leaves its mark. That
mark lay like clog on that Frau Ver-
wittwete, though she was clever
enough to realize it and to rebel
against it in spirited but impotent
way, which expressed itself in the dec
laration flung many times and def
antly into the faces of the Germans
among her fellow-pensionaires: IF /
had my life to live over
again, my friends, should 60
to America and marry an Am
nfi0nn rhov he I,
bands" This opinion, the strongest
evidently and most important which
the Frau Verwittwete had arrived at
in her travels, was all the more fatter-
ing to that famous benedict, the Amer
lean husband, in that it was based up
on the American wife, of whom the
usual constant current swept through
that pension. Their air of personal in
dependence and financial security in
spired the Frau Verwittwete alike with
admiration, envy and dislike. In fact
to tell the whole truth, as she would
when her temper got the better of her
the Frau Verwittwete and a higher
opinion of the American husband
whom she did not see than of the
American wife whom she did. Just as
now and again, she would wax senti-
mental apd spout Schiller's Jungfrau
like any Backfisch. so now and again
she would fall back into such conven-
tional claptrap as that favorite among
German women, in which they vaunt
themselves as superior to American
women in yafely affection and devo-
ton. "The German wife does not &c
off roaming the world at her husbands
expense and leaving him to shift fol
himself in his deserted home. She
stays in it with him." the Frau Yer
wittwete would say at one time. Al
another she would reply to the same
sentiment from another of the Ger
man boarders. "Yes, but why doe!
she stay? Because she has to. Ger
man men won't let their wives go of
and have good time without them
If only one of German pair can trav
ell, it's the husband always, and you
know it," When she made such EN-
phatic remarks the Frau Verwittwet'
had a way of emphasizing them will
her plump index finger at the length
of her arm. Fortunately, like the res
of her stout person, it was short al
we'll as fat, and consequently onl.
reached half across the table. So tn
eyes of her adversary were safe.
1t was really a pathetic situation
however, for all its humor, and on
could not. when that wistful lool
child nnncidarc half a Inf nf Ia