Evening star., 1901-06-11

A Nervous Habit Not Found Among
Foreign Peoples.
From the New Orleans Times Democrat.
"The whistling habit is peculiarly Ameri-
can," said an observant citizen who has
recently toured Europe, ''and after having
watched the peoples of other countries with
reference to the habit have concluded that
it is not only distinctive in it's American
ism, but that it is a positively dominant
characteristic. When the American has
nothing else to do he whistles. We are a
race of whistlers. The puckered mouth is
an American institution Men whistle,
boys whistle and women whistle There Is
whistling in the highways and the by
ways, whistling in the homes, whis-
tling everywhere and on all occasions.
Some men whistle while they work. /
know a bookkeeper who whistles a jerky
sort of tune whenever he adds column
of figures, and he seems to beat a sort of
time for the mental processes through
which he passes. / have observed many
Instances of idle, unconscious whistling
when the mind was set on the performance
of some task; but the habit is probably
more noticeable in the public streets than
elsewhere. Take New Orleans or any other
American city. and it is almost impossible
to get beyond the whistlers range. He Is
on every corner and traversing every
street The gray haired bank president,
busying himself with discounts and per-
centages, whistles idly as he walks down
the street. The dignifed lawyer whistles
over his pleas and procedendos, and the
urchin strikes a ragtime with his puckered
mouth he darts around the corner
Butcher, baker and candlestickmaker, all
whistle, and the time always varies with
the bent of the whistler striking all the
moods in music from the dirge to the
quickstep. 1t Is a curious habit, and have
often wondered what relation it bears to
the really fundamental things in the Amer
lean nature OF course, it is a manifesto
tion Of nervousness, in some instances. In
others it Is probably an acquired habit or
a case Of unconscious imitation, very much
like the responsiveness of the violin to the
notes Of piano. One man whistles certain
time The scale is photographed, as it
were, in another mans mind, and uncon-
sciously he initiates the sound, and the
scale is handed to the next most impress
sionable person, and thus it passes on with
it's mouth-puckering tendency from one
person to another. In the case Of the more
popular and more catchy airs We find an
unbroken chain Of effects in the jerky.
syncopated ragtime echoes that are thus
transmitted from one mind to another.
II have often wondered" continued the
observant citizen, "if there was anything
peculiar to American life that would af
ford rational explanation of this almost
universal habit. In Germany it is rare
thing to hear a man or even boy whistling
in a public street. The streets Of Berlin
are pdrCtlCdlly 1Tee from the SOOnQ. Inc
Germans are great singers. and the beer
gardens literally ring with the grooming
melodies of the fatherland as Mien Herr
munches his pretZel and sips his beer. But
they never whistle in Berlin unless some
fellow happens to have a strong percent
age of American blood coursing in his
veins In London l observed practically
the same condition. The Englishman does
not possess that morose austerity of the
Teutonic type. but he is nevertheless op-
posed to the whistling habit a rule, and
the indulgence Is rare. In France the
practice is indulged in to some extent but
even in Paris, supposedly the very heart
of all that is frivolous and tickle. and
where men and women are always believed
to be strung up to high nervous tension,
the whistlfng Is nothing when compared to
the extent Of the habit in America. Occa-
sionally boulevardier will whistle a bar
from the opera comique in moment of
mental fdleness and personal disassociation,
but the social instinct is SO strongly in
trenched in the French nature that he
soon RECEIVERS from his musical reverIe and
begins to indulge the polite vocations pc
culiar to his countrymen. So I have con-
cluded that whistling is not altogether the
result Of a highly tensioned nervous en-
ergy. Races of nervous temperament
whistle more than races that are less nerv-
Gus in their nature. But there are certain
other manifestations Of nervousness that
are common to all countries and all highly
developed people. such as the practice of
humping the fingers against a desk or a
table, the habit Of walking the floor, fun
bling with a watch chain, an inordinate
use of the handkerchief, the practice of
pulling the hat down over the eyes and
then showing it back on the head, shut
fling of the feet or stroke of the face
with the hand, and countless other things
Of this character which tend to indicate
nervousness of temperament. But with the
whistling habit it Is different, and the
practice seems to be peculiarly American.
It does not argue that the Americans are
more nervous than the peoples of other
countries. 1t does not means that they are
ers. They are simply Americans That's
all. The American is not discriminative
in his whistling, for he whistles when he
pleases and what he pleases He will whis-
tie TIE Deum Laudamus' one minute and
"Possum la or 'Googoo Eyes the next
without the fear Of public criticism and
without much respect for his fellows who
arc forced to listen"