The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1901-08-10
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aThe whistling habit Il peculiarly
Ameficaa,p said an ohserKnnt citi<eri
Who Mas recently toured Europe rs-
ports the New Orleans Times ltn,os
crat, ..and after having watched me
peoples 81 other countrIebwith refer
ence to tile habit have concluded that
IL IL not only distinctive IN IT. Ameri-
capisn, but that II Is positively dom
lnant chnrhc teriatic. When the Amer
! lean has nothing else to do he whistles,
| We are race Of whiBtlers The puck
cred mouth 10 an American institntion.l
| Men whistle, boys whistle and women
whistle. There - whistllng IN the high
ways and the byways, whistling IN the
| homes, whistling everywhere ana on
all occasions. Some men whistle while
they work anow booiIlxeeper who
I whistles a jerlfy sort Of tune whenever
be adds a column Of figures, and pc
seems to beat sort Of time for the
mental processes through which ne
passes. / have observed many I'M
stances Of idle, unconscious whisthng
when the mind wasseton the performs
, ance Of some task; but the habit ~
probably more noticeable In the public
. streets than elsewhere. Take New Or
| leans or any other American city, and
il is almost impossible to get beyond
| the whistler's range. He u on every
corner and trayersing every street.
The gray-haired bank president, busy
4 ing himself with discounts and per-
| centages, whistles idly as he walks
| down the street. The dignified lawyer
whistles over his pleas and proceden-
dos. and the prchin strikes q ragtime
with his puckered mouth as he darts
around the corner. Butcher, baker and
candlestick maker all whistle, and the
time always varies with the bentof the
whistler, striking all the moods ~ msi-
sic, from the dirge to the. qnickstep.
! Ii il curious habit and have often
wondered what relation it bears TO the
really fundamental things In the
American nature. OF course, It IS q
manifestation Of nervousness, Ia some
instances. In others it Is probably an
acquired habit or a case OF unconscious
imitation, very much like the respon'
siveness Of the violin to the notes Of .
piano. One man whistles 4 certain
time. The scale Is photographed, as 4
were. in another mans mind, and UNI
,, consciously he initiates the sound, AND
the scale is handed to the next mosi
impressionable person, and thus 4
i passes on with its mouth-puckering
tendency from one person to another
In the case Of the more popular ant
more catchy airs we find an unbrolSer
chain of effects in the jerlry, synco
? pated ragtime echoes that are thus
transmitted from one to another
! II have often wondered, continued
The observant citizen, "if there wa
anything peculiar to American life thu
2 would afford rational explanation 2
this almost universal habit. In Ger
: many ii il a rare thing to hear maj
|, or even d boy whistling In, q pnbli
street. The streets Of Berlin are prac
tically free from the sound. The Ger
mans are great singers, and the bee
gardens literally ring with the Groom
ing melodies of the Fatherland 4
Mein Herr munches his pretzel and sip
his beer. But they never whistle
Berlin unless some fellow happens 7
j have strong percentage Of America
= blood coursing in his veins. IN LoI
! don / observed practically the sam
condition. The Englisman does no
possess that morose austerity Of tn
Teutonic type, but he Is nevertheless