Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-23
GHR!MlAN FRESHMAN

l 4ts ~ :
| "An officer Of the navy was telling me not
long ago Of an Irish bluejacket In the Ger
man navy with whom the sailors Of the
American tieet met up at Kiel during the
| big naval doings there a few years ago..
said Frank Gqrman Of Chicago. The
Irishman, Kildare man. had previously
served in the United States navy for sew
| eral cruises. and he had been known
| throughout thei service for the breadth Of
| his brogue and his shrewd and witty fo'c'sie
sayings and comments. At the time when
| 1t seemed likely that Germany was going
to war with Great Britain the Irishman
had shipped In Che German navy. with the
| idea of participating In naval walloping
OF the ancient enemy Of old Ireland. The
dihculty between the two powers was amir
| cably arranged however, to the profound
chagrfn of the Irishman. But he made the
most of it, and settled down philosophically
| In the German naval service. He had been
In the German navy for nine years when his
+ former American shipmates came across
him while on shore liberty at kfel. The
American bluejackets had great laugh
! over the Irishman's pronounced German
accent-he had almost forgotten how to
| speak the English tongue.
| Wen. l had the mate to that story.
There's a Teutonized Irishman in Chicago
who Is as queer an example of what might
| be called figurative self-expatriation as can
be imagined He Is at the same time
| hrst-rate living illustration of the adapta-
| bility of the freshman The Irishmen in
Chicago who know him speak of him with
vttuperation and scorn. but he doesn't mind
| that little bit. The Germans of his quar-
| ter are his sworn friends and as he has to
all intents and purposes become a German
himself he appears to be perfectly satisfied
This Germapized Irishman Is a Kerry
man who settled in Chicago good many
years ago and started a small saloon In
what was at that time an Irish neighbor-
hood. The Germans began to flock into the
neighborhood, however much to the resent
ment of the Irish The Irish fought the In
| vading Germans for a number of years. but
they finally had to surrender to the might
| of numbers. The Germans took complete
possession of the neighborhood. When the
Irish saw how they were being Outnum-
bered they moved away to another quarter
| of Chicago.
But the Irish saloonkeeper didn't move
away. He had good corner for his busi-
ness, the Germans patronized his establish
ment and were first-rate pay. and he deter
mined to stick. He set about acquiring the
German language, not only from his pa
irons, who were almost exclusively German,
| but by attending German night school.
Inside of a year he had the German tongue
| down SO pat that to listen to his deep gut
tural accents nobody would ever have sup,
posed that he hadn't been born and reared
| in the fatherland. His business grew and
prospered, and he employed four German
bartenders direct from Germany. he put
| establishment the Hofbrau Haus.' and be-
gan to serve imported German beers and to
provide old-fashioned German cookery Tor
| his guests. for the Germans OF his neigh
borhood were prospecting, too, and had
plenty of money wherewith to crafty their
appetites.
1.-The Irishman married a fair Katrina,
! with golden hair. who knew not word
of English. and they got along glor-
| iOusly together. In due course of time the
fair-haired young ones began to come along.
Their dad sent them to the German pa
rochial school in the neighborhood. and
when the boys became large enough they
went on the altar of the German Catholic
Church and served as acoiytes. The Ger
| man and his. wife were devout members OF
the German Catholic Church.
1.-THE IrfshmaI at length gave up speak
| ing English altogether, unless it was abso-
lutely necessary to employ that tongue IN
business conversation with people who
| knew no German. 1t is not to be under
stood that he entertained any grudge
against his own people, or that he made
German OF himself for any other reason
their ways and that he perceived the bust
ness sense. fnasmuch as his environment
had become German one, Of adapting him
self wholly to hfs clientele.
HE possesses a fine basso voice. and he
is a member of any number of German
singing socfeties. I am bound to say that
1t is sight for the gods to see this harp
the flannel on whose tongue when he first
than a,yafd wide, leaning back in his chair
at a German saengerfest, letting out his
vast voice in the swelling choruses Of the
German songs.
1T may be imagination on my part and
on the part of lot OF Chicago men who
are we'll acquainted with this Irishman,
but positively affirm that he has grown
to look as much like German as If he
had been born in Germany of a long line
of German ancestors. He Is big stout,
good-looking man. but he wears his black
hair in a decided German pompadour, and
his full beard Is of a cut that Immediately
suggests the prosperous, middle-aged Ger
man business man.
He is, in truth, so wholly and convfnc-
ingly German at the present time that
the Germans who meet him for the first
time become incensed. thinking that they
are being Joked and trified with, when the
Germans of the Irfshman's neighborhood
tell the strange Germans that he is merely
self-made German-not only that but
German self-made out of the whole cloth
of an Irish immigrant.
Zone of this IrishHlan's growing sons has
exhibited great talent for the stage. He
mas taken ieaolng parts in number of
representations in German classical plays
in Chicago, and the manager of a big Ger
man theater In New York has already made
overtures to him to go on the professional
German stage. Some deliver In odd phases
OF sociological questions will take up that
singular Chicago Irishman's case one Of
these days. and, II he wants to make a nom
ular seller Of his treatise on the subject
ne Will call it How a Mick Became a
Heinie'"
The Caspian Sea.
From the London Telegraph