The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-04-25
CHAPTER VI.
Continued.

themselves, their prospects. their aims
land their ambitions, but they stife the
iyearning. They talk to each other
for awhile, but not after their career
is actually begun. A German young
man, on the other hand, looks about
for a companion of the opposite sex,
to whom he may confide everything;
ishe becomes his friend, his adviser,
ibis sympathizer. Sometimes she is
inevitable; sometimes she is young
and plain, when the result is gener-
ally much the same; sometimes she
lis midGle-aged or old, when her
friendship may become a very sweet
and tender one. How much good might
he done if ladies of a certain age
would let it be known that they were
ready to undertake the part of con-
soler, adviser and sympathiZer each to
one young man! One feels, speaking as
a man, perfectly ready at any age to
do as much for a young lady. Kathar-
Inc played this part to the young Ger
man, while he talked about himself.
81 am not, Fraulein," Dittmer Book
explained, "hochgeboren. My father
conducts a Delicatessen-Handlung in
Hamburg, opposite the jacob Church."
May one disguise the good Dittmer'S
English? Any n may speak it as
he spoke it. In fact, the German
English of to-day is as easy to write
as the French-English Of sixty years
ago-witness the humorist in every
American paper. "My father had am
billions for his son above the Deli
.catessen-Handlung. He wished that
they should become great merchants,
such as used to be found in London"
care they not found here still?
Dittmer shrugged his shoulders. II
find the memory of great English
merchants, and I find great German
.houses-Hamburg is the place where
you must look now for great mer-
chants. Did you ever hear Of the
!Godefroi brothers?"
Katharine never had. :,
'They were boys who worked and
Hooked about them. Perhaps they had
read history and knew about Whit
;tington and Gresham. And they rose
and became rich; they discovered an
island, and they established trade with
ut and planted it. They became rich.
y They founded the great German
Colonial Empire of the future'-here
!Dittmer spread his arms-"which will
grow and grow until it swallows up
your English colonies n after the
other. I, too, shall look about the
world until I discover another island
like Samoa. Then I shall go there
and begin to trade and to plant"
at is a great ambition, Dittmer."
E at has been my resolve since I was
a child. In order to carry it out 1 have
learned what I could-mathematics,
languages, bookkeeping, shorthand,
physical geography, commercial and
political history, and the present con-
dition of trade over all the world. I
know every harbor and its exports
and imports, and the principal mer-
chants who carry on its trade"
'That seems a great deal to learn"
; Modern trade wants all this knowl-
edge. There will very soon be no
more English merchants, because your
young men will not learn the new con
ditions of trade. In every office there
must be clerks who can write and
speak foreign languages. Your young
men will not learn them, and your
schools cannot teach them. Then we
come over-we who have learned them.
ALWAYS we see in history commerce
which passes from hand to hand; ev-
erywhere one people which decays and
one people which advances. 1t is
curious; it is wonderful"
! "But all this will be after your time,
Dittmer."
GAS for me-" he answered. coming
down from the prophetic level, 81 shall
become another Godefroi, and find an
other Samoa"
IT hope you will, Dittmer," said
Katharine.
"Fraulein," he left off talking about
himself-"my heart is sorrowful for
you. Every day I tear open the paper
and I look for news, I say: Oh! per-
haps to-day it comes-thc telegram
that he is we'll"
"Dittmer, please stop. Please-do
not say such a thing again."
"Eut there is hope, since they have
learned nothing about him"
"How can there be hope? No-hc
is dead. I have his letters. I shall
: carry them all my life" %1nvolun-
tarily she laid her hand upon the
pocket where they were kept. "The
letters are all I have of him. He is
dead. Dittmer. And. oh! my heart is
breaking. Never speak again of news.
There can be none, unless they find
his bones upon the sands. No news
no news. He is dead-he is dead"
They finished their walk in silence.
When they reached Harley House
Katharine saw that the tears were
running down Dittmer'S cheeks.
"You are good and kind. my friend"
He stopped and kissed her hand.
"Fraulein-" he began, but he
choked and said no more. 1t is re-
markable that although We boast our
selves to be the grand ~articulately
speaking race Of man, the most eX-
pressive things are those which arc
omitted. Dittner Book never fin
ished that sentence, yet Katharine
knew what he meant, and that she
had a servant as we'll as a friend.
One evening he had been silent and
I,,ll aE Tia hni1S0 cI.nn rpfuSlnc To