The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1907-09-24
DIDN'T SPEAK DUTCH.


Mount Pleasant matron who recently re-
turned from a tour OF the continent. 'Such
a dreadful time as we had, my husband and
/, and he seemed to get crosser and more
out of patience with the poor, uninstructed
folks who couldn't speak English every mile
that we traversed We were in lots OF
places in England where we actually
couldn't understand word the people said,
although they were supposed to be speaking
English, and my poor dear of testy hus-
band came near getting into fisticuffs with
some of the restaurant folks and BARRIERS
and tradespeople in Yorkshire because they
bridled up and seemed to be hutfy when he,
not being able to understand the patois that
they believe is English, asked them why
they didn't speak the language of their
king.
but in the really-and-truly foreign coun-
tries our difficulties were beyond belief.
Neither of us knows word of any other
language but English. Now, |, being WON
an, and therefore reasoning being, am
willing to eoncede that there are several
languages spoken on the globe besides Eng
lish, and to admit the right of the people
who are born and raised to these languages
to speak them ir their own lands. But my
husband, being a man, and man OF ex'
clusively English speech, became more and
more ferocious over the languages of the
people as we progressed on the tour. 1t
didn't make any difference where we were,
whether in the Tyrol or by the Italian
lakes, he seemed to take it as a personal
affront when the people addressed him in
their own tongues, and he became even
more angry when he inadvertently asked
one of them question and received only
shake of the head in reply
1.-THE Internal mbecilesP he was ex'
claiming to me all over Europe, how in the
dickens do they expect a white man to talk
such idiotic rubbish as that|
But | would expostulate, they are
talking the only language they know
Well, that's the reason l call 'em i'm
bociles' he would holly retort.
But l would start to say, when he
would interrupt me with such an outbreak
as this;
There are no ifs, ands and butts about
it; they talk like lot of monkeys-the
idea of a man who talks English that's
fairly decent at any rate not being able to
get a word of sense out of single one OF
about 100000 alleged human beings that
he's addressed necessary questions to all
over a continent that's supposed to be
civilized
And there spoke the average American
man abroad, for all the world. Ill never
forget the morning we first arrived in Am
sterdam. We started out early to explore,
and my husband became more gloomy and
mnrose every step we took over the utter
inability of any OF the people we met to
understand us. ] suppose the Dutch people
are the least accomplished lingusts in Eu-
laus hair
We didn't strike a single individual in Am.
sterdam that could speak English Along
in the afternoon we became hungry and de
cided to hunt IN some restaurant for lunch
con instead OF returning to the hotel. Sc
my husband began asking everybody we met
where there was good restaurant. They
all stared vacantly at him and shook their
heads with awful sU!emnity without word
and passed on, many of them turning about
to look after MS as if they considered u,
escaped insane folks
I'm gong to get one of these Dntci
balloons TO give me some kind of an nteli
| gible reply to civil question if | have t
| stay right here on the streets of Amster
| dam for 1000 years! he said to me. hoarsely
and with such utter unreasonablencss thai
| ! couldn't for the life of me have helped
| throwing my head back right there and
lauoh;nr AZ hi.,, ,,,h,ch J;Jr't tanJ 60 =;
! oraosa H. ,hanrf,,,rass .rt;aIn " -
49,. ;,,,a'';,,o POI ''Se' 40 9O'
,.I,
many ne went up 20 genuarme-one
w s.'use lu',iS .iooNI.H Ii'lle %luaty male
PeIso"s WIN the Conservatory ieroclous
t,, ~ coul'lr"",'Ve anu ne larry
p" ~ .e, III Inc "s!onls"Fn ee,uarme leeth;
say, my aulpose irlehu OF the broad
way N9u"o' "a" 20" anu "i.i you tell me
"neie ean hnu pace !" TINS Durg Where
W. p'is' ',r's can ee' " p"e anu sup OF
'o1,e'"i"s ~ W cat ana 10 uIlhk'
lie asked TINS question:, as say, in an
exc 'ed'hRly Iohd tone oil VOICE observed
tnat most travelling american men shouted
the" questions AZ Foreigners, as II mere
Voiume OF lnhg power would suffice to
brioge the conversational gull that yawns
netween Two persons OF different nationali-
ties VINO attempt to make themselves plain
10 eaeh "ther IN their respective tongues.
The gendarme gazed at my husband with
amazement. lie undoubtedly thought that
my husband was threatening him, and he
suddenly hoped back couple Of paces
and gave peculiar whistle. which was inn
medately answered by a couple of other
gendarmes who came running around the
corner from schnapps shop where thew
had been regaling themselves My moor
unreasonable husband wasn't bit taken
hack b.y their anpaarauoa olt