The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-09-15
A PROPOSAL IN
THREE LANGUAGES,
nx 2. a. MlrcHEL.

boundary line between two countries,
in one OF which French is spoken
and IN the other Italian. English
Americans French. Italians and Ger
mans all meet here, and the lingual
condition Is similar to that at the
famous tower OF Babel. The hotel and
shop keepers, boatmen and others are
obliged 70 continually express them.
selves 10 one Of three or four Ian.
guages. French is the prevailing
tongue, with English second and Ger.
man third.
After having finished my education
decided upon a years travel In Europe
before beginning The practice Of my
profession. and that summer az the
height Of the Italian lake season
found myself at Bellagio. The hotel at
which / stopped was on the very verge
OF Lake Como, the water plashina
against its stone and marble porch. On
the evening Of my arrival ] dined at
one Of the tables on this porch. The
lake-or rather this portion Of it-is
surrounded BY mountain peaks, which
stand out IN bold silhouette against the
twilight on the other shore, couple
Of miles away. the lights Of Caden-
abba were beginning TO glimmer on
the line between the mountain base
and the lake.
AT a table on my left sat a party
some OF the members Of which were
speaking Italian, others French, Among
them was a beautiful Italian girl They
were drinking champagne aud chatting
merrily. while sat alone. wishing that
| might even understand what they
said. One Of the men addressed a re-
mark to me in broken English. | met
him more than halfway and was In
yited to join the party.
That night / dreamed Of the italian
girl, Signorina Alicia Jaeonti had
carried on a spirited dialogue with her
at the table, our language being one.
tenth Italian. one.tenth French, one.
tenth English and seyen-tenths panto-
mime. Every one who knows any
thing about love knows that as dom
key feeds on thistles 50 love thrives
on difficulties. A man may make love
70 any girl who speaks the same tongue
as himself and so to sleep at the same
time. There's no incentive IN It But
when a fellow and girl have but q
few dozen words 10 common and must
scratch gravel TO make themselves
understood the little god empties bis
culver before them.
Well, the next morning hired one
Of those delightful little boats with
which Lake Como abouuds, each fur
nished with 3 canopy and soft cush.
ions, to say nothing OF boatman to
do the work, and the signorina and !
went for promenade" as they call
Il there. on the water Perhaps you
think there WINS nothing for the boat.
man to do bat to row Not much. He
spoke French, Italian and English, the
iiliterate chump. while i, college
bred American, knew but one lan-
guage The signorina spoke French
and Italian. So, you see, there were
three tongues ia the party. Before
starting ] slipped lire into the boat
mans palm He thought Il was TO in
duce him to row fast. Not bit.
had In view a different use for him.
Besides, / didn't propose that be should
make me and the girl ridiculous by
telling people what IL was. ] wanted
him for an interpreter.
AS soon as we were Off the slgnorina
and 3 leaning back on the cushions,
renewed the struggle to communicate
Of the evening before. 4 ran ike this
''Eet is YER beHisimo (beautifun
"vous n'avez pas lyou have noD "au-
Gun" tanythingl $50 bellissimo IN
Amerique"
Not woman In the country so
beautiful as you" / replied In four han
guages and a superauity Of pantomime.
"Ah, m'sieurm (Clasped hands,
smiles, eyes turned upwardl
1t wasn't leng before l had found
her hand under fold ct her dress
where the boatman couldn't seel and
a current Of language common to all
people, felt not spoken, ran between
US with ali the sprightlipess OF q
bubbling brook. So for awhile we
sat without speaking The boatman
logged along over the smooth waters
which splashed softly against the boat
The reflection OF the mountains and
the heavens trembling in the lake
started me again
''votre yeux" your eyes,, said
'Boatman, what's the French for re-
fiecty7
Reaechit.' monsieur"
"vOtre yeux reflechit les What's
the French for heaven?"
"aCiel, monsieur
Bully Then to the girl, "yotre
yeux rehorhit les ciel.n
"Ah m'sieurT The eyes went up
and the hands were clasped.
Fortunately that All important word
is much the same In several Lam
guages, all derived from the Latin. II
Is amor dover, amo Il love-
"Boatman." | began and stopped. |
couldn't even bear to ask for word
at such a time "Boatman," ! began
again, what's that directly behind
your
BE turned. and whispered with my
lips close 10 hers:
"Jamo vofH Il lore you).
And SO with one letter Of French,
one word Of Latin and one Of Italian
did the trick.
The signorina is now my wife and
since she lives IN America has been
obliged to learn English. she consid.
ers it a harsh language and entirely
xt,a Rtkaa Far. lr4-araatrfro