River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-02-25


| Christmas in Germany, the home
of Santa Claus, is interesting and
intense. Every child in Germany,
rich or poor, has tree in his own
home. / wish you might have seen
the tens of thousands of trees of
fered for sale in the streets of Berlin.
The German ladies with whom we
live thought it high crime because
we were not planning to have tree
for Tom, SO we had one. They dec
Grated it, and we carried out the
German plan all through. The tree
was lighted at 4:30 p. m. Christmas
eve (pitch-dark here), the. presents
arranged, and Tom brought in.
How his eyes did stand out!
(Flowers only are given on Christ
mas Day.. We gave him a few
little things, but his German friends
loaded him down. We went Christ
mas Day to the home of an Amer
lean friend and there Tom had an
other treat together with six other
little people. Iacted as Weihnachts-
mann, and Tom thinks he saw the
real Santa Claus.
Tom is the only small American
boy in this part of the city, so far
as we know, and, for this reason he
is quite curiosity. He speaks a
little German which he has learned
from the people of the house (who
do not speak word of English) -
60 or IS common words-and the
Germans in the stores and else
where enjoy hearing him talk. He
has learned a few simple express
sions. Of these the following one
pleases the Germans most: "Zu
Hause bin ich echt Amerikanisch,
aber i'm Deutchland bin ich echt
deutsch." Pardon me if explain
and translate. All American ar
ticles shown in the store windows,
shoes especially, are marked "echt
amerik anisch," genuine American.
Hence Tom S answer is appreciated
when he is asked, as he often is,
whether he is Eng. or Am: AT
home, / am genuine American, but
in Germany, am genuine German.
German food is good, but we long
for some of the good things we have
in America. You cannot buy a pie
in Berlin, but you can get the most
remarkable assortment of good
things in a German bakery. One
cannot pass a bakery without stop
ping to look at the window display.
Some kind of cheese is a common
dessert. Goose is the favorite meat
of the Germans. It is marvel to
me how the meat markets dispose
of the quantities of geese they offer
for sale. We have not seen turkey
offered anywhere. A meat market
here keeps meat or fowl alone-not
both, so far as l can find. The
"meat" shop will have much pork,
some beef and goodly quantity OF
mutton. Then, too, large quantities
of deer are offered for sale, and in
the fowl market chickens, geese
and few ducks. The good apples
offered in the stores are all marked
"echt Amerikanisch" or "echt am
erikaner" as it appears in some
stores. Oranges come from Spain
and are cheap and good. You get
good sized ones for zoe a dozen.
One of the best articles of diet we
have found is the North Sea herring.
You get them from 6 to 10 inches
long, fresh, at so pfennige for a
"Mantel" (15), 1c each. Meats are
high, but fish cheap.
The German open air market is
most interesting everything i'm
aginable for sale. We often go.
Markets are held in certain places
on 2 or 8 days in the week. One
day we got in between ton Or so
of fish and about that much cheese
when suddenly Mrs. Butcher seized
her nose and ran. A big German
fish woman looked at me and said
"What! does the lady smell some
thing?" Mrs. B. will not touch
cheese, but am very fond of it. l
have now tried some ten different
kinds. One kind of fish the Ger
mans cook in beer-straight beer
and Mrs. B. has disqualified her
self for ever leading Carrie Nation
movement by insisting that the dish
is a good ore. | think / have not
told you that we are doing light
housekeeping, but this statement
has nothing TO do with the one that
precedes it.
We have been in Dresden and
worshipped at the shrine of the
Sistine Madonna. What shall | say