The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-27

1t is always pleasure to nave an ln-
novation in the Dolly Dalrymple de-
partment" by a contribution from some
clever pen, and 1t is with great pleasure
we produce today a story which DR.. Burr
Ferguson has written and which will no
doubt prove of great interest to the read
ers of these columns.
Particularly is the story apropos just
at present, since Judge Gary has sent out
the splendid news about the projects and
plans of the Steel corporation in this Vi
cinity along this line. although in more
romantic vein than plain old iron and
steel" cannot fail to please.
Dr. Ferguson tells his story very
uniquely and It is quite out OF the beaten
path and is marked with a considerable
degree of originality and charm.
Hans was a moving, walking commen-
daticn of the thoroughness Of the scope
and the breadth of mental training given
the Germans of the upper classes in their
schools and universities. Hans father
was the worlds great authority on the
life and works of the man VINO did the
same thing for koen-ssburg that Mr..
Schlitz did for Milwaukee. And in pass
ing did you ever read the Critique of Pure
Reason? No. Do SO and that light htere-
ture will leave you in wonder and ad-
miration at the fgurative feet of any man
who knows just what Kant meant,
Herr Professor Won Buelow thought
we'll of the learning and training given
in the study of language, believing that in
the association with ones fellows, there
was no way to so quickly learn his point
of view. to know what he knows as to
talk to him or maybe write In ones ma
tive tongue. To gain this learning no
plan commended itself so much as the
study of the language on the ground OF
the people who used that language.
A summer home on Lake Como gave
Hans his Italian enance as naturally and
easily as If it weren't study at all. so
that in his adolescence when he took his
favorite drive to Tivoli, out past
Hadrians bayou theatre and over the
Apprian way, with the remains of the
a little dinner in the little embowered
cafe, under the the shadow of the re-
mains of the temple of the Vestals on
one side and the lalls carrying water to
the Fountain of the Trevi on the other,
his companion, looking at the scores of
student duels on his handsome face,
would say to himself or maybe herself.
He looks German, funny, but he uses an
Italian. maybe he is the re-embodied
spirit of Jan old gladiator from the north,
who used to kill Christians in the Colise-
L..
and fight Rome's best for the ribald
crowd on Saturday nights"
To take on the language of the courts
and good stories, a little cottage was
taken at Versailles almost in sight and
hearing of the fountains in their play
cnce a month. Within short walk -
the little cottage in the woods, beaming Z
happily, the same name as does one of
Birmingham's movies where Hans
might stroll, gaining not only knowledge
of the language, but the wonderful atmos-
phere. with its wealth of sentiment, that
in this same spot, under these same trees,
over this same turuf. was Louis and his
court wont to have their best days, the
old ballad says making merry. drinking
of Tom and Jerry" but We've always had
copper on that rhyme.
When as the aeeting years continued
to pass Hans made his visits to the town
that put an is on q pear. thereby max
ing it peach, whether he was sitting on
a red cushioned settee, eating sale in Mar
guerys, in Montmarre in an atelier off
the boulevard, or out at the Duke de
Maulsenin's county place for the begin
ming of next week. Week ends are tire
some, we in Corey are strong for week $
beginning. his accent was that acquired
only by those who learn 1t in early youth
and from the masters who teach the
young of the circle of people known as
that of the haute monde. Hans was
filled with Gallo sentiment, vast knowl-
edge of French paintings from Bourgerean
to Whistler, and the aims of the art
of the cubists and in his native lam
guage wished the nation no harder
death than that of choking.
Hans acquired his English accent and
tastes In that centre of life on this frag-
leicestershire, where the fences are stiff,
often called the world, London. That
town which thought It's sons and money
teeps In intimate touch with all the rest
Of this fragment. After this study in
Leicestershire. where the fences are stiff
London. a sea son at Melton Maubray in
the going good and the houses very deep
through the heart, Hans rounded out MS