Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-07-07

where are they going >"
To Skipper street. "
GIRL MAKES SKETCH
The girl made'a grimace Of
diStaste, and said resolutely:
"Sit quietly on this bitt.
shall try To make a sketch OF
you"
what will you call it,"
"A sailor looking for a
ship" she replied. "Hook
your thumbs in your belt. and
sit still"
We spoke little. Winches
rumbled near and far. From
the river drifted a ragged con-
cert siren blasts. The eyes of
the girl were now intent and
strangely impersonal. They
Shuttled between the sketch
book and me. l became as
Self-consCious as a Schoolboy
whose secrets were being
dragged into the light. A
small cluster of StevedoreS
drew up, and glued their eyes
TO the girl.
One of them shouted adj
miringlY: "Ah. la garconne"
He brought the tips of his
toil-hardened' fingers to his
mouth, in the French manner,
releasing them with the sound
OF a vigorous kiss.
ABLE TO FINISH
The girl answered with a
miSchievous glance in their
direction, please, my friends"
she said in Flemish. "try not
TO disturb me-"
. After that, she was able 10
finish her sketch, while we
talked of many things.
/ called her Firelei. The
name fitted her well, l
thought. We met as often
during the following weeks as
| could contrive TO snatch a
few hours leave from the con-
slant rush of my duties. I
was hopelessly. vehemently in
love. l had considered love
a hypocritical habit of the
despised bourgeoiSie. But now
l wanted Firelei 10 be my
mate and comrade at any
price. She liked me. l was
of a different tribe than the
young men a girl of her type
was won't to meet.
She was at a loss 10 place
me in any of the traditional
CategorieS of the social order
she knew. In her eyes, l was
neither rgeoiS nor
worker, nor did / belong TO
the conventional boheme. She
saw me as -indiVidualiSt
and a rebel. And F'ierlei, like
most of postwar Europe'S
best youth. was a rebel. too.
a rebel against the conventions
of generation that had
forfeited the privilege 10 show
youth the way into the future.
PATH OF IT'S OWN
Youth had learned TO cleaYe-
A path of its own. This we
both understood and accepted.
But Firelei knew nothing of
the real nature of my work.
Communist" was a very
fashion bic word in the
Europe of 1890. 1t suggested
unwashed individuals rocking
of sweat and cheap coffee,
gathering into hordes and
yelling Down" in the streets.
] feared that she would sever
relations with me and flee if
l told her who L was.
Firelei was half German.
half Flemish. Her father was
a businessman in Mainz on
the Rhine. The German revo-
luton OF 1918 had come two
months after her eleventh
birthday. After her gradu-
alton from a lyceum, she had
attended art school in Frank
fort, and then in Munich.
where she7me an engineering
student with whom she ran
away on hiking tour across
the Alps.
Her father. who had gone
in pursuit, brought Firelei
back TO MainZ and Unanswered
her into accepting a job in the
advertising department of a
fashion house. She worked
for nearly three years in
Mainz, uninterruptedly at war
with her parents. The family
was Deutsch-N a tfon a /; it
IN owed in promonarchist
circles.
SHE DETESTS SOLDIERS
But Firelei deteSted soldiers
and all authority that lives on
a dogma and a uniform. She