Note 17 — X THE VALLEY OF THE THUR

Some of the jokes that were Hansi’s undoing were exceedingly harmless, as, for instance, the domestic revelations of Frau Professor Kugelberg, who answers to the correspondence column the following: “No, I never throw away the old trousers of my husband. I have had great success with cutting them skilfully and employing the least worn parts, in constructing for my young daughters charming and dainty corset-covers, which have the merit also of being very inexpensive. Trimmed with white ribbons, these corset-covers have quite a virginal air, but also with apple-green and cherry-red bows they can be made most attractive.” As for “Professor Knatschke” he is now a classic. The Alsatians have, in a very marked degree, what one might call the wit of border peoples, the tongue often being the only weapon left them.