Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 286, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1917 — Humor in French AIsace. [ARTICLE]

Humor in French AIsace.

The will and the conscience of Alsace have never ceased to be French. Her national character Is completely differentiated from the German. The German obeys automatically. The Alsatian is fundamentally independent. The German has never possessed a sense of humor. Alsatian humor, recalling Gallic wit, is celebrated. Alsatian stories witness to this, as well as the caricaturists Hansi and Zislin. Ask, for example, of an Alsatian why he has preserved a German accent, even in speaking French. He will reply: “Our invaders have taken everything from ns, the accent is the only thing they have left us.” Or again: “What is the difference between an accident and a calamity?” “If a Prussian soldier falls into the Rhine, it is an accident,” explains the Alsatian, •hut if he escapes, it is a calamity!”— Bookman.