It is, we regret to say, an all too obvious fact that in foreign countries many Germans, as well as their offspring, disdainfully throw off the most valuable heritage of their ancestors, their beautiful mother tongue, or soon learn to deprecate it. After a relatively short time they speak a gibberish which is neither German nor anything else. This is done in spite of all admonitions and warnings that, by seeking to disavow their own origin they are forfeiting the possibility of commanding the admiration of any foreigner. This is all the more true, since they rarely learn to use the new language well, and, from their first few utterances, the country of their origin can be recognized.

On meeting a German, here or elsewhere, who still speaks German although his family has been settled on foreign soil for two or three generations and still 2retains the right appreciation of the German tongue, this praiseworthy exception deserves to be set apart as an example worthy of emulation.

These remarks are prompted by an appeal directed to his German countrymen in a paper that appears in Porto Alegro, Brazil, by a young German-Brazilian who is a cadet in the military academy of the country of his birth in Rio de Janeiro.

The author, representing the third generation of his family, writes in the article:

"Why do so many Germans want to deny their mother tongue? Many are ashamed to speak German. Why so? Is it perhaps a crime or a stigma to be a child of German parents and to call the great land of the Germans one's motherland? No man who is a real man is ashamed of his paternal origin, and especially we Germans have no reason to disown our descent. On the contrary! 3The German name still sounds well, here in the Brazil which we love. Why, then, forget, or even deny, the people from whom we are descended? The signs of German labor and of German industry won for themselves a good reputation in all parts of our great homeland. Only narrow-minded people fail to remember the fountain their blood came from and the beauties of their mother tongue. We are Brazilians, good citizens of our country, and faithful patriots. To be sure! For this reason, Brazil does not deny us the right to cultivate the German language and German culture. Freedom is given us as a matter of course to do that. Therefore, those who deny their mother tongue and their descent are sorry figures, indeed. Why do you want to lie about or deny your German descent, though your speech instantly betrays you? You are only making yourself ridiculous; all you are is half of a man who has sacrificed the best that is in him. Sure enough, we are Brazilians, born and raised here. But this does not imply--not by a long shot--that we should throw overboard our dear and wonderful mother tongue. Shame upon the one who peels off his mother tongue as an outworn garment. He is no 4man of honor."

This courageous declaration speaks for itself distinctly so as to need no further comment. Only one thing remains to be desired, namely, that it find a worthy appreciation, and before all the attention it deserves on the part of all to whom this message comes, especially here in these United States.