The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-10-17
Lie In BERLIN.

l..
house or pensionat Of Frau DR.. IL,
When / say house, Of course you under.
stand mean 0 tlat-a suite Of rooms on
one floor. All Germans live in this way
the poorer classes In the cellars. You
would never suspect, TO look at some oil
the elegant buildings, that they contained
so many families; but It rather spoils the
effect to sec little sign at one Of the
lower windows, "Bier, Waiter, Brod, !" &c.
Frau Doctor Is q jovial woman, refined
and intelligent besides-one who has not
been without trouble, but 1t Is never OBJ.
truded upon Others, sensible being that
she Is. And then she speaks such dc.
liclous German English She keeps a
nice clean house for English and Ameri.
can people, though I'm the only American
here at present. There are three spinsters
from England, a German countess and
daughter; and there Is also an English
parson, the most tiresome man you can
imagine. All the things Solomon says
about talking women can be applied 10
him twice over. But my conscience
smites me Tor so speaking OF the dear old
man, he Is so very kind. However, l owe
him many little grudges for the way he
speaks OF women.
We livein this way: Breakfast at hall.
past eight-Cofee and rolls; dinner at
one. I'm at the starving point before It
comes, and then II is at last such mix.
ture! can't imagine what the dishes
are, but generally try them to satisfy
my curiosity, If not my hunger. For
instance, cherries stewed with much Juice,
called cherry soup. Sometimes, for one
course, we havea mixture of meat, and
goodness knows what else, baked in a
large scallOp shell. l haven't tried the
sausage yet, nor the celebrated cheese. l
really cannot yet throw much light on
these dark dishes, but when l go home,
won't put up my two hands and ex-
cleim, "Oh! Tor some Of my French and
German cookery No one can do any
thing like 1t (and l don't believe they CAM
in America" But haven't finished my
day yet. At four o'clock we assemble
again Tor coffee and peculiar sweet, dry
toast. should have mentioned that at
dinner each has his and her bottle of
beer or wine, for which they must pay
extra, though they are said to be cheap
here; as to that, Pm not authority.
After coffee" at four comes supper, at
eight, consisting Of cold sausage, meats,
bread, cheese, stewed fruit, tea, &c. We
seldom leave the table before nine. 30
you see how much time Is here consumed
ut table-iour hours day at the very
least, Fancy an American doing 1t |
look back and think Of the men In Wall
street, rushing like mad to some banking
house or other, munching an apple on the
way. But they make it up at dinner, in
quality at least. Tho American has sub.
stantial, nutritious food, well cooked.
All for a homo beetsteak! The meats
are very poor here. 1t is hard to tell
whether one Is eating beef, veal, or NUT.
ton. The COWS are worked to the last
minute before they are killed. And then
how do you suppose they are killed
The women put them into a sort OF crib,
and smooth and pet and rub them until
the foolish COW lies down, and then, when
for lack OF space, she cannot get up, the
woman cuts the animals throat. This is
a fact, and could see it if l chose, but l
prefer to believe my friend, the parson,
who saw 1t.
l afford the good Frau constant fund
OF amusement with my verdant questions;
and as it does her and myself good, / 90
to her in all my perplexitles. At first l
was quite independent and seli.sufficient;
but, after many failures to solve the mys.
teries, learned to draw upon the Frau
Doctor TOR information, II for nothing
more than TO hear her laugh. It's the
very perfection Of a laugh and so infect.
GUS. II could laugh like that would
do nothing but go around the world and
laugh the blue devils out of all unhappy
mortals, and thus become the greatest
benefactor Of mankind.
You rarely ever sec carpets in Germany,
even in the kings Schloss. With my in.
quiring mind, ] was curious to know the
reason, and at last 1t came out Every
Friday there is such beating OF rugs as
you never saw out In the yard, so ap.
pealed to Frau Doctor for enlightenment,
and she said;
"Dey always beats all de rugs and
cloth ever Fridays in dis country, we
have so much moth. Achl dey is so
much trouble TO housekeeper! If one
does not watch, dey gets into allie furniture
an rugs, and dey Is so much troubles u
She told me, too, how all the working
people have one great day in May called
"Moth Fest" on which they make merry
because Of the work the moth brings
them. And that Is why we have bare
floors in Germany. These floors, how
ever, are very pretty and artististic, made
of various woods. But 10 an American
they do not look easy and comfortable.
One Of the first objects that attracted
my attention here was an article of fur
niture in each room, all varying in size
and style, something between a monu.
ment and q small church. lat last came
to the conclusion 1t must be prie.dieux
or something consecrated to the Virgin
or some other saint. It is made Of white
porcelain blocks, cemented together, the
whole arrangement covering two or three
leet of floor, and reaching nearly to the
ceiling. It is always highly Ornamented
in various designs and bas.relieis and
gliding. Well, what would you have
called II? It Is q stove built with the house
which cannot, Of course, be removed. The
fuel is peat, which looks like black bricks.
Beyond anything else in the world, my
heart goes ont to these German women
and dogs. Even in this enlightened city
Of Berlin the women and dogs do all the
work, while the men and horses play SOL
dier. InevCr knew before the meaning Of
the saying. Leading q dogs life," and
working like dog" It's the most mar.
velous thing In the world, the imm snse
loads the dogs carry-what we would
consider good load for a horse. In fact,
everything imaginable Is carted about by
twomen aud dogs You arc never aroused
at 4 o'clock in the morning by the un-