The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-11-30
Vienna Before the Exhibition.

10 Europe but it was the very last city 81
where one would have dreamed OF holding
IN International Exhibition. 1t was aris-
tocratic far more than industrial or com, n
mercial. The fathers of the city assembled !;
for council in q hOmely building In the II
narrow Wipplinger Strasse, building
whose unassuming appearance was quite II
In keeping with the unpretending habits OF 9
as If they were we'll to do; there were few
beggars to be seen, except those who hung
on to the skirts of the Church; but, ex.
cept for occasional outbursts of feudal .
pomp and magni6cence, there were not
many signs OF great fortunes, and none OF
colossal wealth. The Bourse, a modern
institution, was more humble than the old
town hall. Tho brokers burrOwed away IN
lanes and e-alieys. The old.fashioned
banking business was conducted in respect
dingy second floors. Branches of the
greatest moneyed houses In Europe man.
aged their affairs quietly In suites OF
apartments in their private mansions. Inc
shops, like the cafes, were dark ana unat-
tractive; the shopkeepers eat dosing be-
hind their counters at noon,, and, fol-
couple of hours afterward, buying and
selling seemed at stand.still. Except for
big brewery or two, there were few
signs Of manufactures, and scarcely soli-
of the churches to pollute the clear atmos- |
phere with its smoke. The city itself was
perhaps less taking in it's exterior than any
capital Of similar pretenaions, aud strang-
ers were 90 little In the way OF coming to
to receive them. The best hotels were
sinRularly oheerless, and offered you few
Inducements to prolong your stay. Each
of them had its provincial clientele, which
1t chiefly relied upon one was Aunga-
rian house another was affected by the
Bohemian or Moravian nobility while
third had its old. established connection
among merchants from Trieste and the
shores Of the Adriatic. Each seemed to
} consult the tastes OF its country customers
, by making the contrast between city and
3 country as violent as might be. Those like
the Arohduke Charles and the Munsch
were excellent In their own way, with
Q capital cuisine and great civility. But the
4 brightest of their bedrooms were so many
!. nurseries for the blue devils. You seldom
Q saw o sunbeam In the summer time, al.
j though the thermometer might be marked
Q 9Oo In tie dark courtyard and you were
l. stihed, with your party of ladies, in the
3, among the Austrian gentlemen, who were
10 smoking with closed windows. English
h visitors fiocking to an exhibition would
% have found Themselves strangely depoyse,
at had they taken mp their quarters In one OF
4. the numerous second class inns that laid
or themselves out for the citizene from pro-
a. vincial towns, and the agriculturists who
" had come on pleasure-t trips to the capital
It, In the Stadt Gratz. Stadt Prsg, Seadt Con,
ID etantinople, you found sanded floors and
q, basins although there were capital yea
I'd outlets, to do them justice, and excellent
Of Vosiauer aud Adelsberger. Had you
<. looked ont for lodgings, and found them
as you would have learned to appreciate the
Of comforts of the inns, although, according
r tosthe custom of the city, You lived indie
9. pendent Of domestic cookery, and wen
an abroad for all your meals. The palaces o
al the nobility were gaunt and forbidding, al
IN though, in these at least, there was epac'
Of enough and to spare a. for the oour
N. qeoisse, they huddled themselves together
ed floor above floor, in their many-storiet
Va. houses, in confined accommodation tina
do WAS gradually growing more costly. Inc,
he eked out rents that were relatively exoroi
ia. tant, by offering closet, OF double
la bedded cabinet" on unreasonable terms
ms Notwithstanding that Vienna has long bee
nv q city of upholsterers, and, although on
re- of it's suburbs is almost peopled by tn
x. guild, it appeared that the furniture
for sculptured in walnut-wood, and paddle
,e- with velvet, was made for export rattle
no. than for home consumption. Why, indeed
An should q frugal householder replace n
liza venerable herloomsf In their piceuresqu
the tatters and their neutral tones, they hal
ril. moniEed go admirably with the gloom an
ri. the dinginees that kept the secrets OF the
,ck duapidetion and decay.
III eUauGerS "eA0 SPs ~ H0 -
are terra dull the aspect of things out of dool
Of was by no means particularly lively
them. The beet of the cafes and restd'
ice. rants were low and dark, close aud GROVE
,re- ed to OVERLOOKING. The most handsome
in the street were tall aud narrow, and few
on the thoroughfares could boast of the paw
ing menta. OF q wet day it was rs much
are your clothes were worth, to say nothing
men your life, to run the gauntlet of the ecu
lille naSea in the Karuthner Strasse. The rec
nds less coachmen, swayiug from side 70 sic
ILL with loosened reins and slouching seal
nee ratified through the sea Of mud that few
ned in ahowers over the pedestrians aud &
Of shop windows. The drip from the hous
IT il tops ruined your hat, and, in the mob Il
ios,led you, it was idle to dream OF holdi
i'm up an umbrella. 1t is true the richl
the wooded envirOus of the city were deligh
the full; but it was a long drive to reach {
man nearest of them through the mean Al
EIo. struggling suburbs. IL is true there wa