Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-09-06
THE HERR BARON"

lIt VI buS VIVA
Each nationality forming part OF our
heterogeneous population represents lit
tie world by Itself, ooeyIng its own social
| laws and customs, and jealously main
| ing all its peculiarities OF these nation
| alties by far the most numerous, best or
ganized and most firmly combined by
| common interests, recollections, tastes
| and ways of Ike, Is the German. Stats
tics prove New York to be the third of the
great German cities of the world; and as
| everybody knows. there are whole dis
tricts in the city in which knowledge of
the German Language is much more nece'-
sary than of the English. The character
istic feature of these districts is undoubt-
edly the beer saloons, which are as the
stars in heaven. These establishments
scarcely ought to be designated by name
which in France is associated with re
membranes of powdered wigs, hoops,
and Madame de Sevigne, while in America
| il is suggestive of cocktails, stale tobacco
smoke and spitt0Ons. On entering one OF
the popular German beer houses you i'm
mediately become aware of the fact that
you are III a wlrthsChaft and not III sa
| loon
One night in passing through one of the
quiet streets which run from Second to
| Third avenue and which some ten years
ago still enjoyed the reputation nf being
up town. one particular wlrthschaft,
which had not happened To notice before
attracted my attention from its peculiarly
snug look The narrow entrance was half
concealed by the thick foliage of a creep
| ing vine, from behind which a lantern,
with the inscription, III. GOrr-Wirths-
Chaft,n WAS barely visible A small white
sign above the door exhibited the word
"Sommergarten." From inside. female
voice was heard singing an old German
song, accompanied by piano. Neither
the singer nor the instrument seemed to
be very much out of tune.
All this had promising look, so |
stepped into the establishment. The bar
room aud the restaurant were deserted
An open door led out into the back yard
which had been converted into summer
garden, or rather into a bower of ivy and
other creepers. Every available place in
| the garden" was filed with small round
tables, and every chair at these tables
seemed at present to have already its Oc-
cupant. On my entering. however, a
fleet footed waiter came flying toward me
and directed me 10 a small table, stu
ated behind the piano. which had hitherto
passed unObserved by the other guests
| sat down, and was just about To give
my order when the mrager form Of the
waiter who had welcomed ME was sud
denly thrust aside by a superior force,
and i'll his stead appeared a porty, sol
emn-looking man, clad with the most cor
rect and irreproachable elegance, dress
| coat, white waistcoat, white necktie, a
napkin wound round his right hand-in
a word, model of a waiter such as any
J first class cafe from DelmOnicO's TO Big
mons, might have been proud of
You can go, Franz" this majestic man
said TO the other waiter in a mellow,
sonorous voice; a will serve this gentle
man myself"
The combination Of condescending ci-
Witty ard self importance he contrived to
throw in:o this one word myself" was
overwhelming In the presence of this
majestic official my original intention Of
ordering modestly "one lager" melted
away like wax felt it would be almost
a sacrilegr to ask for so little OF so great
being-it would he like asking Jupiter
| for one of his thunderbolts to light ci
gar-tte! | muttered bashfully, a pint
! bottle of Rhine wine, If you please. !"
-
as majestically as he had come. He had
scarcely disappeared within the restaur-
ant when a strange seIf-consciOusness
| Crrpt upon HE of having seen him some
where before in very different circum-
stances, where and when it was impos
! sible for me TO recollect. Somehow or
other, by q mysterious association Of
IDEAS. pictures OF a time long past, of bet
for ar,I Iav in
ory. l saw again the boulevards of Paris,
with all their hustle at the hour when
the theatres close. l felt once more about
me that atmosphere Of feverish excite
ment, of restless life. which surrounds
the great Babylon Of Europe. Had seen
that man at some cafe in Paris, No, It
WAS not that. | could not have remem-
bered for five long and eventful years
such triiing circumstance.
All of a sudden a name flashed upon
me, Waldheim Count Won Waldheim-
was the man this waiter reminded me Of
and to whom he bore a most striking re
semblance. Poor Waldheim. he was one
of the maddest vivuers Of Paris. As open
handed and generous as he was reckless
always in good spirits he was the uni
uersal favorite of that tout Paris whose
| center is the Boulevard des Italiens
How well remember the last supper
| the poor fellow gave US In the corner
room Of the Cafe Anglais! There were
not more than a dozen of us-three or
four ladies in the number who, by
virtue of their beauty and their diamonds,
were the leading stars" in that strange
hemisphere. | do believe that was the
merriest night ] ever passed in my life A
sort Of frenzy Of childish lightheartedness
| seemed to have seized on all the CUES Is at
that funeral banquet" as Waldheim
called il. So uprOarious were we in our
merriment that about 8 o'clock in the
morning Il sergeant de vile sent up one
of the walters to request us either to shut
the window or make less noise, as We
We're disturbing the neighborhood. AT
daybreak Waldheim sprang up from his
seat, filled his glass for the last time, and,
opening the balcony door, pointed TO the
| boulevards stretching quiet and deserted
at our feet in the dim, gray light OF
dawn.
My last toast, ladies and gentlemen, i"
he exclaimed, lis to this great living mon
ster Of Paris, which has devoured me and
! SO many other! For thee, in thy enchant-
ing embrace, have lost all possessed in
the w"rld. beggar now. bid thee fare
well! MOriturus, Caesar, te saluto"
He emptied his glass and threw il out
| Of the window on the pavement below
Then he took leave of US, max
ing us promise not to follow him
| and not TO search for him during at
least three days, and was about to quit
the room, when Valentine Ghemar, one
Of the ladies present, well-known oper-
| eta singer of the time, sprang up, and
tiinging her arms impetuously around
| Waldheim's neck, exclaimed:
You are man, brave man, and
love you! Wherever you go, let me go
with yOu."
My dear little Valentine" answered
Waldheim with a sad smile, no romance,
if you please! The times OF love in a cot
tage are passed. Here in Paris, il the cot
tage took the shape of little hotel In the
Champs Elysees, ii might all be very we'll
But where am now going things will
look ,iIfferent it will be uphill work.
herce latte Win want ana death, ana
not life you, delicate hot house flower,
III ght share with me. No, no; let me go"
M. said rranfiy 1isanraripy hi,nSalf