The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-10-24
IT is A CITY OF MIRTH
HISTORICAL VIENNA is HAPPY NV
ERERY HOUR IN THE "a.
Vtennese, whether Rich or Poor. 10
Determined 10 Be Jolly, and
He Succeeds.

will; call Berlin delightful London. in
instructive and Rome brilliant but what
ever else you may say about it call Wen
ma the happiest city in the world
The sightseer, lost in the beauties of
the Prater or in the historical vistas
that Vienna presents, never peers deeply
into the life of this great metropolis. 1t
has absolutely nothing of the stolidly
German about it, and nothing of the pc
cullar gayety of Paris, but it is sui gen
eris, or rather "Viennese" to the core.
It's streets present a cosmopolitan ap-
pearance, and while the Englishman and
the American, frequently met with. give
it part Of this international coloring, the
bulk of it comes from its own national
tiles, its Hungary, it's Tyrol, its Bohemia,
its Galicia. But underneath this all is
"Das Wiener Leben' the spirit that looks
at the bright side of life only that fair
~ shakes with laughter at its own crea-
TONS and bubbles over with mirth when
you look at it. Out of this world of hap
plness came the delightful pen pictures
of Sapphir and the tone symphonies OF
Strauss.
To begin with, the real Viennese talks
n German that has melody and mirth in
1t at all times. He has long since for
gotten the correct endings of German
verbs and nouns, and has created dia-
lect that is one amending maze of dimin-
utives. No wonder, if you understand
German, that yOu laugh the minute you
near it. 1t is like the happy prattling of
a child, and you wonder if it is not mere
affectation. But mol These faces belle
the charge.
To get first glimpse at this life go to
the Prater. There is nothing in the wide
world to compare with the Prater. unless
1t be to say it is the Coney Island of New
York and the Bots and Hyde Park OF
Paris and London. all rolled into one,
with something added that is solely
Niennese Here are the carousals the
museums, the freaks for the little ones.
There is the great drive for the rich.
Yonder is the concert hall with it's great
dancing pavilion. About this are the
Mariankas the Babustkas. the Naninkas. :,
clad nattily i'm their finest toys, waiting
for some military friend to invite them
to dance.
All Color and Life.
What color What life. IT is a con
stantly changing panorama of action
Here is where one strikes the typical
Viennese "drahr." and what this means
is somewhat difficult Of expla nation, even
for the old-time Viennese. A drain" is
q gourmet at his meals, a "spieler' par
excellence at the dance. never caring for
the morrow if he has an obalus, or coat.
that he can pawn today. He is the first
individual who, when he hears the first
faint tones of a Strauss waltz, cries out:
ITO hades with my clothesl I'm going
to heaven now!
On Sunday the Prater fairly groans IN
der its weight of happy couples. Then
it is that the ladies' orchestras enliven
the time with their brilliant music, and
the SlaV girls are out in all the GORGEOUS
ness of their home attires. and even
Prague has sent its beauties to add great
zest to the gayety. 1t is q babel of ton
CUES, but every now and then one hears
the pretty Viennese diminutves and one
realizes that it is after all the Prater
The Little Prater.
On the left bank of the Danube there
is what is called the Little Prater. Some
call it FRANCIS Joseph Land in honor
of the emperor but the former title is
more popular. The lovers fill the gon-
dolas and song upon song strike the ear.
This part Of Vienna is filed with fish
restaurants In fact you pick your
swimming fish out of the tank, and it Is
killed, scraped, fried and served before
you in the space of 10 minutes.
The Prater, as well as its little name
sake, reaches its height of gayety in May.
practically the advent of the opera sea-
son, and is perhaps just as brilliant as
the days of the Derby, now as popular an
event in Austria as the famous race OF
England. r hen there is the flower show
and parade founded by Princess Meter
Mich, i'm which the richest and noblest in
Austria's realm take part
The Nocturnal Resorts.
AT night the foreigner, as a rule, goes
to the "Petersplatz" for Il glimpse of noe
he has seen it at it's best. But the old
timer viii never take you there. for, as
he remarks, "Es list NIGHT Wienerisch"
Dit is not Viennese). Instead he will take
you into strange corners of the town
and of a sudden will thrust you into
some great brilliantly Illuminated coffee
house and dance hall, and you will have
the Prater life all over again. only gayer
and livelier if that IS possible.
There IS another view of happy Vienna
which the traveller seldom sees-its coun-
try excursions. its family parties The
preparations for an event of this charac-
ter border on the ludicrous. Generally
two or three families club together. and
Tor two or three days previous the house
wives vie with each other in cooking ana
baking all the dainty viands that go to
make up an Austrian feast. Each family
brings it's own supply Of wine by no
means small, and so the chartered car, or
half-car, requires about as much space
for the food as for the people that are
to enjoy it.
The foreigner is never up early enough
Sunday morning to get good view OF
these excursions. Let him 20 to the do
pots, however, and he will imagine that
an Vienna is about TO desert. They leave
the city by thousands going to the
neighboring resorts Of Grinzurg. Kloster-
neuberg Risamberg, Nussdorf, and a
hundred others as well known.
In the evening they are back even gay
er than when they left and so I some
times wonder if it is not often all true
that these are the only people in the
world who know how to live.