The record-union., 1897-02-21
MY FOREIGN FRIEND.

more or less imminent future exchanged
cards with native of some foreign part
in which luck or fate had found you?
Perhaps you have.
Perhaps months or even years after
wards you have been pounced upon by
your forgotten Foreign Friend, and have
had to bear the yoke manfully, as l had
to do. If so, then you will mentally
shake hands with me and say, ''Bravely
borne, SIR or Bear up, man; it might
be worse"
And so it might. My visitation from
abroad might have come from Asia in
the form of cholera, instead of from the
Black Forest in the present shape OF
Karl Bronner
Karl was esteemed great man, a man
to be conciliated, fattered, listened to,
and provided with free drinks by the
humber folk of his native Unterberg, in
the Black Forest aforesaid.
And Unterberg was by those same
simple folk held to be an important
township, and one to be considered in
the councils Of the wide world. Surprise
and regret for the blindness Of the Gov
ernment used to fill their breasts when
SOAAAN
sary by the newspaper of the place, the
'Unterberge Zeitung," was not at once
effected by those in authority.
You see, Unterberg had not long been
united with the more benighted portion
of the world by the little single-track
railway; and of It's good people, the
boldest had never pushed his explora-
ton further than the junction of Open
burg, SO that if they had not the feeblest
notion of the character of such villages
as London, Paris and Berlin, they can
not be much blamed
Touring Englishmen and stray Ameri-
cans who had got into the wrong train
and been forced to spend a night there
considered Unterberg a mere Black
Forest village and Karl a mere local
inn-keeper. But they did not deny that
the village was charmingly situated
and they were bound to admit that Karl
knew all the best points of view, and
could tie troutfiy with any one in the
Forest
And he gave us excellent vegetable
soups, fish, outlets, omelettes and other
forest fare, cooked and served ire
proachably in the Forest style Every
one was we'll pleased with the catering
at the Adler" with the exception OF
Karl, who had ambitions, as the de-
Velopment of this tale will show. He
would say to me, on the average twice a
day:
"Ach! but have here the greatest ho-
tel in all Unterberg, and 1 shall be Bur
gomaster certainly when Stanislaus
!,
old. Yes, he is old, too, very old, and
does not that for Unterberg which
should be done by the Burgomaster
When I shall be Burgomaster-and
Stanislaus is an old man already, again
then. will / do that which shall make
you English come to Unterberg and stop
In our hotels-in my hotel above all
Ach! yes, for the English are rich. Every
one knows that the English are so rich
and they will spend much money with
us, and we shall become rich also-my-
self the richest, becausesI shall be Bur
gohaster, and my hotel is the greatest -
He always insisted upon speaking
English, so that he might practice the
language in readiness for the day when
England should rise to a man and de-
scend upon Unterberg to the profit of
it's inhabitants. And he spoke the
tongue we'll, too, and loved to quote
from the Merry Wives of Windsor" !"
whether the question were apropos or
not. Sometimes, indeed, he became a
little confused over the word wives. "
and would speak of the Merry Women
of Windsorls-b he meant well, which
was the main thing.
For three days I walked and ffshed in
the neighbOrhood, and then went on
| elsewhere. But please note here that I
duly paid my rechnung, and was there
fore under no obligation to Karl In
view of what followed it is we'll to un-
derstand this.
The usual frosts and rains of the
English summer had twice given the
farmers reasonable excuse for grum-
bling. and 1 had long ago fogotten
Karl, save as an occasional reminis-
cence when anything recalled the Black
Forest and the Unterberg to my mind
But Karl had not forgotten me, nor
had he lost the visitors book in which
l had foolishly entered my name and
address. And suddenly he reminded
| me of his existence, and of "the deep
friendship and respect which he held
| for me since two years.
| The reminder came in the guiSe of a
| letter, bearing the Hamburg postmark
"Hamburg?" I mused, turning the en-
velope about Hamburg? What
does anyone in Hamburg want with
me? Oh, 1 suppose it's one of those
wretched lottery prospectuses. Well,
I'm not such an ass as to take tickets
in one of those things
suppose 1 may as we'll see how much
the tickets are They're probably swim
| dies; but still, if the tickets are
only a few shillings," etc, etc.
| No doubt you know how my thoughts
ran Many of you, probably, have
gone through it yourselves. You begin
| by saying you will none of it; the an
| nouncement of a prize of f1O,00O
catches your eye; you say. "Ah we'll
| it's only few shillings, anyway, and
| if it is genuine, l may win," etc, ETC.
You take the tickets-and you draw
| blanks! Then you have lost your
money; but you have the ineffable
satisfaction of being able to say, Il
told you gso.''
| Lottery? I wish 1t had been a lot
| terry. Then 1 should only have lost a
| few shillings at the worst. The let
| ter ran:
Dear Mr.. -: I have the honor to
| inform you that I come from my town
of Unterberg (Schwarzland) to London
to learn correctly the habits and tastes
of the English peoples. I will that
know what shall be the food they will
prefer and the manner of its cooking
and service, also in which fashion the
walters should be dressed. 1t is in
my intention to make all things at my
| Hotel Adler (Which is the best in Un-
| terberg-I send in this some cards of il