The herald., 1897-02-14
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
!: An IMPRISONED POPULATION
gAaAaAAAAA4AAeAeA4A%AseaAS

If It suddenly came to light that it had
been an old an honored custom, say in
ancient Nineveh for all the inhabitants
to be imprisoned in their houses during
eight hours out of the twenty-four, ana
to be released only on payment of a
fine, what a sensation the discovery
would create in all circles of the public,
learned and unlearned! Yet this very
ancient and honOred custom obtains at
the present day in no less city than
Vienna, and nobody seems agreeably
or disagreeably surprised thereat except
the people most nearly concerned, VINO
now and then wriggle and struggle as
vehemently as an eel on a hook, and as
vainly. At the present moment, in the
short intervals of Austrias valiant
struggle with Hungary to discover
which of the two is united to the other,
the Viennese are agitating in favor of a
seven hours Imprisonment instead OF
eight. For a time it seemed as If the
eight hours confinement We're doomed.
But the janitorS, who owe about half
their income to fines levied under The
rule, protested vehemently, predicted
ruin to the Viennese, and ended by pre-
serving the status quo.
The facts are simple and curious
At 10 o'clock at night, and generally a
few minutes before, every street door in
the capital is locked by the male or fe-
male doorkeeper, or hausbesorger. In
Baden and smaller towns, where there
is little temptation to be out late at
night, the hour is 9 in winter and spring
and II when the days are long and
sunny. After the closing time, which is
nowhere later than TO- nobody can get
in or out without paying a fine of ten
kreutZerS, which is the Austrian equiva-
lent of two pence, to the jantor. This is
not heavy sum for those who indulge
In late Observation-Disclosures or other
but the tax is irksome in other ways
First of all, it often happens that
the night-walller is without the 10 kreut-
zers, and then the results are unpalat-
able. But it is still more disagreed BILE
to lind that the door-opener is sound
asleep when you ring the bell, and the
wea-her-there is often a special prov
idence or Nemesis in these things. too
is unusually irritating. Just fancy q
fashionable member of society returning
from a pleasant little supper, and being
then condemned to stand in blizzard
for twenty long minutes, alternately
tugging at q bell, hurting Scriptural
texts at the heads of sleeping door
openers and opening his coats, exposing
himself to the danger of pneumonia, just
to- get ready the 10 kreutzers.
But the way that jail-bribing ar
rangement sometimes works out Is cal
culated to provoke canonized saint
One of the present agitators in favor of
the seven hours movement said that If
justice were done, every tenant of fiat
should be allowed to possess 1atchkey
to the street door. But the man was re-
garded as a red revolutionist, and his
subversive ideas secuted by staid, re-
spectacle citizens. STILL some Of the
facts he broughtf onward We're instruc-
tive-English readers may find them
even entertaining. He is married, this
dangerous regormer, and, like many
| married people, has sometimes trouble
with the baby. One evening the inno-
| cent heir to red radicalism fell i'll and
the doctor was sent for. Then this is
! what followed:
The servant girl went out thinking 1t
| had not yet struck the weird hour of 10
O'clock. But she was mistaken; it had.
| So she waited till the door-opener, who
was just then engaged in extracting one
| of his wife'S wisdom teeth, had leisure
| to come and open the door. Having nc
| 10 kreutZers in her pocket, she signified
| that her master would settle the matter
in the morning, and then sailed thought.
| leSSly out into the silent street. 1t was
! only there that she recollected that the
same explanation would not hold goo6
| at the physicians house, where hard
| cash would be ruthlesSly insisted on. She
! ran back, thereorfe, to get the needfu
j kreutzers and on re-entering her mas
| ter's house incurred a ned debt of two
! pence. Having received a supply OF
nickel coin and volley of abuse from hel
| irritable master, she sailed forth sec
ond time on the Self-same errand. At the
| physicians door she paid twopence fol
! going in and twopence for going out
| then twopence for the doctors going Out
and the same amount for his coming
back. Arrived at her masters dwelling
! she was fined the usual 10 kreutzers fol