The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-08-18
by ELSIE PoMERoY McELRoY.
VIENNA, July 81, 1898.


We had time of it crossing the Austrian
entirely on what the noveliSts call
"wOmanfy intuition" to known, hen to get
of the trains over here, for one is closed
up in little carriage with two or three
other people who do not know and the
guards rarely call, the stations, and when
they do, thick-voiced Germans yelling
"SchkenditZ' or "NyiregyhaZa" are no
great comfort. However, at the proper
time, we had a feeling that it must be
Bodenbach, the frontier town where Our
luggage was to be examined, and gather
ing up our rugs, valiSeS, umbrellas and
Baedekers in one hand we held our tickets,
baggage checks and trunk keys in the
other, and made our way to the benches
OF the cuStOmS-houSe to spread out our be-
ionglngS there. The Joke of it all was
that, though our trunks were brought be-
lore uS-and, incidentally, were opened up
side down, at which we dropped all pre-
tence of speaking German and shrieked
at those porters in English and finally
were satisfied Neither trunks nor va
Uses received more than perfunctOry ex-
aWination; but paper bag containing a
trio OF dry roils-all that was left of our
iuncheon-waS inspected a half-dOZen
times by the officers. They seemed to
suspect the worst of that paper bag.
At first, being in some fear of this
austrian Government OF which we knew
nothing, and because we did not know
exactly what the examination might bring
forth, we only smiled a little to see the
green uniforms, and clanking swords
charge on the bag with the three dry rolls;
but 1t got to be laughable soon, and then
the officers who had examined it stood
aside to watch the others pounce on it,
and, finally, to everybOdy's amusement,
they began labelling it.
The little labels which are attached TO
examined baggage and authorize it's en-
trance into His MaieSty'S dominion are
much priced by inexperienced travellers
as evidences of their wanderings into far
countries, and that day we had every
thing labeied-even our purses and
BaedekerS
Having entered Austria with a Joke on
the officials, we had renewed courage
to attack the difficulties of new money,
new customs and almost new language
Tor the AuStrianS do not use the same
German exactly as the Berliners, and the
street-car conductors, policemen and
"Dienst men, which be serving men, who
are Government officials, wear red hats,
Lounge at the street corners, and may be
hired to run on brands or carry trunks,
all speak dialect that would puzzle the
German dictionary itself to translate
As for money here-as the Baltimore
girl said-three kreuzers make cent and
a quarter and two he1lers make kreuzer;
Jul tIidt, "fIiIc pIODdDiy t&dCtly True, ulC
not help me to settle my accounts with
her when, she had paid the hackman.
had paid the restaurant bill, and now il
was necessary to find two thirds of com
plicated sum of guldens, krOues, hellers
and kreuZers, and then subtract and add
the Outlandish things. Adding and sub
tracing are difficult enough in the United
States, but when it comes to doing it with
lot of money that is a mixture of Hunga
rlan and Austrian coins, for the first few
days the Intellectual strain is enormous
One soon grows used to it, though, anC
helleTs and filters are our daily cOmpan
ions and serve us many pretty turn.
yIENNA's ARCHITECTURE.
Vienna surprises one continually. 1t is
not lovely as Berlin is, although there are
some very handsome buildinpS-many
indeed, that seem finer architectural CON
ceptiOns than any in Berlin, but, in the
German city, the general effect is of love
illness, and every little bridge and arch is
beautiful.
The city's beauty seems to be the OBJ
iect of much loving care. Indeed, it is told
that at the completion of one of the great
churches 1T was seen that nearby build
ing was out of harmony with the archi-
lecture of the church; that when the eye
wandered past the walls and towers it
was annoyed by the lines of the other
building, so the Government remodeIed
the satisfaction of a new and handsome
front at no cost to himself. Vienna has
It's great cathedral-Saint Stephens-So
crowded into the busy part of the city
that one can hardly look up to its beauti-
full towers, and the quaint carvings and
paintings on it's outer walls are brushed
by the passerby who walks the narrow
sidewalk and the clattering omnibuses
spatter mud on the old gray walls
To one from the New World the cathe-
dral is a continual wonder. 1t is beauti-
full, but it does not seem like a church
The great, lofty, ShadOwy space, with
patches of violet or rose light coming
through faraway windows, falling on the
cold stone floor; the Virgins shrine, all
lighted and with a few peasant women
praying before it; a young priest locking
a great, changing door behind him and
coming down, all uncOncerned, to dust the
shrine OF Saint Joseph; the great tombs
in the paving; a priest half-seen as a
penitent whispers his sins away in the
confessional; a tall. bearded, silent man
with a pointed tasseled hat and a scarlet
and silver coat who stalks about with a