The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-18
QUEER, old VIENNA
Dr.. Frank r. Wright Tells Of Some
Funny Customs Which Sur
vive There.
There Are No Latchkeys and Per-
sons Out Late Must Pay
to Get In.

OF humor, and more especially7ea north.
Westerner, can have more fun.is to the
twenty four hours in Vienna than any
other capital OF Europe, that is, If he
uses his eyes" said DR.. Frank r. Wright
yesterday.
DR.. Wright has just returned from a
prolonged period of study In Vienna anG
he talks very entertainingly OF the extra
ordinary customs that still survive from
the days of old Vienna that are%popularly
supposed to have passed away$with the
advance of modern progress. 3
1T Is strange combination Of the mod
ern and medieval, is the city of$Vienna, Z,
said Dr.. Wright. "Think of a city OF
l,5O0,O 900 inha bitants in which you can buy
membership on the stock exchange 70,
$4OO and the annual dues are only $25.
The methods of business in Vienna are
utterly obsolete. They arB TIE. the .itiiethods OF
over century ago. AS an instance of the
banking; system, 4 may tell you that hao
draft wanted cashed and took it tc
the leading bank. One of the officials OF
the bank glanced at the bit of paper
yaWned, and then examined me closely
as tho suspecting some evil intention or
my part Finally he remarked nonchal-
antly that if I cared to call again In the
afternoon he thought he would be able tc
arrange the matter for me.
Another little detail of my experience
q
revenue stamp affixed to draft before il
can be cashed. But who would suspect
the existence of an int1exible rule that the
stamp must be put on before the draft is
indorsed? However. if a foreigner is un-
lucky enough to indorse his draft before
he stamps it, he will have all sorts OF
official red tape to go thru with before
found that out. They fined him So for
1ndorslng before stamping, and the re-
marks he made seemed to astonish them
exceedingly. -
No Latch Keys Permitted.
1T is dead funny to an American study
Ing In that town to be solemnly denied the
privilege Of a latch key, but that is what
he .hnds himself up against. If he stays
out after 10 o'clock at night he has To
ring a bell at the barred and bolted door
and after an appalling delay the Haus Be
sorger clatters sleepily up: to the other
side of the door. There he pauses until
satisfied that the man on the other side
is legitimate resident Of the house. This
point settled he unbolts and unbars the
door and lets his caller in, receiving as his
reward 10 kreuzer. This is not tip. It
is his legitimate pay for performing an
office that has existed for centuries.
There are no lights in the halls of
these houses. After the Haus Besorger
has admitted the belated individual he
hands him candle of the sort we use for
birthday cakes In this country. The little
flame splutters and cutters in the
draughty, dark Railways and after feeble
efforts to sustain itself it usually goes out,
leaving the unfortunate In possession of it
on wrong floor in utter, pitchy black
ness. The Haus Besorger pays no atten-
ton to little difficulty Of this sort Once
he has let you in and handed you the toy
candle he has done his. full duty. .,,,
Il have often wondered whatsit would
cost to callna<ddoctor in the4night in vi
emma: forgot to sa sasyF asyFTthat it costs just
as much to tout of the house after ii
at night as-it5does to get in. 4 figured out
that If had tpottafhe and, wanted to go
to the drug store 1t would cost me 40
cents. h therefore made up my mind not
to have toothache and didn't so much
for the power of mind over matter
- o. Tips on Street Cars. 4 - - !
+ When you ride ON a street car in
Vienna you tip the conductor in. addition
to paying your regular fare. You hand
the conductor 2 kreuzer,~ whereuponf he
becomes extensively obsequious. A
Viennese car conductor one day held up
a street car full Of people for five minutes
While he searched his clothes to find me
a match, all because I had given him
kreuzer instead 2 in a moment of aberra-
tion. Two kreuzer is less than cent of
our money Wouldn't an American car
conductor look fierce If anybody handed
him penny for a bit of information.
think the funniest thing remember
to have seen was the Vlennese watering
cart. They use a water barrel on wheels
with an old fashioned water pot sprinkler
on the business end of it, the sprinkler
being at the extremity of three feet of
hose. An old man sits on the tail of the
machine and swings the hose to and fro
as the wagon moves. don't know how
long it would take to describe the spect-
acle of-a woman in short skirts carrying
q hod OF mortar up ladder. It is an in
spring sight. The women do ali the
rough work Hordes of them are en-
pioyed at common labor in building oper-
ations.'' So, -..-.-s