The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1904-01-30
TRIP ON THE ATLANTIC
Mr.. Southard p. Warner Writes In
terestineIy OF His First Night in
Germany.

To The Free Lance
Alter having spent what seemed to mt
a short lifetime upon the ocean. our shil
docked at one Of the magnificent piers al
Bremerhayen ready to discharge her pas
sengers and cargo All Of the former, d
signs aud appearances are To be- given
credence, were undoubtedly, ~ the iamll
lar trade mark says. Made in Germany.
The steamship company did not cast
us adriit in Bremerhayen, AZ 1t had
agreed 10 land us in Bremen. After sub
hitting tOa severe ''prO-iorma customs
examination. we scrambled for srats in
the spt cial" bound Tor Bremen, where
we arrived about All hour and II hall
later
Asmy sole purpose in coming aboard
was To visit friend in Southern Ger
many. | Was naturally anxious To join
him as soon as possible Not arriving in
Bremen. however. until rather late III the
afternoon. found that IL WAS too late
to continue my journey that day, and
that "A STAY over night was unavoidable
knew Just about enough OF the TeutoniC
language 10 follow the crowd out ot the
Bremen railroad station. AM once IN the
streets To keep from under the wheels oI
wagons. carriages and street cais.
hoped 10 select II possible. hotel in
which United sta e-' was spoken. H.
naliy came across one which looked ~
thrifty that thought surely it must Al
least have been managed 10y an American
Alas. pom investigation ! found that
was mistaken
Although IL was nOeasy task ! at last
succeeded IN convincing the proprietor
that I wasnOt suffering from any mental
arrangement. but merely wished % oh
tain modest lodgings for the uight De
positing "A gilapidated looking dress suit
case. the worse for college dag, 10
most gorgeous room, ! determined "a
graf {, q hr chrohic restlessness Of which
am possessed by taking 10 rome o.
the sights Of Bremen; So, without guide
or Interpreter. Of started.
There happ'ned % be fsir going on
in Bremen at this time. 50. of course, ~
B.emeu il IA her large city, ! eyentu
Aliy came across il A. is the case az al
markets. or fairs. all over Gefmany. II
consisted for the most part OF booths ar
ranged GA either eide Of the principal
streets. Fakirs, side shows candy stands
merry go-ronnd. etc. Of even a lower r
der than some have seen at country
fairs in America. were there ! wandered
no one street aud down another listen
iug. though in vain. for an English word
The people on all sides urged me To buy
their goods. could tell this from The
way they would look at me, utter un-
familiar words, and point To their dis
plays. | tried TO look A. though under
stood all that they were saying and
merely shaking my head passed on
When had seen and heard all OF the fair
that desired. went back TO the hOte
and walked unto the dining room hoping
To yet something to eat. A ! entered a
waiter approached and said something
10 me in n very pleasant tone ! had no
idea what he was say ing, bot tknew from
his manner that be was not forbidiing
me To enter. so | took seat, picked up
a menu" aud proceeded 20 earch Tor
something that might resemble English
After deal Of =, searching ! finally sue
ceedei in getting soup. for which il must
take years to cultivate taste, beeisteaki
and an apple Although could not en-
10y the soup. felt very proud to think
that had been able To order it The
next course, as have said, was beef-
steak. must have ordered nearly q
whole beef, for the steak was about all
that the waiter could carry and looked
even large enough for boarding house
where the hOarders go long time be
tween meats" At any rate, would not
have TO 90 hungry even, though there
was not great deal OF variety TO my
meal. According TO my instructions, the
waiter next brought me an apple which,
to Judge from its size, must have been a
very Young one. The waiter laughed
and so did |, but the apple tasted just as
good as though it were not a case ol
that or nothing. Finally, | completed
this delightful meal and began to won
der how much it would cost. This wac
quite an important question as could
not tell from the strange hierOglyphics
on the menu" how much asindebted.
Not wishing to give the waiter too little
and thus get into wordless ION my
mart at least) argument with him. gave
him one OF the largest pieces that had.
He soon returned with change and gave
me about fifty pieces OF silver OF all sizes.
Az he had been very pleasant to me
thought that he deserved good Tip,
40 very generously picked out two
pieces that looked about the same as
American quarters and gave them to
him and walked out thinking that per-
hans had been too extravagant in Civ
ing him 80 much. My mind was pot TO
rest on this score, however, as | learned
that the sum total OF what had given
him was five cents.
could think of no better way oil pass
ing the evening by myself than by going
to the opera. where could understand
the music il not the language. | had
not the least idea where the opera house
was. but | walked up one street and
down another until | finally saw q
theatre did not know whether ! had
found the opera or net, but was afraid
tn run the risk OF not finding another
theatre. so | went in and walked up 70
the window with something about the
n,ice marked on 1t. As in the dining
room. | merely handed the man one OF
the largest pieces OF gold that ! had, for
which he gave me q ticket and another
handful Of change IL wouldn't have
done any good for me to have counted
II. 80 merely stuck it in my pocket!
which BY this time. WAS nearly full.
gave the ticket to the man at the door
and ne marched me all the way down to
the front row, where, after crowding my
way along in 'front.' Of number ofladies
| finally reached my seat and Sat down
to nv first performance in Germany.
The curtain soon rose, but from tbt
WAY the show started could tell that
had not drawn an opera. | had now
been in Germany long enough to recog
nize the facs that the stage language wa
German, but as to what they were say
ing had not the remotest idea. They
must have said some very funny things
for frequently the audience laughed in
most appreciative sort OF way. U
course, did not want to appear as en-
tirely without sense of humor, so too
t..sLo1 N heat | eouid undQr fhp piFcu m