The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1905-03-11
a WINTER JAUNT.
Closing Chronicle of Our Chiefs Trip to St
Loufs-Back from snow-elad Mis-
souri, to sun-kissed Louisiana.

II New ORLEANS, La, March 5, 1905.
DEAR CHIEF:
Chapter II Of these chronicles, whic
was printed in your issue of last Sal
urday, left this staff correspondent
and his companions vending their wa
towards the Budweiser Rathskeller
the evening of February Is, bent upo
refreshing the inner man and womal
with selections from the tempting ARA
Of liquids and solids set forth upol
the menu cards Of that unique and at
tractiVe st. Louis restaurant. Mr.
Goette, the linguist Of the party-wht
labbered Bayou Lafourche Frencl
glibly with the walters in the Frencl
restaurant where we dined that day
and ratified of German with ever
greater facility at Tony Faust's-in
formed US that the word "rathskeller'
means under ground, which suggested
the thought that it might be derived
from the English term "rat cellar. ,
Anybody who thinks SO, however, has
"another think coming,n for a raths.
keller is no more rat cellar than a
| horse chestnut is a chestnut horse,
| The Budweiser Rathskeller is well
worth visit just to say you've seen
it, even il you are not hungry and
| thirsty as we were. Tt is entered by a
marble stairway leading down from
! the sidewalk some fifteen or twenty
feet below the street level, and is
richly and tastefully furnished with
chairs, tables, mantels, pictures and
brio a. brac of the quaint Dutch pat
terms that are now SO popular and
fashionable. The arched ceiling is
covered with 10000 Budweiser bottles,
quart-size, many of which contain the
incandescent bulbs which furnish the
overhead light. Two large and beauti-
full paintings on glass form the panels
above the doorways at the front and
rear ends of the apartment, and these
are alternately illuminated from the
rear by an artistic arrangement and
manipulation of electric lights and
bring out the beauties of the pictures
in intensified measure. The lighting
scheme is one of the distinctive feat
ures OF the Rathskeller, and the effects
produced BY lowering, raising and
changing the lights, as is frequently
done for the edifcation of the visitors,
are weird and lovely. The sudden
transition from the dazzling glare of
powerful arc-lamps to the softened
glow of the ineandescent bulbs inside
the glass bottles is almost startling to
the spectator who views it for the first
time.
won't make your mouth water by
recounting the good things which
friend Goette's cultural confab with
the Teutonic waiter brought to our
table-and I couldn't tell you what
they called half of them if I tried; but
we ate the eatables and drank the
drinkables with much relish notwith-
standing their outlandish German
names. Ia fact, am inclined to think
the foreign titles may have added to
the zest with which we discussed the
repast, and that we wouldn't have en-
loyed its component parts as much as
We did if they had been served as plain
cheese, sausage, potato salad and
beer. My travelling companion fell in
love with the potato salad, so to speak.
and the rest of us developed like
weakness in the same direction, for it |
was undoubtedly an artistic creation
IN It's way; and at her request the ac-
commod atlng manager of the estab-
ilshment wrote out and gave her the
recipe for the preparation of the tooth
some dish. When we go to house
keeping drop in some day and the
madam will give you taste of Bud
Welser Rathskeller potato salad that
will tickle your palate more than any
other potato salad you've ever samp-
led.
1t was after nightfan when we
from the Rathskeller to the
'arth's surface, and bade our friends
ne Goettes good night and good bye.
hey charged US with many Affection
tie messages to the folks at home, and
aid they expected to remain in St.
4ouls another month at least.
Next morning-Sunday, the 10Th
re arose early and made prepar atoms
Or the homeward trip. Among the
Vulnerable conveniences of the great /
criminal Station is one of the cele- +
rated Harvey lnnch-rooms, noted for
ne excellence OF their service, and we \
ad delicious light breakfast there I
lat put US in good shape for the six +
ours ride to Cairo. While we were '
reakfasting a party of four, evidently .
ctors, came in and took seats at a O
Die next to ours. The group con- Y
sted OF tall, ungainly man of mid a
g age, younger man, a petite, good =
oking young woman and a pretty lit fl
aglrl. There was something strangely "
TT active and familiar to me in the u u
ii mans appearance, and as | noted 2
$ peculiarly shaped little head with T
ducking forward movement, his tf
ng arms, big hands and wrists, it ~
ddenly dawned upon me that he was
n \.