The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1907-11-22
CHAPTER VII.


"The one fault l have to find with
European life is the poor quality of
tobacco used"
1t was eight o'clock, Thursday night,
the night of the dinner at Muller's. I
was dressing when Max entered, with
a miserable cheroot between his teeth.
They say" he went on, that in
Russia they drink the finest tea In the
world, simply because it is brought
overland and not by sea. Unfortunate
ly, tobacco-we Americans recognize
no leaf as tobacco unless it m
from Cuba-has to cross the sea, and
Is, in some unaccountable manner
weakened in the transit. There are
worse cigars in Germany than In
France, and / wouldn't have believed
1t possible, If I had not gone to the
trouble of proving it. Fine country!
For a week I've been trying to smoke
the German quality of the weed, as a
preventive, but l see / must give 1t up
on account of my throat. My boy, 1
have news for you,"-tosslng the che
root into the crate.
Fire away" said I, struggling with
q collar.
II have a box of Havanas over at
the custom house that / forgot to bail
out"
mol" said I ioyfully. A Havana,
and one Of Scharfenstein's!
I've an idea that they would go
well with the dinner. So, II you don't
mind, I'll trot over and get EN-"
BE sure and get around to Muller's
at half-past eight, them said I.
"Ill be there" He knew where to
find the place.
Muller's rathskeller was the rendez-
vous of students, officers and all those
PERSONS of quality who liked music
with their meat. The place was low
ceilinged, but roomy, and the ventila-
ton was excellent, considering. The
smoke never got SO thick that n
couldn't see the way to the door when
the students started in ito clean up
the place." to use the happy idiom Of
mine W country. There were mar
BILE tables and floors and arches
and light, cane-bottomed chairs from
Kohn's. 1t was at INC Bohemian and
cosmopolitan, and. once inside, 1t was
easy to imagine oneself in Vienna. A
Hungarian orchestra occupied an in
closed platform, and every night the
wall Of the violin and the pom-pom of
the wool-tipped hammers on the Hun
garian piano" might be heard.
1t was essentially a mans place of
entertainment; few women ever had
the courage or the inclination to enter.
In America it would. have been the
fashion; but in the capital of Barscheit
the women ate in the restaurant above,
which was attached to the hotel, and
depended upon the Volksgarten band
for their evenings diversion.
You had to order your table hours
ahead-that is. If you were a civilian.
If you were lucky enough to be an Of
ficer, you were privileged to take any
vacant chair you saw. But heaven aid
you II you attempted to do this not be-
ing an officer! In Barscheit there were
also many unwritten laws, and you
were obliged to observe these with all
the fidelity and attention that you gave
to the enameled signs. Only the mill
tary had the right to request the or
chestra to repeat a piece of music.
Sometimes the ~lieutenants, seized with
that gay humor known only to cubs,
would force the orchestra In Muller's
to play the Hungarian var song till
the ears cried out in pain. This was
always the case when any Austrians
happened to be present. But ordinari.
1y the crowds were good-natured, bois-
ferrous, but orderly.
1t was here, then, that I had ar
ranged to give my little dinner. The
orchestra had agreed-for a liberal tip
Ito play THE Star-spangled Banner"
and there was a case Of D~oppelkinn'a