r disdainful to search for
a mass. Remarkable also are the steady habitues of the place, with
Albert Duerer-like features which look as if hastily hewn out of ancient
wood with two or three blows of a hatchet, or with smoke-dried
physiognomies having a tint like that of a meerschaum pipe, acquired by
years of exposure to the thick atmosphere of smoky breweries. They are
there morning, noon, and night, year in and year out. Some talk over
the news of the day, but most sit in silence. Not a few make a meal with
bread and radishes, or a sausage brought from the nearest pork shop.

In Munich a singular and ancient custom prevails. If by chance the cover
of a mug is left up, any individual who chooses may seize it, and drink
the contents. At the Hof Brauerei I once saw a newly arrived Englishman,
carrying the usual red guidebook, quit the room for an instant, leaving
uncovered his just acquired mass of beer. There came along a
seedy-looking old gentleman, evidently a _Stammgast_. A gleam of
satisfaction stole over his wooden features as he espied the open mug.
Pausing a moment, he lifted it to his lips and slowly drank the
contents. Setting it down empty, with a face mildly radiating
satisfaction, he went his way. Presently the owner of the beer returned,
took his seat, and lifted the mass, without looking, to his lips. With
intense astonishment he put it down again, appeared not to believe the
evidence of his senses, applied his glass to his eye, looked with
anxiety into his mug, and became satisfied of its emptiness. At his
neighbors he cast a quick glance of indignant suspicion--the look of a
Briton whose rights were invaded. No one even looked up; apparently the
occasion was too common to excite attention. Gradually his face regained
its composure. He procured a new supply, and as the wonderful barley
juice disappeared became again calm and happy. Miraculous mixture! Who
would not, under thy benign influence, forget all rancor and bitterness,
even though his deadliest enemy sat opposite?

In the Haupt und Residenz Stadt Muenchen, as Munich is always called in
official documents, many of the breweries bear the names of orders of
monks, because there the friars in olden days made particularly good
beer. The breweries borrowed from them the receipt and the name. Hence
the brewery to the Augustiner, to the Dominikaner, to the Franciskaner,
and the Salvator.

New beer is in all cities of America and Europe a simple fact. In