FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44  
45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   >>   >|  
to her German neighbor,--a tall and dignified lady, but very vivacious. She turned her head, saying in hesitating English, "Speak on this side; I am _dumb_ in that ear." Meanwhile the conversation, not as at American tables a low hum, but rather the rattle of artillery, fires away, across the table, along its whole length, anywhere and everywhere, much sounding, little meaning, amid infinite ado of demonstration and gesticulation. The next course was the nearest approach to pie I saw at any German table,--_apfeltochter_,--a browned and frosted crust, nearly eighteen inches in diameter, between the parts of which was cooked and sweetened apple. I noted the different nationalities at the table,--the mother and her daughters, Germans of the Germans; a buxom young girl from the country, a fine singer; the tall German, and the young Swedish lady of whom I have spoken; another Swedish lady from Gothenburg, tall, very dignified, with gray eyes and dark hair, an exquisite singer. Then there was Herr G----, also from Sweden, and Fraeulein von K----, a young Polish lady, with striking black eyes and hair and a laughing face. Other guests were two Norwegian gentlemen. One of them, tall, dark, and with the dress and bearing of a gentleman, said to my American friend, "Yes, I speak English _very well_" which we found to be the case. As I had mentally completed this summary, my friend said to me in a low "aside," "The young lady at your left is a free-thinker, the Polish lady is a Roman Catholic, Herr G----is a Jew; the rest Lutherans, except you and me." And one of us at home was of "Andover," and the other "straight Orthodox"! Later, we adjourned to the drawing-room, spacious and handsome after the German fashion. I asked one of the daughters of the house, who I knew had spent some years in Russia, if the portrait of a middle-aged gentleman hanging near me, much decorated and with a gilded crown at the top of the frame, were not that of the late Czar (Alexander II.), when she replied, "It is our Emperor!" And I had seen his Majesty at least half a dozen times! But he was a much older man now. One of the Norwegian gentlemen sat down at the piano and played portions of a recent opera, and a game of questions and answers followed. Oranges and little cakes were served before the company broke up at the early hour of half-past eleven. Concerts and even the opera and theatre begin early in Germany. Doors are open usually about ha
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44  
45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
German
 
Polish
 
Norwegian
 
Swedish
 

singer

 

daughters

 

Germans

 

gentlemen

 

dignified

 

English


friend

 

gentleman

 

American

 

Catholic

 

middle

 

portrait

 

thinker

 
Russia
 
drawing
 

adjourned


Andover

 

straight

 
Orthodox
 

spacious

 

handsome

 

fashion

 
Lutherans
 

replied

 

Oranges

 
served

company

 
answers
 

portions

 

played

 
recent
 

questions

 

Germany

 

eleven

 

Concerts

 

theatre


Alexander

 
decorated
 
gilded
 

Emperor

 

Majesty

 

hanging

 

guests

 

meaning

 

infinite

 
demonstration