Page:McClure's Magazine volume 10.djvu/20

… receiving the good father of the town, who always waits upon "wealthy Americans." …

Schäffer, der Bürgermeister, presided.

"Jim Thompson and friend" was the way we went on the register at Pupp's; not that Jim wanted to star his own signature, but in order that he might bear the burden of reading all the circulars sent to our rooms, and receiving the good father of the town, who always waits upon "wealthy Americans" and asks a little aid for the poor, regardless of the visitor's religion. When we were transferred to the revolving switch-board in the center of the great lobby, it read, "Herr Jim Thompson," and when it appeared on local letters and circulars sent to us it was "Well-born Herr Jim Thompson," and sometimes was even "My lord, the well-born." But Jim had been so much among titled people Europe, and had so often read the "ads." for heiresses, that these little mistakes were no more to him than so many pfennigs.

So, in time, there came a gilt-edged card bidding my lord, the well-born, and his friend to the great feast—the guests of the city.

Just in front of the orchestra there was a narrow, high throne, a kind of cross between a pulpit and a witness-box, and from behind this little stand the speaker spoke.

"It is a good idea, this pulpit; it gives the speaker something to pound, and does away with his hands at the same time," said Jim, when the first man had finished. The lion of the evening was the architect who had built the Kaiserbad, and when he made his talk the men cried "Hoch!" and beautiful women left their seats to click glasses with him. And the band played "Under the Double Eagle," and everybody stood up, and they were all very happy, and I knew that the homely leader, with his ears full of cotton, made a hit.

"Was that the 'Bohemian Girl,' Jim?" I asked, when we had all settled down and begun to eat again.

"No," he said, with a half-sad smile. "I don't know the 'Bohemian Girl' from the 'Irish Washerwoman,' but I know that tune: it's the national air. Couldn't you hear the B-flat scream and wail away down the line? Ah! if the Austrians had played that tune, the Seven Days' War would have lasted longer."

It was an excellent little dinner, and the enthusiasm and patriotism of the people were good to see.

… big, bony Britons in knickerbockers. …

… Tyrolese in green hats trimmed in feathers, …