按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
ing revolutions。 There was a circus; in front of which some of the spangled performers always stood beating drums and posturing; in order to entice in spectators。 There were the puppet…booths; before which all day stood gaping; delighted crowds; who roared with laughter whenever the little frau beat her loutish husband about the head; and set him to tend the baby; who continued to wail; notwithstanding the man knocked its head against the doorpost。 There were the great beer… restaurants; with temporary benches and tables' planted about with evergreens; always thronged with a noisy; jolly crowd。 There were the fires; over which fresh fish were broiling on sticks; and; if you lingered; you saw the fish taken alive from tubs of water standing by; dressed and spitted and broiling before the wiggle was out of their tails。 There were the old women; who mixed the flour and fried the brown cakes before your eyes; or cooked the fragrant sausage; and offered it piping hot。
And every restaurant and show had its band; brass or string;a full array of red…faced fellows tooting through horns; or a sorry quartette; the fat woman with the harp; the lean man blowing himself out through the clarinet; the long…haired fellow with the flute; and the robust and thick…necked fiddler。 Everywhere there was music; the air was full of the odor of cheese and cooking sausage; so that there was nothing wanting to the most complete enjoyment。 The crowd surged round; jammed together; in the best possible humor。 Those who could not sit at tables sat on the ground; with a link of an eatable I have already named in one hand; and a mug of beer beside them。 Toward evening; the ground was strewn with these gray quart mugs; which gave as perfect evidence of the battle of the day as the cannon…balls on the sand before Fort Fisher did of the contest there。 Besides this; for the amusement of the crowd; there is; every day; a wheelbarrow race; a sack race; a blindfold contest; or something of the sort; which turns out to be a very flat performance。 But all the time the eating and the drinking go on; and the clatter and clink of it fill the air; so that the great object of the fair is not lost sight of。
Meantime; where is the agricultural fair and cattle…show? You must know that we do these things differently in Bavaria。 On the fair…ground; there is very little to be seen of the fair。 There is an inclosure where steam…engines are smoking and puffing; and threshing…machines are making a clamor; where some big church…bells hang; and where there are a few stalls for horses and cattle。 But the competing horses and cattle are led before the judges elsewhere; the horses; for instance; by the royal stables in the city。 I saw no such general exhibition of do mestic animals as you have at your fairs。 The horses that took the prizes were of native stock; a very serviceable breed; excellent for carriage…horses; and admirable in the cavalry service。 The bulls and cows seemed also native and to the manor born; and were worthy of little remark。 The mechanical; vegetable; and fruit exhibition was in the great glass palace; in the city; and was very creditable in the fruit department; in the show of grapes and pears especially。 The products of the dairy were less; though I saw one that I do not recollect ever to have seen in America; a landscape in butter。 Inclosed in a case; it looked very much like a wood…carving。 There was a Swiss cottage; a milkmaid; with cows in the foreground; there were trees; and in the rear rose rocky precipices; with chamois in the act of skipping thereon。 I should think something might be done in our country in this line of the fine arts; certainly; some of the butter that is always being sold so cheap at St。 Albans; when it is high everywhere else; must be strong enough to warrant the attempt。 As to the other departments of the fine arts in the glass palace; I cannot give you a better idea of them than by saying that they were as well filled as the like ones in the American county fairs。 There were machines for threshing; for straw…cutting; for apple…paring; and generally such a display of implements as would give one a favorable idea of Bavarian agriculture。 There was an interesting exhibition of live fish; great and small; of nearly every sort; I should think; in Bavarian waters。 The show in the fire…department was so antiquated; that I was convinced that the people of Munich never intend to have any fires。
The great day of the fete was Sunday; October 5 for on that day the king went out to the fair…ground; and distributed the prizes to the owners of the best horses; and; as they appeared to me; of the most ugly…colored bulls。 The city was literally crowded with peasants and country people; the churches were full all the morning with devout masses; which poured into the waiting beer…houses afterward with equal zeal。 By twelve o'clock; the city began to empty itself upon the Theresien meadow; and long before the time for the king to arrive two o'clockthere were acres of people waiting for the performance to begin。 The terraced bank; of which I have spoken; was taken possession of early; and held by a solid mass of people; while the fair…ground proper was packed with a swaying concourse; densest near the royal pavilion; which was erected immediately on the race…course; and opposite the bank。
At one o'clock the grand stand opposite to the royal one is taken possession of by a regiment band and by invited guests。 All the space; except the race…course; is; by this time; packed with people; who watch the red and white gate at the head of the course with growing impatience。 It opens to let in a regiment of infantry; which marches in and takes position。 It swings; every now and then; for a solitary horseman; who gallops down the line in all the pride of mounted civic dignity; to the disgust of the crowd; or to let in a carriage; with some overdressed officer or splendid minister; who is entitled to a place in the royal pavilion。 It is a people' fete; and the civic officers enjoy one day of conspicuous glory。 Now a majestic person in gold lace is set down; and now one in a scarlet coat; as beautiful as a flamingo。 These driblets of splendor only feed the popular impatience。 Music is heard in the distance; and a procession with colored banners is seen approaching from the city。 That; like everything else that is to come; stops beyond the closed gate; and there it halts; ready to stream down before our eyes in a variegated pageant。 The time goes on; the crowd gets denser; for there have been steady rivers of people pouring into the grounds for more than an hour。
The military bands play in the long interval; the peasants jabber in unintelligible dialects; the high functionaries on the royal stand are good enough to move around; and let us see how brave and majestic they are。
At last the firing of cannon announces the coming of royalty。 There is a commotion in the vast crowd yonder; the eagerly watched gates swing wide; and a well…mounted company of cavalry dashes down the turf; in uniforms of light blue and gold。 It is a citizens' company of butchers and bakers and candlestick…makers; which would do no discredit to