友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
飞读中文网 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

the complete writings-2-第34章

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!



nd was carried on a priestly wave into his shining carriage; and the noble footman jumped up behind; and he rolled away to his dinner; I stood leaning against a pillar; and reflected if it could be possible that that religion could be anything but genuine which had so much genuine ermine。  And the organ…notes; rolling down the arches; seemed to me to have a very ultramontane sound。




CHANGING QUARTERS

Perhaps it may not interest you to know how we moved; that is; changed our apartments。  I did not see it mentioned in the cable dispatches; and it may not be generally known; even in Germany; but then; the cable is so occupied with relating how his Serenity this; and his Highness that; and her Loftiness the other one; went outdoors and came in again; owing to a slight superfluity of the liquid element in the atmosphere; that it has no time to notice the real movements of the people。  And yet; so dry are some of these little German newspapers of news; that it is refreshing to read; now and then; that the king; on Sunday; walked out with the Duke of Hesse after dinner (one would like to know if they also had sauerkraut and sausage); and that his prospective mother…in…law; the Empress of Russia; who was here the other day; on her way home from Como; where she was nearly drowned out by the inundation; sat for an hour on Sunday night; after the opera; in the winter garden of the palace; enjoying the most easy family intercourse。

But about moving。  Let me tell you that to change quarters in the face of a Munich winter; which arrives here the 1st of November; is like changing front to the enemy just before a battle; and if we had perished in the attempt; it might have been put upon our monuments; as it is upon the out…of…cannon…cast obelisk in the Karolina Platz; erected to the memory of the thirty thousand Bavarian soldiers who fell in the disastrous Russian winter campaign of Napoleon; fighting against all the interests of Germany;〃they; too; died for their Fatherland。〃  Bavaria happened also to fight on the wrong side at Sadowa and I suppose that those who fell there also died for Fatherland: it is a way the Germans have of doing; and they mean nothing serious by it。  But; as I was saying; to change quarters here as late as November is a little difficult; for the wise ones seek to get housed for the winter by October: they select the sunny apartments; get on the double windows; and store up wood。  The plants are tied up in the gardens; the fountains are covered over; and the inhabitants go about in furs and the heaviest winter clothing long before we should think of doing so at home。  And they are wise: the snow comes early; and; besides; a cruel fog; cold as the grave and penetrating as remorse; comes down out of the near Tyrol。  One morning early in November; I looked out of the window to find snow falling; and the ground covered with it。  There was dampness and frost enough in the air to make it cling to all the tree…twigs; and to take fantastic shapes on all the queer roofs and the slenderest pinnacles and most delicate architectural ornamentations。  The city spires had a mysterious appearance in the gray haze; and above all; the round…topped towers of the old Frauenkirche; frosted with a little snow; loomed up more grandly than ever。  When I went around to the Hof Garden; where I late had sat in the sun; and heard the brown horse…chestnuts drop on the leaves; the benches were now full of snow; and the fat and friendly fruit…woman at the gate had retired behind glass windows into a little shop; which she might well warm by her own person; if she radiated heat as readily as she used to absorb it on the warm autumn days; when I have marked her knitting in the sunshine。

But we are not moving。  The first step we took was to advertise our wants in the 〃Neueste Nachrichten〃 (〃Latest News 〃) newspaper。  We desired; if possible; admission into some respectable German family; where we should be forced to speak German; and in which our society; if I may so express it; would be some compensation for our bad grammar。  We wished also to live in the central part of the city;in short; in the immediate neighborhood of all the objects of interest (which are here very much scattered); and to have pleasant rooms。  In Dresden; where the people are not so rich as in Munich; and where different customs prevail; it is customary for the best people; I mean the families of university professors; for instance; to take in foreigners; and give them tolerable food and a liberal education。 Here it is otherwise。  Nearly all families occupy one floor of a building; renting just rooms enough for the family; so that their apartments are not elastic enough to take in strangers; even if they desire to do so。  And generally they do not。  Munich society is perhaps chargeable with being a little stiff and exclusive。  Well; we advertised in the 〃Neueste Nachrichten。〃  This is the liberal paper of Munich。  It is a poorly printed; black…looking daily sheet; folded in octavo size; and containing anywhere from sixteen to thirty…four pages; more or less; as it happens to have advertisements。  It sometimes will not have more than two or three pages of reading matter。  There will be a scrap or two of local news; the brief telegrams taken from the official paper of the day before; a bit or two of other news; and perhaps a short and slashing editorial on the ultramontane party。  The advantage of printing and folding it in such small leaves is; that the size can be varied according to the demands of advertisements or news (if the German papers ever find out what that is); so that the publisher is always giving; every day; just what it pays to give that day; and the reader has his regular quantity of reading matter; and does not have to pay for advertising space; which in journals of unchangeable form cannot always be used profitably。  This little journal was started something like twenty years ago。  It probably spends little for news; has only one or; at most; two editors; is crowded with advertisements; which are inserted cheap; and costs; delivered; a little over six francs a year。  It circulates in the city some thirty…five thousand。  There is another little paper here of the same size; but not so many leaves; called 〃The Daily Advertiser;〃 with nothing but advertisements; principally of theaters; concerts; and the daily sights; and one page devoted to some prodigious yarn; generally concerning America; of which country its readers must get the most extraordinary and frightful impression。 The 〃Nachrichten〃 made the fortune of its first owner; who built himself a fine house out of it; and retired to enjoy his wealth。  It was recently sold for one hundred thousand guldens; and I can see that it is piling up another fortune for its present owner。  The Germans; who herein show their good sense and the high state of civilization to which they have reached; are very free advertisers; going to the newspapers with all their wants; and finding in them that aid which all interests and all sorts of people; from kaiser to kerl; are compelled; in these days; to seek in the daily journal。 Every German town of any size has three or four of these little journals of flying leaves;
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!