An American Family in Germany ... Illustrated by the author

Front matter

AN AMERICAN FAMILY IN GERMANY. BY J. ROSS BROWNE, AUTHOE 'OF " TC8EF," " CBPSOE'S ISLAND," " THE LAND OF THOE," ETO. __llustratrtr ttj tf>e autjjor. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FEANKLIN SQUARE. 1866. By J. BOSS BROWNE. AN AMERICAN FAMILY IN GERMANY. Illustrated by the Author. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. THE LAND OF THOR. Illustrated by the Author. (In Press.) CRUSOE'S ISLAND : A Rumble in the Footsteps of Alexander Selkirk. With Sketches of Adventure in California and Washoe. Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75. YUSEF; or, The Journey of the'Frangi. A Crusade in the East. With Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75. Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and .sixty-six, hy Harper & Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York.

CONTENTS. AN AMERICAN FAMILY IN GERMANY. CHAPTER PAGE I. HEAD-QUARTERS IN FRANKFORT 15 II. CURIOUS CUSTOMS 30 III. WELCOME HOME 49 IV. SCHOOLS 59 V. ECONOMY OF THE GERMANS 66 VI. A FEW DAYS FN NUREMBERG 75 VII. THE CASTLE AND RATHOUSE OF NUREMBERG 85 VIII. THE LADDER OF HEAVEN 97 IX. AMERICAN GERMANS 105 X. THE GLACIS, SOLDIERS, AND LAPDOGS 113 XI. NEWSPAPERS AND CHILDREN'S STORIES 119 XII. A CAPITAL EXECUTION IN GERMANY 128 XIII. WHAT THE GERMANS THINK OF "AMERICA" 135 XIV. CURIOSITIES OF JUSTICE 141 XV. GERMAN STUDENTS 154 XVI. PASSPORTS IN EUROPE j. 158 XVII. A TRAVELING BARBER 164 XVIII. THEATRE IN FRANKFORT 171) XIX. CHRISTMAS TIMES 174 XX. THE CHRISTMAS STORY 189 XXI. CHRISTMAS NIGHT 212 XXII. FAIRS AND FESTIVALS 214 A WHIRL THROUGH ALGERIA. XXIII. THE CITY OF ALGIERS 233 XXIV. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS 240 XXV.

STAOUELI THE TRAPPIST CONVENT 249 XXVI. MILITARY SERVICE OP ALGERIA 258 XXVII. A TRIP TO BLIDA 266 XXVIII. SCENES IN BLIDA AND ALGIERS CONTENTS. VI CHAPTER PAG- XXIX. FRENCH AMUSEMENTS 280 XXX. FRENCH RAILWAYS 294 XXXI. A PORTUGUESE LAZARETTO 300 XXXII. LISBON 315 A VISIT TO THE SALT-MINES OF WIELICZKA. XXXIII. CRACOW 331 XXXIV. UNDER-GROUND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. AN AMERICAN FAMILY IN GERMANY. The long Bill Page 17 Chimney-sweep 23 The young Idea 29 Garden Scene 31 Engaged 36 Ach, du bist so Schon 38 Father, Son, and Mother 39 The Promenade 46 " Willkommen !" 52 Mother's Birthday 57 Schoolmaster's Pay-day 65 Der Gemuthliche 101 Nicholas .176 The Christmas-tree 184' The old Sea-king 188 Mitche' not crying - .".... 190 Mitche' crying '. 190 Mitche' skating 192 Mitche' in the beautiful Boat 193 Little Mitche' out of the beautiful Boat 194 Mitche' with Wings 195 Mitche' defying the mad Bull / 197 Mitche' and the big Stone 197 Mitche' lives to fight another Day 198 Mitche' is tossed over the Fence 199 The old Sea-king in Repose 200 Mitche' in Uniform .' 202 Mitche' on the Pony 203 Little Mitche' going to eat his Christmas Dinner 205 Sudden Disappearance of Mitche"s Chair 205 Little Mitche' has lost his Pudding 207 Little Mitche' studies his Lessons 211 Street Musicians LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Chapter I. Head-quarters IX Frankfort

Ox my return from Washoe, it was quite apparent that great changes had taken place in the home depart ment. The simplicity of our daily life in Oakland was gone forever. Rumors of the enormous interests I had secured in the Gone Case and Deadbroke ledges had preceded me, and I was not a little surprised to find Mrs. Butterfield awaiting me on the wharf in a magnificent carriage drawn by two spirited horses. "Now, John," she cried, " the dream of my life is to be realized ! You are rich, and must take us all to Europe! The children must be civilized. It will never do to have them grow up like little savages. Let us start at once for Germany." I am not going to waste time on this part of our career. Where there is a will there is a way, with women. I held out for two weeks, but finally gave it up.

Mrs. Butterfield had both the will and the way, and I was compelled to surrender at discretion. Besides, I had large interests to dispose of, and was assured by my ex cellent partner that Frankfort-on-the-Main was the very centre of financial operations in Europe. Through my Washoe connections, I would unquestionably become a millionaire in the course of a few years. I have already intimated, in a series of papers on that subject, that the capitalists of Europe are somewhat wary about invest ments in Gone Case and Grizzly ledges ; but that is nothing to the present point. All I have in view now is, to give to the world, for the benefit of the rising generation and of all posterity, a succinct account of our domestic experiences in the Faderland. We sold out our furniture, horses, carriages, and chick ens, in the city of Oakland ; and what we did not sell we gave away ; so that the net .result was satisfactory — we got rid of a vast accumulation of rubbish without any expenditure of means for the transportation.

Being my self the auctioneer, I adopted the old Dutch system, and knocked down every thing to the lowest bidder, pro vided he would take it away at his own expense. By this judicious arrangement we made a clear start for Germany. Arrived at the beautiful city of Hamburg, I was rec ommended by the guide-book to put up at the Hotel Victoria, which was said to be cleanly, eligibly located, and moderate in prices. Friends and countrymen, you who base your expectations on prospective incomes to be derived from Gone Case silver mines, never trust to guide-books in Europe on the subject of hotels. The notices are generally paid for, and few people pay for notices without getting back their money some way or other. The Victoria is very fine, very clean, very eligibly located — just in front of the Alster Basin, where the view of the old wind-mill and the gardens on the opposite side is wonderfully picturesque and refreshing after a long sea-voyage — but the prices are not moderate.

No, not even moderate compared with the rates charged by the Hotel de Haystack in Virginia City. At the expiration of three days, when a waiter, elegantly dressed in black, with a crop of hair that would have been an ornament to any barber's block, entered our drawing-room — the identical room recently occupied by the Emperor of Russia — and with a graceful bow presented a paper, neatly folded, on a little black tray ; when I opened that paper, and found that it was a bill measuring precisely three feet in length ; that every inch of it was filled with THE IO.NU MILL. items, written in the French language ; when I looked at the geneial summing up, and called to mind that Mrs. Butterfield had informed me on many occasions that Germany was a cheap country, you will not be surprised to learn that my eyes rolled in a manner quite horrible to behold ; that my under-jaw fell ; that I gasped for breath; and with one convulsive effort uttered these impressive words : " Mrs. Bytterfield, be ready with the children to depart for Frankfort at six o'clock to-morrow morning."

Unbending in this stern resolution, I at once engaged a carriage for Harburg, and, on the following day, the cars conveyed us to Diisseldorf; thence we steamed it up the Rhine as far as Bieb.erich. It rained all the time, and was exceedingly cold. I have my own opinion of the scenery of the Rhine, as compared mith that of Cali fornia, but deem it irrelevant to the material purpose of these memoirs. From Bieberich we availed ourselves of the railway to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where we arrived and were safely deposited at a fashionable hotel on the night of July 4, 1860. After three days' additional experience of first class German hotels, I must be permitted to say that I have no farther confidence in gentlemanly proprietors and stylish waiters with oily hair parted in the middle. I was obliged to pay an elegant-looking man dressed in uniform, with a brass band on his cap, the sum of fifty cents per day for bowing gracefully to Mrs. Butterfield and the little ones every time they entered the dining saloon — couldn't resist it, upon my honor, the fellow did the thing in such a magnificently deferential manner, as if he knew by instinct that I was on a mission from .Washoe to the court of His Imperial Majesty the Auto crat of all the Russias.

Now commenced the interesting part of our career the search for a house. Strange as it may seem, in a country where houses are plenty and rents comparatively cheap, nothing is more difficult in Frankfort and the suburbs than to procure a small house, suitable for a single family. The Germans are essentially gregarious ; they live in crowds. The peculiar interpretation given by us to the word home, embracing something of domestic privacy and comfort — a retreat within the circle of one's family rather than the walls of a building — is but imper fectly understood in Continental Europe. A reason for this may be found in the fact that in the principal cities at least the better classes find it convenient to live in rented lodgings. A large proportion of the houses in Frankfort and the suburbs are splendid and substantial edifices, three or four stories high, aud containing three or four separate suits of apartments.

Each floor is con sidered a family residence, and is cut off from the main stairway by a glass door. It is usual for several families to live in the same house, and many reside in this way for years who have but a nodding acquaintance with their fellow-lodgers in the same house. The stairs are the common highway to all the tenants. Attic rooms for servants, and cellars for coal and wood, are allotted to each family. The wash-room and rain-water are used in common, and all tenants enjoy the privilege of the garden. The best summer-house goes with the best apartments, and so on, in regular gra dation. Where there are many servants and children, it seems rather strange that people can live in this way on terms of harmony. Yet they contrive to do it in Germany. Accustomed to it all their lives, they learn forbearance, and cultivate good-humor as an essential virtue.

One reason for living in this gregarious way may be found in its superior economy. A family can certainly enjoy a more stylish residence, and at a cheaper rate, by combination than alone in a smaller house. But apart from this, the Germans abhor isolation. The noise, con fusion, babbling, and jostling of crowds — the tramp of feet overhead, underneath, and on the stairways — the music in one part of the house, and screaming of chil- AN AMERICAN FA.MIL Y IN GERMANY. 20 dren in another, seem to please them. It is the opposite of dullness. They consider it life. I think, as a general rule, they are deficient in the sense of hearing ; at least, boisterous talking and the jarring of multitudes afford them no inconvenience. The manner in which the houses are furnished is a little odd to us, who are accustomed to quite a different way of doing things.

The windows are tastefully deco rated with curtains, presenting a very pleasing effect from the street, but the floors are destitute of carpets. In winter, perhaps, a loose piece of carpet about a fourth the size of the room, fringed around the edges like a large rug, may be spread in the middle of the floor. A rug lies in front of the sofa. Little bits and scraps of matting, rugs, and carpets scattered about in this way, give a motley and comfortless effect to the room, when one is not accustomed to it, and suggest the idea that it must be difficult to navigate among so many shoals and quicksands. The furniture is plain and substantial, but not so rich and elaborate as in the best houses in the United States. The bedsteads and beds are the smallest, narrow est, and most uncomfortable one can possibly imagine; abounding in fanciful trimmings, but very badly adapt ed to sleeping purposes.

Great wedges are placed at the head, so that one sits up all night rather than lies down. A full-grown American can not possibly stretch out in such a contracted space without making a bridge of his body. With a feather-bed beneath and a bed of feathers on top, it must be admitted that the beds are warm enough — especially in summer. I call this sleeping double. A man ought to be able to sleep twice as much in two beds as in one. The kitchens are usually on the same floor with the parlor and bedrooms. Here you find the head-quarters of German civilization. To say that they are neat and clean would be to pay but a poor compliment to the lady of the house. Every room is a miracle of neatness and cleanliness. Washing of windows and floors is the predominating mania of all German ladies. I have been driven to the verge of lunacy on several occasions by the excessive energy with which Mrs. Butterfield has gone into the business of house-cleaning.

The floors are forever bathed in slops, and I seldom can see out of the windows in consequence of the floods of water with which they are deluged. Visions of incurable catarrhs and neuralgic affections constantly disturb my peace of mind, and I am not at all surprised that the children are subject to alarming attacks of the croup. The kitchen is literally a gallery of art in Germany. Visitors on familiar terms with the family are conducted into it, and expected to admire its neatness and the elegance and variety of its culinary utensils, as if it were the grand consummation of artistic wonders. The display of burnished kettles, coffee-pots, pans, dippers, graters, plates, and platters, hung upon the walls and ranged upon the shelves in this department of the household, would astonish an American housekeeper, and strike an American cook with dismay.

It is a pleasant thing, at all events, to know that what we eat passes through a course of preparation conspicuous for its cleanliness, and that we are not forced by the cook to devour our " peck of dirt" in a concentrated form. In due time we rented a " Wohnung" of six unfur nished rooms, with kitchen, cellars, etc., in one of these domestic palaces outside the gates of the city. The neighborhood was delightful. Fresh air, beautiful gar dens, and pleasant walks, gave us promise of an unlimit ed amount of health and recreation. Considering the accommodations, the rent was high enough for Germany. As good can be had in some of the New England States at the same rate, with the additional advantage of having an entire house to one's self. The purchase of furniture was the next consideration. When I was told by Mrs. Butterfield what would be abso lutely necessary for the kitchen — that it would be quite impracticable to do with less — it is needless to say I made a solemn vow that if it would please Providence to spare me the gift of reason till I could get back to California, I would stay there during the remainder of my life.

"What? Do you pretend to tell me that soup can not be made without six boilers, fourteen la dles, sixteen strainers, five-and-twenty pans, cups, dip pers, baskets, and chopping-machines ? That a beefsteak can't be broiled without six-and-thirty gridirons, nineteen frying-pans, eighteen waffle-irons, fourteen p»airs of tongs aud pokers, six coal-buckets, and eight water tubs ? That two quarts of milk can't be preserved over night without forty-two earthen pans, ten iron skillets, and fifteen tin boilers ? That three fires can't be kept burning without a cart-load of cast-iron coal-buckets, ten pairs of pokers and tongs, six-and-thirty brushes, and the district sweep to sweep the chimney once a month ? That one must hire cooks, nurses, and waiters — feed them, make them presents, and then get all the heavy housework done by outsiders at extra charges?

The custom, eh? Must do in Rome as the Romans do?" Here I lost my breath from sheer despair, and sat down. But this is only a circumstance, as I remarked the other day to Mrs. Butterfield who was discoursing upon the wonderful cheapness of every thing in Ger many. Money goes like chaff; beats California; never saw such a country. Get up in the morning at six o'clock ; chimney-sweep, twelve kreutzers ; go to breakfast, match girl, six kreutzers ; swallow a cup of coffee ; small boy with crockery, bonus of six kreutzers ; beggar-woman, six ; pear-woman, twenty-four ; apple-woman, ditto ; toy woman, ditto ; plum-woman, ditto ; egg-woman ditto ■ and the devil knows how many other women. Rino-'nrr all the time, by Jove ! Keep a girl purposely to attend the door. Why, madam, I contribute mainly to the support of a dozen old women.

They struck a good vein when they struck old John Butterfield, of California. OHLMNEV-SWEEP. If I swear a little sometimes, they don't understand it ; never take offense ; they only take the kreutzers. It answers every purpose. Hang me, if I don't believe I maintain a dozen peddlers aud forty-two small boys, besides the chimney-sweep and postman, in addition to the necessary expenses of the household. Call this a cheap country! One never gets done paying. You can't get out of debt to somebody you never saw or heard of. I make it a point to offer a man the money aud tell him to call it square the moment he looks at me. I know by instinct what he wants. Take it ; take it, my dear sir ; that's all right, said I, to quite a respectable looking officer of the police the other day, who came to tell me that I owed some taxes, and must call at the Police Department.

He took the twelve kreutzers (complimentary debt), bowed politely, and retired. That gentleman has been very polite ever since. I regard him as a firm, personal friend. By a wise dispensation of Providence we can not al ways be well. People are sometimes sick in Frankfort as well as in other parts of the world, although the san itary condition of the population is generally good. Drug and medicine stores are numerous, and all are under the strict surveillance of the municipal authorities. A medical board supervises their operations, and frequent examinations are made of their stocks of medi cine. No person who has not been duly qualified by law can attend and make up prescriptions in these es tablishments. The strictest regulations for the preven tion of mistakes through ignorance or inattention on the part of the druggist, or misapprehension of the pur chaser, are enforced.

No medicines are allowed be sold except upon the written prescription of an authorized physician. The consequence is that very few cases of accidental poisoning occur in Germany. In many re spects these regulations are admirable, and some of them might be advantageously introduced in the United States. It is quite proper that one should be furnished with pure medicines when he has occasion for medicines at all ; it is reasonable that he should receive cream of tartar when he calls for that article, instead of arsenic or strychnine ; but I see no particular sense in requiring him to call in the services of a physician upon every trivial occasion. Many persons have but little faith in physicians, and (if you will consider it confidential) I am among the number. You have the toothache, perhaps, and warit ten drops of laudanum.

Go to a phjsician, pay him one florin (or forty cents) for writing a prescription to that effect ; present your prescription at any drug store in Frankfort, and you can get the laudanum by paying for it. You have a headache, a fit of indigestion, a colic, or what not, it is all the same; you are not al lowed to purchase a dose of castor-oil, or any thing else suitable to your case, without the prescription of a physician. The baby has the croup ; yom send down in a great hurry for some sirup of ipecac : the baby may choke. No matter, you can't have the ipecac till the doctor says so. A case in point occurred to my knowledge. I sent for ipecac for a small Butterfield. Couldn't get it. Went down in a rage. Asked the druggist what busi ness of his was it whether I gave ipecac to the baby or not, so long as it was paid for?

Druggist smiled bland ly, and said it was not allowed. " But, my dear sir," I remonstrated, " suppose I get a dozen prescriptions from a dozen different physicians, can the Board of Health guarantee that I will not give them all to the baby? Can the Board of Health have any security that I will not give six powders, prescribed according to the regulations, at one dose, instead of six doses ?" Drug gist smiled, and was of the opinion that it was very dangerous to give medicines without the advice of a physician. " But suppose I don't want a physician — won't have one — don't believe in them ; what then ?" Drug gist shrugged his shoulders. " Perhaps you wouldn't sell me a phial of laudanum if I wanted it?" I demanded, indignantly. Not unless it was prescribed by the doctor. Considered laudanum a very dangerous medicine.

" Of course," said I, sarcastically, " if one should drink it by the quart, it might impair his digestion. But listen to reason, my dear sir. If I wanted to poison my self or any body else, do you think you could prevent me ?" Druggist thought not — might get poison enough for that purpose in Paris or London. "Ay, here in Frankfort," I persisted, highly excited ; " plenty of it in B my own house. Smash a tumbler, sir, pound % up fine with a hammer, mix it with water, swallow it, and you are a dead man in less than twelve hours !" Druggist thought it would be better not to swallow pounded tum blers; would rather drink beer out of them as a matter of safety aud taste. Farther remonstrances, and the force and cogency of my reasoning at length prevailed. I got the ipecac, and returned triumphantly, greatly to the relief of the druggist.

Are you afflicted with sore eyes, my dear madam ? Then bear this in mind, should you visit Frankfort. At No. Strasse, the private residence of the family, you can be relieved. An elderly lady (the great grandmother, I believe, of this family) died some thirty or forty years ago. During the latter part of her life she was afflicted with sore eyes. A certain ancient beggar-woman prescribed a certain compound of beef mar row and something else, which afforded her immediate relief. On her death-bed, when the good old lady made her will, she bequeathed to posterity a fund for the pur chase of beef marrow and other necessary compounds for the manufacture of eye-salve. All the afflicted, of high and low degree, who made application for it in per sou, were to be furnished with a portion of the salve.

During the past summer I tried it. My eyes had been inflamed for some time. I think I strained them in Cal ifornia, looking after the public funds. At all events, I made application at No. Strasse for some salve, and was furnished with a little card, rolled up in tube form, with the salve in it. The effect was magical. Next morning I got up as usual, looked at myself in the glass, and wondered why some men are so much hand somer than others. During the day I saw — to the bottom of a difficulty ; and by night, after looking into the bottom of two glasses of beer in company with a friend, saw double. The inflammation was gone, and has not since returned. With considerable trouble we found a mobel establishmeut, where ready-made furniture could be had, and, having selected a small assortment, calmly awaited its arrival.

Next day we received a table ; day after, half a dozen chairs ; day after that, a looking-glass ; fourth or fifth day, some beds, and so on. In the course of a few weeks we got the full amount of our purchase, all wheel ed in a little hand-cart by two men, at intervals varying from one to three days. It is no use to lose patience. This is the German way of doing business. Nothing is so valueless in the various transactions of life as time. We Americans live too fast, as all the world knows, and thereby wear ourselves out ; but the same fault does not attach to these people. Hence I think the Yankees and the Germaus make the best possible amalgamation of races. We drag them on a little with our nervous en ergy ; they drag us back a little with their weight and steadiness ; so that a progeny uniting these valuable traits forms a very happy medium.

In the progress of time the house is ready for occupation — not, indeed, as houses are furnished in Germany, where various articles of use and luxury grow like barnacles on the walls and into all the crevices and corners, thus accumulating from generation to generation, but it will serve the purposes of a temporary sojourn. Now the lively time comes — the hiring of the cooks and nurses. Plenty to hire, but some trouble to make a choice. All bring their police-books, and show you that they are " treu und fleiszig" — faithful and industrious. When you make your selection you pay two gulden contract-money ; that clenches the bargain. In two weeks, if the servant be already in employment, she is allowed to come. The rate of wages is not high, Com pared with California, where we paid from thirty-five to forty dollars a month.

In Frankfort it averages from thirty to sixty gulden*a year — twelve to twenty-four dollars. In other parts of Germany compensation for labor is still lower. There is this to be observed, how ever ; it requires a great many servants to do a very small amount of labor. People of all classes take life easy— work a long time, but never hard. Much of the housework has to be done by miscellaneous persons em ployed from the outside at stated intervals. For in stance, the stove-cleaner must clean the stoves ; the wash erwoman must do the washing ; the ironer must do the ironing ; the baker must do the baking ; and several ex tra women are required to do small miscellaneous jobs about the house. This aggregate of experts must be paid at extra rates, and stipulations are entered into by which they are entitled to bread and butter so many times a day, and coffee at stated intervals.

Mrs. Butterfield has made contracts with her employees of such a complicated and stringent character that an attempt to compre hend them has on more than one occasion effectually addled my brain. Mrs. Butterfield is a woman of remarkable sagacity, and won't be cheated. Besides, she considers it a master-stroke of policy to do in Germany as the Germans do — which, I am free to admit, is the best possible way of learning the language, and enjoying all the advantages to be derived from a residence in the country. The next grand move was to put all the children to school. This is soon accomplished ; and now nothing remains but to give you an account of our ordinary daily life. We breakfast on small-bread and coffee ; butter is not allowed except on brown bread, and meat, eggs, and other food of a stimulating nature is prohibited at our morning repast as injurious to health.

Water must also be very sparingly used, and in no case until half an hour has'elapsed after taking the least exercise. At Mittag, or noon, we dine on soup and a species of boiled rag (originally beef), with subsequent dishes of a varied and complicated nature, such as herrings, beets, potatoes, anise-seed, vinegar, and sugar compounded in one dish ; nutmeg, caraway-seed, rice, and gravy in another ; sour beef, spiced and sweetened, and many other strange and TUK YOUNG IDEA. incomprehensible mixtures. We have a different kind of soup every day ; and we have Pancake-days and Noodle-days, when meat is prohibited as a matter of custom and economy. On no account is hot bread al lowed on the table. It is not customary, and whatever is not customary is rigidly tabooed by Mrs. Butterfield as inconsistent with the grand object of our visit to this country.

Apart from the consideration of health, she is conscientiously of opinion that the prevailing dishes have a material influence upon the tongue, and greatly facilitate the acquisition of the language. For my part, I have no particular antipathies in the matter of food or cookery. I enjoy the German way of living. It is cheap and wholesome, keeps the head clear, and the stomach free from dyspepsia ; but there are some of the favorite mixtures of the country that I don't "yearn after" as a simple matter of flavor.

Chapter II. Curious Customs

It is wonderfully striking to a labor-worn American, whose life has been devoted to the pursuit of some vain object — wealth, fame or power — how smoothly the Ger mans spend their lives ; how little they concern them selves about the progress of the world; how innocently they amuse themselves, and what trifles afford them pleas ure: " Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw." After church, of a Sunday afternoon, the cities seem literally to pour out their entire population. The public gardens are thronged to overflowing ; the excursion trains to all the neighboring towns and watering-places are packed full ; the country for many miles around is alive with gay crowds of pedestrians ; music is heard in every direction, and the air vibrates with sounds of rev elry and rejoicing. It is a grand gala day for all classes.