REPORT OE DR. FRED. W. RUSSELL.
559
and occasionally parties engaged in a game of cards. But no one is on the floor, no one trying to create a fuss. In certain parts of the city there are a number of mongrel establishments, half bar-room, half garden, where the most abandoned of both sexes congregate. I mention them now only because the strange absence of visible intoxication is noticeable, even among the frequenters of these low and miserable dance-halls. In each a policeman is on duty, whose orders are to prevent disturbance at all hazards.
III. Cafes.
At these establishments, which exceed two hundred in number, one obtains tea and coffee, with eggs, bread and ices. Sometimes a more liberal larder is supplied, but in theory they are limited to these few articles. Wine and beer can be had, but are not very generally called for. The larger places are fitted up with considerable elegance, billiard-tables, pictures, and statues being quite common. These places remain open until 2 and 3 a. m.
IV. Beer-gardens.
These are the most prominent feature of Vienna life. Everywhere throughout the city and among the suburbs, these gardens are found, varying in size, completeness, and social rank. In one place a garden may consist of a handsome glass pagoda, brilliantly lighted at night, furnished with chairs, tables, surrounded by gravel-walks and a few trees. Again, one may consist of a hanging-garden, which, filled with trees, bright lights, and a merry company, is a very pleasant sight on a crowded thoroughfare at night. Often a bit of open land, where several streets intersect, gives room for a tent with a few tables and chairs. But the beer-garden par excellence consists of a grove of trees filled with round tables and chairs, and the ground covered several inches deep with pebbles, sifted from the bed of the Danube, an admirable pre ventive of dampness. Along the edge of the grounds build ings are erected, often of fanciful designs, open galleries, out of door dancing floors, and very commonly a band-stand in the centre of all. The covered buildings are in use during wet weather. Among certain grades of society it is quite