REPORT OF DR. FRED. W. RUSSELL.
561
with his strings, the other. During the Exposition season an admission fee of seventy-five cents was charged, but the concerts were always thronged with a nicely-dressed and well- behaved company, promenading about the walks, or sitting at the tables quaffing beer and eating ices, while the passionate music rose and fell on the evening air. Outside in the garden, often, thousands of people were quietly listening, with no sign of disorder, rowdyism or drunkenness.
Near Schonbrunn, a village a few miles from the city, where the emperor has a summer-palace, is the largest and most popular beer-garden of all. Its proprietor, Mr. Schwen- der, is commonly spoken off as a public benefactor, for having established so beautiful a palace of amusement. He calls it the New World. It embraces a large amount of space, filled with walks and beds of flowers, with buildings for various uses, a theatre, shooting-galleries, and a semi-circular band-stand, which can accommodate singers or musicians by the thousand. In honor of great fete-days he provides enlarged entertainment. One evening he massed twelve of the best military bands stationed about the city, making a total of over 700 performers, and also provided an extra dramatic entertainment, the whole closing with fireworks. By 7 p. m. the grounds were flooded with light from the gas-jets, arranged in cones, wreaths, and festoons, and were crowded with merry people. The neat, unostentatious dress of the Austrian officers appeared on every hand. Tall orderlies, with spur and clanking sword, stalked about the walks. Whole families were here, all eating, drinking, chatting, and listening to the music which the monster band rendered most charmingly. Here were several thousand people, but not a noisy word nor an ungracious action during the evening. As the crowd hur ried for the cars and omnibuses, it certainly was unexampled for order and good nature.
During the day the gardens are not very numerously visited. But as the late summer afternoon comes on the citizens begin to wend their way toward the suburbs, where the gardens do most abound. On Sundays, for instance, after attending church in the forenoon, the people fairly load down every means of conveyance toward their favorite resorts. After 4 p. m. of that day the theatres, circuses, and similar 71