36 chapters
7 hour read
Selected Chapters
36 chapters
a TRAMP’S WALLET;
a TRAMP’S WALLET;
stored by AN ENGLISH GOLDSMITH during his Wanderings in Germany and France. by WILLIAM DUTHIE. dedicated , by permission , to charles dickens , esq. LONDON: DARTON AND CO., 58, HOLBORN HILL. mdccclviii . [ The right of Translation is reserved by the Author .] TO CHARLES DICKENS, ESQ., This Volume is respectfully dedicated , in grateful acknowledgment of his sympathy and encouragement during the publication of the greater portion of its contents ; and as a slight tribute of admiration for his unw
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
During a stay of three years and a half in Germany and France, sometimes at work, sometimes tramping through the country, the Author collected a number of facts and stray notes, which he has endeavoured in these pages to present to the public in a readable shape. Of the twenty-eight chapters contained in the volume, sixteen originally appeared in “Household Words.” They are entitled The German Workman ; Hamburg to Lübeck ; Lübeck to Berlin ; Fair-time at Leipsic ; Down in a Silver Mine ; A Lift
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
HAMBURG.—ON TRAMP TO BERLIN.
HAMBURG.—ON TRAMP TO BERLIN.
There have appeared from time to time, in public print, sorrowful recitals of journeys attempted by English workmen in foreign countries, with no better result than the utter failure of the resources of the adventurous traveller, and his return homeward by the aid of private charity or the good offices of his consul. It is precisely because the travels about to be here narrated were financially a success, being prosecuted throughout by means of the wages earned during their progress, that it is
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
BERLIN AND LEIPSIC.—ON TRAMP TO VIENNA.
BERLIN AND LEIPSIC.—ON TRAMP TO VIENNA.
I was less fortunate in the search for work in Berlin than I had been in Hamburg. Having started on my travels too early in the year, I paid the penalty of my rashness. My guide into Berlin was a glovemaker, whose acquaintance I had made upon the road, and through whom, curiously enough, I succeeded in discovering my Parisian friend Alcibiade, the first object of my search. Alcibiade, eccentric, but frank and generous, received me like a brother. There was no employment to be obtained in Ber
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
VIENNA.
VIENNA.
My first notes in Vienna must undoubtedly be devoted to the police. As Hannibal and I arrived at the guard-house of the Tabor Linie, or barrier, we were ordered by the sentinel to halt and hand over our papers; and, upon doing so, received a slip of very little better than sugar paper in return, with printed directions in German, French, and Italian, commanding our attendance at the chief police office within twenty-four hours. We knew better than to disobey. On the following morning we prese
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ON TRAMP TO PARIS.
ON TRAMP TO PARIS.
We were three in number, a jeweller from Copenhagen, a Viennese silversmith, and myself, who started from Vienna to walk to Paris. We were all in tolerable feather as to funds. I was possessed of about seventy guldens (seven pounds), and a little packet of fifty dozens of piercing-saws, a trading speculation, which I hoped to smuggle over the French frontier in my boots. I was better provided in all respects than on any of my former journeys. We had forwarded our boxes to Strassburg, our kna
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PARIS.
PARIS.
We thought ourselves very ill-used on our first night in Paris, when, having been wiled into a grand hotel near the Bourse, we were stowed away on the fifth floor, three in a room, and charged six francs for our beds, one more for a candle, and one for service. Our parsimonious Dane was so highly irritated, that he took possession of the candle and carried it off in his pocket. But Alcibiade was soon by our side, to give us help and advice with his old kindness; and under his guidance we remov
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
hamburg . Hamburg at last!—after eight days’ sail from London, three of them spent in knocking about the North Sea, where the wind always blows in your teeth. Never mind! we are now safely moored to these substantial timbers; huge piles, driven in a line, which form the outer harbour of Hamburg. The city lies before us, but there is nothing very imposing in it; the houses, with gable roofs and whitened walls, look rather lath-and-plastery, in fact; but we must not express our opinions too rash
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II. ALTONA.
CHAPTER II. ALTONA.
the poet’s grave .— a danish harvest home . We tread upon elevated ground, and far away to our left, down in a hollow, flows the broad Elbe; placid indeed from this distance, for not a ripple can we see upon its surface. A few ships are lazily moving on its waters. Stand aside, and make way for this reverend gentleman; he is a prediger , a preacher of the gospel; he is habited in a black gown, black silk stockings and shoes, a small black velvet skull-cap on his head, while round his neck bris
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE LAST HEADSMAN.
THE LAST HEADSMAN.
Ten years ago the ancient city of Hamburg was awakened into terror by the commission of a fearful murder. The cry of “Fire!” arose in the night; the nachtwächter (watchman) gave the alarm; and the few means at command were resorted to with an energy and goodwill that sufficed soon to extinguish the flames. It was, however, discovered that the fire had not done the work it had been kindled for; it would not hide murder. Among the smouldering embers in the kellar or underground kitchen, where t
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
workmen in hamburg . Here amid the implements of labor, in the dingy werkstube in Johannis Strasse; lighted by the single flicker of an oil lamp, with the workboard for a writing-desk, let me endeavour to collect some few scattered details about the German workmen in Hamburg. German workmen! do not the very words recall to your memory old amber-coloured engravings of sturdy men, with waving locks, grasping the arm of the printing-press, by the side of Faust, Schœffer, and Gottenberg? Or, perhap
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
plays and piccadilloes .—“ hamlet ” in german . It is Sunday again. Soberly and sedately do we pass our morning hours. We waken with the sweet music of bells in our ears; bells that whisper to us of devotion; bells that thrill us with a calm delight, and raise up in us thoughts of gentleness and charity. There is no lack of churches; we see their tapering steeples and deep gable roofs rising above the general level in many places, and there is a Little Bethel down by the water’s side on the Vo
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
the german workman . That workmen in England may have some clear knowledge of the ways and customs of a large number of their brethren on the Continent, I here intend to put down for their use a part of my own knowledge and experience. The majority of trades in Germany are formed into guilds, or companies. At the head of each guild stands an officer chosen by the government, whatever it may be—for you may find a government of any sort in Germany, between an emperor and a senate—this officer bei
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
hamburg to lübeck . The bleak, icy winter of North Germany is past. We have trodden its accumulated snows as they lay in crisp heaps in the streets of Hamburg; and have watched the muffled crowd upon the frozen Alster, darting and reeling, skating, sliding, and sleighing upon its opaque and motionless surface. We have alternately loved and execrated the massive German oven, which warmed us indeed, but never showed us a cheerful face. We have sipped our coffee or our punch in the beautiful win
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
lübeck to berlin . By right of churches full of relics, antique buildings, and places curiously named, Lübeck is, no doubt, a jewel of a town to antiquarians. Its streets are badly paved, but infinitely cleaner than the streets of Hamburg. I did not much wonder at that, for I saw no people out of doors to make them dirty, when I exposed myself to notice from within doors as a solitary pedestrian, upon my way to take a letter to a goldsmith in the market place. The market place is a kind of ex
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
berlin .— our herberge . Fairly in Prussia! We have passed the frontier town of Perleberg, and press onward in company with a glovemaker of Berlin, last from Copenhagen, whom we have overtaken on the road towards Wusterhausen. “Thou wouldst know, good friend, the nature of my prospects in Berlin when I arrive there? Have I letters of recommendation—am I provided in case of the worst? Brother, not so! I am provided for nothing. I dare the vicissitudes of fortune. I had a friend in Hamburg,
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
a street in berlin . Berlin is a fine city, let the wise Germans of the East say what they will. It may be deficient in those monumental records of “the good old times,” the crumbling church, the thick-walled tower, the halls and dungeons of feudal barbarism, but it abounds with evidences of the vigour and life of modern taste and skill; and instead of daily sinking into rotten significance, like some of its elder brethren, is hourly growing in beauty and strength. It has all the attributes of
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
berlin .— police and people . It may not appear correct to an English reader to couple the people and the police thus cavalierly together, but in Prussia, as in the rest of Germany, the police are so completely bound up in, and their services so entirely devoted to, the every-day existence, as well as any more prominent acts of the people, that it is impossible to proceed far with the one without falling into the company of the other. A few facts may serve to illustrate this point. We (Alcibiad
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
kreutzberg .— a prussian supper and carouse . Herr Kupferkram the elder, I have done thee wrong. I have set thee down as a mere vender of sausages, and lo! thou holdest tavern and eating-house; dispensing prandial portions of savoury delicacies in flesh and vegetable, at the charge of six silver groschens the meal. I beg a thousand pardons; and as a sincere mark of contrition, will consent to swallow thy dinners for a while. “Will the Herrn Tourniquet and Tuci,” said the Frau Kupferkram one mo
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
fair time at leipsic . From Berlin to Leipsic by rail, in an open carriage, is not the most interesting journey in the world. Whirr, whizz, burr! away we hum through the keen Spring air, between pleasant banks and dark fir-woods, not very rapidly indeed, for we travel under government regulations, but pleasantly enough if it were not for the sparks and the dust. There are few objects of interest on our route, till we perceive the towers of Wittenberg rising out of the hollow on the left, and w
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
down in a silver mine . The sojourner in Leipsic, while strolling through its quaint old streets and spacious market-place, will be attracted, among other peculiarities of national costume, by one which, while startling and showy, is still attractive and picturesque. The wearer is most probably a young man of small figure and of pallid appearance. He is dressed in a short jacket, which is black, and is enriched with black velvet. The nether garments are also black. His head is covered with a
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
a lift in a cart . We left Dresden in the middle of July, a motley group of five: a Frenchman, an Austrian, two natives of Lübeck, and myself; silversmiths and jewellers together; all of us duly viséd by our several ambassadors through Saxon Switzerland, by way of Pirna, on to Peterswald. The latter is the frontier town of Bohemia, and forms, therefore, the entrance from Saxony into the Austrian empire. At dusk we were on the banks of the Elbe, at the ferry station near Pillnitz, the summer dwe
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
the turks’ cellar . You enter the old town of Vienna from Leopoldstadt by the Ferdinand Bridge; and, walking for a few minutes parallel with the river, come into a hollow called the Tiefer Grund; passing next under a broad arch which itself supports a street spanning the gulley, you find on the left hand a rising ground which must be climbed in order to reach a certain open space of a triangular form, walled in by lofty houses, called “Die Freiung,”—the Deliverance. In it there is an old wine-h
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
a taste of austrian jails . At the “Fete de Dieu,” in Vienna (the Frohnleichnamsfest ), religious rites are not confined to the places of worship—the whole city becomes a church. Altars rise in every street, and high mass is performed in the open air, amid clouds of incense and showers of holy water. The Emperor himself and his family swell the procession. I had taken a cheering glass of Kronewetter with the worthy landlord of my lodgings, and sauntered forth to observe the day’s proceedings.
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
what my landlord believed . My Bohemian landlord in Vienna told me a story of an English nobleman. It may be worth relating, as showing what my landlord, quite in good faith and earnest, believed. You know, Lieber Herr, said Vater Böhm, there is nothing in the whole Kaiserstadt so astonishing to strangers as our signboards. Those beautiful paintings that you see—Am Graben and Hohe Markt,—real works of art, with which the sign-boards of other countries are no more to be compared, than your hum-
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
an execution at vienna . Carl Fickte, a native of Vienna, stood condemned for execution. His crime was murder. He was convicted of having enveigled his nephew, of eight years old, to the Mölker bastion of the city fortification, and of having thrown him over the parapet into the dry ditch below. The depth of the fall was between thirty and forty feet, and the shattered body of the boy explained his miserable death. His nephew’s cloak became loosened in the struggle, and remained in the hands
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
a jail episode . While in the full enjoyment of that luxury, “A Taste of Austrian Jails,” already related in these pages, I met with a man whose whole life would seem to signify perversion; a “dirty, villanous-looking fellow, with but one eye, and very little light in that.” A first glance at this fellow would call up the reflection, “Here is the result of bad education, and bad example, induced perhaps by natural misfortunes, but the inevitable growth of filth and wretchedness in a large city.
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
a walk through a mountain . I lately took a walk through the substance of a mountain, entering at the top, and coming out at the bottom, after a two or three mile journey underground. Perhaps the story of this trip is worth narrating. The mountain was part of an extensive property belonging to the Emperor of Austria, in his character of salt merchant, and contained the famous salt mine of Hallein. The whole salt district of Upper Austria, called the Salzkammergut, forms part of a range of rock
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
cause and effect . One September evening we rode into Carlsruhe. We made our entry in a crazy hackney cab behind a lazy horse that had been dragging us for a long time with cheerless industry between a double file of trees, along a road without a bend in it; a long, lanky, Quaker road, heavily drab-coated with dust; a tight-rope of a road that comes from Manheim, and is hooked on to the capital of Baden. Out of that allée we were dragged into the square-cut capital itself, which had evidently
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
greece and her deliverer . Four happy tramps in company, we passed the frontiers of Austria and Bavaria, near Berchtesgaden, in the hazy shimmering of an autumn morning sun. We came from the lakes and mountain regions of Upper Austria, and already yearned towards Munich, the Bavarian capital, as our next station and brief resting place. The sun seemed to have melted into the air, for we walked through it rather than beneath it, and sought in vain for coolness and shelter among the plum trees w
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
the french workman . The original stuff out of which a French workman is made, is a street boy of fourteen years old, or, perhaps, twelve. That young gamin de Paris can sing as many love ditties and drinking songs as there are hairs upon his head, before he knows how much is nine times seven. He prefers always the agreeable to the useful: he knows how to dance all the quadrilles: he knows how to make grimaces of ten thousand sorts one after the other without stopping, and at the rate of twenty
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXV.
licensed to juggle . Some years ago a short iron-built man used to balance a scaffold pole upon his chin; to whizz a slop-basin round upon the end of it; and to imitate fire-works with golden balls and gleaming knives, in the public streets of London. I am afraid his genius was not rewarded in his own country; for not long ago I saw him starring it in Paris. As I stood by to watch his evolutions, in the Champs Elysées, I felt a patriotic glow when they were rewarded with the enthusiastic appla
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVI.
père panpan . “Monsieur Panpan lives in the Place Valois,” said my friend, newly arrived from London on a visit to Paris, “and as I am under a promise to his brother Victor to deliver a message on his behalf, I must keep my word even if I go alone, and execute my mission in pantomime. Will you be my interpreter?” The Place Valois is a dreamy little square formed by tall houses: graced by an elegant fountain in its centre; guarded by a red-legged sentinel; and is chiefly remarkable in Parisian a
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
some german sundays . Of how Sunday is really spent by the labouring classes in some towns in Germany, I claim, as an English workman who has worked and played on German ground, some right to speak. It is possible that I may relate matters which some do not suspect, and concerning which others have already made up their minds; but, as I shall tell nothing but truths, I trust I may not very much disconcert the former, nor put the latter completely out of patience; nor offend anybody. To begin wi
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
more sundays abroad . Still on tramp toward the south, we came to Dresden, and there rested five days; but as they were week-days their experiences gave us no insight into the Sunday usages of the place, and I only allude to them because it would seem unbecoming to pass the capital of Saxony without a word; and because I feel morally convinced that of all the art-wonders collected in the Zwinger, Das Grüne Gewölbe, and in the picture gallery, all of which we visited, not any of them are visible
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
NOTE.
NOTE.
[173] This is incorrect; the Picture Gallery is open during the mid-day hours on Sunday....
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter