A Tramp's Wallet stored by an English goldsmith during his wanderings in Germany and France. William Duthie
I had determined upon starting on foot for Paris, my savings amounted to seven pounds sterling, and with that sum I thought myself amply provided for the journey. In order that it may not be supposed that I had suffered undue privations, or enforced, in financial arrangements, anything beyond a reasonable economy, I must state, that in addition to paying to the Guild and police, during the year, eight florins twelve kreutzers, or six shillings and tenpence, I had witnessed twenty-three theatrical representations, at prices varying from fourpence to a shilling, at a total cost of eleven shillings and fourpence; been present at eighteen concerts, at an outlay of seven shillings and eightpence; and had visited the Brühl, Wöslau, Mödlin, Laxenburg, Helena-Thal, Klosterneuburg, Grinzing, and Weinhaus; the Treasure Chamber, and picture-galleries innumerable; which latter, although supposed to be open to public inspection free of expense, were not conveniently accessible without a fee. Twenty-five kreutzers, or fourpence, was the price of a seat in the gallery of the suburban theatres of the Leopold, Joseph, and Wiener vorstädte; while tenpence and a shilling procured a similar place in the imperial opera and play-house. Hot sausages and beer were the luxuries vended in the former; while ices, coffee, and delicate pastry, were the bonnes bouches prepared for the latter.
I found the workmen in Vienna industrious and submissive; gay, thoughtless, and kind-hearted. In some trades it was still the practice for the workmen, if not numerous, to sleep in the workshop. I knew a cabinet-maker who did so, and he was very cleanly and well lodged. I knew one or two married journeymen, and there were no doubt very many in so large a capital as Vienna, but marriage among artisans was generally condemned. The wages were on the average much less than I have stated; I knew silversmiths who were earning only three and four florins a week—six shillings and eight shillings; and I have no doubt that tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, and others, were paid even less. I visited one family circle in the Leopoldstadt which consisted of the man, his wife and child, and three single men lodgers, who all lived and slept in one room. I found the lodgers airing themselves in the court-yard, while the beds were made and the room set in order. But I saw very little of squalor or filth even in the poorest quarters. As a check upon the assumed thoughtlessness of the Viennese artisans, the pawnbrokers are by civil ordinance closed a week before and after every great holiday, such as Easter, Whitsuntide, etc.
There were very many small masters, known in England as master-men, who worked at home, and by their skill and quickness earned superior wages. My own landlord was one of them, and called himself a “Gallanterie Tischler.” He was chiefly employed in ornamental woodwork for the silversmiths, and, being tasty and expert, earned a very respectable living. He used to buy English knives for certain parts of his work, on account of the superiority of the steel, but he complained bitterly of their clumsy and awkward fashion. He was extremely industrious during the week, and many a pleasant Sunday visit have we paid to Weinhaus and other suburban villages, when the “heueriger”—the young, half-made wine—was to be tasted. Heueriger was sold at a few pence a quart, and is a whitish liquid of an acid but not unpleasant flavour. It is a treacherous drink, like most white wines, and from its apparently innocent character tempts many into unexpected inebriation. The Viennese delight in an Italian sausage called “Salami,” said to be made of asses’ flesh, and a pale, but highly scented cheese, as the proper accompaniments to the heueriger.
Domestic servants in Vienna have one very laborious duty to perform, and that is the fetching of water from the springs. These springs are simply pumps in appearance, and were so formerly, but the flow of water is now continuous, and to be obtained without effort. It is painful to see the poor girls bending under the weight of their water troughs, which are carried on the back, and shaped something like a pannier with a flat side. They are made of wood, hooped like a barrel, and have a close-fitting lid. The Bohemian women perform duties even more unsuitable. They are bricklayers labourers; and sift sand, mix mortar, and carry slates on their heads to the highest houses. In these labours they are sometimes assisted, or set aside, by the soldiery, the more well-behaved of whom are allowed to hire themselves as labourers and porters. In one case, as I know, a soldier was “put in possession,” as his Imperial Majesty’s representative, and provided daily with a sum of money as an equivalent for food.
There is another class of labourers who make themselves particularly conspicuous in the streets of Vienna, and that is the “holzhacker,” or wood-chopper. Wood is the universal fuel, and is sold in klafters, or stacks of six cubic feet. A klafter consists of logs, each about three feet long, and apparently the split quarters of young trees of a uniform size. This wood, when delivered to the purchaser, is shot upon the footpath in front of the house, or in the court-yard, if there be a porte cochêre, which is not usual. The business of the holzhacker is to chop the logs into small pieces for the convenience of burning, and this he does in an incredibly short space of time, but to the great inconvenience and sometimes personal risk of the passers by. He is, however, very independent in his way, and is treated with astonishing forbearance by the police. He is, moreover, the street wit of Vienna.
The Viennese workmen are not merely uninformed of, but in general, perfectly indifferent to political matters. This ignorance may in a great measure result from the unthinking and pleasure-seeking character of the Viennese public—which levity is encouraged by the Government, as taverns and concert rooms are open long after private houses are closed—but is also to be traced to the uneasy position which the citizens hold with respect to the police. It is not alone that the restrictions and impediments of official routine render his social existence a matter of public legislation, but there is an unpleasant consciousness that his landlord, his neighbour on the same flat, his barber, or his fellow workman, may be a “vertrauter,” a spy in the pay of the police, and his simplest actions, through their means, perverted into misdemeanours. A worthy cooper, with whom I occasionally dined, on reading a skeleton report of a public meeting in England, where working men had made speeches and moved resolutions, exclaimed, as he threw down the paper: “But, seriously, don’t you think this very ridiculous?”
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 knapsacks were light, and we wore stout walking shoes with scarcely any heels, and had prepared some well-boiled linen wrappers, intended, when smeared with tallow, to serve the purpose of socks. They effectually prevent blisters, and can be readily washed in any running stream. Our first stage was by steam on the Danube to Linz, the capital of Upper Austria; and we took our departure from Nussdorf amid the valedictions and kisses of some thirty male friends, each of whom saluted us thrice—on each cheek, and on the lips, for this is the true German fashion, and may not be slighted or avoided.
A voyage on the water may seem a curious commencement of a foot journey; but the fact is, that no one knows better than the tramp that a railway or a steamboat is always cheaper than shoe-leather and time; and no doubt as these new means of progress increase in number they will entirely change the character of German trade-wanderings. From Vienna to Linz is, in round numbers, a distance of one hundred and fifty English miles, and this one vessel, the “Karl,” got over in two days and a night. The wind was against us, and it must be remembered that it is all up stream. The Danube is upon the whole a melancholy river, of a sullen encroaching character, for its whole course is marked by over-floodings and their consequent desolation. The passage cost ten florins, twenty-five kreutzers, or eight shillings and fourpence, and we slept on the table below, on deck, or not at all, as we best could.
Our real starting-point on tramp was Linz, whence we pursued our way through Wells, Gmunden, Ebensee, and Ishl to Salzburg, in which beautiful city we rested for a day and half. We steamed across lake Traun from Gmunden, and paid a fare of twenty-five kreutzers, or fourpence. From Salzburg we pushed on to Hallein, to visit the salt mines there, and thence diverged still further from the beaten route