Read "The Lady of Lucerne" by Francis Hopkinson Smith online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Above the Schweizerhof Hotel, and at the end of the long walk fronting the lake at Lucerne, -- the walk studded with the round, dumpy, Noah's-ark trees, -- stands a great building surrounded by flowers and palms, and at night ablaze with hundreds of lamps hung in festoons of blue, yellow, and red. This is the Casino. On each side of the wide entrance is a bill-board, announcing that some world-renowned Tyrolean warbler, famous acrobat, or marvelous juggler will sing or tumble or bewilder, the price of admission remaining the same, despite the enormous sum paid for the appearance of the performer.
Inside this everybody's club is a cafe, with hurrying waiters and a solid brass band, and opening from its smoke and absinthe laden interior blazes a small theatre, with stage footlights and scenery, where the several world-renowned artists redeem at a very considerable discount the promissory notes of the bill-boards outside.