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Old Waldorf Bar Days
mery," and it was soon followed by the sheer but ac–
cidental destruction of enough sparkling wine to make
a modern prohibition agent jealous. Bootleggers did not
figure in this last episode, but what might be called
"pants-leggers" did.
Among those invited to meet the Kaiser's brother was
almost every important newspaper editor in the whole
country. The pantry was piled high with cases of wine,
and these had been opened ahead of time. One result
was that many waiters had proved unable to resist temp–
tation. And wine sometimes has a way of inflaming na–
tional ardor.
Every waiter employed by the hotel was on duty, as
was every bellboy on the staff. The former, serving the
various courses, laden with trays, hurried along the hall–
way from the pantry in single file and at fixed distances
apart. And when courses were finished, out they came,
still in a long line, bearing trays of soiled plates and
remnants. This went on in military fashion under the
argus eye of the
maitre d'hotel,
its grand marshal, who
stood near the door of the ball room, with eye and ear
alert for any sign of interruption to the program he had
so carefully planned. Everything moved like clock-work
for a time.
But all at once the smooth-running wheels stopped.
A sudden halt in 'the steady procession of waiters and
omni buses. Something had gone wrong!
What had happened was a flare-up of national jeal–
ousies. At that time there were many French as well as
German waiters on the staff of .the hotel, and the former,
in some cases, undoubtedly cherished memories of the
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