Like all the places that were highly individual and different, Mayen made a deep impression on me. It was like entering the shell of some great mollusc that had long since died, to enter this walled town and find it occupied by another type of life from that which originally existed there. Because it was raining now and soon to grow dark, I sauntered into the first shelter I saw--a four-story, rather presentable brick inn, located outside the gate known as the Brückentor (bridge-gate) and took a room here for the night. It was a dull affair, run by as absurd a creature as I have ever encountered. He was a little man, sandy-haired, wool-witted, inquisitive, idle, in a silly way drunken, who was so astonished by the onslaught of a total stranger in this unexpected manner that he scarcely knew how to conduct himself. “I want a room for the night,” I suggested. “A room?” he queried, in an astonished way, as if this were the most unheard-of thing imaginable. “Certainly,” I said. “A room. You rent rooms, don’t you?” “Oh, certainly, certainly. To be sure. A room. Certainly. Wait. I will call my wife.” He went into a back chamber, leaving me to face several curious natives who went over me from head to toe with their eyes. “Mah-ree-ah!” I heard my landlord calling quite loudly in the rear portion of the house. “There is one here who wants a room. Have we a room ready?” I heard no reply. Presently he came back, however, and said in a high-flown, deliberate way, “Be seated. Are you from Frankfort?” “Yes, and no. I come from America.” “O-o-oh! America. What part of America?” “New York.” “O-o-oh--New York. That is a great place. I have a brother in America. Since six years now he is out there. I forget the place.” He put his hand to his foolish, frizzled head and looked at the floor. His wife now appeared, a stout, dull woman, one of the hard-working potato specimens of the race. A whispered conference between them followed, after which they announced my room would soon be ready. “Let me leave my bag here,” I said, anxious to escape, “and then I will come back later. I want to look around for awhile.” He accepted this valid excuse and I departed, glad to get out into the rain and the strange town, anxious to find a better-looking place to eat and to see what I could see.