Cabinet of Ministers seated round a baccarat table

To our Western ideas it seems strange to see a whole Cabinet of Ministers seated round a baccarat-table, laughing, smoking, drinking, whistling, and sometimes singing, while the Premier or the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs holds the bank. Every country, however, has its own usages, and I think it would be unjust to attribute the frequent presence of the leading politicians of Bulgaria in the card-rooms of the Union Club to any special love of gambling. What their presence does show is the total absence of general society in the place. If any Sofiote wishes for relaxation after his day’s work—and most of the leading men here work very hard and very long— the club is the one place he can go to for entertainment. There is but little general conversation in the club, and the only entertainment to be found there is in card-playing. I have thought it worth while to dwell somewhat on this feature of social life in Sofia, mainly in order to show how very meagre and jejune that life still is.

There is a handsome theatre where performances are given occasionally in Bulgarian, but it is very little frequented. There are also one or two cafds chant ants chiefly resorted to by the German commercial travellers, waiters, and shopmen of Sofia.

Contributions from the customers

At these places a few elderly, painted, wrinkled waifs and strays from the music halls of the Fatherland sing songs with cracked voices to the accompaniment of a piano out of tune. After each song the singer comes round with a plate and solicits contributions from the customers. The average contribution is a penny, and these pennies, together with the commission paid upon the liquors which they induce the customers to order, constitute the only remuneration given to the performers.

These wretched places of amusement, so called on the lucus a non lucendo principle, are very little visited by the natives, though I am told that occasionally, on the nights of the great popular holidays, the townspeople come there, and that even Ministers have been seen amongst the audience. Indeed, the utter absence of ladies’ society in Vienna is about the only reason why I can imagine the wildest and youngest of Sofiote gallants ever frequenting these resorts.