View source for Vienna/Visit to Parliament

[[File:Austrian_parliament_harpers_1897.jpg|frameless|right|350px|{{File:Austrian_parliament_harpers_1897.jpg}}]]

Shortly after arriving in Vienna, Mark Twain started to take an interest in local politics. On 28th October 1897, he attended a sitting of the Austro-Hungarian parliament for the first time ([https://www.zotero.org/groups/4437667/mtxdigital/search/dolmetsch/titleCreatorYear/items/97PABR4V/item-list Dolmetsch] 72). He describes it in great detail in his essay "Stirring Times in Austria", first published in ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine'' in March 1898 and later republished in the collection ''How To Tell a Story''. Twain writes that the event was constantly disrupted by heckling of the politicians. Curses and threats were made against the speaker and everybody had wooden planks that were banged on the desks to make loud noises. Many sittings of the parliament went like this, making actual debates almost impossible.

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