They had a rough wit and could give and take.

If a man thought this an invitation and tried to take a kiss, he generally had his face slapped for his pains, and the Fraeu-Wirtin was always on the side of her girls.
The smoke was so thick one could scarcely see two tables away, and if any foreigner chanced to open a window there was a hubbub; windows were made for light, not air.

There were soldiers, non-commissioned officers--for the fall maneuvers brought many to Dreiberg--farmers and their families, and the men of the locality who made the Black Eagle a kind of socialist club.

Socialism was just taking hold in those days, and the men were tremendously serious and secretive regarding it, as it wasn't strong enough to be popular with governments which ruled by hereditary might and right.
Gretchen came in, a little better dressed than in the daytime, the change consisting of coarse stockings and shoes of leather, of which she was correspondingly proud.
"Will you want me, Fraeu-Wirtin, for a little while to-night ?" she asked.
"Till nine.

Half a crown as usual." Gretchen sought the kitchen and found an apron and cap.