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diff --git a/35680.txt b/35680.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 07a2922..0000000 --- a/35680.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6699 +0,0 @@ - ONE YEAR ABROAD - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost -no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Title: One Year Abroad - -Author: Blanche Willis Howard - -Release Date: March 25, 2011 [EBook #35680] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ONE YEAR ABROAD *** - - - - -Produced by Katherine Ward and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net. - -This file was produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries. - - - - ONE YEAR ABROAD - - - - - BY - THE AUTHOR OF "ONE SUMMER." - - - "O rare, rare Earth!" - - - - "Iron is essentially the same everywhere and always, but - the sulphate of iron is never the same as the carbonate - of iron. Truth is invariable, but the Smithate of truth - must always differ from the Brownate of - truth."--_Autocrat of the Breakfast Table._ - - - BOSTON: - JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, - Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co. - 1878. - - - - - _Copyright, 1877. - By JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO. - University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co., Cambridge. - _ - - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - - HAMBURG AT A FIRST GLANCE. ..................................... 1 - - - HEIDELBERG IN WINTER. .......................................... 12 - - - A FLYING SHEET FROM PARIS. ..................................... 24 - - - BADEN-BADEN. ................................................... 32 - - - RAMBLES ABOUT STUTTGART ........................................ 44 - - - THE SOLITUDE. .................................................. 55 - - - A DAY IN THE BLACK FOREST. ..................................... 63 - - - THE LENNINGER THAL. ............................................ 69 - - - FRANCISKA VON HOHENHEIM. ....................................... 77 - - - "NUREMBERG THE ANCIENT." ....................................... 85 - - - SOME WUeRTEMBERG TOWNS. ........................................ 91 - - - IN A GARDEN. ................................................... 95 - - - LINDAU AND BREGENZ. ............................................ 100 - - - THE VORARLBERG. ................................................ 106 - - - IN THE TYROL. .................................................. 115 - - - INNSBRUCK. ..................................................... 121 - - - OHENSCHWANGAU AND NEU SCHWANSTEIN. ............................. 127 - - - LIFE IN SCHATTWALD. ............................................ 137 - - - UP THE AIRY MOUNTAIN. .......................................... 145 - - - THE ENGADINE. .................................................. 154 - - - RAGATZ. ........................................................ 161 - - - A FLYING TRIP TO THE RHINE FALLS. .............................. 168 - - - DOWN FROM THE HIGH ALPS. ....................................... 175 - - - BY THE LAKE OF LUCERNE. ........................................ 182 - - - UP AND ON AND DOWN THE RIGI. ................................... 187 - - - A KAISER FEST. ................................................. 194 - - - THE CANNSTADT VOLKSFEST. ....................................... 203 - - - IN A VINEYARD. ................................................. 211 - - - AMONG FREILIGRATH'S BOOKS. ..................................... 218 - - - THREE FUNERALS. ................................................ 225 - - - SOME CHRISTMAS PICTURES. ....................................... 232 - - - HAMBURG AGAIN. ................................................. 239 - - - - - -BY THE SAME AUTHOR. - - -ONE SUMMER. - -"Little Classic" style. $1.25. - -"A very charming story is 'One Summer.' Even the word 'charming' hardly -expresses with sufficient emphasis the pleasure we have taken in reading -it; it is simply delightful, unique in method and manner, and with a -peculiarly piquant flavor of humorous observation."--_Appleton's -Journal._ - -JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., -_Publishers, Boston_. - - - - -HAMBURG AT A FIRST GLANCE. - - -There is a wild, fantastic poem, thronged with more phantoms, goblins, -and horrors than are the legends of the Blockberg. It narrates in -singularly vivid style the deeds of a frightful fiend, and is, believe -me, a truly remarkable work. I beg you will not scorn it because it -exists only in the brain which it entered one stormy night at sea. There -it reigned, triumphant, through long sleepless hours; but for certain -reasons--which are, by the way, perfectly satisfactory to my own -mind--it will never be committed to paper. Its title is "The -Screw,"--the screw of an ocean steamer. - -Christmas is the best wishing-time in the year. One can wish and wish at -Christmas, and what harm does it do? So I will wish my poem all written -in stately, melodious measure, yet with thoughts that would make your -cheek pale, and your very soul shudder; and then--since wishing is so -easy--I will wish that I were an intimate friend of Gustave Dore, to -whom I would take my masterpiece to be illustrated; and I would beg him -to allow his genius for drawing awful things full sway, and I would -implore him not to withhold one magic touch that might suggest another -horror, so that extending from the central object--the terrible -Screw--there should be demons reaching for their prey, howling and -laughing in fiendish glee. Then I would say, "More, more, my good M. -Dore!--more hideous faces, more leering phantoms, more writhing legs and -arms, please!" For perhaps Dore never crossed the ocean in bad weather; -perhaps he never occupied a state-room directly over the Screw; perhaps -he never experienced the sensation of lying there in sleepless, -helpless, hopeless agony, clinging frantically to the side of his berth, -hearing the clank of chains, the creaking of timbers, the rattling of -the shrouds, the waves sweeping the deck over his head,--most of all, -the Evil Screw beneath, rampant and threatening. It may be Dore does not -know how it feels when that Screw rises up in wrath, takes the steamer -in his teeth and shakes it, then plunges deep, deep in the waves; while -all the demons, great and small, stretching their uncanny arms towards -the state-rooms, shriek, "We'll get them! We'll have them!" and the -winds and waves in hoarse chorus respond, "They'll have them--have -them--have them!" and again uprises the Screw and shakes himself and the -trembling steamer. So through the night, and many nights, alas! - -And yet, O Screw! thing of evil, thing of might, I humbly thank you that -you ceased at last your terrible thumps, your jarrings and wicked -whirls,--and silenced your chorus of attendant demons, with their -turnings and twistings and mad laughter; I thank you that you _did not_ -get us! Truly, I believed you would. I thank you that you did not choose -to keep us miserable souls wandering forevermore through the shoreless -deep, or to sink us, as the phantom-ship sinks in "Der Fliegender -Hollaender," amid sulphurous fumes and discordant sounds, down to that -lurid abyss from which you came. - -Do you all at home know this legend of the Flying Dutchman? At least, do -you know it as Wagner gives it to the world, in words as lovely as its -melodies? The music is worth hearing, and the story well worth a little -thought. But perhaps you know it already? Because, if you do, of course -I shall not tell it, and in that case we need not sail off in strange -crafts for the wild Norway coast, but will only steam safely up the Elbe -to Hamburg. - -There are travellers from the Western World who, after months of -sight-seeing, return home weary and disappointed because they have never -once been able to "realize that they were in Europe." Not realize! Not -know! Not feel with every fibre that one has come from the New to the -Old! Why, the very lights of Hamburg gleaming through the rain and -darkness, as we cold and wet voyagers at last drew near our haven, even -while they gave us friendly greeting, told us unmistakably that their -welcome was shining out from a strange land, from homes unlike the homes -we had left behind. - -Dear people who never "realize" that it is "Europe," who never feel what -you expected to feel, may one less experienced in travel than yourselves -venture to tell you that it is that fatal thing, the guide-book, that -weighs you down? Not total abstinence in this respect, but moderation, -would I preach. Too much guide-book makes you know far too well what to -do, where to go, how long to stay. It leaves nothing to imagination, to -enthusiasm, to the whim of the moment. Dear guide-book people, _don't_ -know so much, don't calculate so much, don't measure and weigh and test -everything! Don't speak so much to what you see, and then what you see -will speak more to you. Even here in old Hamburg, the haughty free city -of commerce, the rich city boasting of her noble port filled with ships -from every land,--proud of her wealth, her strength, her merchants, and -her warehouses,--looking well after her ducats, caring much for her -dinner, plainly telling you she is of a prosaic nature, leaving tales of -love and chivalry to the more romantic South,--even here the air is full -of subtle intangible influences, that will move you deeply if you will -but receive them. A city a thousand years old must have something to say -of far-off times and of the living present, if one has ears to hear. - -Stand on the heights by the river and look down on all the noble ships -at anchor there. The old windmill turns lazily before you. The flag on a -building near by moves softly in the breeze. The tender, hazy, -late-autumn day, kind to all things, beautifies even bare trees and -withered grass. A large-eyed boy, his school-books under his arm, stares -curiously at you, then longingly looks at the water and the great ships. -The picture has its meaning, which you may breathe in, drink in if you -will, but you will never find it if you are comparing your "Appleton" -with your "Baedecker," or estimating the number of square feet in the -grass-plot where you stand, or looking hard at the ugly "Sailors' -Asylum" because you may be so directed, and refusing to see my pretty -boy with the wistful eyes because he's not mentioned in the guide-book. - -Everywhere are little stories, pictures, glimpses of other people's -lives, waiting for you. The flower-girl at the street-corner holds out a -bunch of violets as you pass. Pale, thinly clad, she stands there -shivering in the cold November wind. On you go. The shops are large and -brilliant, the people seem for a time like those in any large city. You -think you might as well be in New York, when suddenly you see, walking -tranquilly along, a peasant-woman in the costume of her -district,--short, bright gown, bodice square and high, with full white -sleeves and a red kerchief round her shoulders, and on her head the most -curious object, a thing that looks like a skullcap, with a flaring black -bow, as large as your two hands, at the back, from which hangs her hair -in two long braids. Sometimes there is also a hat which resembles a -shallow, inverted flat basket. Why it stays in place instead of wabbling -about as it might reasonably be expected to do, and whether there is any -hidden connection between it and that extraordinary black bow, are -mysteries to me, though I peered under the edge of the basket hat of one -Vierlaenderin with great pertinacity. - -The Hamburg maid-servants also wear a prescribed costume. A casement -high above you swings open and discloses a little figure standing in the -narrow window. A blond head, with a white bit of a cap on it, leans out. -You catch a glimpse of a great white apron, and of a neat, sensible, -dark cotton gown, made with a short puffed sleeve which leaves the arm -bare and free for work. You wonder _why_ the girl looks so long up and -down the busy street, and what she hopes to see. To be sure, it may be -only Bridget looking for Patrick, or, worse, Bridget thinking of nothing -in particular; simply idling away her time, instead of sweeping the -garret. But if her name is perhaps Hannchen, and she looks from a -window, narrow and high, and the morning sunshine touches her yellow -braids, and she stands so still, far above the hurrying feet on the -pavement, how can one help finding her more interesting, as a bit of -human nature to study and enjoy, than a beflounced and beribboned -Bridget at home? And when, in her simple dress, well suited to her -degree, she runs about the streets on her mistress's errands, carrying -many a parcel in her strong round arms, she is a pleasant thing to see, -and, because she does not ape the fine lady, loses nothing when by -chance she walks by the side of one in silk attire. - -Ah! if one has ever groaned in spirit to see the tawny daughters of the -Penobscot Indians, those dusky maidens who might, in reason, be expected -to bring into a prosaic town some wildwood grace, some suggestion of the -"curling smoke of wigwams," of "the dew and damp of meadows," selling -their baskets from door to door in gowns actually cut after a recent -Godey fashion-plate, much looped as to overskirt, much ruffled and -puffed and shirred,--then indeed must one rejoice in the dress of the -Hamburg maids, and in these sturdy country-women trudging along in their -picturesque but substantial costume, to sell their fruit and vegetables -in the city markets. - -In the olden time the good wives of Hamburg no doubt wore such gowns. -One sees now in the street called Grosse Bleichen great buildings, banks -and shops, and all the evidences of busy modern life; but one shuts the -eyes and sees instead groups of women in blue and red, coming out from -the city walls to lay on the green grass the linen they have spun, that -it may whiten in the sunshine. They spun, and wove, and bleached. They -lived and died. The growing city built new walls, and took within its -limits those green banks once beyond its gates. The women knew not what -was to be, when their spinning was all done. Nor did the maids, whose -busy feet trod the path by the river-side, dream that the Jungfernstieg, -or Maiden's Path, would be the name, hundreds of years after, of the -most-frequented promenade of the gay world of a great city. - -Those women with the spinning-wheels, silent now so long, the young -maids with their waterjars, chatting together in the early morning by -the river, still speak to us, if we but listen. Though the voices of the -city are so loud, we can hear quite well what they tell us; but indeed, -indeed, dear friends, it is not written in the guide-book. - - ---- - -Stories everywhere, did I not say? Why, I even found one imbedded -in--candy! - -Listen, children, while I tell you about marzipan. The grown people need -not hear, if they do not wish. - -Marzipan (or St. Mark's bread--_marzi panis_) is the name of a dainty -which is made into bonbons of every shape and size and color imaginable; -all, however, having the same flavor, tasting of sugar and vanilla and -rose-water and almonds, and I know not what beside. There are tiny -potatoes, dark and gray, with marvellous "eyes," that would delight your -souls; there are grapes, and nuts, and large, red apples, all made from -the delectable marzipan. And most particularly there are little round -loaves, an inch long, perhaps, which are the original celebrated -marzipan, pure and simple, the other form being modern innovations. And -why Mark's bread? Because, my dears, there was once a famine in Luebeck, -and tradition saith that the loaf which each poor woman took from the -baker to her starving bairns grew each day smaller and smaller, until -finally it was such a poor wee thing it was no more than an inch long; -and on St. Mark's Day was the famine commemorated, while the shape and -size of the pitiful loaves are preserved in this sweetmeat, peculiar, I -believe, to North Germany. Hamburg children--bless them!--will tell you -the tale of famine, and swallow the tiny loaves as merrily as though -there was never a hungry child in the world. - -Hamburg children! Indeed, I have reason to bless them. Shall I not -always be grateful to the fate that showed to eyes weary with gazing -upon wet decks, dense fog, and the listless faces of fellow-voyagers, a -bright and beautiful vision? Most travellers in Hamburg visit first the -Zooelogical Gardens, and then immediately after--is it to observe the -contrast or the similarity between the lower animals and noble man?--the -Exchange or Boerse, where they look down from a gallery upon hundreds, -thousands of busy men, whose voices rise in one incessant, strange, -indescribable noise--hum--roar--call it what you will. Neither of these -spectacles, happily, was thrust at once before me. Did I not interpret -as a happy omen that _my_ first "sight" was twenty little German -children dancing? - -Can I ever forget those delicious shy looks at the queer stranger who -has suddenly loomed up in the midst of their festivities? And the -carefully prepared speech of the small daughter of the house who with -blushes and falterings, much laughter, many promptings, and several -false starts, finally chirps like a bird, trying to speak English, "I am -va-ry happy to zee you," and for the feat receives the felicitations of -her friends, and retires in triumph to her bonbons. - -Sweetest of all was the gracious yet timid way in which each child, in -making her early adieus, gave her hand to the stranger also, as an -imperative courtesy. - -Each little maid draws up her dainty dancing-boots heel to heel, extends -for an instant her small gloved hand, speaks no word except with the shy -sweet eyes, gravely inclines her head, and is gone, giving place to the -next, who goes through the same solemn form. - -Dear little children at home, you are as dear and sweet as these small -German girls--dearer and sweeter, shall I not say?--but would you, -_could_ you, prompted only by your own good manners, march up to a -corner where sits a great, big, entirely grown-up person from over the -sea, and stand before her, demure and quaint and stately, and make your -stiff and pretty little bows? Would you now, you tiniest ones? Really? - -Yet, do you know, if you would, of your own free will, without mamma -visible in the background exhorting and encouraging, you would do a -graceful thing, a courteous and a kindly thing, in thus including the -dread stranger within your charmed circle, and in welcoming her from -your child-heart and with your child-hands. You would be telling her, -all so silently, that though her home is far away, she has her place -among you; that kindness and warmth and free-hearted hospitality one -finds the wide world over. And your pretty heads, bending seriously -before her, and your demure, absurd, sweet, pursed-up baby-mouths might -conjure up visions of curly gold locks, and soft dimpled faces far off -in her home country, and she would--why, children, children, I cannot -say what she would do! I cannot tell all that she would think and feel. -But this I know well, she would love you and your dear little, -frightened, welcoming hands, and she would say, with her whole heart, as -I say now,-- - -"Merry, merry Christmas, and 'God bless us every one!'" - - - - -HEIDELBERG IN WINTER. - - -"If you come to Heidelberg you will never want to go away," says Mr. -Warner in his "Saunterings." It was in summer that he said it. He had -wandered everywhere over the lovely hills. He knew this quaintest of -quaint towns by heart. He had studied the beautiful ruin in the sunshine -and by moonlight, and had listened amid the fragrance and warmth of a -midsummer night to the music of the band in the castle grounds, and to -the nightingales. I, who have only seen Heidelberg in the depth of -winter, with gray skies above and snow below, echo his words again and -again. - -"Don't go to Heidelberg in winter. Don't think of it. It's so stupid. -There is nothing there now, positively nothing. O, don't!" declared the -friends in council at Hamburg. When one's friends shriek in a vehement -chorus, and "O, don't!" at one, it is usually wise to listen with -scrupulous attention to everything which they say, and then to do -precisely what seems good in one's own eyes. I listened, I came -immediately to Heidelberg in winter, and now I "never want to go away." - -And why? Indeed, it is not easy to say where the fascination of the -place lies. Everybody knows how Heidelberg looks. We all have it in our -photograph albums,--long, narrow, irregular, outstretched between the -hills and the Neckar. And all our lives we have seen the castle -imprinted upon paper-knives and upon china cups that say Friendship's -Offering, in gilt letters, on the other side. But in some way the queer -houses,--some of solid stone, yellow and gray, some so high, with -pointed roofs, some so small, with the oddest little casements and heavy -iron-barred shutters, and the inevitable bird-cage and pot of flowers in -the window, quite like the pictures,--in some way these old houses seem -different from the photographs. And when one passes up through steep, -narrow, paved alleys lined with them, and sees bareheaded fat babies -rolling about on the rough pavement, and the mothers quite unconcerned -standing in the doorways, and small boys running and sliding on their -feet, as our boys do, laughing hilariously and jeering, as our boys also -do,--why will they?--when the smallest falls heavily and goes limping -and screaming to his home,--one is filled with amazement at the -half-strange, half-familiar aspect of things, and wonders if it be -really one's own self walking about among the picture houses. And as to -the castle, I never want to see it again on a paper-weight or a -card-receiver. - -There's nothing here in winter, they say. I suppose there is not much -that every one would care for. It is the quietest, sleepiest place in -the world. It pretends to have twenty thousand inhabitants, but, -privately, I don't believe it, for it is impossible to imagine where all -the people keep themselves, one meets so few. - -No, there's not much here, perhaps; but certainly whatever there is has -an irresistible charm for one who is neither too elegant nor too wise to -saunter about the streets, gazing at everything with delicious -curiosity. Blessed are they who can enjoy small things. - -A solemn-looking professor passes; then a Russian lady wrapped in fur -from her head to her feet. Some dark-eyed laborers stand near by talking -in their soft, sweet Italian. The shops on the Haupstrasse are -brilliantly tempting with their Christmas display. Poor little girls -with shawls over their heads press their cold noses against the broad -window-panes, and eagerly "choose" what they would like. One stands with -them listening in sympathy, and in the same harmless fashion chooses -carved ivory and frosted silver of rare and exquisite design for a score -of friends. - -Dear little boy at home,--yes, it is you whom I mean!--what would you -say to an imposing phalanx of toy soldiers, headed by the emperor, the -crown prince, Bismarck, and Von Moltke all riding abreast in gorgeous -uniforms? That is what I "choose" for you, my dear. And did you know, by -the way, that here in Germany Santa Claus doesn't come down the chimneys -and fill the children's stockings, and bring the Christmas-tree, but -that it is the Christ-child who comes instead, riding upon a tiny -donkey, and the children put wisps of hay at their doors, that the -donkey may not get hungry while the Christ-child makes his visits. - -Many women walk through the streets carrying great baskets on their -heads. This custom seems to some travellers an evil. The women look too -much, they say, like beasts of burden. But if a washerwoman has a great -basket of clothes to carry home, and prefers to balance it upon her head -instead of taking it in her hands, why may she not, provided she knows -how? And it is by no means an easy thing to do, as you would be willing -to admit if you had walked, or tried to walk, about your room with your -unabridged dictionary borne aloft in a similar manner. These women wear -little flat cushions, upon which the baskets rest. Those women I have -seen looked well and strong and cheerful, and walked with a firm, free -step, swinging their arms with great abandon. Three such women on a -street-corner engaged in a morning chat were an interesting spectacle. -One carried cabbages of various hues, heaped up artistically in the form -of a pyramid. The huge circumference of their baskets kept them at a -somewhat ceremonious distance from one another, but they exchanged the -compliments of the season in the most kindly and intimate way, and their -freedom of gesticulation and beautiful unconcern as to the mountains on -their heads were really edifying. - -I have not as yet been grieved and exasperated by the sight of a woman -harnessed to a cart. One, apparently very heavily laden, I did see drawn -by a man and two stalwart sons, while the wife and mother walked behind, -pushing. As she was necessarily out of sight of her liege lord, the -amount of work she might do depended entirely upon her own volition, and -she could push or only pretend to push, as she pleased; or even, if the -wicked idea should occur to her, going up a steep hill she might quietly -_pull_ instead of push, and so ascend with ease. The whole arrangement -struck me as in every respect a truly admirable and most uncommon -division of family labor. - -We meet of course everywhere groups of students with their dainty little -canes, their caps of blue or red or gold or white, and their altogether -jaunty aspect. The white-capped young men are of noble birth. Some of -them wear, in addition to their white caps, ornaments of white -court-plaster upon their cheeks and noses, as memorials of recent strife -with some plebeian foe. To republican eyes they are no better looking -than their fellows, and it may be said that few of these scholastic -young gentlemen, titled or otherwise, who in knots of three or five or -more, accompanied by great dogs, often blockade the extremely narrow -pavement, manifest their pleasing alacrity in gallantly scattering, and -in giving _place aux dames_ as might be desired. - -It has been snowing persistently of late. More snow has fallen than -Heidelberg has seen in many years, and the students have indulged in -unlimited sleighing. The Heidelberg sleigh is an indescribable object. -Its profile, if one may so speak, looks like a huge, red, decapitated -swan. It has two seats, and is dragged by two ponderous horses with -measured tread and slow, while the driver clings in a marvellous way to -the back of the equipage, incessantly brandishing an enormously long -whip. Sometimes a long line of these sleighs is seen, in each of which -are four students starting out for a pleasure-trip. The young men fold -their arms and lean back in an impressive manner. Their coquettish caps -are even more expressive than usual. The curious thing is, that, apart -from the evidence of our senses, they seem to be dashing along with the -utmost rapidity. There is something in the intrepid bearing of the -students, in the vociferations and loud whip-crackings of the driver, -that suggests dangerous speed. On the contrary the elephantine steeds -jog stolidly on, quite unmoved by the constant din; the students -continue to wear their adventurous, peril-seeking air, and the undaunted -man behind valiantly cracks his whip. - -The contrast between the rate at which they go and the rate at which -they seem to imagine that they are going is most comical. The heart is -moved with pity for the benighted young men who do not know what -sleighing is, and one would like to send home for a few superior -American sleighs as rewards of merit for good boys at the university. - -The thing with the least warmth and Christian kindness about it in -Heidelberg is the stove. There may be stoves here that have some -conscientious appreciation of the grave responsibilities devolving upon -them in bitter cold weather, but such have not come within the range of -my observation. - -My idea of a Heidelberg stove is a brown, terra-cotta, lukewarm piece of -furniture, upon which one leans,--literally with _nonchalance_,--while -listening to attacks upon American customs and manners from -representatives of the Swiss and German nations. The tall white -porcelain stoves which somebody calls "family monuments," are at least -agreeable to the eye. But _these_ are neither ornamental nor wholly -ugly, neither tall nor short, white nor black, hot nor cold. They have -neither virtues nor vices. We feel only scorn for the hopeless -incapacity of a stove that cannot at any period of its career burn our -fingers. It is, as a stove, a total failure, and it makes but an -indifferently good elbow-rest. - -However deficient in blind adoration for our fatherland we may have been -at home, it only needs a few weeks' absence from it, during which time -we hear it constantly ridiculed and traduced, to make us fairly bristle -with patriotism. - -It is marvellous how like boastful children sensible people will -sometimes talk when a chance remark has transformed a playful, friendly -comparison of the customs of different nations into a war of words. -Often one is reminded of the story of the two small boys, each of whom -was striving manfully to sustain the honor of his family. - -"We've got a sewing-machine." - -"We've got a pianner." - -"My mother's got a plaid shawl." - -"My sister's got a new bonnet." - -"We've got lightning-rods on our house." - -"We've got a _mortgage_ on ours!" - -For instance:-- - -"You have in America no really old stories and traditions?" said a -German lady to an American. - -"We are too young for such things. But what does it matter? We enjoy -yours," was the civil response. - -"But," the German continued, in a tone of commiseration, "no -fairy-stories like ours of the Black Forest, no legends like ours of the -Blockberg! Isn't everything very new and prosaic?" - -This superiority is not to be endured. The American feels that her -country's honor is impeached. - -"We have no such legends," she begins slowly, when a blessed inspiration -comes to her relief, and she goes on with dignity,--"we have no such -legends, to be sure; but then, you know, we have--_the Indians_." - -"Ah, yes; that is true," said the German, respectfully, knowing as much -of the Indians as of the inhabitants of some remote planet, while the -American, trusting the vague, mysterious term will induce a change of -subject, yet not knowing what may come, rapidly revolves in her mind -every item of Indian lore she has ever known, from Pocahontas to -Young-Man-Afraid-of-his-Horses, determined, should she be called upon to -tell a wild Indian tale, to do it in a manner that will not disgrace the -stars and stripes. - -But I grieve to say that America is not always victorious. Our -table-talk, upon whatever subject it may begin, invariably ends in a -controversy, more or less earnest, about the merits of the several -nations represented. - -A Swiss student with strong French sympathies charges valiantly at three -Germans, and having routed their entire army, heaped all manner of abuse -upon Kaiser Wilhelm, reduced the crown prince to beggary, and beheaded -Bismarck, suddenly turns, elated with his victory, and hurls his -missiles at the American eagle. - -O, how we suffer for our country! - -Some sarcasm from our student neighbor calls forth from us,-- - -"America is the hope of the ages." - -We think this sounds well. We remember we heard a Fourth-of-July orator -say it. Then it is not too long for us to attempt, with our small -command of the German tongue. - -"A forlorn hope that has not long to live," quickly retorts our -adversary. - -He continues, contemptuously,-- - -"America is too raw." - -"America _is_ young. She's a child compared with your old nations, but a -promising, glorious child. Her faults are only the faults of youth," we -respond with some difficulty as to our pronouns and adjectives. - -"She's a very bad child. She needs a whipping," chuckles our saucy -neighbor. - -America's banner trails in the dust, and Helvetia triumphs over all -foes. In silence and chagrin America's feeble champion retires to the -window, watches the birds picking up bread-crumbs on the balcony, and -meditates a grand revenge when her German vocabulary shall be equal to -her zeal. Helvetia's son being, in this instance, a very clever, merry -boy, soon laughingly sues for reconciliation, on the ground that, "after -all, sister republics must not quarrel," and the two, in noble alliance, -advance with renewed vigor, and speedily sweep from the face of the -earth all tyrannous monarchical governments. - -Is it not, by the way, thoroughly German, that down in its last corner -the Heidelberg daily paper prints each day, "Remember the poor little -birds"? And indeed they are remembered well; and there are few casements -here that do not open every morning, that the birdies' bread may be -thrown upon the snow. - -And is there nothing else here in winter beside the innocent pastimes -mentioned? There are wonderful views to be gained by those who have the -courage to climb the winding silvery paths that lead up the Gaisberg and -Heiligenberg. And then there is--majesty comes last!--the castle. - -Ah! here lies the magic of the place. This is why people love -Heidelberg. It is because that wonderful old ruin is everywhere present, -whatever one does, wherever one goes, binding one's heart to itself. You -cannot forget that it stands there on the hill, sad and stately and -superb. Lower your curtains, turn your back to the window, read the last -novel if you will, still you will see it. I defy you to lose your -consciousness of it. It will always haunt you, until it draws you out of -the house--out into the air--through the rambling streets--up the hill -past the queer little houses--to the spot where it stands, and then it -will not let you go. It holds you there in a strange enchantment. You -wander through chapel and banquet-hall, through prison-vault and pages' -chamber, from terrace to tower, where you go as near the edge as you -dare,--_nearer_ than you dare, in fact,--and look down upon the trees -growing in the moat. Because you never, in all your life, saw anything -like a "ruin," and because there is but one Heidelberg Castle in the -world, you take delight in simply wandering up and down long dark -stairways, with no definite end in view. You may be hungry and cold, but -you never know it. You are unconscious of time, and after hours of -dream-life you only turn from gazing when somebody forcibly drags you -away because the man is about to close the gates. - -I cannot discourse with ease upon quadrangles and facades. I am doubtful -about finials, and my ideas are in confusion as to which buttresses fly -and which hang; but it is a blessed fact that one need not be very -learned to care for lovely things, and while I live I shall never forget -how the castle looked the first time I approached it. - -Some people say it is loveliest seen at sunset from the "Philosopher's -Walk," on Heiligenberg across the Neckar, and some say it is like -fairy-land when it is illuminated (which happens once or twice in a -summer,--the last time, before the students go away in August, and leave -the old town in peace and quiet), and when one softly glides in a little -boat from far up the Neckar, down, down, in the moonlight, until -suddenly the castle, blazing with lights, is before you. - -But though I should see it a thousand times with summer bloom around, -with the charm of fair skies and sunshine, soft green hills and flowing -water, or in the moonlight, with happy voices everywhere, and strains of -music sounding sweet and clear in the evening air, I can never be sorry -that, first of all, it rose in its beauty, before my eyes, out of a sea -of new-fallen snow. - -O, the silence and the whiteness of that day! - -We entered the grounds and passed through broad walks, among shadowy -trees whose every twig was snow-covered, and by the snow-crowned -Princess Elizabeth Arch. On we went in silence,--only once did any sound -break the stillness, when a little laughing child, in a sleigh drawn by -a large black dog, aided by a good-natured half-breathless servant, -dashed by and disappeared among the trees. Soon we stood on the terrace -overlooking the city and the Neckar. - -On one side was the castle, the dark mass standing out boldly against -the whiteness,--on the other, far below, the city, its steep, high roofs -snow-white, its three church-spires rising towards cold, gray skies; -beyond, the frozen Neckar, then Heiligenberg, its white vineyards -contrasting with the dusky fir-forests, and, far away as one could see, -the great plain of the Rhine, with the line of the Haardt Mountains -barely perceptible in the distance and the dim light. All was so white -and still! Only the brave ivy, glossy and green and fresh on the old -walls and amid this frozen nature, spoke of life and hope. All else told -of sadness, and of peace it may be, but of the peace that follows -renunciation. - -But to stand on the height--to look so far--to be in that white, holy -stillness! It was wonderful. It was too beautiful for words. - - - - -A FLYING SHEET FROM PARIS. - - -Is it in "The Parisians" that the soldier carries a bouquet on his -musket, and it is said that Paris, though starving, must have flowers? -These sweet spring days, when vast crowds of people are wandering about -amusing themselves, and children are making daisy chains in the parks, -and men pass along the streets with great branches of lilac blossoms or -masses of rosebuds, which are sold at every corner, and skies are blue, -and the lovely sunshine everywhere is falling upon happy-looking faces, -you feel like blessing not only the spring-time, but beautiful Paris and -the temperament of the French. "St. Denis caught a sunbeam flying, and -he tied it with a bright knot of ribbons, and he flashed it on the earth -as the people of France; only, alas, he made two mistakes,--he gave it -no ballast, and he dyed the ribbons blood-red." You think of the want of -ballast and the blood-red tinge when you look at the ruined Tuileries, -and see every now and then other traces of the Commune. In our -dining-room is a great mirror with a hole in its centre and long seams -running to its corners. Madame keeps it as a memento of those terrible -times, and of her anxiety and terror when balls were coming in her doors -and windows, and she would not on any account have it removed. But, -after all, it is the flying sunbeams of the present that most impress -you. They are more vivid, being actually before your eyes, than scenes -of riot and madness, which you can only imagine. The life about you is -altogether so fascinating, so cheering. You catch the spirit that seems -to animate the people. Where all is so sunny and gay why should you -grieve? Have you little troubles? Leave them behind and go out into the -sweet sunshine, and they will grow so insignificant you will be ashamed -to remember how you were brooding over them; and then, if they are -really great, they will pass; everything passes. Only take to-day to -your heart the loveliness that is waiting for you, for indeed there is -something in it that makes you not only happy for the time, but brave -and hopeful for the future. All of which is the little sermon that Paris -preaches to us all day long. Perhaps we didn't come to Paris for sermons -especially, but after all it is often the unexpected ones that are the -best. - -How shall I tell what we have seen and heard here? One day we visited -the Pantheon, and, having seen what there was to see below, we went up -to the dome, which affords a magnificent view of all Paris and the -surrounding country. A party of school-girls ascended the long, narrow, -winding flights at the same time, and they were entirely absorbed in -counting the stairs. The one in advance clearly proclaimed the number; -the others verified her account. The interest was intense. Occasionally -we would come to a platform where at first it would seem that there was -nothing more to conquer. Breathless, panting, flushed, the young girls -would look searchingly around, then, with a shriek of delight, would -plunge into a dark corner and open a door, from which another -crazy-looking stairway led up to other heights. Their chaperon, who -looked as if she might be the principal of a school, gave up in despair -before we were half-way up, and, seating herself to await their return, -cast amused, kindly glances after the retreating forms of the undaunted -girls. I take pleasure in stating the important and interesting fact -that the number of steps from the ground to the "Lanterne" above the -dome of the Pantheon is five hundred and twenty, and you can't possibly -go higher unless you should choose to ascend a rope which is used when -on grand occasions they illuminate the dome and burn a brilliant light -on the very tiptop. So said a little abbe who looked like a mere boy, -and who courteously told us many interesting things as we stood there, a -group of strangers scanning one another with mild curiosity,--two -well-bred Belgian boys with the abbe, some ultra-fashionable dames, a -party of Englishmen of course, and ourselves. The school-girls -fortunately went down without seeing the rope. Had they observed it, and -known that it was possible by any means whatever to go higher than they -had gone, they would have been miserable, unless indeed their aspiring -spirit had led them in some way to ascend it. - -With the paintings and sculpture at the Louvre and the Luxembourg we -have spent several happy days, only wishing the days might be months. -Don't expect me to tell you what delighted us most, or how great -pictures seemed which we had before seen only in engravings or -photographs. They burst gloriously all at once upon our ignorant eyes, -and we wanted to sit days and days before one picture that held us -entranced, and yet our time was so limited we had to pass on and on -regretfully. Of course some one was there to whisper in our ears, "O, -this is nothing! You must go to Italy." Certainly we must go to Italy, -but the thought of the beauty awaiting there could not detract from that -which was around us. Before some of the paintings we felt like standing -afar off and worshipping. There were Madonnas with insipid faces which -we did not appreciate. There were other pictures which we coldly -admired; they were wonderful, but we did not want to own them,--did not -love them. Among those which we longed to seize and carry away is the -"Cupid and Psyche" of Gerard, in which Psyche receiving the first kiss -of love is an exquisitely innocent, fair-haired little maiden, not so -very unlike the friend to whom we would like to send it. - -There are always curious people in the galleries. Sit down and rest a -minute and something funny is sure to happen. - -"See this chaw-ming thing of Murillo," says a florid youth of nineteen -or twenty, with very tight gloves, an elaborate necktie, and, alas! an -unquestionably American air, as he marshals a timid-looking group,--his -mother and sisters, perhaps. "Quite well done, now, isn't it?" And on he -went. If he knew a Perugino from a Vandyck his countenance did him great -injustice. Then another party comes along,--conscientious, ponderous, -English,--and halts with precision. One of them reads, in a loud voice, -from a book--"Titian--Portrait--462"--and they stare blankly at the -picture before them, which happens to be not a Titian at all, but a -"Meadow Scene, with Cows," by Cuyp, or a great battle-piece of Salvator -Rosa. When they discover their mistake and recover from their -astonishment, they pass on in search of the missing Titian. We smiled at -this, but, as the pictures are not hung according to the order given in -catalogues, we knew very well that it was our good fortune, and not our -merit or our wisdom, that kept us from similar mistakes. What might we -not have done had we not been so beautifully guarded against all -blundering by our escort, a French gentleman of rare culture,--both an -amateur painter and sculptor,--and an intimate friend of some of the -most distinguished French artists! With him for a companion we felt -superior to all catalogues and treatises upon art. We have had the -pleasure, too, of visiting his private museum and studio, where are -strange relics collected in a life of unusual travel and adventure. He -is a retired colonel of the French army, and when in service has lived -in Egypt, Turkey, Persia, Greece, and now his little room, which we -climbed six flights of stairs to reach, is crowded with mementos of his -wanderings. I despair of conveying any idea of what he has hung upon his -walls. It would almost be easier to tell what he has not. Persian -pictures, stone emblems, fans, rosaries, swords, mosaics, pistols, queer -chains and pipes, as well as some very valuable paintings,--a Vandyck, -an Andrea del Sarto, a number of the modern French school, presented to -him by the artists. Was it not a privilege to have such a guide when we -visited the Paris lions? He took us to the Musee de Cluny, among other -exceedingly interesting places, where we saw hosts of -antiquities,--beautifully carved mantels, magnificent fireplaces, "big -enough to roast a whole ox" (and they really use them, winters, too--the -noble great logs were all ready to be lighted), rare old windows of -stained glass, rich robes of high church dignitaries, porcelain, -jewelled crowns of Gothic kings, old lace and tapestries, and carved -wood that it did one's heart good to see. Girls with tied-back dresses, -and hats fairly crushed by the weight of the masses of flowers with -which French milliners persist in loading us this spring, did look so -painfully modern in those mediaeval rooms! We began to feel as if we -were walking about in one of the Waverley novels, and fully expected to -meet Ivanhoe clad in complete armor on the stone staircase that leads -down from the chapel. - -There were many things over which we found it impossible to be -enthusiastic,--the jawbone of Moliere, for example, in a glass case. It -probably looks like less distinguished jawbones, but if his whole -skeleton had been there I fear we should have been no more impressed. -Chessmen of rock crystal and gold we coveted, and we liked the room in -which are the great, ponderous, gilded state coaches of some century -long ago, with their whips, harnesses, and comical postilion boots. -There is a little sleigh or sledge there, said to have been Marie -Antoinette's,--a small gold dragon, whose wing flies open to admit the -one person whom the tiny equipage can seat. It looked as if it must have -been pushed by some one behind. Fancy a gold dragon with fiery-red eyes -and a wide-open red mouth coming towards you over the snow! - -This whole building is full of interest from its age and historical -associations. It was built in the fifteenth century, has been in the -hands of comedians, of a sisterhood; Marat held his horrible meetings -here; Mary of England lived here after the death of her husband, Louis -XII., and you can still see the chamber of the "White Queen," with its -ivory cabinets, vases, and queer old musical instruments. Visitors are -requested not to touch anything, but we couldn't resist the temptation -of striking just one chord on a spinet. Such a cracked voice the poor -thing had! It sounded so dead and ghostlike and dreary, we hurried away -as fast as we could. Don't be alarmed, and think I am going to write up -all the history of the place. I haven't the least idea of doing such a -thing; only this I can tell you,--the Hotel de Cluny affords an -excellent opportunity to test your knowledge of history; and if you ever -stand where we did, and send your thoughts wandering among past ages, -may your dates be more satisfactory than were ours! - -The ruins of an old Roman palace, of which only a portion of the baths -remain, adjoin the museum. There is a great room, sixty feet long, all -of stone, and very high, which was used for the cold baths. The other -baths are all gone, but if you imagine hot and warm and tepid ones as -large as the cold, it certainly gives you a profound admiration for the -magnitude of the ancient bath system. If Julian the Apostate, who built -the palace, they say, could see us as we go peering curiously about, -asking what this and that mean, and the names of stone things that were -probably as common in his day as sewing-machines are now, wouldn't he -laugh? We looked over the shoulder of a painter who was making a -delightful little picture of a part of the ruins, the stone pavement and -staircase, then a beautiful arch through which we could look into the -open air, and see the warm sunshine, the great lilac-bushes, and a tall -old ivy-covered wall beyond. The contrast between the cold gray interior -and the bright outer world was very effective. - -Strange old place where Caesars have lived, and through which early -kings of France and fierce Normans have swept, plundering and ruining, -and where, to-day, by the fragments of the massive ivy-covered walls and -under the trees in the pleasant park, happy little children play, and -nurses chatter, and life is strong, and fresh and warm, even while we -are thinking of the dead past! - - - - -BADEN-BADEN. - - -Baden is a little paradise. It seems like a garden with the freshness of -May on every flower and leaf. The long lines of chestnut-trees are rich -with bright, pink blossoms,--solid pink, not pink-and-white like ours at -home. You walk beneath them through shady avenues, where the young grass -is like velvet, and every imaginable shade of refreshing green lies -before your eyes. There is the tender May-leaf green of the shrubs, -another of the soft lawns, that of the different trees, of the more -distant hill-slopes, and, beyond all, the deepest intensified green of -the Black Forest rising nobly everywhere around. A hideous little -bright-green cottage, prominent on one of the hills, irritates us -considerably, not harmonizing with its deep background of pines, and we -long at first to ruthlessly erase it from the picture; but finally -remembering the ugly little thing is actually somebody's home, our -better nature triumphs, and we feel we can allow it to remain, and can -only hope the dwellers within think it prettier than we do. - -There are already many visitors here, though it is as yet too early and -cool for the great throng of strangers to be expected, and the vast -numbers of people come no more who used to frequent the place before the -gaming was abolished by the emperor a few years ago, through Bismarck's -especial exertions, it is said; from which it is to be inferred that -Baden's pure loveliness is less attractive to the world at large than -the fascination of the gaming-tables. We hear everywhere around regrets -for the lost charm, for the gayety, excitement, brilliancy; and it is -impossible to avoid wishing, not certainly that play were not abolished, -but at least that we could have come when it was at its height to see -for ourselves the strange phases of humanity that were here exhibited, -and just how naughty it all was. Now the waiters shake their heads -mournfully, as if a glory and a grace were departed, and say, "No, it -isn't what it used to be,--nothing like it!" and there seems to be a -"banquet-hall-deserted" atmosphere pervading the rooms in the -Conversation House. To be sure there is music there evenings, and a -fashionable assembly walking about; and there is music, too, in the -kiosk, and a goodly number of gay people chatting, eating, and drinking -at the little tables in the open air; and people gather in the early -mornings to drink the waters, as they always have done, but, after all, -the tribute of a memory and a regret seems to be universally paid to the -vanquished god of play, who is helping poor mortals cheat somewhere -else. - -The Empress of Germany is here, and, after long-continued effort, we -have seen her. How madly we have striven to accomplish this feat; how we -have questioned servants and shopkeepers; how we have haunted the -Lichtenthal Allee, that long, lovely, shady walk where her Majesty is -said to promenade regularly every day; how often we have had our -garments, but not our ardor, dampened for her sake; how she would never -come; and how finally, in desperation, we seated ourselves at a table -under a tree near her hotel, devoured eagerly with our eyes all its -windows, saw imperial dogs and imperial handmaidens in the garden, and -couriers galloping away with despatches, saw the coachmen and footmen -and retainers, but for a long time no empress,--all this shall never be -revealed, because self-respect imposes strict silence in regard to such -conduct. - -We must have looked somewhat like a picture in an old Harper's Magazine -where two hungry newsboys stand by the area railing as dinner is served, -and when the different dishes are carried past the windows one regales -himself with the savory scents, while the other says something to this -effect: "I don't mind the meats, but just tell me when the pudding comes -and I'll take a sniff." - -"Augusta, please, dear Augusta, come out!" entreated we; but she came -not. When a carriage rolled round to the door, we were in ecstasies of -expectation, convinced she was going out to drive, but instead came a -gentleman, servants, and travelling-bags. - -"Why, it's Weimar,--_our_ Weimar!" said we with pride and ownership, -because you see the Prince of Weimar lives in Stuttgart, and so do we. -And as he drives off, out on the balcony among the plants comes her -imperial Majesty and waves her handkerchief to her brother in farewell. -She wore a black dress, a white head-dress or breakfast-cap, looked like -her photographs, and must once have been beautiful. She is an intensely -proud woman, it is said, and a rigid upholder of etiquette, and tales -are told of slight differences between her and the crown princess on -this account. - -Baden is one of the enticing places of the earth,--is so lovely that -whenever, however, wherever you may look, you always spy some fresh -beauty, and the Black Forest legends are hanging all about it, investing -it with an endless charm. You can see in the frescoed panels on the -front of the new _Trinkhalle_ a picture illustrating some old story of a -place near by, and then for your next day's amusement can go to the -identical spot where the ghost or demon or goblin used to be. - -To Yburg, whose young knight met the beautiful, unearthly maiden by the -old heathen temple in the full moonshine, as he was returning from the -castle of his lady-love to his own, and who transferred his -affections--as adroitly as our young knights do the same thing -nowadays--from her to the misty figure, and met the latter, night after -night, was watched by his faithful servant, and was found dead on the -ground one bright morning. - -Or to Lauf, where the ghost-wedding was, or almost was, but not quite, -because the knight who was to be married to the very attractive ghost of -a young woman grew so frightened when he saw all the glassy eyes of the -ghostly witnesses staring at him that he couldn't say yes when the -sepulchral voice of the ghost of a bishop asked him if he would have -this woman to his wedded wife; and all the ghosts were deeply offended -and made a great uproar, and the knight fell down as if dead, and he too -was found lying on the ground in the morning; but him, I believe, they -were able to revive. - -And you can go to the Convent of Lichtenthal, from which the nuns, upon -the approach of the enemy, in 1689 fled in terror, leaving their keys in -the keeping of the Virgin Mary, who came down from her picture and stood -in the doorway, so that the French soldiers shrank back aghast, and all -was left unharmed. - -We went there, and saw a number of Marys in blue and red gowns, but -could not quite tell which was the one who came down from her frame to -guard the convent. - -In the chapel eight or ten children mumbled their prayers in unison, -while we stood far behind, examining the old stained-glass windows, with -the peculiar blue tint in them that cannot now be reproduced, and the -queer old stone knights in effigy; and I don't imagine the Lord heard -the children any the less because they were very absurd, and bobbed -about in every direction, and constantly turned one laughing face -quickly round to look at us, then back again, then another and another, -while all the time the praying went mechanically on. There was a little -girl, nine years old perhaps, who came to meet us by the old well here, -and stood smiling at us with great, brown, expressive eyes. Her face was -so brilliant and sweet we were charmed with her; but when we spoke she -upturned that rare little face of hers and answered not a word. I took -her hand in mine, but before she gave it she kissed it, and to each of -the party, who afterwards took her hand, she gave the same graceful -greeting. Not an airy kiss thrown at one, after the fashion of children -in general, but a quiet little one deposited upon her hand before it was -honored by the touch of the stranger. The pretty action, together with -the exquisite face, calm and clear as a cherub, and ideally childlike, -made a deep impression on us; and in some way, what we afterwards -learned--that she was completely deaf and dumb--did not occur to us. We -thought that she would not speak, not that she could not. - -On a height overlooking the town stands a memorial chapel, built in -antique style, of alternate strata of red and white sandstone, by which -a very lively effect is produced. It has a gilded dome and a portico -supported by four Ionic pillars. In the interior are frescos of the -twelve apostles; and upon the high gold partition or screen, which -separates the choir from the body of the chapel, are painted scenes from -the New Testament. The floor is of marble in two colors. - -We visited it fortunately during service, and saw for the first time the -Greek ritual. The singing was fine, the boys' voices sweet and clear, -but many of the forms unintelligible to a stranger. For instance, we -could only imagine what was meant when one priest in scarlet and gold -would go behind a golden door and lock it, and another one would stand -before it intoning the strangest words in the strangest sing-song, until -at last they would open the door and let him in. The service in the -Greek churches is either in the Greek or old Sclavonic language. Here we -inferred that we were listening to the old Sclavonic, as the chapel -belongs to a Roumanian prince; but only this can we say -positively,--that two words (_Alleluia_ and _Amen_) were absolutely all -that we understood. - -The robes were rich; incense was burned; there were a few worshippers, -all standing, the Greek Church allowing no seats; but in some places -crutches are used to lean upon when the service is long, as on great -festal days. There are no sermons except on special occasions, the -ordinary ritual consisting of chants between the deacons and chorister -boys, readings from certain portions of the Scripture, prayers, legends, -the creed, etc. They all turn towards the east during prayer, and -instrumental music is forbidden. - -In this little chapel the morning service which we witnessed was brief, -and, of its kind, simple. We noticed particularly among the worshippers -one old gentleman who seemed to be very devout. He crossed himself -frequently,--by the way, not as Roman Catholics do,--and at certain -times knelt, and even actually prostrated himself, upon the marble -pavement. He was a fine old man, and looked like a Russian. He was -earnest and attentive, but he made us all exceedingly nervous, for his -boots were stiff and his limbs far from supple, and when he went down we -feared he never would be able to come up again without assistance; and -we were incessantly and painfully on the alert, prepared to help him -recover his equilibrium should he entirely lose it, which often seemed -more than probable. This was a Roumanian prince, Stourdza,--who lives -winters in Paris and summers in Baden,--and who erected the chapel in -memory of his son, who died at seventeen in Paris from excessive study. -A statue of the boy, bearing the name of the sculptor, Rinaldo Rinaldi, -Roma, 1866,--life-size, on a high pedestal,--is on one side of the -interior. He sits by a table covered with books,--Bossuet, Greek, and -Latin,--while an angel standing beside him rests one hand on his -shoulder, and with the other beckons him away from his work. His Virgil -lies open to the lines,-- - - "Si qua fata aspera rumpas - Tu Marcellus eris." - -If the boy was in reality so beautiful as the marble and as the portrait -of him which hangs at the left of the entrance, he must have looked as -lofty and tender and pure as an archangel. - -Opposite him are the statues of the father and mother, who are yet -living, and between them a symbolical figure,--Faith, I presume. A -curtain conceals this group, beneath which the parents will one day lie. - -Paintings of them also hang by the entrance, with a portrait of the boy -and one of the sister, "_Chere consolation de ses parents_," as she is -called. The faces are all fine, but that of the young student the -noblest, and the statue of the lovely boy called away from his books -seemed a happy way of telling his brief story. In the vaults below where -he lies are always fresh flowers, and a light continually burning. - -It is impossible to enumerate all the sights in and about Baden. If it -is any satisfaction to you, you can look at the villas of the great as -much as you please; but to know that Queen Victoria lived here, and -Clara Schumann there, and yonder is the Turgenieff Villa, with extensive -grounds, does not seem productive of any especial enjoyment. It is much -more exhilarating to leave the haunts of men and walk off briskly -through the woods to some golden milestone of the past,--the old Jaeger -Haus, for instance, whose windows look upon a wide, rich prospect, and -where the holy Hubartus, the patron of the chase, is painted on the -ceiling, with the stag bearing the crucifix upon his antlers; and within -whose octagonal walls there must have been much revelry by night in the -good old times. - -To the old castle where the Markgrafen of Hohenbaden--the border -lords--used to live we went one day, and anything funnier than that -particular combination of the romantic and ridiculous never was known. -Riding "in the boyhood of the year" through lovely woods, by mosses -mixed with violet, hearing the song of birds, breathing the purest, -balmiest air, who could help wondering if Launcelot and Guinevere -themselves found lovelier forest deeps; and who could help feeling very -sentimental indeed, and quoting all available poetry, and imagining long -trains of stately knights riding over the same path, and so on _ad -infinitum_! While indulging these romantic fancies we discovered that -our donkey also was often lost in similar reveries, from which he was -recalled by the donkey-boy, who by a sudden blow would cause him to -madly plunge, then to stop short and exhibit all the peculiarly pleasing -donkey tricks which we had read about, but never before experienced. And -to ride a very small and wicked donkey and to read about it are two -altogether different things, let me assure you. - -Three donkeys galloping like mad up a mountain, three persons bouncing, -jolting, shrieking with laughter, a jolly boy running behind with a long -stick,--such was the experience that effectually dispelled our fine -fancies. - -The view at the castle is far extended and beautiful; you see something -of the Rhine in the distance, the little Oosbach, and the peaceful -valley between. Baden scenery, from whatever point you look at it, has -the same friendly, serene aspect,--little villages dotted here and there -on the soft hill-slopes, and in the background the bold, beautiful line -of the pine-covered mountains. The castle must have been once a fine, -grand place. Those clever old feudal fellows knew well where to build -their nests, and like eagles chose bold, wild heights for their rocky -eyries. "Heir liegen sie die stolzen Fuerstentruemer," quoted a German, -wandering about the ruins. - -Up to the Yburg Castle we went also; and the "up" should be italicized, -for the mountain seemed as high and steep as the Hill of Science, and we -felt that the summit of one was as unattainable as that of the other. -But the woods were beautiful, and their whisperings and murmurings and -words were not in a strange language, for the tall dark pines sang the -selfsame song that they sing in the dear old New England woods, the -wildflowers and birds were a constant delight, the air fresh and cool, -and at last we reached the top, and found another castle and another -view. - -Here there was little castle and much view. Really a magnificent -prospect, but so fierce and chilling a wind that we could with -difficulty remain long enough on the old turrets to fix the landscape in -our memory, and we were glad to seek shelter in the little house, where -a man and his wife live all the year round; and frightfully cold and -lonely must it be there in winter, when even in May our teeth were -chattering gayly. - -The visitors' book there was rather amusing. - -One American girl writes, with her name and the date,-- - - "No moon to-night, which is of course - The driver's fault, not ours." - -"Mr. H. C."--Black, we will call him--"walked up from Baden the 10th of -August, 1875"; and half the people who go to Yburg walk. As _we_ had -walked and never dreamed of being elated by our prowess, Mr. Black's -manner of chronicling his feat seemed comical. - -You look down from the mountain into the Affenthaler Valley, where the -wine of that name "grows." It is a good, light wine, and healthful, but -a young person--we decided she must be a countrywoman, because she -expresses her opinion so freely--writes in regard to it,-- - -"Affenthaler. The drink sold under that honorable name at this -restaurant is the beastliest and most poisonous of drinks, not -absolutely undrinkable or immediately destructive of life. Traveller, -take care. Avoid the abominable stuff. _Beware!_" - -Immediately following, in German, with the gentleman's name and address, -is,-- - -"I have drunk of the Affenthaler which this unknown English person -condemns, and pronounce it a good and excellent wine." - -That Yburg by moonlight might be conducive to softness can easily be -imagined. Here is a sweet couplet:-- - - "Let our eyes meet, and you will see - That I love you and you love me." - -But best of all in its simplicity and strength was "Agnes Mary Taylor, -widow," written clearly in ink, and some wag had underscored in pencil -the last expressive word. - -Does the lady go over the hill and dale signing her name always in this -way? On the Yburg mountain-top it had the effect of a great and -memorable saying, like "Veni, vidi, vici," or "Apres nous le deluge." -Agnes Mary Taylor, _widow_. Could anything be more terse, more -deliciously suggestive? - - - - -RAMBLES ABOUT STUTTGART - - -This letter is going to be about nothing in particular. I make this -statement with an amiable desire to please, for so much advice in regard -to subjects comes to me, and so many subjects previously chosen have -failed to produce, among intimate friends, the pleasurable emotions -which I had ingenuously designed, there remains to me now merely the -modest hope that a rambling letter about things in general may be read -with patience by at least one charitable soul. Bless our intimate -friends! What would we do without them? But aren't they perplexing -creatures, take them all in all! "Don't write any more about -peasant-girls and common things," says one. "Tell us about the grand -people,--how they look, what they wear, and more about the king." -Anxious to comply with the request, I try to recollect how the Countess -von Poppendoppenheimer's spring suit was made in order to send home a -fine Jenkinsy letter about it, when another friend writes, "The simplest -things are always best,--the flower-girl at the corner, the ways of the -peasants, ordinary, every-day matters." Have patience, friends. You -shall both be heard. The Countess von Poppendoppenheimer's gown has -meagre, uncomfortable sleeves, is boned down and tied back like yours -and mine, after this present wretched fashion which some deluded writer -says "recalls the grace and easy symmetry of ancient Greece"; but if he -should try to climb a mountain in the overskirt of the period he would -express himself differently. - -As to the king, one sees him every day in the streets, where he -courteously responds to the greetings of the people. He must be weary -enough of incessantly taking off his hat. The younger brother of Queen -Olga and of the Emperor of Russia, the Grand Duke Michael, came here the -other day. Seeing a long line of empty carriages and the royal coachmen -in the scarlet and gold liveries that betoken a particular -occasion,--blue being the every-day color,--we followed the illustrious -vehicles, curious to know what was going to happen, and saw a -gentlemanly-looking blond man, in a travelling suit, welcomed at the -station by different members of the court; while all those pleasing -objects, the scarlet and gold men, took off their hats. For the sake of -the friend who delights in glimpses of "high life," I regret that I have -not the honor to know what was said on this occasion, our party having -been at a little distance, and behind a rope with the rest of the -masses. - -But really the common people are better studies. You can stop peasants -in the street and ask them questions, and you can't kings, you know. -Peasants just now can be seen to great advantage at the spring fair, -which with its numberless booths and tables extends through several -squares, and to a stranger is an interesting and curious sight. This -portion of the city, where the marketplace, the Schiller Platz, and the -Stiftskirche are, has an old, quaint effect, the Stiftskirche and the -old palace being among the few important buildings older than the -present century, while the rest of Stuttgart is fresh and modern. From -the high tower of this old church one has the best possible view of -Stuttgart, and can see how snugly the city lies in a sort of -amphitheatre, while the picturesque hills covered with woods and -vineyards surround it on every side. One sees the avenues of -chestnut-trees, the Koenigsbau, a fine, striking building with an Ionic -colonnade, the old palace and the new one, and the Anlagen stretching -away green and lovely towards Cannstadt. On this tower a choral is -played with wind instruments at morn and sunset, and sometimes a pious -old man passing stops to listen and takes off his hat as he waits. - -In the little octagonal house up there lives a prosperous family, a man, -his wife, and ten children. The woman, a fresh, buxom, brown-eyed -goodwife, told us she descended to the lower world hardly once in three -or four weeks, but the children didn't mind the distance at all, and -often ran up and down twelve or fifteen times a day. How terrific must -be the shoe-bill of this family! Ten pairs of feet continuously running -up and down nearly two hundred and sixty stone steps! She was kind -enough to show us all her _penates_,--even her husband asleep,--and -everything was homelike and cheery up there, boxes of green things -growing in the sunshine, clothes hanging out to dry, canary-birds -singing. - -There is a small silver bell--perhaps a foot and a half in diameter at -the mouth--at one side of the tower, and it is rung every night at nine -o'clock and twelve, and has been since 1348. It has a history so long -and so full of mediaeval horrors, like many other old stories in which -Wuertemberg is rich, that it would be hardly fitting to relate it _in -toto_, but the main incidents are interesting and can be briefly given. - -On the Bopsa Hill where now we walk in the lovely woods, and from which -the Bopsa Spring flows, bringing Stuttgart its most drinkable water, -stood, once upon a time,--in the fourteenth century, to be exact,--a -certain Schloss Weissenburg, about which many strange things are told. -The Weissenburgs conducted themselves at times in a manner which would -appear somewhat erratic to our modern ideas. - -At the baptism of an infant daughter, Papa von Weissenburg was killed by -the falling of some huge stag-antlers upon his head. We are glad to read -about the baptism, for later there doesn't seem to have been a strong -religious element in the family. Shortly afterwards Rudolph, the eldest -son, was stabbed by a friend through jealousy because young Von -Weissenburg had won the affections of the fair dame of whom both youths -were enamored. Then followed strife between the surviving brother and -the monks of St. Leonhard, who would not allow the murdered man to be -buried in holy ground, the poor boy having had no time to gasp out his -confession and partake of the sacrament, and they even refused to bury -him at all. Hans von Weissenburg swore terrible oaths by his doublet and -his beard, and cursed the monks till the air was blue, and came with his -friends and followers and buried his brother twelve feet deep directly -in front of St. Leonhard's Chapel (there is a St. Leonhard's Church here -now on the site of the old chapel), and forbade the monks to move or -insult the body. Later, when they wished to use the land for a -churchyard, they were in a great dilemma. Rudolph's bones they dared not -move and would not bless; at last, what did they do but consecrate the -earth only five feet deep, so the blessing would not reach Rudolph, who -lay seven feet deeper still,--and they also insulted the grave by -building over it. Hans, on this account, slew a monk, and was in turn -killed because he had murdered a holy man, and that was the end of -_him_. - -There remained in the castle on the hill Mamma von Weissenburg, or -rather Von Somebodyelse, now, for she had wept her woman's tears and -married again. When the infant daughter, Ulrike Margarethe, whose -baptism has been mentioned, had grown to be a beautiful young woman, the -mother suddenly disappeared and never was seen again. The daughter -publicly mourned, ordered a beacon-light to be kept continually burning -at the castle, gathered together all her silver chains and ornaments, -and had them melted into a bell, which was hung on the castle tower, and -which she herself always rang at nine in the evening and at midnight, -for the sorrowing Ulrike said her beloved mother might be wandering in -the dense woods, and hearing the bell might be guided by it to her home. - -Ulrike was a pious person. She said her prayers regularly, went about -doing good among poor sick people, never failed to ring the bell twice -every night, and was always mourning for her mother. When at last she -died, she gave orders that the bell should always be rung, as in her -lifetime, from the castle; and in case the latter should be disturbed, -or unsafe, the bell was to be transferred to the highest tower in -Stuttgart. So Ulrike the Good bequeathed large sums of silver to pay for -the fulfilment of her wishes, and died. Accordingly the little bell was -brought, in time of public disturbance, to the small tower on the -Stiftskirche in 1377, the higher one not then existing, and in 1531 was -moved to its present position. - -The next important item in the bell-story is that in 1598 the Princess -Sybilla, daughter of Duke Friedrich I. of Suabia, was lost in the woods, -and, hearing the bell ring at nine, followed the sound to the -Stiftskirche, and in her gratitude she also endowed the bell largely, -declaring it must ring at the appointed hours through all coming time. - -So the little bell pealed out for many years,--just as it does this -day,--until one night, two days after Easter, 1707, and three centuries -and a half after the death of the exemplary Ulrike, it happened, in the -course of human events, that the man whose office it was to ring the -midnight bell was sleepy and five minutes late. Suddenly a woman's -figure draped in black, with jet-black hair and face as white as paper, -appeared before him, and asked him why he did not do his duty. He rang -his bell, then conversed with the ghost, who was Ulrike von Weissenburg, -and obtained from her valuable information. She must ever watch the -bell, she said, and see that it was rung at the exact hours; and she it -was who carried the light that confused travellers and led them to -destruction near the ruins of Weissenburg Castle; and she was altogether -a most unpleasant ghost, who could never rest while one stone of the -castle remained upon another. - -This was her condemnation for her evil deeds. She had murdered her -mother, for certain ugly reasons which in the old chronicle are -explicitly set forth, and she had stabbed her two young sons of whose -existence the world had never known; and her career was altogether as -wicked as wicked could be; but this Ulrike, like many another clever -sinner, never lost her saintly aspect before the world. - -They granted her rest at last by pulling down the remaining stones of -the castle, and giving them to the wine-growers near by for foundations -for the vineyards; so now no ghost appears to rebuke the bellringer when -too much beer prolongs his sleep. Bones were found beneath the castle -where Ulrike said she had hidden the bodies of her mother and children, -thus clearly proving, of course, the truth of the tale. It is the most -natural thing in the world to believe in ghosts when you read old -Suabian stories. The Von Weissenburgs seem to have been, for the age in -which they lived, a very quiet, orderly, high-toned family. - -Now how do I know but that somebody will at once write, "I don't like -stories about silver bells," which will be very mortifying indeed, as it -is evident I consider this a good story, or I should not take the -trouble to relate it. - -O, come over, friends, and write the letters yourselves, and then you -will see how it is! Worst of all is it when we write of what strikes us -as comic precisely as we mention a comic thing at home, or of mighty -potentates, giving information obtained exclusively from German friends, -and other German friends are then displeased. But is it worth while to -resent the utterance of opinions that do not claim to be the infallible -truth of ages, but only the hasty record of fleeting impressions? Peace, -good people; let us have no savage criticism or shedding of blood, -though we do chatter lightly of _majestaete_, saying merely what his -subjects have told us. - -We are all apt to be too sensitive about our own lands and their -customs. Yet have _we_ not learned to smile quietly when we are told -that American _gentlemen_ sit in drawing-rooms, in the presence of -ladies, with their feet on the mantels; that American wives have their -husbands "under the _pantoffel_" (would that more of them had); that -America has no schools, no colleges, no manners; that American girls -are, in general, examples of total depravity; that pickpockets and -murderers go unmolested about our streets, seeking whom they may devour; -that we have no law, no order, no morality, no art, no poetry, no past, -no anything desirable? What can one do but smile? Smile, then, in turn, -you loyal ones, when I have the bad taste to call ugly what you are -willing to swear is beautiful as a dream. Thoughts are free, and so are -pens; and both must run on as they will. - -Let me, therefore, hurt no one's feelings if I say that Stuttgart in -winter, with little sunshine, a dreary climate, and a peculiar, -disagreeable, deep mud in the streets, does not at first impress a -stranger as an especially attractive place. But now, with its long lines -of noble chestnut-trees in full blossom; with the pretty Schloss Platz -and the Anlagen, where fountains are playing and great blue masses of -forget-me-nots and purple pansies and many choice flowers delight your -eyes; with the shady walks in the park, where you meet a dreamer with -his book, or a group of young men on horseback, or pretty children by -the lake feeding the swans and ducks; with the lovely air of spring, -full of music, full of fragrance; and, best of all, with the beauty of -the surrounding country,--he would indeed be critical who would not find -in Stuttgart a fascinating spot. - -There is music everywhere, there are flowers everywhere. Your landlady -hangs a wreath of laurel and ivy upon your door to welcome you home from -a little journey, and brings you back, when she goes to market, great -bunches of sweetness,--rosebuds and lilies of the valley. You climb the -hills and come home laden with forget-me-nots,--big beauties, such as we -never see at home,--violets, and anemones. It has been a cold spring -here until now, but the flowers have been brave enough to appear as -usual, and, wandering about among the distracting things with hands and -baskets as full as they will hold, a picture of days long ago darts -suddenly before me,--two school-girls, their Virgils under their arms, -rubber boots on their feet, stumbling through bleak, wet Maine -pasture-lands, bearing spring in their hearts, but searching for it in -vain in the outer world around them. The other girl will rejoice to know -that here I have found spring in its true presence. - -And then there is May wine! Do you know what it is, and how to make it? -You must walk several miles by a winding path along the bank of the -Neckar. You must see the crucifixes by the wayside, and the three great -blocks of stone,--two upright and one placed across them,--making a kind -of high table, for the convenience of the peasant-women, who can stand -here, remove from their heads their heavy baskets, rest, and replace -them without assistance. You must peep into the tiniest of chapels, -resplendent with banners of red and gold and a profusion of fresh -flowers, all ready for the morning, which will be a high feast-day. You -must pass through a village where women and children are grouped round -the largest, oldest well you ever saw, with a great crossbeam and an -immense bucket swinging high in the air. And at last you must sit in a -garden on a height overlooking the Neckar. There must be a charming -village opposite, with an old, old church, and pretty trees about you -partly concealing the ruins of some old knight's abode. Don't you like -ruins? But just enough modestly in the background aren't so very bad. -You hear the sound of a mill behind you, and the falling of water, and, -in the branches above your head, the joyful song of a Schwarz Kopf. And -then somebody pours a flask of white wine into a great bowl, to which he -adds bunches of Waldmeister,--a fragrant wildwood flower,--and drowns -the flowers in the wine until all their sweetness and strength are -absorbed by it, and afterwards adds sugar and soda-water and quartered -oranges,--and the decoction is ladled out and offered to the friends -assembled, while there is a golden sunset behind the hills across the -Neckar. And you walk back in the twilight through the village that is so -small and sleepy it is preparing already to put itself to bed. And the -peasants you meet say, "Gruess Gott!" "Gruess Gott!" say you, which -isn't in the least to be translated literally, and only means "Good -day," though the pretty, old-fashioned greeting always seems like a -benediction. You hear the vesper-bells and the organ-tones pealing out -from the chapel; you see some real gypsies with tawny babies over their -shoulders (poor things! they will steal so that they are allowed to -remain in a village but one day at a time, and then must move on). You -feel very bookish, everything is so new, so old, so charming,--and that -is "Mai Wein." - -How it would taste at dinner with roast-beef and other prosaic -surroundings,--how it actually did taste, I haven't the faintest idea. - - - - -THE SOLITUDE. - - -What the Germans call an _Ausflug_, or excursion, deserves to be -translated literally, for it is often a veritable _flight out_ of the -region of work and care into a tranquil, restful atmosphere. The ease -with which middle-aged, heavy-looking men here put on their wings, so to -speak, and soar away from toil and traffic, at the close of a long, hard -day, is always marvellous, however often we observe it. It seems a -natural and an inevitable thing for them to start off with a chosen few, -wander through lovely woods, climb a pretty hill, watch the changing -lights at sunset over a broad valley, then return home, talking of poets -and painters, of life problems, of whatever lies nearest the heart. -Their ledgers and stupid accounts and schemes and the state of the -markets do not fetter them as they do our business men. Such enjoyment -is so simple, childlike, and rational, that the old question how men -accustomed to wear the harness of commercial life will ever learn to -bear the bliss of heaven, in its conventional acceptation, seems half -solved. The Germans, at least, would be blessed in any heaven where fair -skies and hills and forests and streams would lie before their gaze. -However inadequate their other qualifications for Elysium may be, they -excel us by far in this respect. Even the coarser, lower men who gather -in gardens to drink unlimited beer are yet not quite unmindful of the -beauty of the trees whose young foliage shades them, and look out, -oftener than we would be apt to give them credit for, upon the vine-clad -hills beyond the city. A friend, a prominent banker, who is almost -invariably in his garden or some other restful spot in the free air at -evening, now goes out to Cannstadt, two miles from here, mornings at -seven, because "one must be out as much as possible in this exquisite -weather." If bankers and lawyers and our busiest of business men at home -would only begin and end days after this fashion, their hearts and heads -would be fresh and strong far longer for it, that is, if they could find -rest and enjoyment so, and that is the question,--could they? And why is -it, if they cannot? I leave the answer to wiser heads, who will probably -reply as usual, that our whole mode of life is different, which is quite -true; but why _need_ it be, in this respect, so very different? Here is -a valuable hint to some enormously wealthy person, childless and without -relatives, of course, and about to make his will, who at this moment is -considering the comparative merits of different benevolent schemes, and -is wavering between endowing a college and founding a hospital. Do -neither, dear sir. Take my advice, because I'm far away, and don't know -you, and am perfectly disinterested, and, moreover, the advice is sound -and good: Make gardens and parks everywhere, in as many towns as -possible. Not great, stately parks that will directly be fashionable, -but little parks that will be loved; and winding ways must lead to them -through woodlands, and seats and tables must be placed in alluring -spots, and all the paths must be so seductive they will win the most -inflexible, absorbed, care-worn man of business to tread them. Do this, -have your will printed in every newspaper in the land, and many will -rise up and call you blessed. And if you are not so very rich, make just -one small park, with pretty walks leading to it and out of it, and say -publicly why you do it,--that people may have more open air and rest; -and if they only have these, Nature will do what remains to be done, and -win their hearts and teach them to love her better than now. Of course -it is a well-worn theme, but no one can live in this German land without -longing to borrow some of its capacity for taking its ease and infuse it -into the veins of nervous, hurrying, restless America. - -A pleasant _Ausflug_ from Stuttgart is to the Solitude, a palace built -more than a hundred years ago by Carl Eugen, a duke of Wuertemberg, -whose early life was more brilliant than exemplary. Many roads lead to -it, if not all, as to Rome. In the fall we went through a little -village,--throbbing with the excitement of the vintage-time, resplendent -with yellow corn hanging from its small casements,--and by pretty -wood-roads, where the golden-brown and russet leaves gleamed softly, and -the hills in the distance looked hazy, and all was quietly lovely, -though the golden glories and flaming scarlet of our woods were not -there; and where now softly budding trees, spring air and spring sounds, -anemones and crocuses, and forget-me-nots and Maigloeckchen, tempt one -to long days of aimless, happy wandering. On one road, the new one by a -waterfall, is the Burgher Allee, where once the burghers came out to -welcome a prince or a duke returning from a wedding or a war, and stood -man by man where now a line of pines, planted or set out in remembrance, -commemorates the event. If exception is taken to the uncertain style of -this narration, may I add that positiveness is not desirable in a story -for the truth of which there are no vouchers? The idea of a prince -welcomed home from the wars is to me more impressive; but choice in such -matters is quite free. - -You can go to the Solitude, if you please, through the Royal Game Park, -a pretty, quiet spot, where a broad carriage-road winds along among -noble oaks and beeches, and through the trees peep the great, soft eyes -of animals who are neither tame nor wild, and who seem to know that they -belong to royalty and may stare at passers-by with impunity. A superb -stag stood near the drive, gave us a lordly glance, turned slowly, and -walked with majestic composure away. We did not interest him, but it did -not occur to him to hurry in the least on our account. We felt that we -were inferior beings, and were mortified that we had no antlers, that we -might hold up our heads before him. Two little lakes, the Baerensee and -Pfaffensee,--the latter thick with great reeds and rushes, and haunted -by a peculiar stillness,--invite you to lie on the soft turf, see -visions, and dream dreams. A small hunting-pavilion stands on terraces -by the Baerensee, with guardian bears in stone before it, and antlers -and other trophies of the chase ornamenting it within and without. It -was erected in 1782, at the time of a famous hunt in honor of the Grand -Duke Paul of Russia, afterwards emperor, who married Sophie of -Wuertemberg, niece of Carl Eugen. From all hunting-districts of the land -a noble army of stags was driven towards these woods, encircled night -and day by peasants to prevent the animals from breaking through. The -stags were driven up a steep ascent, then forced to plunge into the -Baerensee, where they could be shot with ease by the assembled hunters -in the pavilion. Seeing the pretty creatures now fearlessly wandering in -the sweet stillness of the park, and picturing in contrast that scene of -destruction and butchery, it seems a pity that the grand gentlemen of -old had to take their pleasure like brutes and pagans. - -The Solitude is not far from here. Built first for a hunting-lodge -between 1763 and 1767, it was gradually improved, enlarged, and -beautified, grew into a pleasure palace, had its time of brilliant life -and of decay; and now, renovated by the king's command, is a place where -people go for the walk and the view, and where in summer a few visitors -live quietly in pure air, and drink milk, it being a _Cur-Anstalt_. The -adjacent buildings were used as a hospital during the late war. The -Solitude is not in itself an interesting structure; it is in rococo -style, having a large oval hall with a high dome, adjoining pavilions, -and it looks white and gold, and bare and cold, and disappointing to -most people. There is nothing especial to see,--a little fresco, a -little old china, some immensely rich tapestry, white satin embroidered -with gold, adorning one of those pompous, impossible beds, in which it -seems as if nobody could ever have slept. But there is enough to feel, -as there must always be in places where the damp atmosphere is laden -with secrets a century old, and the walls whisper strange things. There -are narrow, triangular cabinets and boudoirs with nothing at all in -them, which, however, make you feel that you will presently stumble upon -something amazing. All of Bluebeard's wives hanging in a row would -hardly surprise one here. The place is full, in spite of its emptiness. -It seems scarcely fitting that the many mirrors should reflect a little -band of tourists in travelling suits and with umbrellas, instead of -stately dames and cavaliers affecting French manners and French morals, -and gleaming in satin and jewels beneath the glass chandeliers. There is -a walk, always cool even in the hottest summer days, where in a double -alley of superb pines the company used to seek shade and rest, and the -fair ladies paced slowly up and down in their long trains, and fluttered -their fans and heard airy nothings whispered in their ears. Wooded -slopes rise high around, and this walk, deep down in a narrow valley, -being quite invisible from the ordinary paths, is called the Underground -Way. The breath of the old days is here especially subtle and -suggestive. - -The map of the place, as it was, tells of orangeries, pleasure -pavilions, rose and laurel gardens, labyrinths, artificial lakes and -islands, and many things of whose magnificence few traces remain. The -common-looking buildings, formerly dwellings of the cavaliers in -attendance, stand in a row; there are a few small houses with queer -roofs; the Schloss itself stands on its height in the centre of an open -space, fine old woods around, and an unusually extended view, from its -cupola, of a broad, peaceful plain, a village or two, the Suabian Alb to -the south; a straight, white-looking road intersects the meadows and -woods, and leads to Ludwigsburg. This road was made by Carl Eugen, to -avoid passing through Stuttgart, his choleric highness having had a -grudge against the city at that time,--and indeed it has a spiteful air, -with its utter disregard of hills and valleys, going straight as an -arrow flies, never turning out for obstructions any more than the -haughty duke would have turned aside for a subject. Fabulous stories are -told of the speed with which his horse's hoofs used to clatter over this -turnpike, and the incredibly short time in which, by frequently changing -horses, he would arrive at his destination. - -The romantic story of Francisca von Hohenheim and many interesting facts -in Schiller's early life, during his attendance at the Carlsschule, a -famous military academy, instituted by, and under the patronage of, Carl -Eugen, are inevitably interwoven in any history of the Solitude; but -both need more time than can be given at the close of so hasty a sketch. -And indeed, from almost any point that might be taken here, threads wind -off into a mass of stories and traditions far too wide-reaching to be -more than hinted at when one is only making a little _Ausflug_ and -carelessly following one's will on a fair April day. - - - - -A DAY IN THE BLACK FOREST. - - - "Zu Hirsau in den Truemmern - Da wiegt ein Ulmenbaum - Frischgruenend seine Krone - Hoch ueberm Giebelsaum." - - --_Uhland._ - - -One of the loveliest spots in all Wuertemberg is Hirsau. It lies deep -down in a valley on the Nagold, over which is a pretty stone bridge. -High around rise the noble pines of the Black Forest, whose impenetrable -gloom contrasts with the tender green of spring meadows basking in the -sunshine, and makes, with the fringe of elms and birches and willows -along the banks of the stream, a most magical effect of light and shade. - -Blessings on the one of us who first said, "Let us see the old cloister -at Hirsau!" An ideal spring day, a particularly well-chosen few, a trip -by rail to Alt-Hengstett, then a long, lovely tramp over the moss carpet -of the Black Forest, inhaling the sweet breath of the pines, finding -each moment a more exquisite flower, catching bewitching glimpses -between the trees of silver streams hurrying along far down below -us,--this is what it was like; but the softness, the sweetness, the -exhilaration of it all is not easy to indicate. The name itself, "Black -Forest," sounds immensely gloomy and mysterious. Goblins and witches and -shrieks and moans and pitfalls and all uncanny weird things haunted the -Black Forest of which we used to read years ago. And what does it mean -to us now? Magnificent old woods, paths that beckon and smile, softly -whispering, swaying tree-tops, turf like velvet, sunlight playing -fitfully among the stately pines, seeking entrance where it may, and air -that must bring eternal youth in its caresses. It means forgetfulness of -trammels and all sordid, petty things, and being in tune with the -harmonies of nature. It means freedom and peace; a "temple," indeed, -with the pines continually breathing their sweet incense and singing -their sacred chants. There were in our party a professor or two, more -than one poet,--indeed, it is said every other man in Suabia is a -poet,--and a world-renowned art scholar and critic. They shook the dust -of every-day life from their feet, and were happy as boys; one of them -lay among the daisies, smiling like a child with the pure delight of -living in such air and amid such peaceful beauty. - -At the little _Gasthaus_ in Hirsau, with the sign of the swan, we -refreshed ourselves after our tramp. It is remarkable that poets, like -clergymen, must also eat. After a few merry, graceful toasts and cooling -draughts of the pleasant _Landwein_, we went to the cloister ruins. The -work of excavation is still going on, much that we saw being but -recently brought to the light. There were a few massive old walls at -wide distances apart; the pavement of the aisles quite grass-grown -between the low, broad, gray stones; fair fields of tall grass bright -with daisies and buttercups, and starry white flowers,--a fascinating -mass of variegated brightness, catching the sunshine and swaying in the -breeze; a row of fine old Gothic windows; a tower in the Romanisch style -of the twelfth century, which we, I believe, call Norman; a deep cellar -where the monks of old stored their wines. Up a flight of stairs is a -great bare room, where against the walls stand heavy wooden cases with -carved borders, and in the ceiling is the same quaint carving slightly -raised on a darker ground. - -The whole effect of the ruins conveys the idea of immense size. The -church was, indeed, the largest in Germany except the cathedral at Ulm. -It is here an unusually lovely, peaceful scene. The cloister ruins would -be, anywhere, picturesque and interesting in themselves; lying as they -do above the village, framed by the beautiful Schwarzwald, they form a -picture not easily forgotten. No far-extending view, nothing grand or -imposing, only the exquisite, peaceful picture shut in by the dark-green -hills; quaint homes nestling among rosy apple-blossoms; the great gray -stone Bruennen, where for years and years maidens have come to fill -their buckets and chat in the twilight after the day's work is done; the -Nagold, silver in the sunlight; the cloister, with its old-time -traditions,--all so very, very far from the madding crowd. - -And the sweet legend of the origin of the cloister should be sung or -spoken as one sees the picture: How there was, in the year 645, a rich, -pious widow, a relative of the knight of Calb, named Helizena, who was -childless, and who had but one wish, namely, to devote herself to the -service of God. She constantly prayed that God would open to her a way -acceptable in his sight. Once in a dream she saw in the clouds a church, -and below in a lovely valley three beautiful fir-trees growing from one -stem; and from the clouds issued a voice telling her that her prayer was -heard, and that wherever she should find the plain with the three -fir-trees she was to erect a church, the counterpart of that which she -saw in the clouds. Awaking, the good Helizena, with holy joy and deep -humility, took a maid and two pages and ascended a mountain from whose -summit she could see all the surrounding country, and presently espied -the quiet plain and the three firs of her dream. Hurrying to the spot, -weeping for joy, she laid her silken raiment and jewels at the foot of -the tree, to signify that from that moment she consecrated herself and -all she possessed to the work. In three years the beautiful cloud-church -stood in stone in the fair valley, and afterwards, in 838, a cloister -was erected with the aid of Count Erlafried of Calb. Under Abbot -Wilhelm, in 1080, it was at the height of its prosperity, and was the -model of peace and goodly living among all the other Benedictine -monasteries. The abbot gathered so many monks about him that the -cloister at last grew too narrow, and he resolved to build a more -spacious one. This was indeed a labor of love, and the work was done -entirely by his own people, his monks and laity. Noble lords and ladies -helped to bring wood and stone and prepared mortar in friendly -intercourse with peasants, their wives and daughters,--such zeal and -Christian love did the abbot instil into the hearts of his flock. It is -the ruins of this cloister which we see to day. - -An old German chronicle represents the place as little less than an -earthly paradise:-- - - "There was here a band of two hundred and sixty, full of love - for God and one another. No discussion could be found there, no - discontented faces. Everything was in common. No one had the - smallest thing for himself; indeed, no one called anything his - own. Each went about his work in sweet content; of disobedience - no one even knew. Not only was there no rebuke and angry word, - but also no idle, frivolous, mirth-provoking talk. Among this - great mass of men within the cloister walls could be heard only - the voices of the singers and of them who knelt in prayer, and - the sounds that came from the busy workrooms." - -These monks used to write much about music and poetry, and many learned, -strong men were gathered there. The cloister was full of pictures, and -the _Kreuzgang_ had forty richly painted windows, with biblical scenes. -A story is told of an old monk, Adelhard, who was twenty-three years -blind, and received in his latter days the gift of second-sight. He -foretold the day and hour of his death three years before it occurred, -and also the destruction of the monastery. - -As Koerner's poem says:-- - - "In the cells and apartments sit fifty brothers writing many - books, spiritual, secular, in many languages,--sermons, - histories, songs, all painted in rich colors. - - "In the last cell towards the north sits a white-haired old man, - leans his brow upon his hand, and writes, 'The enemy's hordes - will break in, in seven years, and the cloister walls will be in - flames.'" - -Whether the old gray monk was ever there or not, at least we know that -the French, in 1692, destroyed the beautiful cloister, and its paintings -and carvings and works of art were all lost, except some of the stained -glass, a few of its painted windows being at Monrepos, near Ludwigsburg. - -The famous Hirsau elm, about which half the German poets have sung, is -the most significant, touching, poetical thing imaginable. You feel its -whole life-story in an instant, as if you had watched its growth through -the long years; how the young thing found itself, it knew not why, -springing up in the damp cloister earth, surrounded by four tall, cold, -gray walls, above which indeed was a glimpse of heaven; how it shot up -and up, ever higher and higher, with the craving of all living things -for sunlight and free air, never putting forth leaf or twig until it had -attained its hope and could rest. Within the high walls is only the -strong, tall, bare trunk, and far above, free and triumphant, the noble -crown of foliage. - -Brave, beautiful elm, that dared to grow, imprisoned in cruel stone; -that did not faint and die before it reached the longed-for warmth and -light and sweetness! - - - - -THE LENNINGER THAL. - - -Pilgrims were we recently, making a day's journey, not to gaze upon -bones, rusty relics, and mouldy garments, but to see something fresh, -fair, and altogether adorable,--the cherry-trees of the Lenninger Thal -in full blossom. From Stuttgart we went by rail to Kirchheim unter Teck, -a railway terminus, where we were shown the palace occupied by Franciska -von Hohenheim after the death of Herzog Carl, and a Denkmal erected to -Conrad Widerhold, that brave and very obstinate German hero who held the -famous Hohentwiel fortress against the enemy, when even his own duke, -Eberhard III., had ordered him to surrender it. Widerhold and his wife -stand side by side, and you must look twice before you can tell which is -the warrior. Kirchheim lies prettily in the Lauter Thal among the -mountains. From there in an open carriage we drove on into the charming -Lenninger Valley, one of the most beautiful in the Alb, with the whole -landscape smiling benignly beneath a wonderful sky, and air deliciously -pure and soft; past little brooks where the young, tender willows were -beginning to leave out, through the little village of Dettingen, on and -on over the broad _chaussee_, until we were fairly among the -cherry-orchards. Bordering the road, running far back on the -hill-slopes, shadowy, feathery, exquisite, the snowy blossoms lay before -our eyes, with the range of the Suabian Alb beyond, and many a peak and -ruin old in story. This was the fresh morning of a perfect spring day, -where the peace and loveliness of the scene--the fields of pure -whiteness reaching out on both sides of us, with now and then a dash of -pink from the rosy apple-blossoms--made us feel that a special blessing -had fallen upon us as devotees at the shrine of Ceres. At evening, -returning by another route, with the varying lights and golden bars and -heavy, piled-up purple cloud-masses in the western sky, it was lovely -with yet another loveliness. The same mountains showed us other outlines -and assumed new expressions, and bold, proud Teck rose from the foam of -blossoms at its feet, like a stern rock towering above surging waters. - -One of our experiences that day was becoming acquainted with Owen. Owen -is not a man, as you may imagine, but only a very little village with -crooked streets and queer old women, and that curious aspect to all its -belongings which never grows less curious to some of us, though we ought -to have become unmindful of it long ago. Owen is picturesque and dirty. -"Ours at home aren't half so dirty or half so nice," we endeavor to -explain to our German friends. - -At the inn where we drew up we were received by an admiring group of -children,--three yellow heads rising above three great armfuls of wood, -of the weight of which the little things seemed utterly unconscious in -the excitement of seeing us. They stood, one above the other, on the -dilapidated, crazy stone steps, while a bushy dog, whose hair looked as -yellow and sun-faded as the children's, also made "great eyes" at us -from the lowest stone. Out came mine host, and cleared away children and -dog and woodpiles in a twinkling. This flattering reception occurred at -the Krone. A large gilt crown adorned with what small boys at home call -"chiney alleys" makes a fine appearance above these same tumble-down -steps; and directly beside them is a great barn-door, so near that you -might easily mistake one entrance for the other and wander in among the -beasties; and benign Mistress Cow was serenely chewing her cud in her -boudoir under the front stairs, we observed as we entered the house. - -Let no one faint when I say we ate our dinner here. Indeed, we have -eaten in much worse places, and the dinner was far better than we -thought could be evolved from a house with so many idiosyncrasies, so -very prominent barn-door qualities, such mooings and lowings in -undreamed-of corners and at unexpected moments. However, we experienced -an immense lightening of the spirits when trout were served, for it -seemed as if we knew what this dish at least was made of. They were -pretty silvery things with red spots, and had just been gleaming in the -brook near by, beneath elms and birches and baby willows, and now they -were butchered to make our holiday. - -The little restored Gothic church at Owen is more than a thousand years -old, and its walled Kirchhof recalls the times when the villagers with -their wives and children sought refuge here from the descent of robber -knights. The dukes of Teck are buried within the church, and their arms -and those of other old families, with quaint inscriptions about noble -and virtuous dames, are interesting to decipher. The prettiest thing in -the church was a spray of ivy which had crept through a hole in the high -small-paned window, completely ivy-covered without, and came seeking -something within the still stone walls, reaching out with all its -tendrils, and seemed like the little, adventurous bird that flutters in -through a church window on a hot summer afternoon, and makes a sleepy -congregation open its heavy eyes. - -The altar-pictures are edifying works of art. Behind the little group in -the "Descent from the Cross" rise a range of hills that look -astonishingly like the Suabian Alb, with a genuine old German fortress -perching on a prominent peak. Saint Lucia is also an agreeable object of -contemplation, with a sword piercing her throat up to the hilt, the -blade coming through finely on the other side, while her mildly folded -hands, smirking of superior virtue and perfect complacency, make her as -winning as a saint of her kind can be. - -Beyond Owen is the Wielandstein, or a Wielandstein I should perhaps say, -for Wielandsteins are as common in Germany as lovers' leaps in America; -and the story is always how the cruel king murdered the wife and -children of Wieland the smith and took him captive, granting him his -life merely because of his skill in fashioning wonderful things from -metals, but imprisoning him and maiming his feet that he might never -escape. Wieland lived some time at court, and grew in favor with the -king on account of his deft hands and clever designs. At length the -king's young sons were missing and could not be found, though they were -searched for many days, and the king was anxious and sorrowful. Then -Wieland presented him with two beautiful golden cups, at the sight of -which the king was so pleased that he gave a feast; and as he was -drinking from the golden bowls and feasting with his nobles, Wieland -flew away by means of two great golden wings he had for a long time been -secretly fashioning, and, poising himself in mid-air, cried to the -horrified king that he was drinking from the skulls of his sons, whom -he, Wieland, had murdered out of revenge. The people shot many arrows -after him, but he soared away unharmed, his golden wings gleaming in the -sunlight until he disappeared behind the hills. - -The ruin of the old Teck castle is in this neighborhood, and the -_Sybillen Loch_, a grotto where a celebrated witch used to dwell, who -differed from her species in general, inasmuch as she was a _good_ -witch. The old chronicles say she was an exemplary person, always -delighting in good deeds. Her sons, however, were bad, quarrelled, stole -from the world and one another, and even, upon one occasion, from her, -and then ran away. Sybilla in her fiery chariot went in pursuit, and to -this day a fair, bright stripe over orchard, field, and vineyard, always -fresher and greener than the surrounding country, marks her course. How -a fiery chariot could produce this beautifying effect is not to be -questioned by an humble individual whose home is in a land where ruined -castles and legend upon legend _do not_ rise from every hill-top. -Another story is that the fertile stripe was made by Sybilla's -chariot-wheels, as she left forever the family to which she had always -belonged. The last duke of Teck lay after a battle resting under a tree, -and saw her passing with averted face, his arms lying at her feet, while -she extended a stranger's in her hands, which signified ruin to his -house; and the prophecy was fulfilled, for the duke outlived his twelve -sons, and his arms and title were adopted by the counts of Wuertemberg, -who then became dukes of Wuertemberg and Teck. All these interesting -things are visible to the naked eye. The fresh green stripe is -unmistakable; and the point in the air where Wieland hovered on his -golden wings above the cliff can easily be discerned with a very little -imagination. - -A visit to a typical Suabian pastor, in another little village on this -road, was a pleasant episode. A hale, handsome old gentleman of seventy, -with a small black cap on his silvery locks and an inveterate habit of -quoting Greek, looking at us with a simple, childlike air, as if we too -were learned. His house has stone floors, low square rooms, severely -simple in their appointments. The arms of a bishop of some remote -century are on the inner wall by the front entrance, and a little -farther on is an aperture, through which the cow of the olden time was -wont to placidly gaze out upon hurrying retainers. The cow of that -period seems to have had comfortable apartments in the middle of the -house. The Suabian cow of the present time earns her hay by the sweat of -her brow, toiling in the fields. - -The good old pastor has a love amounting to adoration for his garden, -every inch of which he has worked over and beautified, till it seems to -be the expression of all the poetry and romance which the outward -conditions of his frugal, rigid life repress. Full of nooks and arbors, -comfortable low chairs and benches, where the blue forget-me-nots look -as if they bloom indeed for happy lovers; trees whose great drooping -branches close around retreats which can only be designed for tender -_tete-a-tetes_; irregular little paths, wandering up and down and about, -always ending in something delightful, always beckoning, inviting, -smiling, amid flowers and foliage so fresh and luxuriant, you feel that -every petal and leaf is known and loved by the white-haired old man. His -favorite seat is at the end of a narrow, winding way at the foot of a -magnificent elm. There he sits and looks, over the brook that sings to -his sweet roses and pansies, upon broad meadow-lands and fields of grain -extending to the Suabian hills, with their wealth of beauty and meaning -and tradition. He sleeps and rests and thinks there after dinner, he -tells us, and perhaps that is all; but I believe, when the old man is -gone, a volume of manuscript poems will be discovered hidden away among -his sermons and Greek tomes,--a volume of love poems, sonnets, dreamings -of all that his life crowds out into his garden, and that only in his -garden he has been able to express,--all the unspoken sweetness, all the -unsung songs. - - - - -FRANCISKA VON HOHENHEIM. - - -Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombastus is a personage whom -we know, it must be confessed, more through the medium of Robert -Browning than through our own historical researches; and we were -therefore filled with wonder to learn that, in addition to the modest -cognomen above, _de Hohenheim_ also belonged to his name. This same -Hohenheim we have recently visited. Paracelsus never lived there, to be -sure, and was born far away in Switzerland. Browning puts him in -Wuerzburg, in Alsatia, in Constantinople; and a solid German authority -declares he lived in Esslingen, where his laboratory is still exhibited, -and in proof mentions that in this neighborhood was, not many years ago, -a Weingaertner whose name was Bombastes von Hohenheim, a descendant of -Paracelsus. However, he lived nowhere, everywhere, and anywhere, I -presume, as best suited such a conjurer, alchemist, philosopher, and -adventurer, and went wandering about from land to land, remaining in one -place so long as the people would have faith in his learning, his -incantations and magic arts; but what concerns us now is simply that he -was connected with the Hohenheim family, who, in the old days, occupied -the estate which still bears its name. - -To Hohenheim is a pleasant walk or drive, as you please, from Stuttgart. -A castle, adjacent buildings, lawns, and fruit-trees are what there is -to see at the first glance,--at the second, many practical things in the -museum connected with the Agricultural College, which is what Hohenheim -at present is; models, and collections of stones and birds and beasts, -bones and skeletons, and other uncanny objects, pretty woods, grain, -seeds, etc. Students from the ends of the earth come here, and from all -ranks,--sons of rich peasants and also young men of family. An Hungarian -count is here at present, and youths from Wallachia, Russia, Sweden, -America, Australia, Spain, Italy, and Greece,--China too, for all I know -to the contrary,--with of course many Germans, learning practical and -theoretical farming. We sat under the pear-trees which were showering -white blossoms around us, ate our supper to fortify us for our homeward -walk, watched the sheep come home and the students walking in from the -fields with their oxen-carts. They wore blue blouses and high boots, and -cracked their long whips with a jaunty air, more like Plunket in -"Martha" than veritable farmers. From the balcony opening from the -largest _salon_ we looked upon pretty woods, and the whole chain of the -Suabian Alb, with Lichtenstein, Achalm, and other points of interest to -be studied through a telescope. - -This is, then, what Hohenheim now is,--a place where you go and look -about a little, walk through large empty halls and long corridors -affording glimpses of the simple quarters of the students, see a -pleasant landscape, and, in short, enjoy an hour of unquestionably -temperate pleasure. What it was as the seat of the Hohenheim family, -which is mentioned as early as the year 1100, we do not know; but under -Duke Carl Eugen of Wuertemberg, in the last century, it was a sort of -Versailles, if all accounts be true: magnificent parks and gardens, -Roman ruins near Gothic towers and chapels, Egyptian pyramids and Swiss -chalets, catacombs, artificial waterfalls, baths, hothouses, grottos -with Corinthian pillars, a Flora temple with lovely arabesques on its -silver walls, and the palace itself, rising proud and stately at the end -of the park, furnished with every luxury, and filled with rare vases and -pictures. Four colossal statues stand now in one of the halls, arrayed -in garments which, in that freer time, they certainly could not boast. -The raiment is of cloth, dipped, stiffened so that it resembles marble, -unless you examine it too closely. No doubt it is more agreeable that -those huge figures are somewhat clothed upon, but it does seem too -absurd to think of ordering a new coat for "Apollo" when his old one -gets shabby. Making minute investigations, we discovered he had already -had several, wearing the last one outside of the others, as if to -protect himself from the inclemency of the weather. - -All the old magnificence was lavished by Herzog Carl upon Franciska von -Hohenheim,--his "Franzel," as he called her in the soft Suabisch,--whose -most romantic story is, _par excellence_, the thing of interest here, -and the Suabians must love it, they tell it so very often. - -From many narratives I gather the life-story of a woman who, in spite of -the stain upon her name, is deeply revered in Wuertemberg for her -strong, sweet influence upon its wild duke, for her wisdom and -gentleness, and the good that through her came upon the realm. - -She was a daughter of the Freiherr von Bernardin, a noble of ancient -family and limited income. Franciska lived far removed from the gayety -of courts, of which she and her sisters in their castle near Aalen -rarely heard. When she was scarcely sixteen her father gave her hand to -a Freiherr von Leutrum, a fussy, stuffy old man, who wrapped himself in -furs even in summer, and was so conspicuously ugly the boys in the -street would mock at him when he stood at his window. His great head, on -a broad, humped back, scarcely reached the sill. - -In addition, a small intellect, hot temper, and suspicious nature made -him yet more of a monster; but Franciska was poor, and it appears it was -considered then, as it would be now, a good match, as Von Leutrum was of -an old family and rich. Whether the historians paint him blacker than he -deserves in order to make Franciska white in contrast, is not easy to -say. It certainly has that effect occasionally, however. Beauty, then, -married the Beast. In 1770 Herzog Carl Eugen came to Pforzheim, where -the nobles of the neighborhood, among them Baron von Leutrum, with his -young wife, assembled to form his court. - -Franciska was no famous beauty. She had, however, a tall, graceful -figure, rich blond hair, and was very winning with her fresh, joyful -ways, and a certain indescribable sweetness and gentleness of manner. -The duke, from the first, singled her out by marked attention, which -undoubtedly flattered her, coming from so famous, clever, and -fascinating a man; and it is also probable that she made no especial -effort to repulse the homage in which she could see no harm. He was then -forty-two,--a man of stately beauty, one of the most renowned European -princes of that time, with a strong and highly cultivated intellect, and -of most winning manners where he cared to please. It also appears he -could be a bear, a savage, and a tyrant when he willed. - -It was, then, scarcely surprising that a girl married at sixteen to a -fossil like Leutrum, who neglected and abused her, should be bewildered -by the distinguished attention offered by her prince. Meanwhile Leutrum -waxed more and more jealous, until one day in a rage, on account of -remarks of the courtiers, he struck his wife in the face. - -The duke, furious at this, insisted upon taking Franciska under his -protection. But she, though agonized with fear and abhorrence of her -husband, yet knowing too well her feeling for the duke, chose to leave -the court at once and return with Leutrum to their castle. - -Carl Eugen, never scrupulous as to means when he had anything to gain, -caused a wheel of Leutrum's coach to be put into a state of precarious -weakness, so that, going through some woods not far from Pforzheim, the -carriage broke down, when the duke appeared, rode off with the -trembling, miserable, happy Franciska, leaving Von Leutrum alone with -his broken carriage and his rage. - -The duke had been married for political reasons at eighteen to a -princess of Bavaria, with whom he had lived but a year or two, their -natures being strongly incompatible. He, however, a Roman Catholic, -could not free himself from his first marriage until the death of his -wife released him in 1784, when he married Franciska. - -The remarkable thing in her history is, that the voice of no -contemporary is raised against her. Noble ladies of unblemished name -visited her as "Graefin von Hohenheim," and all testimony unites in -praising her wisdom, sweetness, and grace, and her almost miraculous -influence for good upon the duke. - -"He found in her womanly grace and devoted love, the deepest -appreciation of the beautiful and good, exquisite taste and tact, a -strong, warm interest in his career and calling, wise counsel given in -her soft, womanly words, and a heart for his people. - -"In love and sorrow, in matters earnest and light, in his difficult -affairs of state, in enjoyment of the beautiful in art and nature, she -was ever by his side, filled with perfect appreciation of all that moved -him." - -She taught him gradually his duty towards his folk, which the wild, -haughty duke had sadly ignored, and she, herself, was always loved and -revered by them. - -She was graceful and sparkling in society, not wearing her sorrows upon -her sleeve, but in her private life and letters are marks of lifelong -grief. - -"If I could tell you my whole story," she writes to a friend in 1783, -"if you could know the solemnity and repentance with which I look back -upon it, you would withhold from me neither your pity nor your -prayers.... Had I had in my sixteenth year, when, utterly inexperienced, -I entered society with not the slightest knowledge of the world, left -entirely to myself, surrounded by scenes whose meaning I could not -grasp,--had I then had one true friend to warn me, to advise me; had his -reason, his heart, his pureness of deed, inspired my respect and trust, -indeed--indeed--I might have been a better woman." - -Later, after a delightful evening at the Princess of Dessau's, where -Lavater also was, she wrote:-- - -"I was inexpressibly moved by your assurance that you thought of me in -this circle. Could I have felt worthier of such society, the pleasure -would undoubtedly have been more unalloyed. But, as it was--Still I must -not complain." - -Such, briefly, is her story. She lived with the duke at the Solitude as -well as here, and Hohenheim he made for her as beautiful as a fairy -palace. He troubled neither her nor himself with scruples. His -conscience was, indeed, not tender, and his life with her was -unquestionably so innocent and idyllic in comparison with his mad past, -that, to him at least, it no doubt seemed blameless. He loved her -faithfully till his death, wrote to her when absent for a day or two as -his good angel, with utter reverence as well as tenderest love. The -proud respected her; the poorest and humblest came to her with their -wants and sorrows. - -She died in 1811 in her small, quiet court at Kirchheim unter Teck, -where she had resided after the death of the duke; but her story and the -remembrance of her eventful life will always haunt quiet Hohenheim, and -invest it with a romance it cannot otherwise claim for itself. - - - - -"NUREMBERG THE ANCIENT." - - -The breeze of morning stole in and kissed our cheeks and whispered, "You -have a day and a half to spend in dear, delicious old Nuremberg,--be up -and doing!" Only a day and a half, and yet how infinitely better than no -day at all there! We came, we saw, and were conquered, even by the huge -knockers with bronze wreaths of Cupids and dragons' heads, the ornate, -intricate locks, the massive doors, before we were within the portals of -those proud patrician palaces with their stately inner courts and -galleries, their frescos, painted windows and faded tapestries, -time-stained grandeur, and all their relics of mediaeval magnificence. - -O, we stretched our day and a half well, and filled it full of -treasures, and our hearts with lovely thoughts and pictures of the -unique old town, its high quaint gables, stone balconies, beautiful -fountains, double line of walls, and seventy sentinel towers; its castle -and wide moat, where now great trees grow and prim little gardens; its -arched bridges and streams, with shadows of the drooping foliage on the -banks; its oriel windows; its narrow, shady ways and odd corners; its -memories of Albrecht Duerer and Hans Sachs, of Kaiser and knight and -Meistersinger,--its Nurembergishness! - -The St. Lorenz Church was our first halting-place. The whole world knows -that its portal and painted windows are beautiful, and that it retains -all the rich old objects of the Roman ritual; that being the condition -under which Nuremberg pranced over in a twinkling to Protestantism, and -people were ordered by the municipal authorities to believe to-day what -they had disbelieved yesterday; and most of the world, perhaps, has seen -the tabernacle for the vessels of the sacrament, but they who have not -can never know from words how it rests on the bowed forms of its -sculptor, Adam Kraft, and his two pupils and assistants, and rises like -frozen spray sixty-four feet in the choir, with the warm light from the -painted windows coloring its exquisite traceries and carvings. It looks -like a holy thought or a hymn of praise caught in stone, aspiring -heavenwards. - -We saw there heavy gold chalices from old, old times, and some Gobelin -tapestry only recently discovered hidden away; one scene represented the -weighing of the soul of St. Lawrence to see if it were too light for -heaven. The saint's soul had a shape, in fact was an infant's body, and -the Devil was crouching near by, and St. Lawrence, full-grown, stood -waiting, anxious to know his fate. - -Then came a few hours in the German Museum, where, as usual in such -places, the weary lagged behind, the elegant looked _blase_, the -contrary-minded saw the wrong thing first, the energetic pushed -valiantly on, striving to see all and remember all, from earliest forms -of sculpture down through the ages,--all the gold and silver and -carvings and costumes, the immense square green stoves, with the warm, -cosy seat for the old grandmother in the corner; to glance at rare old -lace without neglecting the ancient caps and combs and gewgaws; to look -long at a few of the pictures,--the great one of Duerer's, "Otto at the -Grave of Charlemagne," is here, you know,--and so our straggling party -wandered on through corridor and chamber and staircase, past knights in -effigy, some of whom looked like such jolly old souls, with gallons of -wine beneath their breastplates, past a memorial tablet to a baby prince -who died dim ages ago, to whom a small death-angel is offering an apple; -and then, after seeing the bear, who guards a glass case of precious -things in gold and silver, lowered down to his domain every night, and -after sprinkling beer on his nose to see if he were of German parentage, -we gathered ourselves together and wondered if we quite liked museums. -You see so much more than you can comprehend; you see so much more than -you want to see; you feel so astoundingly ignorant; you have information -thrust upon you so ruthlessly. One wilful maiden says, "I'll go and live -on a desert island, provided no one will show me an object of interest." -Then in the shady cloisters we drank foaming beer with our German -friends, and gathered strength for our next onslaught; and I beg no one -to be captious about the length and out-of-breath character of this -paragraph, for it is quite in keeping with our Nuremberg visit, with -worlds to see in a little day and a half. - -There was the old Rath Haus with the Duerer frescos and the Duerer house -and pictures, which everybody mentions; and the rude, dark little den of -a kitchen, which nobody to my knowledge has ever deigned to mention, -where Mrs. Xantippe Duerer used to rattle her sauce-pans and scold her -_Mann_. There was the Fraumkirche and St. Sebald, rich in painted -windows and sculpture. In one room, so rich and dark with its oak -wainscoting and Gobelin tapestry, we involuntarily searched behind the -arras for Polonius, and then stared silently and felt quite flippant -before the antique candelabra and Persian rugs and hopelessly -indescribable ever-to-be-coveted furniture within those memory-laden -walls. An antique, impressive writing-table was a model of rich, quaint -beauty. Poems and romances would feel proud and pleased to simply write -themselves under its aegis, and what a delicious aroma of the past would -cling to them! - -We visited the castle, of course, and streams of information about the -Hohenzollerns were poured upon us. We were wicked enough to enjoy -ourselves particularly among the instruments of torture,--exhibited by -the jolliest, fattest, most _debonair_ Mrs. Jarley in the world. She -regaled us with awful tales, that sounded worse than the "Book of -Martyrs," and we were not disgusted, neither did we faint or scream. -There was a lamentable want of feeling, and a marked inclination to -laugh prevailed in our party. Indeed, we saw some sweet things there,--a -hideous dragon's head, worn by women who beat their husbands; a kind of -yoke in which two quarrelsome women were harnessed; a huge collar, with -a bell attached, for gossips; and an openwork iron mask, with a great -protruding, rattling tongue, for inveterate slanderers. We made liberal -proposals to our jolly show-woman for a few of these articles, thinking -we might be able to send them where they were needed, and strongly -inclined to favor their readoption. An iron nose a foot long was worn by -thieves, and the article stolen hung on the end of it. - -It is grievous to think there will come a time when people who visit -Nuremberg will see no walls and towers and moats. They are pulling down -the walls at present, for they are as inconvenient as they are -picturesque. Heavy teams and people on foot seeking egress and ingress -at one time through the narrow passages in the massive structure, the -city cramped, its growth retarded, dangerous accidents, as well as the -most reasonable grounds in a commercial point of view, lead the wise to -destroy something selfish tourists would fain preserve intact. But "if I -were king of France, or, still better, pope of Rome," or emperor of -Germany, I'd let the commerce go elsewhere where there is room for it, -and guard old Nuremberg jealously as a precious, beautiful memorial and -heirloom from ancestors who have slept for centuries. - -The Johannes Cemetery here is the only lovely one I have yet seen in -Germany. It is not beautiful in itself, as our cemeteries are; but the -solemnity, the dignity of death is here, and no gaudy colors and tinsel -wreaths jar upon your mood and pain you. Only great flat, gray stones, -tablets with the arms in bronze of the old Nuremberg patricians, tell us -wanderers who lies beneath. It was like a solemn poem to be there -deciphering the proud armorial bearings on the great blocks placed there -centuries ago, and the sweet-brier blooming all around with such an -unconscious air on its pale pink blossoms, like fair young faces. One of -Columbus's crew lies there. So many old names and dates! - -We plucked a few leaves from Duerer's grave:-- - - "_Emigravit_ is the inscription on the tombstone where he lies, - Dead he is not, but departed, for the artist never dies; - Fairer seems the ancient city, and the sunshine seems more fair, - That he once has trod its pavement, that he once has breathed - its air." - - - - -SOME WUeRTEMBERG TOWNS. - - -The gardener gave it to the milkmaid and the milkmaid gave it to the -errand-boy, the errand-boy gave it to the cook, who gave it to the -head-waiter, who sold it to the individual who presented it to me. "It" -was a bunch of great, sweet, half-blown June roses, that hung glowing on -their stalks in their native garden at dawn, and before noon had -experienced this life of change and adventure. It all happened in -Wasseralfingen, a little town, where nothing else so momentous occurred -during our brief visit, because it was Sunday, but where usually the -celebrated iron-works make an immense disturbance, and interest visitors -of a practical turn of mind. Our German friends bewailed the absence of -the noise of the machinery on our account; believing that every American -is born with a passionate devotion to mechanics, which increases through -life, to the exclusion of a love of the beautiful. Recently, after -relating a romantic story about a place on the Rhine, a German gentleman -concluded his tale of love and chivalry by telling us that the Princess -Somebody had established a girls' school there,--"which will interest -you as Americans more than the story," he added, with perfect honesty -and naivete. - -"And why?" we meekly ask. - -"Because Americans are practical and like useful things," he responds -cheerfully, with as thorough a conviction as if he had said that two and -two made four. - -We made no useless effort to induce him to believe that the thought of -sixty or eighty bread-and-butter misses does not enhance for us the -charm of a tradition-haunted spot, nor did we struggle to impress our -friends' minds in Wasseralfingen that its Sabbath stillness was more -agreeable to us than the stir and rush of the works. There are some -fixed ideas in the mind of the average German which a potent hand ought -to seize and shake out. "Why don't you write letters to Germans about -America, instead of to Americans about Germany?" suggests a clever -German friend. "They seem to be more needed." It might really be worth -while if Teutonic tenacity of opinion were not too huge a thing for a -feeble weapon to slay. - -To return to our Wasseralfingen,--most curious name!--it was pretty -enough to look upon, as indeed most places in Wuertemberg are. It has -its nicely-laid-out little park or _Anlagen_, with a statue in the -middle of it; and this is what small manufacturing towns at home are not -apt to waste much time upon, unfortunately for their children and their -children's children. An inn nestled among the trees, with irregular -wings and low, broad roofs, and a very broad landlord, who looked like a -beer-mug, gave us comfortable shelter for a night, and supper and -breakfast in its garden,--supper with lights and pipes and beer-bottles, -and cheerful conversation all around. - -A short trip by rail brought us to Heidenheim, past fields of waving -grain and pretty hills, shadows of great trees falling on velvety -meadows, oats rising and falling like billows in the morning breeze, and -scarlet seas of poppies. Never anywhere have I seen such a glory of -poppies! Miles of them on both sides of the road, gleaming and glowing -as the sunlight kissed them. - -And then Heidenheim, a pretty town given to manufactures, to factories -and mills, with the ruins of its castle Hellenstein on the height, and -its memories reaching far back to Roman times. Here lived knights who -were princes of profligacy, and gloried in their extravagance; who shod -their steeds with silver and gold, and flung jewels away like water. One -of them longed to have his whole estate transformed into a strawberry, -that he could swallow it all in one instant. Of course this family came -to a bad end. It spent all its money, and its castles got out of repair; -the last of its armor was sold for old iron, and the last of the race -died a pauper. - -The ruins retain traces of Roman architecture in the earliest walls, -with various additions in later times, and are not especially -interesting upon close acquaintance. The old well sunk deep in the -foundation of natural rock, where you pay ten cents and see a woman drop -a stone three hundred and eighty-five feet, and wait breathlessly until -you hear the dull plash deep down in the darkness, is their most -exciting feature. The woman offered to give us some water, but it -requires a whole hour to get it up, and we felt suspicious of what might -be lying in those uncanny depths. - -On the shady side of the castle, with broad reaches of fertile field and -belts of wood lying before our contented gaze, we listened to -Volkslieder, so old and sweet they carried our hearts back into dim -ages, and we strongly felt the tie that binds us to the race where such -strains have their birth. Suddenly, as our singers ceased, a group of -village children sitting on a block of stone at a short distance took up -the refrain,--an irregular row of flaxen heads against the light, their -forms prominent against the deep, peaceful background, singing away with -such zest we could only be silent and listen. Song after song, in praise -of their loved land, they sang; all sweet, whether the smallest ones -could always keep in tune or not. They told how Eberhard im Bart could -lay his head on the knee of his poorest peasant and sleep in peace till -morning broke, and many another sweet, old story; and, keeping time with -their heads and making daisy-chains with their hands, they shouted,-- - - "Beautiful Suabia is our _Heimath Land_!" - -Truly you can forgive the Germans for a multitude of sins when you hear -how and what their common people sing. - - - - -IN A GARDEN. - - -A Garden by the water's edge,--a garden where clematis and woodbine and -grape-vines run all over their trellises and up the graceful young -locust-trees and down over the stone-wall to meet the water plashing -pleasantly below, and reach out everywhere that vine-audacity can -suggest in an utter abandonment of luxuriance!--a garden where superb -blood-red roses are weighed down by a sense of their own sweetness, and -pure white ones look tall and stately and cool and abstracted by their -side. At the right a point of land extends into the lake, so thickly -covered with trees that from here it looks like a little forest, and the -houses are almost concealed in the fresh green; and the trees look -taller than anything except a funny old building that was once a -cloister, and is now the royal castle, and has two queer, tall towers -that rise far above the tree-tops at the extremity of the point. At the -left, faint and shadowy in the distance, rise the Alps, and the -mountains of Tyrol. There are bath-houses along the shore. Small boys -who think they "would be mermen bold" are prancing about gayly in the -water. On a rocky beach, peasant-women in bright-colored dresses are -standing by tubs, dipping garments in the lake and wringing them dry. -Some of them are kneeling. The sun is warm, and beats down on their -uncovered heads, and the work is hard, and I don't suppose they have any -idea they are making a picture of themselves, on the rocky shore with -the background of trees. But everybody is a picture this morning. There -is a young man standing in a row-boat, which an old fisherman lazily -propels here and there before my eyes. The youth is really statuesque, -balancing himself easily in the dancing boat, strong, supple, graceful, -his arm extending the long fishing-rod. A rosebud of a girl in a white -morning-suit and jaunty sailor-hat leans over the railing of a pavilion -built out into the lake from the garden, and also patiently holds a -fishing-rod, looking like a "London Society" illustration, as she gazes -intently with drooping eyelashes into the water. - -There are people reading, sketching, studying their Baedeckers, drinking -their coffee or beer, in comfortable nooks through the pretty garden. -All is quiet and restful, with only the rippling of the water and the -shouts of the merry mermen to break the stillness. Now doesn't it seem -as if one ought to write an exceptionally pleasant letter from so -pleasant a spot? But, alas! there is not much to say about it when once -you have tried to tell how it looks,--that it is a calm, peaceful, -pretty place, where you could stay a whole summer and lose all feverish -desires to explore and climb and see sights. To sit here in the garden, -leaning on the wall among the vines, is happiness enough. In the morning -early, the lake smiles at you and talks to you, and you see far away -great masses of rose-color and pearl-gray, with snowy summits gleaming -in the sunshine, and your eyes are blessed with their first view of the -Alps. The outline of the opposite shore is misty and many-colored, and -has also its noble heights. At sunset, too, is the garden a dreamy, -blissful spot, as the little boats float about in the golden lights, and -the water and the mountains assume all possible lovely hues, then sink -away in a deep violet, and the stars come out and German love-songs go -up to meet them. - -Yes, it is a satisfying spot. If there's a serpent here, he keeps -himself wonderfully well concealed. We haven't caught a glimpse of him, -and we are wise enough not to search for him. It's an admirable place to -be lazy, but it isn't very good for letters. Things hinder so, you know. -You listen to the water, and your pencil forgets to go. You get lost in -contemplation of the flapping of the ducks' feet, and make profound -studies of their mechanism, and enviously wish you had something of the -sort at your command, so that you could sail about in the cool, clear -water as unconcerned as they, and with no more effort. Funniest of ducks -that they are!--so pampered by the attention and bread-crumbs of summer -guests that their complacency exceeds even ordinary duck -self-satisfaction, and they act as if they thought they were all swans. - -It occurs to me somebody may feel a faint curiosity to know where it all -is. On the Lake of Constance, or the Bodensee, which, if you want useful -information, is forty-two miles long, eight miles wide, is fed -principally by the Rhine, and whose banks belong to five different -States,--Bavaria, Wuertemberg, Baden, Switzerland, and Austria; a sheet -of water whose shores are green and thickly wooded, where gay little -steamers run, constantly displaying the flags of their several -countries, between the principal places on the lake, and wherever you go -you have beautiful mountain scenery. You see the Alps, the mountains of -Bavaria, the Baden hills, the Tyrol, and you don't always know which is -which; but they pile themselves up grandly among the clouds, one range -behind the other, in a way that to the unaccustomed vision does not -exactly admit of labelling, and you don't care what their names are. You -are content to feel their beauty, to wonder and be silent. - -This particular place on the lake is Friedrichshafen. It is really a new -place and a commercial place,--and these adjectives are certainly not -attractive,--but then the newness is not conspicuous, and the commerce, -so far as we summer birds of passage are concerned, almost invisible. - -The king and queen of Wuertemberg come here every summer, and are here -at present. The Emperor of Germany and the Grand Duke of Baden are on -the Island of Mainau. - -It may be a busy place, but it does not seem so. Content and rest -pervade the atmosphere. Serenity is written on every face. It may be -many people would weary of its roses and the ripple of the water; of its -gardens, that look as if they were growing directly out of the lake; of -the blue, hazy, changing mountains far away; of its perfect quiet: but -there are others who would love it well, and who would not tire of it in -many a long summer day. - - - - -LINDAU AND BREGENZ. - - -Auf wiederschen, and not Lebewohl, we said to pleasant Friedrichshafen, -as the little steamer left those kindly green shores and we sailed away, -not for a year and a day, like the owl and the pussy cat in the -beautiful pea-green boat, but for an hour or so only. There were many -curious people to watch on board, but the most monopolizing sight was -two Catholic priests devouring a chicken, or rather devouring -_chickens_. They had, on the seat between them, a basket large enough -for a flock of Huehnchen--boiled, dissected, and only too tempting to -the priestly appetite--to repose in. And they had the lake as a -receptacle for the bones. What more could they desire? If we could have -suggested anything it would have been--napkins, because it was requiring -too much work of their fingers to use them as knives and forks, and then -to wipe their mouths on them. The zeal with which the holy men tore the -tender meat from the bones and showered the remnants in the water, and -particularly the endurance they exhibited, made us hope they evinced as -much fervor and devotion in caring for their human flocks. - -To Lindau then we came, having, as we approached, charming mountain -scenery. The town is on an island, connected with the mainland by an -embankment and railway bridge. It is a little place, but very striking -as you look at it from the water, having a lofty monument (a statue in -bronze of Maximilian II.), a picturesque old Roman tower, and, at the -entrance of the harbor, a fine lighthouse, and a great marble lion on a -high pedestal, guarding the little haven and his Bavarian land. We -remained part of a day here, having before our eyes a beautiful -picture,--the mountains of Switzerland directly across the lake, narrow -at this point, with the lighthouse and the proud, ever-watchful Bavarian -lion rising, bold and sentinel-like, in the foreground. You look between -these two over the placid water to the heights beyond. - -From Lindau we sailed to Bregenz, where the lake and mountains have -quite another expression. It would be difficult to say which is the most -attractive place on the Bodensee. You feel "How happy could I be with -either, were t'other dear charmer away," and it is of course a question -of individual taste. One person prefers the mountains near, another -watches them lovingly from a distance. One likes to live on low land by -the water's edge, and look up to the mountain-tops; another perches -himself high, and finds his happiness in looking down upon the lake and -off to other heights. But the shores are lovely everywhere, much -frequented yet quiet, crowded with villas, private cottages, hotels, yet -secluded and restful if one chooses. - -Bregenz is a quiet place, a real country-place, with mountain views and -mountain excursions without end. The common people have intelligent, -happy faces, pleasant, cheerful ways, quickness of repartee, and -civility. The women give you a smiling "Gruess Gott." The commonest man -takes off his hat as you pass, and if you go by a group of rollicking -school-boys every hat comes off courteously. - -Gebhardsberg is the first place to which people usually go from Bregenz. -We went, as in duty bound. It is a mountain--a castle--a pilgrimage -church--a view; and to say that one commands a view of the entire lake, -the valley of the Bregenzer Ach and the Rhine, the Alps, the snow -mountains of Appenzel and Glarus, with mountains covered with pine -forests in the foreground, conveys a very faint idea of the beauty -before our eyes. In the visitors' book in the tower were some German -rhymes, which, roughly translated, go somewhat in this way:-- - - "Charming prospect, best of wine, - Be joyful, then, O heart of mine; - Farewell, thou lovely Gebhard's hill, - Thou Bodensee, so fair, so still." - -And more still about wine, for this is not the land of the Woman's -Crusade, it appears:-- - - "It makes you glad to drink good wine, - And praying makes life more divine. - If you would be both good and gay, - Pray well and drink well every day." - -Some one remarks,-- - - "What below was far from clear, - Is no less dark when we stand here." - -And a very enthusiastic person writes,-- - - "Here flies from us sorrow, here vanishes pain, - Here bloom in our hearts joy and freshness again. - Who can assure us, and how can we know, - That heaven is fairer than this scene below?" - -In pages of such doggerel one finds comical enough things; but exported, -they may lose their native flavor, so I will not give too many of them. - -By making rather a long excursion from here you can visit the birthplace -of Angelica Kauffman. We didn't go, but we felt very proud to think we -could if we wished, having lately read "Miss Angel." - -There is a place in this neighborhood the name of which I refuse to -divulge, because, if I should tell it and disclose its attractions, the -next steamer from America would certainly bring over too many people to -occupy it, and so ruin it. I shall keep it for myself. But I will -describe it, and awaken as much longing and unrest and dissatisfaction -with American prices as I can. It isn't exactly a village, but it is -near a village. It has shady lanes that wind about between hedges; -houses that are placed as if with the express purpose of talking with -one another,--only three or four houses, with superb old trees hanging -over them. There is the nicest, brightest of _Fraus_,--who owns this bit -of land, the houses and the hedges and trees close by the water's edge, -a boat, a bath-house, and a great dog,--a happy, prosperous widow, with -a daughter to help in household matters, and to go briskly to market to -the neighboring town. So happy is she, one thinks involuntarily her -_Mann_ was perhaps aggressive, and that to be free from his presence may -be to her a blessing from Heaven. She lives in a house where the ceiling -is so low one must stoop going through the doors. The windows and doors -are all open. The tables and chairs are scoured snowy white. She brings -you milk in tall glasses,--it is cream, pure and simple. And then she -takes you into the house close by, with great airy chambers, and broad -low casements, under which the water ripples softly, and she tells you, -without apparently knowing herself, one of the wonders of the age,--that -she will rent her four rooms in this detached house for forty guldens a -month, and serve four persons from her own dwelling with fruit, meat, -cream, the best the land affords; and forty guldens are about twenty -dollars, gold. (This must not mislead the unwary. There are places -enough here where you can spend quite as much as you do at home.) We did -not quite faint, but we were very deeply moved. We did not even tell the -good woman that her terms were not exorbitant, crafty, worldly creatures -that we were. Here was one spot unspoiled by the madding crowd. We were -not the ones to bring pomps, and vanities, and high prices to it. So we -choked down our amazement, and hypocritically remarked it was all very -pleasant, and we thought perhaps we might return. Return! Of course we -shall return! When all things else fail, and ducats are painfully few, -then will we flee to this friendly abode, and live in a big room on the -lovely lake, so near, indeed, that we can almost fish from our windows; -have a boat to row, a bath-house at our service; quarts, gallons of -cream; and the Swiss mountains before our eyes morning, noon, and night; -and all for five dollars a month. I am telling the truth, but I do not -expect to be believed. I am tempted to write its name,--its pretty, -friendly, suggestive little name,--but I will not. It ends in LE, it -sounds like a caress, so much will I say; perhaps so much is indiscreet. -Don't waste your time looking for it. You will never find it. We only -happened to drift there. It really is not worth your while to search for -it. It is quite secluded, quite out of the way, a sleepy-hollow that I -am sure _you_ would find dull. - -There are many green, sweet nooks, many pretty villages, many cleanly -little cottages, many smiling, broad-browed, clear-eyed women, on the -shores of the Lake of Constance; but our woman, our cottage, our cream, -our mountains, our _treasure_, you will never, never find. - - - - -THE VORARLBERG. - - -I feel a deep and ever-increasing sympathy with explorers of strange -lands whose narratives a harsh world pronounces exaggerations. What if -they do say that the unknown animal which darts across their path has -five heads and seventeen legs? There is a glamour over everything in an -utterly new place,--the very atmosphere is deceptive. After a while, -things assume their natural proportions, but at first it seems as if one -really did see with one's own eyes all these redundant members. Even -here in the beaten track of travel, writing as honestly as possible from -my own point of view, I feel like begging my friends to put no faith in -anything I say. The mountains in themselves are intoxicating enough to -turn one's head; but then of course much depends upon the kind of head -one possesses. Recently, at sunset by a lake, we were looking over the -water at a mountain view,--soft, wooded slopes near us, huge rocky -masses beyond, height upon height rising in hazy blue, the snowy summits -just touched by the Alpine glow,--when some strangers approached. Berlin -has the honor of being their dwelling-place, we ascertained afterwards. - -"_Lieber Mann_," said the lady, "just look at all that snow!" - -"Snow!" replied the _lieber Mann_, "snow in summer! But that is -impossible!" - -"I think it must be snow," said the wife, doubtfully. Then, "But only -see the beautiful mountains." - -"Hm, hm," remarks the _lieber Mann_, regarding them superciliously -through his eye-glass; "I can't say that they are particularly -well-formed!" Here, at least, is a head that is secure; no jocund day on -the misty mountain-tops, no broad, magnificent ranges at high noon, and -no twilight with "mountains in shadow, forests asleep," have power to -move that astute _Kopf_ a fraction of an inch. "They have better -mountains in Berlin," remarked a German friend in an undertone. - -Bludenz is a little town in the Vorarlberg, which means, you know,--or -you don't know,--the country lying before the Adler or Arlberg, and the -Arlberg is the watershed between the Rhine and Danube, and the boundary -between the Vorarlberg and the Tyrol. This sounds guide-bookish,--and -very naturally, as I have copied it word for word from Baedecker,--but -one must say something of praiseworthy solidity once in a while. Bludenz -is a railway terminus, which fact may not interest the world at large, -but it did us hugely. We rejoiced in the thought of the great -post-wagon, the cracking of whips and blowing of horns, and long, -delightful, breezy rides over the hills and far away. Our -after-experience of this lively whip-cracking and horn-blowing has led -us to the conclusion that it is decidedly at its best in the opera, -where the Postilion of Lonjoumeau sings his pretty song and cracks his -whip for a gay refrain; and that it is all very well, when you yourself -are going off early in the morning amid the prodigious noise and the -excitement of stowing away passengers and packages, while a crowd of -village loafers stand gazing and gaping at you,--in short, when you are -"in it," you know; but when it is only other people who are going, only -they for whom all the noise is made and you are roused from your gentle -slumbers at half past four perhaps, you do not regard the postilion and -his accomplishments with unqualified admiration. - -You wish you had gone to the "Eagle," or the "Ox," or the "Lamb," or the -"Swan," or the "Lion," or to any other beast or bird, rather than to the -"Post," where the "Post" omnibus and its relations make your mornings -miserable. These are always the names of the inns in these little towns. -There is usually a "Crown" too, and often an "Iron Cross." But people -with nerves mustn't go to the "Post." Our party left its nerves in the -city before starting off on a rough tour, yet even we have suffered at -various inns which bear the names of "Post," but which should properly -be called "Pandemonium." - -Our first postilion wore the regulation long-boots, a postilion hat, and -silver pansies in his ears. He cracked his whip nobly,--as well as we -have heard Sontheim in the theatre at Stuttgart, and that is no faint -praise. He was the jolliest of men, on the best of terms with all the -dwellers among the mountains. He stopped at every inn and house where a -glass of wine was to be had, and I think I may say invariably drank it. -All the goodwives joked with him and smiled at him; all the men had a -friendly word for him, and all the peasant-girls who had lovers in -distant villages were continually stopping our great ark to send -packages, letters, or messages to the absent swain. He seemed to be for -the whole region a friend, patron, and adviser, a tutelary deity in -fact, and grand receptacle for confidences. He had a shrewd, kind face, -large clear eyes, and had driven among these mountains twenty-six years. -It really did not seem a bad way of spending one's days, always going -over the mountain-passes, knowing everybody and loved by everybody in -the country round. I admired him extremely, and felt very much elated at -the honor of sitting up on the box with so important a personage. - -He told us a story of an Englishman who was inquiring how much it would -cost to be driven to a certain point. - -The driver replied so many gulden. - -"Impossible," said the Englishman; "Baedecker says half as many." - -"I'll tell you what," answered the postilion; "let Baedecker take you, -then." - -Having laughed at the poor stranger, it is only fair that we now laugh -at the natives. - -"I spiks English," an innkeeper said to me. "Ein joli hearse," he -remarked further, to my great bewilderment, until it gradually dawned -upon me that this was English for "a pretty horse." There is a house in -this region whose proprietor wished to receive English lodgers, and -signified his desire to the world by hanging out this sign: "English -boards here." - -After all, there are no more ludicrous verbal blunders in the world than -we English-speaking people continually make during our first year's -struggles with this mighty German tongue; and nowhere do a foreigner's -queer idioms and laughable choice of words meet with more kindness, -charity, courtesy, and helpfulness than in Germany. It is astonishing -how kind the Germans in general are in this respect. It is all very well -to say politeness demands such kindness; but where things sound so -irresistibly droll, I think sometimes we might shriek with laughter -where the Germans kindly correct, and do not even smile. - -But we are neglecting Bludenz, for which little town we mean to say a -friendly word. It is usually considered only a stepping-stone to -something higher and better, but we liked it. The mountains rise on both -sides of the village and its one long road, where we walked at sunset, -crossing the bridge which spans the foaming, tumbling, rushing Ill. -Beyond the ravine of the Brandnerthal, the Scesaplana, the highest -mountain of the Raeticon range, rises from fields of snow. We strolled -along, breathing the sweet, pure air, meeting groups of peasant-girls, -all of whom carried their shoes in their hands. It was a fete day, and -they had been to vespers, putting their shoes on at the church door and -removing them when they came out. This most practical and admirable -method of saving shoe-leather, I venture to recommend to the fathers of -large families. It must be superior to "copper-toes." When we came back -to take our supper in a garden, somebody was playing Strauss waltzes, -with a touch so loving, spirited, and magnetic, it seemed as if the -mountains themselves must whirl off presently in response. In this land -a garden where people drink beer and wine, eat, smoke, rest, think, -enjoy, all in the open air, is sometimes made up of most delightful -surroundings; but on the other hand it sometimes means two emaciated, -dyspeptic trees, a gravel floor, and half a dozen wooden tables with -wretchedly uncomfortable chairs. But if it is an enclosure in the open -air with one table large enough to hold a beer-mug, it is still a -garden. - -Our Bludenz garden was pleasant enough, however, and we sat there till -the mountains sank deeper and deeper into the gloom; and the _Maedchen_ -who waited upon us told us about her native village, where her brother -was schoolmaster; our landlady came, too, and talked with us, quietly, -and somewhat with the manner of a hostess entertaining guests. It was -all very pretty and simple and kindly, and seemed the most natural thing -in the world, as it happened. The people here had intelligent faces, -clear eyes like children, and pleasant, courteous ways. The trouble -about all these little places is, we don't like to leave them. It seems -as if the new place could not be so pretty, the new people so kindly and -simple and honest, and we go about weakly, leaving fragments of our -hearts everywhere. - -Then the mountain tramps we had, climbing high for a view, and then -glorying in it! A little maid was once our guide, who chattered to us -prettily all the way, and told us the chief events of her life,--how her -father and mother were dead, and her uncle beat her, and made her work -too hard; how there was a great, great, great bird who sat up on the -barren cliffs so high that never a _Jaeger_ could climb near enough to -shoot him; how he had eyes as big as a cow's, and when he sat on the -right cliff the weather was always fair, but when he sat on the left -there was storm among the mountains. This must be true, for we saw the -cliffs. Then she solemnly assured us, if we would go early to the chapel -in a neighboring village the following morning, we could get absolution -for all our sins, because, as it appeared, the priest there was going -far away, as missionary to America, and in farewell was washing the -souls of his flock with extra thoroughness. We told the child it was -very fortunate the good priest was going to America. From what we had -heard of that ungodly land, we thought it must be in sad need of -missionary work. - -The scenery from Bludenz to Landeck is a series of picturesque, varied -views. The road ascends with many windings to the pass of the Arlberg, -when you are at last in the Tyrol; and the green, richly wooded -mountains, the jagged, rocky ones, the lofty peaks where the snow -gleams, together with the pure, invigorating air, and the swing of our -mountain chariot with its five horses,--which, if not very rapid, were -at least strong and fresh,--made altogether a thoroughly enjoyable -experience. - -On the Arlberg we gathered our first Alpine roses. They are not so very -pretty, except as they grow often in masses so luxuriant as to give a -rosy effect to a broad slope. That is, they are pretty, but their -graceful cups droop so quickly when you take them from their native air -and native heights, that they are disappointing. - -At St. Christoph, which is almost at the top of the Arlberg, we stopped -long enough to refresh ourselves with a glass of _Tiroler_ wine, and -were taken into a little chapel behind the inn to see a wooden statue of -St. Christopher, who seems to be held in peculiar veneration in this -region, being painted or carved in many churches and even on the walls -of houses. This was a great creature of eight or nine feet, standing in -the corner of the chapel, with glaring, beady eyes, glossy black painted -hair, and a huge staff, to represent the pine-tree of the sweet old -legend, in his hand; while on his shoulder was perched the child Jesus, -with a face like a small doll. He was as funny and grotesque a saint as -the world can boast, yet our hearts went strongly out to him when we -learned what a very little peasant-boy it was who had made him with his -pocket-knife out of a block of wood, and particularly when we observed -his saintship's legs, never too symmetrical, but now hacked and chipped -into utter deformity, and were told the reason. Every child in this -neighborhood who must leave his mountain home takes a bit of St. -Christopher with him as a talisman against homesickness. Poor little -souls! Imagine them coming to say, "Lebewohl zu dem heiligen Christoph," -and tearfully hacking away in the region of his patellas and tibias and -fibulas, because long ago they have removed the exterior of his stalwart -members, and he will soon be dangerously undermined. His shoulders are -sufficiently developed to bear considerable cutting down without -perceptibly diminishing them; but I presume the little ones attack the -region which they can most conveniently reach. - -Lovely air and lovely hills! No wonder the children fear Heimweh will -come to their hearts when they can no longer see the little village -houses all huddled together round the church with the tall spire, while -the green hills rise on every side, and the morning mists roll from -them, and the evening glow warms and glorifies their cold, white -summits, and the impetuous mountain torrent goes foaming by. - -We felt premonitory symptoms of homesickness ourselves for those fair -and noble heights, and we wanted very much to beg for a bit of St. -Christopher's knee-pan. But they would not have given us an atom of the -dear old, hideous, overgrown giant-saint, worthless heretics that we -are. - - - - -IN THE TYROL. - - -They said Landeck would not please us, but it did. They said it was not -pretty, but it was. They said we would not stay there, but that is all -they knew about it or us. In itself, so far as its houses are concerned, -it is not attractive, it is true; but it lies in a very picturesque way -on both banks of the Inn, which rushes and roars constantly at this -point, and the hills around are bold and beautiful. It has its ancient -castle, on the heights directly above the town; but the castle now is a -failure, whatever proud tales its walls might tell us could they -speak,--a failure even as a "ruin," I mean. It is not very high, but the -path is steep; and when you get to the top you wish you had remained -below, for there is nothing to reward you. The view is no finer than you -can have from almost any point here; and the castle is simply nothing to -see, being only a few gray walls without form or comeliness, in the -shade of which, the day we visited it, sat a few poor old women, who now -occupy it, with snails and bats and wind and storm, rent free. - -To Zams, the next village, you walk along the river road past fields of -grain, where cornflowers and poppies are gayly growing, and the water -hurrying from the mountains sings its loud, bold song, and everywhere -around are the varied hues and heights of the Tyrolean Alps. At Zams -there is a beautiful waterfall, which you must seek if you would see, -for it hides itself from the world. Over a bridge, along the river road, -then through lanes where there were more of the pretty cornflowers and -gay poppies, past a group of cottages, a mill, a noisy brook, a mass of -rugged cliffs, we strolled, the voice of the falling water calling us -ever nearer and nearer, until suddenly at the last it was before us. The -rocks conceal it on every side up to the last moment when you are -directly at the foot of it,--one of the fine dramatic effects in which -Mother Nature likes sometimes to indulge. - -It falls with great force a hundred and fifty feet, perhaps,--this is a -wild feminine guess, yet somewhere near the truth, I hope,--in a narrow, -immensely swift stream, which, as it issues from the rock, runs a little -diagonally. It has forced a passage through the rock, and when we saw it -was sweeping through this aperture; but in stormy weather it hurls -itself over the summit of the ledge, increasing its height many feet, -and is magnificent in its fury. An experienced mountain-climber told us -that there are a succession of these falls, of which this is the seventh -and last, and the only one that can be seen without painful and -dangerous climbing, they are so singularly concealed. The stream springs -from the glaciers far away, and leaps from rock to rock in wild, unseen -beauty. It seemed to speak to us of the lonely, frozen heights and -solitude of its birthplace. - -From Landeck to Innsbruck the scenery, taken all in all, though -pleasing, is less bold and more monotonous than are many other parts of -the Tyrol. There are many historical points of interest here, and -reminders of the bravery of the mountaineers in different wars. You see -where they stood high on their native hills hurling down trunks of trees -and huge masses of rock on the invading Bavarians; and what this work of -destruction failed to do, the sure aim of the Tyrolese riflemen -effectually accomplished. - -In one village they exhibit the room where Frederic Augustus, king of -Saxony, died suddenly from the kick of a horse. Having no inordinate -interest in his deceased majesty, we were quite content to gaze placidly -at the outside of the house from the post-wagon, as we informed the man -who tried to induce us to march in, pay our fees, and so increase the -revenues of the inn. He was deeply disgusted, and evidently considered -us persons of inferior taste. - -You are shown, off at the right of the road on a wooded height, the -ruins of Schloss Petersburg, the birthplace of Margaret, daughter of the -count of the Tyrol through whom Tyrol came into the possession of the -emperors of Austria. - -We have seen so many little villages more or less alike, all having -saints painted on their houses in brilliant hues, and mottoes over their -doorways,--some religious, some quite secular and merry, and all, too, -having names of one syllable, composed chiefly of consonants, such as -Imst, Silz, Zams, Mils, Telfs, Zirl,--we cannot hope to remember them -with that clearness which characterizes the well-regulated mind on its -travels. (No one in our party _has_ a well-regulated mind.) But we have -a way among ourselves of designating places, which is quite satisfactory -and intelligible to us. For instance, we say, "That was where we drank -the cream"; "That was where the innkeeper was a barrel, with head and -feet protruding"; "That was where that interesting body, the fire -department, were feasting at long tables and singing Tyrolean songs"; -"The village where we met the procession, old men and maidens, young men -and children, singing, chanting, telling their beads, bearing candles, -and, most of all, staring at the strangers."--And what were the -strangers doing? Staring at the people, to be sure. We always stare. We -are here for that purpose.--"The village where the girl put a flower in -her sweetheart's hat." And how pretty it was! The post-wagon had hardly -stopped before a good-looking youth dashed down from its top, and at the -same instant a rosy waiter-girl dashed out from the inn, bearing a tall -mug of foaming beer. She had eyes but for him. He had eyes but for -her--and the beer. Entranced they met! They stood a little apart from us -by a garden, and beamed and smiled at each other and whispered their -secrets, and didn't care a straw whether we stupid "other people" saw -them or not. They had but a few moments of bliss, for the boy had to go -on with the post; but while he was drinking the very last of that -reviving fluid, she took his hat from his head, and, stooping to the -flowers beside her, chose a great flaming carnation pink, which she -fastened in his hat-band. He looked pleased, which of course made her -look pleased; but what a wise little village-Hebe it was to give him the -beer first! What would he have cared for the flower when his throat was -dusty and thirsty! It is such a pity some women always persist in -offering their flowers and graces too soon,--forgetting the nature of -the creature they adore. - -In an inn at one village was a table which we coveted strongly. It was, -they said, a hundred and fifty years old, octagonal, four or five feet -in diameter, made of inlaid woods in the natural colors, now darkened -with age. Broad, solid, firm, it looked as if it might last a hundred -and fifty years longer and then retain its vigor of constitution. It had -a wise, knowing air, as of having seen a great deal of the world; and -the landlord told us tales of drinking and fighting and scenes of rough -soldier-life, which were enough to make it tremble for its existence. -Bavarian soldiers once, when they were occupying the village, used it -rather roughly, and left as many sword-cuts and dents in it as they -could make in its brave, firm wood. Its centre was a slate or -blackboard, on which beer accounts are conveniently reckoned. - -Just beyond Zirl, the Martinswand rises sixteen hundred feet -perpendicularly above the road. It has its story, to which everybody who -comes here must listen. - -The Emperor Maximilian, in 1493, was chasing a chamois above the -Martinswand, and, having lost his way, made a misstep, fell down to the -edge of a precipice, and hung there, unable to recover his footing. The -priest of Zirl came with some of his people, and, it being impossible to -reach him, stood at the bottom of the cliff, elevated the host, granting -him absolution; and then, in horror, awaited the end. But "an angel in -the garb of a chamois-hunter" appeared at this crisis, and bore the -exhausted monarch to a place of safety. The perilous spot, nine hundred -feet above the river, is now marked by a cross, and the paten used by -the priest is a blessed relic in a church. - -The story seems to be quite generally believed in this neighborhood. We -sceptical strangers do not find it so enormous a morsel to swallow as is -sometimes presented to us. I presume if any of us were dangling between -heaven and earth, with the immediate prospect of falling nine hundred -feet, we would be very apt to call whatever should rescue us an "angel." - - - - -INNSBRUCK. - - -Innsbruck impressed us, at first, as being far too citified for us to -delight in. Entering its streets about sunset, the time when we have of -late been accustomed to see the cows come home in great herds from the -mountain pastures, we, our bags and shawl-straps, were deposited upon -the sidewalk; for when the post stops, you stop without ceremony, and -are never taken to the particular hotel where you wish to go. We stared -blankly at the broad streets and ruefully at one another. Our eyes, -instead of seeing lowing herds, fell upon gallant young officers in -brilliant uniforms. We became painfully aware of certain defects in our -personal appearance, of which we had been beautifully unconscious in the -rural mountain districts. We observed for the first time that there were -chasms in our gloves, indented peaks in our hats, alluvial deposits on -our gowns; while our boots suggested dangerous ravines, bridged across -by one button, instead of boasting that goodly, decorous row without -which no civilized woman can be truly respectable. We revenged ourselves -by calling Innsbruck "tame," and declaring that we would at once flee to -our mountain. But it is surprising how quickly we have become accustomed -to the luxuries of life in an excellent hotel, how bravely we bear the -infliction of well-cooked dinners, with what fortitude we recline in -luxurious chairs, and allow well-trained servants to wait upon us. -Already we have remained longer than we intended, there is so much here -that interests us; but soon we start off again to commune with Nature -and get sunburned. - -Then, the truth is, Innsbruck, which looked so enormous, so grand, to -our eyes, used as they were to Tyrolean villages,--we know now how the -typical country cousin feels when he comes "to town" for the first -time,--is only a little place most charmingly situated on the Inn, in a -great broad valley, with mountains ten thousand feet high on one side, -and on the other heights that look almost as bold. It has, including its -large garrison, eighteen or twenty thousand inhabitants, and with its -pleasant atmosphere, extended views, charming mountain excursions, -peasants in a variety of costumes, soldiers in a variety of uniforms, -excellent music, and many things of historical interest to see, is a -very enjoyable place. - -The Museum is thoroughly interesting; a visit to Schloss Amras, where -Archduke Ferdinand II. and his wife Philippina Welser used to live, is -an inevitable but agreeable excursion; you are shown buildings erected -by celebrated personages,--among them a "golden roof" over a balcony of -a palace which Count Frederic of the Tyrol built to prove that he did -not deserve the nickname, "with the empty pockets." But the chief thing -to see, the glory of Innsbruck, is the Maximilian monument in the -Franciscan church. Maximilian, in bronze, kneels on a marble pedestal in -the centre of the nave, and eight-and-twenty great bronze figures of -kings and queens and heroes surround him. Some are stately and grand; -some--dare I say?--are comical. The feet of these mailed heroes are so -broad and big and their ankles so attenuated, you are reminded of the -marine armor worn by divers; and the waists of the women, in the heavy -folds of ancient times, are so enormously dumpy and their heads so -curious, you smile in their august faces, though the whole effect of all -these dark, still figures in the dim church is imposing in the extreme. - -They are all celebrated people, whose histories we know; or, if we do -not, we ought to. There is Clovis of France, who looks very important -indeed, and Philip of Spain. There is Johanna, Philip's queen; -Cunigunde, sister of Maximilian; Eleanora of Portugal, his mother; and -there are many more "dear, dead women," with stately, beautiful names, -and they themselves, no doubt, were stately and beautiful too, but they -are not handed down to posterity in a very flattering guise. There is -Godfrey de Bouillon, "king of Jerusalem," with a crown of thorns on his -head. But the two that are really lovely to see are Theodoric, king of -the Ostrogoths, and Arthur of England. Susceptible, romantic girls of -eighteen should not be allowed to gaze too long at these ideal young -men. It will make them discontented with the realities of life, and they -will spend their days dreaming of knightly figures in bronze. - -Theodoric is considered the finest as a work of art. So says all -established authority; but to me Arthur is hardly less interesting. -Perhaps, in some absurd way, it gratified us of Anglo-Saxon blood to -see, in the midst of these Rudolphs and Sigismunds, these counts of -Hapsburg and dukes of Burgundy, a hero who seemed to belong to us; but, -whatever was the cause, the blameless king won our loving admiration. - -Theodoric is the more graceful. He stands in an easy, leaning attitude. -He is lost in thought. He is in full armor, but he may be dreaming of -something far removed from war. Arthur is firm and proud and strong, -looking every inch a king and a true knight. Both are knightly. Both are -kingly. Their figures are slight and strong, and they stand like _young_ -heroes amid these mighty old potentates, some of whom look as if gout -might have been a greater source of trouble to them than their enemies. - -If your affections are divided, as were ours, between the two, the best -thing to do, perhaps, is to repair immediately to the store where the -wood-carving and Tyrol souvenirs make you feel quite miserable,--you -want so much more than you can possibly have,--and carefully select a -Theodoric and an Arthur from the many representations of them, in wood -of different colors and in various sizes, that you will there see. If -you march off with them, you will feel sublime enough not to be beguiled -into yielding to the temptation of the paper-knives and boxes and -innumerable fascinating knick-knacks made by the Tyrolean wood-carvers. -But do have them well packed, for it is very sad to see Arthur without -his visor and Theodoric with several fractured fingers. - -On the sarcophagus, below the kneeling Maximilian, are marble reliefs -representing the chief events in the emperor's life. Thorwaldsen -pronounced the first nineteen the most perfect work of its kind in the -world. These are by Colin, and the others,--there are twenty-four in -all,--by Bernhard and Albert Abel, are less remarkable in their -perspective, and far less clear. Colin's are very interesting to study -carefully. In battle scenes, in grand wedding feasts, with hundreds of -spectators, in triumphant entries into conquered cities, every face, -every weapon, every feature, and all the most minute details are -executed with wonderful clearness. - -Three or four of the oldest women in the world were saying their prayers -in the church as we wandered about, or sat quietly looking at these men -and woman of the past, while queer snatches of history, poetry, and -romance came and went confusedly in our minds. - -You see here, too, a little "Silver Chapel," so called from a silver -statue of the Virgin over the altar. The tomb of the Archduke Ferdinand -II., by Colin, is here, and that of Philippina Welser; and near the -entrance, in the main church, is a fine statue, in Tyrolese marble, of -Andreas Hofer, and memorial tablets in honor of all the Tyrolese who -have died for their country since 1796. - -We have been refreshing our memories in regard to Andreas Hofer, and are -extremely interested in his career; but, having just suffered a grievous -disappointment with which he is connected, we are going to try to banish -every thought of him from our minds. A play representing his whole life -was to have been enacted to-day in a neighboring village; but to-day it -rains, and as the village histrionic talent was going to display itself -in the open air, "Andreas Hofer" is postponed till to-morrow, when, -unfortunately, we shall be riding over hill and dale in a post-wagon. We -have tried to prevail upon the post-wagon powers to allow us to wait a -day, but they are obdurate. We can wait if we care to pay our passage -twice, not otherwise. This cross may be well for a party that usually -sails along on the full tide of prosperity, having always the rooms it -wants, front seats in post-wagons, the good-will of drivers and guides, -and that hasn't lost or broken anything since it started. - -It is possible that we are too successful and need this discipline. But -only think what we lose!--a village drama in the open air, given by -village amateurs in the _patois_ of the district. According to the -announcement, the tailor--the Herr Schneider--was to be -director-in-chief; and the audience would audibly express its praise and -blame, while the actors would have the liberty of retiring. This, added -to heroics in dialect, certainly promised an entertaining scene. The -costumes, too, were to be like those worn in Andreas Hofer's time, and -the tailor's daughter was to be leading lady. Was, do I say? Is--is yet -to be, but not for us, alas! - - - - -OHENSCHWANGAU AND NEU SCHWANSTEIN. - - -It pains me to think that the king of Bavaria, or any other fine-looking -young gentleman, would deliberately scowl at an inoffensive party of -ladies who were, one and all, only too pleased to have the opportunity -of gazing smilingly at him. But the truth is, he did. The way it -happened is this. We and the king of Bavaria are at present travelling -in the North Tyrol. But he cannot have wanted so much as we to go to the -South Tyrol, which is bolder and grander, or he would have gone there, -not being bound by petty considerations of convenience and expense like -ordinary tourists. At a little inn, "Auf der Ferne," between Innsbruck -and Reutte, in a place called Fernstein, by a lake named Fernsee (and -also "The Three Lakes," because the land juts out on one side in two -long points, making three pretty coves where the tranquil water meets -the soft green shores), the post-wagon halted, that our postilion might -drink his glass of native wine. There were numerous servants in -blue-and-silver livery at the door, and we were told King Louis was -driving in the neighborhood, and that we would certainly meet him. While -we were waiting, the people regaled us with tales of the young king's -eccentricities. Some of his extravagant fancies remind one of the -Arabian Nights, or old fairy-tales, more than of anything in these -latter days. He usually travels by night, for instance, and sleeps, the -little that he ever sleeps, mornings. He drives fast through the -darkness, servants with torches galloping in advance, stopping here and -there only long enough for a change of horses, his own horses and -servants being in readiness for him at the different inns along the -route. Often his carriage dashes up to this inn, "Auf der Ferne," at -twelve o'clock at night, and then this deliciously eccentric being is -rowed across the little Fernsee to a tiny island, where he partakes, by -the romantic gleam of torches, of a feast prepared by French cooks. -Rowed back to the shore, he starts again with fresh horses and goes -swiftly on, through the night, to some other inn, where the noise of his -arrival awakens all the sleepers. - -We heard him later ourselves at two in the morning at an inn on the road -where we were staying, and in fact were told by the landlord that he was -expected; were shown the sacred apartment set apart for his majesty, who -now and then sits an hour in it at some unearthly time of night, and we -were advised to peep through our curtains at him, his suite, and his -horses, torches, etc.; but such was the sleepiness created by a ride of -sixteen hours in mountain air, that, though we were dimly conscious -something of interest was happening, I do not think we would have been -able to stir, to see even Solomon in all his glory. This was the true -reason, but the one that we pretended actuated us is quite different. We -remark with dignity that no young woman of proper spirit will condescend -to peep through a curtain at a man who has scowled at her, king or no -king. - -But I must tell you how, when, and where the royal scowl took place. We -had left the little inn by the lake, and were riding along in an -expectant mood, when there came a great clatter of hoofs, and two -blue-and-silver men dashed by followed by an open carriage, where King -Louis sat alone. A kind fate ordained that the road should be narrow at -this point, with a steep bank on one side, over which it would not be -pleasant to be precipitated; so the royal coachman, as well as our -driver, moderated the speed of his horses, and we therefore had an -admirable opportunity to see this "_idealisch_" young man--as the -Germans call him--distinctly. The ceremonies performed were few. Our -postilion took off his hat; so did the king. Then it seemed good in his -sight to deliberately throw back his head, look full in our amiable, -smiling, interested countenances, and indulge in a haughty and an -unmistakable scowl. He must have slept even less than usual that -morning. We were not accustomed to have young men scowl at us, and -really felt quite hurt. If he had looked grand and unseeing, had gazed -off abstractedly upon the mountain-tops, we would have been delighted -with him. As it is, we cannot honestly say that we consider his manner -to strangers ingratiating. Still, as the melancholy fact is that he -hates women, his scowl probably meant no especial aversion to our humble -selves, but was merely the expression of the immense scorn and disgust -he feels towards the sex at large. - -In revenge, I hasten to say that, though he certainly has a -distinguished air, and a fine head, and the great eyes that look so -dreamy and poetical in the photographs of him at eighteen or twenty, he -is not nearly so handsome as those early pictures. Perhaps he can look -dreamy still; but of this he granted us no opportunity to judge, and he -has grown stout, and has lost the delicate refinement of his youth. - -This road to Reutte is one of the finest of the mountain-passes between -the Tyrol and Bavaria. The deep, wooded ravines, lovely, dark-green -lakes, and noble heights make the landscape very beautiful and -inspiring. Near Lennos, you see on the east great bald limestone -precipices, the snowy Zugspitze, 9,761 feet high, the Schneefernerkopf, -9,462 feet, and other peaks of 8,000 feet and more; while you spy -picturesque ruins, old hunting-seats, and fortresses here and there high -on the proud cliffs. - -Reutte has large, broad, pretty houses. It is said laughingly that there -is not a house in the place which a king or some other exalted being has -not selected to die in, or in some way to make memorable. - -From this place we have pursued still farther our studies of royalty, -having met with so much encouragement at the outset. We have visited the -Schloss Hohenschwangau, where the king of Bavaria and his mother, the -queen, spend some time every summer; and also Schloss Schwanstein, which -is yet building, but where the young king often stays, unfinished as it -is. - -The way to Hohenschwangau leads through a charming park. The castle was -once a Roman fort, they say, then a baronial estate, then almost -destroyed by the Tyrolese, then bought by King Max of Bavaria, who had -it remodelled and ornamented with fine frescos by Munich artists. - -In the vestibule is an inscription in gold letters on blue, which says -something like this:-- - - "Welcome, wanderer,--welcome, fair and gracious women! - Leave all care behind! - Yield your souls to the sweet influences of poetry." - -Isn't that a pretty greeting? It's all very well, however, to have such -things written on your walls, and then to go about the world scowling at -people; but it doesn't look consistent. From the vestibule you pass into -a long hall, where are two rows of columns, old suits of armor standing -like men on guard on both sides, shields, spears, halberds, and -cross-bows on the walls, and a little chapel at the end. - -The frescos throughout the castle are very interesting. From the -billiard-room, with a pretty balcony, you go into the Schwanrittersaal, -where the pictures on the walls represent the legend of the Knight of -the Swan, and remind you of the opera of "Lohengrin." The painted glass -of the doors opening from this room upon a balcony is of the seventeenth -century. - -There is an Oriental room, with reminiscences of King Max's Eastern -travels. Here you see Smyrna, Troja, the Dardanelles, Constantinople, in -fresco; rich presents from the Sultan, a table-cover embroidered by the -wives of the Sultan, jewelled fans, etc. - -There is an Autharis room, with frescos by Schwind, telling the story of -the wooing of the Princess Theudelinda by the Lombard king, Autharis. Do -you feel perfectly familiar with the history of Autharis and -Theudelinda? Because, if you do not, I don't really know of any one just -at this moment who feels competent to give you the slightest information -upon the subject. - -There is a room of the knights, the frescos illustrating mediaeval -chivalry,--a Charlemagne room. There are, in fact, more rooms than you -care to read about or I care to describe, and many rich objects to see. -In the queen's apartments was a casket of gold studded with turquoises -and rubies; elegant toilet-tables rosy with silk linings, soft with -falling lace; and there is one dear little balcony-room, cosy and full -of familiar pictures,--Raphael's cherubs, a little painting of Edelweiss -and Alpine roses; and actually two real spinning-wheels: one is the -queen's, and the other belonged to a young court lady whose recent death -was a deep grief to the queen, it is said. - -But the most striking, and in the end fascinating, thing in the castle -is the number of swans you see. It would be difficult to convey any idea -of the swan-atmosphere of this place. Swans support baskets for flowers -and vases. There are swans in china, in marble, in alabaster, in gold -and silver, on the tables, on the mantels and brackets, painted, -embroidered on cushions and footstools,--everywhere you find them. A -half-dozen of different sizes stand together on a small table, some of -them large, some as tiny as the toy swan a child sails in his glass -preserve-dish for a pond. There is a swan-fountain in the garden; a -great swan on the stove in a reception-room. - -King Louis can bathe every day in a gold bath-tub if he wishes. Our eyes -have seen it, though the guide said he had never shown it before. I have -no means of knowing whether the man told the truth. There is another and -yet more enticing bath-room hewn out of the solid rock. We entered it -from the garden. From without, its walls look like dark thick glass, -through which one sees absolutely nothing. From within, the effect is -enchanting. You see the highest tower of the castle on one side rising -directly above you, the lovely garden with its choice flowers and superb -trees, the grand mountains beyond,--and all bathed in a deep rosy light -from the hue of the glass. It is an enchanted grotto, and very Arabian -Nights-ish. A marble nymph stands on each side of the bath, which is cut -in the centre of the stone floor, and one of them turns on a pivot, -disclosing a concealed niche, into which you step and slowly swing round -until you are in a subterranean passage, from which a mysterious -stairway leads to the dressing-room above. - -We went everywhere, even into the king's little study, up in the tower, -where we were explicitly told not to go. It was a simply furnished room, -with an ordinary writing-table, upon which papers and writing-materials -were strewn about, and important-looking envelopes directed to the king. -And it commanded a lovely view of mountains, broad plains, and four -lakes, the Alpsee, Schwansee, Hopfensee, and Bannwaldsee. - -Our little tour of inspection was just in time, for at twelve that -night, the castle servants told us, the king would come dashing up to -his own door, after which there can be of course no admittance to -visitors. - -Hohenschwangau is most beautifully situated, but the Neu Schwanstein is -still more striking. It is founded upon a rock. You climb to reach it, -and you can climb far higher on the mountains that tower behind it. It -stands directly by a deep ravine, and the view from it is magnificent. -The young king here by his own hearthstone has wild and abrupt mountain -scenery,--a rocky gorge, crossed by a delicate wire bridge, an impetuous -waterfall; and looking far, far off from the battlements he sees -villages, many lakes, dense woods, winding streams, Hohenschwangau -looking proudly towards its royal neighbor, and the glorious mountains -circling and guarding the valley. Living here, one would feel like a god -on high Olympus looking down upon humanity toiling on the plains below. - -The king likes this place, and it is said wishes to remain here when the -queen, his mother, comes to Hohenschwangau. But this is an unwarrantable -intrusion upon their little family differences, which they should enjoy -unmolested, like you and me. Schwanstein in its exterior form and -character resembles a mediaeval castle, and the appointments in the -servants' wing, the only part of the interior as yet finished, are -strictly in keeping. There are solid oaken benches and tables, carved -cases and chests, oaken bedsteads as simply made as possible, and -windows with tiny oval or diamond panes. - -The room occupied temporarily by the king is very small and simple,--has -a plain oak bedstead and dressing-table. Across the bed were thrown -blankets, on which were blue swans and blue lions, and in the -dining-room adjoining the carpet was blue, with golden Bavarian lions, -and the all-pervading swans. This was a pretty room, the frescos -illustrating the story of a life in mediaeval times,--the life of a -warrior from the moment when he starts forth from his father's door, a -fair-haired boy, to seek his fortunes in the great world. Mountain -scenery, village life, his first service to a knight, battle, gallant -deeds, receiving knighthood, betrayal, imprisonment, escape, -victory,--all the eventful story until he sits with men old like -himself, and over their wine they tell of the doughty deeds of the past; -and then, older still, and frail and feeble and alone, he leans upon his -staff as he rests under a tree where careless children play around him. - -A charming road, through the woods belonging to the Schwanstein park, -leads to the castle, past the lovely Alpsee, which looks deep and calm, -and lies lovingly nestled among the beautiful woods that surround it and -that rise high above it, as if striving to conceal its loveliness from -profane eyes. - -We saw forty of the royal horses--pretty creatures they were too--each -with the name painted over the stall. We were reading them aloud, they -were so odd and fanciful, when, as one of us said Fenella, the little -horse that claimed that name turned her pretty head and tried to come to -us. However gently we would call her, she always heard and looked at us. -Encouraged by this gracious condescension on the part of a royal animal, -we ventured to make friends with her; and if ever a horse smiled with -good-will and delight it was Fenella when we gave her sugar. - -His majesty's carriages were also shown to us, and received our -approval. They are plain and elegant, but do not differ from high-toned -equipages in general. A narrow little phaeton, low, and large enough to -hold but one person, we were told was a favorite of the king. In it, -with a man at each side of the horse's head leading him, and bearing a -torch, the king amuses himself by ascending dangerous mountain-roads at -night. They say it is astonishing where he will go in this manner. Fancy -meeting that scowling but interesting young man, his torches and his -funny little vehicle, on a lonely peak at midnight! - - - - -LIFE IN SCHATTWALD. - - -We have been in the Tyrol many days, in villages among the mountains, -living in simplicity, content, and charity to all mankind. We have -believed that our condition was as thoroughly rural as anything that -could possibly be attained by people who only want to be rural -temporarily as an experiment. But our present experience so far -transcends all that we have known in the past, that the other villages -seem like bustling, important towns, unpleasantly copying city ways, -compared with this funny little quiet Schattwald. - -We came here from Reutte in an open carriage, passed through a -wonderfully beautiful ravine, saw the lovely dark-green lakes that -delight the soul in this part of the world, little hamlets scattered -about picturesquely among pine-clad hills, bold peaks towering to the -clouds in the distance, and drove slowly through soft, broad meadows, -where the whole population was out making hay. We saw many Tyrolean Maud -Muellers in bright gowns that looked pretty in the sunshine. A German -friend told us a certain small object was "an American hay-cart, and -very practical, like all American inventions." He was so positive in his -convictions, and, at the same time, so gracious towards the inventive -genius of America, that we saw it would be useless and unwise to pretend -to know anything about the hay-cart of our native heath. But if an -American hay-cart should see its Tyrolean prototype, it would shatter -itself into atoms with laughter. - -So in the serene, perfect midsummer weather, through this charming -country, we came to Schattwald, the highest village in the Thanheimer -Thal. - -I feel now that it is my duty to give a friendly caution to people whose -nerves are easily shocked, and to advise them to drop this letter at -this very point, for it is shortly going to treat of exceedingly -realistic and inelegant things. - -We drove to the village inn. There were hens and children on the broken -stone doorstep, and men drinking beer in a little pavilion close by. A -broad and jocund landlady told us there was absolutely no place for us. -We are, therefore, ensconced in a veritable peasant's cottage over the -way, going across to the inn when we are hungry, which is tolerably -often in this mountain air. - -Our rooms are broad and very low, with wide casements having tiny panes. -A stout wooden bench against the wall serves as sofa and chairs. A bare -wooden table in front of it is graced by a great dish filled with Alpine -roses, Edelweiss, and Wildemaenner, which is an appropriate name for the -little flower with its brown unkempt head and shaggy elf-locks blowing -in the wind. A six-inch looking-glass is hung exactly where the wall -joins the ceiling, and exactly where we cannot possibly see ourselves in -it without standing on something, when we invariably bump our heads. -This pointedly tells us that vanity is a plant that does not flourish in -these lofty altitudes. There are crucifixes on the walls, and -extraordinary religious pictures; and in the corner of the front door -there is a saint somebody made of wood, life-size, with a reddish gown, -and tinsel stars on a wire encircling her head. I think she must be -Mary, though it did not occur to me at first, she is such a corpulent -young woman, with a thick, short waist, and solid feet, which, -nevertheless, by their position, express the idea that she is floating. -An old woman often sits by her, knitting, as we go in and out. - -"Is it clean?" I know some one is asking. That depends upon what you -call clean; and when travelling one must modify one's opinion about -cleanliness and order. For a dressing-room it would be shockingly -unclean; for peasant life up in the Alps it is--if the expression is -permissible--_clean enough_. - -The floors are clean, and the bedding and towels. The water is pure and -fresh, the dishes and food perfectly clean. And these, after all, are -the essentials. But things are very much mixed, to say the least; and -the animal kingdom lives in close proximity to its superiors. In fact, -up here it seems to have no superiors. - -You sit in the open air eating a roast chicken, with a bit of salad; and -the brother and sister chickens, that will some day be sacrificed to the -appetite of another traveller, are running about unconscious of their -doom at your feet. A little colt walks up to you and insists upon -putting his nose in your plate,--insists, too, upon being petted,--and -hasn't the least delicacy or comprehension when you tell him you are -busy and wish he would go away. He stays calmly, and presently a goat or -two and a big dog join the group. Such imperturbable good-nature and -complacency, such naivete, I have never before known animals to possess. -They have been treated since their birth with so much consideration, -they never imagine that their society may not always be desired. In -fact, the animals and the people have innocent, friendly ways; and as it -never occurs to them you can be displeased with anything they may do, -the result is you never are. And as to the question of cleanliness, -perhaps the simplest way to settle it is to say that there is indeed -dirt enough here, but it is all, as the children say, "clean dirt," and -at all events, with glorious air and lovely mountain views, brightness -and goodness and kindness meeting you on every side from the peasants, -one must be very sickly either in body or mind, or in both, to be too -critical about trifles. - -One whole morning we spent in a Sennhuette,--a cowherd's hut,--high -above the village. (Did I not warn you that ungenteel things were -coming?) And it was one of the most interesting and amusing half-days we -have ever known. There were fifty cows there, as carefully tended as if -they were Arabian horses, and noble specimens of their kind of beauty. -The prettiest ones were cream-colored, with great soft eyes. They -expected to be talked to and petted like all the other animals in -Schattwald. There were different rooms, the mountain breezes blowing -straight through them all, where five or six workmen were making butter -and enormous cheeses. If we do not know how to make superior cheese and -butter, it is not the fault of our hosts in the Sennhuette, for they -left nothing unexplained. - -Dare I, or dare I not, tell what should now come in a faithful chronicle -of that morning? I dare. Towards twelve, the chief workman--a man who -had been devoting himself to our entertainment, even sending his little -son far out on the hills for Alpine flowers for us--prepared the simple -soup which serves as dinner for these hard-working men, who eat no meat -during the entire summer, and work nearly eighteen hours a day. We were -interested in that soup, as in everything that was made, done, or said -in that novel place. It was only cream, and salt, and butter, and flour, -but it was made by a dark-eyed man with his sleeves rolled up and a -white cap on his head, and it simmered in a kettle large enough to be a -witch's caldron. - -When quite cooked it was poured into a great wooden dish that was almost -flat, and each workman drew near with his spoon in his hand. We were -thinking what a pleasant scene this was going to be, and were about to -regard it from afar like something on the stage, when to our utter -amazement our friend the soup-maker, as simply, as naturally, with as -much courtesy and kindness as ever a gentleman at his own table offered -delicate viands to an honored guest, gave me a spoon and assigned me my -place at the table. - -Dear Mrs. Grundy, what would you have done? I know very well. You would -have drawn yourself up in a superior way, and you would have looked as -proper as the mother of the Gracchi, and you would have remarked,-- - -"Really, my dear Mr. Cowherd-cheese-maker, _I_ have been educated -according to the separate-plate theory." - -But then Mrs. Grundy would never have placed herself quite in our -position, for she would not have been demeaning herself by peering into -churns and kettles, tasting fresh butter, drinking cream from wooden -ladles, and asking questions about cows, and indeed it is improbable -that she would have allowed herself to even enter such a place; we will -therefore leave Mrs. Grundy completely out of the question,--which is -always a huge satisfaction,--and tell how we conducted ourselves under -these unforeseen circumstances. - -With outward calmness, with certain possible misgivings and inward -shrinkings, we smilingly took the seat assigned in the circle of -friendly young workmen, and dipped our spoon in the wooden soup-dish -with all the other spoons. That we ate, really _ate_, much, I cannot -say. Not only was suppressed amusement a hindrance to appetite, but the -five young men with their rolled-up sleeves, their _patois_, their five -spoons dipping together in unison and brotherly love, though interesting -as a picture, with the cows lazily lying in the background, and the -Tyrolean Alps seen through the open doors and windows, presented -nevertheless certain obstacles to a thorough enjoyment of the rustic -meal. To taste, according to our code, was obligatory; to eat was -impossible. We tried to spur on that languid spoon to do its duty; we -philosophized about human equality, but all in vain; and we ate not in a -proper, true spirit, but like a hypocrite, or an actress, so strong are -these silly prejudices that govern us. - -But the men were quite satisfied, since their soup was pronounced -excellent; and, having once accepted their hospitality, we had no -difficulty in excusing ourselves when a second soup--_cheese_ being its -principal ingredient--was offered us. Our one regret in the whole -experience was, that we could not summon the primest woman of our -acquaintance to suddenly stand in the doorway and gaze in, aghast, upon -this convivial scene. That, had it been possible, would have been a joy -forever in our remembrance. - -This Schattwald certainly has great fascinations to offer the wanderer -who seeks shelter here. Rough scrambles for Alpine flowers are followed -by a long afternoon of novel enjoyment, listening to a chorus of hunters -singing Tyrolean songs,--_real_ hunters, and we never saw their like -before except on the stage! The one who played the zither was adorned -with trophies of the chase,--a chamois beard on his dark-green hat, and, -on his coat, buttons made from stag-antlers. He was rather a -noble-looking man, with a straightforward, kindly expression in his -eyes, and he sang the mountain songs with great spirit. They all sang -with enjoyment, and there seemed to be an immense "swing" to the music. -The songs expressed joy and pride in the freedom of the mountain life, -and alluded in poetical language to their mountain maids. In several of -them the singers gave the "Jodel," which we also heard repeatedly -echoing among the mountains, and responded to from height to height. - -On the prettiest cottage in the place is this inscription in verse. I -give the literal translation:-- - - "I once came into a strange land; - On the wall was written, - 'Be pious, and also reserved: - Let everything alone that is not thine.'" - -The hunters sang with special delight one song which frequently asserted -that "_Auf der Alm_ there is no sin." This impressed us as a delightful -idea, though somewhat at variance with the theological doctrines in -vogue in a less rarefied atmosphere. We did not presume to doubt -anything they told us, however. We are rapidly becoming as credulous, as -simple, as bucolic, as they. But, reclining one evening at sunset on a -soft slope above the village, with the breath of the pines around us, -and listening, in a lotus-eating mood, to the "drowsy tinklings" of the -bells of the herds on the opposite heights, this problem occurred to us: -How long will it be, at our present rapid rate of assimilation with -things pastoral, and with the slight line of demarcation that exists in -Schattwald between man and bird and beast, before we also contentedly -eat grass, and go about with bells on our necks? - - - - -UP THE AIRY MOUNTAIN. - - -"Will you walk into my parlor?" said every innkeeper from Chur to St. -Moritz, and our minds were half absorbed in contemplation of the scenery -and half in resisting the allurements of these Swiss spiders, all of -whom declared with many grimaces and shrugs that we could not accomplish -the distance between the two places in one day. - -"Does not the regular post go through in one day?" we inquire. "Then why -not we by extra post?" - -"You are too late, madame." - -"We are not so heavy as the _diligence_. We can go faster." - -"Impossible, madame." - -"_Why_ impossible?" - -"Not precisely impossible; but it would be better, ah, yes, madame, far -better, to remain here,"--with the sweetest of smiles,--"and go on to -St. Moritz to-morrow." - -They knew this was nonsense. We knew it was nonsense. They knew that we -knew that it was nonsense. We had borne all that it was fitting we -should bear. - -"But _why_?" we sternly demand. - -"You will be more comfortable, madame." - -"We do not wish to be comfortable." - -"You will arrive at midnight." - -"We like to arrive at midnight." - -What then could the spiders do with flies who retorted in this -unheard-of-way, who resisted advice, would telegraph for horses, cheer -the postilions with absurdly frequent _Trink Geld_, and push steadily on -to St. Moritz high in the upper Engadine? - -The truly remarkable feature of the expedition was, that when we left -Chur in the morning it was only with a lazy consciousness that up among -the mountains somewhere was a St. Moritz, which we at some indefinite -time would reach. - -Innkeeper No. 1 made us think we would like to go through in one day. - -Innkeeper No. 2 strengthened the wish. - -No. 3, by his efforts at discouragement, gave us, in place of the wish, -a determination to go on. - -No. 4 created in us a frantic resolve to reach St. Moritz that night, or -perish in the attempt. - -No banner with a strange device did we bear, yet as the shades of night -were falling fast, and we stopped to change horses at a little inn in an -Alpine village, and queer-looking men with lanterns walked about the -wild place speaking in an unknown tongue (it was Romanisch, but then we -did not know), and the road was steep before us, we gloried in -resembling the immortal "youth" of the poem. We always have admired him -from the time we learned him by heart, and repeated him in our first -infant sing-song; but never before did we have the remotest idea _why_ -his brow was sad, why his eye flashed like a falchion from its sheath, -why he persisted in his eccentric career. Now it is clear as light -before us. He was goaded on, as we were, by the Swiss innkeepers. - -"O, stay!" said they. - -"Excelsior!" cried we. And on we went, feeling that a mighty fate was -impelling us, alluding grandly to "Sheridan's Ride," "How they brought -the Good News," and all similar subjects that we could remember where -people pushed on with high resolve, and being in the end grateful to the -petty souls who had roused our obstinacy, ignorant that even the Alps -are no obstacle to woman's will; for the latter part of the journey was -by perfect moonlight, and therefore do we bless the innkeepers. Our -obstinacy, do I say? Let the sneering world use that unpleasant term. We -will say heroism, for who shall always tell where the line between the -two is to be drawn? - -Never shall we forget that wonderful white night, the gleams and glooms -on the mountains, the silver radiance of the lakes, the vast glaciers -outstretched before us, the mighty peaks towering to the skies, the -impressive stillness broken only by the bells on our horses' necks, the -sound of their hoofs on the hard road, the rumbling of our carriage, and -the cracking of the whip. We, with our miserable jarring noises, were -the only discordant element, and we well knew we ought to be suppressed. -It seemed profane to intrude upon such grandeur, such majestic -stillness. - -In the full sunlight since, all is quite different; yet we close our -eyes, and that glorious white, still night comes vividly before us, and -always there will be to us a glamour about the Engadine on account of -it. - -The village of St. Moritz lies picturesquely on the hillside above a -pretty lake of the same name. The St. Moritz baths are a mile farther -on, where numerous hotels and _pensions_ stand on a grassy plateau -between high mountains, whose sharp contour is wonderfully defined in -this clear atmosphere against the peculiar deep-blue of the sky. - -In a very interesting article about the Upper Engadine in the -Fortnightly Review for March, the writer speaks with undisguised -contempt of "the Germanized Kurhaus," "the damp Kurhaus," "the huge and -hideous Kurhaus," even telling people to beware of it. Now, if it were -not a shockingly audacious thing to dare to have any opinion at all in -the presence of the Fortnightly Review, I would venture most humbly to -state that I am at present staying at that object of British scorn, the -Kurhaus, and like it. - -It is ugly. It is immensely long and awkward. If your room is in one end -and you have a friend in the other, you feel, walking through the -interminable corridors, that the introduction of horse-cars and -carriages would promote economy of time and strength. The Kurhaus -certainly has its unamiable qualities. It is tyrannical. It puts out its -lights at ten o'clock "sharp," leaving you in Egyptian darkness and not -saying so much as "by your leave." [I have observed that men, whom I -have believed to be faultlessly amiable, under these circumstances lose -their composure and utter improper ejaculations, as they find -themselves, in the midst of an interesting game of whist, unable to see -the color of a card.] But after all, unless you are in the village -proper, where we--again differing from the awful Fortnightly--would not -prefer to be, it seems to be the best abiding-place, because everything -centres in it. The people from the other hotels must all come here to -drink the mineral waters and take the baths, to dance twice a week if -they wish, to hear the music three times a day, to attend various -entertainments given by marvellous prestidigitateurs from Paris and -singers from Vienna; and though these things are very ignoble to talk -about when one is among the grand mountains, yet there come nights and -days when it rains in torrents, and when the most enthusiastic -mountain-climber must condescend to be amused or bored under a -sheltering roof. Then, the Kurhaus, being the largest hotel, the place -where things of interest most do congregate, seems to us the most -desirable abode. The Victoria, which the English frequent, has fresher -paint and newer carpets and finer rooms. But we are true to the Kurhaus, -notwithstanding. We are grateful to it for a few charming weeks, and in -some way we don't like to see Albion's proud foot crushing it. - -It is "Germanized." That is enough, to be sure, in the opinion of many -English and Americans, to condemn it; they often like a hotel -exclusively for themselves, and dislike the foreign element even in a -foreign land. But to many of us it is infinitely more amusing to live in -exactly such a place, where we meet Italians and Spaniards, French, -Germans, Swiss, Dutch, Russians, people from South America and islands -in the far seas,--in fact, from every land and nation,--than to -establish a little English or American corner somewhere, wrap ourselves -in our national prejudices, and neither for love nor money abandon one -or the other. - -To the Paracelsus Spring at the Kurhaus come all the people every -morning to drink the mineral water, and walk up and down while the band -plays in the pavilion, but very few have an invalid air. Some drink -because the water is prescribed by their physicians; some, because it is -the fashion; some, because it is not unpleasant, and drinking gives them -an opportunity to inspect the other drinkers. The mighty names written -over the glasses fill us with amazement. You may be plain Miss Smith -from Jonesville, U. S. A., and beside your humble name is written that -of the Countess Alfieri di Sostegno, and the name of a marquis, and even -that of a princess; but when they all come to the spring and glance at -you over their glasses, just as you glance at them over yours, and you -see them face to face, you don't much care if you are only Miss Smith. -It is astonishing what an ordinary appearance people often have whose -great-great-grandfathers were doges of Venice. - -It seems positive stupidity here not to speak at least five languages -fluently. To hear small children talking with ease in a variety of -tongues is something that, after the first astonishment, can be borne; -but it never ceases to be exasperating and humiliating when common -servants pass without the least difficulty from one language to another -and another. Yet we Americans should perhaps have patience with -ourselves in this respect, and remember that the ability to speak half a -dozen languages well, which at first seems like pure genius, is often -more a matter of opportunity or necessity than actual talent, though it -certainly is a great convenience, and gives its possessor a superior -air. "It's nonsense to learn languages, or to try to speak anything but -good, honest English," says a young gentleman here,--an American -recently graduated from one of the colleges. "You can make your way -round with it, and everything that's worth two straws is translated." So -he brandishes his mother-tongue proudly in people's faces, and is always -immensely disgusted and incensed at their stupidity when he is not -understood. - -An Englishwoman the other day bought a picture of Alpine flowers, and -tried to make a man understand that she also wished a stick upon which -the cardboard could be rolled and safely carried in her trunk. He knew -no English; she, no German. First she spoke very loud, with emphatic -distinctness, as if he were deaf. Whereupon he made a remark in German, -which, though an excellent remark, in itself a highly reasonable -statement, had not the least relation to her request. She then spoke -slowly, gently, in an endearing manner, as if coaxing a child, or -endeavoring to influence a person whose understanding was feeble and who -must not be frightened. He responded in German,--again sensible, but -widely inappropriate. So they went on, each continuing his own line of -thought, as much at cross-purposes as if they were insane, until a -bystander, taking pity on them, came to the rescue. The lady was, -however, not indignant that her "good, honest English" was not -understood; she was simply despairing. It is singular that it never -occurs to some minds that other languages, and even the people who speak -them, may also be good and honest. - -Here in the Engadine the dialect is Romanisch, but the people also speak -German, French, Italian, and often tolerable English. The houses are -solidly built, with very thick walls, curious iron knockers, deep-sunken -windows, with massive iron gratings over them. The object of the -gratings is doubtful. Some say they are to guard against robbers; some -say they are an invention of jealous husbands; some, that they are so -constructed in order to allow a maiden and her lover to converse without -danger of an elopement. Arched, wide doors on the ground-floor, directly -in the front of the house, are large enough to admit carts and horses -into the basements, which serve as carriage-houses and stables. - -Is it really summer? Is it possible that in our beloved America people -are suffering from heat, that Philadelphia is suffocating? Here ladies -wear furs and velvet mornings and nights, and men wrap themselves in -ulsters and shawls. The air is the most bracing,--the coolest, dryest, -purest imaginable. It is considered admirable for nervous disorders, and -this one can readily believe. But though it is the fashion to order -consumptives here, many eminent physicians say more invalids with lung -complaints are sent to the Engadine than should properly come. It -certainly seems as if this immensely bracing air would speedily kill if -it did not cure. "Nine months winter and three months cold" is the -popular saying here about the climate. Delicate persons are often so -enervated at first by the peculiar atmosphere that they cannot eat or -sleep or rest in any way.--Indeed, with certain constitutions this air -never agrees.--This condition, however, usually passes off in a few -days; they feel able to move mountains, and accomplish wonders in the -way of climbing; while people who are well in ordinary climates come -here and forget that they are mortal. There is something in the air that -gives one giant strength and endurance,--something inexpressibly -delightful, buoyant, and inspiring,--something that clears away all -cobwebs from the brain. - - - - -THE ENGADINE. - - -They say that Auerbach has thought and written much in the beautiful -Engadine,--that many of his mountain descriptions are from this grand -country. Somewhere here a seat is shown where he sits and plans and -dreams. Whether it is due to "ozone," or whatever it may be, the heart -and lungs do unusual work here, and the brain too. It would seem that -here, if anywhere, would come inspiration. And yet, when we remember -that Schiller wrote his "Wilhelm Tell" without ever seeing Switzerland, -it teaches us that wide, free genius can soar in a narrow room, and only -petty, mediocre talent is really dependent upon its surroundings. - -They who view the Alps with a critic's eye say that the contours in the -Engadine are too sharply defined, the rocks too bold and rugged, the -snow too glaring white, the air too clear, the whole effect too hard and -unmanageable,--all lacking the slight haze that is necessary to a -perfect mountain view. This makes me feel very ignorant and small, for I -have not yet learned to speak with condescending approval of one -landscape, and with dignified, discriminating censure of another. And -yet I don't believe these lofty critics could have made a grander, -nobler Engadine if they had had the fashioning of it; and if Nature is -lovely in her soft, smiling scenes, in her hazes and mists and tender -lights, so is she also magnificent in her strength and rugged grandeur, -sublime in her stillness, her frozen heights, as in the Engadine. Most -unutterably impressive is she here. - -And who shall say that here she does not also show us loveliness? The -Maloja Pass, for instance, that leads, in its remarkable steep, zigzag -down, down through fragrant woods, where vines and moss droop over the -rocks, till it reaches a milder temperature, and the warm breath of -Italy seems to touch your cheek. You stand high on the cliff and look -down into the valley, following every curious winding of the road till -it meets the plain, and goes off towards Chiavenna far away. When we saw -the Maloja, a group of men who looked like bandits were gathered round a -fire and a kettle where _polenta_ was cooking. The people here live on -_polenta_. It isn't at all bad. We know, because we've tasted it. We -taste everything. There is a pretty lake and a pretty waterfall here, -concealed, and well worth finding; but the particular "sight," the -especial thing you must do, is to stand on the cliff opposite the inn, -and watch the _diligence_ as it descends a thousand feet in twenty -minutes. - -Behind the Kurhaus is a hill with shady seats among the trees, where you -can sit by one of those impatient, impetuous little mountain brooks that -come rushing down from the glaciers, and that act so young and excited -about everything; and while it talks to you and tells you its wild -stories and eager hopes, you say to it, "Wait till you've seen a little -more of the world, my dear, and you'll take things more quietly." And -the water tumbles and foams over the rocks, and sings strange things in -your ears, and you look off upon three peaks with their heads close -together like Michael Angelo's "Three Fates." You learn to love them -very much, and to watch their different expressions. One is greener, -softer, milder than the others. One is sharp, cruel, inflexible rock. On -one, great snow-masses forever lie in stillness, solemnity, and peace. - -A little winding path by the water's edge leads to Crestalta. Here -surely it is not grand, but lovely, every inch of the way. The Inn, -which seems like an old friend now, so often has it met us in the Tyrol -days, we visit here at its birthplace, and hear its baby name, the -_Sela_, for it is not the Inn till it leaves the Lake of St. Moritz. A -coquettish, wayward, merry stream it is in its youth,--bubbling and -laughing in little falls,--stopping to rest in clear enchanted lakes, -whose depths reflect the skies and clouds and soft green banks and -Alpine cedars, then rushing on, frolicking and singing boldly as it -goes. - -These are small things to do. They are for the first day, before one is -accustomed to the air here. They are for invalids who must not work for -their enjoyment. But for the strong, for the blessed ones with clear -heads and tireless feet, what is there _not_ to see that is grand and -inspiring! - -O, these mountains, these magical, giant mountains! How their silence, -their vastness, their terrible beauty, speak to our restless hearts! I -can well believe that mountain races are, as it is said, deeply -superstitious, for there are times when the effect of the mighty, stern -heights is simply crushing. Old heathenish fancies, without comfort, -without hope, come to us in spite of ourselves. What are we, our poor -little life-stories, our hopes, and our heart-breakings, our wild -storms, and short, sweet, sunny days, before these cold, eternal hills? -Above their purple sublimity are cruel pagan gods, who do not hear -though we cry to them in agony. Our feet bleed. Our hearts are faint. -The chasms swallow us. Rocks crush us. Nature is a cruel, mighty tyrant, -and our enemy. - -But not only thus do the mountains speak. So many voices have they! So -many songs and poems and mysteries and tragedies and glories do they -tell you! So many strong, sweet chords do they strike in your soul! Did -they crush you yesterday? Ah, how they lift you up to-day, and heal the -wounds they themselves have made, and comfort you with a sweet and noble -comfort! They tell you how little you are, but they give you a great -patience with your own littleness. They bid you look up, as they do, to -the heavens above; to stand firm, as they stand firm; to take to -yourself the beauty and the grace of passing sunshine, of bird and -flower and tree, and song of brook; to take it and rejoice and be glad -in it, though the gray, sad cliffs are not concealed, and the sorrowful -wind moans in the pines. They whisper unutterable things to you of this -mystery we call life,--things which you never, never felt before. They -fill you with infinite patience and tenderness, and send you forth to -meet your fate with the heart of a hero. Ah, what a pity it is that we -must ever leave the mountains; and what a pity it is that, if we should -remain, the mountains might leave us,--might speak less to us, sustain -and elevate us less! And yet it does not seem as if a heart that had a -spark of reverence in it could ever grow too familiar with such majesty. - -From St. Moritz it is not easy to say what excursion or mountain tramp -is the most enjoyable, but, if I were positively obliged to give my -opinion, I think it would be in favor of the Bernina Pass and Palue -Glacier. You go first to Pontresina,--a place, by the way, especially -liked and frequented by the English. With the mountains crowding round -it, and its glimpse of the Roseg Glacier, it is certainly very -beautiful. Samaden, Pontresina, and St. Moritz have rival claims and -rival champions. St. Moritz is, however, to us indisputably superior. -Not that we love Pontresina less, but that we love St. Moritz more. - -On this road the superb Morteratsch Glacier greets you, imbedded between -Piz Chalchang and Mont Pers, and you see the whole Bernina group. The -Morteratsch Glacier has beautiful blue ice-caves, real ones, not -artificial as in Interlaken. - -From Pontresina you go higher and higher to the Bernina hospice, two -thousand feet above St. Moritz. Here, side by side, are two small lakes, -the Lago Nero and the Lago Bianco. The "white" lake, coming from the -glaciers, is the lightest possible grayish-green, and the dark one is -spring water, and looks purplish-blue beside it. It is strange to think -how far apart the waters of the sister lakes flow,--the Lago Nero into -the Inn, so to the Danube and Black Sea, while the Lago Bianco, through -the Adda, finds its way to the Adriatic. - -To the hospice you can ride, but after that you must walk over rough -rocks and snow, and past pools where feathery white flowers stand up -straight on tall, slight, stiff stalks, like proud, shy girls, and at -last you are at the Alp Gruem, where wonderful things lie before your -eyes. The magnificent Palue Glacier is separated from you only by a -narrow valley. You stand before it as the sun pours down on its vast -whiteness, and on the mountain range in which it lies. Far below in the -ravine the road goes winding away to Italy, past the villages of -Poschiavo and Le Prese: above, the eternal snows; below, the soft, -blooming valley, lovely as a smile of Spring, and in the distance even a -hint of sunny Italy, for you gaze afar off upon its mountains wistfully, -and feel like Moses looking into the Promised Land. - -Everywhere are the brave little Alpine flowers. They are very dear, and -one learns to feel a peculiar tenderness towards them, as well as to be -astonished at their variety and abundance. There are many tiny ones -whose names I do not know, but their little star-faces smile at you from -amazingly rough, high places. - -About the Edelweiss much fiction has been written. It is true that it -often grows in rather inaccessible spots, but it is not at all necessary -to peril one's life in order to pluck it; and we must regretfully -abandon the pretty, old legend that the bold mountaineer, when he brings -the flower to his sweetheart, gives her also the proof of his valor and -devotion, and his willingness to risk all for her dear sake. It is -interesting and exciting to find these flowers,--they do grow at a noble -height,--and here in the Engadine, at this season, and in this vicinity, -they are rare. But, sweethearts, of all ages, sexes, and conditions, who -will shortly receive from me Edelweiss in letters, do not be -disappointed to hear that, though my hands were full to overflowing, I -plucked them in gay security, with my feet on firm ground; and there was -only one single place where it wasn't pleasant to look down, or, to be -more impressive, where a yawning abyss threatened to ingulf me. - -The Edelweiss is certainly very good to find and send home in a letter, -it is so suggestive of dangerous cliffs, horrible ravines, and immense -daring, as well as telling very sweetly its little story of blooming in -lonely beauty on the high Alps; but that any especial valor is required -to obtain it, is, if the truth be told, a mere fable. - -And the last grain of romance vanishes when we hear that shrewd guides -bring the flowers down from their own heights, and set them in the path -of enthusiastic but not high-climbing ladies, who in their delight are -wildly lavish of fees. The Devil can quote Scripture for his purpose, -and the pure, precious little flower can be used as a trap by mercenary -man. - - - - -RAGATZ. - - -Over the Albula Pass we came from St. Moritz to Chur, and when we went, -it was by the Julia. How grand we feel going over these great -mountain-passes, where Roman and German emperors, with all their vast -armies, their high hopes and ambitions, have trod, it is quite -impossible to express. The emperors are dead and gone, and we, an -insignificant but merry little party, ride demurely over the selfsame -route. Blessed thought that the mountains are meant for us as much as -they were for the emperors; that the beauty and grandeur and loveliness -of nature, everywhere, is our own to enjoy; that it has been waiting -through the ages, even for us, to this day! It is our own. No king or -conqueror has a larger claim. - -This was one of the tranquil, joyous days that have so much in them,--a -day of clear thoughts, unwearying feet, unspeakable appreciation of -nature, and good-will towards humanity. There was a long, bright flood -of sunshine, with beautiful flakes of clouds floating before a fresh -mountain wind. The great mountains looked solemnly at us, and the happy -laugh of a little child-friend echoed through the sombre ravines. - -We passed queer old villages; small dun cattle with antelope eyes and -fragrant breath; wise-looking goats; pastures that stretched out their -vivid green carpets on the mountain-side; and, above all, the great -snow-slopes. - -We got some supper in a very grave little village. The woman who waited -upon us looked as if she had never smiled. This made us want somebody to -be funny. The other travellers were matter-of-fact Englishmen, some -heavy Jews, and particularly _eagle_-looking Americans. The little woman -gave us good coffee, sweet black-bread and sweeter butter, and eggs so -rich and fresh we felt that they would instantly transform our famishing -selves into Samsons. These eggs had chocolate-colored shells. The -Englishmen, the Eagles, and the Jews ate solemnly, as if they had eaten -brown eggs from their cradles. But we, with that curiosity which, -whatever it may be to others, is in our opinion our most invaluable -travelling companion,--of more profit and importance than all the -guide-books and maps, often more really helpful than friends who have -made what they call "the tour of Europe" three times,--inquired:-- - -"_Why_, do Swiss hens lay brown eggs?" - -To this innocent inquiry the little woman with sombre mien replied that -she had boiled the eggs in our coffee. "Water was scarce, and she always -did it." - -Not discouraged, we remarked we would like to buy the hen that could lay -such rich, delicate eggs, and take her away in our travelling-bag. The -fire and the coffee-pot we might be able to establish elsewhere, but -that hen was a _rara avis_. This small pleasantry caused a little cold -ghost of a smile to flit over her lips, but it was gone in an instant, -and she was counting francs in her coffee-colored palm. - -A night in Chur, then the next morning a short ride by rail, and we are -in Ragatz. Do you know what Ragatz is? It is, in the first place, to us -at least, a surprise; its name is so harsh and ugly, and the place is so -soft, pretty, and alluring. And coming from that wonderful, electrifying -St. Moritz air directly here, is like dropping from the North Pole to -the heart of the tropics. It is said the change should not be made too -suddenly, that one should stay a day or two on the route, which seems -reasonable. Happily our strength is not impaired by the new atmosphere, -but we feel very much amazed. We cannot at once recover ourselves. -There, it was, as somebody says, "always early morning." Here, it is -"always afternoon." There, we had broad outlooks, stern, rough lines, -and vast snow-fields. Here, we are in a lovely garden, luxuriant with -flowers. Grapes hang, rich and heavy, on the trellises. Shade-trees -droop over enticing walks and rustic seats. Oleanders and -pomegranate-trees, with their flame-colored tropical blossoms, stand in -long rows by the lawns. Children paddle about in tiny boats on little -lakes. Rustic bridges cross the stream here and there. A young English -girl, with golden hair so long and luxuriant that it rather unpleasantly -suggests Magdalen as it falls in great waves to the ground, sits -sketching, and wears a thin blue jaconet gown,--wonderful sight is that -blue jaconet! Only yesterday we left the region of sealskin sacques, -breakfast-shawls, and shivers. - -The hotel is most charmingly situated. Did I ever recommend a hotel in -my life? It is a rash thing to do, but I feel impelled to advise people -to come here to the Quellenhof. _We_ live, not in the hotel proper, but -in one of the "dependencies," the Hermitage, a kind of chalet. It is -delightful to live in a Hermitage, let me tell you. Fuchsias and asters -and scarlet geraniums make a glory about our door. Our windows and -balconies look on the lake just below. Great trees bend over us, and -green mountain slopes come down to meet us on the other side. Our -Hermitage is a quiet, restful nest. The people occupying the different -rooms go softly in and out. We never meet them. Marie, with her white -cap and white apron, opens the door for us as we stand under the -fuchsia-covered porch. We hear no hurrying steps, no waiters and bells, -or any hotel noises. Every moment we like our Hermitage better, and we -really think we own it. It is all very sweet and soft and lotus-eating -here, with balmy odors, and drowsy hum of bees, and mellow, golden -lights on the mountains. We feel as if a magician had touched us with -his wand, and whirled us off into another planet. No one can say that we -as a party have not a goodly share of the wisdom that takes things as -they come,--but Ragatz after St. Moritz! - -That which drew us here is what draws everybody to Ragatz,--that is, -everybody who is not sent by a physician to drink the water and take the -baths,--the celebrated Pfaffer's Gorge. It is well worth a long journey -and much fatigue and trouble. From Ragatz you walk through the little -village, then along a narrow road between immense limestone cliffs, -where the Tamina, that most audacious of mountain streams, hurls itself -angrily by you. The cliffs are in some places eight hundred feet high, -and the Gorge is often extremely narrow. You pass beneath the vast -overhanging rocks, the two sides leaning so far towards each other that -they almost meet in a natural bridge. It is cold, damp, and in gloom -where you are. You look up and see the trees and sunlight far, far above -you,--the rocks, at times, shut out the sky,--and the Tamina acts like a -mad thing that has broken loose, as it sweeps through the sombre Gorge. - -After the walk,--I had no ideas of time or distance in regard to it; -everything else was so impressive these trifles were banished from my -mind,--we reached the hot springs, did what other people did, and were -greatly astonished. - -A man had insisted upon putting shawls upon all the ladies of the party. -Another man now insists upon removing them. There is a cavern before you -which looks very black and Mephistophelian. Everybody slowly walks -in,--you too. It is dark where your feet tread. There are one or two men -with uncertain, wavering lights that seem designed to deceive the very -elect. You begin to dread snares and pitfalls. The atmosphere grows -hotter, more oppressive, and more suggestive every instant. You are -certain that you smell brimstone, and expect to see cloven hoofs. You go -but two or three steps, and remain but a few seconds, the temperature of -the cavern is so high, but you feel as if you were in the bowels of the -earth. A man with a light passes you a glass, and you fancy you are -going to drink molten lead or lava, or something appropriate to the -scene, and are rather disappointed to find it tastes uncommonly like hot -water, pure and simple. - -Then you turn and go into the light of day, and everybody has a boiled -look, every face is covered with moisture; and the outer air sends such -a chill to your very soul, you bless the man whom a few moments before -you had scorned when he hung the ugly brown shawl on your shoulders. You -seize it with thankfulness, and back again you go between the massive -rocky walls with the Tamina shouting boisterously in your ears. - -There is a bath-house near the Gorge for people who wish to take the -waters near their source. The sunlight touches it in the height of -summer only between ten and four. People go there and stay, why, I -cannot imagine, unless they have lost, or wish to lose, their senses. -The guide-books speak respectfully of its accommodations, but it is the -dreariest house I ever saw, with a monastic, or rather, prison look, -that is appalling; and the girl who brings you bread-and-butter and wine -looks at you with a reproving gloom in her eyes, as if all days _must_ -be "dark and dreary." We felt quite frivolous and out of place, lost our -appetite, grew somewhat frightened, and ran away as soon as possible. - -The baths at the Quellenhof are pleasant, and the water, though conveyed -through a conduit two miles and a half long, loses very little of its -heat. It is perfectly clear, free from taste or smell, and resembles, -they say, the waters of Wildbad and Gastein. An eminent German physician -told us something the other day in regard to the efficacy of these -crowded baths here, there, and elsewhere in this part of the -world,--something that was both funny and unpleasant to believe. -Although it is not my theory but his plainly expressed opinion, I shall -only venture to whisper it for fear of offending somebody. He says it is -not by the peculiar efficacy of any particular kind of water that the -bathers in general are benefited, but by the simple virtue of pure water -freely used; that many people at home do not bathe habitually; and when -a daily bath for five or six weeks, in a place where they live simply -and breathe pure air, has invigorated them, they gratefully ascribe -their improvement to sulphur or iron or carbonic acid or some other -agent, which is really quite innocent of special interposition in their -case. - -Beside the baths and the Gorge and its ways of pleasantness in general, -Ragatz has many pretty walks along the hills between houses and gardens, -and up steep, zigzag forest-paths to the ruins of Freudenberg and -Wartenstein. A broad, sunny landscape lies before you,--the valley of -the Rhine, Falknis in the background, green pastures and still waters. -Blessed are the eyes that see what we see. - - - - -A FLYING TRIP TO THE RHINE FALLS. - - -There was the rock upon which the Lorelei used to sit and comb her -golden hair, and sing her wondrous melodies, and lure men to -destruction? Near St. Graz, there have been and are, I suppose, Loreleis -enough in the world besides the famous maiden of the poem. We found an -admirable place for one, yesterday, on the top of the great rock that -stands quivering in the Falls of the Rhine. We had sent our heavy -luggage on to Zurich, with that wisdom which often characterizes us, -and, free as air except for hand-bags, went to see the Rhine Falls. - -And first we saw Schaffhausen, which has a pretty, picturesque, -mediaeval air, as it lies among the hills and vineyards on the banks of -the Rhine. It has its old cathedral, with the celebrated bell cast in -1486, which bears the inscription that suggested to Schiller--as -everybody knows--his "Song of the Bell,"--"Vivas voco, mortuos plango, -fulgura frango"; but besides this there is not much to see except the -tranquil landscape, and that, fortunately, one does not lose by going -farther. - -Most people are, I presume, disappointed in the Falls of the Rhine. At -least, I know that many of my own countrymen pronounce them not worth -seeing "after Niagara." But--dare I make this mortifying -confession?--what if it is not, "after Niagara"? What if Niagara is -still to you in the indefinite distance? It ought not to be, of course. -(We all know very well "nobody should go to Europe who has not seen -Niagara.") But what if it _is_? Under such circumstances may not one -find beauty here? - -And even with the remembrance of Niagara clear in your mind, I do not -know why the Rhine Falls, so utterly different in character, may not -still be lovely. - -Their height is estimated, including the rapids and whirlpools and all, -at about one hundred feet, which must be very generous measurement, and -they are three hundred and eighty feet broad. It may have been in part -owing to the exquisite atmosphere of the day we visited them, it may be -we expected too little on account of the tales our friends had told us, -but certainly we found them very lovely, and Nature seems to have given -their surroundings a peculiar grace. The shores are so extremely -pretty,--the high, bold cliff on one side, the soft green slopes on the -other; the row of tall, stiff poplars, that look as prim as the typical -New England housekeeper, and give the landscape that curiously neat -appearance, as if everything were swept and dusted. Then the rocks, -clothed with vines and moss and shrubs and little trees, rise with so -fine an effect in the midst of the white foaming waters. - -We saw the falls from every point,--from above on the cliff; [what a -pity there isn't a fine old, tumble-down, "ivy-mantled tower" there, -instead of the painted, restaurant-looking Schloss Laufen!] from the -little pavilion and platform at the side, where the foam dashes all over -you, and you are deafened by the roar; from the top of the central rock -in the falls; and from the Neuhausen side. - -To go from shore to shore, just below the falls, is really quite an -adventure. Your funny flat-boat careens about in the most eccentric and -inconsequent manner; the spray envelops you; it all looks very -dangerous, and is not in the least. Still more eventful is a voyage to -the central rock, after which our boatman fastens his skiff--which is a -broad-bottomed scow, to be exact, but skiff sounds more -poetical--securely. You alight on the wet stones, ascend the rough steps -cut in the rock, and feel that you are doing a novel and interesting -thing. On the top, amid the shrubs and vines, where the Lorelei ought to -be, is only an upright iron rod. From here we thought the falls were -seen to the best advantage, and it was a delightful experience to be so -near and yet so far,--to stand so securely amid the foaming, seething -mass, to be actually in the deafening roar. Mother Nature was in a -complacent mood when she placed those rocks in the midst of the mighty -waters. But no,--she placed the rocks there long ago, and merely brought -Father Rhine towards them in later days. So say the wise. - -There were myriads of rainbows in the spray. On one side was brilliant -sunshine flashing on soft fields and vine-covered hills; on the other, -as a most effective background, against which the whiteness of the foam -shone out, low black thunderclouds. It was a singular picture, with its -strongly contrasting hues. We could not help being glad that we had -never seen Niagara, we found so much here to delight in. - -But, friends, a word of advice that comes from depths of sad experience. -See Niagara before you come here. At least, read up Niagara. Be -perfectly able to answer all questions as to Niagara's height, breadth, -and volume, and the character of the emotions created in an appreciative -soul by seeing Niagara. If you cannot, you will suffer. Somebody will -ask you a Niagara question suddenly at a dinner-party, and you will -either reply with shame that you do not know, or with the courage of -despair you will make an utterly wild guess, and say something that -cannot possibly be true. There are a great many people in -Germany--extremely intelligent, and to whom it is a delight to -listen--who are wonders of information and appreciation when they talk -about German literature and German art; are also on easy terms with the -ancient Greeks, and possibly with Sanscrit; but when they approach -America it is as if that beloved land were an undiscovered country,--an -"unsuspected isle in far-off seas." The one thing they positively know -is that it has a Niagara. Therefore arm yourselves with formidable -statistics, and pass unscathed and victorious through the inevitable -volley of questions. Personally, I feel that I owe Niagara a never-dying -grudge; for, since the harrowing examinations of school committees in my -youthful days, never have I been subjected to catechisms so pertinacious -and embarrassing as this pride of our land has caused me. I have -succeeded at last in fixing the main figures in my memory, but am always -more or less nervous when the examination threatens to embrace the -adjacent country. If it advances like heavy battalions, I can calmly -meet it. But when it comes like light cavalry, is brilliant and inclined -to skirmish, I tremble. - -It is also well--may I add, for the benefit of young women contemplating -a sojourn in Europe?--to know the population of your native town, its -area, its distance from the coast, the length of the river upon which it -is situated,--above all, its latitude and longitude. This last is of -incalculable importance. It is safe to assume that the elderly German -who doesn't instantly embark upon Niagara will eagerly plunge into -latitude and longitude. Perhaps you think you know all these things; -others equally confident have been rudely torn from their false -security. Of course it is what we all learned in the primary schools, -and we are expected to know it still; but it is astonishing what clouds -of uncertainty envelop the understanding when you are suddenly asked in -a foreign tongue, before eight or ten strangers, for the very simplest -facts. Men are so stupid about such things, you know! They never ask -where the May-flowers grow, where the prettiest walks are, where you -like to drive at sunset, from what point the light and shade on the -hills over the river is loveliest,--in fact, anything of real -importance; but always they demand these dreary statistics. Was there -never a great man who hated arithmetic? - -At the Falls of the Rhine people, I regret to say, make money too -palpably. You buy a ticket of a young woman in a pavilion, and she says -it will take you over the foaming billows and back again. A man rows you -across,--or, rather, propels the boat in a remarkable manner to the -opposite shore,--when another man demands some more francs for allowing -you to stand on his platform, get very wet and very enthusiastic. You -ascend to Schloss Laufen, and pay a franc for looking at the Falls from -that point of view. Eager to see them from every possible place, you -come down and tell your ferryman to take you to the great rock, that -looks so tempting, so hazardous, so altogether enticing, with the foam -dashing against it. The boat, as it makes this passage, is the most -agitated object imaginable. You survey the Falls from the rock, and at -last are content. You gather a few leaves and some of the common flowers -that grow upon it, and you almost, from force of habit, give it also a -franc. Then the boat, with convulsive lurches and dippings and bobbings, -plunges through the rough waters, and finally you reach your original -point of embarkation. The ferryman, an innocent-looking blond,--your -innocent-looking blonds are invariably the worst kind of people to deal -with,--smilingly demands a fabulous number of francs, not alone because -he has taken you to the rock, which you knew was an extra, but for the -whole trip, for which you have already paid. You are afraid of losing -your train. Your friends are high on the bank, wildly beckoning, and -waving frantic handkerchiefs from afar. There is no time for -expostulation, and already fresh victims are filling the boat. You -mutter,-- - - "Take, O boatman, thrice thy fee," - -which would be a greater comfort if he understood English as well as he -does extortion, and then you climb the steep bank and hurry after the -retreating figures. You depart impressed with the magnitude of the Falls -of the Rhine, and quite conscious of a not insignificant fall of francs -in your purse. - - - - -DOWN FROM THE HIGH ALPS. - - -It is not wise to visit what are called the High Alps first and then -make the tour of the Swiss cities. This order should be reversed. From -loveliness we should ascend to grandeur, and not come down from Engadine -heights, and space and air, to cities, pretty lakes, purplish hills, and -white peaks in the background. If we were to see Switzerland again for -the first time--isn't this a tolerably good Irishism?--and knew as much -about it as we do now,--which doesn't by any means imply that we -couldn't easily know more,--we would certainly not do as we have done, -especially if, as at present, we were expected to chronicle our -emotions. The fact is, when you come down from the heights there is a -palpable ebb in your impressions. How can it be otherwise? You glide in -well-oiled grooves over the regular routes of travel. You see what you -have seen in pictures and read of in books all your life. It is -perfectly familiar, and how can you have the audacity to be very diffuse -about it? Experiences in well-conducted hotels are not so suggestive as -in the rougher mountain life. It is all very comfortable, very lovely. -Strange--is it not?--that there come moments when one tires of the -comfort and is impatient with the loveliness, and longs for something -different,--for grand heights, even if the rocks towering to the skies -are fierce and cruel looking; for the depth of the gloomy ravines; for -the loneliness and cold of the gray, barren peaks; for the sense of -space, immensity, even when harshness goes with it! - -We have, then, left the High Alps. We are now in the region of fine -hotels, brilliantly lighted rooms, flirtations on the piazza, and long -trains. We go where all the world goes, see what all the world sees, -fare sumptuously every day, and, whether we are arrayed in purple and -fine linen or not, at least we see other people so clothed upon. - -Zurich, the busy, flourishing, learned Swiss town on its pretty lake, we -have just left, with its two rivers running up through the heart of it; -with its bridges and its pleasure-boats; the villages and orchards and -vineyards on the fertile banks of the lake as far as the eye can reach; -the lovely views of the Alps,--the perpendicular Reisettstock; the -Drusberg, "like a winding staircase"; the Kammlisstock; great horns in -the Rorstock chain; the pyramidal Bristenstock, which is on the St. -Gothard route; and many, many others, if the day be clear. Beautiful -views of land and lake you can get from different points here. It -certainly could have been nothing less than lack of amiability or lack -of taste that made us dissatisfied. Had we seen it first, we might have -been beside ourselves with delight. "Yes, it is very beautiful," we say, -quite calmly, and it is; but-- - -Zurich was in short, to us, agreeable, but not fascinating. We liked it, -but left it without a regret. Our emotions were not largely called into -play by anything. Perhaps our liveliest sensation was occasioned by the -discovery that at that excellent hotel, the Baur au Lac, we were -formally requested to fee no one, a reasonable amount for service being -charged daily in the bill. This was a relief indeed. Often one would -gladly pay double the sum he gives in fees merely to escape the hungry -eyes and ever-ready palms. Another sensation was seeing Count Arnim. He -is quite gray, and looks delicate. - -The people in the hotels are often a source of amusement to us. We -consider them fair game, when they are very comical, because--who -knows?--perhaps we also are amusing to them. Some faces, however, look -too bored and miserable to be amused by anything. It is very inelegant -never to be bored,--to like so many different people, ways, thoughts, -things. We often feel mortified that we are so much amused, but the -fault is ineradicable. - -There is an Englishwoman of rank, whom we have met recently in our -wanderings,--exactly where I dare not tell. She comes every day to -_table d'hote_ with a new bonnet, and each bonnet is more marvellously -self-assertive than its predecessor. She bears a well-known name. She is -my Lady E----ton; but if she were only Mrs. Stubbs from Vermont, I -should say she had more bonnets, more impudence, and more vulgar -curiosity than any woman I had ever seen. She seized the small boy of -our party in her clutches at dinner, where an unlucky chance placed him -by her side, and questioned him minutely and mercilessly during the six -courses. Who was his father? Who was his mother? Had he a sister? Had he -a brother? What did his father _do_? Where did he live, and how? Where -did we come from? Where were we going? How long were we going to stay? -And what were all our names? Was the young lady engaged to be married to -the young man? How old was the child's mamma? How old were we all? And -so on _ad infinitum_. The boy, though old enough to feel indignant, was -not old enough to know how to escape, and so helplessly, with painful -accuracy, answered her questions; but on the very delicate point of age -we were providentially protected by a childish, honest "I don't know." -Some of us who are more worldly-wise and wicked than the little victim -heartily regretted fate had not given us instead of him to our lady of -the bonnets. It would have been so delicious to make her ribbons flutter -with amazement at the astonishing tales told by us in reply! Certainly, -under such circumstances, it is legitimate to call in a little -imagination to one's aid. - -Our cousins, the English, whom we meet on the Continent, are very much -like the little girl of the nursery-rhyme,--when they are good they are -"awfully good," and when they are bad they are "horrid." (No one is more -truly kind, refined, and charming than an agreeable Englishman or -Englishwoman; no one more utterly absurd than a disagreeable one.) -Possibly this impresses us the more strongly on account of the -cousinship. Aren't our own unpleasant relatives invariably a thousand -times more odious to us than other people's? - -I saw a pantomime the other day which, though brief, was full of -meaning. A German lady and gentleman, quiet-looking, well-bred people, -were walking through a long hotel corridor. The gentleman stepped -forward in order to open the door of the _salon_ for the lady. From -another door emerges an Englishman with an unattractive face and dull, -pompous manner. He is also _en route_ for the _salon_, and, not noticing -the lady, steps between the two. The German throws open the door and -waits. The burly Englishman, solemn but gratified, accepting the -supposed courtesy as a perfectly fitting tribute from that inferior -being, a foreigner, to himself and the great English nation, pauses and -makes in acknowledgment a profound bow, which, being utterly superfluous -and unexpected, strikes the lady coming along rapidly to pass through -the doorway, and, naturally imagining the second gentleman, too, was -waiting for her, literally and with force _strikes_ her and nearly -annihilates her. The Englishman turns in utter wonder and gazes at the -lady. The three gaze at one another. Everybody says, "I beg your -pardon." The Englishman, as the facts dawn upon his comprehension, has -the grace to turn very red, but has not the grace to laugh, which would -be the only sensible thing to do,--too sensible, apparently, for a man -who goes about thinking strange gentlemen will delight in smoothing his -path and opening doors for him. Of course, he ought to have known -instinctively, there was a lady in the case, as there always is. The two -Germans were too polite to laugh unless he would. But he did not even -smile, which proclaimed his stupidity more clearly than all which had -gone before; and presently three very constrained faces--one red and -sullen, two with dancing eyes and lips half bitten through--appeared in -the _salon_, which, this time, the lady entered first. It isn't so very -funny to tell, but the scene was so funny to witness, it really seemed a -privilege to be the solitary spectator. - -From Zurich on to Lucerne, with pretty pictures all the way from the car -windows. We anticipated feeling romantic here, but so far all we know is -that Lucerne looks very drab. It rains in torrents, a hopeless, heavy -flood. The lake does not smile at us, or dimple or ripple, as we have -read it is in the habit of doing. The mountains we ought to be seeing -don't appear. The streets are shockingly muddy. We cannot go to see the -Lion; and as to the Rigi, upon which our hopes are set, there is small -chance that it will at present emerge from its clouds, and allow us to -behold from the Kulm the wonderful sunrise and sunset which many go out -for to see, but most, alas! in vain. - -Great Pilatus tells us to hope for nothing. He is the barometer of the -region. He is very big and rugged and inspiring, and stands haughtily -apart from the other heights:-- - - "Overhead, - Shaking his cloudy tresses loose in air, - Rises Pilatus with his windy pines." - -A popular rhyme runs to the effect that when Pilatus wears his cap only, -the day will be fair; when he puts on his collar, you may yet venture; -but if he wears his sword, you'd better stay at home. To-day he wears -cap, collar, sword,--in fact, is clothed with clouds, except for a -moment now and then, to his very feet. There are many old legends about -Pilatus and its caverns. One of the oldest is, that Pontius Pilate, -banished from Galilee, fled here, and in anguish and remorse threw -himself into the lake; hence the name of which the more matter-of-fact -explanation is _Mons Pileatus_, or "capped mountain." If there were -sunshine, we would believe the latter simple and reasonable definition. -Now, in this dreary rain, we take a gloomy satisfaction in the dark tale -of remorse,--the darker, more desperate and tragic it is made, the -better we like it. - -Pilatus and the skies and wind and barometer, and fate itself, -apparently, are against us. But the Rigi is still there. Behind the -cloud is the sun still shining,--patience is genius, and--we wait. - - - - -BY THE LAKE OF LUCERNE. - - -Who was so wicked as to call Lucerne "drab"? If it were I, I don't -remember it, and I never will acknowledge it, though the printed word -stare me in the face. After the rain it shone out in radiant -colors,--the pretty city with its quaint bridges, and the Venice-look of -some of the stone houses that rise directly from the lake; the water -plashing softly against their foundations, the little boats moored by -their sides. People who have seen Venice are at liberty to smile in a -superior way if they wish. We, who have not, will cherish our little -fancies until reality verifies them or proves them false. - -And the lake,-- - - "The Lake of the Four Forest Cantons, apparelled - In light, and lingering like a village maiden - Hid in the bosom of her native mountains, - Then pouring all her life into another's, - Changing her name and being,"-- - -how lovely it is! Roaming there at sunset was an ever-memorable -delight:--the happy-looking people under the chestnut-trees on the -shore, the little boats dancing lightly about everywhere, the pleasant -dip of the oars, the chiming of evening bells; on one side, the city, -with its old watchtowers and slender spires; over the water, the -piled-up purple mountains, with the warm opaline sunset lights playing -about them; behind, the long range of pure-white peaks, catching the -last rays of the sun, glistening and gleaming gloriously, while the -lower world sinks into gloom, and even they at last grow dim and vague, -and still we float on in drowsy indolence. - -The narrow covered bridges, the one where the faded old paintings -represent scenes from Swiss history, and the Muehlenbruecke with the -"Dance of Death" picture described in the "Golden Legend," were both -interesting. Prince Henry and Elsie seemed to go by with all the stream -of life,--the soldiers, and peasant-girls, and monks, and workingmen in -blouses, and children with baskets on their backs; and queer old women -we met as we stood by the little shrine in the middle of the bridge, -peered in and saw the candles and flowers and crucifixes, or looked out -through the small windows upon the swift waters beneath. So faint and -obscure are many of the paintings, yet we found the ones we sought, and -saw the - - "Young man singing to a nun - Who kneels at her devotions, but in kneeling - Turns round to look at him; and Death, meanwhile, - Is putting out the candles on the altar." - -The old church with the celebrated organ, which may be heard every -afternoon, has some carved wood and stained glass that people go to see. -Its churchyard, so little, so old, so pitifully crowded, is a sad place, -like all the cemeteries I have yet seen here. With their colored -ornaments and tinsel, their graves crowding one against another, and the -multitude of sad, black, attenuated little crosses that have such a -skeleton air, they are positively heartbreaking: they seem infinitely -more mournful and oppressive than ours at home, with their broad alleys, -stately trees, and the peace and beauty of their surroundings. There are -two new-made graves in the pavement here. You can't help feeling sorry -they are so very crowded. They are covered with exquisite fresh flowers, -which the passer-by sprinkles from a font that stands near, thus giving -a blessing to the dead. We have had ample opportunity to observe all the -old monuments and epitaphs without voluntarily making a study of the -churchyard, for the way to and from our chalet led through it. To one -very ancient stone we felt positively grateful because its inscription -was funny:-- - - "Here lies in Christ Jesus - Josepha Dub - Jungfrau - Aged 91." - -We were glad to have Miss Dub's somewhat prolonged life of -single-blessedness to smile over, so heavy otherwise was the atmosphere -of that little churchyard. - -The celebrated Lion of Lucerne we found even more beautiful than we had -anticipated. It was larger and grander, and the photographs fail to -convey a true idea of it, and of the exact effect of the mass of rock -above it. It all comes before you suddenly,--the high perpendicular -sandstone rock, the grotto in which the dying Lion lies, pierced through -by a broken lance, his paw sheltering the Bourbon lily; the trees and -creeping plants on the very top of the cliff, at its base the deep dark -pool surrounded by trees and shrubs. The Lion is cut out of the natural -rock, a simple and impressive memorial in honor of the officers and -soldiers of the Swiss Guard who fell in defence of the Tuileries in -1792. They exhibit Thorwaldsen's model in the little shop there, which -is one of the beguiling carved wood-ivory-amethyst places where, I -suppose, strong-souled people are never tempted, but we, invariably. -There are lovely heads of Thorwaldsen here, by the way, the most -satisfactory I have seen. - -We live in a _pension_, a chalet on the banks of the lake. It has, like -most things, its advantages and disadvantages. From our balcony we look -out over shrubs and little trees upon the lovely lake and the mountains. -The establishment boasts numerous retainers, mostly maids of all work; -but our attention is drawn exclusively to a small, pale girl, whom we -call the "Marchioness," and a small, pale boy, whom we call "Buttons." -Why need such mites work so hard? Buttons is only fourteen, and he drags -heavy trunks about and moves furniture and does the work of two men, -besides running on all the errands, and blacking all the boots, and -waiting at the table. - -If you ask him if things are not too heavy he smiles brightly and says, -"No, indeed!" with the air of a Hercules, so brave a heart has the -little man. So he goes about lifting and pulling and staggering under -heavy loads, and breathing hard, and he has a hollow cough that it makes -the heart ache to hear from such a child; and it does not require much -wisdom to know what is going to happen to _him_ before long,--poor -little Buttons! - - - - -UP AND ON AND DOWN THE RIGI. - - -Truth is mighty. We have been up the Rigi Railway, and in spite of the -beauty before our eyes, instead of experiencing grand and elevated -emotions, instead of remembering the words of some noble poet, instead -of doing anything we ought to have done, we could only, prompted by a -perverse spirit, say over and over to ourselves,-- - - "General Gage was very brave, - Very brave, particular; - He galloped up a precipice, - And down a perpendicular." - -Our Rigi experience, taken all in all, was an agreeable and a very -amusing outing. We had waited long till skies were fair enough for us to -venture, but at last Pilatus looked benign, and we had the loveliest of -sails across that lovely lake, Lucerne; happy sunlight falling on blue -water and exquisite shores, shadows of floating clouds reflected in the -depths; and all the noble army of mountains thronging before us, and -beside us, and behind us; bold barren hills rising sharply against rich -and varied foliage; superb white heights afar off. At Vitznau we waited -a short time for our train, and employed ourselves happily in watching a -great group of fruit-sellers, who stood with huge baskets of fine -grapes, and poor peaches, and figs, before the bench where we were -sitting. After the fashion of idle travellers, we audibly made our -comments upon the pretty scene:-- - -"If I had not already bought this fruit, I should buy it of that little -boy; I _always_ like to buy my fruit of little boys." - -"And if I had not already bought mine, I should buy it of the man with -the long tassel on his cap: I dote on buying fruit of good-looking young -men with tassels on their caps." - -Who could dream that this utterly inane conversation would be -understood? But the face of the youth with the tassel--he looked -Italian, although he was speaking German--suddenly gleamed and sparkled -mischievously, and showed a row of white teeth, as he pointed at his -head and touched his tassel and said, "Cap! cap!" with huge satisfaction -and pride. Not another English word could he say, but the similarity -between this and the German _Kappe_, and his quick intuition, told him -that we were alluding, and not unpleasantly, to him. - -Traveller, beware! Don't buy fresh figs at Vitznau. We each pursued one -to the bitter end; then politely presented what remained in our paper to -a small fruit-seller, to devour if she liked, or to sell over again to -the next guileless person who has never eaten fresh figs, and wants to -be Oriental. This civility on our part was received with laughter by the -whole group of men, women, and children, who all seemed to perfectly -appreciate the point of the joke. It at least was consoling. Being -cheated in buying fruit is an evil that can be borne, but it is an -utterly crushing sensation when people won't smile at your jokes. - -The carriage which was to take us up the precipice we surveyed with -curiosity and pleasure,--one broad car with open sides, affording -perfect command of the views, the seats running quite across it and -turned towards the locomotive, which, going up, runs behind. Between the -ordinary rails are two rails with teeth, upon which a cog-wheel in the -locomotive works. The train runs very slowly, only about three miles an -hour, which is both safe and favorable to enjoyment of the scenery, and -in case of accident the car can be instantly detached from the -locomotive and stopped. No one need think that I am giving these few -facts as information, the very last thing one wants to find in a letter -from Europe. I would not presume,--and of course almost everybody knows -how the Rigi Railway works; only, it happens, _I_ did not know, and I -mention these things merely to refresh my own memory. - -So far as views are concerned, it is of course preferable to make the -ascent on foot. But where one is bewildered by the affluence of beauty -in Switzerland, one feels willing to sacrifice something of it to the -new experience of this curious ride. Some people, it is true, like to -_say_ they walked up the Rigi. But why shall we indulge in so small a -vanity, when we can easily indulge in a greater one,--several thousand -feet greater, in fact? When any one boasts, "I walked up the Rigi," we -shall return quietly, "We ascended Piz Languard in the Engadine." For -all the world knows the Rigi is only 5,905 feet high, and Piz Languard -is 10,715 feet. We felt that we could afford to ride up the Rigi, then. - -It was all extremely spirited and enjoyable, and we could never forget -how strongly we resembled General Gage. The views were beautiful and -ever varying. The atmosphere was slightly hazy, so that the dark -Buergenstock beyond the lake, which lay in loveliness before us, became -more and more shadowy as we ascended; and the Stanserhorn and Pilatus, -and all the Alps of the Uri, Engelberg, and Bernese Oberland, though -distinct, had yet the thinnest possible veil before their faces; and the -precipice above us was amazing to see, and the perpendicular reached -down, down into deep ravines, where the narrow waterfalls looked like -silver threads among the trees and bushes and gray, jagged rocks. - -Reaching the hotels that stand on the tip-top of the Kulm, we went to -the one that had stoves, which is the Schreiber, for "bitter chill it -was." We had barely time to see the whole magnificent prospect, before -the clouds closed in upon us, enveloping us in such a thoroughgoing way -that we could only allude to the sunset with shrieks of laughter. And up -to the time of the arrival of the latest train came pilgrims from every -quarter, also bent on seeing the sunset from the Rigi Kulm. Group after -group came up through the mist from the little station to the hotel, -everybody very merry over his own blighted hopes. Towards evening it -rained heavily, and there was nothing to do but amuse one's self within -doors. This is not difficult at the Schreiber, an unusually large and -well arranged hotel. To find such spacious, brilliant _salons_ up here -is a surprise; and when you look about in them and see persons from many -different grades of society, many nations, and hear almost every -language of Europe, and realize that you are all here together on a -mountain-top and fairly in the clouds, it is quite entertaining enough -without the books and papers which are at your service. There were even -two Egyptian princes there. The small boy of our party, whom every one -notices and pets, and who, though speaking absolutely nothing but -English, has a miraculous way of being understood and of conversing -intimately with Russians, Poles, Greeks, etc., was on friendly terms -with the Egyptians at once, and, after five minutes' acquaintance, had -made his usual demand for postage-stamps. By the grace of childhood much -is possible. - -Truly this Rigi Kulm is a curious place. It is said the spectacle of -sunrise rarely deigns to appear before the expectant mortals who throng -there to see it. Half an hour before sunrise, in fair weather, an Alpine -horn rouses the sleepers, and people rush out, often in fantastic garb, -with blankets round them and a generally wild-Indian aspect. There is -actually a notice on every bed-room door in the Rigi Kulm House, -requesting guests to be good enough not to take the coverings from the -beds when they go to see the sunrise. - -A strange, wild place was the Kulm as the night advanced. The wind -howled, and shrieked, and moaned, and witches on broomsticks flew round -and round the house and tapped noisily on our window-panes. If you don't -believe it, stay there one night in a storm, and then you will believe -anything. But though storm and night and cloud encircled us, we saw -vividly, as we sank into our dreams, the whole superb -landscape,--forests, lakes, hills, towns, villages, plains, the waves of -mist in the valleys, the ever-changing light and shade, the little -fleecy clouds wreathing the glistening snowy peaks, the sunshine and the -glorious sky. The wide, calm picture was before us still. - -It was a night of witchy noises, of starts and fears that we should -oversleep and so lose the sunrise, which, in spite of the storm, the -predictions of the weather-wise, and the promptings of common-sense, it -was impossible for our party not to confidently expect, so strong an -element in it was the sanguine temperament. From midnight on, one figure -or another might have been seen standing by the window, two excited, -staring eyes peering wildly through the shutters, anxious to discern the -first glimmerings of dawn; and from every restless nap we would awake -with a start, thinking we surely heard that "horn." If the other people -were as absurd as we, they were quite absurd enough. That Rigi sunrise, -whether it comes or is only anticipated, is enough to shake a -constitution of iron. - -But no horn sounded, and the lazy sun only struggled through the clouds -as late as eight o'clock, when the view once more opened before us, -grand and beautiful in the sudden gleam of morning sunshine. The Bernese -Alps magnificently white,--the Jungfrau, Finster-Aarhorn, many -well-known peaks in raiment of many colors; the lakes of Lucerne and Zug -directly below, and seven or eight more lakes visible,--in all, a -beautiful prospect, and remarkable from the fact that the gaze sweeps -over an expanse of three hundred miles. - -Very soon the clouds rolled in again. Not a vestige of view remained, -and a persistent drizzle sent several car-loads of disappointed but -amused beings down the mountain. We all began to be sceptical about that -Rigi Kulm sunrise which we had heard described in glowing words. We were -inclined to doubt whether any one, even the oldest inhabitant, had ever -seen it. - -Some writer says it is dismal on the Kulm in wet weather. I think if -there were only one poor, drenched, frozen mortal up there aspiring to -gaze upon the glory that is denied him, it would be dismal in the -extreme; but when so many, scores, hundreds, go, and so few attain their -object,--for the summit of the Rigi is often surrounded with clouds, -even in fairest weather,--it is not in the least dismal; on the -contrary, highly enlivening, and the trip well worth taking, though it -end in clouds. - -In the language of a young Russian gentleman who is learning English, "I -have made a little tripe, and enjoyed my little tripe delicious." - - - - -A KAISER FEST. - - -We have been having in Stuttgart what an intensely loyal newspaper-pen -calls "Kaiser days." That is, days in which the city has been glorified -by the imperial presence. We have been having, too, "Kaiser weather," -for they say the hale old man whenever he comes brings with him sunshine -and clear skies. Before his arrival all was flutter and expectation. -Festoons and wreaths and inscriptions, waving banners, bright ribbons -and flowers, were everywhere displayed, giving the whole place a happy, -welcoming air. The decorations were extremely effective and graceful. -Koenigstrasse, the chief business street, looked like a bower. Lovely -great arches were thrown across it, and every building was gay with -garlands, flowers, and flags. The variety of the designs was as -noticeable as their beauty. Sometimes the colors of the Empire and those -of Wuertemberg--the black, white, and red, and black and red--floated -together. Sometimes to these was added the Stuttgart city colors, black -and yellow. Many buildings displayed, with these three, the Prussian -black and white, while other great blocks had large flags of Prussia and -Wuertemberg and the Empire as a centre ornament, and myriads of little -ones, representing all the German States, fluttering from every window. -One saw often the yellow and red of Baden, the green and white of -Saxony, the white and red of Hesse-Darmstadt, and the pretty, light-blue -and white of Bavaria, that always looks so innocent and girlish, amid so -much warlike red and bold yellow, as if it were meant for dainty -neckties and ribbons, and not for the colors of a nation. Many good -souls mourn that even now, after its consolidation, the German -Fatherland is so very much divided into little sections. Let them take -comfort where it may be found. Were not the rainbow hues of banners and -ribbons a goodly sight in the pleasant September sunshine? Ribbons, too, -have their uses, and these, of many colors, were a thousand times more -effective than any one flag duplicated again and again, even the stars -and stripes. Pretty and joyous were they, floating on the breeze: they -told tales of the different lands they represented, and it was no light -task at first to understand their languages, there were so very many of -them, such multitudes of brave little banners of brilliant hues, and all -to welcome the Kaiser. - -"Hail to our Kaiser!" said one inscription,--"Welcome to Suabia!" Poems, -too, in golden letters fitly framed, were here and there waiting to meet -him and do him honor. But the prettiest greeting was the simplest: "To -the German Kaiser a _Schwaebisch Gruess Gott_," which was over an -evergreen arch in the Koenigstrasse, and looked so very sturdy and -honest in the midst of all the pomp and the grand inscriptions that -called him Barbablanca, Imperator, and Triumphator. The house of General -von Schwarzkoppen, commander of the Wuertemberg troops, and the house of -the Minister of War also, displayed, with the national colors, stacks of -arms of every description, from those of ancient times down to the -present day, at regular intervals between the windows, under long green -festoons. At the American Consul's the flags of Germany hung with the -stars and stripes. Ears of corn and cornflowers, which are the Kaiser's -_Lieblingsblumen_, were woven into the wreaths on one house. Everywhere -were evidences of busy fingers and happy ideas. At 4 P. M. of the 22d, -while a salute was thundering from the Schutzenhaus, the imperial extra -train entered the city. Even the locomotive looked conscious of -sustaining unwonted honors, proudly wearing a garland of oak-leaves -round the smokestack, and a circle of little fluttering flags. - -At the moment the train came into the station the band accompanying the -guard of honor gave a brilliant greeting, to which was added the "Hoch" -of welcome. His imperial majesty the Kaiser descended from the car and -embraced his majesty the king, who was waiting on the platform to -receive him. While the crown prince, the grand dukes of Baden and -Mecklenbuerg-Schwerin, Prince Karl of Prussia, Prince August of -Wuertemberg, and other distinguished persons were coming out of the -train, the Kaiser stepped in front of the soldiers and greeted the -generals, ministers, and all the gentlemen of the court who were there, -cordially. - -Then the _Oberbuergermeister_, with committees in black coats and white -rosettes behind him, in behalf of the city, made his little speech, -which I will not quote because we all know what mayors have to say on -such occasions, and this was quite the proper thing, as mayors' -addresses always are. Indeed, if I only venture to give the first -half-dozen words, I fear that people who are not used to the German form -of expression will be alarmed, and will say gently, "Not any more at -present, thank you." - -"Allerdurchlauchtigster grossnaedigster Kaiser and Konig -allerguaedigster Herr!" This is the glorious way it began. Isn't it -fine? Can any one look at that "allerdurchlauchtigster" without -involuntarily making an obeisance? Aren't these words entirely -appropriate to head a huge procession of aldermen, and other pompous -municipal boards, and do credit to a great city? And wouldn't you or I -be a little intimidated if any one should say them to us? - -The Kaiser is, however, accustomed to having such epithets hurled at -him. He was therefore not dismayed, and replied somewhat as follows:-- - - "This is the first time since the glorious war of the German - nation that I have visited your city. I accept with pleasure the - friendly reception which you have prepared for me, and heartily - unite with you in the good wishes for our German Fatherland - which you in your greeting have expressed. Until now we have - only sowed, but the seed will spring up. In this I rely upon - your king, who has ever loyally stood by my side. [Here he - turned and extended his hand to the king. This as a dramatic - 'point' was very good indeed.] Assure the city that I rejoice to - be within its walls." - -After which were more and more "Hochs," and then the _illustrissimi_ -seated themselves in the carriages which were waiting to convey them -slowly through the crowded streets. Along the whole route where the -procession passed were fire-companies with glittering helmets, different -clubs and vereins, school-children,--the girls in white, with wreaths of -flowers to cast before the emperor,--and soldiers, all stationed in two -long lines. Through the alley so formed the carriages passed, and, -behind, the dense crowd reached to the houses. - -The people seemed very eager to see the Kaiser, but their curiosity was -more strongly manifested than their enthusiasm, this first day of his -visit, at least so it appeared to us. The loyal Tagblatt, however, says -that the cries of the multitude rose to the skies in a deafening clamor, -or something equally strong. But our eyes and ears told us that while -the people continuously cheered, they were very temperate in their -demonstrations. There was more warmth and volume in the voices when they -greeted the crown prince. But Moltke alone kindled the real fire of -enthusiasm. They cheered him in a perfect abandonment of delight. -Hundreds of his old soldiers gave the great field-marshal far more -homage than they accorded the Kaiser. As soon as he came in sight there -was instantly something in the voices that one had missed before. - -In the procession, first, were some of the city authorities, police and -city guard, mounted, preceding the carriage in which the Kaiser and king -rode. This was drawn by six white horses, with outriders in -scarlet-and-gold livery. The two sovereigns chatted together, and the -Kaiser looked in a friendly way upon the people, often acknowledging -their greetings by a military salute. - -Next came the crown prince,--"the stately, thoroughly German hero, with -his dark-blond full beard," says the German reporter,--and with him were -the grand duke of Baden and Adjutant Baldinger. Many carriages followed, -full of celebrities. Prince Karl of Prussia was there, Prince August von -Wuertemberg, Prince of Hohenzollern, Princes Wilhelm and Hermann of -Saxe-Weimar. In the sixth carriage sat the great, silent Moltke, with -his calm face, received with storms of cheering, and he would put up his -hand with a deprecating gesture, as if to appease the tumult his -presence created. There were, besides, magnates and dignitaries of all -descriptions in the long train. Generals and majors and hofraths, counts -and dukes, men with well-known names, men recognized as brave and -brilliant soldiers; but it is scarcely expedient to tell who they all -are. My pen has so accustomed itself to-day to writing the names of -sovereigns, and to linger lovingly over the beautiful six-syllable words -that cluster round a throne, it has imbibed from these august sources a -lofty exclusiveness. It says it really can't be expected to waste many -strokes on mere dukes. "Everybody of course cannot be born in the -purple," it admits,--this it writes slowly with long, liberal -sweeps,--"no doubt counts and dukes are often very estimable people, but -really, you know, my dear, one must draw the line somewhere"; and it -does not deny that it feels "a certain antipathy towards discussing -persons lower than princes,"--which impressive word it makes very black -and strong,--"except in the mass." And then it waves its aristocratic -gold point in a way that completely settles the matter. I am very sorry -if anybody would like to know the names, but it is such a tyrant I never -know what it will do next; and I really don't dare say anything more -about those poor dukes, except to mention briefly that there were -seventeen carriages full of manly grace and chivalry, uniforms and -decorations, scarlet, and blue, and crimson, and gold, and white, blond -mustaches, plumes, swords, and titles. - -When the line of carriages had passed over the appointed route, and all -the people had gazed and gazed to their heart's content, the procession -approached the Residenz where Queen Olga received her imperial relative -and guest. He gave her his arm, and they vanished from the eyes of the -_ignobile vulgus_. This was an impressive and elevating moment; but it -is not curious to remember that after all, if the truth be told, -_allerdurchlauchtigster_ though he be, he is only her--Uncle William. - -In the evening was a brilliant and large torch-light procession, and all -the world was out in merry mood. The illuminated fountains, the statues -and flowers in the pretty Schloss Platz, shone out in the gleam of -Bengal lights, which also revealed the sea of heads in the square in -front of the palace. A stalwart young workman stood near us with his -little fair-haired daughter perched on his shoulder. They did not know -how statuesque they looked in the rosy light, but we did. Much music, -many _Hochs_, and the edifying spectacle of all their majesties and -royal highnesses in a distinguished row on the balcony, for the -delectation of the masses, completed the joys of the evening. - -If any one imagines for an instant that all this very valuable -information was obtained without much effort, and heroic endurance of -many evils, he is entirely mistaken. At such times, if you wish to see -anything, you must either be in and of the multitude, or you must look -from a window, which affords you only one point of view and curbs your -freedom, and doesn't allow you to run from place to place in time to see -everything there is to be seen. At these dramas enacted by high-born -artists for the purpose of touching the hearts and awakening the zeal of -the lowly, there are no private boxes and reserved seats. We scorned the -trammelling window, and chose to mingle with our fellow-men, with our -fellow-butcher-and-baker boys, as well as with little knots of intrepid, -amused women, like ourselves. Upon the whole, we enjoyed it. We made -studies of human nature, and of policeman nature, which is often not by -any means human, but, as Sam Weller says, "on the contrary quite the -reverse." - -Policemen everywhere are glorious, awe-inspiring creatures. German -policemen are particularly magnificent. They wear such gay coats, and -are often such imposing, big blond men, it is impossible to look at them -without admiration. The way they thrust and push when they want to keep -a crowd within certain bounds is as ruthless as if they were huge -automata, with great far-reaching limbs that strike out and hew down -when the machinery is wound up. Practically they are successful; the -only trouble is, it is the innocent ones in front, pushed by the -pressure of the crowd behind, who are thrust back savagely, with a stern -"Zurueck!" by the mighty men, and who are treated like dumb, driven -cattle. A friend who is always dauntless and always humorous, feeling -the weight of a heavy hand on her shoulder, and hearing a tempestuous -ejaculation in her ear, calmly looked the autocrat in the face, and with -gentle gravity said, "_Don't_ be so cross!" at which the great being -actually smiled. - -After that we thought perhaps these petty officials dressed in a little -brief authority only put on their crossness with their uniforms. Perhaps -at home with their wives and blue-eyed babies they may be quite docile. -They may even, here and there,--delicious idea!--be henpecked! - -This was the sentiment expressed by a loyal German at the close of the -day: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for I have -seen my Kaiser." - - - - -THE CANNSTADT VOLKSFEST. - - -It rained, in the first place, which was very inconsiderate of it; -rained on the race-course, on the school-girls in white muslin with -wreaths of flowers on their heads, on the peasants in their distinctive -dresses, making their full, white sleeves limp and shapeless, spotting -the scarlet-and-blue bodices of the maidens from the Steinlach Thal and -Black Forest; rained on the monkey-shows and negro minstrels, the Punch -and Judys, the beer-shops, booths, and benches, on the country people in -their best clothes, the city people in their worst, upon all that goes -to make up the Cannstadt Volksfest,--in short, upon the just and the -unjust. - -It was a beautiful experience to sit there in a waterproof, holding an -umbrella and seeing thousands of other people in waterproofs holding -umbrellas, on the raised circular seats that extended round the whole -great race-course, while, occupying the entire space, within the track -was a mass of men standing, also with umbrellas; but on account of our -elevated position we could see very little of the men, while the -umbrella effect was gigantic. It was like innumerable giant black -mushrooms growing in a bog. - -And all the time the band opposite the empty royal pavilion played away -with great energy, while without this enclosure for the races, among the -surrounding booths and "shows," country people were plunging ankle-deep -in the mud, and the violins that call the world to see the Fat Woman, -the accordion which the trained-dog man plays, the turbulent orchestras -of the small circuses, and the siren tones of the girl who sings for the -snake-charmer, united to make an ineffable Pandemonium. - -This Volksfest was founded fifty years ago by Wilhelm, father of the -present king of Wuertemberg, who did much to promote the agricultural -interests of his people, taking great personal interest in everything -appertaining to farming, stock, etc., giving prizes with his own hand -for the best vegetables and fruits, the largest, finest cattle,--for -excellence, in fact, in any department. Since then, it is an established -national event, that happens every year as regularly as September comes; -always attracting many foreigners, to whom it is amusing and -interesting, in the rare opportunities it affords of seeing many -distinctive features of Suabian peasant-life. It should be visited with -thick boots and no nerves, for the ground is as if the cattle upon a -thousand hills had come down in a great rage and trampled it into pits -and quagmires, and the noise is--utterly indescribable. To say that the -Volksfest combines the peculiar attractions of the Fourth of July, St. -Patrick's Day, a State Fair, and Barnum, gives, perhaps, as correct a -notion of the powwow that reigns supreme, as any elaborate description -that might be made. - -Yes, it is like entertainments of a similar grade with us,--like, yet -unlike. The elephant goes round, the band begins to play, the men in -front of the different tents roar and gesticulate and try to out-Herod -one another, the jolly little children go swinging round hilariously on -the great whirligigs, the man with the blacked face is the same -cheerful, merry, witty personage who charms the crowd at home. Indeed, -they are all quite the same, only they talk German, they are jollier and -fatter, they take their pleasure with more abandon, and there is one -vast expansive grin over the whole throng. Instead of the tall, thin -girl in book-muslin, who comes in from the country to see the circus, -clinging tight to her raw-boned lover's hand, both looking painfully -conscious and not so happy as they ought, we have here, too, the country -sweethearts, but of another type. The peasant-girl and her _Schatz_, -broad, blissful, rosy, the most delicious personifications of -unconsciousness imaginable, go wandering about among the clanging and -clashing from the tents, the beer-drinking, the shouts and rollicking -laughter, and find it all a very elysium. Their happiness is as solid as -they themselves; and if there are other eyes and ears in the world than -those with which they drink in huge draughts of pleasure as palpably as -they take their beer from tall foaming tankards, they, at least, are -oblivious of them. - -But we left it raining heavily, cruelly blighting our hopes. A Volksfest -with rain is a heartless mockery of fate, and a rainy Volksfest, when -there is a Kaiser to see, unspeakably aggravating. But the obnoxious -clouds being in German atmosphere naturally knew what etiquette demanded -of them, and respectively withdrew just as the pealing of the Cannstadt -bells announced his majesty's approach; and as he and his suite rode -into the grounds, the sun, who had made up his mind to have a day of -retirement and was in consequence a little sulky about appearing, had -the courtier-like grace to try to assume a tolerably genial expression, -since he had burst unwillingly into the imperial presence. - -The pavilion for the people of the court was filled with ladies in -brilliant toilets, with their attendant cavaliers, as the glittering -train rode towards it; the city guard in front, according to an old -custom, then the Kaiser and king side by side, and, after them, all the -princes and grand dukes, etc., whom we have had the honor of mentioning -more than once of late, and of seeing them often enough to look at them -critically and search for our individual favorites as they gallantly -gallop by. The enthusiasm of the multitude was immense, and the shouting -proved that peasants' lungs are powerful organs. - -After the horsemen came a line of open carriages, in the first of which -was the empress and her majesty Queen Olga; the latter looking, as -usual, pale, stately, gracious, and truly a queen. Princess Vera, the -Grand Duchess of Baden, and other ladies followed, and they all went -into the pavilion, while the Kaiser and king rode about among the -people, looking at models, machinery, animals,--and being scrutinized -themselves from the top of their helmets to their spurs, it is needless -to say. - -Upon joining the ladies the crown prince took off his helmet, kissed the -queen's hand, then his mother's, which amiable gallantry we viewed with -deep appreciation and interest. The next thing to see was the prize -animals, which were led over the course past the pavilion, wearing -wreaths of flowers. Some vicious-looking bulls, their horns and feet -tied with strong ropes, and led by six men, regarded the scarlet of the -officers' uniforms very doubtfully, as if they had half a mind to make a -rush at it, ropes or no ropes. There were pretty, white cows, who wore -their floral honors with a mild, bovine grace: and sheep with ribbons -floating from their tails, and a coquettish rose or two over their -brows, were attractive objects; but _pig_ perversity and ugliness so -adorned was too absurd. - -The event of the day was the "gentlemen's races," as they are called, -being under the direction of a club, of which the Prince of Weimar is -president, and Prince Wilhelm a member. They were interesting, and the -whole picture gay and pleasing,--the flying horses, with their jockeys -in scarlet, yellow, and blue silk blouses; the pavilion full of bright -colors, the hundreds of banners waving in the breeze; beyond the -grounds, pretty groves, and the little Gothic church at Berg, well up on -the hill: but, as the Shah of Persia said when they wanted to have some -races in his honor at Berlin, "Really, it isn't necessary. I already -know that one horse runs faster than another." - -There were two structures there which deserve special notice. When I -tell you that they were composed of ears of corn, apples, onions, etc., -you will never imagine how artistic was the result, and I quite despair -of conveying an idea of their beauty. One was the music-stand, having on -the first floor an exhibition of prize fruits; above, the military bands -from the Uhlan and dragoon regiments; yet higher, a platform with tall -sheaves of wheat in the corners, and in the centre, upon a large base, a -column sixty feet high, perhaps, bearing on its summit a statue of -Concordia. But the walls of this little temple, and the lofty column -too, were all of vegetables, arranged with consummate skill on a firm -background of wood covered with evergreen. Imagine, if you can, a kind -of mosaic, with arabesques in bright colors; sometimes a solid white -background of onions, with intricate scrolls and waving lines of -deep-red apples, seemingly exactly of a size, ingeniously designed and -perfectly executed. It was quite wonderful to observe how firm and -compact and precise this vegetable architecture was; and surprising -enough to discover old friends of the kitchen-garden looking at us -proudly from this thing of beauty. Golden traceries of corn, elaborate -figures in cranberries, aesthetic turnips and idealized beets,--all the -products of Wuertemberg soil, in fact,--utilized in a masterly way, and -all as firm and sharp in outline as if carved out of stone. A broad -triumphal arch fashioned in the same way was quite as much of a marvel, -and most effective as one of the gates of entrance. - -After the races the Kaiser rode away in an open carriage with the king, -and that was the last we saw of this attractive old gentleman, with his -genial, kindly, honest face, and simple, soldierly ways,--in his -freshness and strength certainly a wonderful old man, whatever -newspapers and political writers may say of him. They say his private -life is simple in the extreme; that his library is only a collection of -military works; that he carefully keeps everything that is ever given -him, even sugar rabbits that the children in the family give him at -Easter. It is said that once, in Alsace, in the midst of the excitement -over him and the celebration, he noticed a little boy all alone in the -streets crying bitterly, and called to him. "What's the matter, little -man?" said the Kaiser. - -"Matter enough," replies the exasperated child. "This confounded emperor -is the matter. They're making such a fuss about him, my ma's gone and -forgotten my birthday." The next day the boy received a portrait of the -Kaiser, richly framed, with the inscription,-- - -"From the Emperor of Germany to the little boy who lost his birthday." - -After the line of carriages drove off, the cavalcade formed again, led -this time by the crown prince and the Grand Duke of Baden; and they -galloped over the course and out of the west gate in a very spirited -way, to the great delight of the people, who shouted and cheered most -frantically. Is anybody weary of hearing about these distinguished -riders? We are a little tired of them ourselves, it must be confessed, -goodly sights though they be. But now they are quite gone, and the last -remembrance we have of them is the fall of their horses' hoofs, the -glittering of metal, and the waving of plumes as they swept through the -pretty arched gateway, stately and effective to the last. - -The rollicking spirit of the Volksfest at evening, stimulated by -unlimited beer, was a wonderful thing to observe. We stayed to see it by -lantern-light, in order to be intimately acquainted with its merriest -phases, and the noise of it rings in our ears yet, though now the _Fest_ -is quite over, the _Volks_ are gone to their homes, the hurly-burly's -done. - - - - -IN A VINEYARD. - - -Our milkwoman is a person of importance in her village. This we did not -know till recently, though we were quite aware of our good fortune in -getting excellent milk and rich cream daily; and we had had occasion to -admire her rosy cheeks and broad, solid row of white teeth,--in fact, -had already laid a foundation of respect for her, upon which a recent -event has induced us to build largely. A very comely, honest woman we -always thought her; but when she came smilingly one morning, and invited -us, one and all, out to her vineyards, to eat as many grapes as we -could, to help gather them if we wished, to see her _Mann_ and all her -family, and to investigate the subject of wine-making, we were -unanimously convinced her equal was not to be found in any village in -Wuertemberg, and the invitation was accepted with enthusiastic -acclamations. - -We were much edified to learn that the condition of things demanded a -certain etiquette. We were to visit people of inferior station, we were -told, and, in return for their hospitality, must take unto them gifts. -The idea struck us, of course, as highly commendable, and we declared -ourselves ready to do the correct thing. But we were quite aghast to -learn that a large sausage should be offered to our hostess,--in fact, -that this object would be expected by her; that it actually was lurking -behind the pretty invitation to come to see her under her own vine and -fig-tree. A sudden silence fell upon our little party at the -breakfast-table. It really did seem as if something else might more -fitly express our grateful appreciation and kind wishes. - -One little lady spoke:-- - -"A horrid sausage! Why can't we take something nice,--cold tongue, and -chocolate-cakes with cream in them, for instance?" - -"O, yes, _do_," says our German friend, with a sardonic expression. "By -all means give our Suabian peasants chocolate-cakes; but then what will -they have to _eat_?" she demands, grimly. - -"Why, chocolate-cakes, to be sure," says Miss Innocence. With a -withering air of half-concealed contempt, the very clever German girl -endeavors to present to the mind of the little lady from New York--who -lives chiefly on sweets--the reasons why chocolate-cake and the Suabian -peasant are, so to speak, incompatible. Among other things, she remarked -that he could devour a dozen cakes and be quite unaware that he had -eaten anything; that his hard-working day must be sustained by something -solid; that the sausage was a support, a solace, a true and tried -friend; and, last and strongest argument, he _liked_ sausage better than -anything else in the world. - -We felt disturbed. There was a great disappointing discrepancy -somewhere. Going out to the vineyards, even in anticipation, had a ring -of poetry in it, while sausage--is sausage the world over. Nevertheless, -to the sausage we succumbed, and a hideous one, as long as your arm and -as big, was a carefully guarded member of our party to the vineyard the -next day. Fireworks, too, we carried,--why, you will see later; and so, -_dona ferentes_, we went out to Untertuerkheim by rail, a ride of -fifteen minutes from Stuttgart. - -The smile, teeth, and cheeks of our hostess were visible from afar as we -drew near the station. She beamed on us warmly, and led us in triumph -through the village, which was everywhere a busy, pretty scene; long -yellow strings of ears of corn hanging out to dry on nearly every house, -and the narrow streets full of the unwonted bustle incident to the -vintage-time. - -Great vats of grape-juice; wine-presses in active operation, some of -which were sensible, improved, modern-looking things, some primitive as -can be imagined; the well-to-do people using the modern improvements, -while their humbler neighbors employed small boys, who danced a -perpetual jig in broad, low tubs placed above the large vats that -received the juice. We ascended the little ladders at the side of the -vats, to satisfy ourselves as to the kind of feet with which the grapes -were being pressed, "the bare white feet of laughing girls" being, of -course, the picture before our mind's eye. What we actually saw was, in -some cases, a special kind of wooden shoe, and in others ordinary, -well-worn leather boots! These solemn small boys in tubs, their heads -and shoulders bobbing up and down before our eyes as they energetically -stamped and jumped and crushed the yielding mass, filled us with such -utter amazement at the time that we forgot to laugh, but they are now an -irresistibly comical remembrance. Their intense gravity was remarkable. -It would seem as if the ordinary small boy, who can legitimately jump -upon _anything_ until all the life is crushed out of it, ought to be -happy. Perhaps these were, with a happiness too deep for smiles. And -perhaps--which is more likely--it was hard work, and they realized it -meant business for their papas, and they must spring and jump with zeal, -and there was no play in the matter. One child of ten or so had such a -dignified, important air, as he stood at the side of his tub, into which -his father was pouring grapes! He looked like an artist conscious of -power waiting for his time, knowing that immense results would depend -upon his antics. Let me mention with pride that our milkwoman's _Mann_ -owns the largest press in the place, and her stalwart, pinky brother -works it. So pink a mortal never was seen. He exhibited the mechanism of -the press with tolerable clearness, though seriously incommoded by -blushes. We thought he would vanish in a flame before our eyes. But, -observing he grew pinker each time we addressed him, we wickedly -prolonged the interview as long as possible. - -Then up the hill we went, through narrow, steep paths, with vineyards on -every side of us, in which men, women, and children were working busily. -We met constantly long files of young men and maidens, carrying great -baskets of grapes down to the village, all of whom gave us a cheery -Gruess Gott. - -We found the whole family in the vineyard working away busily, filling -the huge, long, narrow baskets, which the men carry on their backs by a -strap over the shoulders. They welcomed us cordially, and bade us eat as -many grapes as we could, which we all with one accord, with great -earnestness and simplicity, _did_. If you have never eaten grapes in a -vineyard, perhaps you don't know how fastidious and dainty you become, -how you take one grape here, one there, select the finest from a -cluster, then toss the remainder into the basket. Deliciously cool and -fresh, with a wonderful bloom on them, were they, and, together with the -crisp autumn air, the busy bare-headed peasants working in all the -vineyards as far as we could see, Untertuerkheim lying under the hill, -and the little bridge across the narrow Neckar, they filled us with an -innocent sort of intoxication. The brilliant Malagas with a touch of -flame on them in the sunlight, white ones beyond, and rich black-purple -clusters, lured us on. If the amount consumed by the foreign invaders -during the first half-hour could be computed, it would seem a fabulous -quantity to mention. We would indeed prefer to let it remain in -uncertainty, one of those interesting unsolved historical problems about -which great minds differ. But it was not in the least matter-of-fact -eating; on the contrary, a most refined and elevated feasting upon -fruits fit for the gods. - -And then we worked, with an energy that won for us the goodman's -wondering admiration, until every grape was gathered. Never before had -the vines been cleared so fast, said our grateful host. From above and -below and everywhere around came the sound of pistols and fireworks, -each demonstration indicating that some one had gathered all his grapes. -Now was the fitting moment for the presentation of the sausage, which -was gracefully transferred from the nook where it was blushing unseen to -the hands of our host, and was graciously, even tenderly, received. -After which we devoted ourselves to pyrotechnic pursuits, and, this -being a novel experience, we all burned our fingers, and nearly -destroyed our friend the pinky man by directing, unwittingly, a fiery -serpent quite in his face. - -Then down, down over the hill through the thread-like paths between the -vineyards, through the village in the twilight, where every one is still -busy and the small boys still dancing away for dear life, -suggesting--like Ichabod Crane, was it not?--"that blessed patron of the -dance, St. Vitus," and past the great fountain, with the statue of the -Turk grimly rising above half a dozen girls, slowly filling their -buckets (you will never know what wise remarks on the "situation" that -Turk occasioned), we sauntered along to the station, and presently the -train whisked us away from the village and the gloaming and the pretty -autumn scene, so real, so merry, so innocent, so healthy, and -picturesque. Night and the city lights succeeded the twilight in the -village. Our hearts bore pleasant memories and our hands baskets of -grapes, given us at the last moment by that excellent and most sagacious -person, our milkwoman. - -We hope we were not straying from the true fold, but certainly our views -on the temperance, or rather the total-abstinence, question were quite -lax as we returned to Stuttgart that evening. The water in Germany is -often so unpleasant and impure one learns to regard it as an -undesirable, not to say noxious and immoral beverage, while the light -native wines in contrast seem as innocent as water ought to be. And what -is the strictest teetotaler to do when positively ordered by the best -physicians not to drink the water here, under penalty of serious -consequences in the shape of a variety of disorders? American -school-girls, who persist in taking water because the home habit is too -strong to be at once broken off, have an amusing way of examining their -pretty throats from time to time to see if they are beginning to -enlarge, for the _goitre_ is hinted at (whether with reason or not I do -not know) as one of the possible evil effects of continued -water-drinking in South Germany. It would seem that even the Crusaders -would here yield to the stern facts, and at least color the water with -the juice of the grapes that grow in their beauty on the hillsides -everywhere around. And certainly _we_ may be pardoned for taking an -extraordinary interest in this year's vintage; for have we not toiled -with our own hands in the vineyards on the Neckar's banks, did we not -see with our own eyes _those boots_, and is it not now the fitting time -for the spirit of '76 to make our hearts glad? - - - - -AMONG FREILIGRATH'S BOOKS. - - -A poet's study, when he has lain in his grave but one short year, and -the character and peculiarities which his presence gave to his -surroundings are yet undisturbed, is a sacred spot. In light mood, ready -to be agreeably entertained, we went out to pleasant Cannstadt to see -Freiligrath's books, and even in crossing the threshold of his library -the careless words died on our lips, so strong a personality has the -room, so heavy was the atmosphere with associations and memories of a -man who had lived and loved and toiled and suffered. - -How much rooms have to say for themselves, indeed! How they catch tricks -and ways from their occupants! How faultily faultless and repellent are -some, how strangely some charm us and appeal to us! This room of -Freiligrath's speaks in touching little ways of the man who lived there -and loved it, as plainly as a young girl's room tells a sweet, innocent -story while the breeze moves its snowy curtains, beneath which in his -golden cage a canary trills, and the sunshine steals in on the low -chair, the bit of unfinished work, the handful of violets in a glass, -the book opened at a favorite poem. The girl is gone, but the room is as -warm from her presence as the glove that has just been drawn from her -hand. Freiligrath sleeps in the Cannstadt _Friedhof_, where for a -thousand years the sturdy little church, with its red roof and square -tower, has watched by the silent ones; but his chair is drawn up by the -great study-table, the familiar things he loved are as he left them, and -his presence is missed even by them who knew him not. It is, perhaps, -this air of having been touched by a _loving_ hand, that impresses one -especially in the arrangements here,--a corner room, looking north and -east, having two windows, through which air and sunshine freely come, -and from which the poet used to gaze upon a landscape lovely as a dream; -far extended, tranquil, idyllic, in the distance, the Suabian Alps, -rising against the horizon beyond long, soft slopes of fertile lands -crowned by vineyards, and broad, sunny meadows intersected by lines of -the martial poplar; a glimpse of the lovely, wooded heights of the park -of the "Wilhelma," that "stately pleasure dome," which King Wilhelm of -Wuertemberg decreed, and the Neckar close by, rushing over its dam, and -sweeping beneath the picturesque stone bridge with its fine arches, and -flowing on past the old mill and quaint gables of Cannstadt to meet the -distant Rhine. How Freiligrath must have loved the sound of the water -that sang to him ever, night and day, not loud but continuously, -soothing him as a cradle-song soothes a weary child, in these latter -years at quiet Cannstadt after his life-struggles, and fever, and pain! -They say he loved it well, and that he would often rise from his work -and stand long by the window, looking out on the singing water and the -peaceful landscape, watching it as we watch a loved face that has for us -a new, tender grace with every moment. - -The room does not look like the abode of a solitary man. The easy-chairs -seem accustomed to be drawn near one another for a cosy chat between -friends, and the expression of all things is genial, _gemuethlich_. Not -a bookworm, not simply a great intellect lost in his own pursuits, -forgetting the world outside, but a strong, warm heart throbbing for -humanity, must have been the genius of a room like this. - -Under his table lies a deerskin rug, a trophy of his son Wolfgang's -prowess in the chase. On the walls are pictures of different sizes, -irregularly hung in irregular places, and each one seems to say, "I was -selected from all others of my kind because Freiligrath loved me." They -are mostly heads of his favorite authors and poets, small pictures as a -rule,--the one of Schiller sitting by the open vine-clad -window,--Goethe, Heine, Uhland, and many more of the chief poets of -Germany; Byron, several of Longfellow and the Howitts (dear friends of -Freiligrath), Burns, Burns's sons and the Burns Cottage, Goldsmith, -Carlyle, Jean Paul; a small colored picture of Walter Scott bending his -gentle face over his writing in front of a great stained-glass window in -the armory at Abbotsford; a cast of the Shakespeare mask; a few scenes -from Soest, a picturesque old town, where Freiligrath was, when a boy, -apprenticed to a merchant; a lock of Schiller's hair,--quite red,--with -an autograph letter; a lock of Goethe's hair, which is dusky brown, with -letters, and an unpublished verse written for a lottery at a fair in -Weimar:-- - - "Manches herrliche der Welt - Ist in Krieg and Streit zerronnen; - Wer beschuetzet and erhaelt - Hat das schoenste Loos gewonnen." - - --_Goethe._ - - _Weimar_, d. 3 Sept. 1826. - -Madame Freiligrath was Ida Melos, daughter of Professor Melos of Weimar, -and when a child was an especial pet of Goethe. She and her sister tell -many pleasant anecdotes of their life there, and of their playfellows, -Goethe's grandchildren, with whom they have always been on terms of -close intimacy; and of Goethe as a beautiful old man, smiling and -throwing bonbons from his window to the group of children at play in the -garden below. Mrs. Freiligrath told us she was a tall, mature girl, with -a wise, grave look far beyond her years, and they always made her enact -Mignon in the _tableaux vivants_. She was so young she did not know what -it was all about, but she "remembers she liked wearing the wings." Two -gentlewomen, speaking with a tender sadness of their long, eventful -lives, telling us of associations with some of the leading spirits of -the age, charming in their stories of the past, appreciative of all that -is best in the latest literature, they harmonize well with the quiet old -house where they graciously dispense their hospitality. - -Gently and gravely they showed us the treasures of the library, which -probably during the spring will come under the auctioneer's hammer, and -be scattered through the world. Seeing it in its completeness,--seven or -eight thousand volumes amassed through the skill and patience of a true -book-lover, who allowed himself in his frugal life the one luxury of a -rich binding now and then, and who had a perfect genius for discovering -rare old books hidden away in dusty odd corners in London bookshops, -being, in this respect, as his friend Wallesrode says, in a recent -article in "Ueber Land and Meer," a real "Sunday child,"--one must -regret it cannot be preserved intact, and given as a Freiligrath -memorial to some college. - -There are first editions here, which on account of their rareness could -command from connoisseurs their weight in gold: Schiller's "Robbers," -Frankfort and Leipsic, 1781, first edition; the second edition, 1782, -and many other early editions of Schiller's works, small, rough, -curious-looking, precious books: also, first edition Goethe's "Gotz von -Berlichingen," 1773; "Werther," Leipsic, 1774. The German and English -classics stand in noble, stately rows, with much of value in Italian, -French, and Spanish. The English collection is especially rich, however. -There is a "Hudibras," first edition, 1662; "Rasselas," first edition; a -"Don Quixote" with Thackeray's autograph on the fly-leaf, written in -Trinity College; and there are "Elzevirs" of 1640-47. The ballads, -legends, Eastern fairy-tales, and imaginative lore are very attractive. -There is a fine selection of works on German, French, English, Scotch, -and Irish dialects, in all of which Freiligrath was extremely -proficient. How many "Miltons" there are I do not dare say, and the -number is not important, since this does not pretend to be an inventory; -but there was a whole shelf of them, from the first edition on. - -On the library-table lay superb volumes, bound in richest -calf,--Beaumont and Fletcher, London, 1679, in folio; Ben Jonson, 1631, -folio; Spenser, 1611; Shakespeare, the rare folio of 1685, and many -other valuable Shakespeares. If only some one who knows how to love them -will buy these books! It seems like sacrilege to imagine them in the -hands of the unworthy or careless. - -One could spend days, years, in that quiet room, with its subtle -influences and suggestions, surrounded by old friends on the shelves, -and by books that look as if they would deign to open their hearts to us -and become our friends also. And there must one ponder long upon the -varied life of the poet and patriot,--how Fate was always putting -fetters on his Pegasus, binding him as an apprentice as a boy in Soest, -later making him a clerk in a banking-house in Amsterdam, and forcing -him again to write at a clerk's desk in London; and how, nevertheless, -he sang himself, as some one says of him, into the hearts of the German -people. They say he was so loved, and his face so well known through his -photographs, that often, upon going through a town where he personally -was unknown, the school-children in the streets would recognize him, and -instantly begin to sing poems of his that were set to music and sung -everywhere throughout Germany, particularly the well-known - - _O, lieb, so lang du lieben kannst!_ - "O, love, while love is left to thee!" - -It is said, too, that once on a steamer, during the Franco-Prussian war, -a woman came up to him and suddenly put her arms round his neck and -kissed him. "That's for Wolfgang in the field," said she, having a son -herself at the front. - -And after his struggles for freedom, the persecution he endured because -of his political principles and his immense influence upon the people, -after his flight into England and long exile, he came back finally, -honored and revered, to his native land, and spent his last years in -this peaceful abode. He breathed his last, like Goethe, sitting in his -chair. The Neckar still sang on, outside the vine-clad window. Within, -the poet's voice was hushed forever. - - - - -THREE FUNERALS. - - -Three funeral processions which have lately moved through Stuttgart -streets have awakened, on account of peculiar associations connected -with each, more attention and interest, more feeling I might perhaps -say, than we selfish beings usually accord to these mournful black -trains that mean _other_ people's sorrows. - -Of these three, the first was the train that bore the Herzog Eugen of -Wuertemberg to his last resting-place. Young, popular, after Prinz -Wilhelm presumptive heir to the throne; the husband of the Princess -Vera,--who is the niece and adopted daughter of the queen, and according -to report a very lovable person,--he had apparently enough to make life -sweet at the moment he was called from it. Recently he went to -Duesseldorf to take command of a regiment there. The Princess Vera -remained at the Residenz in Stuttgart, but was intending to join him -immediately. A slight cold neglected,--a rich banquet followed by -night-air,--and suddenly all was over. He died after an illness of a day -or two, while the princess, summoned by a telegram, was on the train -half-way between Stuttgart and Duesseldorf. - -The air is full of fables, and the common people "make great eyes" when -they speak of the poor duke, and dark hints of foul play, poison, -enemies, cabals, perfidy, delight all good souls with a taste for the -sensational. They, however, who have the slightest ground for _knowing_ -anything about the matter, and, indeed, all rational people, declare it -was simply a cold, inflammation, congestion, such as makes havoc among -frail mortal flesh, and never draws any distinction in favor of blood -royal. - -After the ceremonies at Duesseldorf came the solemn reception of the -remains here. Early in the evening the streets were thronged with an -immense but quiet, patiently waiting crowd, and, along the line where -the procession was to pass, burning tar cast a fitful light over the -mass of people: and the flickering flames, fanned by the night breeze, -now would illumine the Residenz and Schloss Platz and the fine outline -of the "Old Palace," in the chapel of which the duke was to lie; now, -subsiding, would leave the scene in half gloom. The slow, sad voice of -the dirge announced the approach of the procession, the whole effect of -which was intensely solemn and impressive. Outriders with flickering -torches, the escort of cavalry, Uhlans of the Wuertemberg regiment in -which he had served, floating streamers of black and white, the hearse -drawn by coal-black horses, slowly passing, with the loud ringing of all -the bells, made one hold one's breath as the black figures went by in -the lurid light. The inevitable hour had, indeed, awaited him, and -snatched him from his worldly honors and family affection, and "der edle -Ritter," in spite of all the "boast of heraldry and pomp of power" that -so lately had surrounded him, lay silent and cold, while the flames -burned strong and warm and the loud bells clanged, and he rode slowly on -to the chapel in the old castle, beneath which he now rests with others -of his race. - -This is not the first sad, stately night-procession that has occurred -here. Wilhelm, father of the present king, was a strong, original -nature, averse to form, and gave strict orders concerning his own -burial. They were to bury him on a hill, some miles from the city, -between midnight and dawn, and simply fire one gun over him, he had -said. His son, however, while observing his wishes as to time and place -of burial, took care that the state and dignity of the procession should -befit royalty dethroned by death. At midnight the train left the palace, -and, with its long line of nobles, cavaliers, and soldiers, swept slowly -out of the city amid the constant ringing of bells and booming of -cannon, and wound through the soft summer night along the Neckar's -banks, over the bridge at Cannstadt, while great fires blazed on every -hill-top, and the old king, in the majesty of death, was borne on, past -the fair vineyards and soft fertile slopes of the land he had loved so -well, to the Rothenberg, on the summit of which they laid him to rest -and fired one gun just as the morning star dropped below the horizon. - - "And had he not high honor? - The hillside for his pall, - To lie in state while angels wait - With stars for tapers tall, - And the dark rock-pines, like tossing plumes, - Over his bier to wave--." - -Certainly, nothing less than the "Burial of Moses" can have been so -grand as this last dark ride of the strong old king! We behold the train -in its magnificent gloom winding along the Neckar and up the vine-clad -hillside, so often as we see its route, after nightfall. Dusky, stately -forms ride by, and the wail of the dirge sounds on the evening breeze. -Why may we not all be laid at rest at night? Sunlight is cruel to eyes -blinded by tears, and glaring day hurts grieved hearts. The Night is so -solemn and tender, why may she not help us bury our dead? - -The next procession that we saw with earnest eyes, after the Duke -Eugen's, was that of a student of the Polytechnic School, who died from -the effects of a sword-wound. There was no anger, no provocation, -nothing which according to the student code might perhaps soften the -memory of the deed. It was simply a trial of skill with the _Degen_, a -slender, murderous-looking sword. Both were expert fencers. The presence -of friends incited them to do their best. Their pride was roused; -neither would yield, and in the excitement one received a cut in the -head, from the effects of which he died in a few days. He was a -promising scholar and a favorite with the students, and the affair seems -very shocking in the cruel uselessness of such a death, though the more -bitter fate of course is his who unwittingly did the deed and must live -with the memory of it in his heart. - -These student funerals occur now and then. We have had three or four -this winter. Our countrymen, not sympathizing with student ways and -student traditions, are sometimes apt to call such spectacles -"comedies," but to us the comic element has never been apparent. First -come the musicians, playing a dirge,--on this last occasion a funeral -march from Beethoven. Near the hearse walk the students of the corps of -which the deceased had been a member. They wear their most elegant -uniform,--black velvet blouses or jackets, buff knee-breeches, high -boots, the cap and sash of the color which distinguishes the corps, long -buff gauntlets, and swords,--altogether quite striking. On the draped -coffin are the dead student's cap, sash, and sword. The other corps walk -behind, the professors also, and friends. - -The last funeral of the three was hardly grand enough to be called a -procession. It was only a few carriages winding slowly out to the new -_Friedhof_. A touching little story preceded it, perhaps not uncommon, -yet, to those who watched its close, invested with a peculiar pathos. A -young American girl came here last fall, with high hopes and unbounded -energy and courage. She was in the art-school, and it may be her eager -spirit forgot that bodies too must be cared for, and it may be that her -naturally frail constitution had been weakened by overwork before she -came; but at all events a cold, which she ignored in her zeal and -devotion to her studies, led to an illness from which she never -recovered. She was entirely alone and unknown, and at first no one -except the people in her _pension_ knew of her sickness. Patient, -uncomplaining, and reserved, she bore whatever came, and was finally -taken, as she grew worse, to a hospital, where she could command better -and more exclusive care. As the facts became known in the American -colony, she was ministered to most tenderly, and flowers and delicacies -of every description were sent daily to her little room at the _Olga -Heil Anstalt_. Indeed, the good sister who nursed her there found it -difficult to guard her from the visits and kindly proffered -administrations of newly made friends, who came full of tender sympathy -for the lonely girl. Of her loneliness she never made complaint. When -asked by our consul why she had not at once sent for him when she was -first ill, she replied, smilingly, "Because I knew you had quite enough -to do without taking care of me." In fact, she sent for no one, and only -through accident did the English clergyman and the consul hear of her -case. And, lying in her bare room in a foreign hospital, hearing only -the foreign tongue of which she was not yet mistress, and at best, when -her countrywomen came to cheer her, seeing only new faces, instead of -her own home-people, her brave, bright smile was always ready to greet -the visitor, even when she was too languid to utter a word. Her one -confessed regret was that her illness took her from her art-studies; and -her eyes would beam with delight when a fellow-student in the art-school -would speak of it, of the professors, and the work there. Her whole -enthusiastic soul was absorbed in this theme, so that her suffering -seemed, to her, of no account in comparison with her high aims and -ideal. Utterly single-hearted, she lay there, brave and uncomplaining to -the last, and seemed the only one unconscious of the pathos of her -position. Her thoughts were so given to the beautiful pictures she -longed to make, and to the beautiful pictures others had made, she had -none at all left for the poor girl dying alone in a strange land, who -was filling so many eyes with tears and so many hearts with pain. She -faded away very gently, and, for a long time before her death, suffered -more from extreme languor than from acute distress. After it was all -over, there was a little, solemn service in the hospital chapel, -attended by the many who had interested themselves for her, and some of -the professors and pupils of the Kunst Schule, who added their exquisite -wreaths to the lovely flowers about her. And then she was taken to the -new _Friedhof_ and laid beneath the pavement of the Arcade, while a -little band of wanderers stood by--united, many of them, only through -their sympathy with her who was gone--and listened to the solemn words -of the English service, and looked thoughtfully out through the arches -upon a tender gray sky, a wide expanse of land--now almost an unbroken -surface, but one day to be filled with graves--and off upon the hills -rising softly beyond; and the last violets and tuberoses were strewn -upon her resting-place, and the little band separated, each going his -way, but in many hearts was a tender memory for the young girl whose -brief story was just ended,--a sad thought for her who never seemed sad -for herself. - - - - -SOME CHRISTMAS PICTURES. - - -A few days before Christmas the three kings from the Orient came -stealing up our stairs in the gloaming. They wore cheap white cotton -raiment over their ordinary work-a-day clothes, and gilt-paper crowns on -their heads. They were small, thin kings. Melchior's crown was awry, -Kaspar felt very timid, and was continually stumbling over his train; -but Balthazar was brave as a lion, and nudged his royal brothers,--one -of whom was a girl, by the way,--putting courage into them with his -elbows; and the dear little souls sang their songs and got their -pennies, and their white robes vanished in the twilight as their -majesties trudged on towards the next house. There they would again -stand in an uncertain, tremulous row, and sing more or sing less, -according to the reception they met with, and put more or less -pennies--generally less, poor dears!--into their pockets. Poor, dear, -shabby little wise men,--including the one who was a girl,--you were -potentates whom it was a pleasure to see, and we trust you earned such -an affluence of Christmas pennies that you were in a state of ineffable -bliss when, at last, freed from the restraint of crowns and royal robes, -you stood in your poor home before your Christmas-tree. It may have been -a barren thing, but to your happy child-eyes no doubt it shone as the -morning star and blossomed as the rose. - -Other apparitions foretelling the approach of Christmas visited us. One -was an old woman with cakes. Her prominent characteristic is staying -where she is put, or rather where she puts herself, which is usually -where she is not wanted. Buy a cake of this amiable old person, whose -breath (with all the respect due to age let it be said) smells -unquestionably of _schnapps_, and she will bless you with astounding -volubility. Her tongue whirls like a mill-wheel as she tearfully assures -us, "God will reward us,"--and _how_ she stays! Men may come and men may -go, but the old woman is still there, blessing away indefatigably. She -must possess, to a remarkable degree, those clinging qualities men -praise in woman. Indeed, her tendrils twine all over the house; and -when, through deep plots against a dear friend, we manage to lead her -out of our own apartment, it is not long before, through our dear -friend's counter-plots, the old woman stands again in our doorway with -her great basket on her head, smiling and weeping and bobbing and -blessing as she offers her wares. Queer old woman, rare old -plant!--though you cannot be said to beautify, yet, twining and clinging -and staying forever like the ivy-green, you were not so attractive as -the little shadowy kings, but you, too, heralded Christmas; and may you -have had a comfortable time somewhere with sausage and whatever is -nearest your heart in these your latter days! That she is not a poetical -figure in the Christmas picture is neither her fault nor mine. She may, -ages ago, have had a thrilling story, now completely drowned in -_schnapps_, but that she exists, and sells cakes according to the manner -described, is all we ever shall know of her. - -Then the cakes themselves--"genuine Nurembergers," she called them--were -strange things to behold. Solid and brown, of manifold shapes and sizes, -wrapped in silver-paper, they looked impenetrable and mysterious. The -friends in council each seized a huge round one with an air as of -sailing off on a voyage of discovery, or of storming a fortress, and -nibbled away at it. As a massive whole it was strange and foreign, but -familiar things were gradually evolved. There was now and then a trace -of honey, a bit of an almond, a slice of citron, a flavor of vanilla, a -soupcon of orange. - -Gazing out from behind her cake, one young woman remarks, -sententiously,-- - -"It's gingerbread with things in it." - -Another stops in her investigations with,-- - -"It is as hard as a brownstone front." - -"It's delightful not to know in the least what's coming next," says -another. "I've just reached a stratum of jelly and am going deeper. -Farewell." - -"Echt Nuernberger, echt Nuernberger!" croaked the old dame, still -nodding, still blessing; and so, meditatively eating her cakes, we gazed -at her and wondered if any one could possibly be as old as she looked, -and if she too were a product of "Nuremberg the ancient," to which -"quaint old town of toil and traffic" we wandered off through the medium -of Longfellow's poem, as every conscientious American in Europe is in -duty bound to do. It is always a comfort to go where he has led the way. -We are sure of experiencing the proper emotions. They are gently and -quietly instilled into us, and we never know they do not come of -themselves, until we happen to realize that some verse of his, familiar -to our childhood, has been haunting us all the time. What a pity he -never has written a poetical guide-book! - -These unusual objects penetrating our quiet study hours told us -Christmas was coming, and the aspect of the Stuttgart streets also -proclaimed the glad tidings. They were a charming, merry sight. The -Christmas fair extended its huge length of booths and tables through the -narrow, quaint streets by the old _Stiftskirche_, reaching even up to -the _Koenigstrasse_, where great piles of furniture rose by the -pavements, threatening destruction to the passer-by. Thronging about the -tables, where everything in the world was for sale and all the world was -buying, could be seen many a dainty little lady in a costume fresh from -Paris; many a ruddy peasant-girl with braids and bodice, short gown and -bright stockings; many types of feature, and much confusion of tongues; -and you are crowded and jostled: but you like it all, for every face -wears the happy Christmas look that says so much. - -These fairs are curious places, and have a benumbing effect upon the -brain. People come home with the most unheard-of purchases, which they -never seriously intended to buy. Perhaps a similar impulse to that which -makes one grasp a common inkstand in a burning house, and run and -deposit it far away in a place of safety, leads ladies to come from the -"Messe" with a wooden comb and a string of yellow-glass beads. In both -cases the intellect is temporarily absent, it would seem. Buy you must, -of course. What you buy, whether it be a white wooden chair, or a -child's toy, or a broom, or a lace barbe, or a blue-glass breastpin, -seems to be pure chance. The country people, who come into the city -especially to buy, know what they want, and no doubt make judicious -purchases. But we, who go to gaze, to wonder, and to be amused, never -know why we buy anything, and, when we come home and recover our senses, -look at one another in amazement over our motley collections. - -At this last fair a kind fate led us to a photograph table, where old -French beauties smiled at us, and all of Henry the VIII.'s hapless wives -gazed at us from their ruffs, and the old Greek philosophers looked as -if they could tell us a thing or two if they only would. The discovery -of this haven in the sea of incongruous things around us was a fortunate -accident. The photograph-man was henceforth our magnet. To him our -little family, individually and collectively, drifted, and day by day -the stock of Louise de la Vallieres, and Maintenons, and Heloises, and -Anne Boleyns, and Pompadours, and Sapphos, and Socrates, and Diogenes, -etc.,--(perfect likenesses of all of them, I am sure!)--increased in our -_pension_, where we compared purchases between the courses at dinner, -and made Archimedes and the duchess of Lamballe stand amicably side by -side against the soup-tureen. Halcyon, but, alas! fleeting days, when we -could buy these desirable works of art for ten _pfennig_, which, I -mention with satisfaction, is two and one half cents! - -But, of all the Christmas sights, the Christmas-trees and the dolls were -the most striking. The trees marched about like Birnam Wood coming to -Dunsinane. There were solid family men going off with solid, respectable -trees, and servants in livery condescending to stalk away with trees of -the most lofty and aristocratic stature; and many a poor woman dragging -along a sickly, stunted child with one hand and a sickly, stunted tree -with the other. - -As to the doll-world into which I have recently been permitted to -penetrate, all language, even aided by a generous use of -exclamation-points, fails to express its wondrous charm. A doll -kindergarten, with desks and models and blackboards, had a competent, -amiable, and elderly doll-instructress with spectacles. The younger -members were occupied with toys and diversions that would not fatigue -their infant minds, while the older ones pored over their books. They -had white pinafores, flaxen hair, plump cheeks. I think they were all -alive. - -Then there were dolls who looked as if they lay on the sofa all day and -read French novels, and dolls that looked as if they were up with the -birds, hard-working, merry, and wise,--elegant, aristocratic countess -dolls, with trunks of fine raiment; and jolly little peasant dolls, with -long yellow braids hanging down their backs, and stout shoes, and a -general look of having trudged in from the Black Forest to see the great -city-world at Christmas. Such variety of expression, so many phases of -doll-nature,--for nature they have in Germany! And in front of two -especially alluring windows, where bright lights streamed upon fanciful -decorations, toys, and a wonderful world of dolls, was always a great -group of children. Once, in the early evening, they fairly blockaded the -pavement and reached far into the street, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, not -talking much, merely devouring those enchanted windows with their eager -eyes; some wishing, some not daring to wish, but worshipping only, like -pale, rapt devotees. And we others, who labor under the disadvantage of -being "grown up," looked at the pretty doll-world within the windows and -the lovely child-world without, and wished that old Christmas might -bring to each of us the doll we want, and never, never let us know that -it is stuffed with sawdust. - - - - -HAMBURG AGAIN. - - -It seems almost like having been in two places at once to be able to -tell from observation a Christmas Tale of Two Cities. First there was -Stuttgart, where the sun was pouring down warm and summerish on the -hills around the city, and where we were borne away on the glad tide -that went sweeping along towards Christmas under the fairest skies that -ever smiled on saint or sinner in mid-winter, until it grew so near the -time we almost heard the Christmas bells. And then there was Hamburg, to -which place--having consigned ourselves to the tender mercies of a -sleeping coupe--we went rushing off through the night, and found the -dear, glad Christmas just going to happen there, too, and the great -Northern city seemed very noisy and bold and out-in-the-world after -Stuttgart, nestled so snugly among its hills. - -Hamburg has, however, its quiet spots, if you seek them under the great -elms in the suburbs, or among the quaint streets in the oldest portions -of the city. One of the very stillest places is a paved court by St. -George's Church, where the little, old houses of one story all look -towards three great crosses in an octagonal enclosure, on which Christ -and the two thieves hang, and Mary and John stand weeping below. It has -always been still there when we have passed through, though close to the -busy streets. It is a place with a history, I am sure. Indeed, what -place is not? But it is reticent and knows how to keep its secrets. -Perhaps Dickens might have made something out of the grave, small houses -that have been staring at the crosses so many long years. - -A very good place for moralizing, too, is down by the Elbe, where the -great ships from all quarters of the earth lie, and you hear Dutch and -Danish sailors talking, and don't understand a word. There commerce -seems a mighty thing, and the world grows appallingly great, and you -feel of as much importance in it as the small cat who sits meditatively -licking her paws down on the tug-boat just below you. - -But this was to be more or less about Christmas. Christmas in general is -something about which there is nothing to say, because it sings its own -songs without words in all our hearts; but a story of one particular -Christmas may not be amiss here, since it tells of a pretty and graceful -welcome which Germans knew how to give to a wanderer,--a welcome in -which tones of tenderness were underlying the merriment, and delicate -consideration shaped the whole plan. - -In a room radiant, not with one Christmas-tree, but with five,--a whole -one for each person being the generous allowance,--stood a lordly fir, -glistening with long icicles of glass, resplendent with ornaments of -scarlet and gold and white. The stars and stripes floated proudly from -its top; unmistakable cherries of that delectable substance, Marzipan, -hung in profusion from its branches; and at its base stood the Father of -his Country. George, on this occasion, was a doll of inexpressibly -fascinating mien, arrayed in a violet velvet coat, white satin waistcoat -and knee-breeches, lace ruffles, silver buckles, white wig, and -three-cornered hat, and wearing that dignified, imperturbable -Washingtonian expression of countenance which one would not have -believed could be produced on a foreign shore. He held no hatchet in his -hand, but graciously extended a document heavily sealed and tied with -red, white, and blue ribbons. - -This document was written in elegant and impressive English. A very big -and fierce-looking American eagle hovered over the page, which was also -adorned by the arms of the German Empire and of Hamburg. The purport of -the document was that George Washington, first President of the United -States, did herewith present his compliments to a certain wandering -daughter of America, wishing her, on the part of her country, family, -and friends, - - "A merry Christmas and happy New Year," - -and "all foreign authorities, corporations, and private individuals were -enjoined to promote, by all legal means of hospitality and good-will, -the loyal execution of the above-mentioned wishes." It displayed the -names of several highly honorable witnesses, and concluded:-- - - "Given under my hand and seal at my permanent White House - residence, Elysium, 24th December, 1876. - - ---- "_George Washington._" - -And the seal bore the initials of the mighty man. - -The tree yielded gifts many and charming, but the sweetest gift was the -kindly thought that prompted the pretty device. Though one had to smile -where all were smiling, yet was it not, all in all, quite enough to make -one a little "teary roun' the lashes," especially when one is very much -"grown up," and so has not the remotest claim upon the happy things -that, "by the grace of God," belong to the children? Such scenes make -one feel the world is surely not so black as it is painted. - -There was during the festivities, later, a bit of mistletoe over the -door, which, in an indirect, roundabout way, through our ancestral -England, was also meant as a tribute to America, and which caused much -merriment during the holidays in a family unusually blessed with cousins -in assorted sizes. When certain flaxen-haired maidens felt that their -age and dignity did not permit them to indulge in such sports, and so -resisted all allurements to stand an instant under the mistletoe-bough, -what did the bold young student cousins? Each seized a twig of green and -stood it up suggestively in a cousin's fair braided locks, when she was -at last "under the mistletoe," and - - "I wad na hae thought a lassie - Wad sae o' a kiss complain!" - -None but the brave deserve the fair, and then--lest any one should be -shocked--they were positively all cousins, and when they were more than -five times removed I can solemnly affirm I _think_ it was the hand only -that was gallantly lifted to the lips of Cousin Hugo, or Cousin Rudolph, -or Cousin Siegfried; and, if I am mistaken after all, Christmas comes -but once a year, and youth but once in a lifetime. - -At the theatre, Christmas pieces were given especially for the children. -The Stadt Theatre one evening was crowded with pretty little heads, the -private boxes full to overflowing; and across the body of the house a -great, solid row of orphan girls in a uniform of black, with short -sleeves and a large white kerchief pinned soberly across the shoulders. -They wear no hats in winter, nor do common housemaids here. A friend in -Stuttgart remarked innocently to a servant who was walking with her to -the theatre one bitter cold night, "Why, Luise, you'll freeze; you ought -to wear a hat or hood." "No, indeed!" said the girl, quite repudiating -the idea, "I am no _frauelein_." They do not seem to suffer any evil -consequences, never having known anything different, and perhaps the -little orphans, too, are not so cold as they look. It may be they are -made to go bareheaded, to teach them their station and humility, but it -seems a miracle that it does not teach them influenza. The little things -were in the seventh heaven of delight, and the play a bit of pure, -delicious nonsense,--a fairy-tale with an old, familiar theme,--the -three golden apples and the three princesses who pluck them, and in -consequence are plunged into the depths of the earth, where a -fire-breathing dragon is their keeper; the despair of their royal -father, who is a portly old gentleman with a very big crown, and his -proclamation that whoever, high or low, shall rescue them may wed them; -then the procession that sets out in search of the missing maidens, with -the tailor, the gardener, and the hunter in advance, and the adventures -of the three, until the hunter, who is the beautiful, good young man who -always succeeds,--in fairy-tales,--finally rescues the princesses, and -marries the youngest and loveliest, while the tailor and gardener, who -have conducted themselves in a treacherous and unseemly manner, are -punished according to the swift retribution that always overtakes -offenders--in fairy-tales. - -The action was extremely rapid, the scenery very effective; there were -perfect armies of children on the stage, some of whom danced a kind of -Chinese mandarin ballet, and some of whom represented apes, and also -danced in the suite of the Prince of Monkeyland, one of the rejected -suitors of the princesses. In actual life the Prince of Monkeyland is, -unfortunately, not always rejected. There was a pretty scene when the -sunlight streamed through the Gothic windows of an old castle, and -red-capped dwarfs hopped about the stone floor, and played all sorts of -pranks by the old well. And then there was the man in the moon, with his -lantern; and all the women in the moon, who were blue, filmy, misty -creatures, bowing and swaying in a way that made the children through -the house scream with laughter; and these moony maidens were so very -ethereal they could only speak in a whisper, and almost fainted when the -hunter, who happened to be up that way, addressed them. - -"Speak softly, softly, noble stranger," they implored, in a whispering -chorus, shrinking from him in affright, with their hands on their ears. -"Thy voice is like a thunder-clap." - -It was certainly one of the prettiest spectacular dramas imaginable, -with its innocent, droll plot; and to see a good old-fashioned -fairy-tale put on the stage so well, and to see it with hundreds of -blissful, ecstatic children, was thoroughly enjoyable. - -Through the holidays social life here seems to resolve itself chiefly -into great family gatherings, and the custom of watching the old year -out is very general. One party of between thirty and forty persons, -being only brothers and sisters with their children, was a charming -affair. The dignified played whist, and the frivolous sang and were -merry in other rooms. Tea and light cakes were served frequently during -the evening, from the arrival of the guests until the supper at eleven, -when the long table was brilliant with choice glass and silver and -flowers; and fresh young faces and sweet, benign elderly ones were -gathered around. A family party can be a dismal, dreary assembling of -incongruous elements that make one soul-sick and weary of the world, or -it can be a tender, cheery, blessed thing. There are, indeed, many -varieties of family parties. Most of the large ones are perhaps no -better than they ought to be; but _this_ gathering of a clan happened to -possess the intangible something that cheers and charms. - -There were jests and toasts and laughter and blushes, and there was a -wonderful punch, brewed by the eldest son of the house in an enormous -crimson glass punch-bowl,--which, like the "Luck of Edenhall," "made a -purple light shine over all,"--and dipped out with a gold ladle; and its -remarkably intoxicating ingredients, particularly the number of bottles -of champagne poured in at the last, I shall never divulge. - -The host rose just before midnight, and alluded briefly to certain -losses, and causes for sadness experienced by the family during the -year; yet they were still, he said very simply, united, loving, and -hopeful; he then gave the toast to the New Year, and they all drank it -heartily, standing, as the clock was striking twelve, after which was a -general movement through the room, warm greetings, hand-pressures and -kisses, and suspicious moisture about many eyes, though lips were -smiling bravely. - -Then came a walk home through the great city, whose streets were crowded -full at two o'clock in the morning. "Prosit Neujahr! Prosit Neujahr!" -sounded everywhere, far and near. A band of workmen, arm in arm, tramp -along in great jollity, pushing their way and greeting the whole world. -"Prosit Neujahr!" they cry to the young aristocrat; "Prosit Neujahr!" is -the hearty response. For an hour all men are brothers, and everybody -turns away from the sad old year, and gives an eager welcome to the new -young thing, whom we trust, though we know him not. Above the surging -multitude, and the hoarse, loud voices and impetuous hearts, and wild -welcoming of the unknown, the starlit night seems strangely still, and -the quiet moon shines down on the great frozen Alster basin, around -which reaches the twinkling line of city lights. Beyond are the city -spires. "Round our restlessness His rest," says some one softly; and so - - _Prosit Neujahr_! - - - Cambridge: Electrotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co. - - - - - - -NOTICES OF "ONE SUMMER." - - - "No more charming story than this has appeared since Howells's - 'Chance Acquaintance.' 'One Summer' is a delightful, and withal - sensible, love-story, which one will be loath to stop reading - until the conclusion is reached. The characters are exceedingly - attractive, without anything of the superhuman or sensational - about them, but full of life, vigor, and common-sense; and a - tinge of genuine romance spreads over every chapter."--_New - Haven Journal and Courier._ - - "A delightfully fresh and spirited little romance. The style is - graceful and spirited to an eminently pleasing degree; and the - plot is charmingly simple and interesting. The hero and heroine - are drawn with rare skill and naturalness. Their acquaintance - begins by an untoward accident, which sets them at loggerheads; - and the means by which their misunderstanding is cleared up, and - they gradually begin to esteem each other, form the substance of - the story, which has a heartiness of tone, and an apparent - freedom from effort in its telling, that make it peculiarly - attractive."--_Boston Gazette._ - - "One of the most charming stories of the season."--_Chicago - Inter-Ocean._ - - "A bright, happy story, delightfully natural and easy. It is - just suited for a pleasant afternoon in a hammock, or lying in a - breezy shade."--_Boston Traveller._ - - "It is one of those fresh and breezy love-stories one meets with - but twice or thrice in a lifetime. Altogether for charm of - style, simpleness of diction, and pleasantness of plot, the book - is quite inimitable."--_Rocky Mountain News._ - - "A story of great merit, both as a novel and a work of art. In - reading it, one meets on nearly every page some delicate touch - of Nature, or dainty bit of humor, or pleasant piece of - description."--_The Independent_ (New York). - - "One of the best of summer novels. If we are not mistaken, it - will be borrowed and lent around, and laughed over, and possibly - cried over, and hugely enjoyed, by all who get a chance to read - it."--_The Liberal Christian._ - - "This little book is one of the most delightful we ever read. It - has made us laugh until we cried; and, if it has not made us cry - out of pure sadness, it is because our heart is very - hard."--_Christian Register_ (Boston). - - "The story is charmingly told. The fragrant breath of a rural - atmosphere pervades its scenes; much of the character-painting - is admirably well done; there is a freshness and vivacity about - the style that is singularly attractive; and the whole action of - the play comprised within the limits of 'One Summer' has a - flavor of originality that commands the unflagging attention of - the reader."--_Boston Transcript._ - - "It is a dainty little love-story, full of bright, witty things, - which are related in a charmingly fascinating - manner."--_Christian at Work._ - - "Fresh, airy, sparkling, abounding in delicious bits of - description. Its dialogues brimming with a fun which seems to - drop from the lips of the speakers without the slightest - premeditation, its interest sustained throughout: it is just the - book to read under the trees these lazy June days, or to take in - the pocket or satchel when starting upon a journey."--_Newark - Courier._ - - "It is a clean-cut, healthy story, with no theology and no - superfluous characters. The hero is a manly fellow, and the - heroine a sweet and womanly girl, with no nonsense about - her."--_Boston Globe._ - - "It is a woman's book,--bright, fresh, and attractive, and more - than ordinarily interesting. There is a decided dash of fun - running through the story, and plenty of good, healthy romance, - which never degenerates into sentimentality. There is an - engaging simplicity about the style, and a refreshing lack of - the modern sensational."--_Portland Transcript._ - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ONE YEAR ABROAD *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35680 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the -General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and -distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works to protect the -Project Gutenberg(tm) concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a -registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, -unless you receive specific permission. 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