Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-12-04
Correspondence Of the State sentinel1
LETTERS FROM SWITZERLAND AND GER
MANY-No. 5

rived here before three, having past, on the
wing Of steam, through Rastadt little, old,
decaysd town with great castle, built in
l725, by the Margarine Sibylla, and
half filed with the trophies of her hus-
bands victories in the Holy Wars. Through
Carlsrhue, the Capital and residence Of the
court of the Grand Duchey of Baden, which
is stupid looking modern town, with but
little natural or architectural beauty to rec
commend it to attention. Through Bruchsal,
which seems, with its vast, deserted castle,
once the residence of the Prince Archbish-
ops of Spires, asleep or dead. Through va
rious other small towns and smaller villages.
where the poor, hard-working people have
but little TO live on to-day and expect bet lit
tie to morrow. By various other great un-
occupied and forlorn-looking castles, built by
princes, palstines, bishops and margraves, or
celebrated as having been the residence of
some of those illustrious lights of other days.
Over battlefelds, where warriors won great
victories long ago; by Roman towers, which
have withstood the winds and winters of two
thousand years; over plains where cities
fourished and passed away; by feudal pala-
ces and fsudal prisons, now moulsering to de-
cay; by the graves of the past, and the mon-
uments of its greatness flies that child Of the
nineteenth century, the iron-horse, with his
fiery eyes, his burning breath and his strong,
young heart. He may bring white bread to
the poorest homes in Rhineland, and yellow
gold to its palaces; but alas, for the Zauber-
ins and White Ladies that haunted its ruins;
and alas, for the Undines and Mummelmaids
that live in its waters! the voice of this
swift giant will frighten them away forever
And, alas, for the dear old legends, written all
over its hills and vallies; he viii blot them
out like dreams from the German heart; he
is the spirit Of the present age-he gives gold
for the poetry of the past.
OCTOBER, Ord.
We went to the Post Office Yesterday after
noon, az soon as we arrived here, and we have
gone again to-day, without finding letter
from you- This makes me little uneasy;
but l will hope for the best, and be as happy
as can. Perhaps letter has miscarried, or
may come to-morrow-I believe the posts
are slow in Germany, but sure.
The first thing people do, on arriving here,
is to visit the castle; this we did to-day, and
tho we had heard of it all our lives, we were
not disappointed. 1t is one of the few ruins,
among the hundreds in Germany, that has
place in the worlds thoughts; and well it
deserves it. Deserves it for its extent, its
strength, its beauty and its associations. 1t
stands just above the town, on the lap of the
Kaiserstuhl, magnificent mountain, which
seems to lean its green brow on the blue sky
1t is not certain when it was founded, nor by
whom; but historians say that Ohio, Count
Palatine of the house of Whittelsbach, re-
moved his court to it in the year 1853. From
which time. for nearly FIVE hundred years, it
remained the residence of the court of the
Electors Platine of the Rhine. 1t has been
three times burnt, ten times bombarded
sacked and pillaged by war, and once struck
by tightening. Notwithstanding all these
disasters, one of its towers and two of it's IA
cadss are nearly entire, and some parts of it
habitable. In one wing there is a picture
gallery, which, excepting some good views
of Heidelberg and its environs, is collec-
ton of the portraits of the high born men
and women who dwelt in its lordly halls in
the days of their glory, and went down to the
dust long centuries ago. The one that most
interested me is the likeness OF Elizabeth,
wife of the Elector Frederick Fifth, (after-
wards King of Bohemia) daughter of James
first Of England, and grand daughter Of Ma
~ Stuart looked at her pale face long,
and fancied saw in her proud, dark eyes,
the light of that imperial spirit which die
tated the words; "Letme rather eat dry bread
at Kings table, than feast at the board Of
an electorl" When she uttered this notori-
Gus sentiment, she knew not what she said;
alasl unfortunate lady, she lived to learn the
deepest, saddest meaning Of her words. She
lived to wander homeless among strangers;
10 eat the dry bread of charity. In this same
range of rooms are the looking glasses thatre-
flected the fair faces and noble forms of the old
time, and the chairs on which they sat, and
the boards at which they feasted, and the old
china which they used. But these are not
needed to impress the heart, for the worn
pavements are fraught with memories, and
the old walls have voices, aud the soul dreams
in the shadow of its broken battlements.
! We walked, for hours, through its subter-
ranean vaults; in one of which we saw the
famous Heidelberg Tun, the largest
wine -cask in the world. Il is said to hold
eight-hundred hogsheads, and the guide told
us it had been full three times. It is placed
with its side the floor of an immense
vault which may be forty feet high. There
! is a floor on the top of it about twenty feet
square. which has railing around it, and
was the ballroom, where the peasants
danced, when the Tun was filled with
the wealth of the vintage. There is a
place for the orchestra and gallery along
each side Of the great vault for spectators
| Floors, stairway galleries and platforms are
7 all kept in as good order as if it were a place
of frequent and fashionable resort, though
the great tun has not been filed since 1869
consequently there has been no dancing il
that unique ball room, for nearly hundred
years. Not far from the tun, with his bacl
to the wall, his hands folded, his little eye
twinkling and his thick lips wreathing will
fun and frolic, stands the statue, in wood, o
I the buffoon Of Charles Philip. His nam
was Perkeo, and it is said that he could drinl
fifteen bottles Of wine day-poor funny