Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-12-11
Correspondence Of the susie Sentinel
LETTERS FROM SWITZERLAND AND GER
HANY-No. @.

ter, which | could not finish for want OF
room: We stood looking at Kotzebue's
house, wondering which room he had occu-
pied, which window he had looked out OF,
whether the form of the door and the color
of the facade were precisely the same as be
had seen them, till some common looking
people came out Of it, talking and smokisg,
and Weakened US from our dream. Poor
Kotzebue I have derived much pleasure
and much instruction from bis written
thoughts, and my heart yearned to find some
trace Of his personal, individual, home-life-
some tangible link connecting him with hui
manity-but there was nothing left to satisfy
my craving. There was the old house in
which he lived. loved, labored and died, but
strangers dwelt in its halls, and met round
its hearthstone, and there was no trace Of his
footsteps on its marble floors. o Time, Time,
thou art fearfully strong, and thy changes
are written on all things earthly
We went into the Church Of the Jesuits,
looked at some precious marbles which
adorn its affairs, some passable frescoes on
its ceiling, and number Of saints and an
gels who have fallen from their first estate of
elaborate gliding. Then we paid our re-
spects to the palace, which is an immense
pile, remarkable for nothing but its size. Il
was to this palace that the Court was re-
moved, in 1920. from Heidelberg-it seems
to me that the Elector, Charles Philip, who
made this change, had very poor taste, or
was very fond Of novelty. Only one wing
of this huge pile is inhabited, and that by a
woman, and she is widow. They call her
the Grand Duchess Stephanie. and the guide
book says that she is the daughter Of Count
Francois Beauharnais, and the adopted daugh-
ter of Napoleon l; think, however, that she
must be relation of the wandering Jew, for
she seems to live in every place where we
have been. In one city the people advised
US to visit the gardens of the Duchess
Stephanie in another they asked us if we
had seen the chateau Of the Duchess Steph-
anie and as soon as we arrived in Mann
helm we were informed that great many
English reside there, partly on account of
the cheaPness of living, but more particular
ly to enjoy the society of the Grand Duchess
Stephanie. This palace contains collection
of pictures none of which struck me Is be-
ing particularly good, though many of them
are the works OF Teniers, Rembradt, Cra-
mach, Rykaert, Rubens and Holbein; the
most valuable pictures in this collection were
taken to Munich nearly a hundred years ago.
From the palace we went to the theater,
which is said to be the best in the south OF
Germany but theaters as well as actors are
seen to much more advantage by gss.light
than in the broad, honest glare of day, and
this one, with all its gliding and frescoes and
crimson hangings, had for me but one attrac-
ton, which was It's connection with Schiller,
who sat here in the year 1852. and watched
with a flushed cheek and throbbing heart the
first represeation of his Robbers" In or
rounds we saw the house where he lived, but
it is occupied by those who probably never
heard his name, and we did not enter it. We
went next to the synagogue, which. is kept
and seems to have been made for show.
liked the exterior, but the interior is so mot
tied with little patches of gliding. and little
patches of paint, that it looks more Ike a
play house than place of worship. We
were very much amused by the manner of
the porter who did us the favor to show this
chef d'euvrs of modern synagogues. Walk
ing into the main aisle he drew himself up
TO his full height, laid one hand imrressively
on his heart, and pointing with the other to-
wards the gallery, said in loud, emphatic
voice, "Fresco" Then moving his eyes
slowly, as though they followed some terri
BILE fascination, and pointing to lamp. as
Hamlet might have pointed to the ghost Of
his father, he exclaimed, "Gas'' and con-
tinued, still moving his eyes and pointing
his finger, marble Organ"l Then, as If
exhausted by his own eloqueuce, he gave
carriage and drove through the principal
streets, which are straight, wide and clean I;
through long, beautiful avenue, on the
bank of the Nskar, over the Rhine, by the
bridge of boats, to Ludwigshafen, where we
took the cars for Worms A ride of an hour
brought us to the once queenly city, which
sits now decrowned and desolate in the
midst of that fair valley which was called,
in the olden time, Wonnegau, or 'the land
of Joy" 1t was late when we arrived at our
hotel, and we were tired; but we had seen
the Cathedral before we entered the city,
and could not rest until we had paid
it visit. 1t is built of red sandstone,
like that of which the Smithsonian lnstitu-
ton. at Washington, is constructed, in the
round arched Gothic style, not overloaded
with ornament, but exceedingly picturesque,
with its four tall, round towers, its two
domes, its grey walls and time-stained roof.
We passed an hour or two wandering through
its venerable aisles, looking at its faded
pictures, broken statues and mouldy frescoes.
and thinking of the generations who had
passed over its worn pavemenh and wor-
shipped before its affairs for thousand years;
but they are all gone; earth has lost the
fashion of their faces and their voices are not
heard in the land of the living. We as
cended one of the domes and looked down
on the quiet city. On one side the dim, grey
veil of twilight covered the distant noun
tains; on the other the pale, blue sky SEEM
ed to kiss the fair vallies that the Mime
Singers loved so well. Peace, rest and ST.
lence brooded over the old city and my
thoughts went back to the days Of its glory,
to the days when it was the richest and the
fairest of the Imperial free cities of the
Rhine. And farther away into the dim past