Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1858-03-29
NO. 75.
MISCELLANEOUS READING.
CHEAP ADJUSTMENTS IN GERMANY

CHEAP ADJUSTMENTS IN GERMANY.
Music and flowers are the companions of
Innocence and virtue. In no part of the
world is this fact more strikngly exemplifcd
than in Germany. The traveller secs there
a more simple and less feverish state of cZ-
istence than almost anywhere else. He sees
there greater portion OF popular con'ch5
diffused by a more equal Distribution CT lIe-
perty. lie sees less convulsiVe StraInlng
after the accumulation OF enormous fortune.
lie sees less incesssnt devotion to the mere
business of money making and consequently
a less intense selfishness Of spirit, more ge'
nial and serene enjoyment of life, more 10
tellectual embellishment Of it with music and
domestic entertainment. lie sees the means
Of existence kept by tho absence Of restriction
on the Importation of articles OF food, cheap
and easy of acquisition He sees, wherever
he goes, in great cities or small towns, every
thing done for the public enjoyment Pub
lie walks, beautifully planted and carefully
accommodated with seats al convenient dis
tances for the public to rest at leisure. lie
sees these walks laid out wherever it is poe
sible. Old town walls and ramparts are con
verted into promenados, commanding By their
elevation the finest prospects over town and
country; the whole Of a city or town Is en-
circled by them. Thus the old as well as the
Young can ascend from the heat and dust,
and hurry from the streets, and erJoy the
freshest air and the most lively and soothing
scenes in the streets below on one band, or
gaze into the green fields and hills around.
1t is delightful to see, on fine days, the
grayheaded fathers of q city thus seated on
hanaoth thar fayOrlfn
lines, enjoying their chat together over old
en- times; while within few steps OF home
the eve can still wander over those distant
scenes whittier their feet can no longer carry
them.
If there be an old castle in the suburbs Of
any of their towns, it is not shut up, but Its
gardens, and its very walls and courts, and
fosses, are laid out in lovely walks, and the
whole place is made the favorite resort and
enjoyment of the whole population. There q
coffee house or casino is sure to be lound,
and there beneath the summer trees, OLD and
young, rich and poor, sit and partake oi
their coffee, wine and other refreshments;
while some old tower near Is converted INTO
on orchestra, and sends down the finest mu-
sic for the general delight. lie sees all sorts
of gardens, even to the royal ones, and all
sorts of estates kept open for the public OF
servation and passage through them; be sees
the woods and the forests all open to the foot
and spirit of the delighted lover OF nature
and solitude. He sees all public amusements
and enjoyments, as theatrical and musical
representations, the very highest Of the kind,
| kept cheap and accessible to all.
There are no operas there, with boxes let
at E300 per annum. with seats in the PIT at
half guinea each. Twenty pence is the
price for gentility itsef;and for FIVE pence
may be heard, and 10 a good place, the iine't
/ operas performed, by the finest singers IN the
country. For four pence may be attended
the finest out-oi-door concerts Of Strauss and
Lanner in the capitals of Austria or Prus'ia.
lie sees education kept equally cheap 10
school or university, kept within the reach OF
all, for the free use of all; and the schools So
systematized as to answer the various re-
quiriugs of every varied class and profession.
lie sees the church kept cheap, and the church
open and free to one man as well as ~ anoth-
er, without pews and property, the common
meeting place of the common family, before
the common Father. He sees no church
rates imposed on stubborn and refractory
conscences, but a voluntary contribution lett
by the voluntary attendcr Of divine service
lie gees these cviliziug and refining lniiu-
ences extend over the open air eDjoyments ot
the common people in the city and coun'rg.