Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1867-06-19
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.. From the Boston Journal.
HORRORS OF EUROPEAN DUNGEONS.
THE MANUFACTURES OF NUREMBERG.
LETTER FROM "CARLEToN. .

II
NuRENsERa. Bavaria, May Is, 1867.
10 the Editor Of tie Boston JournAr
Come to this old town if you want to
get glimpse of the world as it was five
hundred years ago. The streets are uu-
changed. You behold houses with high,
steep roofs, covered sfih FED tiles and full
of windows which were standing in the
time Of the Crusaders. At this very mo.
ment hear the deep and heavy tones Of
church bells which swung in their moss
grown towers long before Columbus sailed
upon au unknown ocean in search of
western world. --. ....,.
There have been no devastating fires to
change the FIXTURES Of the city. Battles
have been fought outside the walls, but
there has been no bombardment of the
place trade and commerce which flourish
ed four centuries ago has been turned to
other channelsi. there has been no tearing
down of old structures to give place to
new ones, aud 50 you oss the town as it
was five centuries aog-thc same massive
walls, high towers. with loop holes, and
bst,lements; the same queer sh aged hous-
es, with jutting windows. curiously cary
ed ornaments, steeples. spires and wealth.
er.cocks the same pavcmepts which were
once trod by Luther aud Melancthon.
Modern goods may be purchased in the
shops You see no longer the quaint cost
uncs of the middle ages life is not quite
the same as it vas when tournaments
were held in the castle yard but ol oil
places in Europe this has changed the
least. ..|
GOVERNMENT THEN AND NOW.
There are some men who claim that the
past was better than the present, and who
sing of the 'good old timer" and there
arc great many men in America to day
who assert thst there never was a govern
ment so despotic as that of the United
States at the present time. The Military
Reconstruction act of the prcseut Congress
is denounced as ''worse than anything Of
the middle ages" Correspondents Of En-
glish newspapers, writing from America.
reiterate the cry, aud doubt not that
there are many honest simple minds or
both sides of the Atlantic half persuaded
that there has been nothing in the past
more despotic and over5earipg than that
enactment of Congress.
Come with me, then to this old town,
enter some Of these cdi6ces and look upon
the administration of government as 1T
was in the 10th and II centuries. We
enter one Of the towers Of the castle. de-
sccnd I've steps, and fud ourselves in a
museum, where are preserved the books of
records, giving us history of the past !,
and not only books, but implements aud
instruments which show more clearly than
written words the administration of those
DAYS. with which the government OF the
United States is now compared. Here is
a post four feet high in the centre of the
room with some Resemblance to gun locks.
What Is this /? The girl who acts as our
usher raises the hammers. which come up
with click. She touches a spring and
down they 90, with snap that startles
you-forced down 5y strong springs. with
whack that would have mashed your
fpgrs to jelly had they been under the
hammer. This is a finger crushcr.a deli.
cate little instrument used to extort con.
fes.iops from reluctant witnesses or sus.
pec,ed criminals Here are bracelets for
the wrists, not of gold or silver, but of
iron, and the parts which touch the wrist
are eel with needles Put them on your
arms and turn a screw and they close mp
on the flesh. and bones. 1t is one de-
gree more excrucisting than crushing the
fingers.
Here ia head .drcss--a crown which
has been worn by many men and women.
1t has sharp knives which cut through
the scalp to the skull. Here are chains
aud weights, locks and keys, havdcuifs
and clasps for the ankles, stocks for the
feet, weights to hold your feet to the floor.
and pulleya to draw your head at the
same time to th ceiling. Here is bench
Of solid oak, with corrugated surface'
upon which many men lave been laid
held down by cords, to undergo the
kneaaing process, and that rolling pin
knotty aud knobbS. also Of OAK, which
lies upon the table, bas been rolled back
ward and forward over the naked formt
of men and women, knesdiOg live flesh te
bloody doupbl Time and space would fai