Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-08-30

private letter dated Heidelberg, Aug. g,
1867, written by a citizen of this place
now travelling in Germany:
Though my best friends cautioned me
against indulgence in letter writing du-
ring this three-month-vacatio tour, ia
search Of health, I sometimes feel my
self Irreslsaably inpelled to do it. And
this necessity seems now more impeT-
atlve STILL inasmuch as DR.. Merrick has
Just left me here alone and gone on a /
lightning tour to England and Scotland.
In my solitude have little OF that I
feeling which, for want of a better name, I
I call home-sicEnes This should not /
be so, especially here in Heidelberg, /
which of ali small German towns, offers
the most Interest to the heart and imag- /
inatiOn. Perhaps 3 little account of the |
material incidents of our tour viii in /
terest you. Since landing in France we
have stopped in and seen, with more or
less completeness, not few important
cities, and among them may mention,
Bres5, Paris Strasburg, Basle, Lu-
eeEne, Milan, Genoa, I,eghOrne Florence,
Venice, Como, IIndau. Augsburg, Mum
ich, Stuttgart, Heidelberg and host Of
others less known. And when YOU add
to these, for DIR. Merrick, the Eternal
/ City, you viii but admit that it Is q
pretty respectable list for four weeks.
But cur twice crossing the Alps, and
our c0asbing along, in diligence, or sail
44E v kfU1A GAAE SWISS anu LAd4AAG4L AaEAUe5
and among them, Lucerne, Aaggl0re,
/ Como and Constance afford us the most
/ pleasurable recoilections. Often have
we iuv0luntarily exclaimed AIf Heay-
l en- is only as lovely as this we viii be
i content" A curious feature of our tour
1 is the many varieties of climate it has
/ presented Delaware, when we left was
/ enjoying a respectable degree of warmth
1 and so was New York. But we had no
i sooner got fairly upon the ocean than
1 Overeoats came into play; and even
/ with them, it was difficult to keep COM
/ Portable during the days of our foggy
proximity to the New F0undland Banks
/ Our cabins had to be warmed by stoves
Nc sooner. however, were we in the
streets of Bresb, than a luxurious
warmth seemed 10 rain down from the
i chestnut trees and to exhale from the
j ground. At Paris it was worse not so
Intensely hot but balmily warm and
InCIDing Cu9 to lmaCtiOn or state
/ of eneryaElOus according as we yielded or
resisted, And it is plain that with the
Exposition and Sultan on hand, both at
the same time, one would be impelled
to resistance. But the consequence
necessarily followed and a single week
Il in Paris seemed to have undOne the
whole restorative influence of the long
4 sea voyage. And so we started off and
/ in thirty-six hours were in the midst of
| the cool air and snow capped peaks of
the Alps. In sight of them, wrapped
up in our Warmest winter clothing, we
ljOurneyed for another thirty-six hours.
The result was that before we got into
Italy we were in the enjoyment of fine
appetites and good digestion. At Mil
an we again found the climate of Paris,
though not its impure air and water
In Genoa we had the extremes of heat
at noon and coOlness at night. In Flor
ence it was heat alone we were served
to. Imagine one painting and leaning
against a brick wall hot enough to roast
eggs, or carefully creeping along the
shady side of the alley-wide streets,
never getting in reach of the suns rays
except under white cotton sunshade,
necessarily taking a carriage at every
two hundred yards Of desired lOcomO-
tiOn, stopping to rest two or three times
in climbing II gallery stairs and ever
hankerlng for ices and lemcnades and
you have pictures of, not how /, an in
Wild got about. but Of how almost eyery
body from the II )rth of the Alps, occ4 +
sionally felt and acted. When DIR. NJ.
returning from Rome Joined me at the
Europa, thought for a time that the heat
and the knowedge Of the possibility OF
the cholera being in ursystems would
1 entirely Ese us up. My prayer. in part
was: "Come 0 north wind and breathe
upon this roasting Hotel" We even call
ed to our great relief, clever John Bul-
lish doctor, and it was with the eXul-
taut feeling OF Moses and Aaron in
I EIOEEELlE Inc EEGQ sea- HHIAaB we uAdI1V
! crossed the funi gated space of the Flor
ence railway depot, and heard the
dwartish, eXhi.araling squeak of the
Venice bound eX press train. We fell
immediately, morally more tranquil
4 and physically more cool. We now
friends III 1eSb. But after all, it Is
easier 10 look back a little loosely. OveI
these things than to feel so Wlile in the
midst of them. On rscFossing the Alps
at the ms r. easterly pass of Splugen, We
came, unfortunately, not to a medium
climate, but to one which seemed to us
of winter coIdnesS. At Chur, north O1
the Alps, We suffer ed from cold noses
and cold feet, and sE1sza1ly sat in oul
hotels wrapped in our overcoats. shaWls
and whatever else we could lay hands
upon At Munich it was still cool tC
US, and is so Eere in Heidel berg. Al
the station this morning at six O'Clock
as Dr. NJ was waiting for the train, we
were compelled to walk and chafe our
hands to keep warm. Much of this
/ may be relative to our having been SO
/ recently IN a hot climate: but, making
ali deductions, it seems that the climate
of southern Germany must be much
cooler than that Of Ohio. Hereafter we
shall probably contine our vacation
trips to north of the Alps. Another
pleasant or unpleasant phrase of our
tour is, its bearing on time. The eX-
preston, 't We take no note of time,'' is
very true of our travelling experience.
II Time seems to have flown very rapidly
or slowly since we left Brest, but / hard
H ly know which it is. 1t really seems to
be both at the same time; for when we
try. to review the experience of the last
twenty or thirty DAYS, the time of our
landing on the continent seems almost
as remotely distant as the age of trilo-
bites and yet when we turn to the inn
mediate future, it looks as if we should
II
fore the middle of September arrives.
The better statement Of the matter is,
that the seeming length 0ftime is who'll
" relative to the amount and variety of
ones experience. Time spent in mental
inactivity as in sleep or half sleep. seems
very short from the lack of remember
ed way-marks to measure it, and the
reverse So if one wishes to get as
much out of a short life as is often OBJ
taIned in long one, let him simply
crowd his mind with objective and sub
4 .jective Xperiences-thati is let him trav-
eI with his eyes open. One more re-
mark in reference to beverages. At
Paris, we were told by all that we must
not drink water, but wine. We persisted
/ however in our former views Of the tee
total principle. The practice of the peO-
pie IN Europe is everywhere the same.
. Here in Germany the elixir of life seems
to be beer. I viii just say that we are
collecting observations; in fact are Civ
ing the beer question a profound exam
ination. Our sphere of observation is
quite extensive. For instance, in the
first restaurant we entered in Munich
that German Athens, we saw before us,
at each side of an immense table, not
less than three hundred men, each with
his huge mug of the notorious Bayarian
beer. And 5his was at eleven o'clock at
night. How much better for the cause
of morals if these men had been in the
| midst of their families But I grow
tedious.
Yours &c
J.P. Lacr0ix.