Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1870-10-20
FUGITIvEs.

'Af' INTO consideration.
FUGITrvEs.
| Hers 0uen 'he steps Of the depot ID a
mise able iUOMng group, apparently a
family ti'her, mother aud five children.
1t IS a faml' y hat fled from the Rhine at
the outbreak Of hostilities, and now is be.
ing sent back at the expense OF the gov.
ernmeat. We shall find that nearly one
half the tourists on the tram are also re.
turning to their homes in the vicinity of
the Rhine and Belgium. The general
stampede from that quarter was conclusive
proof that the people ct least held re-
petition OF French invasion MS possible.
Let as watch the embarking of the troops
As general thing special trains are des-
lgnated for the army transportation. but
IN this instance an exception is made. MS
part OF this battalion has already gone for.
ward. Here is & hearty-lookine warrior
OF forty summers, waiting his turn &c step
into the cars, He isready to converse, is
q shoemaker from Wurtemburg has wife
and four children; his pay isn't half enough
to support them, but he trusts that all will
be well while he fights for his King. His
nelghbor Is an ambitious youth of twenty,
who has left his studies and proposes TO
win glory on the field of battle" )
THE SOLDIERS OUTFIT.
The society for the refreshment of the
troops on the way to the front is meanwhile
busy supplying the soldiers with cigars,
beer back-bread, and fresh raw ham.
bhe friends of the departing are admitted
through the gate of the enclosed depot
only on request OF one of the soldiers The
laughing and chattering Of voices OF all
ranges Of tone mingles with the grim put
fng of the engine, which is making up"
the train, and the occasional sharp COM
mand Of some one Of the officers
present, Presently the last soldier has
tumbled on board with his 90 pounds en-
clmberanco-g gun, knapsack, blanket, over
coat, camp kettle, and change of clothing
| The Prussian army ca ries no rubber
blanket and no shelter tent ! believe the
rubber ''poncho' Of the American army is
INDISPENSABLE to the health of the men in
q long campaign but these Germans seem
to be physically capable Of all sorts of
hardship. They imagine il certain death
to sic p at home with q window open. and
still sleep in tho field with no protecting
rub5ar between them and the damp earth
The guard Of the train blows his whistle
the locomotive blows his, and we are off
locked into our curious three-roomed cars
eyes filed with tobacco smoke, and ears
with the unintelligible jargon of provincial
dialects.
on THE RAIL.
The rate at which we sweep through the
endless level of the country between Berlin
and Leipzig would seem rather slow to
any liTa Yankee who had ever expressed
it" from New York to Washington or Bos-
ton to Providence, and the insuhe,able
monotOny OF the scenery makes 1t all the
slower. At various stations on the road
the guard announces "eighr minutes
STOP aud hundred thirsty threats seek
the neighboring restauration, hundred
glasses of beer are raised on high "to the
King and the army" sound as "of the
lashing Of mighty waters, and hundred
conteuted faces return TO their smoke and
their chattering VINO estimates the
amount of beer that is drank in Germany
snail count the sands Of the sea.
| TO LEIPZIG,
| We learn that owing to the immense
amount of war material which is passing
from Saxony through Halle to the army, no
passengers will be conveyed that way to
| NorGhausen, the point, ut which we pro-
pose to touch the "Harz" We are there
fore obliged to proceed to Leipzig, thence
| through Weimal and Erfurt to Nordhaus-
en-. At Bitterheld, our soldiers leave us,
switching off upon the more direct road
| A A u u al, I,
thusiastic fellows out of sight, and wonder
how many of them will come safely back.
| Leipzig, with two hundred bookseller Is
shops and tif printing offices, It's historic
interests. its literary associations, its
rusty chronicles and its battle mon
umentg, has also yielded to the disturbing
influences of war, and the proprietor of
the celebrated "Auerbach's Cellar" com
planned that nobody took any interest in
| visiting the scene Of Faust's carousal with
! the tempter. The old CASTELAR, of the
Tower of Pleissenburg said a.. interest in
the survey of the field of the ,reat battle
of Leipzig was lost in reading ne accounts
of the 'petty fights" in Franee--"his in
come was reduced TO merely nothing"
| But that didn't seem to grieve him so much
as the loss of interest in his darling theme,
and be revenged himself upon his lonei-
ness by consuming nearly the whole Of our
two hours in Leipzig with his tales of
the "Battles Of the Nations" 49,
how the Pgussian battalion which
stormed the gate Of Grimma piled
I tie dead bodies Of their comrades
into wall ten feet high and So scaled tho
battered ramlar.s, and how citizen Of
the town had heard Napoleon say as he
lett the city, IN the 18Th of October, "thiE
is the end of my career" We have only
! time fer a brief survey Of the citadel in
which the new troops are baing initiated
into the mysteries of the 'nsedle-gun, a
glance 81 the finely built and beautifully
located theatre Erected 1864, with its one
hnndrad-foot fountain aud swan lake in
the rear. and &c are again "ch ior Eriurt
s. but Of what ayal aIe all expresses when
we must whit a.. nearly every station for
trains filed with wounded or prisoners to
pass ms on a.. ray to Leipzig, Dresden
aud B Rim
wFINAB
Late at night, tired, hungry, and ia The
midst Of 70 drizzling rain, we steame luto