Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-06-15
THE CHRONICLE.
LETTER FROM GERMANY.

LETTER FROM GERMANY.
A EDITOR CHRoNICLE:-Almo thret
u years have fled since promised tC
drop you an occasional line from this
side of old Atlantic, and although
have written to You but once since
then, and you have not been hasty in
U thinking the occasional" a long time
coming, still you see | have not for
gotten you, and if the following lines,
hastily dashed off, be of any interest
}, at this late date, take them and well
R come:
=, TUEBINGEN
: Is city of about nine thousand inf.
habltants, with narrow, solidly paved
streets and old fashioned houses, sit
, uated 100 feet above the sea, on the
Neckar, pretty little river, which
rises some 300 feet higher in the
Schwarzwald,a and after flowing rapid
t ly on thro' a most picturesque valley
as far as Mannheim, a distance of
about one hundred and eighty miles,
pours its blue waters into the beauti-
: full Rhine. 1t is the University City
of Wurttemberg, and was once the
family residence of old Palatine
= Counts. 1t bears all the traces of be-
, ing one of the oldest towns in Ger
many-sO old, in fact, that no one
can determine the date of its found
ing. 1t is three hours by rail from
J Stuttgart, the capital of the kingdom,
and the same distance, on foot, from
the chain of mountains known as the
Suabian Alps, magnificent peaks of
which are beautifully visible from our
windows, while all around US are the
lesser mountains and hills, girdled on
the one side by Alps, on the other by
the weird old Black Forest, the SiiUd
Nigrd of classic association, at men
tion of which, you will, no doubt, find
memories of many an old German and
Roman hero crOwding up in quick
succession, and standing out before
! the minds vision in distinct outline.
THE UNIVERSITY
Was founded in the year 1476, by
Count Eberhard, the Bearded, and
has ever since played q conspicuous
part in the scientific and religious
world. Such men as Keppler, Frisch-
/ lin, Melanchthon, Schelling, Hegel,
and Baur once taught here. To-day
it ranks as one of the best universi-
ties in Germany, especially in the de-
partments of medicine and theology.
/ The average annual attendance is
from seven TO eight hundred, of which
upwards of one hundred are evangeli-
cal theological, and one hundred
catholic theological students. Its
! working force is arranged in seven
/ faclties: Evangelical Theology, ,CathO-
lie Theology, Law, Medicine. Philo-
sophy, Political Science. and Natur-
al Sciences, and these are represent
ed by seventy professors and lectors. |
The strongest of all these faculties is
the theological, and the weakest, the
Philosophical.
THE SCHLOSS
Is large quadrangular castle, and the |
most interesting building in the place. |
1t was built by Duke Ulrich, of Sua- |
bia, in 1535-49, on the same spot on /
which had stood centuries before, the |
palace of the Counts of the old Tu- /
bingen Palatinate. 1t was graced |
originally with four towers, two square |
and two round; three of which are 1
still standing good and strong; the /
square one on the eastern side being /
now used as the city Jail, while the |
large round one on the western end 4
still tells the tale of having been, in I
the darker days of Schwabenland, a |
place of even more terror to the evil 1
doer and the unfortunate captive. 1t /
was pierced by a single hole, through /
which the captured were let down by 4
a windlass, and hence was called
Hdspetgef faRgniss, windlass-prison,
into trench fifty feet deep or more,
and surrounded by solid stone walls. 4
In this inclosure, filled with mud and
filth, were often different kinds of
beasts, wild and tame, and the prison.
er once in seldom ever came out again. 4
Passing through the outside gate, a
very prettily decorated portal bearing
the Tuebingen coat of arms, and 1
thence a hundred yards farther up the
hill, drawbridge, spanning a moat
twenty feet wide, is reached, by f!
means of which entrance is gained
into the fortress, which was evidently
once very strongly fortified with
numerous ramparts, bastions, vaults,
etc. 1t inclOses a very pretty court,
seventy yards long by forty wide, in
which is the remarkable well where
many an old Suabian knight slaked
his thirst and laved his limbs, in time
of siege or on return from bloody
rencounteT. Rising more than two
hundred feet below, on a level with
the bed of the Neckar, it still pours
forth its cooling crystal treasures as
inexhaustibly as in days of old.
THE FAss.
Suabian warriors in those days were
peculiar old fellows, and, rather
think, with all their curious traits,
were disposed to become little bOOZy
once in while. for in the cellar, is
still preserved the monstrous vessel in
which, according to the sayings, the
old chaps were wont to keep on hand
a not very modest quantity of wine,
perhaps only for the stOmach's sake,
if not to make their faces shine. 1t
contains about IS, 900 gallons! 1t now
lies away high and dry, rejoicing in
the dignified name, Dds RoHigtiche
Fdss, the royal vessel, the Kings big ;
tun-because His Majesty claims the
right of appropriating it to his own
special use.
THE RITTER.
In the old Dining Hall, now a fine j
library room, the names of the sixty
four Ritter or knights, who disgrace
fully delivered the Fortress in 1918, to
the Suabian Confederation, are to be |
seen, written upon a black board in !
large gold letters. They had no {
idea of letting them go down forgotten. {
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, ETC.
But those dark days of blood and
plunder, and treachery have passed i
away, and the time hOnOred strong '
hold has long since been dismantled
of its grim investiture. Minerva 9
not Mars-is now the presiding genius J
of the five hundred-years-ago frown- ]
ing embattlement, and to-day one of
the finest university libraries in south ]
ern Germany, and also valuable archa- {
Geological and mineralogical collec- |
tons, occupy its walls.
PLEASANT SURROUNDINGS, ETC.
But for the advantages of its Uni :
versity, the beauty of its surround :
lngs, and the salubrity of its climate, .
Leubingen would not be selected by :
the enterprising stranger of the pres .
ent age as a pleasant place in which !
TO stay.
1t does not, 1 think, lay claim to .
being the most cleanly place in the e.
world. In the old part of the town, :
he COW and the horse, the chickens :
and the ducks share quarters with :