Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-04-05

ana numbers as TO who should win
castles and serfs. The castles of
these lords, or barons as they were
called, were sufficiently large and
well provided with provisions, to hold
and feed all the serfs of manor in
case OF necessity. But in times of
peace, the serfs went abroad and
worked the lands, each his allotment,
probably bounded then as at present.
But the serfs erected dwellings,, al
ways near their castle, TO be used
when peace reigned. These old
castles and dwellings, built of stone
and tile, still stand and most of them
are occupied by the descendants of
those ancient barons and seris, the
villages increasing in size with the
Increase of population. Since the
abandonment OF feudalism, however,
the castles, many of them, have been
used for churches aud other religious
purposes. These feudal manors were
of various extent, some many SO uare
leagues and some of small bounds.
But ever since the times Of baronial
power and its abandonment for civil
government and protection, and ever
since the adjustment of serfdom, the
farm people have continued to live in
tho villages as before. And for I'M
known ages they have continued TO
walk or so on donkeys one to sever
al miles to their farms and work, re-
turning evenings to their lodges
near the old castle upon the hill.
And the lodges, what queer antiqui-
ties The very ancient ones are low,
long, without windows, small doors
for escaping in, and moss covered
The more modern among them erect
cd within two ors three centuries
later, are often Of two stories, with
balconies, windows and chimneys.
The people inhabiting these ancient
villages appear rs old fashioned as
their houses and farms. And in this
respect there is no change, except 10
the largo towns where the Paris
styles Of dress are occasionally motto
ed aud other improvements slightly
modorR. The railroad, built perhaps
twenty years ago, does not seem 10
have effected the usual revolution in
the order of things in France, not
near 80 much as in Spain and Portu-
gal. Dizziness and stupidity rest
upon these ancient denizens as heav-
lily as when each had master.
Few of them travel in the cars, then
with market baskets and sometimes
with puppy or a brace of geese.
| Villages OF one to three thousands
afford scarcely any freights for trans
portation, and the depots at the best
of these towns with old feudal castles
are rarely more than twenty feet
square, and no warehouses. When
the train hats nobody cares, nobody
comes TO meet an expected friend, tC
call for the mail or late news, or to
learn about the revolution in Spain
So far as can be seen, railroads are O
failure for making Of these people
anything more than they have been
for = thousand years. No schools
are to DO seen, nor places for amuse-
mont, Stupidity and death are writ
ten in unchanging signs upon every.
thing it is even so where the steam
whistle sounds the alarm Of progress
and tho magnetic telegraph whispers
the dawn of day Of light without
any setting sun. / have seen the ne
gro in his chains, shut out from tn,
alphabet, and by American laws anC
? prejudiees denied access to bible anC
, salvation, yet these white Caucasian
! are this day stumbling blocks {
, thousand tides and diurnals below
= the negro in mental and physical Wig
or. II my radical republican faitf
over was shaken, it was during my
travels through France, where Goo
made everything better than il
America but man has done nothing
at oil for himself but fight the waves
/ Of civilization. Paris, which they
say is France, may be reckoned ripe
enough for republic, but these an
tiquities cannot ripen for thousand
, years.
But my objects are seen from thJ
cars and there may BIO some deluding
fancy about my inspections. Per-
sonal situation may have operated
+ dece,tfully, and led me to place too
low estimate upon the people. But
in leaving America, where youth
and change appear in eternal sue
cession, and coming here where old
age and unchanging things are seen
without relief, | feel that | have
stepped at once from the cradle OF
one people into the very grave of an
other. But month since / was in
the valley Of the Mississippi, where
the prairie and forest were but re.
Gently broken by civilization, great
, farms and cities just being born,
schools and colleges beginning to dc.
vclope mind and character, and a
career of glory ready to open-tht
backs Of everybody upon the past
: and their faces intently upon the fl.
: turc. But here in France | am
: among leveled or lettering castles
palaces Of forgotten greatness, and
since whose day of power the dial OF
f intellect and hand of progress have
stood still at solemn midnight SUM
Der. And from such somnOlence,
the railway and magnetic telegraph
have not been able TO rouse any mo-
ton nor change these ivy mantled
rock sbanties from desolate silence
into life and energy-these donkey
| smitten two acre farms into either
something better or something
worse.
But these relics of u nation that
has had its day, these people whose
faces seem ever toward the past-all
recollections, no hope,-may rise
again. Indeed the doctrine of res
direction from the dead is q chief
plank in the christian creed, and it
must not be questioned, because all
nature offers proof that lite springs
from wintry death. | will even ad-
nit future resurrection and more
tban eyer plOriOns career for these