Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-11-29

what a set they are, those English !
A fine life they led me when [ first be-
gan to practice medicine, down yonder
in Saxony. The first thing in the
morning, king king! at my door.
What is it?' An Englishman, who
has broken his leg in trying to climb
the Tuefels-horn, which no one ever
assembled yet [ set the Herr Eng
lander's leg, and leave him pretty COM
Portable. Not half an hour later, king
king again. What now p AN Eng
lishman, who has been hall drowned in
swimming across the Elbe against
the current for wager [ roll the
Herr Englander in warm blankets and
bring him round. Before [ have well
sottled in my chair again, king king!
once more Mein Gott! what's the
matter?' An Englishman who has
tried to run twelve miles within the
hour, because some one said he
couldn't, and has broken down under
the strain. Mein Herr, am sorry to
have to say it,-but your countrymen
are equally devoid of fear and of reason.
There is but one man in England whom
[ can truly reverence, and his name is
Herr Carlyle ~
"Mr. Carlyle, why, he's an old
friend of mine [ saw him the last
time [ was in England. I'm glad you
admire him
"Did you, mein Herr2 did you
really % says the old man, with unmis-
taxable interest. "Tell me all about
him, [ beseech you; he is a great man
worthy to have been born a Germanl'
And for nearly twenty minutes we
sit in Judgment upon the biographer of
Frederick the Great, till the strokes of
seven, booming from the town below,
warn the professor that it is time to be
going home.
"You must come with me, Mein
Herr" says he, rising from his seat;
ono excuses, [ beg of you. 1t shall
never be said that Justus Weissenbart
met with friend of the Herr Carlyle
without making him welcome; and,
besides, I've got something to show
you which [ think will interest YOU "
The old mans hearty manner was not
to be resisted; and a quarter of an hour
later [ stood before the door of tall,
grim looking stone house at the corner
of the Markt-Platz, the curiously carved
front of which showed that it had seen
more than one century But If it's out
side was stern and unpromising, its
inside was comfortable in the highest
degree; and so [ thought when [ found
myself seated over a substantial Ger
man supper in the professors little
snuggery, and heard the old gentle
mans CHEEKY voice bidding me {" fall to
and spare nothing"
While eating, [ found time to glance
round the room, which (save for It's an
T. II
of dark oalz) differed but little from
the countless other laboratories that [
had seen in various towns of southern
Germany; but one object arrested my
attention-a human skeleton planted
upright in corner, presenting pistol
menacingly with it's heshless hand
The professor noticed the direction of
my eyes, and smiled significantly.
"That's the curiosity was speaking
! of" said he: cit has history of its
own, which is worth hearing When
we have finished supper I'll tell it. "
! And accordingly, as soon as our meal
was ended, Her Weissenbart settled
himself comfortably in his great easy
chair, lighted an enormous German
pipe, which the most seasoned fox "
in the University would have found it
hard to smoke out, and began as fol-
lows:-
AT the time that [ bought this
house, mein Herr, | had just entered
upon the happiest period of my whole
life. I had at length attained the mod
est competence for which [ had long
labored in vain, and could say to my
self, when I sat down in my eaay-chair
in the evening and lit my pipe, Now,
Justus Weissenbart, thou hast done
all that the earthly and corporeal part
of thee demands for It's sustenance;
| henceforth thou art free to serve the
cause of science, and, it may be, even
to add little grain of knowledge to the
sum of human learning I went to
work with all earnestness. [ filed
my house with rare plants, rare fossils,
rare minerals. l paid high for curios-
tiles Of every kind, Once I gave a
handful of thalers for the carcase of a
donkey which exhibited singular NAL
formation of the spinal column. Its
dissection led me to one of
the most interesting discoveries
which [ have ever made. All, mein
Herr you who are man of amuse-
ment and adventure, cannot fathom
the delight / felt in cutting up that
glorious Donkey But once before in
my whole life did I experience the
same pleasure, and that was when was
called in, a little while after [ first came
/ here, to treat patient whose case ex-
hibited some very unusual and per-
! picking symptoms. I examined him |
[ reflected the truth flashed upon
me. [ flung my hat on the ground, |
J nd hro hn /,
rapture, cried out, Il congratulate you,
my friend you have revived a disease
which has been unknown for the last
six centuries ="
| The idea of such consolation being
administered to an invalid was too
much for my gravity. In spite of all
my efforts to compose myself, laughed
till was fairly exhausted and Herr
'Welssenbart very good-humoredly
joined in the merriment, though evi-
dently without the least suspicion of
having given cause for it.
Well, mein lieber Herr" he con-
tlnued, ''you will doubtless have re-
marked 1t as singular law of nature
that when man lives all alone by him
self, IN a particularly old and shabby
looking house, he invariably acquires
the reputation of being immensely
rich: Perhaps my paying so high for
fossils and skeletons gave some color to
the myth IN my case; but at any rate
l was soon known in Heidelbesg as
the rch Professor Weisssenbart, T" and
my friends began to warn me that if I
dld not take care I might some day
chance to get robbed.
'SNow, at that time [ had but one
servant, who had been with me many
years, and was beginning to get old
and feeble. Every one said that he
was not enough to take care of the
house by himself, and that I'd better
have younger man to help him but
didn't like to vex poor old Johann by
seeming to think him past work, so L
just let things go on as they were. He
was capital servant, and did his work
as well as man could do; but he had