Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1871-11-30
CAUGHT IN HIS OWN TRAP.

| what glorious thing 1t IS to have q
holiday! little allotment OF time nl]
your own, upon which You need pay
duty to no man living, and within the
compass of which, if you be scholar,
no one can plague you about the date
of the Hegira, or ''exact political sig
nitcancc'" Of the Liciniau kogations ;
nor any shock fall upon yon, if you he
IL man of business, from alarming tel
egrams respecting the fall of Utopian
Consols, or the unhealthy Gepres-
sion of the Cloudland-Alantis Grand
Central Railway. Surely there is no
one living who docs not appreciate
such furlough, from the fourth form
boy who over-t:,f; himself ut Warwick
or Kenilworth on the Half-ycarly holi-
day, damped only by the horrid recol-
lection that work begins again next
day, up to the wcaricl merchant prince
who follows ont his @octor's prescrip-
ton IF "crml''"t" change of scene" by
making Rome or Switzerland It's like
London aS possible for two months
every year.
Somewhat after this fashion (had I
F.; felt inclined) J might have soliloq11ized,
as sat looking down upon the good
town OF Heidelberg. from the terrace of
the ",Moiken Kur,'--n little wooden
aubcrge, perchcd upon IL projecting
bluff, in which a few soitlisant invalils
play at curing themselves by eating the
greatest possible amount of curtls and
whey. And, certainly, the scene before
me deserves more than IL passing
glance. Above rose tho green, sloping
crest OF the KoniSstuhl, with all its
"Hvin3 woods, upon which the fading
sunshine fingered lovingly; all around
lay the l'afy hillsiits, between which,
like thread of gold, glittered the
winding stream of the Neckar; i'm
mediatrly below me lay the narrow
streets, and tall, grim houses of the
quaint little town, above whicl, the
vast red towers Of the castle stood out
in the glow of sunset like pillars of
fire; and far out in tho PLAIN beyond,
breaking with it's shining curves the
monotony of tho vast green level, l
could Just de~cry the broad, smooth
flow of the parent Rhine.
But at this moment my reflections
arc broken in a sufficiently unromantic
way, by the conc,ssion OF a huge
steeple-crowned hat, which, driven by
the wind, ricochets off my shoulder,
and is just rolling over the brow of the
hill, when spring forward and clutch
it. Turning to look for the owner,
find myself fac" to face with quiet,
pleasant-looking old gentleman in
frillcd shirt and black-siIk stockings,
the very image of the Glass Dwarf in
Wilhelm Haui1's Kaltcs Herr; :" evil
IDENTIFY IN n Of some note by tho re-
spcct with which the llabitucs make way
for him.
"Many thanks, mein Herr" says the
old man, as restored his errant head
gear. Pm not quite 50 supple now as
L was when took the prize at the
Freyberg Volksfest forty-tfree years
ago, before even hought Of becoming
a professor. It's only you English who
can keep your training forever"
"How did yo1 guess that I was an
Englishman?'' asked I, somewhat sur
prised; for, indeed, with il beard like Il
pasha's, and a face bronzed by the sun
of Egypt and Syria, my appearance is
anything but Anglo-Suyon.
"No one hut an Englisllman would
have caught that hat as You did, ans
wcrrl the professor, with little chuck
ling laugh; "It's just in their nature
to jump up and run after anything that
passes. All! If You English would only
employ your irrcprcssbic energies in
the cause of science what might you
not achieve. but no; you 'lo not care
to learn"
EDO us the Justice to believe, Herr
Professor, that the nation which pro-
ducrl Bacon and Newton has still some
| reverence for SCIENCE
They arc mighty men, replies the
old gentleman, with IL revcrcntial bend
of his grey head but L am speaking
Of the nation at large, noC OF a few ex-
ccptional celebrities. Ach Himncl !
what /, set they are, those English {!
A fine life they led me when I first be-
gan to practice medicine, down yondcr
in Saxony. The first thing in the
morning, king! Killing! at my door
What is it! 'An I;liglishman, who
has broken his leg in trying to climb
the Tucfcls-horn, which no one ever
ascendcd yct' I set the Herr Eng
landcr's leg, and leave him pretty com
Portable. Not half an hour later, king :!
king! again. what now?' 'An Eng.
lishman, who has been half-drowned in
swimming across the Elbe :.'ain~t
! | ti,n f,,r III