The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-02-16

sadness, which the solitude of the
7 gloomy forest depths inspired,
Goethe wrote on the window frame
of this little house, the following i'm
perishable little poem Sept. Z, 1888:
"Over the mountain tops all is rest. In the
tree tops see'st thou,
Barely a breath.
The little birds are silent in the forest. But
wait and soon
Thou too shalt rest"
| Next we turn our steps to the
lHerrmanstein, a.1OO feet high Por-
Iphyry Rock. My companion, the
officer, having the advantage over
me IN length of limb, ascended the
rock after a slight struggle, but I
managed to get up in a less graceful
manner Returning I accomplished
my descend by a dignifed slide
down, feeling glad that the thing
was over. We then passed around
the base to the Herman Cave, oc-
cupied for many years, formerly, by
the hermit Herman; and there down
to the Manebacher Valley, a des-
cend so steep that we were kept trot-
ting in spite of our best efforts to
the contrary; there at a decent hotel,
cold meat, cheese and good beer
soon restored our equilibrium.
Resting no longer than possible, l
bade my pleasant companion good
bye, and hastended forward again,
in order to ascend the great Snow
Head whose mighty top reached far
Into the misty afternoon sky. I
boldly fastened forward, to witness
the sunset from the peak, but in my
enthusiasm got lost and in retracing
my steps had also lost valuable time,
but I rushed forward, startling the
frightened deer over rock and hill
top, until exhausted and steaming
with my unusual exertion, came at
sunset to the Shmucke Hotel still
one-half mile from the top. OF
course all hope of seeing this glori-
Gus spectacle had passed away; new
er theless 1 hurried forward and in
a short time Preached alone in the
evening gloom, the desolate top of
the dreary Snow Head 1000 feet
high. 1 remained but a few min
utes as could see nothing. The
darkness grew rapidly darker, adense
mist gathered around the snowy
mountain top, and the deep, solemn,
lifeless gloom became soon so op-
pressive to me, that hurried back
again to the Hotel Shmucke. The
highest human habitation in the
Thuringer Forest 1850 feet high,
very similar in its surroundings to j
the shepherd houses in Switzerland. |
1 soon found that the only expen-
sive thing in this hotel was staying
there. The bill of fare consisted of
eggs, bread, butter, cheese and beer,
with lite indigestable saugage.
This was served to all travellers and
had to answer for all the three meals |
of the day. And of course a nice
little sum had to be paid for it in |
the morning; any change due the
traveller to save shock to his nodes
ty, or trouble of refusing it, was ig-
nored. To pass the evening I turn
ed the leaves Of the hotel register
and found there the testimony ofI
hundreds recorded, unfayorable to |
landlord, hotel and mountain. And
as watched with some interest the
labored process Of smiling in the
pinched face OF that landlord, which
seemed to give him pain, the mental
query arose, wether that face was
pinched by hunger, pinched by avar-
ice, or pinched by cold. Still occu-
pied with these thoughts 1 hobbled
up to bed, where a cold bath and a
good nights sleep put me in travel
ing order again by morning. After
breaklasting sumptiously (?) at an
early hour, again got under way
and met with my first mishap, that
of getting lost, taking q road to the
right instead of continuing straight
on. After several hours wandering
1 became suspicious of an error; but
luckily for once Imet a peasant, who
kindly turned me about, and with me
returned over that steep mountain
road again, from which 1 had just
came, stumbling over rocks and tree
roots, until felt like giving up from
sheer exhaustion; after four miles
of such wandering was set Alright
and without further accident 1
limped into
OVERHOFF,
The highest situated village of the
Thuringen Forest 1928 feet high,
isolated, dreary and poor. The on
ly thing of interest (from compari-
SOM is the dear white Hunting Cha
teau, of the Duke of Miningen. 4
passable hotel, post-station, church
and few poverty-smuck houses,
| (which frequently during the winter
months are hid away under the
snow complete this village. found
from the assembled crowd, dressed
in their best, that thanksgiving"
was celebrated here. Soon an oddly Il
dressed tbrong of people burst from
the open doors of the adjacent
church, led by the rotund, good |
natured village priest, danked by a
brass-band, each member of which,
red with the effort or something else,