Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-11-18
TWO DAYS IN GERMANY.
An Interesting Letter From Leipzig.

u EdtO1, WIZ Is HOW III OeflHduN, "
bis father, Rev. S. w. Eaton:
LEIPZIG, October 30, 1875
NJ DEAR FArHEm-We have just returned
from walk in the city streets. studying Sign
boards, and dropping into bookstores, which
are no less tempting here than in America,
though most of the books are in German;
indeed, this makes them the more fascinating,
because they are caves of treasures of which
we are just learning the open Sesame, and
now we have seated ourselves in our coy
sitting room, or parlor, or study, Git is each of
these in turn to write letters home The odd
yellow stove 10 the corner, reaching as near
the ceiling as an old>fashioned New England
clock gives out genial heat that is needed
on this chilly day. What are you and the
rest of Lancaster doing to-day, | wonder,
We cannot know for fortnight When let
tiers come from home, we always reckon back,
to see what we were doing al the same time,
50 that We may connect our daily life with
yours as closely a. possible We are very
eager for home news; you would have to keep
writing all the time, to tell Us a. much as We
want to know about yourselves and all our
friends There are some very large places on
the circumference, but after all, Lancaster is
the center
| The past week is again one that cannot
compress itself into a single letter. mailed
my last one to you week ago yesterday, at
the railroad depot in Obercassel, as we were
JUST starting TO leave the Rhine on our way to
Leipzig Landlady Broschos said her best
goodbye to Herr Pastor and Fran Pas
TORN, and our German friends accompanied
US to the train, with little presents for keep
sakes. We took cars to konigswinter, few
miles up the river an there met the morning
express steamer Humboldt at nine o'clock
| If we had not had so much TO look forward to,
we should have bid goodbye with great re-
luctance to this beautiful region, where we
have spent such delightful weeks. The
sequestered Heisterbach, its ruined Abbey
| lying among the reed-choked fish ponds of the
old monks, and beside the dark forest, under
whose shadows rest the bones Of Monks and
Barons Of forgotten fame; ana rugged Drach-
enfels bodest of the bold Seven Mountains,
its summit crowned by the massive walls of
| the castle of the Lord of the Seven Mountains,
whence, thousand feet above the Rhine, the
princely feudal robbers swept with their
greedy eyes the rich valley, and sailed out
for punder; R0landseck, whose solitary arch,
covered with vy is all that remains of the
castle that the famous Paladiu Roland is said
to have built, that from lis height he might
catch glin,pscs Of his betrothed, rs She passed
| to and fro in the convent on the island below,
where She had taken the veil in dispair at the
false tidings of his death in the wars of
| Charlemagne; these had grown to seem like
| old friends to US, and it was not "A pleasant
thought that we might never see them again
The ship steamed rapidly up the river, and one
| bv one the familiar objects were cut off from
| OR sight by intervening bills. The high arch
| of Roiandseck was the last to disappear: we
watched it faithfully until it was out Of sight,
and then turned to enjoy the new scenes
which the day was to unfold. The early morn
ing had not been entirely propitious, but the
| day proved an excellent one, with endless
the varied landscape of the voyage, and en-
| HANGING is beauties At one time we would
have a storm hanging low over hills in front,
| and plain behind lay i'll full sunlight; at another
| the sky in front was full of sunny riffs and the
view behind was somher with unbroken clouds.
We were driven below by an occasional
shower, but these were Of short duration.
What day it was, of picturesque towns
with white walls and ancient witch towers; of
fields filled with peasants gathering in the
hargests; OF PERCEPTIONS rocks and entcing
lvallies; of hills covered with ripened grapes to
| the very top; of castles, ruined restored and
modern, with round towers and square, of black
and grey and yellow stone, each with is
| record of the exploits and crimes of Emperors1
ana Knights You had such day a. this
eighteen years ago, and | must get you TO
| reproduce some OF its scenes for the rest that
| they mav know more Of what we have been
| ENJOYING than | can transfer to this sheet OF
especial interest We're Ehrenbrctstein, the
| Gibraltar of the Rhine, its ramparts seeming
! 10 have grown with the rock itself on which
they are built, the three old castles of
| Thurnberg, katzelnbogen and Rhentels, all in
! sight at once; the PERCEPTIONS rock Lnrlei,
| where the siren is said 70 have sung fishermen
and sailors to death; the Mouse Tower, in the
middle of the river, where Bishop Hatto,
! according to the story that used to be my
terror and delight, had his bones picked by the
/ avenging army of rats; and Bingen, of whic h
We used to read IN the old Fifth Reader. We
reached Bingen Just as daylight was fading into
moonlight over the beautiful place, and we
| did not wonder that the dying soldier of the
legion thought longingly Of his home in
Bjnren on the Rhine Of the rest of the
scenery through the fertile Rhinegau, we could
see but he dim outlines 1t was quite dark
1 Ill ae,I ,via io(
the steamer, We would almost have been ready
TO believe it, had we been told that we be
| lonced in any century since the 10th; for We
| had been face TO face with each, and had
heard something Of its history from its own lips.
The next morning we took cars for Leipzig,
and rode all day. After the concentrated IN
terest of Yesterday, We were inclined to re
| gard to>dav with something of indifference.
But as the morning advanced our interest
| heightened, and the DAYS journey by land
proved scarcely second to the preceding one
bv water, for it lay through some of the most
attractive regions of central Germany, attract
i've not only IN the features OF the landscape,
but also from the associations Of eleven hun
dred wears Of great events in the history
both OF the Cross ana Of the sword. Think of
passing in one dav through Fulda, whore
Bouiface, the opposite to the Germans"
founded in the Sth century the abbey which
| through ALI the middle ages was center of
education in religion and agriculture, and
where the indomitable preacher himself is
buried, through Eisenach, above which frowns
the Wartburg, where Luther was confined by
his friends after the Diet of Worms, and where
lived 81 Elizabeth, Of Catholic legend whose
apron full of bread for the poor, turned to
lilies in the presence Of her angry husband;
sklr;ng for many miles the deep Thuringian
Forest. with successive views, of wonderful
beauty, of autumn foliage upon the sides Of
the mountains; through Erfurt, where the
Young student Martin Luther betook himself
to the convent seeking peace Of mind, but
could not find it until he opened the
chained Bible, and his own chains were
loosened. and the Reformation began; near the
battle fields of jena, whore Napoleon gained
his sreas victory over the Prussians, ard Lieut.