The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1876-03-30

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Few knew that Carl Schurz's father wa.
in this country till the recent announcement,
of his sickness and death in Illinois. He
has been living there in happy retirement
Tor twenty-five years, taking great pride in
the son he had trained so plously and risor
ously, and enjoying, also, the neighbor
hood of daughter, Mrs. Edmund Ju'son,
OF Chicago. Christian SchurZ was a school
teacher in the village of Libar, near Co
| logne, Prussia, where his son Carl was born.
and formed no exception to the general rule
which c0nsigns the German teacher to life
long poverty. But he resolved to give his
son the best education then to be obtained
in that part Of Germany. The best wears of
his life and most of his scanty means were
relisiously devoted to this all-absorbing pur-
pose. The untirIng energy and ambition
of the elder Schurz in this direction were
truly remarkable. He compelled Carl to
walk almost daily distance of ten miles,
when he was still of very tender years, to
take lessons on the piano; and, wnen the
BOY had reached the age OF ten years, he
performed with great success at several con-
certs, To the infinite satisfaction Of his IA
ther. he eFrly placed the boy at the gym
naslum OF Cologne, one of the best educa-
tlonal Institutes In the Rhenish provinces,
and managed To keep Carl at this school un-
til he passed an examination for admlttauce
to the university at Bonn. But he made
Carl appreciate thoroughly that he was
making extraordinary efforts in his behalf,
ana exercised "A strIctness and "A superinten-
dence over his child of which the average
American boy can form no idea. Carl came
home only once to enjoy his fall vacation,
when, Instead of the best testimonial (No.
AZ, he could produce only No. /, and the
boy hovered around the fathers house and
peran bulated the adjoining forest for almost
day, before he could summon up courage
enough to cross the threshold. Next door
to the village home of Carl Schurz there
was one of those wide and simple public
halls, which, on feast days, served,as a ball
room for the young people of the village.
Here was the first theatre of Carl Schurz's
eloquence. The old gentleman used to
conduct his son Carl 10 this hall and place
him on the platform erected for the village
musicians, and command him to reeite either
some composition of his own, or to deciaim
the classic poems of Goethe and Schiller.
And, while the shrill and boyish voice of
the young student was resoundin1 through
the room, the old man, solitary and alone,
would pace up and down before the i'm
provised rostrum, and sharply criticise the
youthful orator. He made Carl understand
that he wanted him perfect in everything;
that the usual plays and frolcs of boys were
mt only for children OF rich parents, and that
If he desired to make his way in the world,
poor as'he was, he must study aud labor in
cessantly. And thus he imbued Carl with
an -amGltion and Hove for study which have
served HIM well throughout his eveptful
life. The revolution of 1S48 brought dark
hours Of sorrow aud grief to Christian
Schurz. a true Republican at heart him.
sell, he was proud of the eminent position
which his son held among the rebels But
the day came when Carl was taken prisoner
at Rastall, and was sentenced to be shot,
lie wrote his father a last farewell, and the
grlef-strcken old man at once started To
kastall to recover, If possible, the body Of
his son. In tears, and staggering under
his terrible grief, he called on the COM
mander of the Prussian garrison and de-
manded the T, mains of the young martyr to
iliberty. His joy may be imagined when he
was told that Carl had escaped fromithe
fort the night before the morning fixed for
his execution. He returned home with Al
light and joyous heart, and did not see his
son again until he met HIM on the soil ofthe
United States Repablic in 1852. Riad =