The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1877-10-11
WHOLE NUMBER 545.
Wagner's Royal Patron.

NaSnerS Royal fatrOn.
A French writer gives the following
description of one of the six castles owned
by the eccentric King Louis of Bavaria.
The castle of Hohenschwangau is
picturesquely perched upon a rocky
peak. All around rise lofty mountains
covered with gloomy forests of pine, and
at the foot of the rock there is roman
tic lake peopled with swans. The king
harnesses these swans to gilded bark
shaped like a she'll and is drawn over
the surface of the water, while band of
singers, grouped upon the bank, execute
fragments of "Lohengrin," and the
moon illuminates with its pale beams the
fantastic march of stuffed stays, which
are moved by means of internal mechan-
ism.
At the time of the late eruption of
Vesuvius the king became envious, and
wanted to have one too. He summoned
to Hohenschwangau two professors of
geology of the university, and ordered
them to get him up volcano. They
set to work at once. A mountain was
followed out, and the whole was filled
with powder, sulphur, coal and petro-
leum. The sight was magnificent. The
fire engines were brought thither for
miles around. 1t was thought that the
royal castle had been mined by the
Prussians, and had been blown up.
The King always wanted tempest on
the Lake Of Hohenschwangau. An
enormous machine was constructed,
provided with prodigous wheels, which
raised great waves with terrible noise.
Whether he inhabits his castle of Berg,
of Linderhoof, or of Munich, there
are two things that are indispensable to
his comfOrt-his piano and his moon
light. Without piano the day would
seem to him century long, and without
moonlight it is impossible for him to
sleep. When Providence refuses to
light for him the celestial lamp, he is
forced to have recourse to fabricated
moonlight. A special apparatus for pro-
ducing the electric light has been in
stalled in each of the royal bedchambers.
AT Munich the ceiling is pierced with
thousand minute holes behind which
are placed gas jets. That represents
very fairly starry sky. While travel
ing the King makes use of an economical
and portable moon, which can be hung
up like an astral lamp.
This strange characteristic soul of
child in the body of man, this King
born to reign over a nation of poets and
musicians-is not suited to our country
of soldiers and brute force. Louis II
would have been charming sovereign
in the days of minnesingers and of
dreamy chatelaines; to-day no one un-
derstands him; he seems to belong to a
legend, and not to history. He who is
seated upon throne has no right to use
it as piano stool, for if Orpheus himself
were returned to earth he would not
take up Tyre, but gun with all the
modern Improvements.
Here is an anecdote relating to the
Kings sojourn at his royal Chateau de
Berg.
Under pain of penalty and arrest it is
forbidden to any one to enter the paths
reserved for the King. One day his
Majesty met, face to face, stout young
fellow who was promenading there very
unceremoniously. The King stopped
him and asked him who he was.
GO am from Switzerland. he answered,
"and I am student at the Munich
University"
"Ah! you are Swiss" said the King,
with kindly air. "You ought to
know Schiller's William Tell by
heart"
az could recite to you whole acts of
itp'
"Admirable! l am charmed to have
met you. Come, you will see that we
shall be permitted to enter"
" Let us try then, sir, since you desire
to do So"
They put out together.
"Do you like Munich?"
"No; it is stupid city; and the best
proof oee that is the King is never there"
i" And what do they say of the King"
"Oh, they say he is right good fellow
at heart"
Louis ii smiled.
"Have you ever seen him ?"
"Never! l am Republican, sir;
but l am told that he is very hand
some, and that the women are wild about
him."
"Would you like to dine with him ?"
You are making game of me, are you
not%'
"Not at all-since l invite yeu my
self"
Since-then, sir,-oh, pardon-per-
haps you are the King?"
=" You are right, and you are my pris-
oner."
They had reached the chateau, and
the sentinels presented arms.
After dinner the King seated himself
at his piano and played the overture to
civilian Tell" he then caused the
student to declaim the whole of Schiller's
drama.
The next day they began again. The
King gave the replies on that occasion.
At the end of the third day he sent his
guest in one of the royal carriages, back
to Munich, and forwarded to him
shortly after, gold watch with the
scene of the Rutli engraved upon its
case.