The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1878-08-30

| IS plcturesquely perched upon 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 shell, and is drawn over the
surface of the water, while band Of
singers, grouped upon the bank, execute
fragmants of 'Lohengrin,' aud the moon
illuminates with its pale beams the fan
tastic march of stuffed stags, which are
moved by means of internal mechan-
ism.
At the time of the last eruption of
Vesuvius the king became envious, and
wanted to have one too. He summoned
to Hohenschwangan, the two professors
of geology of the university, and ordered
them to get him up a volcano. They
set to work at once. mountain was
followed out, and the hole was filled
with powder, sulphur, coal, and petro-
leum. The sight was magnificent. The
ire-engines were brought thither for
miles around. 1t was thought that the
royal castle had been mined by the Prus-
slams, and had been blown up.
The king also wanted tempest on the
lake of Hohenschawangau. An enor-
nous machine has been constructed, pro-
vided with prodigious wheels, which
raise 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 moonlight.
Without piano the day would seem to
him century long, and without moon
light it is impossible for him to sleep.
When Providence refuses to light for
him the celestial lamp, he is forced to
have recours? to fabricated moonlight.
A special apparatus for producing the
electric light has been installed 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 a
starry sky. While travelling the king
makes use of an economical and porta-
BILE moon, which can be hung up like an
astral lamp.
This strange character--this soul of a
child in the body of a man, this king born
to reign over nation of poets and mu-
sicians-is not suited to our century of
soldiers and brute-force. Louis II. would
have been charming sovereign in the
days of the minnesingers and of dreamy
chatelaineS; to-day no one understands
him;he seems to belong to legend and
not to history. He who is seated upon a
throne has no right to use it as piano
stool, for if Orpheus himself were re-
turned to earth he would not take up a
Tyre, but a gun with all the modern i'm
provements.
Here is an anecdote relating to the
kings sojourn at his royal Chateau de
Berg.
Under penalty of fine and arrest it is
forbidden to any one to enter the
paths reserved for the king. One day
his majesty met, face to face, a stout
young fellow who was promenadine
there very unceremoniously. The king
stopped him and asked him who h'
was.
"I am from Switzerland" he answered
"and am student at the Munich Uni
versity."
"Ah you are SWISS" said the king
with a kindly air. "You ought t.
know Schiller's William Tell by heart.
"I could recite to you whole act
of it /"
, admirable! I am charmed to hav
? met you. Come to the castle with me
, and we will play William Tell"
. "But, sir, the castle belongs to th
> king"
"No matter. I am his most intimat
7 friend. Come, you will see that we shal
} be permitted to enter"
: "Let US try then, sir, since you desir
, to do So"
. They set out together.
/ "Do you like Munich?"
: "No; it is a stupid city; and the bes
e proof of that is the king is never there
t "And what do they say of the king p
"Oh, they say he is right good fello'
i at heart"
Q Louis II. smiled.
Y "Have you ever seen him p
t 9 "Never l am republican, sir; b,
: am told that he is very handsome, an
b that the women are wild about him."
8 "Would you like to dine with him9'
: "You are making game of me, are yo
: not p
"Not at all since invite you m,
G self"
n "Since--then, sir-oh, pardon-pe
4 hons Won ara the king ?"