The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-11-21
THE WONDERS OF EUROPE.
European Marvels to an American Eye-Som
Notes and Observations.


A gentleman who writes under the
initials 81. P. L." contributes the fol-
lowing interesting article to the Boston
Christian Register:
To the American there. seem more
wonderful things in Europe than Kings
and their castles, Popes and their cathe-
drals. There are already enough pal
aces built between the Atlantic and the
Mississippi. Our stone and iron
bridges, aqueducts, furnaces, mills and
factories, warehouses, city halls and
churches rival those of the Old World
in size if not in beauty.
We land in Europe to be amazed, not
at parks and geological gardens, but at
the great white horses of Normandy
and the colossal bays of Flanders,
marching like elephants in front of and
apparently Indifferent to loads for
which we should employ long string
of mules, with much cracking of whips
and excavations; and at the surly dogs
harnessed beneath the bread-wagons of
Brussels; at loaves of bread in Paris
six feet long, carried by serving maids
as if they were pixies; at wicker baskets
slung on womens shoulders and loaded
with manure, carefully collected with
the fingers from the turnpikes of Au-
vergne; at single stalks of Indian corn
and single barberry bushes, and single
stalks of mullen. cultivated as rare
and beautiful exotic plants III the gar
dens of Germany; at vlstas OF wind
mills slowly turning their great vanes to
the hardly perceptible wind coming
from the English channel and the
North sea; and at the vast stretches of
| flax fields which sustain the industry of
the 100000 inhabitants of Lille and it's
closely surrounding circle of dependent
| towns.
The marvels of Europe to an Amer
lean eye are not marvels of grandeur,
but of detail; not of construction, but
of method
It is strange to see such multitudes
of people at rest, comparatively speak
ing; that is, moving about within the
narrowest social, political, ecclesiastical
and business circles; travelling scarcely
at all; reading newspapers which have
no news in them working and shopping
Sundays and all days alike; satisfied
with bread and half-fask of thin, sour
wine as their days food; living hud-
died within the 5OO-year-old village wall,
and walking five miles to till strips of
land-each 20 feet wide and 100 long,
unfenced, unditched, unhedged-all
calling them farms. Yet since 1889
these people have learned about as
much as we Americans know respecting
right and wrong in private, and the
rights and wrongs Of the public. But
it is prime marvel to the traveller how
this slow but steady enlightenment
accomplishes itself under such condi-
lions of life ..rJ
Another of the wonders of Europe is
it's fuel Out of England there is not
much mineral coal. The peat boys are
numerous, but small. The great for
ests have nearly disappeared. Evil
IDENTIFY the planting of trees has been
reduced to science; but SO has their
destruction; consequently the traveller
never sees large tree, but millions of
small ones. To save space they are
planted along the roadsides. To avoid
shade on the fields they are trimmed
nearly to the summit, so that they look
starved, Every year one in twenty is
cut and sold. Artificial fuel made from
coal-dust, saw-dust, peat, everything
that will burn, furnishes an enormous
supply Of fuel to the railways and fac
tories. But the people enjoy very little
of that surplus of fame and smoke
which characterizes an American home;
consequently their clothes are made
thick, and are worn doubled. Their
wooden shoes are not only cheap and
everlasting, but moreover warm, being
stuffed with hay to prevent corns, and
to make them stay on when the shuttle
turns to a run '.l.- ns
But the standing wonder of Europe
to the American eye is the multiplicity
and ubiquity Of soldiers, and priests,
and sisters of charity. In Germany, and
Switzerland, and France every boy
must serve, say, three years, and then be
placed in the reserve until 45 years of
age. The clergy are, however, exempt
from military service. In England the
same system has recently been adopted,
but with the important modification
that the service is voluntary, and the
pay continues, SO as to command the re-
serves. tf.. ,f ,..
Tell these people that the whole army
of the United States numbers scarcely
$4,000 soldiers, and they stare at you in
silence, unable to believe. The soldier
is as much and as prominent feature of
European life as the horse, the wine
bottles, the basket, or the pillow. Pass
ing Ath the other day, | noticed field,
with many COWS in the middle of it
tended by boy, and ditch around it.
At the end of the ditch, close to the en-
bankment (Which was high here),
crouched man in uniform, with gun,
as if watching his chance to shoot cow
Fifty PAGES beyond him, along the
ditch, crouched another; and more, at
regular intervals, as far as the field ex-
tended. " They are making their ex-