The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-09-01

make 1t hard to ind and BlSmark has,
of late years, been making good many
of them entirely invisible to their own
Dukes, even. But, being few DAYS ago.
in the famous old town Of Eisenach, which.
you know, is overshadowed by the Wart-
burg Castle of famous memory, and being
In crowded, disagreeable hotel, l found
| was near Liebenstein; and that though
Bad it was anything but bad place
So l came, determined to see what Ger
man watering place was like. Well this
one, (Which is not big enough to be a
world famous gambling house) is as much
like Virginia watering place as can be
imagined; brass band, bad hotel table,
bellies, hacks, hack drivers, and all.
These baths are in the Thuringian Noun
tains, clump beginning some thirty
miles west Of Leipzig, and extending to
wards the Rhine for some seventy miles
They are surprisingly like the lesser
mountains of Virginia, except that they
are rather softer. One might almost i'm
agine himself here, in the very valley
which contains Blacksburg; except that
there is no such mass as the Saltpond
Mountain, looming up in the west. The
meadows are as green though not so good,
and the hills are as beautifully rounded.
The trait which interests one here, who
comes from our new, unkempt country,
is the presence of man s hand everywhere,
embellishing, Cor perhaps Decorating
You see a dome of mountain nobly clad
with pines, perhaps for miles. You 90
to them certain of seeing at last piece
Of natures work; and the trees are in
rows, like an apple orchard Every one
OF them planted You scramble up, your
own way, to wild crag, which you are
certain is unsophisticated and you find
that there is nicely engineered foot
way, gravelled, adorned with fancy seats
and fancy bridges over the gullies, lust
around the other side. Well, it is. all
very nice for pedestrians.
The Fine Arts. s.e
have now been in Germany for more
than month; and have diligently kept
my eyes and ears open, to learn what
could of the real results of German Gull
ture and government. The Germans are
now the greatest patrons of Z" the fine
arts" in Europe The Dresden and Nun
ich picture-galleries are equal to any out
of Rome. The zeal Of this people for
music, and the fame of their composers,
you know. 1t is the fashion here, to be
musical. Well 1 never believed that
aesthetic culture would make people vir-
tuous or righteous and now don't be-
heve it makes them refined To one
thing | am ready to testify squarely 1t
does not make them pretty. For, of all
the ugly, swarthyi angular scraggy, long
nosed females that disfgure> this earth, I
think the lady-artists whom one sees so
enthusiastically copying the masters. in
these famous picture galleries, are the
ugliest. Nor, alas, have the fine arts
made the Germans refined. They all go
to concerts. They all are amateurs Of
"classical music" they are so aesthetic
that they actually get music out of their
cow-bells. Ca solid fact, and quite "clas-
steal music, too; the slaves of which are
as much entitled as Schumann's, to be
marked with the most "classic" terms,
Confantasie," staccato," "Fortissime, "
and, when the cowboys make the COWS
gallop, even "Tumultuossimamente y
Yet, this most aesthetic people swills dis
gushing lager as an accompaniment to the
classical" music, and smokes bad cigars
in its ladies faces, and eats raw fish ham
and sausage. Yes, I saw a fashionable
German while Bilse's famous band at
Berlin, in Flora Tempel" in the Rosen
Garten, was performing most exquisitely
Rubenstien' "Spharen sanger" (the
music of the spheresD draw his kid
gloves, take pull at his beer-mug, and
then eat in great bites, hunk-yes, moth
ing less than great hunk, of raw fish
Then he lighted villainous cigar, and
pulled the smoke in his lady's face. How
appreciative
But can there be any true refinement
that is not founded in pure and virtuous
principles? l think not. If there is no
efficient connection between taste and the
conscience, then it follows that the cult
walton Of taste, without religion, will not
even make people refined I believe the
most real grossness is found in Just those
parts Of Europe where the Gne arts have
been cultivated, without true religion, on
the most expensive scale. And l am told
that when you get to Rome, the metrop-
oils Of fine art, you are also at the head
quarters of grossness and dirt.
The Sole and Upper-leather Of Society.
Old Mrs. Seay (the stewardness at the
seminary when you and were college
bove Oood old soul had vvisa 90 w ,,,bfoL