Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-08-20
MIDSUMMER.

sn"uo' f4 @
She stands and waits some pensive dream
Her beauty sweet, and bows her radiant
The delicate pale roses that sho holds
Seem TO have borrowed Of her check their
red.
She waits, like some superb but dropping
To feel the touch OF morning aud the sun,
And o'cr her head the glowing petals shower
And 20 her feet the shifting sunboams run.
Ifoliow to her feet their pathway fine,
And while my voice the charmed silence
What starued splendors from her deep eyes
Into Blmt glory myifoh dover awaiosff
-Ceia Tldrter, IN ScrJHo's Monthly.
DUELING At HEIDELBERG.
Brutal sword Cumbats Between German
Students Graphically Described by an
Eye-witness-A Pastiine More Barbarous
than the Bull-Fights Of spain.
IT seems one duel had taken place
before our arrival. 1t did not matter;
the results were before us. One of the
contestants, partly naked, was half
recliring in aehair while surgeon was
shaving the hair from the top of his
head in order % patch up several ugly-
looking sword cuts. Two or three Stu
dents were washing the blood from his
face and body one of them with small
sponges was sopping the blood that was
flowing freely from some ghastly wounds
on the cheeks and forehead. One cheek
was entirely laid open, and a deep cut
went diagonally across the forehead,
from which branched off several smaller
cuts. The lobe of one ear had disap-
peared and downward stroke had split
the nose, which was dripping blood like
leaking pump. will not describe him
further. 1t was a terrible sight. l
should have said that be could not have
lived half an' hour; bnt there was no
danger of death, and I was told that as
soon as the present wounds should heal,
he would probably be engaged in another
duel. The other duelist had not suffered
so badly. He was already dressed, and
had nearly got through with the finish
ing touches from the surgeons hands.
His head was bandaged and several
strips of sticking-plaster adorned his
face in zig-zag courses across his cheeks
and forehead In the afternoon l saw
him promenading on the Leopold Strasse,
evidently proud of his disigured face.
Passing the hospital room, in which
we did not tarry long to scrutinize, we
entered the dueling hall, large, high
room about fifty feet long, thirty wide.
The second duel was in progress, of
which we had been torewarned by hear
ing the clash of swords in the outer
room. Had 1 not been anticipating a
bloody and brutal spectacle, the sight so
suddenly revealed to me would have
staggered my nerves. At one end OF
the hall and facing each other were the
two duelists engaged IN what appeared
to be deadly combat. The face of one
was so covered with blood that l could
not recognize his features. The red gore
was dropping from his nose and chin,
and red streams were trickling down his
bare back and staining his shirt and
trousers with crimson hue. The other
duelist, although his face was bloody,
had evidently not been so badly pun
ished as his adversary. He had only re-
ceived, so far, two or three slight cuts
on his face from which blood was flow
ing down his bosom. Each wore aprons
originally made from some white ma
terial that looked as if they had seen
long service in a slaughter-house, and
so they had, for they were almost black
with the human gore that had accumu-
lated from many previous duel. Their
heads were bare and their faces unpro-
tected, save by black steel goggles with
out glasses which covered their eyes.
Heavy wrappings of silk-layer upon
layer-were wound around their necks,
and their sword-arms were incased lin
thick shields or sleeves, wadded or pads
ded with cotton SO that the sharpest
blade could not penetrate them. Aside
from these precautions, they were at the
mercy of each others swords.
While making these hurried observa-
tions and endeayoring to fully compre-
hend the ghastly scene, the duel was
fiercely raging. 1t was no child's play,
as / had once supposed it to be. Both
combatants were about thirty. years of
age, athletes in size and strength, and
had been practising for years under
skilled professors for such an occasion
as this. They were in terrible earnest,
and their long sharp swords played over
each others heads with lightning like
rapidity, but so skillfully were the blows
parried that most of the wounds were
only caused by the bending or the
breaking of the blades. The moment a
sword became disabled, which was con-
stantly occurring, the seconds interfered
and cried Haiti" and ltheA pliited
arms came to rest. While waiting
for fresh weapons the members. of their
respective corps gathered about them,
some bringing wine or water for them
to drink, others wiping the flowing
blood from their wounds or faces with
wet sponges, and assisting the surgeon
to hastily bind up some deep-out wounds
with lint or imprOmpti bandages Soon
as fresh swords, which had been sharp
ened like razors, were brought and
placed in their hands, there was no GER
emony or waiting. The seconds gave
the signal and the two men sprang
forward at each other ike blood-hounds.
Steel clashed against steel again sparks
flew as if from n blacksmith's forge,
and tufts of hair, cut as if by invisible
hands, we're waited long distances from
each other's heads occasionally a
squirt of blood would, tell that q
bad wound had beeh given,
and the seconds would interfere
while the surgeons could examine and
hastily quench the flowing current. The
duelist who first attracted my attention
by his CORY face was evidently getting
the worst of the battle. Al every en-
counter he received fresh wounds, and
imagination could not picture a worse
sight than ne presented. Blood was
flowing down his face and body like
rain, and forming little pools in the saw