Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-23
PRAGUE PICTURES.
Scenes in the Ancient Capital
Of Bohemia.
Quaint Buildings and Historic
sites-The Hebrew
Cemetery.

can look ut her and wonder that her
origin 10 lost In antiquity. The first
thbe, the first ohieftatn, that set foot
ON the spot must have seen here q So
perb site for q settlement. Just here,
where the Moldsu sweeps BY with q
broad bend; and on the left bank
slopes, backed by higher slopes, rise,
as,if inviting q fertilization, posts Of
observation and defense; whilst on the
right bank stretches an ample area Of
more level ground, room for the oity
to expand at will. Her existence re-
quires no accounting for, though, Of
oourse, she has her old legend, pro-
fesslng to do so. Libussa, frstduohess
Of Bohemia, says the fable, IN eighth.
century Amazon, with . taste for
learning In general and the art of
divination In particular, was mys
t~eriously instructed by the s~oothsayers
to lay here the first stone Of . city
that should be famous. To this day
the city Ia worthy of Its site, this
"town Ct hundred towers, ""costliest
jewel In the earth's crown Of walls"-
90 Prague has been styled by admiring
men. Every stone In her breaches
history, ssy the Germans, yet nothing
strikes the foreign traveller more
forcibly here than the impression of
present life, activity and progress.
Old, but not Anticipated, she has clearly
no intention of being lett behind In
the struggle for existence.
In this ancient capital of an ancient
people, soma may like to dream them.
selves back In the past, and draw
mournful comparisons between the
Middle Ages Of splendor and romance
and the age Of prose, the nineteenth
century, In which our lot is cast. For
our part, we found Q walk through
Prague, old and new, leave rs with q
sense of u~nspeakable gratitude that
we did not live In the picturesque old
times here recalled to mind. What
sort Of "reminiscences and characteris-
tic traditions have they left behind
them In this representative city
Here Is the Town Hall, where Q v
eral councillors were thrown out of
the windows to be massacred by the
populace." "Here isanother, In front
Of which twenty .seven Protestant
mobiles were put to DEATH" "On yon.
der tower the heads Of these Protest
ant mobiles were exposed for ten
years" "Here Is the bridge where
the Empress confessor was thrown
Into the river, by the Emperor's or.
der, for refusing to betray her
secrets" "Here, In the Imperial
Palace, Is the council chamber, out OF
whose windows other councillors we're
precipitated."
In the Ring, the ancient market
place of the Alstadt, Is the Teyn-
kirch, the old church Of the Hussites.
Since the final overthrow Of the b.
hemian Protestants that 10, $50 years
1t has been In the hands Of the
Catholic party. In one Of It's ohapels
stand the statues Of IS. Cyril and
Methodius, the Evolutionary apostles
OF Bohemia. They were two brothers,
who, In the ninth century, undertook
the Christianizing Of the Soisvonian
provinces, beginning with Bulgaria,
% unmanagesble apparently then -
now. Methodlus wa . painter, and
received Q commission from the Bull.
garian king TO paint some terrific pic.
ture, the sight of which should ave
his lawless subjects into submission.
Methodius painted . 'Last Judgment"
20 terrific a to awe the king into 10.
oepting the new faith preached by the
artist, who, this triumph achieved,
proceeded Into Bohemia, Were his
mission Wa equally successful.
From tho Kleinseite We ascend to
the Hradschin. The shortest way Ia
by q staircase Of 200 steps. The
Hradsohin was founded BY the ANA
xon Queen already mentioned. Her
name, Libussa, signifies ''the darling"
This ideal darling Of 1000 years ago
had q summer house ON . rock ON the
opposite bank of the Moldau, whence
shs used to preoipstate her favorites
Into the river when they began TO bore
her. Strong minded and studlous,
she refused to we'd except with the
wisest Of mankind. She sent out in
quest of this phoenix, who was found
Il Last, according to the legend. at the
pillow. Premislaus, . peasant propri-
etor OF the period, Wal designated -
the worthy one, and summoned forth.
with to the throne, which he occupied
with honor, and became. the founder
OF . royal dynasty. His Successors
were not allowed TO forget their hum
BILE origin. The symbols -peasant's
coat, cap, staff, and wooden shoes-
figured henoeforth a. royal insignia In
the coronation ceremony. The cus.
tom Of ~persecuting Premislaus' oakeu
shoes on Q golden dish to the king's
subject was..preserved here, IL il said
for several centuries.
One glimpse more, and we have
done. Descending from the Hard
sohin to the Moldau direct, q suspen.
sion bridge thrown across to the Al
stadt brings Us almost Immediately
Into that part of II known AZ the jews
quarter, formerly shut in by six gates
Thiety years siuce, Its boundaries
were still carefully defined by wire
drawn across the streets. Less thai
a century ago every Jew was com
PEELED by law to YEA q yellow badg'
. on his arm. Joseph II was the Il st t
do away with this decree, as with an
other forbidding any of these childrer
Of Israel to 20 abroad on Sunday an
! on holidays without aticket, for who
+ they had to pay, Of course. II tn
word Jew has among Us become Q BY
word for extortion, It must be admi'
!, ted they had as Just u for CON
ID plant on this score. In Mari