Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-12-07
AMONG TIL &c BOHEMIANS. 4

AMONG TIL e BOHEMIANs. 4
- Pleasant but Frugal Family supper, Fla.
vored with Beer and Tobacco "A Moo1,r
light Picnic in Search of the Succuiens
s ushroum. %s4 81 ssz.. !. .itz ! : 5S .s4.#s &
CASTLE MAREscH, BohenIlis, Special Gerre-
spondence Nov 3-We have left the Aus
. TRAN Manhartsberg and come to this old castle
to sp end the harvest home month, the most IN
teresting Of all seasons in Bohemia. The
Marusskau, a temple hill raised BY the sclaves
to their goddess of silence and rest, stands
crowned with birch and fir trees just beyond
tile castle moat, and casts a deep shadow over
the meadows, now filed with yellow vetch and
purple asters-meadows where once Roman
army encamped., and where, even in these
days, the plowboys find coins and
nortrait of Hadrian. To the northwest
are the celebrated fossil rocks Of Beraun,
where petrifed snakes aud trilobites lie scat
tered among the stones and slates. bearing the
impress of lilies and fern leaves. We visited
these old slate ouarries and chalk hills last
week. Our party were so en,hused with scien-
tito research after listening to our worthy
hosts Unbeatable talk--the sclavic legends of
the horse with the golden hoofs W no made
three jumps over the land of the Sclaves, and
wherever the hoofs touched mountain of
gold rose from the earth-that we insisted upon
going that very day to the nearest "gold
mountain Three of these horShoe-form med
hills lie near the Bohemian township of Beraun.
one discovered by q French mineralogist sixty
years ago contains slate quarry, where
superb specimens of fucoids are found, and
little removed from it, is precipice of chalk,
in which petrifcatcns Of unknown periods are
lying. 1t is quite true the stones are petrifed
worms, and concrete of shells, often so minnie
as TO require magnifying glass to distinguish
them, and these, on q mountain many thous-
and feet above the sea. Decidedly the deluge
hoated many strange things about One Of our
party found some superb specimens Of coral,
and petri6ed fish in an iron rock. or rather
IN ground containing iron ore. aud called the
''E seuschluct" Our host, the Herr Baron,
does not think anything too wonderf for
Bohemia. To him it is the first nation Of the
world, aud his after supper table talks are con-
else reviews Of the political, religious, and art
history Of his beloved land.
BOHEMIAN SUPPER.
These supper tables are 30 unlike anything
ever found in America that description may
DO Of interest. o'clock the notes of a
French horn call the family together to table
spread under the indeus of the park. Down
from the woodland walks on the Marausskau
or from the rose gardens and goosebe rry
bushes. .(Such gooseberries are never found
in other lands-yreat PUPPY, jelly-flled, oval
bulbs, the size of pigeons egg.) Well,
from these corners tho guests emerge, AID
we take our places under the lndens. We sit
where we please, waiting. Of course, until our
hostess has taken her place. There is nothing
On the table but the glass-shaded candles,
silver basket OF schw lrz ssbrod fvery brown
bread), salt sellers and our PLATES. At d sign
from the hostess supper is placed on the table
by the servants, who lmme lately withdraw,
with the exception of the oldest ia nily servant,
sort OF confidential steward, who remains to
serve wine and beer. The menu is very SIM
Pile, roasted mea or fowls, with French salads,
or game with compete, weak, diluted form of
preserves, very little sugar, and a vast
amount Of water The best Of the repast is
Plsner beer and the baron's stories, and the
fun OF feeding the dogs, who go waggng their
tails round the rspe bessng FOR bones They
will lap up a saucer Of beor and evidently rel
lsh it, julslng from the increased wag Of their
tails When all have finished eating, beer
and bread are placed on the table, the former
IN huge eartlenware pitchers. the latter in
square s'chuuks," then the gentleman light
their pipes and the ladies their cigarettes. and
tbs perfu ne Of the woodlands is lost in Turk
ish 1Ia,akia. Nine O'clock is the hour f,r re T.
ing Occasionally the young people stAal away
from the group, at the supper table, and
wander off to the hill Of silence, "Marau-skau,;
where the full ION shines down through
branches OF hemock and weeping birch. Such
nights as we havo hal since our coming to
these northern Mills repay US for all the losses
we sustained during the summer on account Of
Austrian arlstocratlc etiquette.
KARLSTEIN
To-day, after listening to the baron's lecture
last evening upon the former wealth Of B he
mlan kings, we ma 10 an eXcur ion to Karl
stem, the famous fortress built as a jewel
casket for the regaiia of the kingdom by
rock fortress in the very heart of
mountains covered with forests Of oak
and cedar, the river Moldau flowing on one side
Of the rocky height from whence the fortress
rises The tower, in the upper part OF which
kept, rises l25 feet above the baltioments
Tue walls are fourteen feet thick, and the win
dows. which were of jewels set in leaden
frames, are not more than two feet high. This
chapel, where the walls are one superb mosaic
of agate, amethyst aad onyx, reminded us Of
during our summer wanderiugs last
yoar. The guide who showed US
over the castle told us that in olden times
this chapel, during divine service, was lit with
l,oOo CANDIES. Inc more historical chapel OF
St. Katnrina, opening from the private apart
naent 0; King Karl w., is quite as interesting.
1t not in relics Of the early centuries. certainly
in richness of decoration and precious stones
Like the Maria chapel Of the crown jewels in
the tower, the oratory of the king ia Que vast
chacedony. Here it was that the pious
Karl tasted and prayed three days
every year upon the anniversary of
st. Katherine, for three times on
the festival of that saint his life had been
miraculously preserved from the knife Of the
assassin On these DAVIS no Que dared to dis
tnrb him. The orasory, where he knelt before
an oak prayer-desk of his own carving, is
behind the altar Of the larger chapel dedicated
to st. Katherine, and where the kings family
and the court heard daily mass. The entrance
20 it opens to the right Of the altar, through
magnificent oaken carved door, richly inlaid
with iron tracsries. Through this door, in
til 'se days, no one but the king dared pass,
and the only means OF communicating
with the praying monarch was by a
narrow hole in the ainscot Of the oratory and
reached from a similar opening behind the
high altar Through this narrow pa ,go a
crust of bread aud cup of wine ald " ,ter
were pa ~sed, and the state papers to which it
was neces -ary for his majesty 10 Immediately
fix his signature 1t is quite impos -ible to
give any idea OF the mosaic work OF precious
stones IN this oratory, aud the beauty OF its
ceiling, composed If sApphires and emeralds
The present stones are limitations, for 80 many
Of the real gems were Stolen in the Hun
garian anu Austrian wars with this land.
that the decorations Of its charels would
have been utterly lostg had not the pety of
later sovereigns restored their exquisite beauty
as we'll as it was possible in an age of war aud
famine. The mosaic walls are, of course,
formed of the original stone, firmly imbedded
in gypsum one washed with gold, bnt now
dead and brown, holding the purple amethyst
and pale green carysoprasus with iron grasp.
Our visit to this grandest of Bohemian fort
rssses quite suodued our taste for iess-deco-
rated churches IN the neignborhood. so we
have Urged the baron to take US to every place
of historical interest in the surrounding coun-