St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-04-10


the cool fresh beverage with great
pleasure, and began the descent, feel
ing that if nothing along our journey
is more disappointing than this day 5
work, we shall indeed be most fortu-
nate. AT seven O'clock, March 5th,
after delicious nights sleep, our
party was trained for the Bohemian
capital, the Germans pronounce it
Prag. Old grim Konigstein was at
tractlve in its age, and the hills and
valleys and sparkling stream were
grand i'll the morning light, ais we left
them.
The country through which we passed
en- route for Prague is moderately AL
pine and therefore pleasing to lover
of nature, but no more beautiful than
Is the scenery of the White Mountains.
The hills and mountains here remind
us strongly of our home mountains,
but they are not just the same in ap-
pearance. These are not so high and
grand, the valleys narrow, and all
seems built on smaller scale, but still
very attractive and often splendid.
We reached the city about noon,
and after dinner went for a drive past
some of the important buildings, across
that famous old bridge which is full
of statuary-thirty pieces at least
with crucitix near one end of it which
was erected by money taken from a
Jew who ''reviled the cross" in the
year 1906. This is sometimes called
"Charles Bridge" built 500 years ago
and spans the Maldon river, which
flows in northerly direction through
the city. Near this bridge small
slab marks the place where Nepomuk
was thrown into the river, and because
of the peculiar appearance of the float
ing body, he became the patron saint
of Bohemia. As we passed the spot il
poor woman WAS passing her hands
over the cross erected to his memory,
and then crossed herself in true Catho-
lie devotion. At the other end of the
bridge are groups of statuary repre-
senting purgatOry. The splendid cathe-
dral, Saint George church, imperial
palace, the Abbey of Strahaw, and
other important buildings stand upon
"A hill, from which one has very fine
view of the city. Not far away may
he seen the slab which marks the spot
where TychO Brahe was buried. The
building is still standing where the
first University of Prague was opened
in l34S, A. D., which is the oldest in
Germany. We passed through one of
the gates into open grounds and past
Notifications resembling those in the
suburbs of Quebec in Canada.
A Jewish synagogue which we Wis
tied, the best of nine, is IA queer little
building; the one room which we en-
tered was very small, and in the center
was compartment where marriages
are performed. Over this hangs very
old flag which was presented by Fer
dinand III. in recognition of the brav-
cry of the Jews during the siege of
Prague by the Swedes in 1913, A. ID.
The building is the only Jewish syna-
gogue in Europe III the Gothic style
of architecture and was built in the
early part of the 18th century. On one
side of it are little openings through
which the women are permitted to
observe the services.
The cemetery in this Jewish quarter
is curious place. One grave stone in
it bears date COG A. D., and has upon
it the cluster of grapes which denotes
the grave of a Rabbi. The tribe of
Levi is symbolized by Il pitcher-the
tribe of Aaron by two hands-Judah
by Il lion, etc. There were many graves
higher than others, and many grave
stones standing close together, which
our guide explained 10y saying that the
Jews never remove "A buried body, and
when the burying ground is covered
with graves, they bury right over the
old graves only not so deep, and then
over again when more room is needed.
Some places there were four deep.
The city is surrounded by a wall
twelve miles in circumference, in which
are eight gates opening to the country.
The population at the present time is
not far from 100000. The German
language is largely spoken in the city,
but the old Bohemian language has
many friends and other European Ian
guages are i'll daily use among the citi-
zens. Friday morning, March 9TH, a
little after 7 o'clock, we started for
Vienna, and would you like to know
how we did it7 We arose at 5: 30
breakfasted at 6 Is on fine coffee and
plenty of it with fine rolls and two or
three kinds of meat a few fees to the
walters; several good-byes and hat
tippings by the servants, and we start
ed after the truck wagon which had
the heavier and greater number of our
fifteen satchels and bundles, to the
station and the cars.
DIR. Robert H. Bakewell condemns
the common practice of keeping lights
in the bedrooms of children. He says
it has an injurious effect upon their
nervous system. Instead of the per
feet rest the optic nerves ought to
have. and which nature provides for
by the darkness of the night, these
nerves are perpetually stimulated. and,