The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-11-01
Abv zzs Arkesssv Tbsss<w. v THE RHINE.
sr row.


 nearly a thousand miles from iss mouth, is the source sf oae of the most beautiful rivezs the sun shints upon- Sssg by poess. praised by tourists. sf all countries. and--bsS cf aIl-lovsd asd siorisd h by the people through vaess Iaads t AovA The Rhine esztainly must not be compared with other streams.
 The Gangs, whose muddy waters sweep through the torEid plains of India, which annually everAows, destroying the sock, crops, asd livss of the poor people, which l. worshiped e god. and which has received inte its vsacrs thousands ol poor fanaiis vho imasised they were taking the shortest route to paradise even the Ganges cannot vie with her in the feeiing which she inspires in the hearts of the inhabitants of her fertile valleys. The Ganges is worshiped as . god l; the Mississippi is admired for its great length the Amazon-whose path IS yet imperfectly explored, and which sweeps into the sea the waters of a whole continents wondered at and feared 1; but none of these receive the love and affection which the German peasant bears to his beautiful Rhiac.
 The children are brought up to look upon it in the light of dear friend, and around it cluster the memories of the old grandparents. To be separated from it is one of their greatest sorrows, and wherever he may be-in the far vest of America or in the far east of Australia the German looks back to the Rhine with the fondest regret
 The Rhine has | noble source. Two smai lakes nestliug in the tops of the Alps discharge their waters into a little stream, which. gathering strength as it proceeds, swells into a mighty river, navigable for hundreds of miles. For many miles-broad and flowing through great plains, then narrow, deep, ,ortuous, rushing between mountains 90 near that from distance they seem to touch, then emerging into broad, noble stream-it presents the utmost variety of scenes and views Rival castles look .hreateningly across it. ruined palaces lend an old-time air to the scenes, the quaint and pictur- esque costumes of the people whom it passes, make the tourist think he is in deed in strange land, and all combined produce the most delightful results.
 Many are the legends clustering around the Rhine Princes and kings, noble men and ladies, have left their deeds as sacred inheritance to the people. Listening to them, the traveller foTkess that he is living in the nineteenth century, and the tales he hears seem the occur rences of to-day and this memory is not all that the chivalric knights and beautiful ladies have left behind.
 Many a ruined castle, the home for years of only the bat and the owl, is re- visited by its former owners. Lovers, over whose graves the earth has rested for centuries, come again to the scenes of their wooiug. Foes, whose swords and helmets have long since mouldered away, and whose quarrels have been decided by that highest court, again ply their trusty blades, again hunt each other with undying animosity. At times the castles are all ablazc with light; i, is ball, and the dancers are those who danced there in the days of the greatness of the old German empire, while the mountains are full of strange hunssmen hunted there in years gone by. Such are the beliefs of the peasantry, and they add greatly to the charm of the beautiful river, and let no one dare to dis,rust these old legends and ghosss! For many of oar most touching and beautiful legends have been laid low; and let no one dare to invade the sanctisy of the Rhine! To the German, the Rhine and Fasheriand " are indissolubly connected. They are inseparable in his mind. The Watch on the Rhine" won as many victories for the Prussians in the Franco Prussian war as did the skill and valor of the com manders.
 With that song ringing in his ears. with the knowledge that were they de- sea.ed, the sacred banks of the Rhine would be trampled by foreign feet and the beautiful Rhineland invaded; with all this the German soldier vas well nigh invincible and his victory . certainty, and when the var was ended, when France and the French had been laid low and all united Germany vas rejoicing, then wherever the German vas-an the world cver-ai cutburst of praise and thanksgiving ascended by millions of hnfsxSS kanr<~ Gsuusuu ssTk> Vlyse~I