The Penn's Grove record., 1885-09-26
oAsTEIN


a Great European WAGERING Place,
Gastein is in the Alps OF upper Aus
tria, close to the Tyrol. Ii lies in q
valley nth q gradual rise OF from 2. 015
to 3.65l feet above the level OF the sea,
1t is surrounded by a chain OF noun
tains stretching their heads toward the
"heaven-kissing hill"
The traveller, after leaving Lena, has
an upward journey Of eighteen miles in
q vehicle. The central Alps, 6 600 feet
high, are In the west; the Goldberg
group, 5000 feet high, ia in the east,
the Salzachthal Mountains, 5000 feet
hight, are in the north; and the Urge
birgs-G Observation-Disclosures, 10000 feet
high, Is in the south. The panorama
between these mountains displays the
splendor and glory of the Gastein val
ley. 1t is too heavenly TO describe.
You have in America marvellous phe.
nomena Of nature. You have grandeur
OF scenery which, in sublimity and
awful majesty, cannot be rivslled in
any part of the world, except, perhaps,
the Himslayas; but for repose and
variety upper Austria deserves the
palm. The most restless spirit would
find peace in these regions. Everything
smiles upon you here, and invites you
to repose. The softest zsphyrs WOO
you to sleep. Every tree and every
plant seems to whisper words Of glad
ness and contentment.
Gastein has been called q home for
the aged. 1t should be called the era
die Of youth. Age ~revives here and
recedes toward vigorous manhood.
Gastein's former name was Wild-bad,
or game bath. This nam originated
oddly. In 606 three huntsmen pursued
a wounded deer. As they approached
the spot where the game was standing
they saw the animal bathing its injured
limb in q spring of steaming water, and
they discovered the thermal spring.
The prime virtue OF this spring is its
electricity. For nervous, spinal, and
rheumatic complaints it is ~unrivalled.
That's why the mind workers seek it so
zealously. The overtaxed brain receives
fresh vigor, and the spinal cord new
strength, In extreme cases of paralytic
diseases. where the nerves have been
completely paralyzed and the functions
of manhood Frustrated, leaving the
mind like a fiickering lamp, the waters
of EGastein, Pormethean-lke, infuse
new blood into the body. We are told
OF an old Turk who came here years
ago, every limb of his frame deadened.
After twenty-one baths ne was able to
mount the highest Alps.
Another remarkable r. is related
of a spinster of 40 summers who had
actd.ly already been laid in her coffin.
As the lid was about to be closed she
awoke, and was plunged back into q
renewed existence of misery III pain,
until she found relief in the healing
waters. In her youth she had SON.
tracted a severe cold by wading with
her naked feet at a certain period in q
creek. The consequences were terrible,
Epilepsy, %Jaundice, and all the horrors
of the damned seemed to have followed
the Injudicious act. For twenty years
her life was a burden. She sought re-
lief from the greatest physicians in
vain. As q last resort she was sent to
Gastein, where, after two visits, she
was restored to health.
Hundreds of similar cases are related
in the chronicles of Gastein. This ex-
tr~aordinary work Is in twelve volumes
of manuscript. 1t opens with the first
visit. in 1876. of Frederick III, EN-
peror of Germany, and continues up to
1880, when the "Bade- Giste," the
Register" took its place. Here you
find emperors, princes, prelstes, lords,
and barons vying with each other in
expressing their opinions in wretched
chlrography and worse orthrography
upon the virtues of the spring. Every
one begins In German, French. or
Latin with an offering to the Almighty,
and then:either in rhyme or..prose. gives
his or her individual impression of the
place. Some are very odd. 1 give a
few Just as l found them. Thus says
Dona Catharins, a countess, in May.
1909:
With the aid of God l shall be cured.
/ have faith in Him and in Gastein.
The Baroness v. Weisern remarks
In 1863:
/ often think of God
Aud oft on some Il dear.
1t deeply grieves my heart
That l must go from here.
A stole III 1906 has the following:
A cripple I've arrived,
A cripple i go home,
A cripple / shall go into my tomb.
Fancy twelve volumes of this stuff
and you have the chronicle OF Gastein
from 1896 to 1880. But, in spite of all
this. Gastein can show the best and
most legitimate society of any watering
! place IN its season in the world. Here
You find no shoddy extravaganza, no
vulgar presumption, no overlooking
moneyed ~aristocraey. Prince and bur-
ger, statesman and commoner, artist
and tradesman, priest and atheist move
together in peaceful harmony, looking
with one accord toward the object of
their yisit-the restoration of health.
Picture a little valley less than two
miles in circumference which the En-
press and Emperor of Austria and suite,
| the Emperor of Germany and suite,
Prince Reus, the Duchess OF Weimar
and suite, Baron Won Rodawiiz, Prince
| Michael Gatchacaw, Baron Nathaniel
de Rothschild, Baron Won Bulow, Baron
Won Tiller, the Counts of Lamberg.
Wrebna, Flesh, Salo, Zenane, and hum.
dreds OF barons, freiherns, Judges, pre-
lates. authors. actors, lawyers, and
journalists have visited since Aug. 4.
In all about 4 900 persons have visited
this season the thermal springs of Gas
tein,
NJ. e. Johanson has given the follow
ing recipe for stamping textile materials
indelbly: Dissolve 20 parts OF carbon
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