Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-04-03

GERMAN CAPITAL
n Of Inter der Landsu--Lifs
and Living in Berlin.
[Cor. New York Evening Post.


an elm as 1t Is any other tree, and
Meath the Elms" Is the idea the
American can understand, and the idea
"Unter der Linden" is intended to con-
vey, and does convey, until the thing
has been seen. "'Neath the Ems,
broad-spreading, thickly shadowing,
with grass underneath upon which to
stretch ones self at full length and
think of all lovely things and all this
In the midst Of vast city. Let us
start at once, and there make our home.
The reality is sad enough. Inter der
Linden is O street, with houses, num-
bers, shops, palaces, ETC., about mile
long, and about 200 feet broad. In the
middle is q dirt walk perhaps fifty feet
wide, row OF trees on each side of 1t.
guarded by iron rails supported in very
ordinary stone posts. Upon one side of
the dirt footpath are about twenty feet
of thicker dirt for horsemen; upon the
other side about twenty feet of stone
roadway Then come two more rows of
trees, those of the roadway being in
narrow plate-bande. Then on each side
follow ordinary street and sidewalk
reaching to succeed shops, hotels, and
palaces. The lime tree in its proper
growing places is lovely tree; not very
large, but large enough, with dark green
and very thick foliage. There are many
excellent specimens in the Thier garten,
and even in some OK the squares
where grass is allowed to grow
beneath, seeming to require the
companionship of yGrdure. But Just
where of all places they ought to grow
and flourish, just there they will not
that is, at all commensurately with the
expectations or hopes of those who put
them out. AS lines will not grow,
experiments arc being made with other
trees. Naples, elms, and horse chest
nuts have been substituted, but none of
them seems hearty.
The one thing to do in Berlin lust
now is to see the emperor, that one may
know of ones own knowledge-so far as
eyesight imparts knowledge ply
steal condition and prospects, According
to my eyesight, the change since last
saw him is painfully startling. He is no
longer upright, his chest has fallen
away SO that his orders overlap; he has
hardly strength to reach his hand to his
v.
newspapers speak of him every morning
as being fully re-established in health,
and as having worked for hours the day
before with his various ministers and
generals. That can not be; there is no
moro work in that head or in that hand.
And what has the kaiser done for the
people2 Are there any fewer old women
and little, half-nourished children work
ing on their knees in the fields, Juggling
with feeble fingers at the roots and
weeds, as though their lives depended
on it--as, indeed they do? And what
novels they crawl into when their days
work is done, and what they eat before
they fall dead asleep! All the while
strong husbands and brothers are far
away, watching lest foe acquire means
for revenge; and all the while, too, the
emperor, "Allerhoechst, is distributing
medals and honors, which they have
dug out of the ground for him, though
they are poor, sick, ignorant, starving,
and helpless. There is not a second of
rest from labor for either play or prayer;
and what the emperor has done the ma
tons about him must also do, or be en-
quilted The strain must break soon.
Another and less solemn side Of the
question: Is the individual German any
better hammered than he was twenty
years ago! Is he any more clearly in
his personal habits2 Is he any more
likely to defer to lady, unless he knows
her name and knows that she is
a countess7 Is he any less of most
fearful nuisance when let loose in
Switzerland! Is his scholarship less
pedantic, are his ideas less vague or his
language less confused, or his cooking
less abominable9
There was a time just after the French
war when dining in Berlin was tolera
BILE. OF the French prisoners, of course,
nearly the whole number knew how to
cook. For some years their teachings
were remembered, and obeyed, but now
they seem completely forgotten. dined
the other day at the Cafe de Europe.
Each Berlin restaurant has its fixed din
ner for the day, and you are expected to
take it. The first thing and terror,
Is the dish of hors d'euyres-
vast rotating platter, about
three feet in diameter, covered with
small dishes, at least twenty in number,
each dish containing so-called appe-
tier: Italiaenischer salad, sardines,
picked herring, and all sorts of picked
things unknown elsewhere. Three Ger
mans seated at a table next me called at
the start for champagne, and took
enough of the hors puvres to exhaust
any non-German hunger. AS to the
dinner, I can not land could not go
through with it. Everything was
cooked to death, and everything was
swimming in the vilest of sauces.
Above all others, Berlin is the place
for work. Everybody is doing some
thing, studying something. The people
you meet of whatever nation they may
be, look as If they were making the best
of their time, and not worrying them
selves with the idea that they were too
young or too old to take hold of any
thing.