The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-07-23
LETTER FROM GERMANY.

COTE, will be read with interest, more
particularly as Mr.. COTE received his
school education in this city, where his |
parents still reside. One year ago last |
April he left New York to accompany
Mr.. Skinner on tour around the world
as his medical adviser, Mr.. Skinner be-
ing in poor health. They proceeded to |
San Francisco, and from thence across
the Indian ocean, and after visiting vari-
Gus oriental countries, arrived at Berlin
where the letter we publish was written.
BERLIN, June, 1886.
Well, here l am at last in the great
capital of the German empire. This is
the seat of modern philosophy and the
home of science. To-day I find myself
a sojourner in the glorious empire con-
ceived by the genius of Bismark, hewn
and carved by the sword of Won Moltkel
and cemented by the blood of Sadowa
and Sedan. ,a
| need not weary you with details of
history, which reach back before the
time when race OF barbarians peopled
the Businesses of the Rhine-when Varus
left his regions in the defiles-so familiar
to our school days, but will tell you of
what occurs in these meanderings of
mine.
Berlin is situated on the little river
Spree,.a narrow, sluggish stream, that
would hardly be accredited with a name
in our land. This stream is connected
by canals with the Baltic Sea, and though
insignificant in size is Of vast conse-
quence to Berlin. The cityis built on
flat, sandy plain, with scarcely per-
ceptable undulation, and this fact evil
identity renders practical drainage sys-
tenn one of those problems that only Ger
man science would attempt to eltcidate.
Who selected this site for a capital is one
of the mysteries, and the ashy has like
wise never been recorded, but certain it
is that here on this once sandy waste
there rises above the plain the most mag
nifcent metropolis in all Europe.
You may spend months wandering
through the lovely, spacious gardens, or
whirling along the shady avenues, or
wandering through the art galleries
which seem to have no end. Berlin is a
mighty city. 1t covers about forty
square miles of ground, and its suburbs
much more. Its population is little less
than million and quarter. The build
ings are mostly of brick, from one to five
and six stories high, many of them
veneered with plaster or stucco. It is a
city of solidity, and there is an air of con-
tentment and comfort among these
music-loving, beer drinking Germans
that is contagious and soothing.
Many of the buildings look weather
beaten and mouldy, but remember that
they have stood the sieges of centuries
and the sack of hostile armies. There
was once time when this proud capital,
that to-day swells in the greatness of
power and wealth, was trampled by the
legions of the great Napoleon, and wept
in her humiliation.
Berlin. is city of universities, acade-
mics and schools, There being over
three hundred of these shrines of learn
ing, besides seventy-fve kindergartens
and a dozen gymnasiums. And this all
signifies that in mental culture and physi.
development Germany is the foremost
nation on the globe.
The royal library is feature full of
attractians to the student, with its million
of volumes and manuscripts,
| The art galleries are very extensive
and contain wilderness of noted paint
ings, the works mostly of modern artists,
and wonld have been better appreciated
had they been seen before my visit to
the great Dresden collection, and had re-
veled amid the wonders of the +" old
masters" / ought to be an expert at
this art gallery business for ithas become
a routine to me in all the great cities we
have visited which convinces me that
can do" an art collection quicker than
any other traveller abroad, and as a
matter of fact know less about it at exit.
But you know we Americans rush
things" and where our European cousins
sit and dream awe struck at the works
of genius, as if in the presence of the SUI.
pernatural, we elbow our'way with char
acteristic contempt of fernalities, and
absorb the whole thing at a glance, and
are off for more worlds to conquer.
"Unter den Linden; (which means
under the lindens), is the principal street
and is simply splendid avenue, which
is entered through a grand tritfmphal
arch. On either side of the street are
magnificent buildings. On this street
we have taken our domicile, and for
near neighbors have the Emperor Will
liam and the Crown Prince, who live in
what is called " Palaces" for reasons I i
presume that they are occupied by
princes or sovereigns, for the same rea-
son every home in our great republic is
a palace. Neither the Emperor or old
Bis have called on me yet they proba-
bly, don't know I'm here. These opal
aces" are recognized by the array of SEN
tries and guards who pose on their fronts,
stalwart and fierce whose occupation
seems to scrutinize the constant process
sion of pedestrians in search of a gold
banded official, with an ever recurring
success, and then the profound act of
military salute. Everything is military
in Berlin. Arsenals and camps are the |
indications of the power and prestige of |
Germany. So it was with Rome and
Carthage in their day. Here are troops
in squads, military bands, gold-laeed Of
6cers, batteries of artillery out for exer-
else, batillions of lancers moving with |
beautiful discipline, and all this tells the |
story of the rise of the great empire.
But William will die, old Bis will die.
Won Moltke viii die, and then
| roamed through the palace in which |
Frederick the " Grosser" and his lesser |
predecessors once lived and planned
campaigns and punished beer, and |
lowered for few moments around the
celebrated statue of the same Great
Frederick, which stands just in front of |
the Emperor's palace. This is the |
largest bronze statue in the world and is |
becoming to Berlin. Bronze and marble
statues are common here in all public
places. They commemorate some event
or immortalize some hero dear to the
German heart
You behold the emblems and monu-
ments of triumphs here, and the dear
est aud proudest are those that tell of
French humiliation. The stalwart beard