The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-04-14
!Srecia1 Contributors.
LETTER FROM GERMANY.
BY HENRY G. MORRIS

BY HENRY G. MORRIS,
Hanover is renowned as the city of
all cities where the most correct Ger
man accent can be acquired. 1t was
formerly the capital of a kingdom and
although now united to Prussia, the
place has not forgotten the important
role it has played in history. With the
English this point has long been a
favorite resort. To Hanover, England
owes the existence of her present line
of royalty. Well might the title ''home
of philosophers" be bestowed. Here
lived the brothers Schlegel and
here died Zimmerman and LeibnitZ;
Herschel, the astronomer, at one time
was one of the royal musicians. Even
now the city ranks high among its COM
petitors as an industrial and trade CEN
ter. Many new buildings are in the
course of erection and the streets are
being improved; naturally all the
streets are paved with cobblestones, but
here many have been macadamized.
Everything pertaining to royalty still
exists but the owners have deserted it.
The Duke of Cumberland, who lives in
Vienna, is the owner of the greater part.
A few days before we left, we drove
out to Herrenhausen, the former palace
of the HanoveTian kings. A boulevard,
two miles in length and beautiful in
samulol ,eoa44let.1i .ts;s5 count ry sect With
the city residence. We first visited
The Marshall or Royal Stable.
Here we saw horses of milk white col
or, whose size is remarkable and whose
form is fit subject for the painter.
These animals number some thirty or
forty. From their stock are descended
those which draw the carriage of Queen
Victoria. Though seldom used, these
animals receive the care of some dozen
grooms and their stable is as clean as a
parlOr. Then we saw fine royal car
riages and the harness. The carriages
are very large with the axles far apart;
from these there rise strong shafts, to
which the body is hung by leather
straps, which take the place of springs
and impart swaying motion. Behind
there is large platform for footmen
and lackeys. The entire outside of the
vehicle is gold-plated and ornamented
with hand paintings. Inside the entire
finish is in silk and velvet plush. The
harness is made by hand from silk and
gold handiwOrk. Instead of one bell,
there is chime of bells, which makes
most sweet music. Next we visited
the Thelfen Museum, which traces its
ancestry to S25 A, D., in genealogical
table shown on the wall. This is a
most curious collection of antiquities,
dating from the twelfth century.
There are old guns and weapons and
stones as large as a foot ball, which
were thrown by means of slings; on
the other hand a suit of iron armor
averaging one-half inch in thickness.
In this age it would be a physical i'm
possibility to carry it, much more to
fight in it; an immense figure of the
Virgin Mary; the entire front of which
opened and revealed its true purpose to
serve as a guard house; poor deluded
mortals, to think that figure would pro-
tect them.
We saw old hand d-carriages very sim
liar to the sedans used in Japan, only
much more clumsy, in which royal
ty were carried by their slaves two
hundred years ago We saw various
costumes worn at different stages of
life by she sovereigns, all preserved as
carefully as gold; pieces Of handwork
of the thirteenth century, somewhat
faded but scarcely worn; a wreath of
huen rolled in balls and strung together
with gold thread worn by some image
of the Virgin Mary and stolen from it
in the twelfth century; instruments of
torture, such as thumb screws, chairs
with prickly seats and a machine on
which the victim was fastened head
and foot, roller covered with spikes
in the middle of his back and then
stretched; an old piano, which looked
very much like a kitchen table, but
when opened disclosed ivory and tor
toise shell keys and sounded very much
like violin, and several bibles with
notes in LIther's handwriting. At
tached to this collection of antiquities
is small portrait salon in which hang
the pictures of Leibnitz and the pro-