The daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1889-1890, 1889-08-20
EUROPEAN LETTERS.
THE LAND THAT BISMARCK
RULES WITH IRON HAND.
The Scenery of the Rhine Like
that Along the French Broad
German schemes to Relieve the
Traveller of His Shelxe1S.
MAYENcE, Germany, August 6

thing long to be remembered. In some
respects the features of the country re-
semble those of our own, as seen upon
ascending the French Broad, from Nor
ristown to Pennsylvania. First a broad,
comparatively level country, but here
grim with frowning Notifications, which
dis6gure with thoughts ofblood and vio-
lence the otherwise peaceful and lovely
scene.
This character prevailed from Cologne
to Bonn, probably distance of fifty
miles, but there the country suddenly
changed and a precipitous mountain juts
out into the current crowned with a
massive ruinous castle called "Dracentels"
dragons Crag we suppose), which fills
us with wonder how the ancient builders
could have raised the tremendous amount
of stone to its dizzy height, their quarry
said to have been at Cologne; but in re-
spcct to beauty, it is far eclipsed by the
numerous towers and castles which greet
us after passing Coblentz.
At every turn of the tortuous river
have become narrow and in places so
swift as to make our steamer puff pain
fully.
Our neck is sore with craning from side
to side, and eyes strained with looking
upward, at these marvellous works of the
Robber Kings, erected hundreds of years
ago, and still standing as durable as the
mighty rocks eternal, upon which they
are perched.
At one place we have pointed out the
remains of the buttresses of CAESARS fa-
nous bridge over which many school
boys have labored and accomplished the
crossing with more pain and tears than
itcost the great General himself.
After passing defile where the river
has broken through the mountains (vcry
similar to that from Ashevillc to Paint
Rock, extending from Coblentz, at the
mouth of the river MoselIe, to Bingen, Il
distance OF probably fifty miles, we reach
again broad, open, comparatively level
county, similar again to the upper French
Broad.
Naturally the most interesting is the
intermediate section, and never have we
experienced anything so charming, ell
tirely differing from any of our Amer ican
rivers in the marks ola dynasty long
since passed uway Our boat crowded
with pleasant English tourists, and on
either bank railroad, whose crowded
trains excite our sympathy that they are
hurried through scenes SO delightful.
Every point of rocks, however precipi-
tous, is crowned with some old fortfica-
ton, of which the guide books give us the
hard German names, and some legend,
which makes us wish that they had been
made delightful by some Sir Walter Scott.
Possibly they have had writers of their
own equal to Scotland's wizard, and it
is our ignorance which keep us so iii the
dark.
Many of the ruins are of vast dimen-
sions, and their rugged walls covered
with most exquisite ivy, which at Il dis
tance seemed to resemble the famous
Kenilworth Some had been partly re-
stored and occupied, which filled us with
envy for their fortunate owners.
To our unpoetical term of mind, not by
any means the least interesting feature,
was the Vineclad mountains; literally
vineclad from the lofty summit to the
very waters edge, and far the most part
so steep that the beds, or spaces, had to
be prepared by blasting out the solid
rock and building up stone walls to sup
port small bed oflevel ground, in which
the grapes were bedded At places these
walls zigzagged back and forth across
grade for the laborers to ascend.
We noticed that the numerous little
beds seemed covered with vines of va,
rious ages, and friend explained this by
saying that instead of plucking only the
punches Of grapes, the pickers pull up the
whole vines, carry them to their houses
separate and stone the grapes, which
are turned into the wine watts, and return
the seed to the soil fertlized by the ashes
of the vines. We can hardly think that
this can be the common custom, but only
give the information as told to us.
The manufacture of wine is certainly
the leading industry, and it is more diff
cult to procure drinkable water thar
good wine, although the price of the lat
ter is higher than we expected; perhaps
it NAV be cheaper tor the residents, and
only the ordinary fleeing of a traveller
providing him no decent water, ant
forcing the purchase OF wine at an exor
bitant price.
The nuisance of no soap, no lights, eX
cept dim candles, is very great, more cs
peciallv the former We must either put
up our soap Immediately after washing
while wet and soft or buy new piece a
each hotel. We have caught ON to th'
candles, by quietly carrying away thos'
that we have paid for, and supplying
our own light afterwards, and having
our bills docked accordingly.
The bills will always allow inspection
which generally discloses one or more er
rors, always on the side OF the landlord
either in computation, addition or items
And the rascals do not seem at all morti
fed when their attention is drawn to it
hut promptly make the correction witt
an impudent shrug of the shoulders.
Another scheme is that they cannot b
induced to render your bill over night
but withhold it until the omnibus is a
the door, and you are hurried to catcl
the train or boat, thinking you will no
have time to inspect it. In this way w
came near being left behind by our part,
Mt Cologne, but we had nerve enough TO
the OCCASION and gained the recedinl
boat, after accomplishing a considerabl
reduction,
As regards the politics of this section
we of course can gather very little, bu
are impressed with an apparent dispos
tiou towards war, and a settled hatret
for the French. Soldiers and fortihca
lions on all sides are a blur on wha
would otherwise be charmingly beau
full country.
While we can scarcely think that in thi
enlightened age the world will again b
disgraced by a war between two nation
calling themselves Christians, we woul
gladly see an atmosphere of peace goo
will" pervading the people, which woul
be the best safeguard against the hoI
rors of the dark ages being repeated.
We are now dashing along on GeI
man railway, very similar to the Eng
Iish, except that the cars are larger an
locomotives heavier, towards Heide
berg, where we will soon stop to inspec
its famous University and other points {
interest, and probably proceed later i
the day towards Switzerland, where W