New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-09-08
THE GERMAN STRAoboN0'
CONVERSION OF A PICTURESQUE CITY ~ A'
A FORTRESS.
snrNr OF THE TRIBUNE =
rFRoM The PARIS CORNERSTONE, .ashurp July ~.

IL was ,pl' ,,odiciuc and Protestant theoioey,
iooui''0' 'aa s,rdcnts from all parts anu uii'cu
S,ost ~ the intellectual culture Vi A""00
~ cour,orv French and German "oie 0P S1>.
III ,Lo doctors lawyers pastors anu
ri ,,,os intensity of life in the "o,iu " Pr,
- ord the great questions touc"ins ma
- ond chief end. Gods means oi efe''>"e "
oi's,i '''N ao ond scriptural exegesls were ois-
'"o -. oornestness and an eagerness WHICH
0"''o" ,ho ,nion of the German ana tne uaiiic
caine Va ~ .;ont city, La Revue de Stras-
'"''' - 4l.c ,njtIatOr OF the movement "hicn
ooure - french Reformed Church from the
"Do-" ':v, r,opld of Calylnism. Its creauon WIS
c,"mp ramp n;,nn1ianeous with the political movement
's|s Renan was more influenced by IL than
:. cares TO admit. So was Strauss.
s,rasburc was close TO Baden Baden when TINS
..o.ornc Mace was the centre of European dlssl-
oa.;on in the three bright months OF June, July
ara August. Benazet had brought, by his won
derful management of the Casino and the chiet
hotels the rank fashion and wealth OF Europe
90 the picturesque town of villas 1t took forty
minutes to run there from Strasburg. Return
tickets were cheap Strasburg milliners and dress
makers went 10 Paris for their modes And they
had models of elegance before their eyes in the
Prefectess of the Lower Rhine, in the wife OF the
military commander and in the Countess de POUR
tales whose seat at the Robertson was within
ouarter of an hours walk of the town. Madame
Dc Pourtales, nee de Bussiere, belonged to an OLD
Strashurg family. Her father was, under the En-
pire. Master Of the Hunt. The wealthy manu-
featuring families of Alsace used to winter In
Strasburg, but go TO Paris 10 make matches 1or
their children. No more hospitable city existed
in the world. French culinary art was
afforded the widest scope; the rich,
wel-watered plain around providing In the
greatest abundance poultry and aquatic fowls
vegetables and farm produce, the Rhine IT'S nsh.
and the mountains of the Vosges and the Black
Forest every variety of game There was no inner
market in the world save for sea fish than that
of Strasburr Malthuss doctrines being ac-
cepted. the old part of the town was mo swarmery
of balfstarved children. The young girls were
strong and handsome and took pride in the rich
materials out Of which they made their picturesque
dresses. The colts which they sat their butter
fly bows Of ribbon were thickly embroidered with
gold thread Duchesses might have envled the
embroidery on the muslin chemsettes, the velvet
bodces and the aprons. Ons often saw STOCK
ings hnnd.lznit in fine silk of different colors
with snowy clocks that marked the outline OF the
yearers legs This elegant, though homemade hosiery
necessitated shoes no less spruce ana DAINTY
Strasburg shoemallers had farand-wide repute.
The uppers Of the summer shoes were adorned
with curious needlework On Sunday the work
inc. class girls coming from mass or from Ine
Protestant temple were as pretty sight as eye
ever beheld They looked so reposeful, healthy
and in good case generally, and their charming cos
tune became them so we'll The ladies were not
50 picturesque. But they gave the idea of wealth
IT.. and pXcpllPQt. Though
the influence of Paris so apparent IN the
nodes there was everywhere an air OF quiet,
homely simplicity, analogous TO the hnicker-
hooker air Of the New-York that Washington
Irving remembered.
The old town, which was knocked TO pieces
land all that WAS not so treated burned IN the
siege was in former days place wherein the
painter and antiquarian might TeVel. GuStave
Dore got in it that sense Of Quaintness which
came out in his illustrations OF Les Contes DO
latiouesn EinePs tower had not then dwarfed
every other artificial elevation. The Strasburgers
could fancy no higher height than the platform
Of their cathedral tower. One saw from IL the
fat plain watered by the Iii and Rhine as through
veil Of light white gauze-the elects OF the
mist which Jungdt so well rendered in his AL
satan LANDSCAPES. The wide, fertile plain was
the bottom of basin, having to the north the
hills of the Palatlnate. 10 the east the Vosges
Alpine ranges. TO the south and TO the east the
Rhine and the pne-covered forests of Baden.
OF course this panorama is still what it was
1wpntv-t\yo wears back But when one looks
down with field glass at the city and its i'm
mediate envirOns one realizes what a change has
taken place in the interval. The French Empire
was thought a military despotsm. Yet it had no
clement Of dril-sergeantiSm. The officers took
things easy and the soldiers were goOd-natured
creatures. who. if you took then nicely, would
when mounting guard let you enter all sorts of
places where it was their duty 10 turn folks oil.
There were relatively to what there are now but
few forts. The idea is now forced upon one of
Strasburg being a German stronghold, in which
drill and soldering predominant over all other
human occupations In the morning and early
hours of the day the troops are as busy as if
they had to resist a French attack tomorrow or
the next day. Taking plunging glance into
The laborious quarters one swarnIs of infants
too going to school After school is over children
are so numerous that one is puzzled tC think
where they can be housed If one descends 20
study them nearer, one finds them starVeiings ill
dressed, naturally very ugly. and working as
hard as if they were so many Belgian dogs of
burden. They carry loads on their backs and
babies in their arms: they draw water, sweep
sIec's' 'ell oranges ana apples, lnnS, DOOtHccS
and other small wares that are placed
in baskets which are suspended with cords from
their necks. The very small children have rosy
and white 1esh, tow hair, blue eyes, and are fat.
Mothers milk has kept them so far in GOOD case
vast Imperial palace has been added to the
town. The late Emperor Frederick was 10 have
tried the experiment of going there as Crown
Prince with an olive branch and residing for
some months each year. To get round the Catholic
clergy big new church has been run up in the
Finllmatt. Cafes have all but disappeared. The
knepe and the weinStuben have usurped their
place. The weinstuben is winners establish.
ment built and decorated in a Middle Age STYLE
II is crowded with rough men who soak liquor.
L'HOte de la Mason Rouge, where Goethe boarded
and lodged when a student in Strasburg has turned
is coffee-roOm into a wenstube German modes
OF life crowd ont the Franco.G erman that | 70