The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-10-30

battlements, past the quaint old rookeries
OF the seaport town, underneath the
shadows of the great Calais lighthouse,
past the out-jutting roofs and under over
reaching arches; until finally, with a
bump that brings you to your feet, you
are within another din, where the trains
are made up for all parts of the continent
Here p0rters with blue blouSes and red
trimmed caps; guards with gold lace and
itching palms; s1d gems d. armes with
bow-legs and c, lotto stateliness, again
hustle you; tear your tickets from you:
throw your luggage after you; threaten
you; commisserate you; wheedle you;
take your pourboire and hurl you, as from
catapult, into entire compartments,
where, with all the torture-demons of the
night channel-trip accompanying YOU, the
ftful sleep that at last comes is not broken
until, after twelve hours of Belgium night
and German day, the jerky train hysteric-
ally halts at the beautiful city Cologne.
1t is well for travellers passing through
Cologne to know that all trains, for some
iDscrutable reason, remain fer nearly two
hours. This gives opportunity for a deli
cious lunch at the station, brief drive
through the principal streets of the old
walled city, and, as the great cathedral is
hOb a SNOilC . lilIOW lIOtu tue railway, Il
fine ramble about this stupendous struc-
ture l confess it did not fill me with the
awe many profess to experience. There
has been a wondrous amount of work
about the place; but that they have been
at such cycles of years and infinite pains
in finishing the great pile seems to be-
token great laziness rather than great ac-
complishment. This much is certainly
true. There is faulty proportion in the
exterior OF the structure; for, with its
mighty and lofty spires, and with the in
considerable buildings all about the cathe-
dral. atfording fine contrast, the majestic
in effect has been very far from reached.
Again on our way, the valley of the
Rhine is spread before us, noble panor-
anna for nearly an hundred miles; indeed,
during all the distance from Cologne to
Mayence there are constant beauty, never
ending picturesqueness, occasional grand
eur; but place the same legendary and his
toric interest along the Hudson, upon the
shores OF the upper Ohio, along the upper
Mississippi, and in either of the three lat
ter localities there would live an equal
charm. Although TO the right and left
there are numberless castles in ruin, par
TALLY restored, or fully restored and occu-
pied, regarding each of which volume,
LlIn Will lnbNiNHbs AlllSllb NC NIlllCils dlLtI
the castle of Godesburg-which was
erected in the thirteenth century by the
archbishop of Cologne, DESTROYED bv the
doughty Bavarians just 800 years ago, and
is now the property of the empress dow
ager of Germany-is passed, the most in
teresting view is given as the great valley
of the Rhine narrOws near the old and an
Gent city of Bonn, where there are the
noted university with its fine faculties. its
interesting cathedral, museum, famous
coin collection, and great monument to
Beethoven, the immortal creator of SYM
phonies. There to the left stretches the
grand range of mountains called the Sic
benbirge-Seven mountains-crownedb by
the lofty Konigswinter They are long
drawn mountain ridges, like softly out
lined majestic pillows, which, as we sped
along their bases, ever changed in beauty
and grandeur. AT every point where out
juts precipice, or an apparently inacces-
sible crag, is gray old ruin or lofty fort
ress, from which ever float the colors OF
some member of the German nobility.
The poet, the artist, the dreamer, need go
no further in the Rhine country than
Bonn and the Seven mountains.
Soon-after scores of villages; of lofty
crags, surmounted by ruined castles; of
VI DiOooNht SAOhB SUI
ering the late crops, or blowing anew the
fields; of every fashion of life in lowly
garb and mein, doing all things still in the
olden, burdensome way-you reach Co
blenz, where the legend-haunted Mosel
flows into the Rhine. CoblenZ is entitled
to veneration. 1t was founded, so the
story goes, eight years before Christ.
Quite long time this to develop its $1,000
inhabitants. BY being the capital OF the
Prussian Rhenish provinces. it is very
stately and formal; and, / am told, one
has soldier instantly at his side here
in Coblenz should he dare converse
above a whisper. But as one looks
out through the blue sky to the nights
of Ehrenbreitstein and its splendid
castle, built nearly a century ago at
a cost of 100000 thalers, the artists
instincts are certainly touched. Near
by is Fort Sayn, destroyed by the French
in the thirty years war, the abbey Sayn,
and the splendid castle of Sayn; while at
the foot of the mountain is a sort of Euro
pean "happy family" at Neuweid, where
there are 10000 inhabitants, comprising
Protestants, Catholics, Herrenhuter, Men
nonites, Quakers and Jews.
"As peaceful as at Neuweid, is a COM
mon saying throughout all Germany.
It is one story, over and over, up the
Rhine, but to me, "Sweet Bingen on the
Rhine seemed to possess the deepest in
terest. 1t is pretty place of itself. nestled.