Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1889-03-07

station on the Dresden and Prag road
Ny path from the hotel leads me
down through an awful chas n in the
rocks to the forest, which / have al.
ready mentioned, at the foot Of ths
prscipics. Rapidly traversinz thin
wooded tract ! arrive at the foot ol
the Kieine Wintsrbsrg and am horri.
fipd to perceive that Laust cross this
remarkably steep mountain. Thor.
ouahly tired I reach the summit,
where psFched on fat rock. ] find Z
bare-legged woman and girl with
buckets Of water for sale. You can
6nd thee people wherever you q
er fhia xaanntainops region. bni
eev< before has the sight been pleas-
ent ~ ne. They have no regular
| price for the water. but take what the
traveller chooses to give. In my case
they must be we'll satisfied as they
gladly point out the nearest way to
the summit of the Crosse Winterberg,
at which place. they inform me, there
10 an inn, where they think ] can be
accommodated for the night, in case
the storm overtakes me.
On my arrival. however. my hopes
are at once blasted, as every room and
every cot 10 taken. So taking has
ty view of the grand scene made par
ticularly wild by the fierce storm now
almost ready to burst upon my devo-
ted head, hasten on towards the
Prebischthor Hotel. where ! am told
they have plenty of room. Long be-
fore reach my destination, however,
the storm bursts upon me with oil it's
fury; the thunder is so incessant that
as it echoes and re-echoes among the
surrounding crags it seems tome it
must be like the terrible discharge of
heavy artillery in battle; must be;
flashes of lightning follow each other
in rapid su ocession, until the whole
heavens seem to be ablaze with elec-
trio light; the rain comes down in tor.
rents and to add to my disagrseable
situation night suddenly overtakes
me. Soon q brilliant fash of light
ming shows me large stone pillar and
| end that ! am on the boundary line
between Germany and Austria. My
path now leads to the right along the
boundary and / am struggling on try
ing to keep my umbrella over me
when suddenly find myself stopped
by strong wooden rail. The next
fash shows that I am on the edge Of a
precipice looking down into a pro.
found abyss perhaps hundreds of feet
in depth. now follow this rail to
the left until I find that I am traver-
sing a path cut into the face of the
precipice. On my right hand is a
yawning chasm; on my left solid
wall Of rock reaching in black gloomy
mass towards the angry clouds. But
my troubles are about over, for in a
few minutes I reach place where the
solid wall is cleft in twain by some
ancient earthquake, leaving a passage
way, with perpendicular sides, some
80 feet in width.
In this passage way I see lights and
soon am once more under good roof
where I can listen to the merry voices
of the guests and feel thankful that
my trials are over. The Prebischthor
Hotel is large building. but the pro-
prietor informs me that every room 10
taken. bat he will do his best to make
me comfortable. For q long time /
linger over my supper in the hand
some dinning room and then having
called for q cigar make myselfas COM
Portable as possible and listen to .
party of ladies and gentlemen singing
the sweet airs of their native country,
many Of which are perfectly familiar
to me.
Then the waiter approaches and in
forms me that my room is ready. /
20 at once; what q room it 10 evi.
IDENTIFY intended for closet. There
is no bedstead q single mattrass
reaches from the wall to the door;
there is only room at the side for two
chairs, one Of which acts as a wash
stand. / am forced to step on my bed
to get into the room. Then / find
that my sheets are wet, but heartily
thankful that even have this miser-
able place az q protection from the
storm. throw myself, dressed as /
am, on the mattrass and sleep sound
ly until morning.
On reaching the open air | fiod that
1t l. still raining. but not 60 hard, 90
I return to look about me. What q
situation for q hotel On each side,
precipices reaching high above the
roof; at the back, the way ] entered.