The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-07-04

fExtraots from a private letter from Mis-
Lizzie A. Lippincott1
FAILS oP THE RHINE,

1iUIudy JuAt lpth, lOvO.
| have been so very busy since we came
on the Continent that | have scarcely writ
ten a letter, so | suppose you almost feel
that | have forgotten you at home. We
indeed, l am inclined to think no one else
does. Yesterday we were in Strassburg
and the stores were open all day, so in the
evening We made a few purchases, as we
were going to leave so early this morning.
There | sa three stolks and one nest; the
n sts look so odd perched on the top of a
high house. Strassburg is a very quaint
old town. but there is not much of interest
| there except the architecture of the old
houses, the Cathedral with its astronomi-
cal clock, the parks and barracks. Oar
train arrived there a few minutes before
twelve. so we took a carriage at the sta
ton and went directly 10 the Cathedral to
sc the clock, as at twelve o'clock all the
figures move. After this we went to the
hotel, took dinner, and spent our after
noon in walking and driving over the
town. The proprietor OF the hotel wanted
to know if we would like to 60 to the
opera in the evening, but as it was Sunday
we declined.
We left there this morning at S.35 very
early for this country and arrived at Neu-
hansen at 2.45-a very long ride, but a
very beautiful one. 1t was on tho Black
Forest railway, and such beautiful scenery
| have never seen; it is more beautiful than
the trip up the Rhine, | think. We go up
a grade Of 1000 feet i'll "a miles, so per-
haps you may imagine what it was like.
The mountains were covered With pines,
mostly, although in some places there was
no vegetation. They are much more rug
ged than With us, and every once in awhile
We would see the ruins of IN old castle
perched on an almost inaccessible cliff,
which, of course, added greatly to the
pieturesqueness of the scene. | believe
through the Black Forest is considered one
of the finest parts of Germany. How |
wish you could be here; it is perfectly
charming. Ny window looks right out on
the falls, which are very, very beautiful,
and over The nearer ridges of mountains
you can see the beautiful s~now.capped
peaks, the first we have seen. The falls
are very near and make such a noise. They
sound more like three or four argeengines
letting off steam than anything else | can
think of.
From Antwerp we went to Rotterdam.
and did not do anything all day, but had
a good rest. Mrs. Sutton and | sat on the
balcony of my room and watched the
shipping most of the day. 1t was very in
teresting. They have boats that look very
much like our canal boats, only having
masts which they can lower at pleasure.
They usually have a tug for the larger
boats, but the medium-sized ones the peo-
pie on board push along by means Of long
poles. On every boat there was a woman.
a dog, and, perhaps, several small children.
1t was not at all TO see a wo-
man at the rudder with a baby on her arm,
and several times we saw the women help
ing push the boats. OF course, we saw a
great many picturesque costumes.
At Amsterdam we met a friend of Mr..
Sutton's, who was very kind, indeed, in
showing us around. From there We went
to Cologne. There isn't SO very much to
see there but churches. We went up the
spire of the great Cathedral, which is said
to be the highest in the world. We could
only go about half way mp, but as we had
been up SIS steps it was quite far enough.
After dinner we went to the church of st.
Ursula, where 100 saints or virgins are
buried. | cannot begin to describe all l
saw herc-will nave to wait until | come
home.
At Cologne we took the boat up the
river, which, OF course, wa a very beauti-
fml ride, hut think | was a little disap-
pointed in it. The chief beauty is in the
picturesque ruins, which are situated on
every high cliff, and in the river itself,
which is very winding. You are in places
continually which are only about a half
mile long, and seem entirely surrounded
by mountains. Often the turns are SO
short it seems almost impossible for the
steamer to get around them.
From Mayance we went to Heidelberg,
and this, | think, must be one Of the love-
lest spots in all Germany. The town is
quite small and is down in a valley, be-
tween two large mountains, which are
separated by the river Necar. The castle
is considered one of the finest ruins in
Germany, and it is very beautiful. We
were all over it, that is, as far as we could
get. After that uncle and | walked over
to a spring called the Wolfsbrunnen. which
is about a mile and Il half from tie castle.
Here we got an old man to row us back TO
the town. Then we went to a summer
garden and heard some delightful music,
but we have heard a great deal of that
since w came over here. We left Heidle-
berg Saturday morning for Baden Baden,
but it rained most Of the time we were
there, so we did not go out much. In the
evening we went to Conversation Hall and
heard a splendid orchestra.
Papa wanted to know how they use
horses over here. AS far as have seen
I ILL.,