The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-06-20
AN HISTORIC BRIDGE.
The Karlsbrucko Of Prague and
It's History
Fof Centuries 1t Has spanned tho Mol
dau, but Recent Floods Have Rem
derod Its Destruction
Necessary.

stated that the famous Karlsbrucke, or
Charles bridge, across the Moldau at
Prague was doomed to destruction by
the great floods which have been Gre
ating such havoc in central Europe.
The paragraph was a brief one and
probably attracted little attention, but
no one who knows the pride with
which for hundreds Of years the Bohe-
mans have regarded this bridge could
read the few lines without a thrill of
sympathy.
To write history of the Karlsbrucke,
says the Chicago Post, would be to
write the history of Prague during the
past five centuries. This, indeed, were
we'll worth the doing, for though the
old world is rich in historic cities, few
are more interesting than this wonder
full old town with it's stately buildings,
it's quaint old houses and beautiful
gardens, and it's memories of illustri-
Gus men and women-of Huss and
Wallenstein, of Maria Theresa and her
implacable enemy, Frederick the Great.
How many times those and others
scarcely less famous have passed to and
fro over the Kar]sbrucke.
Prague was the favorite city of that
splendid monarch, Charles w., 1.-THE
stepfather of the empire, but the father
of Bohemia He established her cele-
brated university and beautifed the
town in many ways, besides laying the
foundation of the Karlsbrucke in 1857.
For one hundred and fifty years the
work went on, and when finally COM
pleted, in 1907, it was justly regarded
as a triumph of the engineering skill Of
the age.
Even to-day few bridges are worthy
of more admiration than the old
Karlsbrucke with it's grand old Gothic
tower and its sixteen noble arches
spanning the beautiful Moldau. AS
time went on statues and groups of
figures were placed ON the buttresses
of the bridge. The oldest of these, a
large stone crucifx with images of the
Virgin and St. John, was built with
money wrung from the Jews. Short
services were occasionally held before
the crucifx.
Another curious group, showing the
suffering souls in purgatory, commem-
grated the dreadful visitation of the
plague. But the most interesting of
the statues is that of st. John of Nepo-
muk, the patron of bridges and the
saint whom all Prague delights to
honor st. John, SO the legend tells us,
was the confessor of the lovely queen
of Bohemia and refused to reveal the
secrets of the confessional to her jeal-
GUS husband. The cruel Wenzel COM
manded him to be tortured and after
ward he was thrown from the Karls-
brucAe at night into the rushing Mol
dau. Whereupon the body of the good
priest, instead of sinking, continued to
float until taken from the water, while
five brilliant stars lowered over it. The
statue represents an ascetie figure hold
ing a crucifx, and around the head are
arranged the five miraculous stars.
One fingers longest near the fine old
tower at the entrance to the bridge. Ii
by some spell like that used in the
Arabian tale we could unseal the lips
OF the sculptured figures who look
down so calmly from their lofty station,
what tragic tales they could tell of the
many times the tide of battle has surged
across this bridge. During the stormy
days of the thirty years war it was the
scene Of many conflicts, and for ten
years the heads of twelve Of Bohemia's
Protestant mobiles swung in iron ca:s,s
from the tower. Later, the citizens ct
Prague rallied to it's defense against
the Swedes and held it for. three long
months, till the peace of Westphalia
ended the war. When Frederick the
Great invaded Bohemia it was the scene
of a bloody struggle, and as lately as
the revolution of 1S4S d famous barri-
cade was built there by the students.
But the days, of the Karlsbrucke are
numbered. Recently three of it's arches
were carried away by the swollen river
and the collapse Of q fourth a little
later renders it's destruction inevitable.
Begun as the night of the middle ages
was beginning to roll away and finished
in the daw1ing light Of the reformation,
the old bridge falls just as the twenti-
eth century OPENS before the world.
LIFE in URUGUAY.
Peasants Who Dwell in Little 1Iud Huts,
e., k14ee Il r1,o- act