The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-05-07


CADyow CASTLE.
In history there must be many gapS
resulting from contradictions or Silence
among the chronicles consulted, which
have been brdged over by Inference:
fairly drawn from established events
and thus the current Of narrative has
been made smoothly continuous. Sc
it is in biography;-and remarkably sc
in the life and adventures Of the first
white man that ever stalked through
the virgin Woodlands Of the Dutch
Fork. have gathered many truthful
records which, strewed along his career
like stones in boggy path, enable me
to step from one to another without
mishap, and thus to present a nara
tive not only highly romantic, but
probably very slightly deviating from
the true account.
I think, then, that may safely be-
gin the story of this adventurer, by
stating that he was born in Wuertem-
burg, >uong the Odenwald Mountains.
1t will be seen, further on, that the ro-
mantle admiration of the beautiful and
the novel, so certainly manifested by
him in his developed manhood, had its
origin in the charming scenery that
surrounded the cottage in which he
was born. The first outdoor objects
that met his infant gaze were the beau
tiful mountains with their activities
so gradual that their sides more than
half way up towards their tops were
cultivated in narrow, alternating red,
yellow and green strips of various pro-
ductions, presenting appearances not
unlike Scottish Highlanders, whom be
long after saw, with their plaids
wrapped around them. I can fancy
this pioneer visitor of the Dutch Fork
strolling forth in bis boyhood among
the valleys of the Odenwalds, follow
ing the murmuring brooks invisible
under the luXuriant grass overlapping
and concealing their channels; and
can admire the eager attention he gives
to the old peasants telling him of st.
Hubert's chase-St. Hubert who, with
his pack Of dogs, often passes through
the air over the mountain tops,
The hunter and the deer shade"
impressing his young imagination with
this old legendary superstition by re-
counting how often they had heard this
aerial chase of the weird monk. Then,
no doubt, the BOY would sometimes
stand after dark before his cottage door,
listening to the flight ola flock Of storks
seeking their roost, (the true eXplana-
ton of st. Huhert's chase, and believe
that he heard the phantom monk with
his dogs in full bry through the air.
He has grown to manhood. He has
become stalwart peasant, laboring in
the meadows. From time to time he
has walked northeastward along the
Bergstrasse-the great thoroughfare
designating the sharp line that divides
the Odenwald Mountains on the right
hand from the vast valley of the Rhine
on the left. On this great highway
did be often look northwestward, be-
yond the Teufelstein in Rhine-Bavaria,
far away into France, and wonder at
the understanding Donnersberg, dim
ly defined like misty cloud against
the evening sky; or turning his eye di-
rectly northward have his gaze arrest
ed by the conical form of the Melibo-
Gus, forty miles away, and nard by the
city of Darmstadt. Then, some Sab
bath evening, after spending the morn
ing in strict devotion at his church, |
follow him to Iiegelhaussen on the |
Neckar, where he dances like demon,
and falls in love with a dozen rosy
checked, fat-armed maidens whose |
shadows cast upon a wall would meas
ure eight feet across by dint fthe mUl-
tiplicity of uudergarments.
But Germany was in distress The |
wave after wave of war, that had for
centuries been sweeping over the coun-
try to satisfy the whims of potentates,
left little security for life, property, or
hearthstone. Vast numbers Of people
were forced to become soldiers, who,
during wars hired themselves to ambi-
tious princes, and in peace were divided
into robber- bands who chose their cap
tains, and committed depredations
upon the unprotected peasants. \ ru-
NOR had reached the Odenwald region
that many Germans had fled from this
lawlessncSs TO the new countries across
the great waters. My hero was not
long making up his mind. He would
go and establish home in these far-off
lands. Now, he has left his native
valley, and there be goes, working his
way on timber-raft down the Neckar.
He enters the Rhine ut Mannheim; and,
after toiling day and night fora month,
he reaches Rotterdam. His offer is ac-
cepted, to work his passage to America
on Dutch galliott treighted with Hol-
land gin. Forty days is he on the At
lantic Ocean, tossed and Sea-Sick; and
he arrives in New York. There, he
finds compatriots who tell him that in
L country further South. called Penn
sylvania, lie can find large colonies of
Germans. Thtiitr he goes. What
strange appearances meet his gaze,
What vast forests! What strange look
ing people inhahiting them! He meets
with the Indians. He becomes fasci-
mated with their habitS,-their endu-
rance,-their contempt Of danger.
Before he left his faiherland, agents