Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1891-07-15
SUMNER AT INNSBR UCK.
O. 81. CoURSEN.

Martin, about ten miles west of Inns
bruck, is easily reached by taking the
Arlberg railway to the neighboring
village of Zirl, but to drive there is far
preferable. The road runs close along
the base of the Bavarian mountains,
passing the stern limestone peaks OF
Frau Hutt, the Brandioch, the Hohe
Warte, the Solstein, seven-eight
thousand feet more in height The
solemnity of the scene is softened and
enlivened by the widespread verdure
of the Inn Valley, the swift current of
the River Inn and the distant view to
the south toward the forest-clothed
mountains which shut In the Sarn
Valley. The Martinswand is a rugged,
frowning precipIce, that rises abruptly
from the smiling valley to height of
one thousand six hundred and sixty
feet. Nine hundred feet above the
road, which runs at the base, yawns
the famous cavern from which the En-
peror Macmillan l., himself a daring
hunter, was rescued by a native chamois
hunter. The cavern is now easily
reached by those who are sure-footed,
for a path has been constructed which
leads to it by an ascent of one hour and
u half. In a restricted sense the neigh
boring region is still the haunt of
cham ois. Ludwig Won Hermann, a
Tyrolean writer, in his excellent book,
''Tiroler Yolkstypen" Types of Tyro-
lean Life, tells us that "the best free
ground is afforded to the fugitive
chomols by the mighty mountain ridge
north of the Inn, with its wild, roman
tic valleys, with its base, inaccessible
cliffs, over cool forests and succulent
Alpine meadows" Here lie the hunt
ing districts of the Duke of Coburg
and Count Tennenberg, where the
chamois are preserved against the ex-
tinction which threatened them at the
hands of over-srdent hunters.
Separated by the high road from the
Martinswand is the little green hill
where, from time immemorial, has
stood chapel dedicated to st. Martin.
Professor Anton Noggler, in his stud
ious monograph Germany traces a
connection such as often has been
found to exist between Christian saints
and heathen gods; that is, this writer
thinks that very possibly the early mis-
slonaries may have chosen the eques-
trian st. Martin to take the place of
Odin, who rode upon wind-footed
Sleipnir. Readers of the German poet
Julius Wolff, will understand why such
a spot should suggest this comparison.
Thoughts of brave exploits spring to
the mind when one stands beneath the
shadow of this stupendous rock, and
we listen gladly to all that legend and
history can tell us regarding it. Here
Tyroleaus have rallied; here, doubt
less, the Goths of Theodore have
passed southwark; here have tarried
those Romans who left in the hill of
st. Martin so many tokens of their
presence; here have pressed the foot
steps of men belonging to that earlier,
shadowy race, whose ashes rested SO
long unheeded in their burial urps not
far away.
The picturesque village of Zirl is
dominated by the ruined castle of
f'ragenstein, near which runs the old
Roman road leading through Seefeld
to the mountain pass of Scharnitz, and
so into Bavaria.
Near Inst, on the Arlberg, is the
station Oetzthal, from which excur-
sions are made into the Oetz Valley,
with its glaciers and wild gorges.
East of Innsbruck stretches the
Lower Inn Valley with its charming
towns, churches and castles. The
Bremen railway runs northeast
through this valley, from Innsbruck to
Kufstein on the Bavarian frontier
passing through the medieval town of
Hall, with its interesting Gothic cathe-
dral, and then through Jenbach,
whence an inclined railway leads to
Achensee, a blue, mountain-encircled
lake three thousand feet above the sea-
Here are summer hotels in the very
heart of magnificent system of Alpine
paths, and here good pedestrians have
an exultant feeling that in any direc-
tion they may walk ''over the hills and
far way" At Ebon, little station on
the inclinded railway between Jenbach
and Achensee, the people are devoted
to the memory of Nothburga, the
sainted maid who, with her
sickle, is represented at many a neigh
boring wayside shrine-s significant
figure ii a country where the women
are so strong and industrious. In
September of every year the festival of
st. Nothburga is celebrated with inter
esting rural ceremonies.
Artists are fond of the Rattenberg,
not far beyond Schwatz, and in truth
there are few places of Its size that con
tain more quaint architecture and
greater contrasts than this little town.
Here was executed, in 1649, the Chan
celior of Tyrol, the brilliant Wilhelm
Biener, who had fallen a victim to the
Italian faction at the court of the Arch
duke Ferdinand Karl, regent of Tyrol
With the following words Hermann
Schmld closes his fine novel, ''Der
Kanzler Won Tirol," which has been
les had passed over his (Biener'sl grave
by the cEurchyard wall, when the
brazen finger of the new era knocked
at it and asked admission. The rail-
road advanced and cut its way beneath
the rock on which stands Castle Ratten-
berg, long since a heap of ruins.
Under the spot where Biener died the
locomotive rushes onward, passing
through the space where he once lay
buried. The new age had undermined
the old grave in order to remind us OF
that man who, in dark years carried its
advance torch to bleed for its convic-
tions-its first greeting to the Alpine
,and still radiant with old-time splendor
bore witness to the man OF truth, the
defender of German principles, the
friend of toleratIoD-the noble Chancel-
ior of Tvrolr'
There is so much desirable literature
relating to Tyrol and the adjoining
countries that visitors will be glad to
know of a plan which has been pro-
posed for a library and reading-room
at Innsbruck, to be available for
foreigners as well as citizens. One can
scarcely doubt that many English and
American guests will be anxious to as
sist in this enterprise, not merely for
their own sakes, but for that Of the