The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-11-19
Meeting Iof the :Western Union at
the Preb,e House.
Entertaining Address by Professor
Matthews Of Colby.
Germany and tho People OF the
FathefIand.

I'M anu lOA COnDtuCA0Dly ONOA du uOuk
strict attention was paid to the menu. sAt
the end of that time. Hon, George +. Em-
cry, the presiding officer of the banquet,
called for order and introduced the Men
delssohn Quartette-Dr. w. l.. Dana. Mr..
A. B. hall, DR.. 81. M. NickersoD, aad Mr..
FL. +. Merrill, who rendered "Rock Of
Ages" most feelingly.
The address of the evening was delivered
by Professor Shailer Matthews, of Colby
University, who has lately returned from
years study In Germany. After few
preliminary remarks about the voyage,
Professor Matthews directed the attention
Of his hearers to Germany, saying:
If any historic or heroic sentiments were
fermenting in the breast of any passenger
of the steamship Kaiser Wilhelm H., as
she threaded her way among the buoys
and the patented t0rt0ise-backed forts of
the German Empire, they met with cruel
fate. Mark Twain, as he attempted sweet
converse with ''L0, the poor Indian" at
Niagara Falls. could not have been more
cruelty disappointed than the Sentimental
Traveller at the gates of Germany. In
stead Of the ferce-eyed Saxon there ap-
pears the labelled Dlenstman with designs
VI you. poOhot-Ouoh, iuctcdu VI rIcJds
the lovely, appears woman, the lab0rer;
instead OF Wooden. the glorious, appears
Customs Inspector, the inquisitive.
Aud 1t must be confessed that the same
disillusion threatens to meet the student
everywhere. The Germany of today-at
least the Prussia Of today-Is modern in
an ultra Philistine fashion. The German
of today is simply mad with today's ener-
gy. We think OF him as stolid, phlegmatic,
a dweller In the past. Talk with him five
minutes and you are disabused. He shrugs
his shoulders like Frenchman; he shouts
like Yankee. Meet him In the street
and he will nearly knock you over in his
store and he Will fairly terrify you into
purchase. Hear him lecture and you
would think the universe itself depended
on the fate Of a dative case. Nothing Ia
two trivial to escape this practical spirit.
Government Is no ideal, superhuman
stranger, 1t Is an ever present regulator.
You get into your boarding house and
think at last you are one OF a million souls
and that for once you are out OF public
gaze. And just as You are congratulating
yourself, the policeman Is at your door
asking your name, age, business, home and
intentions In regard to the world In gener-
al. You think at last you will get no re-
minder that you have poll tax to pay,
and you receive polite but exceeding dis
=
between such hours, and tell how much
your income is. Ii you omit to; we'll, /
don't know what would happen. One usu-
ally goes.
After one has had his dreams OF what a
country with history should be, thus
rudely disturbed by cold reality. one comes
to special historical places with large
mixture Of fear In his enthusiasm. For
how can genuine antiquity linger In so
modern an atmosphere? Aud II antiquity
does linger will not this modern life make
1t appear quite ludcrous In Its incongruity
But even few minutes visit in the land
relieves ones mind OF the fear. The old
rests as peacefully by the side Of the new
as the millennial lamb by the side Of the
milennial lion, Government has stepped
In and has politely informed the pushing
speculat0r that there are limits to his ener-
gy. He may renovate, but he may not de-
stroy.
Everywhere you find modern energy ap-
propriating or specializing with medieval
ism. And what couple they are, and
what dance they had In Bremen you
seek the ancient statue of Roland, which
the rights of the ancient free city; and you
find it by aid of q noisy cleo
trio car OF Tohmpson- Houston make.
You look for the church where
Luther posted his theses, and you
enter into long discussion with a horse
OaA COuuuCtut ONoI uko blllloo VI .ucphEtufb.
And IL certainly seems something like his
torical blasphemy to have Wittenburg a
side station between Berlin and Halle.
Perhaps the saddest-although at the
same time, the traveller finds it one of the
most useful applications of modern busi-
ness methods to historical remains, Is the
Museum. One finds the museum, every
where. In Berlin are the Hohenzollun and
the AnthropologicaI, and the Arsenal; In
Wittenberg Is the Luther; in Dresden, the
Historical; in Munich, the National; in
Nuremberg. the Germanic. and so on all
over the country. They are. of course, in
valuable. Yet one feels deal of sympa-
thy with Hare's constant lamentation over
Italian arch@ology-"the brutal policy OF
the Sandman government" You 90 into
the collection of instruments OF torture at
Nuremberg for instance. There Is the
rack, and by 1t the iron chair in which
they pounded men to jelly. Close to the
chair is the ducking stool for scolds, and
then the pipe for pouring melted lead down
the wretch's throat, so on through an en-
tire room. This Is simply an aggregation
OF horrors. All historical connections are
annihilated. and one fairly has to rush out
into the open air where Gods sunlight
still Is the token of his love. But your
feeling Is quite different when In the castle
OF Chillon you are taken into little room
where pulley is fastened 10 huge pillar,
very pulley, in this very room, men used
to draw up a criminal until they could
build fire under his feet, and then tor.
ture forth a confession. Horror, it Is
true, Is here. But the historical
Imagination now works most satisfactorily.
Inc lnstrgment OF torture has Its proper
setting. The room Is repeopled: the smoke
OF the wood fills the eyes; the odor Of burn.
ing flesh the nostIils; the groans and brok-
en- words OF the victim the ears. Mediae
val justice Is a reality!
OF course one learns history rapidly
from museum; but places and scenes
unspolled by the collector teach 1t TO hin
| lar better. No one can understand tn,
violence Of the French Revolution com
pletely until he looks into the eyes of q
/ Parlsian crowd, sees the city replacing
| stene pavementS by concrete and wood
| sees how dangerously low are the old lamI
fixtures at street corners, sees the pillar.
| OF saint R0ch splintered by the whit OF
| grapeshot." The same does not hold quite
so true OF the Reformation, but at least
| one feels more acquainted with the heroes
Of the sixteenth Gentry after he has trod
den the ground they trod, aud seen thu
sights they saw.
The personal and romantic elements o
the early German Reformation cluste
about Etsleben where Luther was borl
and buried; about Erfurt when he was
university student aud when, in the agony
OF fear he cried, "Holy Anna, bellows
saint, will be monk" about Eisenach
where he was charity student and later
prisoner among friends. Leipsig an
Worms urnish the heroic stories OF Luther
career. Who can ever forget the ferc
young monk rolling In an OK cart into LeiE
sig guarded by body Of 200 students, ,,pan
Ing for his dispute with Eek, papal chan
pi0n; VINO, when advised not to appear Il
the confines OF Duke George of Saxony
would go to Leipsig II 1t rained Duk
Georges nine days" Or who can lose th
picture OF the same man as he entere
Worms singing his battle hymn, half b.
but ready to enter the city though theu
were as many devils there as tiles on th
| housetops.
liz was at Worms, too. that after a speec
OF two hours, with the tate Of Huss
mind, he yet dared this: "Confute me b
proofs OF Scripture, or else by plain ju
arguments. cannot recall otherwise. FC
1t is neither safe nor prudent to do augf
against conscience. be stand L can d
no other. God help me. Amen" In Wi
teuberg was seen the constructive side {
| Luther's work. Here he posted h
Theses, here he burned the bull Of excou
municatlon. here he taught and preache
| and published.
Yet OF all these cities, only three toda
retain special reminders of Luther's day
Elsleben, Elsenach and Wittenberg. Wa
tire and modern improvements have bio
buildings that his prese Nc NJ
made worthy of longer life. But in Wi
tenberg and Eisenach-I never saw Eisl,
Den-tnere is much TO help.them In reclOtl
Ing the past and In drawing clear picture
| Of Luther's life,
| Eisenach today contains two building
In which the Reformer lived, One is M