The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-10-11

sailors, tourists, and natives, the lat
| ter scrambling up at a pace killing to
the stranger, and sliding down again
| on the railing, with one foot for a brake.
You can stand that kind of perform
! ance in any one not yet in long trous-
ers, but when you see an ancient mar
| liner or a young lady going to the
| dressmaker's sliding down the banister
Of a staircase 100 feet high, you can
| only wonder.
While that part of Heligoland stu
ated at high water mark on the beach
| is very attractive, he who neglects to
scale the cliffs and visit what is locally
| called the "Oberland" will miss what
is best worth seeing on the island It
is sometimes said that water views are
much the same the world over but the
intense green Of the turf, the red of
the cliffs, and the blue-gray of the sea
present picture worthy a place in
memory's most crowded gallery. And
If one does not care for scenery there
| Will be found great deal Of interest
In looking at the great domed bar
bettes, half under ground, each carry
ing in the sight of all an immense can
non, bright yellow in color, and Of per-
haps ten inches bore. Here, too, may
be seen the drill of the marine artil-
lery," who are always busy with a row
pieces and three or four Maxim or sim
liar repeating machine guns.
II you wish to see the military side
| OF Hel1goland in peace, leave your
| camera at home, or you may find out
that all unwittingly you are what the
| frequent signs denominate, "a betrayer
! Of military secrets" and therefore a
| case for ransom by the nearest Ameri-
| can consul. This is the advice of one
w f1U i06 r.;
with him on a stroll along the sea wall.
| under the turf slopes Of the fortifica-
| lions. He was Immediately halted by
an imposing gendarme, who remarked
| that the to make photographs in that
| place under lawful fine and imprisonr
ment forbidden was" and, so warned.
was logged all the afternoon by that
kings sword bearer" as we'll as scru-
| tinized and questioned by an artillery
officer, on whose sensbilities the black
| leather case had an effect akin to that
of the traditional red rag on the bull.
1t is curious to note how slowly the
traces of England's suzerainty over
| Heligoland are being obliterated.
| Though it was ceded to Germany in
1890, the names of the villages streets
remain almost wholly English; the
speech of the inhabitants, the most
| barbarous of dialects, contains ouanti-
llCso VI SOoO IdSIlSH WOIOS WHICH
sound very oddly in a sentence, the
rest of which is Danish-German The
very fact that it is found necessary to
teach German in the schools is a proof
that the kaiser's rule has not yet made
a very deep impression on this out
post in the chain of his frontier de-
| lenses
While the village proper is of small
importance in the eyes of most ex-
cursionists, to whom the surf bathing
| and upland walks are Heligoland's
chief points of interest, yet it possess
es a real charm and deserves more
! than a hurried inspection. Little al
| leys, bearing such sonorous names as
| Alexandria, Victoria, Hamilton, or
Hohenzollern, cross and recross each
other in a maze from which it is no
easy task to find ones way. Every
thing is on quantity diminutive scale
II is not more than fifteen feet from
| curb to curb on the broadest street;
the houses fianl1ing it are never more
| than a similar distance from their
| thresholds to their ridge poles; the
trees, planted in prim, regular rows by
| the sides of the streets, have grace
fully conformed to existing conditions,
having ceased to grow beyond a height
| to which the average boy would scorn
| to climb as being too easy. From the
| sea the cluster of houses looks exactly
| like toy wooden village; and a near
er view confirms the early fanciful i'm
| preston.