The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-28

STORY of THE RHINE CASTLES.
And the OId-Time Life in Then

! William Drysdaie in New York Times.
| This Is looking merely at the modern
part or the Rhine, the Industrial part, and
that without considering the river as a
| great and always busy commercial high
way, or the towns on its banks, which
seem to be supported mainly by the great
tourist industry and Merchandising" or
| the castles that have been bought or rent
ed and put in repair and are occupied
by people who doubtless point with pride
| to our castle on the Rhine" But there
! is another and an even more interesting
| side to this great German river Where
| are the people who built and lived in these
| Ola castles? No, / must not put it in that
| way, either 1t would be too personal TO
! ask where they are; but who were they?
| Our modern Knowledge of them in these
| days, when we know everything, is very
| limited. The story that the old castles
| themselves tell is the best evidence Per
| maps Mr.. Gibbon throws some lght upon
! them; but how am TO go into this Cob
| lentz library and read Gbbonan German
| When 1t requires SO much determination
| TO read him in English? Cobentz here is
| IN the hedrt of the Rhine valley; and Cob
| lentz was founded by the Romans The
| greatest Roman of them all was the fell
! low who lived in the strongest castle
|
! that those ancient gentlemen occupied the
| hill-tops, but for defense Every castle
| was well fortified; and when you look at
! them closely you see that the roads lead
| ing to them were all passes. so situated
| that a few men could hold them against
! many. And it was not common enemy
| not a foreign enemy that they fortified
| against. If it had been they would have
| united and built few large fortresses at
| favorable places instead of many
| small ones strung along the river. Evil
| IDENTIFY it was of each other that they
| were afraid. Sir Hans Genstinghousen
| built his castle on the top of this peak
because he was afraid that the Duke of
| Limburger. on the peak over the way
! would come and rob him or murder him.
! Sir Hans was not overconfdent in his de-
! lenses, either, or why did he dig that
) tunnel down to the river to escape by
! when all was lost?
} There must have been other people, too,
| in the country. Castellated knights figure
very well in history, but they never made
up the entire population of O. country.
| What of the humble fellows who lived be-
| tween the castles and tried to till the soil
| and raise cattle? A right jolly time of it
| they must have had with Sir Hans on
| one side compelling them to march under
! his little banner, and his grace of Linn
burger on the other stealing their cows,
| and occasionally capturing a wife or
! daughter by way of diversion. 1t is by
! far more graceful methods that we rob
| the poor nowadays.
However badly the men Jared in the
| good old days when these castles were
used, the condition of women must have
! been a hundred times wOrse-not of the
women only who lived in the little farm
| ers' huts that disappeared centuries ago.
they were worse off than the cattle they
! tended; but of the women who had the
| best of it, who were the wives of the
knights and mistresses Of the castles. Just
| imagine the Hudson, my dear madam
| dotted with castles, mile or two apart,
| on both banks, from Yonkers to Albany;
every castle on the top of Il crag, and
| every owner of a castle at war with all
| the others, and yourself mistress of one
| of the castles You have plenty of silver
ware, most likely, if your husband is a
good fighter, and no dearth of heavy old
| handmade furniture The Sits of win
dows are so small that curtains would be
| of no use; and, anyhow, as there is no
| glass, the rain would soon ruin them.
| You find that the cold stone floors make
your joints stiff. and you spread some
| rushos on them Your supply of meat and
| other eatables depends upon the success
| of his lordship's raids You have no wo-
man to associate with but your boorish
servants. There is one book in the house.
a prayer book, but you are not able to
women of the times.
You would go out? Then you must first
| climb down the crag by path that is
| barely passable, at the risk of being cap
| tured by neichbor. You have a beauti-
| full view, and some fine afternoon you go
up in the highest tower to watch a little
passage at arms on the plain. 1t is some
thing that you take considerable interest
! in, for your husband is in the thick oil
the fight He and his men have FLASHED
with Sir Adolphus and his men and your
| husband may come home laden with plum
der or he may come home on board. Bat
| you are used to such things. You go into
your chamber and kneel before the stone
crucidx whore you spend a great deal of
| the time. Before you have reached the
| last bead in the string you hear joyful
shouts below. The sorrow is not to be in
your castle this time, but in the next one.
| Milford is safe, and there win be fresh
meat for a fortnight.
This feminine view of the middle age
| castle industry was brought home to me
by contrast this morning when a boat
man in blue cap and wooden shoes was
! rowing me up the river-not up the Rhine,
but up The MOselle, which flows into the
Rhine here; but it answers the same pur-
| pose. Half q mile up the Moselle, on a
moderately high peak of rock, stands one
of the old castles. There is nothing ruin
GUS about il; it has been put in thorough
| repair. Not only glass IN the WINDOWS,
but striped canvas awnings over some of
them and rows of potted flowers on every
broad window sill. and along some of the
exposed edges of the cliff. Statues in
hooks cut in rocks, and iron
dogs and lions looking ready to
growl No precipitious path, but
a smooth gravel walk with wind
ing stone steps here and there wherever
needed, guarded by an iron rail on eacn
side. While we were passing making
slow progress against the strong current.
a man in bright livery came down the
steps carrying a bicycle-dOwn to the road
| that skirts the river-and stood there
waiting. a few moments later a lady APP
peared at the castle gate, not on milk
white steed. but in blue boomers: tripped
| lightly down the steps, took the wheel
| from her groom, mounted it, and rode
away I hope she was going to the
| dIessmaker's TO buy a skirt.
! Williams Pool, a citizen of Limestone
! Hill Wood county, w. Va, has in his pos
! session q powder-horn which was given to
| his grandfather by George Washington
| The former Mr. Pool and Gen. Washington