St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1897-04-30
A Week In Dresden.
Editorial Correspondence.)

IHtlu ONGI lUG Ols iTh N'yt
as everybody ought to know, is one OF
the most famous trumphs OF railway
engineering in the world Besides the
big tunnel which is over nine miles long
there are half dozen corkscrew tunnels
which actually make circle in the noun
tain so that you come out about lOO
feet above the other track. In one
mountain there are two OF these tunnels
so that YOU can see the track three times
on as many different grades. The long
tunnel has a grade inside and was built
by tunneling from both ends to meet IN
the center. OF course the engineer was
much worried lest the two should not
exactly meet, VIXEN this occurred they
were so close together that the engineer
died cf apopleXy in the tunnel, his
triumph being too great to save his life.
The road runs from the Italian border to
Lucerne on the Lake OF the -Four Can
tons and some parts OF the way there is
magnificent mountain scenery and es-
peciaIly at this time of the year when all
the streams are swollen by the melted
SHOWS.
An English artist had told me at Venice
that all the German needed in travelling
through that empire were the words,
"Must | change cars hereF | fortu-
nately secured through car and only
changed three times that day, but twice
when we went on another railroad our
first engine was disconnected and an
other attached to the rear OF the train
and off we went on new road IN the
opposite direction. 1t was hard to tell
whether you were going or coming under
such conditions but kept in my through
car until reached Leipzig where | was
obliged to change stations. Here my
German vocabulary failed me for the
artist had not told me that every Ger
man city has almost as many stations as
Chicago. But | was finally shown the
right station and arrived in Dresden on
time, where got off at the wrong sta
ton as matter of course. Dresden is
he capital of the kingdom OF SaXony
and its king is one of the richest mon
archs in the world Besides owning
numerous palaces, parks, hunting lodges,
etc, he owns the art gallery and opera
house, and as the railroads are govern
ment property, it follows as matter OF
course that when he goes away from
home he doesn't have to ask anybody for
pass. The city contains over a third
of million people, mostly Saxons, who
are all loyal to their king and have little
love for the emperor of Germany. This
relation between kingdoms and the i'm
perial government is hard to understand.
In Saxony the king of Saxony is supreme,
and only in case OF war would Saxon
troops support the emperor of Germany
The German or imperial government con
trolls the postal system, but theralroads
of SaXony all belong to the king o.
Saxony.
With all the royal wealth it follows as
natural course that Dresden has be-
come one OF the art and musical centers
of Europe. Coming from Italy where
every city boasts of Raphael's works one
is surprised to find so much art in Ger
many. The royal gallery at Dresden has
about 5000 paintings; there are severa
fine galleries at Berlin belonging to The
emperor, while Munich, which is the art
center of Germany has wonderful gal
lery. The Dresden gallery contains two
of the worlds most famous paintings
the "Sistine Madonna" by Raphael ant
Correggio's Holy Night" In addition
to these there are many Others by the ole
masters and such masterpieces of recen
art as Hoffmann's "Christ in the TEN
pie" and Munkacsky's "Cruci6xion.
. There are many other modern painting
of great merit and well worth studying
Close to the royal gallery and the pal
r aces is the opera house where clever
months in the year are given the hes
operas and concerts. The same singer
take part in the operas and the sam
musicians compose the orchestra. Henc
each singer and player is an artist an
you do not hear as in the United State
=
two or three stars with a mediocre SUI
= port. The solosts, both vocal and il
t strumental have a reputation tar b,
i yond the limits of Dresden and they oite
a visit other cities where they are alway
well received. The orchestra of 10
pieces uses instruments which are I'll
kings property and the regular detc
s from the operas is paid from the roy'
y treasury | was fortunate to hear Wa
II ner's "rannhauser" here and for grandet
of scenery and excellence of music / a
- sure few OF my readers have heard i
u equal. few nights later heard Beeth
e ven's seventh symphony given by Il
s. royal orchestra At this concert Il
t, king and queen and crown princess we
G. present-a "royal flush" so to speak.
# soon as the king entered the music col
n menced, and it was royal music in Sc
, eralsenses of the word. The gem of t
evening was the solo work of ponnt