Western news-Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1898-1900, 1898-10-13
MODERNIZED CASTLES.
Modern improvements in the Piles Of
Stone on the Rhine.

Modern improvements in the Piles or
Stone on the Rhine.
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 farmers huts that disappeared
centuries ago; they were worse off than
the cattle they tended; but Of the wom-
en- who had the best of it, who were
the wives of the knights and mistresses
of the castles. Just imagine the Hud-
son, my dear madam, dotted with cas-
ties, a mile or two apart, on both
banks, from Yonkers to Albany; every
castle on the top Of a crag, and every
owner of a castle at var 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 ofheavyold
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 uin
them. You find that the cold stone
floors make your joints stiff, and you
spread some rushes on them. Your
supply of meat and other eatables de-
ponds upon the success of his lord
ships raids. You have no woman to
associate with but your boorish ser
wants. There is one book in the house,
q prayer book. but you are not able to
read it unless you are n Of the ad-
vanced women of the time. o would
go out? Then you must first climb
down the crag by a path that is barely
passable, at the risk of being captured
by a neighbor. You have a beautiful
view, and some fine afternoon you 60
up in the highest tower to watch q lit
tie passage at arms on the plain. 1t is
something that you take considerable
interest in, for your husband is in the
thick of the fight He and his men
have clashed with Sir AdOlphus and his
men, and your husband may come
home laden with plumber, or he may
come home on a board. But you are
used to such things. You go into your
chamber and kneel before the stone
crucifix, where you spend a great deal
of the time. Before you have reached
the last bead in the string you hear joy
full shouts below. The sorrow is not to
be in your castle this time, but in the
next one. Milford is safe, and there
will 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
boatman 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 nere; but it an
swers the same purpose. Half a mile
up the Moselle, on q moderately high
peak Of rock, stands n of the old cas-
ties. There is nothing ruinous about
it; it has been put in thorough repair.
Not only glass in the windows, but
striped awnings over some Of them
and rows of ported flowers on every
broad window Sill and along some of
the exposed edges of the cliff. Statues
in hooks cut in the rock and iron dogs
and lions looking ready to growl. No
precipitous paths, but a smooth gravel
walk with winding stone steps here
and there wherever needed, guarded
by an iron rail on each side. While we
were passing, making slow progress
against the strong current, a man in
bright livery came down the steps car
rying a bicycle-down to the road that
skirts the river-and stood there wait
ing. A few moments later a lady ap-
peared at the castle gate, not on a milk
white steed, but in blue boomers; trip
ped lightly down the steps, took the
wheel from her groom, mounted it, and
rode away. 1 hope she was going to
the dressmaker's to buy a skirt.-New
York Times.
Not FaSilv Killed.