The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-07-28
MISS CELDERS WRITES.
FROM THE VATERLAND

! Brucksal Baden, July 1O.--(Special CORE
| spondence.)-The Germans have a saying
when ngels travel the heavens weep"
| But take all this to ourselves, yet it is
| but small comfort when we think how
much greater were the beauty would the
| sun of the Vaterland smile upon us occa-
| sionally.
At Bingen we left the Rhine country
| where our Longfellow says clustering
grapes hang about the temples of old
| Rhine as "he reels onward through vine
! yards in triumphant march, like Bacchus
| crowned and drunken" A very sedate cid
fellow he seemed to us, however, as we
looked back on him through the gently fall
ing rain. But then how much is due to the
power of woman Does not the great
bronze "Germania" keep an eye on him
from the "Niederwald" mountain above,
where royal crown in hand, and sword at
side, she stands for all that is best in the
land which she typifes?? 1t would be a
reckless spouse, indeed, who would pro-
woke the wrath of this calm-eyed goddess,
United Germany
In Frankfurt several clear days gave us
10 ste the PAIN SdIuSI, the
city hall, where, till 1S4S, the electors met
to choose the emperors; the cathedral,
where the coronation took place; Goethe's
birthplace and the early home of the
Rothchilds.
In striking contrast to the Goethe house,
where elegance of furnishings attest to the
wealth of the councillors family and the
well chosen library to the culture that sur
rounded the poets childhood is the Roth
ohild's home in the Ghetto region. Dark
and high, with winding stairs and low
ceilings, it is "a type of the dwellings, with
in the old Jew street." where, at nine
each night, chains closed the exit into the
city, shutting out the perhaps beated Jew
from his shut-in friends beyond. In this
little house the mother of the world s
greatest bankers lived till her death, kept
here by supersttious fear that if shs left
it for the palatial home her sons offered
her their prosperity, begun here, would for
sake them.
At Frankfurt the Birmingham young la
dies were initiated into the charms of a
German afternoon tea-not a blaze of light,
crush of people, a handshake and a
goodbye-but a veritable tea-drinking in
the garden and such garden, as only an
older civilization than our own can pro-
duce. One young woman, whom some of
you know, and who at home has ever
scorned the cup that cheers, but not in
ebriates," was heard to declare after her
fourth cup that she was going home to in
augurate tea drinking; so look out for in
yitations
Heidelberg is beautiful in the rain. How
surprisingly lovely she must be in the fine
weather we hear she is enjoying now. that
we have left her. Only one afternoon the
clouds lifted SO as to give US one grand
view from the castle wall down into the
lovely valley of the Neckar. In the dis
lance the Rhine could be seen, near by
Mannheim, where the two rivers come to-
gether, the cities lying between. But 1
spare you my raptures.
At Heidelberg castle the Gree Ameri-
can Tourist is much in evidence. With
Baedecker in hand, and following the guide,
whose English is only less comical than the
party themselves, they do" the thing in
half an four and. go their way rejoicing.
I think 1 can hear the guide now as he
rattles off in his atrocious jargon: This
part of the castle is that occupied by Prin-
cess Elizabeth of England, daughter of
King James l. and wife of the Palatine of
the Rhine, ancestress of the present ruling
house of Tngland, and in whose honor the
arch ON your left was erected in a single
night" After several visits to the castle
we have learned the "Fuprer's" speech
by heart, and think if worse comes TO
worse, we can turn a penny for ourselves
by Offering our valuable services.
The castle garden is a favorite idling
place for the Heidelberg students. Here
about the tables, with the ever-present beer
stein before them, may be seen the men,
bers of the different fraternities, known
by the color of their caps, whether they
be red, yellow, orange, blue, green or
white. These they doff to each other with
punctilious care, especially to those of an
other corps, not from any overweening re-
gard, 1 am told, but rather because a neg
lect to do so gives ground for duel.
Heidelberg students, however are not
averse to dueing. This is shown by the
number of scars they carry, and of which
they are SO proud. There Is scarcely a
cheek without its dark red seam or a
head where a white line or spot does not
show the rapier's work. Although these