The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-12-30

| the brain than Information received
| through the medium of the eye. More
| especially is this true when no effort has
been made to correct the errors Of trying
to read too much and OF reading too rap
idly. In reading aloud it is necessary to
read carefully, anc TO think about what IS
| being read, in order that proper express
sion may be given to the authors narra-
| tive. And this mental exercise is re-
| produced in the minds of the hearers, par
| ticularly If the latter are of tender years,
when habits and character are being
formed.
1t is not practicable in all families, Of
| course, for the head of the household to
! read aloud of evenings, but wherever the
| conditions are favorable an experiment, at
/ least, along that line should be made.
The experimenter win be both astonished
and gratifed at the pleasing results.
The death of Baroness Ulrica Won Levitt
zow gives ~actuality to the memory OF
Goethe, says London Truth He was
| an eternal lover, but only the very tenn
porary one of each woman that he loved.
The woman whom he married as his
ehairdays approached was extremely
prosaic. He made her believe that her
only rival was the pot au feu-that is
to say, domestic comfort and quiet. Hence
the recently published letters written to
her from Toplitz during three seasons he
spent there unaccompanied by her. They
| might have been written by the house
steward of a stingy princelet. Most OF
them are about the prices and qualities Of
necessaries. The writer seems to a
been a heavy eater. He took a furnished
bed and sitting-room, bought his W pro-
visions and had them cooked by the land
lady, who acted as his servant.
One thinks of the Rhine losing itself in
mud and sand banks as it nears the sea,
or of the Rhone becoming streamlets amid
wide stretches OF Single. There is not a
touch or suggestion of the poet in any of
these letters. Goethe has not ever the
poetry Of the palate, and seems to Ike
abundant and s~ucculent rather than nice
food. A neck Of mutton with barley n
plums does just as well for him as the lola.
It has the advantage Of not offering as
great temptation to the landlady to help
herself from it. So absorbed is he in his
small housekeeping cares that one won
ders how he has time TO take the waters.
| 1t could never enter the head of the most
jealous wife that the sly gallant was in
ditiag verses in honor of the peerless III
| RIGA. The letters were written at about
the time of Louis xvIII.'s death; that IS
to say. three years after Napoieon's.
II does not appear that he ever saw
Ulrica, unless at Toplitz. Could he AVE
been in love with her, or really was he
ever in love in his life7 There IS seme-
thing in his poetry that precludes the ide
of love. which Is as sunshine, whereas,
Goethe is. meonshine merely. HIS love
was rather gallantry. which is the deli
cate, the dainty. the f~anciful, and often
the exquisite counterfeit OF love, but is
ever ready to fly off from its object. un-
less when bound by long habit.
It was with much pleasant anticipation
we awaited the approach of Sylvester
Abend,y as they call New Years eve in
Germany. says the .Woman's Home
Companion About ten O'Clock, supper
being ended. we all adjourned to the par
lor, where they danced until almost mid
| night. The refreshments were served.
These consisted Of queer little cakes made
Especially for the holiday season, apples,
nuts and Ber.iner Pfankuchen, which are
perfectly delicious. The latter look like
large brown %doughnuts covered with
sugar; on opening them they are found to
be filed with jam. Our Christmas tree
was relighted, having been furnished with
new candies. The ringing of the bells an
nounced the beginning of the New Year.
Guns were fired, and from the church lofts
bugles sounded Later all the windows
were flung wide open, and standing within
them the people held up their glasses, and
called out sProsit Neujahr'' to every one
who passed by. People on the street called
in to us; even the Droschky coachmen, as
they drove by, called out stProsit Neu-
jahr.'' OF all the pretty customs in Ger
many / thought this the prettiest. Not
only to your friends do you wish a Happy
New Year, but to all. At a window in the
house opposite stood a lady dressed in
white; behind her was the brightly lighted
room, with its -hristmaA tree. Smiling,
and holding up her glass, she called over
| to us, "Prosit Neujahr." Never again did
I see the lady of that house, but a pleas
ant recollection of her always fingers in
my mind.
1t is depressing to be told just when
the days are seriously beginning to draw
In, that children nave lost the art of play
Ing, says London Globe" This is the
lamentation of a magazine which finds a
special udien among people who APP
preciate the joys Of domesticity. and in
whose homes there is alawys an hour or.
| two devoted to the children when cur
tains are drawn and the fire blazes most
merrily.
But apparently 1t is chiefly the pupils of
hoard schools who have lost thA art OF