The age-herald., 1899-09-10
PAUL PRY TELLS OF
 TRAVELLERS TRIALS
Ridiculous Performance in Which Dutch-CustomsO Officer and Bag
 gage Are Principal Figures.

Mayence, August 24.-Cspecial Corre- | spondence)-A most delightful journey of
 a few hours ride from Brussels brought
 us to the German frontier of Herbesthal.
 Here we had to enter the customs house
 with our baggage, identify our trunks and | have them all examined. This performance,
 which is accomplished with any amount | of red tape. is a most extraordinary and I ridiculous affair." Trunks are jerked out
 of the train and pitched men-mell into the | large station room, where dozen or moro | officials are supposed to rummage through l them As soon as We entered, the doors
 were locked and such shreking in German | as went on made the whole performance
 seem ridiculous But we were there for
 the purpose of securing meaningless chalk mark satehel and trunk which | nobody looks at again. very soon gained ] the attention and services of fine German l official, who looked very much like the l kaiser. Without opening any of our bag 1 gage he marked 1t and waved us out of the | rear door. This passage led to no place | Tn particular, so a couple of hundred pas 1 sengers rushed frantically, jabbering and | gesucuiating, hunting exit that would | lead back to the train. l felt sure that | with all their resources of tongue and l hands they would finally find their way, | so we simply enjoyed the fun of the whole l proceedings and leisurely took our seats again in the carriage, with any amount of dutiable articles, so far as any of the | officials knew. But it is too funny to go | through this same useless experience every l time We enter the frontier of a new coun- : try. But l can tell you upon our return | uncle Sam is much more particular and l will not allow his good subjects to pur- | chase articles of wearing apparel or orna-
 ments of any kind without declaring them 1 and paying good fat percentage of duty | As one is lon oath before the declara- | ton is made 1t makes things serious and honesty imperative But, speaking of the | German frontier, We have quit talking since | We crossed 1t. We let other folks do our 1 talking for us. And, my, my, how vigor- | ously they do it. It's the funniest experi- | ence in the world to hear no word of your native tongue-nothing but volumes | aoout something that you don't know any | thing about. And they talk so much. I | cant Imagine what they find to talk about l at such length; it almost sounds like they 1 were making lectures-they talk so long, l But then each German word is so long | with a schweizer or a schwatzer on it. that l 1t is no wonder that it takes them so long
 to make it out. Awfuly boring to hear | people talk so much when you can't make out what is the topic of conVersat tion: but | the more German 1 hear the more l feel
 sure l could never learn it. However we | go on our way rejoicing and see all to be seen and have Thoroughly good tme 1 do not think it is only my ina gination when felt sure that could decided difference in the two countries just as soon 1 as We crossed the frontier
 | The military aspect would have of itself announced that we were in Germany. Not | only the face of the country had changed, l but the crops. the harVests and, of course | the people and mode of dress. The land l scape was beautiful beyond description | during the journey from Brussels to Cologne. Nearly all farming lands and the l rich harvests in the field, cut and ready for 1 carting, told its pathetic story of weary | work faithfully performed, and of | the recompense to come But still | sadder and more suggestive thoughts ] were occasoned for these humble peasant people by the presence of | the impregnable forts which seemed | to mount threateningly every prominence | of ground and remind of the military despotism of the country. It is a sad sight | to see the great number of women workers | in the fields and the little children. But | they say that the busy playing soldiers and so the women almost alone | have to work and cultivate the fields. Yet, | even this is not so repulsive to ones sesi- bilities the bar-maids in England. In England, too, where they are too self righteous to permit any number of things, | they will submit with easy conscience | to having the finest specimens of their | young womanhood stand behind the bar. Near to Coogne-called Kohn by the na- | tives-the country grows beautifully roll | ing, and even mountainous, with frequent | tunnels. About four o'clock in the after noon we were whirled into a-superb sta- | tion and in twinkling were delightfully."- housed in the and admirable Dom l hotel. Just across the square the 1 great twin cathedral spires, the loftiest | pair on earth. There is not much to see in | Cologne except the great Dom itself, but | all the world sees that As you gaze up | and up, till the need is apparent for a l hinge in the back of your neck, it is as If | a huge mountain cliff of solid stone had | been quarried into carven flowers of won l drous and massive beauty. The stone Is | cold and gray, and the style pure and | consistent gothic, enlivened by a wilder ness of turrets, exterior galleries, gargoy- l les and flying buttresses. In the southeast ern tower Is the great "Kaserglocke," or emperor's bell, rung by twenty-eight men, | and only on his majesty's birthday and the | great ecclesiastical festivals. The bells were cast from the guns conquered France, and hung in 1880 at the comple- tion of the spires. fine interior was sing1- larly impressive as we walked the full length past the exquisite fourteenth cen tury glass of the choir, past prophets, apostles and martyrs, down the long nave
 which has the tremendous height of two hundred feet to the great arches of the western portal. In one of the fine chappes
 which cluster round lies the heart of Marie | de MediciS, the widow of Henry Of Ma varre, who died here in exile and misery, and in the treasury are shown the fabed bones of the three Wise Men, brought by the Empress Helena to Constantinople and l by Barbarossa hither from Milan. If these l anatomical remnants do not satisfy the cu- riosity there are those of Saint Ursula and l her eleven thousand virgin attendants |
 which are cheerfully disposed round the |
 church of her name not far away.
 Here, according to tradition St. Ursula |
 and the eleven thousand virgin fugitives
 from Southern Britain met death at the |
 hands of Atlila the Hun. The royal British l
 virgin, St. Ursula, was buried on the spot |
 where she feil struck by deadly arrow.
 and where now above her tomb stands the |
 church of ber name. Around her were
 buried her British companions. This was |
 about the year 451. but the first foundation
 stone of the church it now stands was
 laid about the year 1920, and the church is,