The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-01-02
the world recognize the gem when II
was placed before it

In the capital of the reigniug prince
a great festival was given; thousands
of lamps burned, and rockets rose in
the air. The splendor of this festival
lives yet in our memories, through him
who sought. amid tears and sorrow, to
reach foreign shore unnoticed He
felt that if he did not leave his father
land, his mother aud all his dear ones,
he must perish in the stream of uni
versatility
All was well with the old church
bell, for it stood secure behind the wall
of Marsach's churchyard, well pre-
served and forgotten. The wind roared
by it and could have given it tidings
of him at whose birth it had rung;
yes. the wind could have told how
coldly it had blown over him, as he
sank exhausted in the forest of the
neighboring country, all his riches
consisting in the manuscript of his
"Ffesco." The wind could have told
how his only protectors, the artists,
when he read it aloud to them, had
slipped away one after another pre-
ferring the bowling-alley 20 it. Yes,
the wind could have told us well how
the pale fugitive had sung of his
Ideal" while living for wseks in the
wretched inn whose landlord swore
and drank, where rough joviality desc
Grated the Sabbath. Sorrowful days
and gloomy nights were these! But the
poor heart itself must experience trials
before it can give utterance 20 them in
song.
Dark days and cold nights passed
over the old church bell; it is true that
it was unaware of it; but the bell in
the human breast felt the heavy times.
How went it with the young man, and
what became of the old bell? The old
church bell was carried far away
farther. much farther than its sounds
had ever fioated; and the bell in the
young mans breast resounded farther
than his feet could wander or his eye
could reach; 1t pealed and pealed ever
on-over ocean, over land, over all the
world. But the church bell was taken
away from Marbach and sold as old
metal to the foundry in Bavaria.
Many years had passed since it had
fallen from the tower in Marbach. At
length it was to be melted, it was to
be used in the casting of a magnificent
statue-a monument for all Germany.
What strange events sometimes hap
pen!
Up in Denmark, on one of the green
islands. where the birch trees grow and
where SO many graves of the Huns
stand, there lived very poor lad,
who, with wooden shoes, always car
ried in an old. worn-out handkerchief
the mondays meal to his father, who
worked in the shipyard. This boy.
once so poor had become the pride of
his country; for Thorwaldsen possessed
the art of hewing glorious objects out
of marble; and it was to him that the
honorable commission was given to
fashion a form in clay-which was to
be cast in metal-the form of him
whose name had been written in his
fathers Bible as John Christopher
Frederick.
The metal flowed. glowing and
steaming into the mold; and with it
flowed the old church bell, on whose
former home no one thought; it formed
the head and breast of the statue,
which now stands unveiled in Stutt-
CART before the old castle, upon the
very spot whence he whom the figure
represents once went forth suffering.
to battle and strive for poetical gran
deur and Immortality the poor
boy, the native of Marbach, the pupil
of the famous Charles School. the
fugitive-Germany's greatest and most
immortal poet, who sang of the deliv-
erer of Switzerland and the inspired
Maid of Orleans!
Years afterward, on a glorious, sun
shiny day, banners floated from the
houses and towers of royal Stuttgart,
and bells pealed with festivity and joy.
One bell was silent but it glittered in
the bright sunshine, upon the counte-
nance of the honored one. For it was
Nov. 10, 1859, the hundredth anniver-
sary of the day on which the church
bell had rung consolation and joy to
the suffering mother who bore, in the
needy house, the poor son whose rich
treasures the whole world admired
and blessed-the singer of all that is
glorious and great-Johp Christopher
Frederick Won Schiller. Hans Chris
tan Andersen.
The foundation of the agricultural
building for the University of Illinois