The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-09

stranger O4u II S6GUl 10 MIN iIIdI he liCb
no one on the road. The swelling green
valley between the mountains was pop
ulous with a picturesQuely dressed peas
antry; and in the three or four timber
built villages through which he had pass
ed since leaving Ottenhofen, he had seen
women working in the fields, men strik-
ing iron in the FORCES, or saving frag-
rant pine trunks in the saw mills. But
as soon as he went beyond the limits of
the villages he left human life behind
him. He moved in a great empty land
scape.
This was the first time that Give Lin
coin had trod a German road, and his
spirit thrilled with the sense of the new
and the unexpected. At twenty-five the
world is wonderfully fresh and surpris-
ing; and the young man carried all mis-
fortune in his eyes and on his back,
where was hung a folding easel, an ar
fists stool and a box Of colors. Already
he had made a striking success with a
''one-man exhibition" in Bond street of
water colors Of DevOnshire scenery; on
the money that this had brought him he
was undertaking his first journey to the
continent, bent on painting the black
forest.
The black forest! There was witchery
in the very words, the glamor of poetry,
of legend, of romance One of Lincoln S
earliest recOllections was a picture of
the Mummelsee, which his mother used
10 show him in an early Victorian vol
ume of steel engravings. A group of
maidens sporting in the waters of a dim,
pine-fringed lake We're rushing to shelter
as great giant with Jove-lil1e hair and
enormous spreading arms, rose dripping
from the depths. The boy had never tir-
ed OF looking at the picture, and hear
ing from his mother the legend of the
spirit of the Mummelsee, and he had de-
termlhed that the first picture painted by
him IN Germany should be of the magic
scene which had thrilled his childish i'm
aginatiOn. He had travelled direct from
London to the little village of OttenhOfen,
and ON this, the first morning after his
arrival, was Fastening up into the high
Businesses Of the mountains to find the
fairy lake.
hrOm a great distance came a strange,
dull roar, like thunder-such thunder as
he had never heard in England; thunder
that was curiOusly rythmical, seeming to
issue simultaneously from opposite quar-
ters of tie compass. Lincoln listened
wonderingly, turning his head this way
and that, locking up into the clouds; and
at last he set down the odd effect to some
freakish echo, which, in mountain lands,
plays fantastic tricks, tossing a sound
from side to side until it wearies, and
lets Il drop in silence. He swung on at
quick walk, his iron-shod stick O. oak
ringing musically on the road in unison
with his steps. The winding way led ever
upward He was leaving the green-clad
slopes, and was mounting to a land Of
barren rock. Still he met no human be-
ing-nOt a Iaborer at work; no creaking
OK team; not a tourist. He had the great,
green, blowing world to himself, ana
walking all alone in these wide, I'M
familiar solitudes, even though it was
broad day, a little chill crept into his
heart.
Suddenly he glanced up in surprise; for
on knoll above the road, he spied the
figure of a tall man, clad all in blue, who
stood erect, motiOnless, like a sentinel.
1t was too far to discern the details of
his dress, but Lincoln caught a CLEAN of
silver Streaking the blue and a hint of
tossing feather crowning a FURNISHED
head-dress. The face was towards him,
but the head thrown back, carried the
mans glance upwards over Lincoln to
the mountain tops, and where the eyes
should have been, there gOggled two
great, black discs. AS he advanced, the
figure on the hillside began to resolve
itself into it's component parts The blue
became tunic and trousers; the CLEAN of
silver, facings on the coat; the tossing
feathers, a plume upon a helmet; the
goggling discs, the lenses of a pair CT
gloved hands; Lincoln was gazing at a
Prussian officer.
The grating of his nailed boots on the
road was carried by a sudden flow of wind
TO the soldiers ears; he abruptly lowered
his glasses, and dropping his chin, stared
frOwningly down. The young Englishman
looked calmly back at him. A flash of re-
sentiment lit the frank Teutonic eyes
With an angry wave of the glove hand,
no c.9cr I i,,.o l-,14 M,
imperious gesture was unmistakable; but
the Englishman ignored it and kept on
at his steady four an hour.
A red spot glowed suddenly on each
cheek of the Prussian. Holding himself
very stiffly, he shouted a peremptory COM
mand in staccato German. The inten-
ton was clear, but the precise purport
of the words was lost on Lincoln, whose
knowledge of the tongue of the father
land was slight. With a wave of
the hand, he kept to his stride. Why
should an Englishman stay upon his road
because a Prussian ocer chose to shout
rudely at I'm from a hillside?
The officers face Redeemed all over For
an instant he seemed undetermined; next
moment he was bounding down the slope,
his scabbard clanking metallically on the
rocks. Taking a diagonal path, he leap
ed upon the road, and placed himself
NAANNIly III LlllCOIl way. LII d cultural
torrent, he poured out angry words The
Engishman listened intently, but could
separate only two sounds maneuvers''
and artillery" A light struck into his
mind. He knew that the maneuvers Of
the German army are carried out on a
grand scale, and as far as possible under
conditions of actual war. He remem-
bered now that at intervals, on the road
he had travelled, on the sides of houses
and harms no had oil 4
papers posted up; he recalled the sound
of the rhythmical thunder over which he
had puzzled. Things were clearer now
and he olonger wondered at the empty
road.
When an angry officer stopped his
excited speech, Lincoln lookede him in
the eyes and said simply, in his best
German: Il am an Englishman; I regret
that cannot quite understand you.'
ne Prusslan stared his wonder, and
mou-fied his turbulence. Il am paint
err went on Lincoln; Il wish to go to
l-e Mummelsee."
The other broke again into voluble
talk. He pointed up to the mountain
tops, where Inc sound of the rhythmicaI
thunder still reverberated; he waved a
hand down the road; another upwards;
then described a circle in the air with
both; and ended triumphantly with the
word ''verboten." Lincoln divineu that
the soldier was indicating the limits of
the maneuvering area, within which no
one was allowede; but he did not choose
to understand. Stolidly he said again: Il
wish to go to the Mummelsee."
The Prussian grew warm. He looked
beWidered, then let loose once more a,
flood of words Lincoln waited politely
until he had finished; then 81 must go to
the Mummelsee," he said, politely
The officer bit a desperate lip, and
looked quickly up and down the road.
Then go and may the devil take your