The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1903-03-06
THE RHINE.
NO. VI.

/. l am more convinced day by day that an ac
count of ramble through foreign lands is OF
little interest to the mass of Americans The in
variable remark is, II would far rather see my
own country" At the same time have noticed
that this remark usually comes from that class
whose knowledge of affairs does not extend faI
beyond their own little state, whose hopes and
ambitions of ever travelling beyond their own
confines are decidedly slim. and who are utterly
insensible to the part that the foreign world has
played. and the influence it has exerted upon the
energy, thought and action of country.
1 have just put aside Washington Irving's
% Sketch Book" work of which all Americans
should be justly proud for the author was the
first American writer to gain European reputa.
ton solely on the ground of his literary ability.
And as turn from Irvngs account of himself in
the preface, cannot refrain from giving you his
idea of look into foreign lands and his reason for
going:
Had been merely influenced by love of fine
scenery should have felt little desire to seek
elsewhere Its qualification for in no country had
the charms of nature been more prodigally law
ished than on my own. But Europe held
forth all the charms of storied and poetical
citation. My country was full of youthful promise
| Europe was rich in the accumulated treasures of
age Her very ruins told the history of times gone
| longed to wander over the scenes of renowned
ach1evement-to tread it were, in the footsteps
of anttquity-to loiter about the ruined castle-to
mediate on the falling tower-to escape in short,
from the commonplace realities of the present,
aud lose myself among the shadowy grandeurs of
the past"
And there you have it. And if the "shadowy
grandeurs of the past" mean nothing to you, you
had best stay at home and attend the National
Industrial Export Expositions and Worlds Fairs
which are every year. am told, putting us for
ward as the most enlightened, most refined and
most cultured people on this globe.
While am sure that Europe holds forth to the
pilgrim charms that America can never have just
so sure am that no American need look beyond
his own country for the sublime and beautiful OF
natural scenery. Scenery, should say is the very
least consideration in a European trip. And yet
there are some things which you will never forget,
things which you would be sorry to forget. Fresh
as the events of yesterday is that afternoon went
from Germany to Lake Constance in Switzerland,
winding through the valleys past lakes, the
beauty of which the traveller gets but feeting
glance; on past the snow-drifted crags OF the Ger
man Alps, as now and then the sun peeps forth
from the clouds and lights up the top of gigantic
crag which seems to be mingling its summit with
eve stood outside the gates of Berne and watched
the slow descending sun leave behind on the dis.
tant hills that most wonderful, most beautiful,
and most understandable etfect-the Alpen glow.
Even more vivid is the scene as sat in the Cur.
saal Garden in Interlaken and watched the moon
in all its majesty rise above the snow-capped
horns of the Jungfrau and as in early morning,
from the most beautiful of all Swiss lakes be-
held the sun rise over the most beautiful of all
/ swiss peaks, and battle the Jungtrau in deluge
of his beams, thought perhaps Milton might
have seen a sunrise among the Alps and lett us
this in his Lycidas when he says: "And yet anon
tricks his beams and with new-spangled ore
flames in the forehead of the morning sky"
But as 1 reflect / know that this wasn't to be
about Switzerland and the beauties of Alpine
scenery, but of another part of the scenery OF
Europe about which there has been a diversity OF
opinion. For many decades it has been the habit
ofgobe-trotters to regale their drowsy listeners
with the accounts of the charms of the Rhine
while still another class has given the impression
that in no way could the beauties of that stream
f compare with the rugged and majestic scenery
along our own Hudson. As l said, was not
hunting scenery unless that scenery pertaned in
some way to the 'shadowy grandeurs of the past -
As my knowledge of the Rhine had been CLEANED
mostly from the writings of Julius Caesar, l had
failed to grasp the grandeur of it all, although l
am free to confess that to the various accounts
in the Commentaries were shadowy enough
! However, having heard so much of the relative
beauties of the Rhine and Hudson determined
co see for myself, to judge for myself. Besides this
river offered fair means of reaching from
Cologne, that part Of Germany which was then
my objective point.
With this somewhat rambling introduction
presume there will be looked for close, abstract
and thorough dissertation upon the subject in
hand and this is the furthest from my purpose.
l would merely wish to say that the Rhine to me
was disappointing l looked for much; l saw
little. But after all it is only another instance of
placing ones expectations too high and then
having to come to the commonplace, back to
EARTH as it were. One is so apt to do this, espec-
tally in visiting the great monuments of antiquity.
We forget that it is the association rather than the
thing ITSELF l remember Mark Twain has
brought this out somewhere in the accounts of
his travels. That prince OF humorists after going
the rounds of Egypt comes at last to one of those
mysterious temples of that most ancient people.
Imagine, then, the keen disappointment of the
man, coming five thousand miles to look upon
the holy relic of these wondrous people, ard when
he has reached his Mecca, has brushed aside the
mystery which has guarded for centuries this
most holy of holies, to find there but some dirty
image of a cat or a snake! You have been stand
ing on the heights of sublimity, you have taken
the proverbial step, and you are sure enough
standing firm upon the level of the ridiculous
Sentiment, no doubt adds a great deal to an
otherwise commonplace bit of scenery So much