The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1906-01-25

like steep flight of steps, occupying
a considerable space on one side.
This stove is a genuine temple of
Vesta, the centre of domestic life.
The seats which run all around it are
the gathering place for the whole
family, including the servants in their
hours Of rest. From a diminutive
fireplace let into one corner of the
stove, pretty high up, in the evening
streams forth from fire of beechen
logs or chips of highly-resinous fire.
wood the light which illumines the
room. Back of the "Stube" or
common dwelling room is the bedroom
for master and mistress. The kitchen
is always roomy place and carried
upward through both stories. The
fire is always of wood and the smoke
ascends straight to the outlet above,
curing on its way goodly store of
provisions with which the top part is
hung, escaping eventually into the
barn. In addition to bedrooms the
top floor contains space for storing
firewood and the hay loft already
referred to. Outside the upper floor is
the veranda, a most useful as we'll as
ornamental feature of the house.
With such homes and such. sur
roundings we may expect to find
many strange customs and much
superstition and the legends and
stories concerning the life and people
in the Black Forest are prolific with
romance and startling occurrences.
A Black Forest wedding is an
elaborate affair, lasting many days, in
which there is much feasting and
drinking and transporting of goodies
for these folks are great for carrying
away edibles from feasts. 1t is told
of one parson who had the capacious
pockets of his long clerical coat made
waterproof on purpose SO that he
might take with him liquid food as
we'll as dry.
The wedding dinner is always a
huge feast to which none but cast
iron stomach would be equal were it
not that the time is deliberately spun
out and fresh appetite is got up by
general dance between each two
courses and even after all this feasting
and drinking the bride must eat, be-
fore going to bed, regulation dish OF
sauer-kraut "for good luck"
! Ruined castles and Old converts,
rising on picturesque spots, tell OF a
past full of interesting Incidents;
churches point their spires from the
green mountain side, carrying touches
of contrast into the dark woods.
I These old ruined castles speak OF
the Interregnum when the barons held
sway, sallying forth from these strong
holds and defying all rules of law and
order, until Rudolph of Hapsburg
brought the turbulent robber knights
under submission and thereby caused
himself to be looked upon by the
Germans as second only to Charlie
IudS NC anu DdTUdIOSods
i Clock-making and wood-carving are
closely associated with the Black
Forest for it is within that limit that
most of the clock-making towns are
situated. 1t is estimated that between
fifteen and twenty thousand hands are
employed in clockmaking in the
Black Forest, turning out goods to the
value of between five and six million
dollars yearly.
Black Forest clock-making has a
little history of it's own. Those
curious cuckoo clocks were not all at
once evolved from the Black Forest
mind, like a Minerva springing
panoplied from the brow of Jove. The
industry began with glass-blowing,
which was first introduced in 1888. 1t
was Lurtwangen glass hawker who
first set the Black Foresters on the
track of making clocks. He brought
a very primitive timepiece from
| Nuremberg. The adaptable Black
Forest mind at once made il its arabi-
ton to initiate this work of art, and
within a very short period a trade il,
clocks had sprung up at Urack and
Schonwald. About the year 174O the
first striking clock was turned out in
the Black Forest and by 1850 the craft
had so far advanced that the wooden
shell began to be filled with metal
works. The next improvement was
the introduction of the cuckoo, which
has cuckooed the Black Forest into
fame.
Wood-carving in the Black Forest
is of more ancient origion, the be-
ginniDgs of which are lost in antiquity.
Once this wood-carving became
fashionable in the great world, the
fortune of the inhabitants of the Black
| Forest was made-for spell.
OF the rich grape harvest of the wine
countries curious tales are told. In
1889 the vineyards yielded such heavy
crops that empty casks actually fetched
more money than full ones, and old
wine was sacrificed to use the casks