The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-08-24
1 lsiisf Ifootiii s@ersiany.
Marbuir4, Aug. 5, is

! IilV JNlUpI VI Illc i ItSS tlIltl IDtllltI.
Dear Sir:-Thcre is only one question OF
any size that cnnirolIts the good people OF
this region: that is the question Of land
This L. not Il new question. but M which
has caused the good Marhlmgrrs to shake
their heads since many generations. And
50 when the Lain. a small stream flowing
Ivy MarbulS, many years z changed it,
course, cutting around several acres Of
good bottom land. there was much leioic.
ing on one side of the river. and much la.
mentinG on the other: for the Lahn by this
capriciOuS turn took along with it the
boundary line, and the rich acres in uues
ton belonged no longer to the Marhurg
side of the river but to the W~cidcnhauseI
side. .Marburg and Weidenhauscn are now
practically II town and have forgotten
how they one stood apart, but the folks OF
WeidenhauSen haven't forgotten their Joy;
maybe because the land is there to remind
them. AT any rate they have a big cele-
bratiOn every three years to commemorate
the event, and it was to such a celebration
that the people have been assembling the
last few days.
The only thing official about the celebra-
ton is the parade. No speeches, no deliv-
cry of medals, no setting free of prisoners,
~iust~a parade. Proud looking fore-riders
in front, youths and maidcns following
|hllll gay Npl'l y cSlollCO, llUllC SlIlS "lUI
garlandS and wreathS followed by a SINH
lar procession of little boys, looking rather
Sunday-gO-t0-mccting and stiff, but alto
gcthrr, quite pretty. That was the end of
the regular procession, but behind cant
quite Il unique wagon load of young fel-
lows sitting around a table drinking beer
and eating rolls, laughing and singing,
with dried herring feStooned around which
swiped their faces a. they turned to look
out into the crowd. in front was the sign
Here we come" and behind the sign I'VE
turn our noses up at the women" which
explains that they We're a bunch of young
bachelors who wanted to advertise the fact.
Upon glancing curSorily over them l was
led to conclude that their so flat-foOted at
titude toward the gentle sex was merely a
stroke of reciprocity on their partS-a tit
fOr-tat game at which they were having
the second go; but you never can tell.
That vas all the official part of the cele-
bration, but the real celebration was on the
circus ground, where there were side shows
and a flying ~ spinning jenny of a very
elaborate sort, shooting galleries, a o
ing picture show and a wild west True
the wild west sign was written upside
down, but that was, like the bark Of a o
ter, put in to make it hard. How is that
for q gala week program? No peanuts; no
pop corn; ne high dive; no loop the loop;
chute the chuteS; no balloon ascension;
~snake-eaters; no Mailman and half
frog; no cOca-cOla--true, there was n lit
tie insignificant red lemonade stand, but
the frau in charge that's one good thing
about Germany, the women do the work.
had to name her beverage "beer lemon
ade," in order to get the folks to drink it.
You may be curious to know what sort OF
people go to such a merry making. They
are peasants, philistines and students.
The peasants enjoy themselves thorough
~. They smoke, walk with a cane, drink
beer mot beer lemonade) and have a good
time in general. AS for the philistines,
they watch the peasants. But u word
about what a philistine is. A philistine is
any person who employs his time in such
and communicating activities as
making money, turning tho wheels Of in
dustry, driving the wolf away from the
front gate, and SO on, and so forth. The
philistine is, as you see, not q free a
He treads a beaten path, and he must stay
in this path. His life is narrow; he has no
ideals-if he has ever had any he has for
gotten about them in his hurry to catch a
The valleys are filled with philis-
tines. There Is nothing in the valley but
philistines. On the mountain on the other
hand are the students. Thanks to the
much despised plilistines they don't have
to worry about the wolf. But il there were
philistines to attend to the little affairs,
don't think for a moment that the student
would worry. l once met an artist, who,
not having any one to bring him his meals,
was pestered by the Inconvenience OF hav-
ing to go get something to eat once or
twice a day. This consumed so much Of
his time that he finally solved the question
by getting a basket full of bread and bring
ing it into his studio. Here is his syllo-
giSm. Hunger must be satisfied; bread is
the most common and eficacious means of
satisfying hunger; bread is the thing. And
therein lies the difference between the stu
dent and the philistino, The latter thinks
he must eat q certain number OF times a
day. sleep a certain number of hours, and
make himself comfortable in all sorts of
ways. The former, the student, doesn't
give so much of his valuable attention to
the common trcadmill affairs; he is too
busy getting his view while he is yet Oh the
mountain top. For you must know that
each one of these jewellers of the mountain
must descend into the land of the philis-
tines, must try to spread his ideals, and
become, by degrees, a philiStine. But the
pllilistine never forgets his student days.
lie always comes back to the celebration
that interests him most, dOnS his student
cap, red, blue, yellow, green, as the case
may be, and marches, or if he is too feeble
to walk. rides in the procession of his so
ciety. But enough of these professions. /
had intended to write something about the
duels, but it is too late. Maybe you would
lilo tn hnnr onnthnr tipla