Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-16

valuable to be given up to orchards and
the people are too honest to steal fruit
] that grows along the highway.
| The trees belong to the adjoining prop
erty. People I have talked with insist
| that the teamsters who are always pass
| ing with loads of products and merchan-
| disc. never think of plucking an apple or
cherry, and that even the schooiboys
are brought up to resist such temptations.
The city of Weimar is fifty miles south
west of Leipzig and 1876 miles from Ber-
| lin. Parts Of 1t are almost modern, al
though there are few narrow streets
lined with old-fashioned houses.
There are two attractive hotels. The
Erbpr1nz has a lovely garden. The Rus
sischer-Hof is on the principal street.
There are several other less expensive
and comparatively comfortable. and nu-
merOus boarding houses that are patron
| lied by English and American families
who come here to educate their children
and find quiet. economical homes.
nave never seen place that combines
SO many attractions and advantages with
such low cost Of living.
Weimar Clean and Quiet.
Weimar is one of the neatest towns
you ever saw. 1t looks as If it had just
been swept UP for Sunday.
none of pretensions. There are several
neat shops. restaurants and cafes. for a
considerable portion Of the population de-
ponds upon the patronage of literary and
musical pilgrims who come here to see
where Goethe. Schiller. List, Herder.
Humboldt, Schlegel and other famous
men lived and loved and played and
studied and conferred upon the sleepy
little town an immortal renown.
VehSe, the historian of Germany, said
that although the duchy of Saxony made
only little dot on the map, there was
no court, after that of Berlin, of which
the Germans were so proud He wrote
those complimentary words in the reign
of Frederick the Great.
Today the court is quiet. The duke is
a widower and spends little time at Wei
mar. The palace. an appropriate resi-
dence for a grand duke and erected after
designs made by Goethe, exists almost
entirely for the entertainment of tourists
But the many well-tO-do retired families
who have come here to educate their
children and to live economically make
a wholesome an intelligent society. and
are free from the extravagant demands
of court.
do not know Of any other city Of sim
liar size which has such q library, such
valuable collection of pictures, or such
schools Of music and painting. which are
patronized by English and American as
Lewes' Description of Weimar.
G. H. Lewes. husband of George Eliot,
has written charming little booklet
about Weimar as it was in the time of
Goethe. from 1856 to 1892.
1T is so quiet, SO simple he says,
land although ancient in its architecture.
has none of the picturesqueneS which de-
lights the eye in most old German cities.
The stone-cOlored. light brown and apple
green houses have high-peaked, slanting
roofs, but no quaint gables. no caprices
of architectural fancy, none Of the min
Cling of varied styles which elsewhere
charms the traveller.
Zone learns to love its simple, quiet
streets and pleasant paths. Fit theater
for the simple actors moving across the
scene, but one must live there some time
to discover its charms.
1.-The aspect it presented when Goethe
arrived was, OF course, very inherent
from that presented now QS54). First be
it noted that the city walls were still
erect; gates and portculliS still spoke OF
days Of warfare Within these walls were
six or seven hundred houses, not more:
most of them very ancient. Under these
roofs were about 1000 inhabitants, for
the most part not handsome.
1.-The city gates were strictly guarded
No one could pass through them In carts
or carriages without leaving his name IN
the sentinels book. Even Goethe. minis
ter and favorite. could not escape this
tiresome Formally. as we gather from
one of his letters to the Frau Won Stein.
directing her to go out alone and meet
him beyond the gate lest their exit to-
gether should be known.
During Sundays service a chain was
thrown across the streets leading to the
church, to bar out all passengers, prac-
tice to this day partially retained The
chain is fastened, but the passengers step
over it without ceremony.
The Belvedere ALE.
LAS we pass from the palace gates a
winding path to the right conducts us
avenue of chestnut trees, two miles long.
stretching from the new street to the
summer palace Of Belvedere. This az
park, in summer grateful for its GOODNESS,
in autumn looking like an avenue of gold
en- trees.
washed by the lin. we shall pass Goethe's
gartenhaus and enter a shadowy path,
picturesque with well grouped trees. and
cross another bridge.
"A few PAGES from the bridge stands
the Borkenhaus Ozark hOuse), a hermit
hut, erected by Goethe for a fete of the
duchess. and subsequently the favorite
residence of the duke. 1t is only twenty
feet long and fourteen feet deep, built
entirely of wood and plastered $50 to
speak, with the bark Of trees.
Where Is the prince who would live in
such a hut nowadays? Yet here Karl
August lived alone, glad to escape from
the tedium of etiquette, and the palling
pleasures Of a little court. Here he de-
bated affairs of state, not less momentous
to him because they were trivial in Eu-
ropean politics. Here he bathed in the
lin running beneath
Here he could see the garden house of
his poet and telegraph to him across the
park. In this single room, which was at
once dining room, council chamber, study