Der Nordstern. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1874-1931, 1922-12-14
Travelling In The Old
World Across The
Atlantic
By Rev. Joseph kreuter, 0. S. B. !
In the Valley of the MOsel.

~ NCoS1AOC a A45AI JOuAASy w AoAA
is a difficult matter; we went like an
arrow whistling through a cloud, cross
ing a part of the romantic Eifel dis
trict, past fair Gerolstein, through the
valley of the Kyll; the pale blush ra-
dance of the moon gave an air of fai-
ry-land to the scenes rushing past us.
At Ehrang where our train emerged
into the Mosel Valley, the negro troops
with their empty, lustful glances again
remind us unpleasantly of the setback
civilization suffered by the World War.
1t is six A. M, and here we are
again in the good town of Trier, the
oldest Of German cities, older than
Rome herself, as an inscription on
the ancient council house-the social
ed Red House-reveals; the city is not
yet awake, or at most rubbing it's eyes
and yawning, but dark soldiery of the
Army of Occupation is already in evil
dence. Trier, the holy City, the Rome
on this side of the Alps, filled with
African troops! Who would think it!
They stroll past the House of the
White Fathers, who educate students
to go forth as missionaries to- %civilize
and christianize the negroes in dark
Africa, and these negroes are brought
to modern Europe by a so-called civil
lied nation to act as sentinels over a
white race.
The Porta Nigra, called Simeon's
Gate at present, greets us from a dis
lance and recalls pleasant memories
to our mind, memories Of our early
student life in this quaint town, when
romantic visions were filling our
youthful minds and life lay still be-
fore us with all it's hopes and charms.
The Porta Nigra looks like a piece of
the Coliseum, with it's rows of arches
in massive red sandstone, the stones
held together, not by mortar, but by
heavy iron clamps, and it's low, i'm
mensely strong double gateway, re-
minding one Of the trimuphal arches
in the Forum at Rome. The amphi-
theatre is a genuine Roman work, we'll
preserved; in it a thousand Frankish
prisoners of war were given in one
day to the wild beasts by the Roman
Emperor long before the Birth Of
Christ. Of the many very old and new
interesting churches Of the city the
Cathedral is the most interesting one,
being the work Of fifteen centuries; it
bears the stamp of successive styles
upon it's face.
The old and narrow streets of the
city are crowded with strangers, most
ly from France and nearby Luxem-
bourg, who take advantage of the high
rate of their money to buy German
goods Of the most exquisite workman
ship for but a few francs. The stores
of Trier, as we'll as those of the other
cities in the occupied territory, are al
most bought out, so that the towns
people look forward to the future with
great m~isgivings. We enter several of
the Homes for poor children and view
with horror the pitiful conditions to
which these little ones and their good
keepesr have been reduced by the ex-
IRENE want they have suffered and
are still suffering through the war
and the "Peace" following it. If young
America could but see their plight,
could witness these sad scenes, could
look these little ones in the eyes and
ematiated faces, there would be less
wasting in our land.
Once more We leave Trier with its
familiar scenes and board a train that
is to bring us through the picturesque
valley of the Mosel to Coblenz. At
the station stops a train on its way to
Holland. 1t carries hundreds Of famish-
ed Austrian children from Vienna to
hospitable Holland where these poor
little ones will be given an opportunity
by good people to recuperate from the
prolonged p~rivations suffered during
the wal and postwar times. 1t makes
us sad this view!
The Mosel has a winding course
with very varied scenery: numerous
old castles perched on the hill tops,
dense woods and teeming vineyards,
lining cliffs and solitary rocks, antique
towns with houses little altered out
wardly since the fourteenth century.
Such houses there are in every old
city and town, they have a charm and
fascination of their own that no mod
ern building or show-place, no matter
how pretentious it may be, can have.
It is all a series of pretty and smil-
ing landscapes, enlivened by the songs
Of groups Of tourists passing Justify
along, by long lines of handsome wo-
men washing their linen on the banks,
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