The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-01-11
BRATTSLAVA: A PTAR-
MIGAN-LIKE CITY

II would be very DdQ form 10. Cali
it roszony. and scarcely less go to
!! call it Pressburg. Bratisla"a. the
| Czechs insist. is the name of the
city they are developing co be their
country's principal port on that
commercial Mediterranean of
J Central Europe. the danube.
With this introduction the Ma
tioEal Geographic. Society issues d
bulleiin on = Bratislava, which
continues: This city of many
names carries its age lightly and
never let's history Interfere with
business One may look out upon
three countries from the plateau
above it, and view six or seven
races in its busy market place. Its
diversity of interest for the traveller
is comparable to the range OF its
pre-war industries which scaled
down from dynamite making to
pastry cooking.
Ducks and Dynamite
"Bratislava is ptarmigan-like
,, city. 1t has a happy faculty OF
sinking into its historical, and
scenic background. Yet it does not
capitalize these factors overmuch.
1t makes furniture, paper, leather
goods, chemicals and candy, and
ships grain and cattle and wine.
It's market not only deals in fresh
vegetables and fowls and other
| foodstuffs, but also discloses Shoes
and suits, and haberdashery Of all
sorts. Many ducks are sold-evi-
dence of the excellent hunting a
little farther down the river.
Approaching the city from vi
enna. which is thirtp-five miles to
the west, one first passes the ruins
of the castle crowned promontory
where the slow moving March
drifts laZily into the faster flow
ing Danube, seven miles above
FPressburg. Come upon it by rail
and you leave the train lar above
the city, as one does in some Of our
own West Virginia towns. and find
your way afoot. or by tram, or
along a winding carriage road down
into the community of some So
600 people which huddles at the
foot of a hill Of historic memories
Ruined Castle Csed by Snusgiers
Atop this spur of the Little
Carpathians Hungarian kings We're
crowned until the. years toward the
close of our Revolutionary War. a
very recent event in, the perspective
OF Magyar history. The ruins Of
the royal palace, burned during our
War of 1912 because. one story has
it, worknlen grew tired Of carry
ing supplies up the 2GG-foot climb.
still crown the hill. Smugglers used
these ruins. in the last few years,
as a signal tower. And among the
kings that Bratislava knew was
Maria Rex so called because the
fierce Magyars of that Gay. like
the tsraelites OF old. could not fore
go the national precedent for a
titular king.
To-day there stands near the
Danube an equestrian statue Of
Maria Theresa with the inscription
'Vitam ct sanguinem,'' words which
recall the occasion when the En-
press made to Hungarian mobiles
her eloquent plea beginning, De-
serted by my friends, prosecuted
by my enemies. attacked by my
nearest kin. my last resource is
in your loyalty, your courage. and
in my own unshrinking cOnstancy.
There the pledge was given. with
drawn swords, and that loyalty was
eyinced which PoZsony later
exhibited to make the Hapsburg
dynasty secure on the Austrian
throne. Bitterly one writer de-
i,scribes that loyalty as the eagle
lending his plume to wing the ar
row that was to drink his own
blood
The Gateway to: Hungary
Inevitably linked with Brati-
slava is Theben, or Dereny, as
the promontory at the confluence
of the March ard the Danube is
known. For this nlagnification Of
our own Harper's Ferry has been
through the ages the military gate
way to the region which has hung
its commercial hinges upon the
Bradshaw of today. The history
oTTheben disappears in the. mist OF
legendary Arpad, kins Arthur of
Magyar annals. who is reputed to
have driven the Moravians away
from this river peak. German en-
perors and Turkish sultans beat
against it in vain; it remained for
Napoleon to conquer it a little more
than century ago.
Lacking any single architectural
wonder Bratislava discloses storled
structures galore. It's town hall,
dating from the thirteenth century,
has a tower which had to be pawn
ed for a short time because the
city could not pay for its construc-
ton. Among the curious carvings
on this tower are. evidences Of a
municipal control Of standards and
measures. There is a knife to be
guide to butchers in purchasing
cleavers. and an iron measuring ex-
actly a yard. to be us.'1 in settling
disputes over the sale OF goods.
City OF Sidewalk Tables
The first superficial impression
! OF Bratislava is it's flair for the
Paris passion Tor sidewalk cafes.
Older residents of the city will
show visitors an ancient house in a