Evening star., 1925-08-29
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BookIouer.

lowing the war, is being resumed
Austria, with little industry left, is
trying to emulate Switzerland in be-
coming European playground. Then
there is the new republic Of CZecho-
slovakia, old territory under new
name, which offers much historical
and scenic interest. The travel possi-
bilities of these three countries are
described in a number of books. Harry
Franek, literary vagabond and mem
ber of the army of occupation, has a
postwar book, 'Vagabonding Through
Changing Germany" which gives an
excellent idea of German life in city
and country under the occupation.
Conditions along the Rhine are the
first subject of discussion, and Mr..
Franck is impressed by the docility Of
the Germans Of all classes toward
their conquerors. The chapter. Fam
lily Life in MechlenburS." describes the
personal visit OF the author in a. Ger
man family. In the chapters "On the
Road in Bavaria" and Inns and By
ways" are given some of Mr.. Franck s
most interesting vagabonding expert
enceS. Two of the most popular sec
tions OF Germany have always been
the Rhine and Bavaria. Frank Roy
Fraprie has described both in his two
books, The Spell of the Rhine" and
Among Bavarian Inns In both he
dwells chiefly on the charm of olden
days" and the beauties Of unchanging
nature" The Rhine may be followed
up from its various mouths in Hol'
land TO its source in the Alps or the
reverse route may be taken. The au
thor prefers the former because it leads
from less to more beautiful scenery.
After the Rhine enters Germany. it
reaches the City Of Dusseldorf, and
then Cologne, where every one stops
to see the finest Gothic cathedral in
Germany. and perhaps also the bones
Of St Ursula and her il 900 virgins
here, slaughtered by the Huns. II is
at Bonn, above Cologne, seat of a uni
versity and home of Beethoven, that
the Rhine gorge begins. From here
10 Coblenz lie the Seven Mountains
their spurs eastle-crowned and theiI
lower slopes covered with vineyards
At Coblenz the Moselle joins the Rhine
at a point known as the Deutsche
Ecke. where stands a colossal statue
of Emperor William 1. The traV
eler may sit on the terrace OF hi:
hotel and drink either Rhine or Mo
selle wine, or both, with his dinner
while he looks across the river at ths
towering fortress of Ehre enbreitstein
The stretch of the Rhine from Co
blenz TO Bingen is generally esteemed
the finest for scenery. Here are thu
Lorelei Rock and the Mouse Tower
Castles and vine covered hills continue
till the episcopal and garrison towT
of Mainz is reached. where the Mali
Joins the Rhine. Here Gutenberg in
vented printing. The Rhine Valle,
from Mainz to Switzerland goe:
through the Odenwald, the Black For
est and the Vosges, past the cathedra
city of Worms, made famous by Lu
ther; past Strassburg in Alsace, ant
on into Switzerland. The course of tn
Rhine in Switzerland is through
Basel. to the falls of the Rhine a
Schaffhausen, in and out of Lake Con
stance, the great reservoir of tn
Rhine, and on TO the Alps, where a
Lake Toma in the Oberalp Pass is th
cradle of the mighty Rhine, ittt
blue eye of water"
Austria Hungary, by 6. E. Nit
ton. and Austria of the Austrian nj
and Hungary of the Hungarians, b!
Kellner. Arnold and Delisle, both hap
pen TO have been published in 1914
Though describing the pre-war coun
tries. they are chiefly about the un
changed scenery and associations o
I0e past. he DOOh ~
Illustrated in color. Both make Aus
tria and Hungary seem attractive
places to visit Hungary is two-thirdi
surrounded by the Carpathians, whos'
heights rise from evergreen forest!
and are above the perpetual snow hn'
at their highest peaks. The chic
features of the health resorts in TIT
Carpathians are the wonderful min
eral waters which gush out abuT
dantly almost everywhere, and tn
glorious air and grand scenery Goot
steamships make possible a trip OIL
the Danube, the second largest rive
in Europe, which runs through Aus
tria and Hungary for about half It!
course of 1850 miles. Along par
of this distance it passes through fin
scenery of mountains, forests ant
cliffs. often topped by ruined castles
Vienna before the war was one of th'
most brilliant capitals of Europe ant
even today in its eclipse is a beautiful
city, with its celebrated Ringstrass'
encircling the heart of the city, tn
park of the Prater extending 10 tn
Danube and the palace of Schonbrunn
Budapest is finely situated on height,
above the Danube. which is crosset
here by a number of handsome
bridges. On the Buda side are th'
royal palace and the oldest and quaint
est houses and streets. The Pest sid
is a splendid modern town, with wild
streets, beautiful trees, fountains an,
statues. The Austrian Tyrol has lont
been a rival of the Swiss Alps and il
probably the best known part o
Austria to other nations. Its capita
is Innsbruck, "a fascinating towI
with picturesque streets ending IL
mountain heights crowned with gilt
tering snow and appearing nea
enough to be reached with a we
directed stone" The Tyrol. not mucl
over half as large as Switzerland, i
a paradise for mountain climbers an
is divided by one or two deepl.
marked valleys. In the southeastern
corner of the Tyrol. partly in Italy
are the Dolomites, serrated peaks
whose rocks are composed of carbon
ate of lime and magnesia At sun
rise and sunset they often have
curious red coloring and look lik
glowing masses of hot iron. Her
and there are isolated pinnacles o
needles of rock which have temple,
| climbers to vain feats.' With thei
varied attractions of fine cities an,
beautiful river and mountain scenery
Austria and Hungary have much t
offer the tourist.
X
In 1922 descriptive and analytica
book on Czechoslovakia, The Czecho
slovak Republic" was published b,
| Jaroslav Cisar and +. Pokorny. In /
the excellent chapter on the histor,
of Czechosloyakia is taken from al
article by DR.. lMasaryk. first Pres
dent of the republic. Other chapter
cover the geography and population
| political organization, education
| science and philosophy, literature
music and the fine arts, natural re
sources, agriculture and forestry, in
dustries, trade and transportation
Prague. the capital, is an interestin
| medieval town living on both side
| of the River VItava (Moldau), and
| 1ilza Rllda nest has many fne hridra,