Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1934-07-27
CITY OF PIED PIPER
HOLDS CELEBRATION
Recalls Legend Of Six and a
Half Centuries Ago.

Washington. Six and one-half CEN
turtles ago, legend relates, q splteful
musician lured away the children OF
Hameln tHamelin) by his weird pip
ings, because the village fathers bick-
cred over his bill for having rid
Hameln Of plague of rats.
Hameln is observing the six hundred
hftleth anniversary of the tragic event
with a grand homecoming of all living
children and ehildrens children" Of
the little German town, and will even
let bygones be bygones to the extent
Of dedicatiug Pied Piper monument.
on June 26.
Modern Hameln, with its busy In
dustries and its salmon fisheries Of
River Weser, still retains many richly
ornate houses and quaint, narrow
streets that bark back to the days Of
its rat-catching legend. immortalized
in Browning's ballad. The Pied Piper
of Hamelin. says bulletin from the
National Geographic society.
Sell Chocolate Rats.
"Along one Of its gabled byways
stands the beautifully ornamented
stone Neutrality-suspicious.. or Rat
catchers House. 1t dates from 1902,
and therefore could have had no con-
nectlon with the wandering piper Of
1884. who had no home at all. 1t de-
rlyes Its name from the frescoes along
Its walls Illustrating the legend The
caretaker makes a good living today
selling chocolate rats to tourists.
Another reminder of the towns IA
nous story is the Neutrality-suspicious.
men. or Rat Catcher Fountain, on the
Thiewall, a pleasant little channel in
the northern part of the city. 1t was
erected in 1885.
Then there is the River Weser,
wherein all the rats plunged and
perished.' The weser today is an
artery Of commerce for shallow-draft
boats, linking Hameln with many river
towns south of It as far as Karl
shafen, and north to Minden. Danger
Gus rocks were avoided when new
channel was cut near Hameln in 1874.
and deepened In 1873. The Weser's
best know port, however, is Bremen
the oldest seaport In Germany, near
the mouth of the river.
Like many other towns of western
Germany, Hameln owes its origin TO
an abbey, but it possessed a number
of small dwellings and a market
place in the Eleventh century. 1t was
in turn controlled by the French, the
kingdom of Westphalia, the Hanover
ians, and the Prussians. Today it lies
within the Prussian province of Han
over
Mecca for Artists.
"That Hameln once was a place Of
considerable wealth and culture is EVIL
dent from the number of stately stone
and timbered Renaissance mansions
that line its winding residential streets
and face the banks of the Wesef.
Like Rothenburg it is a happy hunt
ing ground for artists, etchers, and
photographers in search of medieval
architecture and quaint vistas.
To-day most of Hameln's 5000 in
habitants are engaged in the manufac-
ture of chemicals. leather, and paper.
Sugar refining and tobacco curing
plants are also important, and there
is some shipbuilding. Life is leisurely
among the burghers of this pictur-
esque old German town. The chief
pastimes are salmon-fishing and boat
ing along the Weser, or walks to the
ivy-clad ruins of many ancient castles
that top the forested hills nearby.
"The famous legend of the children
and the Pied Piper Is of great an
tiquity, but no satisfactory explanation
of its origin has ever been found.
Some trace it to the Children's CRU
SADIE of 1211. when 10000 German
boys, led by youth named Nicolas,
mysteriously disappeared between
Koeln tCologne) and Italy. en- route
to the Holy Land Browning wrote
the poem, it is said, to amuse Willie
Macready during an illness; but where
he obtained his material, or why he
dated the event 1876, instead Of 1884.
is not known