Year: 1878

see freedom in their crags and hills,
it is reflected in their streams and
lakes, they breathe it in the very
air; they could not live as nation
of slaves. William Tells Chapel
and Schiller's Rock also claimed a
portion Of our homage and with
the evening I started for Mayence.
For years I had longed to see the
Rhine, the beautiful Rhine, so Gel
ebrated in song and story. It had
been the dream of my youth, the
hope Of my manhood, the solace of
my old age, that I was going to
see the Rhine. In fact, I was sorry
that there were not two Rhines, it
seemed to me altogether too good
to be kept in one. It is true I had
surveyed some fine scenery in my
time. I had climbed the Himalayas :;
I had rambled through the Cor
dilleras; I had sailed up the ANA
zon and down the Mississippi ;
Australia and New Zealand we're no
strangers to my wandering foot
steps; and in years long gone by I
had chased the springbok where
"Afric's sunny fountains roll, down
their golden sands" The Rocky
Mountains were to me a familiar
playground; and I knew every inch
of the Sierras from Yreka to Yose-
mite Valley. Every one Of the big
trees I knew by name land the Falls
Of Niagara were mingled with the
associations of my boyhood. One
pleasure was yet in reserve for me,
I had never seen the Rhine.


Mayence was reached, and, with
a beating heart, here at last we
were upon the banks Of the Rhine
Old Fader Rhine, the beautiful
Rhine, the Rhine of song and
story. AS matter of fact, I had
composed some sweet little verses
to the Rhine, myself, which were
considered very fine by several i'm
partial friends to whom I showed
them. It is true they never got in
to the papers, but if they had they
would have created profound SEN
sa&iop.


Mayence was reached, and I
rushed down to the river. I recol-
lect once, in my boyhood's days,
going through a hole in the ice,
when I was trying to cut the alpha
bet in capitals, winding up with the
American eagle. The sensation was
very much like that I experienced
at my first look upon the Rhine.
The romance Of a life was Destroy
ed the visions Of years went up in
a balloon and I felt that I had
been the victim Of the most afro
cious humbug that ever was palmed
off upon an unfortunate tourist.
The scenery reminded me of some
of the worst stretches Of the Erie
Canal, for with the better class
scenery it would not begin to COM
pare. "Ah!" said Gubbs, 'this
amt the part, me boy. Wait till
you get down few miles, and then
you'll see something" The shock
I had received had knocked all the
romance out of me, and I had be-
gun to grow savagely critical.
Mile after mile was passed; at last
we reached a portion OF the Rhine
where the hills made some faint
attempt to look like mountains.
Dotting the crags and hilltops here
and there might be seen some
crumbling old ruins or moss.co7ered
walls; and even when the houses
were in good repair they must have
been exceedingly uncomfortable to
live in. What did they know about
telegrsphs, telephones, stationary
washtubs, and all other modern
conveniences? One place, pointed
out to me as one Of the moGt TO-
mantle upon the Rhine, looked
about like a second class brickyard,
while no portion of it will compare
with the noble landscape of the
Hudson. I am astonished that two
respectable nations should eyer have
had a fight about it. There are
plenty Of places where you could
buy just as good a river for a song,
and there are parts of the world I
know where they give them away
for nothing. Evening brought US
to Cologne with it's traditional
smells and it's Cathedral-and look