Year: 1876




From the Chicago Inter-Ocean.


Christian Schurz, the father of Sen
ator Carl Schurz, now of New York.
and Mrs. Edmund Jussen, of this
city, died at Monee, Will county, ILL.,,
on the 18th instant. He was born in
1916, in the small village Of Dnis-
dorf in the Rhenish Provinces of
Germany. He was school teacher
lin the village of Liblar, near Cologne,
where his son Carl was born, aud
formed no exception to the general
rule which consigns the German
teacher to lifelong poverty. Blu. in
spite of his poverty he resolved to
give his son the best education then
to be obtained in that part of Ger
many. In fact he seemed to have
had no other object in life than to ed
'ucate his bright and promising boy.
The best years of his life and most
of his scanty means were religiously
devoted to this all-absorbing purpose.
The untiring energy and ambition of
the life of the elder Schurz in this
direction were truly remarkable. He
compelled his son Carl to walk al
most daily distance of nearly ten
miles, when he was still of very ten
der years, to take lesson on the pi-
anO; and when the boy had reached
the age of ten years, he performed
with great success at several con-
certs, TO the infinite satisfaction of
his father. At very early age
Christian Schurz placed his son in
the Gymnasium of Cologne, one of
the best educational institutes in the
Rhenish Provinces, and, though he
was poor, he managed to raise funds
to keep Carl at this school until he
passed an examination for admittance
to the University at Bonn. But he
made Carl appreciate thoroughly that
he was making extraordinary efforts
in his behalf, and exercised a strict
ness and superintendent over his
child of which the average American
boy can form no idea. Carl came
home only once to enjoy his fall va
cation, when, instead of the best tes-
timonial mo. l, A he could produce
only No. l, and the boy hovered
around the father house and peram-
bulated the adjoining forest for al
most day before he could summon
courage enough to cross the thresh-
old. Next door to the village home
of Carl Schurz there was one of those
wide and simple public halls which
on feast days served as ball room
for the young people of the village.
Here was the first theatre of Carl
Schurz's eloquence. The old gentle
man used to conduct his son Carl to
the hall and place him on the plat
form erected for the village musicians
and command him to recite either
some composition of his own or to
declaim the classic poems of Goethe
or Schiller. And while the sirill and
boyish voice of the young student was
resounding through the room, the old
man, solitary and alone, would pace
up and down before the improyised
rostrum, and sharply criticise the
youthful orator. He made Carl un-
derstand that he wanted him perfect
in everything; that the usual plays
and frolics of boys were fit only for
the children of rich parents; and
that if he desired to make his way in
the world, poor as he was, he must
study and labor necessarily. And
thus he imbued Carl with an ambi-
ton and love for study which have
served him well throughout his event
full life. The revolution of 1913
brought dark hours of sorrow and
grief to Christian Schurz- A true
Republican at heart himself, he was
proud of the eminent position which
his son held among the rebels. But
the day came when Carl was taken
prisoner at Rastall and was sentenced
to be shot. He wrote his fatheT a
last farewell, and the grief-str .cken
old man at once started to Rastall to
recover, if possible, the body of his
son. In tears, and staggering under
his terrible grief, he called on the
commander of the Pruss:an garrison
and demanded the remains of the
young martyr 20 liberty. His joy
may be imagined when he was told
that Carl hGd escaped from the fort
the right before the morning fixed
for his execution. He returned home
with light and joyous heart; and
did not see his son again until he
net him on the soil of the United
States Republic in 1852. Since then
the old man has led truly happy
life. He has lived for his birds and
his flowers, and fairly reyelled in the
ever increasing renown of his boy,
until Saturday last, he was carried
to his grave, the casket containing his
remains being decked with a pro-
fusion of lilies and roses, and blessed
with the love of his children and
friends, who will ever cherish and
honor his memory.