MEMOIRS 
 
 Student Life in Germany 
 
 VACATION TRIPS 
 
 Tyrol, Switzerland and Austria 
 
 W. R. GOSEWISCH, M. Ph., M. D. 
 
 JOHN H. TRAIN, PUBLISHER 
 LOS ANGELES, CAL. 
 
Copyrighted April i, 1898, 
 By W. R. GOSEWISCH, M. PH., M. D 
 
 
 PECSS OF KiNssiEY-BAaNis & NBUHEB Co., 
 Los ANGELES, CAL. 
 
TO 
 
 MY WIFE 
 
 THIS VOLUA\E 
 
 IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED. 
 
 384423 
 
Off you dond t tole me some shtdory, 
 
 Yah, it is mit sure to be 
 Dot you hafe some vriendts in glory 
 
 Vot you d somedimes like du see. 
 
 Bin de vriendts vots gone I vondare 
 
 Nodt de vriendts ve holdt most dear? 
 
 Vor de scene vay ofer yondare 
 
 Looks much petter as dis rlghdt here. 
 
 Sad de stdrongest oft is dtaken 
 
 Vile de years go rolling on, 
 Und dare lives de godt forsaken 
 
 Ven dose ghildhoods vriendts bin gone. 
 
THE AUTHOR AND HIS CHUM WITH THEIR TYROI/ESE STUDENT 
 FRIEND IN THE MOUNTAINS OF THE TYROL. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ERE it was the fall of 
 1867, and Menton and 
 I were once more 
 back at the Univer 
 sity in Berlin, Ger 
 many. We had spent 
 the summer vacation 
 touring through 
 Switzerland, the Ty 
 rol, and Austria. We 
 had, on the closing of 
 the past session, stu 
 dent-like, put our 
 knapsacks on our 
 shoulders, taken our 
 staves or eight-foot 
 canes in hand, and, 
 with the exception of 
 a week s stop-over on 
 the Hartz Mountains, 
 had taken the cars di 
 rect to the Rhine, up 
 which we went as near to Switzerland as we could, and 
 then leaving the railway became true student foot-tourists 
 for the south. 
 
 This custom is general among the students in Ger 
 many, to spend their summer vacations in tours about 
 the surrounding countries, and so we had done, now, for 
 four summers. It is called digesting what they have 
 learned during the previous semester or half-yearly ses 
 sion. They are to be met with everywhere along in your 
 trip. You often meet with parties of several, happy and 
 light-hearted ; and, again, come across a " lone student " 
 wandering all alone all by himself around the ruins of 
 
10 * * .* sWpcNT Ute^ . IN , GKRMANY. 
 
 ancient strongholds and monasteries, the sad reminders of 
 a grandeur of by-gone days ; lurking among the fallen 
 arches and crumbling towers of the castles of old, fondly 
 caressing the historic old stones, and in silence and soli 
 tude pondering on the forgotten days of yore ; restoring 
 in fancy the ruins to the perfection of their pristine state ; 
 peopling the abbeys and the castles with the personages 
 of their halcyon and glamour-throwing days, the days 
 when shining suits of mail and gaudy dresses made such 
 picturesque scenes as caught the eye of beholders in 
 wonder and awe. 
 
 How many gallant knights clad in the glittering armor 
 of the times came out from behind those now ruined gate 
 ways and rode off into the world never to return ; how 
 many fair ladies have sat at those lofty windows, the high 
 outward flanging apertures of the now ruined and crumb 
 ling towers, day after day and month after month, watching 
 for the back-coming of the armored knight who had de 
 parted, husband, lover or son, and who never returned ! 
 What gorgeous scenes of festivity and gayety must have 
 taken place in olden times within those royal halls! How 
 many fair hands were promised to brave hearts ; how 
 many false knights there were who loved and rode away; 
 how many scenes of villainy accomplished, deep schemes 
 of atrocious wickedness concocted and dark murders were 
 plotted and consummated behind those massive, old, grim 
 and gloomy walls will never be known. All this the lone 
 student dwells upon, calling up in fancy the gay cavalcades 
 of ladies and knights returning from a successful chase or 
 tournament with gay-colored pennons proudly flying from 
 victorious lances, and galloping in the spirits of youth up 
 to the drawbridge and sounding the horn, chain-fastened 
 to the wall, for entrance. 
 
 These lone students, these ponderers of the past, were 
 usually middle-aged or elderly men, wrapped in reflec 
 tion and contemplation, living for a few hours back in 
 the past ages. A party of several students was nearly 
 always composed of young men, gay, frolicsome, thought 
 less, and living in the immediate present, laughing at 
 these old students with the uncharitableness of youth. 
 
STUDENT UFK IN GERMANY. II 
 
 Youth is uncharitable, because it has never felt and can 
 not realize the many ills and weaknesses that the ever- 
 rolling relentless years so surely bring upon us ; cannot 
 understand until self-experience stares it in the face ; and 
 then, merging into middle life, it begins to comprehend 
 with a pensive sadness the oncoming melancholy loneli 
 ness of extreme old age. 
 
 Stories, tales, legends and traditions are outgrowths of 
 countries and partake of the diversified characteristics 
 peculiar to and in harmony with the land of their origin. 
 What country is richer in folk-lore than Teutonia, and 
 why ? A traveler on going into Germany at once feels that 
 he has entered an ancient and hallowed region. The lay of 
 the land, the position of the mountains, the situation of 
 the lakes, the natural arrangements of the green trees 
 and deep forests, the ruined castles, the dismantled 
 towers, the beautiful clear river Rhine winding like a sil 
 ver band beneath its grape-covered slopes, past the tur- 
 reted, crumbling strongholds of the dark ages, all sug 
 gest folk-lore. The famed " Schwarzwalder " (black- 
 woods), in the province of Baden, in Southern Germany, 
 with its high mountain-tops covered to their lofty peaks 
 with dense forests of towering pine and cedar trees, and 
 the dark and gloomy recesses of which seem impene 
 trable, suggest at once to the imaginative mind as being 
 the dismal abode of dwarfs, fairies and hunchbacked 
 wonder-workers. But, alas ! the day of the castle is over. 
 Where the plumed, armored, and lance-equipped gallant 
 knight once rode heavily to and fro, now the occidental 
 potato, planted by a prosaic agriculturist, grows to per 
 fection under the dilapidating old walls, and geese and 
 ducks meander among the weeds and in the mud, around 
 about ground that has long since been historic. 
 
 On taking the train at Berlin we first stopped off for a 
 visit to the famous Hartz Mountains which lie about one 
 hundred and fifty miles southwest of Berlin and in the 
 province of Saxony, our object being to climb the famous 
 Brocken, a peak of 3,738 feet in height, and witness for 
 ourselves the curious atmospheric phenomenon we had 
 heard so much about, which takes place there on the 
 
12 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 summit of the mountains just before day breaks over the 
 surrounding country. We got to the city of Hartzburg, 
 and tramped it to the old town of Kleinlesel (pronounced 
 Kline-lay-sel), situated just at the base of the Hartz 
 Mountains, where we put up and made preparations for 
 our ascent. 
 
 We selected a night of bright moonshine, when all 
 the sky was clear, and the stars were twinkling and 
 sparkling overhead, and taking nothing along to en 
 cumber us, except our staves, which were spiked in iron 
 at the lower ends to assist us in climbing, and with a 
 good, big breakfast of sausage, cheese and bread, well done 
 up in a canvas satchel, the latter loaned us by the accommo 
 dating innkeeper, we started out at about eight o clock, 
 our object being to trail up the mountain and scale 
 the Brocken peak to its summit ere the sun s rays 
 began to touch its extreme top. At about half past one 
 o clock in the morning we had left the steep sides of the 
 mountain behind us, and at about four o clock had scaled 
 the Brocken, and tired and panting were sitting at rest 
 our intended destination, the summit of the noted peak, 
 at length reached. All below us over the land was still 
 shrouded in darkness and gloom ; but as the moments 
 wore on the eastern sky began to grow lighter and soon 
 we could see the glimmer of the clear waters of the lake, 
 and a little later on the darkness of the valley, asleep in 
 black shadows, began to turn to a deep, dark gray, pre 
 liminary to dispersing altogether before the oncoming 
 sun s rays ; and we could indistinctly make out villages 
 as somber spots in the valley away below us. The 
 eastern sky continued to grow lighter, and twilight was 
 now coming upon the top of the Brocken. After our short 
 rest from the overheating exertions of the long, upward 
 climb we cooled off and grew chilly in the cold, early 
 morning at such a lofty elevation, and we shivered, and 
 our teeth chattered as we arose and walked about for 
 warmth on the summit. The atmosphere was also damp 
 and thick with floating vapors which now and again came 
 past, enveloping us, and which seemed to our now cooled 
 bodies, reacting after the warmth created by our several 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 13 
 
 hours of steep clambering, to penetrate them to our very 
 bones. This moisture all at once condensed, a usual oc 
 currence on the Brocken in the morning after clear cloud 
 less nights, and we presently found ourselves in a dense, 
 penetrating, chilly and unpleasant greyish white fog, out 
 of which we could discern nothing beyond about a fifty-foot 
 distance from us ; then the first slanting rays of the sun, 
 coming slowly up out of the east, came lightly down 
 from above on to the summit where we were standing; 
 the red rays of its light, having the greatest refractive 
 power, falling upon the mist surrounding us gave it at 
 once a lovely pinkish appearance or tint. This only 
 lasted for a moment, and then the sun getting higher the 
 beautiful color gradually faded away and disappeared al 
 together, leaving us still enveloped in the thick fog now 
 snow white. 
 
 We were walking about, pacing to and fro, east and 
 west, a few yards apart from each other when I sat down, 
 and Menton passed on without observing that I had 
 quit walking. He was turning around to pace back 
 toward the western end of his promenade when a beam 
 of sunshine suddenly broke through the mist and he saw 
 me, as he supposed, also walking backward and forward 
 about fifty feet in front of him, I had now gotten into a 
 reclining posture, with my head on my hand and elbow 
 on the ground and facing the west, and also saw the 
 strange figure at the same moment that he had, and was 
 too surprised at the suddenness of the shadow s appear 
 ance to speak, when he addressed the figure in some re 
 mark that he supposed I was, as well as he, wishing we 
 had brought heavier coats along with us, or at least that 
 we had some wood with which to build a fire. On me 
 not answering him, he spoke out sharply, Don t you? 
 Hey?" 
 
 Recognizing at once that the phenomenon had appeared 
 and that he had mistaken the shadow for me, in a spirit 
 of foolishness I kept quiet, and he shouted at me again, 
 this time loudly, not even then getting a response from 
 me, although I seemed only a few yards away; he walked 
 toward the seeming me in some alarm at my silence ; 
 
14 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 but the seeming me kept ahead of him an even fifty 
 feet as he walked toward it, and it all at once dawned 
 upon him that the form portrayed on the fog was the 
 shadow of himself with his head and neck humped 
 down into his shoulders, and his hands deep into his coat 
 pockets, and not me walking about in a similar humped 
 position. "Here s the old fellow ! Here s the boy ! " he 
 shouted out to me, not knowing where I was located 
 in the mist and fearing I might have strayed off and thus 
 lose witnessing the curious illusion for the sight of 
 which we had gone to so much trouble and toil. I arose 
 and came up to him, and instantly both of our figures, 
 side by side, appeared projected on the mist. We backed 
 away together to the eastern end of our promenade and 
 our two dumb friends did the same ; came forward in 
 even footsteps along with us. A light, glowing, pinkish, 
 prismatically colored luminous circle, or halo, caused by 
 the refraction of light through minute crystals of ice in 
 the atmosphere, appeared to envelop the shadows, mak 
 ing the forms look more distinct in contrast to the bright 
 light surrounding them. We then walked at right-an 
 gles to our former course, pacing now north and south, 
 and the specters did the same, steadily advancing on our 
 side, and evenly with us. We stopped, danced up and 
 down, waved our arms and staves about, and the figures 
 contemporaneously with us repeated our movements. We 
 walked to the extreme edge of the top and there both ot 
 our figures in colossal size were pictured on the fog away 
 off in the air, overhanging the precipitous side of the 
 peak and in the direction of Gottingen. We stood upon 
 the edge for a moment, looking at the curious and greatly 
 magnified representations of ourselves. As we raised our 
 arms aloft immense arms would rear in answer, and on 
 taking off and waving our hats great hats were taken off 
 and waved in responsive greeting. 
 
 The figures became dimmer and dimmer as the sun 
 arose and the early morning grew lighter, and soon the 
 shadows faded out and left nothing to our view but the 
 white fog, This, also, was soon dispelled and we found 
 ourselves standing in a flood of sunshine which was kiss- 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 15 
 
 ing the peak to about a hundred yards beneath us. The 
 lake, far below, was now shimmering in a cold glassy hue, 
 and the valley, dotted with villages, was becoming more 
 and more distinct in the breaking light of early morning. 
 
 We stood upon the edge of the summit and watched 
 the sunlight descend the peak and then the mountain, 
 moving downward slowly and lighting up object after 
 object trees, masses of rock, great clefts, etc. as it de 
 scended, until it finally reached the valley, dispelling the 
 last of its overshadowing gloom ; and soon we could see 
 the peasants emerging from their little homes, see the 
 cows come slowly out and wind along to the pastures, 
 and we realized that the surrounding land had awakened 
 to the duties of the day. 
 
 An echo is met with at this point of the Brocken, but 
 it is a short one ; only about three syllables can be spoken 
 to get them all three back distinctly to the ear. We 
 made the sausage and bread and cheese fly, and hunted 
 through the small canvas satchel (which one of us had 
 worn at the side by a strap hung over the shoulder) for 
 the last few remaining crumbs it contained. Descend 
 ing from our lofty height we came in time for dinner back 
 to Kleinlesel. 
 
 A legend is connected with the appearance of this 
 phenomenon which goes as follows : Many long years 
 ago the inhabitants of Kleinlesel elected a worthy fellow- 
 citizen to the chair of burgomaster, or chief magistrate. 
 On his assuming his elevated office, however, he suddenly 
 forgot the noble and enlightening principles of republi 
 canism and at once arrogated to himself great authority 
 and power from which he would allow of no appeal. In 
 vain did the villagers explain to him that he was merely 
 put in office to make their wants and intentions legal ; 
 that they could not, each and everyone, be judge, jury 
 and executor of the laws ; that they must put the au 
 thority in someone s hands, and vest him with the power 
 of making their desires good by putting his signature to 
 documents, etc,; that they could not all, each one, decide 
 for himself and allow all of their signatures to be held as 
 rightful, but had selected him to be the one who, on hear- 
 
1 6 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 ing their aims and wishes, should carry them out as they 
 expressed. He wouldn t have it, however, but con 
 sidered himself a great Caesar, and on hearing a case 
 would at first reflect how it influenced himself, his 
 own well-being, his personal sentiments or purposes, or 
 those of his intimate friends, and would decide not as 
 those who had chosen him from among themselves to 
 represent them wished and requested, but as it suited best 
 what he considered his own welfare. He was petitioned 
 unanimously to resign from his elevated position, but he 
 swore that if he heard more of such an infamous propo 
 sition he would imprison the whole town. 
 
 At length he grew so bloated at the thought of his own 
 importance that he wanted to extend his yard and own 
 an extended park-like lawn or holding, to be in keeping 
 with his ever enlarging greatness, which seemed to the 
 view of his fellow-townsmen and others to be mainly 
 around his waist. In order to do this it was necessary 
 for him to secure the little home of a poor neighbor, 
 whose modest dwelling on a small piece of ground ad 
 joined his own land. The neighbor whose father and 
 grandfathers for generations had been born and reared 
 upon the place, would not hear of selling his home even 
 after being offered a thousand pieces of silver for it by the 
 burgomaster (and in those days that was an immense sum 
 of money indeed), and the burgomaster grew furious at 
 the refusal and made dire threats against the owner. 
 
 They came to hot words on one occasion and the poor 
 villager finally called the puffed-up chief magistrate "ein 
 esel" (a donkey), at which the burgomaster came near 
 exploding at this offense to his lordly dignity. 
 
 " What !" he yelled, "you call me * ein esel ? me ! the 
 biggest personage in the town ! 
 
 "Yes, I do, for that s what you are," hotly replied 
 the villager, "and even the Giant of the Brocken will 
 say so." 
 
 " Oh, he will, will he? If so I will give you half a 
 thousand pieces of silver ; here now I will make a con 
 tract with you ; if he does I will give you the thousand 
 pieces, and if he does not I will take your land ; that is 
 fair enough", said the chief magistrate. 
 
STUDENT UFK IN GERMANY. 17 
 
 "Agreed", replied the villager. And that night he 
 told it around about the contract, and collected together 
 a lot of the most prominent of his fellow-townsmen, who 
 pulled the fat burgomaster along with them up the mount 
 ain to the top of the Brocken, where they arrived just 
 before sunrise ; and the betting villager, standing out 
 upon the ridge of the peak s summit until the proper 
 moment when his figure of superhuman size appeared 
 out upon the mist in plain view of all, called out 
 loudly, "Was ist der Burgemeister " (what is the bur 
 gomaster), "von Kleinlesel ? " Immediately came the 
 last three syllables of his question in an answering echo 
 back from the vicinity of the giant, "ein esel ! " (big 
 donkey). 
 
 At that an immense laugh arose from the townsmen. 
 
 "Yah, das sagen wir alle" (yes, that reply we all 
 countenance), drolly called out a joker from amongst the 
 crowd. 
 
 At this sally another great shout of ridicule arose, and 
 the burgomaster, thoroughly humbled, awakened to the 
 fact that he was, and had long been, the laughing-stock 
 of the country, and after descending the mountain and 
 arriving once more at the village, he paid the thousand 
 pieces of silver into the hand of the poor villager, took 
 the lesson he had received well to heart, and later be 
 came such a model ruler over his little village that he 
 received the loud praises of all. 
 
 Late that afternoon we again took to the cars, and 
 striking the Rhine the next evening boarded one of the 
 numerous excursion boats that ply up and down its long 
 course, and, ascending the historic stream, a few days 
 later planted ouf staves and set our feet amidst the beauti 
 ful scenes of Switzerland, among the perpetually snow 
 capped mountains of that liberty-loving land. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 MENTON was from the town of Americas in Georgia. 
 He had been through the first three .years of the civil 
 war in the Confederate service, and had lost a hand ; he 
 always wore a black kid-gloved false one. The coming 
 session at the University was to be our last. The follow 
 ing spring we would receive our degrees and go our ways 
 in the wide world apart, all life open before us. 
 
 This was our last tour together. We met numbers of 
 English in Switzerland, both ladies and gentlemen, 
 tourists of wealth doing the land with guides, climbers, 
 etc. , scaling the mountain-tops with all their parapher 
 nalia of ropes, picks, ice-hatchets and alpinstocks along. 
 Many donned the Switzer s garb and cut a picturesque 
 appearance with bare knees, high stockings with a double 
 woven embroidered part at the upper half of the calves, 
 wide and straight knee trousers, and with gaily-feathered, 
 little crusher green felt hats, and with their hatchets 
 hanging from their belts or broad waist sashes worn be 
 neath a wide-sleeved, loose-fitting, cutaway short sack 
 coat ; these hatchets were for the purpose of cutting steps 
 in the solid ice of the glaciers in order to enable them to 
 ascend to their summits. The alpinstocks were eight 
 feet long, spiked and hooked in iron at one end, the hook 
 to catch a projection of ice above and pull oneself upward 
 with, and the spike to plant down firmly in the ice in 
 walking to save oneself from falling by a slip of the foot. 
 
 These English in speaking use the broad a, pronounc 
 ing it as though it were ah. One day we overtook a 
 young schoolmistress on her way up the mountains, along 
 the little paths the people make through the snow, to the 
 small village where she was to teach ; her coming had 
 been expected, and an old knee-stockinged forester, who 
 had been at work clearing the path of snow and piling it 
 up on either side, and who now stood resting upon his 
 shovel and talking to a party of English tourists standing 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 19 
 
 at the side of the upward winding road, took off his hat 
 as she passed, stepped back a few paces to where he had 
 hidden in a high drift bank a pink-topped tuberose-like 
 flower about twelve inches in height, and politely pre 
 sented it to her. She took it, bowed, smiled and thanked 
 him very kindly. 
 
 "Ha! that resembles a snow plahnt, a snow plahnt" 
 (snow plant), cried a young Englishman in sudden sur 
 prise. Flora are not often seen at these great elevations, 
 as they are not plentiful, growing mostly beneath the 
 snow and usually appearing to sight only when it has 
 melted down sufficiently to allow them. The forester 
 had of course uncovered it during his snow-shoveling 
 work. 
 
 The people of the continent all say that the English 
 remind them famously of the Americans, in one regard 
 certainly, in which there is a great similarity between the 
 two same language-speaking nations, and that is, to every 
 question put to them, of giving an answer, " Don t ahsk 
 may (me), mee boy, for I cahn t tell you." In the United 
 States continental foreigners say, on making an inquiry 
 of the inhabitants, the invariable response, accompanied 
 with a shake of the head, is, u Don t know." 
 
 On our walk from Interlachen to I/uzerne, we met so 
 many men and women affected with goiter, that one ex 
 empt from this affliction appeared uncommon. So noted 
 is this region for such cases that a picture hangs in a mu 
 seum of a more northern city, entitled "The arrival of 
 an Englishman in Switzerland." In the United States 
 we typify an Englishman as "John Bull" a short, 
 stout gentleman, with a fat, smoothly shaven face, knee- 
 boots, low silk hat, claw-hammer coat, etc. Europe 
 pictures him as a tall, thin, middle-aged man, with half 
 yard long side-whiskers, standing stiffly out beyond each 
 side of his shoulders, a brimless flat- topped cap, with 
 two hanging ribbons at the back, checked frock suit, and 
 carrying a checked shawl hanging from his arm ; in the 
 painting such a tall, thin-necked Englishman is stand 
 ing in quiet dignity on the platform of a railway station 
 in a small village of Switzerland, calmly viewing through 
 
20 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 a single eyeglass a surrounding assembly of a dozen 
 goiterous men and women who are eyeing him in great 
 surprise ; and one of the men with his hands clasped 
 together before his face in astonishment is exclaiming, 
 "Just look ! here s a fellow who hasn t any throat." 
 
 As one gets into the Tyrol the legends of the people 
 grow loftier, arising probably from their more elevated 
 position. The Tyrol is one of the most exclusively 
 mountainous countries in Europe, having a small propor 
 tion of level country ; the noble characteristics of the 
 Tyrolese are well known ; they are the most patriotic ad 
 herents of the house of Austria ; their lofty imagination is 
 co-existent with their high-resting habitations upon the 
 mountain sides and summits communing with the skies. 
 Who has not felt the blood go bounding through his 
 veins after ascending a mountain and viewing from a 
 lofty peak the world beneath him ? How one s spirits 
 seem to soar aloft and keep pace with the flight of the 
 eagle ; thus, while in the deep and dark gulches of the 
 Tyrol and Switzerland into some of the ravines and 
 gorges of which the rays of the glorious life-giving sun 
 never penetrate, one is often shocked at the combined 
 physical and mental deformity he occasionally comes 
 upon among the inhabitants, an unnatural or distorted 
 state of the mind being a condition generally accompanied 
 with congenital malformation of the body, many pitiful, 
 heart-wringing wierd cases of idiocy, spirit-depressing 
 melancholia and disproportioned, twisted shapes are met 
 with ; contrawise, upon the mountain-tops the intelli 
 gence and physique of the inhabitants are most nearly 
 perfect, and their imaginations and inspirations are as 
 lofty as their own sky-piercing glaciers, and the soaring 
 of their bird of freedom. 
 
 The Tyrol is full of beautiful legends of a noble and 
 exalted character symbolistic of lives spent among the 
 mountain-tops, being outgrowths of this people s elevated 
 situation and their consequent high sentiments. 
 
 On the summits of the mountains there, just below the 
 line of perpetual ice and snow, there grows a little white 
 feathery flower, shaped like a star, called the "Edelweiss "; 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 21 
 
 it is very rare and hard to find, growing upon the loftiest 
 peaks and in dangerous and almost inaccessible places. 
 In all our Tyrol mountain climbing we came across only 
 one of them, and that we paid for dearly ; for after an 
 hour s exertion in the attempt to reach its almost unap 
 proachable location, and just as we secured it, we slipped 
 and fell, and both went down flat upon our stomachs 
 for nearly a mile before checking up. It is about the 
 size of a silver half dollar, the leaves are stellate, there 
 being from five to seven prong-shaped ones, which are of 
 a velvety smoothness and pure white color. 
 
 About this flower the legend runs : Once upon a time 
 there was a lady so pure, so sublime, so heavenly-minded, 
 that throughout all the length and breadth of her fair 
 clime no suitor was found noble enough or worthy to win 
 her ; so at last she was metamorphosed by the fairies into 
 a star-like flower as white as the snows and placed high 
 up on the loftiest, inaccessible mountain-tops or heights 
 close to the snow she so strongly resembled. Though 
 all men vainly sighed for her, they were, however, partly 
 consoled by the knowledge that no rival had gotten her 
 and reconciled to see the fair object of their deep affec 
 tions, so loftily placed, there forever to be the type of 
 that womanhood which is most lovely. And because 
 the flower could only be found through peril and toil and 
 an upward struggle, it became a saying throughout 
 the cantons around in defense of it, that he who would 
 win the love of the highest and noblest would be one of 
 the first to begin the upward ascent and be the most suc 
 cessful in plucking the Edelweiss. So at last it began to 
 grow sacred to betrothals as the orange blossoms are to the 
 marriage vow, until at length no fair lady might be won 
 until her lover himself had gone alone to scale the peril 
 ous heights, seeking for the precious Edelweiss; and 
 many a brave and gallant lover endured untold hardships 
 or lost his life among the mountain-tops in search 
 of the coveted blossom, and no lady could merit any 
 higher honor than to have the little white flower as her 
 own emblem thrown at her by an admirer, or placed by a 
 lover in her gentle hand. And, like the Scotch white 
 
22 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 heather, it told in itself the old sweet tale that will still be 
 whispered by brave and bold gallants in the ages that yet 
 are coming ; for if the lady took his offering the happy 
 lover knew he might look for hope, and if she placed it in 
 her girdle or on her bosom her lover knew that she was 
 his forever. 
 
 Here in the Tyrol we met many of the professors 
 of the Universities of Germany, and numbers of the 
 heavy men of the fatherland the great lawyers, bank 
 ers, manufacturers, etc. Everyone must trip off for the 
 summer, else he loses caste. So at the beginning of warm 
 weather the heads of firms, judges, professors, etc., all 
 accompanied by their ladies, light out for green pas 
 tures, the mountains, sea-side, or the lakes. Toward the 
 middle of the season less important personages, the 
 clerks, assistant demonstrators, and small merchants, 
 "pull out" with their families ; and at the end of the sum 
 mer the bootblacks, boys who sweep out the banks and 
 offices, the men who pack bundles about and who carry 
 your "grip" for you, and their women folks, all * strike 
 out" for their "reise" or trip all to avoid losing caste. 
 Back at home again in the fall, everyone talks of their 
 vacation ; it is the ladies chief topic of conversation for 
 two months later where they have been and their ex 
 periences ; comparing them with that of their friends, etc. 
 It is a fad of the land, this summer "reisen." 
 
 The traveling student is the pet of Europe ; he is ever 
 in his journey treated kindly and with the greatest con 
 sideration, and all jokes and foolishness of his are looked 
 upon leniently and taken in good nature and humor ; all 
 his "dummheiten" forgiven with the remark, "It s a 
 German student ; what else can be expected." 
 
 Now, at the period of our summer vacation, in the 
 rural districts of Germany and Switzerland, as well as in 
 fact of nearly all Europe for that matter, where stock 
 was expensive to keep, oxen were often hitched to wag 
 ons; and the vehicles in general use among the rural in 
 habitants were large and heavy and made almost entirely 
 of wood the axle as well as the wheel and a small 
 pot or bucket of tar was carried hanging behind the 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 23 
 
 wagon ; every five miles or so, while driving, the team 
 was stopped and the owner would seize the brush from 
 out the pot and smear tar over the wooden axles. One 
 never saw a farm wagon in those days without its small 
 smear-pot hanging behind ; it was as much a part of the 
 outfit as were the tongue or wheels. Here in the Tyrol 
 we met many of these humorous foibles among the wan 
 dering students. 
 
 One, I remember, at a little village, had a small hand 
 wagon of two wheels which he pulled along with him 
 in his journey by acting horse himself between the 
 shafts ; he had his roll of blankets, his drawing materials, 
 lunches, little tent, umbrella, etc., all in this minute con 
 veyance, and had traveled three or four hundred miles in 
 this independent manner. It was very light and strongly 
 built. He was coming from the village as we approached, 
 and was being followed out of town by a crowd of urchins, 
 while behind him at the village could still be heard the 
 laughter and humor engendered by his passage. On 
 coming up to the outfit we saw that he had for his 
 little vehicle a smear-pot on behind larger than the whole 
 wagon itself ; so immense in fact as to cause the amused 
 wonderment of every village through which he had 
 passed . 
 
 Recognizing each other as brethren, we all stopped and 
 compared notes. He explained to us that the smear -pot 
 was a fake, was the bottom of a large tub driven up to 
 within three inches of the top and an inch of thick tar 
 covering the false bottom gave the appearance of a full 
 vessel ; it was a splendidly gotten-up scheme and spoke 
 much for his ingenuity. 
 
 This is one instance among hundreds of the plans stu 
 dents work out to create sensations and observation and 
 attract notice to their particular works of art. Much 
 rivalry exists among them to get up the most laughter- 
 provoking and sensation-creating " dummheiten " (fool 
 ishness), and in the fall, on returning to their studies at 
 the University, they compare notes and tell the tales of 
 their vacation, their adventures and experiences. We 
 met one student leading a little five-inch high black-and- 
 
24 STUDKNT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 tan dog with a long, immense iron chain, the links being 
 four inches wide by a foot in length, and nearly an inch 
 thick, which on closer inspection proved to be black 
 paper wound around straw. 
 
 Whatever foolishness a German student does upon 
 these vacations is always overlooked ; it is expected of 
 him to go to the extreme of nonsense during that period 
 to counterbalance the profoundly deep studies of his 
 previous session at a German University, where thorough 
 ness from the bottom of everything up is instilled into all 
 imbibing minds by learned professors, who, in their 
 special branches, have searched to the lowest depths and 
 are unexcelled. 
 
 How often does the German student, while burning the 
 midnight oil, at his books, in his room along with several 
 companions, come across four pages of reading of which 
 he can neither make heads nor tails. There seems to be 
 no connecting link between it all ; he reads it over again 
 and again, but with no better success ; then reads it aloud 
 to his companions, but they also cannot see the meaning 
 or comprehend what the instructor is driving at. They 
 all read farther on, a couple of pages more, but still the 
 same muddle, and finally give it up. The first student 
 resumes his book and continues, and after reading still 
 another two pages finally comes upon a word followed by 
 a period, at the end of a page, that explains it all, con 
 nects it wholly together and makes the entire eight pages 
 of seemingly senseless reading as clear as daylight. 
 " Here she is, boys," finally exclaims the first student; 
 " here s the word, now she s all plain sailing." If the 
 word could only have been gotten in at the start instead 
 of the final, the section of learning might have been a 
 joy forever. 
 
 We visited while in this land a fellow-student of ours 
 at Berlin whose home was here, and he took us up the 
 mountains one night to see the fires lighted among the lofty 
 summits all over the Tyrol on some saint s eve, and to 
 hear the warbling signaling of the young men and girls 
 in greeting from the fires of one peak to another. The 
 fires, great piles of flaming forest wood and brush, are 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 25 
 
 lighted at dusk, and one blazes out after another until all 
 over the country as far as flame could be distinguished 
 they were to be seen. From every eminence, lofty peak 
 and towering projection, glowed a fire in the calm of the 
 growing darkness ; hundreds of them, some near and 
 bright, others farther away and fainter, and more just 
 discernible as flickers away off over the heights in the 
 far black distance, then the warbling would begin by the 
 men. Living upon the peaks and crags of the mountains 
 their voices are developed from childhood in hallooing or 
 signaling each other, and one of their amusements and 
 pastimes is to sound their voices, exclaiming out loudly 
 and listening to the echo which comes back several or a 
 dozen times, perhaps, according to the numbers and re 
 spective distances of the surrounding peaks which reflect 
 back the sound waves, each succeeding echo fainter than 
 the one before. 
 
 This night of the fires they had songs, the men of a 
 half-dozen or so fires combining, throwing their voices 
 out upon the mountain air, loud and clear, the echoes 
 answering, and the warblers then continuing the song, 
 often making several different sounds before the previous 
 reverberations have faded away, and combining several 
 echoes together, one recent, one less so, others still older, 
 etc., all different sounds. But the echoes and the true 
 singing blending one into the other and all intermingling 
 in perfect harmony with the Alpine chorus which the less 
 loud and less strong voices of the group of girls about 
 each fire constantly kept up during the young men s 
 warbling, produced a most beautiful musical effect. To be 
 off half a mile and equidistant from several of the groups 
 about the fires, warbling in concert and unison, is to catch 
 the full, lovely effect of it all, everything being so still 
 upon the mountain-tops, not a sound to break in upon 
 the harmonious voices and affect them in the slightest 
 degree, and overhead in the darkness but the moon and 
 stars to be seen silently looking down upon the scene. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 WK went clear over the Tyrol and into the adjoining 
 district of Carniola, also a mountainous portion of 
 the Austrian empire, and which lies on the Adriatic sea 
 (the body of water separating Austria from Italy), just 
 east of the Gulf of Venice, which forms the northern 
 portion of the sea. The mountains of the Tyrol shade into 
 those of the Carniola. The latter are generally barren of 
 vegetation, being of a chalky character not favorable to 
 the growth or maintenance of tree and plant life ; they 
 are awe-inspiring, however, in their massive, bare ap 
 pearance, looking vast, desolate, and grand. 
 
 We went as far south as the town of Adelsburg, near 
 the strangely acting lake of Zirknitz, about thirty-five 
 miles inland and east of the Venetian gulf. This lake of 
 Zirknitz at certain times becomes perfectly dry, all within 
 a few days, and at regularly known times during the 
 years the mountains appear to open great cavities inside 
 and beneath and swallow the water, leaving the bed of 
 the former lake perfectly dry. After remaining so for 
 some time the lake fills up again ; the same water is 
 supposed to return and once more assume its place in the 
 bed it had formerly occupied. The inhabitants can 
 always predict when the next disappearance of the water 
 is going to take place. Streams, the waters of which are 
 strongly redundant in calcareous and metaliferous material, 
 flow out of the mountains from almost everywhere. Our 
 object was to visit the grotto of Adelsburg, the famous 
 underground cave, discovered in 1816, once so renowned 
 as the resort to which flocked pulmonary afflicted hu 
 manity from nearly all Europe. 
 
 We got to Adelsburg some time before a grand ball 
 was to be given in one of the chambers of the grotto by 
 the younger members of the town, in honor of the day of 
 some patron saint, and we waited about the vicinity until 
 
STUDENT UFK IN GERMANY. 27 
 
 the important night arrived. The town of Adelsburg, 
 containing about two thousand inhabitants, is twenty- 
 two miles northeast of Trieste, and is situated at the base 
 of the mountains, into which the river Poik flows ; this 
 stream runs through a part of the grotto and then be 
 comes lost, disappearing in the ground, within the deep re 
 cesses of this peculiar geological structure. By floating 
 in a skiff upon the river, one can follow its passage 
 through a low, long, dark tunnel, to where it emerges in 
 one of the interior hallways or galleries leading to the 
 caverns ; this, however, only adventurous persons would 
 undertake, so an artificial tunnel to strike the passage 
 way to the interior caves has been cut through the cal 
 careous substance of the mountain some distance above 
 and to one side of the channel by which the river enters ; 
 this entrance the men had made years before, the ladies 
 not entertaining the idea of sailing into a cavern deep 
 into a mountain, on the surface of a cold, dark river, in 
 a mere, small, light boat ; it looked too alarming. The 
 floating in might have been a perfect success, but the 
 probability of never being able to get back had a depres 
 sing effect on their fair ones spirits ; so the aperture by 
 which all now enter the grotto was constructed above 
 the river entrance and runs downward and inward to 
 strike the galleries which lead to the caverns some 
 several hundred feet in. 
 
 The night of the frolic we joined the party of merry 
 makers, some hundred and twenty-five couples, the young 
 men all supplied with torches or flambeaux, and both 
 sexes carrying each a small basket of eatables. At the 
 entrance all fell into an Indian file, one following the 
 other, several young men with their flaring oil lights 
 taking the lead ; after getting about three hundred feet in 
 a turn was made and the aperture through which we 
 had entered the mouth of the tunnel, the whereabouts 
 of which up to that time had been perceptible by us be 
 ing able to see the late evening sky out of it became 
 lost to us altogether. At the disappearance of this cheer 
 ful looking opening, which had appeared like a faint star 
 on a black night, we felt that we had left daylight and 
 
28 STUDENT IvlFB IN GERMANY. 
 
 the world behind us, and now every footstep but took us 
 deeper into the blackness of night. The hundred flam 
 beaux of the young men now began to penetrate the in 
 tense darkness and lighted up the walls about us. Soon 
 we could hear the rushing and swishing of the river flow 
 ing over its rocky bed just beneath and to one side of 
 our feet, now only a thin ledge separating us from it. 
 
 The gallery grew wider and wider as we advanced in 
 ward until it suddenly enlarged into two deep caverns 
 connected together at the top by an opening, being some 
 thing like a partition wall in a room that does not reach 
 the ceiling by quite a space, or a chamber divided by a 
 partition that does not reach the top. At the side of this 
 partition we walked along, still in a long, winding pro 
 cession. The river now breaks into view, flowing out 
 from under its ledge, and we had reached the same spot 
 where formerly visitors alighted from their boats to bring 
 their feet into use in going farther on. The water now 
 rolls swiftly on at our side, looking dark, cold and fasci 
 nating in the flickering glow of the lights. On the other 
 side of the partition the chamber is dry, the partition we 
 were walking by the side of being really a natural sepa 
 rating wall dividing the cavern into two apartments, 
 only on one side of which (the side we were on) the river 
 flows, leaving the floor of the opposite one bare of 
 water. At a place near the end of the partition the river 
 has cut through the dividing wall of chalky rock and 
 has entered and overrun the lower part of the bare 
 chamber. When we came to where the river, by passing 
 through the wall to the other side, barred our progress, 
 we found steps had been cut in the rock up to an arti 
 ficial opening made in the wall, and on ascending and 
 passing through, another flight of steps constructed in 
 the calcareous mass descended, and let us into the bare 
 cavern on the other side of the wall. The river here 
 made no sound, but swept silently and darkly along in its 
 bed, worn deeply in the calcareous rock by the constant 
 abrasion caused by its continuous flow for ages. It cuts 
 diagonally across the lower end of this bare chamber, and 
 again entering a tunnel becomes lost in the mountain at 
 the end of the apartment. 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 29 
 
 Here some of the young men caught, to show the 
 young ladies, several of the curious looking Proteus 
 which are found in this part of the waters of the river, 
 just before it becomes lost in the interior of the mount 
 ains ; this cold-blooded and aquatic being is a genus of 
 batrachian reptiles, and bears in science the romantic and 
 very German-like-in-length-name of Perennibranchiate 
 Batrachia." It is allied to the frogs, sirens and salaman 
 ders ; its body is of an elongated form, resembling an eel, 
 smooth, and is naked like a frog, with long, flat head, 
 containing very small eyes, which are covered by the 
 skin ; its ears are deeply hidden in the flesh ; it has four 
 legs which are small and weak, the fore feet have three 
 toes upon them, the rear ones four ; between its head 
 and front legs are its very prominent, permanent and exter 
 nal reddish gills. We all crowded around those who had 
 caught them to see the creatures by the flickering glare 
 of the torchlights, and when the boys finally released 
 them, putting them back on the ground, they scudded to 
 the water, and plunging in disappeared beneath an ever- 
 widening circle which they left behind them. We crossed 
 an iron bridge built over the river, to the other side, the 
 deep, dark water glistening beneath our feet as we passed, 
 and ascending more steps entered a large natural open 
 ing, the sides of which were jagged and broken into ir 
 regular shapes, and passing through this gap again de 
 scended some steps, and at length found ourselves in the 
 first of the real caverns, which are the largest in Europe, 
 and are of great size, and lead off one into the other, with 
 often hall-like passage-ways between, deeper and deeper 
 into the mountain for about two miles, in exact measure 
 ment 8,550 feet. In groups we followed the grotto all 
 this distance, when our passage was again stopped by 
 running square upon an immense lake, a still, dark, deep 
 body of water. Farther than the lake the grotto has not 
 been explored, although as far as we could see by the 
 light of the torches it extended onward to everlasting 
 depths, The most spacious of all these caverns which 
 open one into another like a chain is the ball-room, which 
 is situated near the lake, just a wide hallway separating 
 
STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 
 
 them and four apartments interiorly distant from the 
 famous chamber, so noted as being the resort many years 
 ago of consumptives. This former sick-room does not 
 vary one degree fahrenheit in its temperature the year 
 round and numbers of consumptive patients were sent 
 to it from all over Europe in the hope that being away 
 from great and varied climatic changes, removed from 
 even the slightest alteration of temperature, would at 
 least stay, if not wholly cure, this scourge of humanity. 
 We inquired how the patients had fared, and what be 
 came of them, and were informed that they all had died ; 
 a different reply could hardly have been expected, taking 
 into consideration that they lived for months constantly 
 in a damp atmosphere and were totally deprived of 
 heaven s free light, the vital magnetism-imparting rays of 
 sunlight; a potato sprout in a dark cellar will remain 
 white and should a single beam of sunshine penetrate its 
 gloomy home, the sprout will instinctively grow toward it 
 This large lake-side cavern that the revelers finally 
 gathered together in, was the ball-room, and a more mag 
 nificent one it would take a fertile mind to imagine. This, 
 then, was the magic apartment we had come so fai "to -see. 
 All the walls are pure stalactite formed by the crystalliz 
 ing upon them of carbonate of lime, which salt, in t 
 form of a bicarbonate, is held in solution by the waters 
 percolating through the rocks above and dripping into 
 ?hTchamb g er. Alfhough carbonate of lime is itself in a 
 slight degree soluble in water, it can be much more iqui- 
 fied by water charged with carbonic acid, of which latter 
 substance, in its ordinary condition a gas water will d*- 
 solve its own volume without pressure. It is an mgredi 
 ent in a greater or less amount in all ram and surface 
 water which, in soaking from above through the ground 
 to the roofs of caverns, dissolves in its passage as much 
 lime as will make it a saturated solution of that mineral 
 On slowly dripping into caves the air of the chamber 
 2te ^ thrLps P ?he g water evaporates leaving the crystals 
 of lime adhering to the roofs ; other drops "j* 1 * d 
 succeeding the first and dry there and ******** 
 enlarging pendant cone assumes shape, and thus a hang 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 31 
 
 ing stalactite is formed. The particles of water that drip 
 from it, the (in comparison) small amount that runs over and 
 falls off the tip of the descending cone makes the ascend 
 ing stalagmite which, rising up from the ground directly 
 beneath, eventually meets it and causes the formation of 
 the columns. The young men set their torches around in 
 the center of little heaps of rock which they had built up 
 all about the walls and on ledges at the sides of the com 
 partment ; the floor had been cleared free of debris and 
 uneven stones years before and was now almost as smooth 
 as glass. Benches had been made by placing long planks 
 on boulders, heaps of stones, or near the walls of the 
 room from one to the other of the tops of the growing 
 stalagmites which had there been allowed to remain un 
 molested, and these improvised seats were all about the 
 sides of the chamber. Those of the party sitting down 
 on a board covering a stalagmite were often directly under 
 the corresponding descending stalactite glistening like an 
 icicle in a thousand ever-changing colors just above them. 
 The chamber is so lofty that the roof cannot be seen, only 
 a half-hundred lower parts of descending stalactites, like 
 the smaller extremities of great cones pendant from above 
 can one descry on looking upward, their tapering ends 
 shining and sparkling down out of the intense darkness 
 aloft in all beautiful colors ; the stalactites at the sides 
 of the chamber have formed themselves into pillars, 
 sometimes single, round and straight from the floor to as 
 far as can be seen by the lights toward the roof, some 
 times twisted around spirally from top to bottom, and 
 again round for the lower half of their visible height and 
 turning like the curl of a shaving from there up to where 
 they become lost in the darkness above ; and others of 
 them are in clusters of half a dozen columns each, like a 
 bundle of sticks glued together. 
 
 Along the passages leading out of the chamber both 
 of the sides are columned, and it seems to one treading it 
 on the way to the ball cavern as though he were passing 
 along between the piers of a lofty colonnade. The pillars 
 are from two to six feet in diameter, most of them against 
 and a part of the sides of the passages and apartment ; 
 
32 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 but occasionally they stand out free, so that one can 
 walk entirely around them, their tall majestic shapes ris 
 ing up and up to disappear in the the deep gloom above. 
 Some of the columns spread out in parts of their ample 
 lengths to wide, thin board-like places, folded and twisted 
 about, and through some of their thin sheet-like curls one 
 could see, by standing in the dark passages, the light of 
 the torches shining. Most of the pillars have bases 
 rounding out often into two or three folds, and many have 
 a fluted appearance, from the material of which they are 
 composed crystallizing in long parallel streaks down their 
 lengths. Some have beautiful cornices and capitals in 
 resemblance of all different ancient architectural styles, 
 and at the sides of the chamber the walls are orna 
 mented in places with the pure stalactite having descended 
 in the shape of draped curtains and large portieres arranged 
 as though hanging in folds. Parts of the hanging sheets 
 were opaque, in some places translucent, and in others so 
 thin and nearly transparent that one could tell the exact 
 location of a flame behind them. In places about the 
 sides of the apartment the downward extending stalac 
 tite and the ever rising stalagmite it was forming by its 
 slow drip, drip, going on for life-times, were only a few 
 inches apart at a distance of eight or ten feet from the 
 floor, soon to join and become another beautiful solid 
 column, from the floor to the invisible heights above. 
 
 The ball chamber is about sixty feet wide by eighty 
 long, and is one of the most spacious of all the caverns. It 
 is, in a direct line, about a mile and a half from the en 
 trance, but nearly two miles by the way of the passage 
 on account of its man} windings, turnings, and ups and 
 downs. The walls, being of the purest stalactite, reflect 
 back into the chamber the lights of the hundred or more 
 torches, the reflection increasing the number of lights into 
 the thousands and separating and breaking up the rays, 
 like prisms do, into all the different colors of the rain 
 bow. The stirring of the atmosphere by the young 
 people waltzing and running swiftly around made the 
 lights flicker, and the corresponding reflections danced 
 and dazzled about in all beautiful and lovely constantly- 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 33 
 
 intermingling colors, while the lower ends of the numer 
 ous lofty stalactites pendant above sparkled and shown in 
 their background of deep blackness like orbs of fire, con 
 stantly presenting new colors to view. 
 
 The scene looks very romantic and chimerical ; dancing 
 the light fantastic in the interior of a mountain, the 
 young people clothed in all their holiday attire, bright 
 colored ribbons, gold and silver bracelets, and all the 
 women with necklaces of amber, an amber necklet be 
 ing part of the decoration of each young girl ; not a sin 
 gle young lady but what wore one made of amber strung 
 in beads, the center of the string containing a cross of 
 the same material which hung pendant upon their 
 breasts, and from which on each side large amber beads, 
 ever diminishing in size, ran around on the string to the 
 smallest ones located next to the clasp at the back of 
 their necks. A decorated or engraved plate of either 
 gold or silver, of oval form, was worn by the young 
 women above the forehead, and over the front hair, and 
 was held in place by cloth bands attached to its sides and 
 running to the back of the head, the band skillfully con 
 cealed beneath their abundant tresses. This decoration 
 is as fantastically formed, as elegant or as rich as the so 
 cial position or the wealth of the young lady s family en 
 titles her to wear. The young men were all in regula 
 tion ancient Carniola festival dancing costume ; velvet 
 knee-trousers, colored knee-stockings, soft felt hats dec 
 orated with a curved falling feather, braided short jack 
 ets with sleeves wide at the wrist, and a colored sash 
 worn around the waist, under the jacket, one end hang 
 ing down to near the left knee. The dresses of the 
 women were of ankle length. The orchestra, perched 
 upon a natural ledge in the wall, issued out into the ball 
 room of the grotto soul-entrancing strains of waltz music, 
 and the whirling couples floated lightly around through 
 the mOvSt curious, beautiful and unique ball-room ever 
 seen ; dancing with the whole-souled vigor and happiness 
 of youth in the cavities of the earth, on the glassy floor 
 of a ball-room nearly a mile under the top of its roof, 
 and over two miles from its entrance door. 
 
34 
 
 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 We left Adelsburg the following day, and to Austria s 
 loss and doubtless keen sorrow (?) shook the dust of her 
 dominion from our heels, and returned to Germany over 
 an altogether different route than the one by which we 
 came into the empire of Francis Joseph. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AND now we were back from our vacation once again, 
 to the University at Berlin ; sun-burned and tanned, 
 hardened to exposure and tough-footed, but with a vast 
 amount of experience of life in its different phases ; hav 
 ing met with nothing but kindness and generosity on our 
 way. Many times our offers of remuneration for the 
 night s lodging or for our meals during rainy days were 
 refused by the people of the little cottages where we were 
 obliged to put up for shelter ; though often poor and 
 humble in their belongings, their noble good nature was 
 ever to the front. We noticed many little acts of thought 
 ful kindness on their part for which all recompense was 
 firmly refused. The whole family, and often several 
 neighboring ones, learning of our appearance in the vi 
 cinity, would sit up far into the night all congregated 
 about a wood-hearth fire and listen eagerly to us telling 
 of the great outside world and its doings ; about dis 
 tant America and the millions of people who had 
 found happy homes in that wonderfully great and thrice 
 blessed land. The little children would be all eyes and 
 ears, staring at us as though we were enchanted beings, 
 having dropped from that strange and marvelous land we 
 related about to their minds existing somewhere up in 
 the mysterious clouds ; and on the morrow, after bidding 
 them good-bye, on our full stomachs, we had no thought 
 of food again until the noon hour brought around its 
 never-failing reminders its empty sensations in the re 
 gion of our belts and on opening our knapsacks we 
 would find them full of delicious cheese, cut as fresh as 
 the morning dew, loaves of dark brown bread, and savory 
 sausages that tasted like the food of the gods, or like the 
 cooking of our mothers in the days of our childhood. 
 
 We were back now and attending our last session at 
 the University. It was October, and already the suicides 
 
36 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 were beginning. October and November are called the 
 suicidal months in Berlin. It drizzles and rains nearly 
 the whole of the sixty days ; is cloudy and damp and 
 gloomy. One gets melancholy and down-hearted, and 
 every day numbers of suicides occur. Each morning 
 finds a long list of those who have destroyed themselves 
 the day before. To add to this, Berlin produces another 
 unique sensation. When a "hard student" imbibes too 
 freely of the cup that not only cheers but also inebriates, 
 during the rest of the year (during the ten other months) 
 he wakes up the next morning with the " Katzenjammer, " 
 i. e., has a head on him as big as a court-house dome ; 
 but in October and November on arousing from sleep in 
 the morning, after having made a night of it, in addition 
 to and largely on top of this " Katzenjammer," he 
 awakes in all the full force and grasp also of a "Moral- 
 ischesjammer," i.e., a moral feeling of depression that 
 he has done something awful the night before ; he doesn t 
 know for certain j ust what probably murdered his 
 grandmother or something of the sort. He can t divine 
 exactly what it was, but the low, dull, depressed, heavy 
 and utterly hopeless despondency he is wrapped in is 
 wonderful, and one must see a fellow in such a state to 
 realize to what perfect depths of despair a student s mind 
 can sink into. 
 
 Men in Europe smoke in the presence of ladies, but I 
 have never seen one expectorate. A German gentleman 
 never spits, although he may smoke for an hour in a 
 lady s presence. No one spits in Germany. They have 
 never been so taught, for it is an acquired habit. An 
 American wishing to attract the attention of a compatriot 
 on the opposite side of the street to the one on which he 
 is walking will just give a loud, nerve-racking hawk, 
 whereupon his friend will at once stop, face about and 
 look for the one whom he knows is a sure " United 
 Stateser," and who has employed familiar means to sig 
 nal him or attract his attention. At the same time a 
 dozen or so Germans behind or in front of the hawker will 
 stop and turn around in bewildered amazement at the cu 
 rious, strange, and to them unfamiliar sound ; and look 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 37 
 
 about from one to another in consternation, wondering 
 what it was and where on earth it issued from. They 
 cannot understand why we have a spittoon to every second 
 seat in our railway cars, and why cuspidors are a large 
 part of the furniture of hotels and public buildings. 
 What pleasure is it to go up to one of the vessels and ex 
 pectorate ? Is it a happiness to do so ? and why ? they 
 ask. To a foreigner not accustomed to it as we are, from 
 our early infancy, it is one of the most disgusting cus 
 toms imaginable, and they cannot comprehend how we, 
 holding our womankind in such hallowed respect and ad 
 miration, can still be such hogs in their presence in this 
 regard ; but it s a custom of the country it s as you 
 view it. 
 
 Well, this last session ended our membership at the 
 Treussische Adler" (Prussian Eagle) club, the "crack" 
 one of the University. We both had been elected as 
 honorary members at our first session, and a slight men 
 tion of this famous association is here proper, for to the 
 manor born is the German student club life to the Uni 
 versity. It exists in fact as part of it. The institution 
 was in a five-story stucco- fronted building owned by itself 
 and situated on the "Unter den I^inden" street, the widest 
 and main boulevard of the city, and one of the finest 
 streets in Europe, being over a mile long and about two 
 hundred feet broad. The thoroughfare has double av 
 enues or passage ways for walking, its entire length, in 
 the center, flanked by long lines of grass-plots in which 
 grow several rows of the German limes or L,inden trees, 
 which give the street its name of Under the Lindens. On 
 the outside of these grass-plots, on each side, are the 
 wide driveways reaching, of course, to the pavements 
 which adjoin the buildings. 
 
 At one end of this boulevard is a magnificent, lofty 
 stone structure, erected to perpetuate the memory of some 
 notable event. It has three arched passage ways beneath 
 its corniced entablature, the center one being the largest, 
 the three being the exits from the street and the Pariser 
 Platz into the "Thiergarten," an extensive park of three 
 hundred and seventy acres just beyond, and which it 
 
38 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 really leads or opens into. This arch, called the "Branden- 
 burger Thurm" (Toorm, i.e., gate, Berlin being situ 
 ated in the Dukedom of Brandenburg), which is about 
 seventy feet in height and over two hundred feet wide, 
 is adorned and surmounted by the famed group of a female 
 charioteer, driving four fiery horses, the latter in the position 
 of a wild, tremendous gallop. The group was taken down 
 by Napoleon I, and, among other spoils of war, was car 
 ried to Paris to grace, after his conquest of Germany, his 
 triumphal return to the French capital. It was brought 
 back and restored to its old place, however, in 1814-15, 
 when the allied armies entered Paris. 
 
 The opposite end of this street, so endeared to the 
 hearts of all Germans, and especially Berliners, and which 
 is about the center of the city, contains the King s city 
 palace, i.e., the Royal Palace, having over seven hun 
 dred apartments, among the number being the state 
 rooms, all of which are magnificently and very richly 
 adorned ; the two finest of all being the "Weisser Saal" 
 (White Hall) and the palace chapel. Situated on 
 the Unter den Linden are also the Royal Theatre, the old 
 and the new Museums, the National Art Gallery, the 
 Arsenal, the Palace of the Crown Prince, the Opera 
 House, the University, Guard House, the Royal Library, 
 having within its solid walls nearly two million volumns 
 and over fifty thousand manuscripts. Here also at one 
 side of the street and close to the pavement is the large 
 mounted statue of " Alter Fritz" (old Fred), the usual 
 familiar title given him, and meaning "Friedrich der 
 Grosze" (Frederick the Great, i.e., Frederick II of 
 Prussia). This grand boulevard follows along a large 
 bridge over the Spree river. The side railings of the 
 bridge are adorned with numerous statues of famous 
 generals, men of science, national heroes, etc. 
 
 From the club windows, which are wide and large and 
 usually crowded with sitters, one can look down upon 
 the vast, moving multitude the ever onward pouring 
 life of a great cosmopolitan city, with the people of all 
 nations wearing their (to us) quaint and curious garbs 
 and costumes passing by. The Turk, in his native dress 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 39 
 
 of turban, curled- toed shoes and baggy pants ; the Tyrol- 
 ese, in his knee trousers and stockings, his feather- 
 trimmed green hat, etc.; the Polish Hebrew, in his heel- 
 reaching black, thick gown, wearing two long, black, pine- 
 shaving-like curls which hang down in front of his ears 
 from his head to his shoulders ; the dashing equipages 
 of the nobility emblazoned with their various coats of 
 arms, flying by ; the steady tramp, tramp, tramp of the 
 military as a mass of Prussian soldiers go marching past, 
 with playing bands, and flying the Prussian colors the 
 black eagle having an erect position with wings expanded, 
 upon a silver shield their officers mounted on prancing 
 horses, looking the embodiment of soldierly grace and 
 bearing. 
 
 My chum, Claude Menton, was the perfection of gentle- 
 manship as typified in the chivalric South before the sad 
 days of the great uprising. He was tall, and straight as 
 an arrow, and the image of a sentimental young girl s 
 ideal of a prince. On the night of our election, several 
 years before, he had ascended the little platform at one 
 side of the great room, and in choice language had 
 thanked the assembled club members for the high favor 
 shown him ; but he remarked as to his feelings regarding 
 the honor the club did him in his election, that he never 
 felt prouder, except on the day he donned his Confeder 
 ate uniform and marched out of Americus to the tune of 
 "Dixie," in the presence of all the ladies waving the 
 soldier boys farewell with their handkerchiefs. 
 
 Menton had followed the fortunes of the military or 
 ganizations of the South during the first three long years 
 of the Rebellion. He had then gotten his hand torn off 
 by a canister shot at Spottsylvania in the battle of Chan- 
 cellorsville, which took place on May 2d, 3d, and 4th, in 
 1863, in Virginia, while under General Stonewall Jack 
 son, an idol of the Confederacy, who was mortally 
 wounded in the same encounter, being accidently shot by 
 one of his own men ; and in consequence of his disability 
 Menton was not along in the army with his two brothers, 
 who surrendered with Lee at Appomattox when the 
 Southerners lost their cause, and with fast falling tears 
 and breaking hearts folded their dear old flag forever. 
 
40 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 The club-rooms are richly furnished and are beauti 
 fully decorated with works of art, many lovely paintings 
 done by members now living, and others executed by 
 those who have long since gone over the silent river, 
 leaving these evidences of their handiwork to be viewed 
 with reverence and affectionate remembrance by their 
 fellows left behind. All over the walls are stag heads, 
 horns of elk, moose, etc., statues of marble and bronze, 
 mementos of distant lands, that members have brought, 
 such as Japanese carved work, Bast India figure-cutting 
 on immense^elephant tusks, etc., and scattered all about 
 and occupying honored and prominent places are the 
 trophies won through half a century by their oldest and 
 best loved member, mostly gained in contests from other 
 clubs, for this member in his most prominent specialty 
 has never been defeated, and the gold and silver flagons, 
 drinking cups, beautiful clocks and metal-mounted 
 wooden hat and coat racks, etc., that he has won for the 
 club are a sight to behold ; but of his exploits more anon. 
 
 The students are divided by customs and unwritten 
 laws among themselves into three general classes. First 
 come the "corps studenten ", who stand the highest in 
 the admiration of their land, and are especially regarded 
 by their female friends, and by nearly all the ladies in 
 fact, as the very essential comprehension of courage, 
 courtesy, and perfectly lovely manhood. For a girl to 
 have a corps student for a beau is for her to secure the cer 
 tain envy of all her less lucky friends, and when parad 
 ing the boulevards in his company one can see by the 
 young lady s looks and demeanor that she is not walking 
 on the ground, but soaring on gilt-tipped white wings 
 through jewel-decorated celestial realms. The corps 
 student is the fighting or dueling student, joins and be 
 longs to the dueling corps of his club, and is always 
 ready for a fight, is continually seeking one in fact, but 
 ever in a gentlemanly manner ; is never a rowdy, at least 
 such instances are very rare among them. They can 
 usually be told by the numerous scars upon their faces, 
 gained with the rapier in their hands. Most of these 
 set-tos are of a friendly nature, and no bad blood is en- 
 
STUDKNT UFE IN GERMANY. 41 
 
 gendered among them. Of course there are cases where 
 deadly insults are revenged in the sword fight. Students 
 will be found who take advantage of this old custom to 
 vent their spite and animosity on an enemy, at times in a 
 serious manner. But it is like all countries usages and 
 laws, which are ever a hiding cloak for the dishonest and 
 wrongly inclined person to work mischief under ; a least 
 slight or an accidental touching of them is followed by a 
 challenge to a duel ; but of course the insult must be 
 given by a corps student of a rival club or competitor 
 University to be taken notice of. They accept no insults 
 from outsiders or the laity, nor from mild students and 
 neutrals. All these personages do not exist to the corps 
 student. He doesn t know they are alive or have being. 
 All are ignored as even unworthy to be recognized as 
 filling up space in the universe with their miserable anat 
 omies. As far as he is concerned they " don t be." But 
 let a corps student so much as lightly brush against his 
 elbow in passing on the street and an instant apology 
 must be given, or at once cards are exchanged for a duel. 
 The duel is graded ; such an offense or insult of so and 
 so, of a trivial or serious nature, must be wiped out with 
 a wound of a certain depth ; a slight discourtesy, a slight 
 wound ; a graver offense, a correspondingly more serious 
 wound, and for a deep insult a bad wound must be given 
 before the stain is wiped away. Their set of rules gov 
 ern all this ; it matters not which one gets the wound. 
 
 These fierce warriors all wear a distinguishing mark on 
 their caps. All students in Germany wear caps of the 
 colors adopted by the clubs of their special University. 
 The valorous ones, on enrolling their names among the 
 "corps studenten," part of a club at once place the 
 fighters special mark on their caps, so they recognize 
 each other at a glance anywhere. They swagger along 
 the streets, and can always be known at even a great dis 
 tance by their quick strutting walk, but they are never 
 bullies, are never disagreeable in their demeanor. One 
 of them wanting to get his name up as a furious and 
 desperate fellow who sticks at nothing to get a fight, will 
 pick quarrels with his compeers of other clubs and Uni- 
 
42 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 versities wherever he may meet them. One manner of 
 doing this is to go into a cafe and order refreshments, sit 
 down in a chair by one of the many little marble-topped 
 tables the place contains for the accommodation of guests, 
 and look about the room until he sights somewhere among 
 the assembled customers a similar corps student ; then he 
 will fix his large single eye-glass in one eye and sit as 
 erect as a post, as silent as a mouse, and as immovable as 
 a statue, with set, wide-open eyes fastened upon his rival 
 dualist in a firm, true, unwavering solid stare ; this atti 
 tude is kept up until the rival happens to see him ogling 
 at him, or else has his attention called to it by the crowd 
 about looking around to see who the gaze is leveled at. 
 This usually produces a sensation among the guests, 
 deep silence at once intervenes, all conversation ceases as 
 one after another, feeling the gradually lulling noise, turn 
 around to see what is the matter, and finally the whole 
 room is looking at the gazer and the one gazed at. At 
 this moment the insulted one for this is one of the direst 
 of insults among them, indicating the fact that the in 
 sulted was so small, so insignificant, so contemptuously 
 beneath notice that the in suiter has to put his microscope 
 to his eye or his telescope to his visual organ and level it 
 in his opponent s direction, and even then has to hold his 
 eye staring wide open focused for great lengths of time 
 before he can even see him or find where his contemptible 
 figure grovels about among the other specks of dust and 
 dirt upon the floor, etc. at this supreme moment of 
 silence from all onlookers, when every eye is turned upon 
 them, a moment the insulted has been waiting for all 
 along, he suddenly turns around and in much surprise 
 and well feigned astonishment finds a rival in the room 
 with concentrated gaze leveled upon him. "Donner- 
 wetter !" he says, hauling his own glass up to his eye and 
 sighting it at the insulter. There is a fellow who " fixirt 
 mich " (focuses me), and instantly arising goes over to 
 the other, hands him his card and gets one in exchange, 
 the duel is then fought at the club of the one challenged. 
 A corps student sometimes in passing a rival on the 
 street will remark as he goes by, for the other s ears to 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 43 
 
 catch/ this is a very dumb looking fellow. Then the dumb 
 fellow will, of course, challenge him on the spot, and the 
 insulter will have the fight at his own club ; but if he is 
 a very high minded gentleman he will scorn to take such 
 an advantage as to have, after insulting a man, the fight 
 take place at his own club, where he is at home among 
 friends and surrounded by a general aspect, amid the 
 scenes of which he is so familiar that it cannot distract 
 him and unsteady his nerve as it may his rival s. So he 
 does what is called going the insulted man one over in 
 gentlemanship. He turns on the student he has insulted 
 by calling him a dumb fellow, and who has in response 
 challenged him, and insults him again, deeper and in a 
 greater measure than the previous one, by calling him an 
 infernal "hundefuss" (dog-paw); then a second challenge 
 given, although by the same man, entitles the duel to be 
 fought at the challenger s club, by right of two insults 
 received and resented ; but if the twice insulted one is 
 also a very fine, high minded gentleman he will doubly 
 scorn this patronizing offer of the insulter (for it assumes 
 or presents the imputation that the insulted is so poor a 
 swordsman that his opponent offers him the option of 
 having the fight at his own club), and he will not chal 
 lenge him for the second insult but in place go him one 
 still "higher over in lofty gentlemanship, and insult him 
 most terribly in return by calling him a "verfluchter 
 schweinehund" (cursed pig-dog). This is one of the 
 most terrible insults that can be offered, and an extremely 
 serious wound has to be received by one of the partici 
 pants to obliterate it. 
 
 So, often you will hear upon the street, on seeing two 
 ferocious corps students approach each other and come in 
 contact, "dummer junge" (stupid youth). Then a pass 
 age of cards, or "stupid youth" from one voice, an an 
 swering "infernal hundefuss" followed by exchange 
 of cards ; or, more rarely, "stupid youth," "infernal 
 dog-paw," and "cursed pig-dog," follow each other in 
 "quick, fleet, rapid" and hot succession; and then vicious 
 glances threatening danger, along with the transferring of 
 pasteboard. If a corps student does not take the insult, 
 
44 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 being, perhaps, on the way to his stage station or his 
 train depot for a visit home, or has friends in town for a 
 few days whom he is escorting about to see the city, and 
 a wound be the means of curtailing their pleasure by 
 causing his confinement for some days, he merely, on the 
 reception of the offense, says, "bitte" (which means that 
 he assumes that the affronter has said " schul smich" 
 (excuse me), in apology, and his own reply is intended to 
 be one "higher over" in begging him not to think of 
 mentioning it, and passes on, that being understood be 
 tween them all, that it is inconvenient for the recipient to 
 resent at present. He usually, however, if he recognizes 
 the offender at all, remembers him, and bears the offer of 
 a fight well in mind, and at the earliest future opportu 
 nity seeks him out, or lays for him around his haunts 
 and presents him with an affront in return. 
 
 Some of these men come into the clinics of the Medical 
 University to have their wounds dressed specially by 
 some professor ; a serious blood-vessel, a nerve or gland 
 being injured or severed and needing extreme care in 
 dressing or skilled services in treating ; a divided nerve 
 must often be re-clipped, i. e., the two ends again fresh 
 ened by trimming, and then once more sewn together to 
 allow them- a new chance to adhere ; cuts through the sa 
 livary glands, and their ducts are always serious and de 
 mand extremely careful attention while healing, so not 
 to leave an unsightly drawn pucker in the cheek or let 
 remain behind a salivary fistula, necessitating during 
 mastication the constant use of a handkerchief in wiping 
 away the saliva as it runs down the cheek. Some of 
 these corps students would come in for attention, upon 
 whose faces one could not place the tip of a little finger 
 anywhere without touching a scar, while others had re 
 ceived, as shown by long-healed wounds, a single, terrific 
 swipe, reaching from the top of the head to the chin. 
 Donnerwetter ! often exclaims the chief surgeon at a 
 clinic, as some fighter comes in for the dressing of a new 
 wound before a former one is half healed ; or one appears 
 for attention with deep cuts in all stages of healing on 
 his head and face. Donnerwetter ! Sie werden bald 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 45 
 
 nicht zum ansehen sein. (Thunder-weather, you will soon 
 be not lookable at.) Such is the "corps student," the 
 gladiator of Germany, the admiration of his friends, the 
 glory of the ladies, and the Greek god of the young girls. 
 Next, in a general class, are the mild students, who 
 attract notice to themselves in a humorous manner by 
 some curious fad, or by some uniquely thought out 
 dummheiten (foolishness or nonsense). Their jokes, 
 however, are never of an unliked or unwelcome kind ; 
 they never do anything of a mean or harmful nature, is 
 why their amusing conduct is so much countenanced ; 
 they never run their liberty, allowed them by the populace 
 in this matter, into the ground, and abuse the confidence 
 the public place in them. No young German gentleman 
 of a mild student will lower his esteem for himself, will 
 degrade his own self-respect by doing or lending his as 
 sistance to disgraceful or inj urious tricks or mischief that 
 would be costly and hurtful to others : such behavior as 
 pulling down signs, tearing off and carrying away gates, 
 breaking gas lamps, etc., is an unknown trait of the mild 
 student s character. Such as that displays no high- 
 minded development or art in agreeably entertaining the 
 community; deeds of that style are not jokes, show no re 
 markable intellectual attainments to produce fun, but ex 
 hibit a sort of meanness that is far from the German mild 
 student s style of deporting himself. These are the 
 students one meets so often during the summer vacation 
 tours, creating sensations in the small towns and villages 
 that lie along their routes. 
 
 In Berlin, at the time of our attendance there, their fad 
 was mostly big dogs, vying with each other in the endeavor 
 to own the largest one, always decorating him with a 
 beautiful collar, and never going about without taking 
 him along. All Europe had been brought under tribute 
 to furnish a sufficient supply of dogs ; great, shaggy, 
 black, oily-coated, ever-faithful Newfoundlands, natives 
 of the island of that name, with lengthy tails, thickly cov 
 ered with long, hanging hair, majestic in appearance, 
 with their benevolent expressioned faces ; huge, broad, 
 flat and full-headed English mastiffs from the British 
 
46 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 Isles, with small, downward-hanging ears, and their mild, 
 brown eyes and massive square jaws ; immense Dutch 
 doggers from the near surroundings of home ; giant Saint 
 Bernards from the regions of the dreary Swiss Alps and 
 the mountainous portions of the Tyrol, differentiated only 
 by their remarkably unsimilar hairy coverings into rough 
 and smooth-coated animals ; colossal Danes of bluish and 
 of brindle colors from Denmark; and now and then a mild 
 student appeared on the streets who had somewhere run 
 across a canine of no special breed, but so vast a speci 
 men of dogdom, indeed, that he put nearly all of his 
 brotherhood to shame and made them feel small in their 
 boots. You see large numbers of them all over the 
 streets led by chains of silver. 
 
 Sometimes a crowd of several hundred of these mild 
 students, each with his dog, will congregate in the sub 
 urbs, and sending in and hiring carriages, will occupy 
 them with their dogs, each two-seated carriage containing 
 two mild students, everyone with his enormous gaily- 
 collared dog on the seat beside him ; they will then form 
 the carriages in a procession, often four or five miles in 
 length, and come into town and drive slowly through the 
 principal streets, to the admiration and wonder of the be 
 holders, but to the inexpressible annoyance of the police 
 force, for they blockade the streets, create jams of vehicles, 
 and as one student carriage closely follows the preceding 
 one, often cause, when the procession goes down a prom 
 inent boulevard, the entire stoppage of traffic in all the 
 side streets until the last one of the miles of carriages has 
 passed, by which time the police officials are using 
 language fearfully grating to one s auditory nerve. All 
 the while, however, the students are sitting quietly and 
 calmly in attitudes of careless elegance, fixedly staring 
 through their monocles at the surging, excited, swearing, 
 raving and threatening crowd of blocked vehicle-drivers, 
 with set, expressionless faces as vacant as though utterly 
 oblivious of anything but perfect silence and quietude 
 being present, and as though lost in far-away thought, 
 or wrapped in deepest contemplation of the great distance 
 between suns, or in the profound effort to grasp the mean- 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 47 
 
 ing of eternity, or something else equally beyond the 
 mensuration of science. Welcomed for the laughter he 
 creates, and forgiven all the trouble he causes by his non 
 sense for the public feel flattered that he goes to such 
 risk and troublous work, takes such pains to ingenuise 
 some quaint and curious method or device to tickle its 
 humor it has its "eitelkeit geschmeichelt" by him (its 
 vanity flattered). Such is the mild student, the pet of 
 Germany. 
 
 Lastly, in a general class are the neutrals, who 
 never become members of fighting corps or belong to 
 the band of the ones who court fads, but apply them 
 selves to their studies and attend strictly to their own 
 business, join the clubs for the amusement and recreation 
 they offer, and, as the fierce and mild students express it, 
 are formed merely for the purpose of throwing their own 
 respective valiant and mirth-exciting exploits out into a 
 grander light by contrast. Such is the neutral student, 
 to which class belong all those from foreign lands, whom, 
 together with their German colleagues in the same desig 
 nation, form a great part of the attendants of the Uni 
 versity. 
 
 A fad among the whole mass of students, however, 
 and something which everyone effects, no matter to which 
 club or what section of it he belongs, is to own a "trink 
 horn (drinking horn) ; this is a steer horn of as large a 
 size as can be had, and is highly polished by the owner 
 himself during his leisure moments. It is then mounted 
 in gold or silver, as follows : A piece of either of the two 
 metals, about like the top of a baking-powder can, is 
 fitted over the large open end, a funnel-shaped tip or 
 ferrule about two inches in length is placed over the 
 point, at equal distances apart between these, two inch 
 wide bands are fitted on, each having a ring at the top or 
 concave side of the horn, to which is attached a thick 
 colored silk cord in a loop of about a yard in length; two 
 tassels hang from the attached ends of the cords. Each 
 student has his horn, and takes great pride in it, carries 
 it about the club-rooms hung over his shoulder, or hangs 
 it upon the walls or chandeliers as he sees fit ; it is never 
 
48 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 taken, however, beyond the club apartments except to a 
 club picnic or gathering. The custom is in allusion to 
 olden times, when the making of glass, one of the lost 
 arts which was not re-discovered until the seventh century, 
 was still unknown, and metal goblets were costly and 
 rare, and the barbaric Germans used horns for drinking- 
 vessels on account of the ease with which they were to 
 be obtained and the numbers that could be gotten ; these 
 old timers also carried water about in them on their long 
 trips, and, of course, when empty, kept them to dip up 
 drink from a passing stream and refill for future use. 
 Our hunters here a century ago had great use for horns 
 as shot and powder flasks. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 OUR club had its share of all kinds of these three 
 classes of students, and all were in the best of feel 
 ing and comradeship toward each other. A feeling of 
 brotherhood pervaded all. The Prussian eagles dwell 
 together in perfect peace, good fellowship and harmony. 
 As regards our members, first in size, first at the wine and 
 gaming tables, and largely first in the hearts of his club, 
 stands Baron von Vielbeer. Vielbeer in appearance is 
 something so extraordinary as to excite wonder and as 
 tonishment in all those who behold him. He is about 
 sixty -eight years of age, is extremely stout, has blue 
 eyes, gray hair and mustache, and has such an enor 
 mous stomach that it extends his waistband out several 
 feet in front of him. He is not very large standing up, 
 but when lying down on his back is an exceedingly tall 
 man. As a passionate gambler Vielbeer stands at the 
 summit of greatness, and is a marvelous success, for as 
 far back as the recollection of any member of the club 
 reaches he has never been known to lose a single cent at 
 play, which startling statement might lead one at first to 
 suppose that he possessed some occult power or hidden 
 ability which enabled him to know the secrets of the 
 minds or read the thoughts of his fellow-players ; such a 
 conjecture, however, would be far indeed from the true 
 facts of the case, which really are that he sits down to the 
 table where a game is starting up, absolutely and com 
 pletely "busted", without so much capital as a halb silber 
 groschen, or even a pfennig (one-fourth of a cent) in 
 his possession, and consequently nothing on this round 
 earth is more dead certain than that he will not lessen the 
 pile he starts out with in his venture upon the expansive 
 sea of chance, and with his perfect freedom from nervous 
 ness or anxiety on account of the large stake he puts up, 
 with his great skill and long years of accumulated expe- 
 
50 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 rience, lie always manages somehow or other to come out 
 ahead a good deal at the wind-up. He is the owner of a 
 pretty dilapidated old castle on the Rhine, standing in 
 the midst of a small number of acres of land still belong 
 ing to it, up in the kingdom of Aufberg adjoining that of 
 Baden in the highlands of Southern Germany, the neigh 
 boring state of Baden containing the celebrated dark- 
 wooded mountains with which in long past days he and 
 his ancestors have been extensively associated. Much to 
 his regret, often deeply expressed, he is unable to keep a 
 carriage and a pair of horses, he being of course very 
 weighty, and it is something of a hardship for him to get 
 about over any great distance. He often sits at the win 
 dows of the club-rooms and looks out longingly at the 
 smart turn-outs going past with their lively high-stepping 
 horses and soft and comfortably cushioned vehicles ; it 
 seems as though nothing on earth has the charm for him 
 that a carriage presents. " If I only had such ", he will 
 mournfully and sadly remark at times, as a prancingly 
 drawn barouche glides by over the smooth street before 
 his yearning eyes, "my old age would be rilled with 
 happiness and content." 
 
 From the source of his castle grounds, rented to sur 
 rounding peasants, he receives an income of about 
 twenty -five dollars a month, and were it not for his much 
 more extensive income derived from his great business 
 capacity displayed in the matter of games of chance, he 
 would be in dire stress indeed. He has an enormous pre 
 historic looking meerschaum pipe with a long weiksel 
 holtz (a kind of German cherry wood) stem, and an im 
 mense bowl in the shape of a Turk sitting cross-legged 
 on a small square cushioned mat, which it is his chief 
 delight in the late evenings to fill, sit and puff by the 
 hour, watching the members at their games of billiards, 
 chess, dominos or athletics, the latter of which he never 
 takes part in for obvious reasons ; or when surrounded by 
 an appreciative audience, which is nearly always, telling 
 stories of his house s former grandeur by the hour. He 
 can trace his ancestry back way beyond two thousand 
 years, and is never weary of relating the heroic deeds 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 5! 
 
 and valors of his forefathers ; indeed, he often gets so far 
 back in the narration of his reminiscences that his ever 
 large crowd of eager listeners sometimes get nervous in 
 the fear that the remote centuries will play out before he 
 is quite through with the tale. He matriculated at the 
 University years and years ago, has never dismatricu- 
 lated, which one must do to leave a German Univer 
 sity before graduating, and left it, but has been hanging 
 on ever since with a tenacity worthy of a better cause. 
 
 Second in the esteem and regard of the club stands Count 
 L,uft von Schweffelsblatter ; he is a young man about 
 thirty-five years of age, tall and handsome, a blonde, an 
 officer in the Hussars, but at present suspended on ac 
 count of some trouble between him and his brother 
 officers ; he is of a very fiery temperament, and of an ex 
 ceedingly excitable nature that, however, does not cool as 
 soon as it flares up, but unheats slowly; he is immensly 
 liked and is very popular for he has a good sound judg 
 ment, but in several ways is what some might see fit to 
 call peculiar; for instance, insults that others would think 
 he should resent at the peril of his life, he pays no atten 
 tion to whatever, never even awakens his interest, while 
 some slighting small cut that no ordinary person would 
 heed for two moments, sets him wild for days. 
 
 The fact is he is very generous hearted, and on receiv 
 ing a direct insult goes home and ponders over it; finally 
 finding it effects no one but himself, he thinks, " poof! 
 the dog can say it again a dozen times if he wants to, 
 who cares" etc.; but the slightest offensive remark or in 
 solent action of another that he broods over and imagines 
 was directed at his family, his sisters, etc., gets his ire up, 
 and it may be days before he meets the offender ; still he 
 does not cool until an apology is offered or the matter ex 
 plained, to the surprise of everyone else who had long 
 since forgotten the occurrence and supposed it something 
 of the past. He would occupy a high position in the 
 army on the merits of his military capabilities alone, were 
 it not for this ungovernable temper which so often masters 
 him. We two accompanied Count L/uft one night to a 
 state ball and recognized on that occasion to the fullest 
 
52 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 extent how nothing on earth exists that will knock a 
 woman s eye out quicker than a man in uniform ; there 
 were none but civilians there at first and they were en 
 joying themselves hugely and whirling the young ladies 
 of a dozen different nations around at a lively rate ; they 
 gave one the impression of young men who were making 
 hay while the sun shone brightly. We shortly saw why: 
 the military soon began to come in, the elegant figured 
 officers with boot heels four inches high, plumed hats, 
 braided coats, epaulets, sashes, glittering swords, and 
 equipments, waxed mustaches standing straight out like 
 pencils from their faces, etc. They were entering in all 
 their soldierly bearing and the reign of the civil fellows 
 was over ; no more ladies would dance with them now 
 after the officers had arrived, and they all skulked around 
 after their hats, stuck them under their arms and silently 
 slunk away just as their late partners started in the dizzy 
 mazes of the waltz, whirling in the seventh heaven of 
 bliss on the arms of one of their country s defenders one 
 moment, the representative of their land s bitterest foes 
 the next. 
 
 "Did I enjoy myself? " one fair creature was overheard 
 to say among the flowers and plants of the conservatories 
 adjoining the ball room. "Did I? Why, I just let the 
 officer put his manly arm around me, clasp me to his 
 brave, medal-decorated chest, hung myself on his broad, 
 epauleted-shoulders, and, as the orchestra started, stepped 
 out into the golden-lined clouds floating over paradise." 
 Who, after hearing that, would not wear the uniform of a 
 German officer, or that of a United States policeman ? 
 
 Next comes Berthold von Felderstein, a young man of 
 twenty-two, just in all the glory, strength and pride of 
 youth; tall, of handsome physique, and the very image one 
 thinks a lord should be emmodeled in. He is one of those 
 magnetic men who are born to be leaders ; live to com 
 mand in whatever they undertake; immensely popular 
 with all he meets. He has the organ of intuition so mar- 
 velously well developed that you can feel him reading 
 your deepest thoughts and soul on his first look at you. 
 In a minute after meeting him, it seems to one as though 
 
STUDENT I,IFE IN GERMANY. 53 
 
 he had known you for years. He reads your innermost 
 nature at a glance, and treats you accordingly ; and of 
 course he treats everyone differently, as each one s nature 
 varies, or just as you would be acted toward by your 
 oldest and dearest friend. He is one of those whom 
 nature intended "the thoughts of conquering thousands 
 to command." He has bluish gray eyes, and is a bru 
 nette ; slightly built, but very muscular. One feels an assur 
 ance of safety in his presence, a feeling of security when 
 near him, a consciousness of protection when he is in 
 the vicinity. He is the seventh son, however, of an old 
 illustrious nobleman, standing high at the Prussian court, 
 and will have to, as the saying goes, win his fortune or 
 spurs with his sword. He is the best swordsman in the 
 club, and his skill in handling the dueling rapier is a 
 sight to witness. He is metal to the center, and as brave 
 as can be. It was feared, on his entrance as a member, 
 that he and Count L,uft would soon clash, but they are the 
 best of friends. 
 
 QFelderstein is of a temperament not usually understood, 
 not generally recognized; he is one of those natures it is 
 impossible to pick a quarrel with unless he wants to, and 
 in that case a saint could hardly escape an altercation. 
 L,astly among the members, but by no manner of means 
 least, comes Booblely (pronounced Boobuley, i. e., puppy) 
 Schnurkelyah (snoor-cle-yaw), an exceedingly fat little 
 German dachshund (badger dog), widely bench-legged 
 and broad backed, with stomach nearly reaching the floor 
 and with tail long and slender and projecting horizontally 
 and in a straight line with his long spinal column, his 
 foreknees bend in and overlap each other and his toes 
 turn away out toward his sides, as fine a specimen of 
 knock-kneed dogdom as is extant ; and how he manages 
 to walk his ungainly rolling gait no idea can be formed 
 until the sight is witnessed ; the shorter and crookeder 
 the forelegs of his race are the purer is their blood con 
 sidered; and one can see from a glance at his legs that he, 
 as a natural consequence, surely must be a sample of the 
 purest breed out ; he possesses great strength in propor 
 tion to his height, and by reason of his remarkable 
 
54 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 obesity also great weight; has a long slightly arched wide 
 head with lengthy drooping soft ears and a short thick 
 neck; as a digger in the ground to unearth badgers, hares 
 and foxes that have taken to their holes, he has a reputa 
 tion that is unequaled and a record that is unsurpassed 
 east of the celebrated six hundred year old hunting tree 
 at Verden an der Aller; his admirably arranged forelegs 
 and paws are set in such a position that the way he can 
 fling out the dirt in going down a hole after game that 
 has run into the ground is a caution ; his dark brown or 
 nearly black eyes are deep set and rather small and have 
 a look of almost human intelligence, as though understand 
 ing the very words addressed to him. He comes of an il 
 lustrious race of antecedents also. His long line of an 
 cestors have followed the fortunes cf Vielbeers and have 
 clawed and chawed the soldiers of the enemy in innumer 
 able engagements in which their respective masters were 
 involved. He is the last of his line, and, as Vielbeer says, 
 is now dutifully resting on the glories of his forefathers. 
 He was always showing his military blood by perpetually 
 skirmishing around under our feet at the lunch table for 
 any stray piece of waste pretzel, wurst or pumpernickel 
 that might chance his way ; but no matter what amount 
 of forage he managed to collect of an evening he was 
 never known to exhibit signs of regretting it, his stomach 
 thus proving his pure teutonic genealogy as nothing else 
 could. He took a great liking to me, and I often spread 
 a small rug over my lap and lifted him on to it, where he 
 would lay for half hours at a time listening to Vielbeer s 
 reminiscences and now and then wisely blinking his eyes 
 as though punctuating his revered master s remarks. 
 
 One evening as a number of us were sitting around 
 Vielbeer and watching his curious pipe as he slowly and 
 silently drew the smoke therefrom, and sent it into the 
 air, seeing us contemplating it, he remarked that the 
 pipe had been in his ancient and honored family for many 
 generations ; and, indeed, it looked it. 
 
 " It was captured," said he, " from the Turkish Grand 
 Vizier by one of my ancestors at the seige (by the Turks) 
 of Vienna, at the time King John Sobiesky of Poland 
 
STUDENT UF IN GERMANY. 55 
 
 came down with a Christian army, and, joining the Aus 
 trian and German troops, made the Turks raise the 
 seige. That was an important time for Christianity. 
 The Mohammedan scimetar had conquered everywhere, 
 and the children of the Orient had come so far 
 westward as to attack the capital of Austria, the last 
 stronghold separating them from the Christian coun 
 tries. Had it fallen, the invading hosts of Moslem would 
 have overrun the whole land, stamped out the teach 
 ings of Christ, and Europe would today have been 
 Mohammedan instead of Christian, our Christian re 
 ligion would have been swallowed up, and as entirely lost 
 and forgotten on earth today as thoroughly as many 
 others in the far East have been after their adherents have 
 gone down before some all-conquering invader. But 
 Christian Poland and Germany rallied to the relief of the 
 sore pressed and overwhelmed Austrians at Vienna, and 
 compelled the wave of Mohammedanism to roll back east 
 ward, and sad indeed has been the fate of Poland in rec 
 ompense for the saving of Christianity. 
 
 "Europe will yet pay dearly for the manner in which it 
 has treated that intensely patriotic land. The Grand 
 Vizier made such a hasty retreat before the onslaught of 
 my ancestor and his body of cavaliers that he left his tent 
 with all its belongings and baggage behind; my ancestor 
 took this pipe as a memento of the fight and left the rest 
 of the plunder, the rich silks and laces, tobacco, fine 
 Turkish shawls, rugs, carpets, and sashes and Damascus 
 swords, etc., to his brave troopers as their share of the 
 spoils. The pipe was once lost for twenty years near the 
 famous chasm in the black forest at the time of the sad 
 death of my uncle at the young age of twenty-five years, 
 but was finally found in the dark woods, and King Wil 
 liam learning of it had it returned to me, the nephew of 
 the loser, then a young man also. You may wonder what 
 our beloved, thrice high, holy Prussian King had to do 
 with it, so I will have to explain that in the early part of 
 this century, in the year 1813, an exceedingly youthful 
 and handsome prince, then but in his seventeenth year 
 of age, fleeing from the enemy became lost in the dense 
 interior of the black forest. 
 
56 STUDENT IvIFK IN GERMANY. 
 
 1 The enemy was in full possession of our country ; fair 
 and historic Germany s white- winged angel of peace had 
 buried her head in grief and sorrow beneath her snowy 
 pinion. Prussia s king had been driven from his throne 
 and exiled. His sainted queen, I^ouisa, after flying with 
 her two young sons from one refuge to another, from the 
 desolators of her beloved country, had but lately sickened 
 and died broken-hearted, with the remark, We are 
 asleep on the laurels of Frederick the Great upon her lips. 
 The royal family was scattered to the four winds. Ger 
 many, separated into thirty-two different kingdoms, all 
 quarreling and fighting among themselves, was all united 
 in one particular at least, and that was in lying prostrate, 
 her neck beneath the heel of the triumphant Napoleon. 
 The prince, the younger son of Queen L,ouisa, wandering 
 in the dark woods, was at that moment a fugitive from 
 the soldiers of the ever-conquering Emperor. Weary and 
 foot-sore, his way was stopped at length by him suddenly 
 coming upon a wide, yawning chasm, the gulf reaching 
 down to seemingly endless black depths below; overhead 
 the wind sighed through the deeply clothed branches of 
 old oaken monarchs, hoary and grim, that had silently 
 watched the suns of a century rise and fall over their 
 sublime and towering stateliness, their outstretched densely 
 foliaged arms thickly clothed with the gloomy old grey 
 hanging vines of the black forest. The bank of the chasm 
 was covered with verdure and fallen leaves, and he threw 
 himself down on the green carpet, in hiding behind a large 
 rock, and being worn out he closed his eyes while the 
 songs of fair-plumaged birds soon lulled him to sleep. He 
 was suddenly awakened by the report of a gun, and seiz 
 ing his weapons and jumping up to defend himself, per 
 ceived a young mountaineer slowly approaching with 
 bowed head, with a smoking gun, and carrying a large 
 wreath made of the black moss which hangs so profusely 
 from the dark forest-tree limbs to the ground. 
 
 "The prince recognizing the new-comer as being no 
 enemy, awaited his slow and solemn approach ; suddenly 
 raising his head, my young uncle for it was he ob 
 serving the delicate and weary figure before him and the 
 
STUDENT LIFE) IN GERMANY. 57 
 
 impression left in the verdure where he had been reclin 
 ing-, paused, and asked what it was that had brought 
 him thither to rest beneath the fairy Elfrida s rock. On 
 the prince making himself known to mv uncle, the latter 
 immediately went down on his knee before the son of his 
 own ruler s ally and explained that he was his Prussian 
 Majesty s devoted servant, Thorwald von Vielbeer, a 
 younger brother of the Baron of the ruined castle of that 
 name upon the Rhine in the kingdom of Aufberg, which 
 was one of the few provinces that had remained through 
 all the disheartening war, firmly true to the Prussian mon 
 arch ; that he was just lately commissioned lieutenant in 
 the Auf berg cavalry, and had come to the chasm to cast 
 into its depths the wreath of mourning in memory of a 
 remote ancestor, Baron Crusadus von Vielbeer, who had 
 lost his life by reason of the chasm, in the eleventh cen 
 tury. 
 
 * Once every ten years since, the descendants had made 
 a trip to the yawning gulf to construct a wreath from the 
 hanging moss in the vicinity, and place it upon the rock 
 of Hlfrida, the head of the house ever doing so if able ; if 
 not, then the next in succession. He had selected the 
 present time for his coming, as he was preparing to join 
 his command and ride with their united swords to the 
 help of the Prussian patriots who were trying to rescue 
 Germany. On his arising, the prince asked him why he 
 called the rock Elfrida s, and placing the wreath on the 
 ground, the stock of his gun within its center, and fold 
 ing his arms over the weapon s muzzle, my ancestor in 
 formed the prince that, many long years ago, during the 
 days of the crusades when the knights of all Christian 
 Europe had joined forces in the attempt to rescue the Holy 
 Land, the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth, from the hands 
 of the infidels, Elfrida queen of the fairies came with her 
 court one day at earliest dawn, to the great rock to wash 
 their faces in the dew of the morning. The queen wore a 
 beautifully decorated crown of gold, having around the 
 head-band a row of large pearls, and standing up above 
 the forehead, part by its two lower points, was a golden 
 star, its topmost prong supporting an immense glittering 
 
58 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 diamond, the rays of which outshone the sun. The fairies 
 all washed their faces and hair in the dew, and while dry 
 ing her tresses the queen laid her crown upon this rock 
 when a sudden gust of wind blew it down ; it fell with 
 such force that it rolled to the edge of the chasm and 
 went down to darkness and oblivion, to the great conster 
 nation of them all. Although the beautiful fairy queen 
 was capable of doing wondrous good upon the surface of 
 the earth, her influence did not extend to realms beneath 
 the ground, and she was unable to recover it. Elfrida was 
 a woman, and although the loss of the crown could be re 
 paired, her grief for the big diamond was inconsolable. 
 She wandered over Germany, and with prayers, tears and 
 promises endeavored to get one brave and bold knight after 
 another to recover the crown for her ; but as the deep, 
 gloomy and mysterious chasm in the depths of the somber 
 woods was reported to be the summer residence of the 
 Evil One, the brave and bold knights had more important 
 affairs to attend to elsewhere. At this period, while the 
 fairy queen was disconsolate, a far-back ancestor of my 
 uncles, Baron Crusadus von Vielbeer, who had been one 
 of the first to unsheath his sword and join the Crusaders, 
 returned from his victories over the Mohammedans in Pal 
 estine. On getting back to our castle from the Holy I^and, 
 he heard of the visit to the stronghold, during his absence, 
 of the fairy queen and of her unavailing endeavor to se 
 cure there and elsewhere a champion to recover her price 
 less crown. Crusadus von Vielbeer, fresh from conflicts 
 where the element of success was ever present with him, 
 determined to offer his services ; at once sent word to the 
 queen ; and he, she and her court, all met one day on the 
 brink of the chasm ; my ancestor had provided a unique 
 method to make the attempt to secure the coveted crown; 
 he caused to be brought along with him, by his retainers, 
 two ducks, two geese and two hens ; to the legs of all of 
 these he tied stout cords about as long as himself and 
 fastened them together at the ends to a single rope ; the 
 wings of one duck, goose and hen he had tied by means 
 of a band about their bodies, and taking the latter three 
 in his arms and seizing firmly the rope above a large knot 
 
STUDKNT UFE IN GERMANY. 59 
 
 at the extreme end, lie advanced to the edge of the chasm, 
 kissed his hand, that had ever been so successful, to the 
 fairy queen who was watching his proceedings from 
 the top of the rock, and picking up and flinging the three 
 free- winged fowls into the air, sprang far out over andinto 
 the gaping fissure ; the flying and fluttering of the fowls 
 so buoyed my ancestor s weight, that he sank but slowly 
 from view down in the gloom of the engulfing darkness ; 
 here accounts very much differ about what occurrences 
 succeeded ; events followed each other in such marvel- 
 ously rapid succession, that of all my ancestor s retainers 
 awaiting his appearance at the top, no two could give the 
 same account nor state what they did perceive, with any 
 degree of accuracy or clearness ; the best that we were 
 able to glean, however, was, that after waiting some hours 
 (in that great length of waiting, of anxious suspense, 
 they all concurred although the fairy queen reported that 
 it was but a few moments), fearful shouts, clacks, 
 squeaks, quacking, rustling of wings and demoniacal 
 howls arose from out the depths of the chasm; their blood 
 curdled in their veins, and they were all too paralyzed to 
 move, but stood with wide starting eyes staring in blank 
 amazement at the cleft, when amid terrific noise, straight 
 up, soaring high aloft into the air came the six fowls, 
 all wing-free and making a dreadful clattering, while 
 holding on to the extreme end of the rope that secured 
 them all together was the devil, black as night, horns, 
 cloven hoofs, spiked tail and all ; laughing and yelling 
 like the fiend that he was, with fire flashing eyes, snapping 
 teeth and flapping ears, while to his tail clung my an 
 cestor holding on with a grip of grim fastness, and shout 
 ing down to those below him as he sailed upward, some 
 information about which they could only catch the words 
 crown , seen and there , out of which they could con 
 struct nothing ; they soared upward and upward, higher 
 and higher, and finally they seemed to swerve south and to 
 be going in the direction of Geistplatz, a German town on 
 the border of Switzerland ; my ancestor s retainers watched 
 them in awestricken wonder till they were out of sight, 
 and at once hurried back to the castle and reported so 
 
60 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 many conflicting versions of what they had seen that it 
 was some days before the family got at the true state of 
 the affair ; but my ancestor was never more seen ; the 
 story was noised abroad and great search and inquiry 
 made, and even the province made a special investigation 
 into the matter, but nothing was ever gleaned about him; 
 not the vestige of a trace ever discovered until seventy- 
 five years later, when a very old woman living south of the 
 forest disclosed that in her youth she had seen the flight 
 of the trio, the fowls, devil, crusader and all, had seen it 
 when a little girl, but had been so terrified at the time 
 that she said nothing, fearing evil might befall her parents 
 and brothers, etc. ; then later numerous other reports 
 began to arrive ; other aged women were heard of, who 
 also had seen the flight in their youth ; and then the trail 
 was taken up by our family, aided by the surrounding 
 knights and burghers, and was connected link by link, 
 by the statements of old women all the way, who had 
 seen the flying spectacle ; some of them minutely de 
 scribed the fowls, their cackling and squeaking, their yel 
 low bills, etc. ; others remembered it all as plainly as 
 though they had seen it yesterday, describing the Evil One, 
 his arrow-shaped spiked tail, his cloven hoofs, and told 
 how they had bowed their heads and shuddered as he 
 had looked down in his passing rapid flight, and grinned 
 so fearfully at them, while others depicted my ancestor, 
 minutely portraying how they had seen him holding on 
 to the tail with both hands, etc. 
 
 "So there could be no doubt of it. Thus he was traced 
 by the evidence of old women who had seen it all, clear 
 to Geistplatz, which, as you know, is on the river Irren, 
 that separates Germany from Switzerland, and on arriv 
 ing there in a body, lo and behold, on the old stone bridge 
 which spanned the river from Germany to the Switzer 
 land side, on the high stone wall railing that ran across 
 on each side for the safety of vehicles and passengers, 
 mounted on the top at the entrance, one on either side, 
 were the stone figures of the knight in his garb of a 
 crusader, and the devil, horns, tail and all, while behind 
 each one, equidistant apart to the far side of the bridge, 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 6 1 
 
 were the stone figures of a duck, a goose, and a hen, 
 also on the summit or capping of the high stone railing. 
 Inquiry among the inhabitants could elicit no information 
 as to how and when the figures came there ; only the 
 oldest inhabitant could shed any great amount of light 
 upon the matter, and he stated that they were there sur 
 mounting the stone railing when he played about the 
 bridge as a little boy seventy-five years before ; this was all 
 we ever could gather on the subject. The supposition was 
 that my ancestor had seen the coveted object of his ad 
 venture, and had freed his three bound fowls, preparatory 
 to seizing the crown, shewing them to upward flight and 
 ascending, when the devil rushed out, frightened the 
 fowls to wing, and grasping the rope from the hands of 
 my suddenly startled ancestor, was sailing aloft, when the 
 crusader, realizing his position at the bottom of a hope 
 less chasm, made a desperate jump, clutched the devil s 
 tail, and upward from intense darkness to the glorious 
 light of day they all came together ; the fowls flew so 
 plumb upward in arising from their start at the deep 
 chasm s mysterious lower end that they were some dis 
 tance in height in the air from its upper surface before 
 they turned and flew southward, and my ancestor prob 
 ably awaiting to relax his grasp till his fall would be free 
 of the chasm, found when the fowls turned south that he 
 was then too far from the ground to do so with any de 
 gree of safety, and doubtless resolved to hold his grasp 
 until a better opportunity arrived, and was soon out of 
 sight 
 
 "There our knowledge of the mystery ended, and it is 
 all explained at the bridge of Geistplatz certainly, but in 
 what way may probably always be wrapped up in the 
 dark secrets of the almost impenetrable history of the 
 past. 
 
 "Elfrida, the fairy queen, shocked at the fate of her 
 champion, a few months after the disappearance of my 
 ancestor, returned with her court to the spot where the 
 crown fell, stood upon the summit of the great rock, and 
 it being no longer enclosed by the crown, her beautiful 
 golden hair was of course hanging down her back, and 
 
62 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 weeping pearly tears, and waving her wand over the 
 chasm, made a vow that the first prince who should get 
 a sight of the crown should raise his country to an un 
 paralleled prosperity and rule over Germany entire. She 
 then threw her wand down after the crown and disap 
 peared forever. 
 
 All this my uncle related to the prince in response to 
 his inquiry about the name given the rock, and after he 
 had completed his narrative, a shudder passed over his 
 frame as he gazed down along the stock of his gun to the 
 wreath, and then cast his eyes at the chasm. 
 
 " To bring under one rule our disunited fair land, to 
 secure a United Germany ! exclaimed the prince. To 
 obtain such an end has been the cherished dreams of our 
 patriots for centuries. O, Thorwald, assist me to se 
 cure that crown and you shall be rewarded far beyond 
 your wildest dreams. My uncle of course consented. 
 The lives of the Vielbeers were always placed at the dis 
 posal of their sovereigns, and through them at the ser 
 vice of their allies. Together they made a long twisted 
 rope of the climbing vines from the neighboring trees, 
 fastening knots and loops among its strands at short 
 spaces apart ; securely fastened one end to the rock and 
 let the other down the chasm. The prince threw off 
 his coat, and eagerly grasping the rope was about to de 
 scend. ( Let me but see the crown, said he, and my 
 country! my country! all may again be well with thee. I 
 will take a torch, and should the vine not be of sufficient 
 length, I may yet be able to descry the fairy s jeweled 
 circlet by the aid of the torch light, down in the deeper 
 recesses of the chasm. My uncle Thorwald looked at 
 the prince s slight figure, worn and weary from priva 
 tions, anxiety and flight, and said, Let me go ; your 
 strength might fail. I have been reared among the 
 mountains, continued he, looking down at his own stal 
 wart limbs, used from childhood to scale the harsh rocks 
 and steep cliffs of the lofty eminences inured to endure 
 hardships, etc. I will bring it up to you. My uncle 
 then removed his coat, in which was this pipe that he 
 ever carried with him, and depositing it, with his hat, 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 63 
 
 gun, and wreath, on the safe side of the fairy s great 
 boulder, at once lighted the torch, stuck it in his 
 girdle, and seizing the vine rope began the descent, soon 
 disappearing downward in the gloom, to the view of the 
 eager watching prince, who, lying face downward, hung 
 his head and body over the precipice as far as he dared. 
 
 " Every few moments a faint halloo from my uncle in 
 greeting to the prince that all was well with him, would 
 come smouldering to the top, which grew fainter and 
 fainter until the sound ceased altogether and finally only 
 the swaying of the speck of light remained to show the 
 prince that the gallant mountaineer was still descending. 
 Then the light grew dimmer and dimmer, until it faded 
 out altogether in the far deep distance. The moments to 
 the anxious watcher above seemed hours. After a long 
 time the rope slackened, at which the prince knew that 
 the intrepid venturer had no longer hold of it. Had he 
 fallen ? Had he released his grasp from sheer exhaustion, 
 or been overcome with faintness and swooned, or had he 
 descended safely to the bottom? Soon, however, the 
 rope became again taut and the prince then knew that 
 the adventurous mountaineer was ascending. Had he 
 found the crown ? Anxiously he looked for the spark of 
 fire, but it never came to view. His torch had been ex 
 tinguished. After a long time a faint halloo came again 
 smothering up, and soon afterward the prince, with eyes 
 now grown accustomed to the darkness down into which 
 he had been all this time so intently peering, could dis 
 tinguish the dim shadowy outlines of my uncle s form 
 away down in the gloomy blackness. My uncle stopped 
 in his ascent and waved something in his hand which the 
 prince could not distinguish in the deep obscurity. Hur 
 rah ! Hurrah ! I have found it ! I have found it ! 
 shouted the young mountaineer, clinging with one hand 
 to the rope, and waving the object in the air with his free 
 hand. He then slipped it once more down over his 
 arm and again took up his ascent. Suddenly a few 
 strands of the vine rope parted with a loud snap, a few 
 yards above him. Attracted by the noise he looked up, 
 at once perceived his danger, and rapidly strove to get 
 
64 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 above the breaking section ere it was too late. Before he 
 reached it, however, another loud snapping sound from 
 the same place told him he was lost, and once more cling 
 ing with one hand he seized the crown and patriotically 
 threw it far up toward the overhanging face of the 
 prince ; made several desperate clutches upward on the 
 vine, and had ascended to within a few feet of the break 
 ing section, when the last strand gave way, and with one 
 long wild shriek of despair he went down to the dark 
 unfathomable depths below. The crown thrown forcibly 
 upward struck against the stony side of the chasm in the 
 darkness and gloom some distance below the prince, the 
 large diamond coming full against its rocky wall a bright 
 flash of fire flew out from the sharply struck flint, light 
 ing up for an instant to the view of the prince the cov 
 eted, long-lost and fateful crown in all its beauty, and 
 then it went back down, down, following my intrepid 
 but unfortunate uncle. The young prince had seen the 
 fairy Elfrida s crown, but the future greatness that getting 
 a sight of it meant to him, was effaced from his thoughts 
 in the shocking ending of the adventure, and stricken 
 with horror the young prince fled from the fatal spot. 
 Swiftly flew over his head the ever-revolving silent years, 
 but that the events of that unfortunate hour never grew 
 dim upon his memory I am certain, for twenty years 
 later the pipe was found among a few shreds of clothing, 
 many miles from where left in his coat by my uncle at 
 the time of descending the chasm. The garment had 
 been carried off by savage beasts or wild animals, and torn 
 and dragged about, and finally left where found years 
 before. The prince, hearing of the find, which was 
 noised about, secured the pipe and returned it to me 
 then a young man and succeeding my lately departed 
 father, the head of our noble family. I was a young 
 boy at the time the accident happened, and well remem 
 ber the sensation caused by the news being carried to the 
 castle of the awful fate of my uncle, and the overwhelm 
 ing grief of my sick father when the rumors were at last 
 verified, and he was sure his favorite young brother had 
 met death at the fatal chasm. So far, the fairy queen s 
 vow seems to be correctly interpreting itself. 
 
STUDENT 
 
 IN GERMANY. 
 
 "The prince s elder brother, Frederick William IV, 
 our former Prussian king, died six years ago, without 
 leaving a direct heir, and our present king, the younger 
 brother, who was the prince mentioned in the adventure 
 with my uncle, came to the throne in 1861. The country 
 under him has been getting very prosperous, but he is 
 now past seventy years of age, and is becoming old, and 
 all our German kingdoms would have to unite and pro 
 claim him Emperor William I of Germany, to ful 
 fill in its entirety the fairy queen s vow ; a general danger 
 threatening our States would go far toward causing them 
 to enter into a union and becoming a great confederation 
 under our Prussian monarch, Prussia being by far the 
 largest kingdom and the dominant power among all of the 
 provinces of the fair land of our fathers. Still, our people 
 have hopes that by means of some peaceful intervention of 
 again becoming what we were formerly, long ago, a 
 united fatherland." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A FTER the conclusion of Vielbeer s story of the curious 
 /x pipe, Menton got upon the little two-foot-high plat 
 form which stood against the side of a wall and sang a 
 song of the backwoods portion of Georgia, which went 
 as follows : 
 
 Thar s signs ez goes back on thur oldest uv men, 
 
 Thar s omens ez furever fail, 
 Thar s sayens ez fishy in word an pen, 
 
 Ez Joner wot swallered thur whale. 
 
 Freg zample, th cows ez hev lost thur cuds, 
 
 Air ther cows thet ur never seen; 
 Bn th frost-killed apples ez told by thur buds, 
 
 Guv th biggest crop ever hez been. 
 
 In thur front rows at thur ballets so fair, 
 
 Never a bald head* will yer see; 
 An wen the big an little man start a fight square 
 
 Ther small un ull pulverized be. 
 
 Thur beautiful formed girls in scant bath-suits dressed, 
 
 Thet in summer newspapers yer see, 
 Disporting about in old ocean s breast, 
 
 Frocked in tissue paper en glee. 
 
 In the editor s brain they exist at most; 
 
 This delusion tis sad ter dispel; 
 Fur most women s figures resemble mud posts, 
 
 As seaside sojourners ull tell. 
 
 Th summer of th year thetth moon hung wet, 
 
 Wuz th dryest ever wuz seen ; 
 En th fall thet th shuck on th corn wuz thin set, 
 
 Brought a hard winter cold en keen. 
 
 Th fiudy-sickle woman who wants ter dig coal, 
 
 An man s unmentionables fill, 
 We ll never meet her this side uv our goal, 
 
 Fur its gainst godle-mighty s swill. 
 
 *They all wear wigs. 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 67 
 
 Thur shoe box top plank druv in at thur head 
 Uv the young wife s rich old husband s mound 
 
 Uv which you en I hev so often read, 
 Hez so fur never been found. 
 
 Young gal s fathers who put lovers ter flight, 
 
 Hev vanished all too soon ; 
 But th man who did Billy Patterson smite, 
 
 Is unyarthed, he s th man in th moon. 
 
 As an answer to the encore this evoked, he read an 
 original poem of the author s, entitled "A Reminiscence 
 of the Historic City. " Dorsey was a free negro barber 
 in the writer s old home in 1845, and about that year 
 went to the negro settlement in Liberia, and came back 
 after a stay of some months in that country. All the old 
 citizens remember him well. He was a superior darkey ; 
 had a roman nose, and was almost the equal of a white 
 man in intelligence ; and his report on Liberia, which he 
 gave out by conversations about the streets of the town, 
 was listened to with much eagerness by the people at 
 that time, the slave colonization scheme being much agi 
 tated in 1845 to 1847. 
 
 This was as follows : 
 
 His mustache was acoming, his pretty brown hair curled, 
 Kxcelsior ! on the banner he high and proudly whurled. 
 
 He had just come out of college, 
 
 With his head jam full of knowledge, 
 And he braced himself right firm to shake the wurld. 
 
 He declared that on the earth he d make a noise, 
 That the town would honored feel one of her boise 
 
 Had been raised to such high fame, 
 
 So lofty d stand his name 
 That the Senate and the House would be his toise. 
 
 Though of beard upon it, there wasn t much to speak, 
 To colored Dorsey quoth he, razor thou my cheak, 
 
 And for souy nirs let me tell ye, 
 
 Save the hairs, for cash to sell ye, 
 When this wealthy nation with my mighty name doth reak. 
 
 Said Dorsey (as he shaved him), ambitious men I lub to see, 
 Dey strike a sponsive chord, sah, in de pulsing heart ob mee ; 
 
 To Liberia I went and expected, sah, 
 
 As king to at once be elected, sah, 
 But found dat ebery niggah dah wanted king to bee. 
 
68 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 I went wid dat spectation, sah, my merits were so deep, 
 Dat lofty honors on my head I would by showers reep ; 
 
 Unnoticed long around I squeaked, 
 
 Den out de land one night I sneaked ; 
 Since den, in my opinion, sah, I hab come down a heep. 
 
 But my aunts all tell me, Dorsey, on my hat should rest a 
 
 plume 
 Because I am so handsome; and that certainly does lume 
 
 Up in the mist before me, 
 
 My sisters say the presidency ; 
 Why, the universe wont be in it if I once get standing rume. 
 
 For a corset "manufack" for years he drummed. 
 Only in one house in ten was he welcummed; 
 
 He did many miles of walking, 
 
 And yards on yards of talking, 
 But his finances remained always bottummed. 
 
 The years had passed, not few had been his woes ; 
 Hard luck he d seem, not singly, but in roes ; 
 
 But he told them on Main street 
 
 When his old time friends he d meet. 
 He just took the job to wear out his old cloes. 
 
 Time flies, still things seem to go wrong, 
 
 And his world noise he would not delay too wlong ; 
 
 So his vow he now makes good, 
 
 As he said he surely would, 
 For a railroad eating-house he beats the wgong. 
 
 This was also loudly applauded, although the quaint 
 pieces of poetry and humorous tales, current in the United 
 States, delivered in the vernacular of the backwoods and 
 of the Southern negro, seem very funny at times to us, 
 and are always roundly applauded abroad when gotten 
 off at a banquet, reception, or before a club, as was the case 
 with the above ; still, one can see that it is done as a mere 
 matter of politeness ; they don t see the humor of it, not 
 having lived among the inhabitants, and not educated to 
 appreciate its ridiculous or laughable departure from the 
 correct speech of the land. Spanish students state that 
 Don Quixote, in its native language, is the acme of mirth- 
 provoking reading, that on first perusing it they rolled on 
 the floor over and over again shrieking with laughter, 
 but on reading it in its German translation it lost the 
 greatest part of its charm. So may peculiarities of Spain 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 69 
 
 and the Spanish people that the work has reference 
 to that are foreign to Germany makes a translation but 
 little more than a curious tale about the days of old. It 
 is like the songs of our Southern blacks commencing 
 with, " O, dem golden slippers." A foreigner would not 
 grasp at all the meaning about the slippers being a part 
 of the dress of the celestial land, or that the very words 
 "golden slippers," when spoken by a black, meant ex 
 istence in the realms above, and expressed their ideas of 
 the hereafter state. And so it is with our English trans 
 lation of Don Quixote, even far less funny than in Ger 
 man, we being much farther removed from the customs 
 and peculiarities of Spain than Germany and therefore 
 much less capable of appreciating it. No English or 
 American boy rolls about the floor in laughter on reading 
 the book ; indeed, it is only appreciated by older persons 
 after years of experience of human nature, then they 
 come nearer to the Spaniards in enjoying it. 
 
 Menton had finally got so proficient in his German as 
 to have in his repertory a song in German of his own 
 composition, which he now gave in response to the flat 
 tering encore, one verse of which here follows. Berlin 
 is pronounced in Germany Bareleen, e being a, and i be 
 ing e, but the Berliners themselves pronounce it Beahleen, 
 and so it is intended to be in his song : 
 
 In jugend war einer sehr lean, 
 Er wird immer so bleiben by jinks, 
 
 Aber atistritikt sein flaschen sixteen, 
 Bis sein maul-thier shaut ihm an links, 
 
 In Beahleen, in Beahleen, in Beahleen, 
 War das ein ganz anders dings. 
 
 He accompanied it on the banjo, upon which he was an 
 expert. It was the height of ridiculousness and non 
 sense, and evoked roars of laughter and deafening cheers, 
 to all of which he politely bowed and then got down from 
 off the platform. Menton showed that he was an apt 
 pupil and was imbibing largely of German high gentle- 
 manship, by thus going them one over in flattery (in 
 presenting a German song of his own construction) in re 
 turn for their highly flattering encores of his first pieces. 
 
70 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 Then O Brien, a resident of a large city in Ireland, and 
 who was one of the handsomest men and one of the most 
 perfectly cultivated gentleman it has ever been my good 
 fortune and to my advantage to meet, arose, stepped upon 
 the little platform, and in his rich, clear voice recited in 
 English the later-on following beautiful verses of Thomas 
 Moore, first stating that he would give a short account of 
 the history of the poem s hero : 
 
 "Mononia," he said, "was the ancient name of what 
 is now Munster, the most southern one of the four an 
 cient kingdoms into which Erin was formerly divided. 
 Brian Boroihme, or Brian Boru, born about 927, was 
 first ruler of Mononia, succeeding to the throne as chief 
 of the Dal Cais in 976 on the death of his elder brother, 
 who was murdered at that time, and reigned from the 
 year 976 until 1002, and afterward, at about the latter 
 date, backed by the knights under his unexcelled leader 
 ship, he became, after much fighting, Ardrigh na Erenn, 
 king of entire Ireland, having reduced, in the year 
 1001, Malachi, the king of the northern half of the 
 country, under his dominion. He was one of the great 
 est military generals of which history gives any note. 
 
 "The Emerald Isle reached its highest pinnacle 
 of prosperity and eminence of ancient times under his 
 famous reign. In twenty battles, subsequent to his 
 assuming the control of the government, in which he was 
 contested with the Danish invaders, his troops, with him 
 self at their head, were victorious in every one, without a 
 single exception. In 1014 he had united against him a 
 large army of Danes, Scandinavians, Saxons, Flemings, 
 and a number of Maelmorda s, L,einster and Welsh troops, 
 under the leadership of Sigurd, the Earl of Orkney and 
 Caithness. Malachi, the former king, who had been de 
 posed thirteen years before, with the forces of Meath, 
 joined the bands of Munster and Connaught which Brian 
 had mustered. When the king was advancing to the 
 attack, on his way through the plains of Fine-gaill, north 
 of Dublin, he was accosted by a beautiful young Irish 
 girl, who sprang forward and grasped his horse s bridle- 
 rein and who stated that it had been related to her in a 
 
STUDKNT UFE IN GERMANY. 71 
 
 dream to caution him not to linger near his tent during 
 the battle. He paid no attention to her admonishment 
 and attempted to waive her aside, but she persistently 
 clung to his horse s mane and told him that if he paid no 
 heed to her warning and remained in the vicinity of his 
 tent during the progress of the conflict he would not live 
 to see Saint Venerdi s Eve (Holy Friday s evening), nor 
 would there be a coronach (an Irish weeping funeral 
 dirge or lamentation for the dead) sung over him. She 
 was finally hustled away by his men, and the king pro 
 ceeded. The battle took place on Good Friday, April 
 23d, in the year 1014, and the ground was so desperately 
 contested on both sides that nearly all the leaders fell in 
 the conflict. 
 
 "Brian was then an old man of eighty-seven years of 
 age and unable to lead his troops into the fray as he had 
 in former years always done in person at their head, but 
 directed the course of battle by couriers from his tent ; 
 toward late evening, and against the protests of his body 
 guard, and unheeding their fears for his safety, he dis 
 patched all but a score or so of them, to lend their aid to 
 their sore pressed fellows in a certain far away part of the 
 field, where the now defeated enemy were still stubbornly 
 resisting ; after their departure to the assistance of their 
 gallant comrades, the king standing before the entrance 
 to the royal tent, saw a large body of soldiers in the dis 
 tance rapidly advancing toward him and surmised that it 
 was a party of his men coming for more orders or with 
 farther news of victory, of the repulse and flight of the 
 enemy. Suddenly the banshee (a supernatural being of 
 Ireland, which always gives notice to the members of the 
 royal house of their speedy death) appeared about six 
 feet from the earth, floating backward and forward and 
 from side to side in the air before him ; a caped and long 
 dressed slender womanly figure, with unbound waving 
 hair, the end of her long dress fading away into nothing 
 ness beneath her. King of Erin ! King of Erin ! Pre 
 pare to die ! issued from between her lips in a long, 
 mournfully chanting wail, as she desparingly kept wav 
 ing her clasped and wringing hands up and down from 
 
72 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 her waist to above her head. Brian fell upon his knees, 
 dropping his sword upon the greensward between them, 
 and held out his upraised arms appealingly toward the 
 apparition, who only slowly and sadly shook her head 
 from side to side in answer and repeated, as she continued 
 undulating about in the air before him, the doleful wail, 
 King of Erin ! King of Erin! Prepare to die ! And then 
 with a final lament of utter hopelessness disappeared as 
 though absorbed into the surrounding elements. Brian 
 bowed his head ; he knew that his hour was come, arose, 
 and soon the oncoming party getting sufficiently near to 
 be recognizable, he saw that they were enemies. After 
 the battle had been won and the enemy defeated, the 
 troops spread out all over the field in pursuit. The king, 
 save by a score or so of men bunched about the back of 
 his tent, was left alone, and was standing before the en 
 trance with eager eyes watching the ebb and flow of the 
 distant tide of battle, when the Danish viking king Gut- 
 ring (sometimes called Brodir), with a large party of fol 
 lowers, all of them fugitives, hastening from the scene of 
 the now decided conflict, happened to come across, in his 
 flight, the royal tent, which he recognized immediately, as 
 well as the person standing before it, the king himself, now 
 left all but unprotected by his victorious forces. They saw 
 at once that the royal personage was but feebly guarded 
 and immediately rushed toward and attacked him. 
 
 11 Brian, although an old man, seized firmly his weapon, 
 and at the head of his little band, who leaped to the fray 
 in the defense of their king, met the onset, and all his 
 own men and most of his attackers were slain ere he was 
 finally pressed backward into the interior of his tent by 
 overwhelming numbers ; and disputing every foot of 
 ground was at length slain by the Viking king. Thus, 
 with his weapon in hand, face to the foe, and surrounded 
 by his own dead men and the dying and slaughtered of 
 the enemy, and with blood flowing like water all around 
 him, a king and a general who was without a superior in 
 his time, at last sank to the earth ere yet the dying sun 
 had removed its final beams of light from off the bloody 
 plains of Clontarf. And thus the girl s foreboding dream 
 
STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 73 
 
 and prophecy came true ; for neither lived he to see Saint 
 Venerdi s Kve, nor was there a coronach sung over him ; 
 for when the conquering forces bore his body home, bleed 
 ing from a hundred wounds, the knights contended that no 
 single weeping outcry should be made over him, and all 
 with one accord declared that he had killed enough that day 
 for the women of the enemy to wail his coronach from 
 the land s end to the green banks of the Shannon. 
 
 " He had seats of government also at Tara and Cashel, 
 but Kinkora, the home mentioned, to which he was 
 taken for burial, was the main palace of Brian, and was 
 situated in Mononia, in the section of country that is now 
 County Clare." 
 
 O Brien then ended his preliminary statement of ex 
 planation, and recited the verses as follows : 
 
 Remember the glories of Brian the brave, 
 
 Tho the days of the hero are o er ; 
 Tho lost to Mononia and cold in the grave, 
 
 He returns to Kinkora no more ! 
 That star of the field, that so often has poured 
 
 Its beams on the battle, is set; 
 But enough of its glory remains on each sword 
 
 To light us to victory yet ! 
 
 Mononia! when nature embellished the tint 
 
 Of thy fields, and thy mountains so fair, 
 Did she ever intend that a tyrant should print 
 
 The footstep of slavery there ? 
 No, Freedom ! Whose smile we shall never resign, 
 
 Go tell our invaders, the Danes, 
 
 That tis sweeter to bleed for an age at thy shrine, 
 
 Than to sleep for a moment in chains ! 
 
 Forget not our wounded companions who stood 
 
 In the day of distress by our side : 
 While the moss of the valley grew red with their blood, 
 
 They stirred not, but conquered and died ! 
 The sun, that now blesses our arms with his light, 
 
 Saw them fall upon Ossory s plain ! 
 Oh ! let him not blush, when he leaves us tonight, 
 
 To find that they fell there in vain ! 
 
 At the conclusion of this, he got off the little platform 
 and resumed his seat, and to the ensuing applause merely 
 arose from his chair and bowed gracefully; but they would 
 
74 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 not let him off, and he finally had to get back and re 
 spond before the cheers and clapping ceased. This time 
 he also gave a poem of Moore s, entitled " Let Erin Re 
 member the Days of Old." A mouse s squeak could 
 have been heard during its rendition : 
 
 Let Erin remember the days of old, 
 
 Ere her faithless sons betrayed her, 
 When Malachi wore the collar of gold, 
 
 Which he won from her proud invader ! 
 When her Kings with standard of green unfurled, 
 
 Led the Red-Brauch Knights to danger : 
 Ere the emerald gem of the western world 
 
 Was set in the crown of a stranger. 
 
 On Lough Neagh s banks as the fisherman strays, 
 
 When the clear, cold eve s declining, 
 He sees the round towers of other days 
 
 In the wave beneath him shining ! 
 Thus shall memory often, in dreams sublime, 
 
 Catch a glimpse of the days that are over, 
 Thus, sighing, look through the waves of time 
 
 For the long faded glories they cover ! 
 
 Then a Russian student from the far ice-bound lands of 
 the north got upon the little stand and gave a selection of 
 poetry in his native language ; a translation of which I 
 made into English as follows, although it loses much of 
 its beauty in being changed into a foreign tongue, es 
 pecially by the author of this work : 
 
 Thou still seem st the girl I used to take sleighing, 
 
 In the days of our youth, when the future looked bright, 
 
 With the handkerchiefs waving and the proud horses neighing, 
 And the curved runners cutting the swift air of night. 
 
 How fast through the suburbs we used to go flying, 
 Then out to the far wastes we sailing would go, 
 
 The silver bells jingling, past the lurking wolf lying, 
 Over the wild steppes of ice and of snow. 
 
 Will th remembrances of those days ever perish, 
 To banish them often though we might strive? 
 
 Never ! Those memories we will ever cherish, 
 Ever while life lasts to keep them alive. 
 
 Combined with these roses I send thee a blessing, 
 And to you may I hope twill as welcome be, 
 
 As the whistling winds of Cossack Land caressing 
 Were to the flowers ere I picked them for thee. 
 
STUDENT UFK IN GERMANY. 75 
 
 " Would you believe", said Vielbeer, getting the mem 
 ory of his youthful days stirred up by the sentimental 
 song, " that I was once in love ? " 
 
 1 Impossible ! inadvertently said several of those sit 
 ting in the ring of chairs nearest to him, and half circling 
 his front, surprised out of their self-possession by the in 
 congruity of associating his contour with the tender 
 passion. At this he glared about, but meeting only re 
 spectful, attentive faces, continued: 
 
 Yes, fifty 3 T ears ago I fell in love with a young girl, 
 an angel on earth, an angel, truly, although without 
 wings, of course. Ah ! how my old heart beats and thrills 
 with emotions I thought long since stilled as I again 
 call up her sainted picture to memory s view. 
 
 "My, my ! how deeply I was in love with her only 
 those of you who are aware of the depth of my na 
 ture can realize. I can close my eyes now, after the 
 lapse of over half a century, and see my darling as plainly 
 as though twere only yesterday walking up and down 
 the paths of her father s garden in the fair summer days, 
 all clothed in gauzy white, looking like a fairy from the 
 realms of enchantment. How I used to envy the pink 
 and blue ribbons that at times encircled her waist the 
 waist I would have given kingdoms (if I had had them 
 of course) to clasp with my arm. How I viewed her 
 from afar ; how at night I would have gotten into the 
 garden and kissed the walks her dainty feet had trod (if 
 I could have scaled the big wall of course) ; how I 
 spoiled reams of paper in sending her poetry and prose, 
 declaring my life was wrapped up in her ; how I caught 
 colds by the wholesale, and once almost the galloping 
 consumption, under her windows at night, singing solos to 
 the accompaniment of a guitar (which I continually car 
 ried in my pocket to have handy for that special purpose), 
 expressive of my undying and life-engrossing love for 
 her. All this I need not tell you, as most of you young 
 suckers can realize my plight from your own experi 
 ences. That I have never been able to look at any 
 woman since, but as a sister, is evidence sufficient that the 
 flame of affection that flared for her then was so deep and 
 
76 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 fierce that naught but ashes has ever since occupied the 
 place in my heart where affection is supposed to exist. 
 She was indeed a lovely girl, weighed two hundred 
 pounds, had flaxen hair most abundant, light blue eyes, 
 a face very fair, and her arms at her shoulders were fat, 
 round, lovely and large beyond my powers of descrip 
 tion. In addition to these charms her father owned the 
 only brewery for forty miles around. In spite of my 
 furious and take her by storm kind of passion for I 
 was very much in love with her you may believe 
 neither the girl nor her father seemed to look with the 
 least favor upon me. But I was young then, and you 
 can imagine that such trifles as that did not bother me in 
 those days. Seeing that my progress in her affections 
 from the time of my first meeting her was very decidedly 
 stationary, and remembering that faint heart ne er won 
 fair lady, and that to the brave belong the fair by inher 
 ent right, and all that sort of thing, I resolved on a bold 
 stroke, considering any means, fair or foul, perfectly ap 
 propriate and justifiable to secure possession of this dainty 
 pearl beyond price. 
 
 "So one day I got out and polished very brilliantly my 
 Sunday garment. I must remind you that in those old 
 German days, that outside of our shirts our clothing con 
 sisted of a single garment made of leather, which 
 we now call pants. The waist-band was very large, cov 
 ering our stomachs up to our necks ; and the boots were 
 also sewed to and were part of the legs of the pants, so 
 it was all in one piece. German gentlemen, in those 
 days, continued Vielbeer with a smile lurking deep in 
 his eyes, first donned their shirt, then put their lower limbs 
 in the legs of this garment, the waist-band of which 
 came up to the arm pits, and it was fastened at the back 
 of the neck. Thusly clad, with a feather of our soaring 
 eagle in my cap, I grasped a stout and heavy stick, 
 mounted my steed Groszfitter, and rode off to the deeply- 
 timbered regions. After winding about, I finally sur 
 mounted an elevation from which I could see the chapel 
 of the old hermit priest, who, for years, had made his 
 home in the dense, somber woods, in the obscure recesses 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 77 
 
 and secret depths of the black forest mountains, and 
 whom all held in reverence, and the superstitious in great 
 awe as his only known associates, except on Sundays, 
 when the peasants flocked to his chapel, were the mys 
 terious mountain gnomes and kobolds of German legend 
 ary lore. 
 
 "Seeing smoke issuing from his stone chimney, and 
 knowing from that that he was at home, my spirits began 
 to rise. Fate seemed propitious ; ere long my peerless 
 Gretchen would be mine, mine own forever ! for well I 
 knew that as soon as I got her alone with me, away from 
 her villainous father s influence, she would not be able to 
 control her feelings of affection that I felt she certainly 
 must have for such a handsome young fellow as myself, 
 and would put her arms around my neck, lay her soft 
 cheek to mine and say, I love you, O my adored ; let us 
 hasten to the priest ere some mishap befall you, my be 
 loved. By all this manner in which I had her senti 
 ments toward me worked out in my own mind, you can see 
 for yourselves that in olden days I did not differ materially 
 in self-esteem from the young men of the present. I meant 
 to abduct my willing bride, and knowing the hour she al 
 ways passed in the garden, I turned Groszfitter s head to 
 ward her father s stronghold. It was the partially restored 
 building of an old castle which had been blown up by the 
 French under L,ouis XIV ; was on the bank of a river, 
 surrounded by a wall, had a draw-bridge and port 
 cullis-like gate, and was approached by a large stone 
 bridge running over the river. On arriving there I rode 
 down to the bank, and seeing the river flowing away into 
 the distance, calm and placid, winding like a silver band 
 to the far away sea, I saw in the river s motion an ex 
 pression of my own happiness awaiting me. After she 
 and I were married so would our lives be lovingly me 
 andering down the stream of life, adoringly going along the 
 path of existence, calm and placid like the silent-flowing 
 river ; no ruffles, no ripples, no unsmoothness all the 
 days and years just love and happiness. So many things 
 in nature seemed to be doing their best to urge me on 
 that my elation reached the highest rung. All nature 
 was showing me favors, and conspiring to aid me. 
 
78 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 "So I tilted my cap over my left eye, rode lightly over 
 the bridge, up the paved roadway and raising aloft my 
 stout stick, thundered heavily at the gate, which I did so 
 lustily that echoes returned from the lofty pine-covered 
 mountain peaks of the Schwarzwalder (black forest) 
 seventeen miles away. Potts donnerwetter, sapperment, 
 schwearnote, blitz carrambo ! I heard her father swear 
 in astonishment and awakened awe, inside ; doubtless 
 thinking, by the assurance conveyed in the summons at 
 the gate, that the king and his whole retinue must be 
 seeking admission. The gates of these old fortified places 
 slid up and down in groves like a guillotine blade or axe; 
 and suddenly there arose the noise of clanking chains and 
 then up went the gate and I rode my horse in quickly right 
 under the overhanging, bottom spiked, heavy oaken door, 
 so that he could not drop it without a serious breach of 
 etiquette, as well as damage to my lordly and well- 
 thought-of self. Her father glared terribly at first on 
 seeing me, but suddenly his eyes taking in my fine at 
 tire, supposed I was now flush with wealth and had come 
 to settle for the many kegs I had soaped him for all those 
 years gone into the past, and asked me quite civilly to 
 come in. I read his thoughts like a flash in one of those 
 intuitive moments we all have at times of great anxiety 
 and peril, and my own thoughts at once leaped to the oc 
 casion. No ! I replied, * I have not time to dismount and 
 enter ; bring my account, I would like to pay all my 
 bills in full (which was the truth). * I would also like to 
 be able to do the same this day. I caught a glimpse of my 
 darling fair one, my sainted Gretchen, in the garden, sit 
 ting under an aged overspreading linden tree, reading ; 
 so puffing out my cheeks and swelling out my chest and 
 reaching my fist down into my empty leg pocket and 
 holding it there in a suggestive paying-up attitude, I 
 said, Make out my rechuung (statement), I will await 
 here your speedy return. He went into the house, and I 
 galloped toward the garden and up to Gretchen, and said, 
 My angel one, my swan of the air, fly with me and 
 reign queen of the world forever. She was quite taken 
 by surprise and startled, like a sweet gazelle in the 
 
STUDENT UPE IN GERMANY. 79 
 
 meadow, out of her composure ; and before she recovered 
 I reached down from my horse and grabbed her, enfolded 
 her lovely being in my clasp, and although I was young 
 then and had the ardor of love in my heart, the fire of 
 youth in my veins, and my lovely maiden in my arms, 
 still it was only by the most strenuous exertion that I 
 managed to lift her in front of me upon the saddle. 
 
 " Gretchen, however much she may have loved me, how 
 ever deeply she may have sighed all the past months at 
 the omission from her presence of my charming company, 
 however longingly she may have dwelt on my name in 
 her prayers for my success, and in admiration of my per 
 sistent meritorious firmness in the endeavor to overcome 
 her father s infernal obstinacy, did not, it seems, ap 
 prove entirely of my desire to make her queen of the 
 world. Great heavens, how she fought and struggled and 
 screamed and scratched my hands and face! I marvel yet 
 how such a lovely angel could so suddenly transform into 
 such a terrible wildcat. 
 
 "I finally grabbed her arms down tightly to her waist, 
 turned Groszfitter s head toward the entrance, gave him a 
 baste with the stick, to which he responded nobly and 
 went like the wind out of the gate, over the bridge and 
 into the country beyond, just as her father, hearing her 
 screams, came tearing like a sore-pawed bear out of the 
 house. Terrible indeed was the language he wafted after 
 us as we rode away. I tremble to this day when I think 
 of his words. I turned around in the saddle and shouted 
 back that in a few hours I would surely do him the honor 
 of recommending myself to him as a son-in-law, threw 
 him a merry kiss and gayly galloped on, for well I knew 
 he had no horse to follow, and I felt so safe that as I en 
 tered the outskirts of the black woods I checked my 
 steed and turned to look at my bride ; she was overcome 
 at the joy, at the exquisite thrilling sensation of feeling 
 herself at last secure in my arms and had fainted away. 
 I rapturously squeezed her to my breast, calling her my 
 precious sugar plum, my onliest own honey girl and 
 other saccharine terms of endearment, and then bent for 
 ward and my lips touched her irresistible and coyly 
 
80 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 tempting ones in a loving endeavor to revive her; then I 
 acquired mental cognition of the extremity of happiness 
 and felicity, for that was the divinest, most blissful, 
 moment that I ever experienced in all my life. The 
 pearly gates of paradise opened, celestial wings of snowy 
 whiteness were wafted through the air in rhythm to 
 heavenly music, the nectar of the gods was given me in 
 abundance to quaff, all the delightful blessedness in the 
 universe showered over me. All, all this occurred dur 
 ing the second of time in which I kissed her. The ecstasy 
 that was mine at the thought of how soon I should now 
 possess her was too great for me to tell you. In a few 
 moments we would be married; soon be joined into the 
 most hallowed of all friendships ; soon be united in the 
 dearest of all associations, the sweetest of all companion 
 ships. My rapture was absolutely beyond the bounds of a 
 human breast. I had supposed that no reasonable being 
 would be imbecile enough to think of pursuit on foot for 
 fear of being made the sport of ridicule in attempting to 
 dream of foot pursuing horse, but I had forgotten for 
 the moment our thundering German persistency, for on 
 suddenly hearing shouts and cries in the distance I looked 
 back and saw her father and his infernal hirelings in hot 
 pursuit. I had also forgotten that although I had ridden 
 Groszfitter for years, still I had never tested .his bottom 
 farther than from home to the brewery, where he always 
 rested and nourished himself for several hours while I 
 refreshed myself, and then the return to my tumbling old 
 castle. Now I discovered to my dismay that although 
 my two hundred pounds of beautiful girl sat very lightly 
 upon my loving heart, her weight soon began to set pretty 
 heavily upon my gallant steed s back, for he began to 
 puff and blow terribly. I urged him on, but he began to 
 get wobbly. This did not tend to increase my hopes ; be 
 sides, I could see that the pursuers, coming with giant 
 strides, were gaining upon us. I cut through the woods, 
 over hill and dale, at all angles, but made the great mis 
 take of always keeping headed for the priest s chapel, and 
 they ever and anon got a glimpse of us through the trees. 
 Had I coolly reflected, I would have thought that they 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 8 1 
 
 surmised my destination and would at once make for the 
 chapel, and I should have hidden with Gretchen in the 
 forest until the hovering, angry clouds had rolled away. 
 But I was excited, and all my energy and mind bent on 
 arriving there first, and, I still hoped, in sufficient time. 
 I was already in sight of it ; saw the welcome smoke 
 ascending from the chimney and the aged priest, clothed 
 in his peaked hood and long waist-roped gown, standing 
 in meditation near by ; the goal was in view, but I was 
 too late. 
 
 I can now realize what the feelings of shipwrecked 
 mariners must be, after days of fighting for life on the 
 storm-tossed ocean, to sink beneath the cold, dark waves, 
 to go down to the bottom j ust as their vessel approaches 
 a harbor, with crowds of willing but unavailing helpers 
 standing with outstretched arms on the shore. Indeed, 
 that must be an affecting experience, -only second to what 
 I felt as they finally caught us. 
 
 All the blood of my noble and illustrious ancestors rose 
 in my veins ; I raised my heavy stick high in the air ; 
 my hair rose in rage and fury from rny head, and my 
 noble self roused to conflict rose in my stirrups. I clung 
 to Gretchen and made a desperate resistance, my heart s 
 delight lending me every assistance ; she clawed and 
 scratched and bit me with all her strength in order to 
 urge me on in the fray and to keep my ire from lapsing 
 into languor ; and so I used my stout stick upon their 
 thick heads with all my power, but I might as well have 
 been hitting butcher s blocks for all the impression 
 it made. My horse was soon pulled down ; and in the 
 furious struggle of passion and resentment that ensued 
 was rolled over us four times. My peerless Gretchen, 
 the darling of my heart, the light of my soul, was torn in 
 a terrible heart-broken, hysterical state of streaming tears 
 from my arms. Her father s cussed hirelings seized me in 
 a lump, and by his directions I was swung around in the 
 air several times, and then fired six hundred feet away 
 into the Clammer river, which resembles," continued Viel- 
 beer, looking squarely at me, * your American Missouri, 
 in being more mud than water. Three weeks later when 
 
82 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 I had gotten the last of the mud scraped off of me and 
 appeared once more in cultivated society, I heard that her 
 father had made her marry some infernal hundefuss 
 whose possessions adjoined his own. I decided that if 
 she would pine away to a shadow, and die in some early 
 summer time with the sweet smile of lost affection held 
 out to me still, that then I would consider that the loss of 
 his daughter as being sufficient punishment for an obsti 
 nate father, and forever hold my peace ; but to the con 
 trary I heard that she was getting fairer and fatter and 
 more lovely as the months went on, so I swore terrible 
 vengeance on him, which later on I carried out, so fear 
 ful was it, indeed, that it would crack the roof of this 
 building even to mention it here," concluded he, looking 
 around over his shoulder as though he feared some lurk 
 ing danger. 
 
 As he ceased speaking we all shuddered, our hands 
 trembled, teeth chattered, and our knees shook. 
 
 " Let s hear it, Vielbeer," said several, finally. 
 
 11 1 cannot," replied he. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; do now," we all urged. 
 
 "You all won t tell?" 
 
 " Never ! " came in a chorus from everyone. 
 
 11 Well, then, I moved away for a while into the next 
 county, and the consumption of his beer by that means 
 having fallen off two-thirds, great quantities of it began 
 to sour, and daily he would have the satisfaction of seeing 
 many more barrels spoiling for a consumer, and each 
 morning calculate his loss ; the daily losses so preyed 
 upon his mind that he got sleepless, grew thin, sickened, 
 and, finally, on his physician stating that only a dis 
 ordered liver was ailing him, gave the medical man a 
 volley of round curses, turned his face to the wall and 
 died. When I heard of this last occurrence, I realize in 
 my extreme youth what so many of us in the wide ex 
 perience of after years see, how and where we missed our 
 happiness or our fortune, by not taking advantage of 
 some slight circumstance, or by the lack of a very little 
 forethought. Had I but had the noble foresight to move 
 away a few months sooner and had let his beer sour a 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 83 
 
 half a year earlier, you can readily see that the soon or 
 phaned girl would, or at least could, if she so wanted, 
 have rushed into my arms without my having to meet a 
 parent s cursed pig-headedness with resolute staunchness. 
 Ah, me ! " ended Vielbeer, sighing retrospectively. "Ah, 
 me ! it might have been. But for the lack of a little fore 
 thought it might have been, and yet it still is better to 
 have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." 
 
 " Another song, Vielbeer," came from several. 
 
 "No, no. No song," replied he. 
 
 "Yes, yes ; just another," they said coaxingly. 
 
 "No, no song ; I can t bear to think of a swill song as 
 long as such hallowed memories of my loved and lost one 
 remain in my mind. I will, however, tell you about the 
 exploits of my great grandfather, who was such a famous 
 wine-drinker, and who was renowned all over the lands 
 north of the blue Danube for the great quantities that he 
 could consume, and who seemed never to show the least 
 trace that he had absorbed a single drop ; always appear 
 ing at the end of a convivial bout as cool, collected, clear 
 headed and thirsty as at the moment of starting in, while 
 his contesting companions had, long ere he ceased, given 
 up the fray and been snoring like hippopotamuses in their 
 sleep. 
 
 " My ancestor, Baron Marverdt von Vielbeer, com 
 manded a regiment of eleven hundred men under Frie- 
 drich der Grosze (Frederick the Great), to which be 
 longed five cannon of staunch, stout make, but of very 
 heavy build. These pieces of ordnance were the pride 
 of the command, and the men vied with each other in 
 their care of them. 
 
 " In those flush days of our illustrious and noble house 
 such a mean drink as beer offered to a gentleman of my 
 ancestor s standing would have been considered a deadly 
 insult. Ah me ! Would that the situation of his some 
 what less illustrious great grandson were in keeping with 
 the high position once maintained by our race. So goes the 
 revolving wheel of time the men of one generation up, 
 those of the next down. Who knows but what my 
 nephews, the heirs of my house, may, in the not distant 
 
84 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 future, raise the luster of our line again to its former 
 place second only to his Imperial Majesty s family. 
 One thing you can rest assured of, and that is the fact 
 that if the wheel of fortune is still turning, whichever 
 way it moves, will certainly bring results immensely to 
 the betterment of the finances I draw from the few acres 
 still surrounding Vielbeer castle. 
 
 " Well, my ancestor enjoyed the deepest confidence and 
 bosom friendship of the immortal Frederick during all the 
 Seven Years War ; and after one of the many brilliant ex 
 ploits of my great grandfather on the field of battle, wit 
 nessed in person by the king, he publicly embraced my 
 ancestor before the whole army, and showered on him 
 such high honors as to awaken the envy and animosity of 
 Commander Vielbeer s numerous enemies within the 
 ranks. This particular brilliant exploit of my ancestor 
 was something about the commander, alone and unaided, 
 and with a broken sword at that, putting a whole brigade 
 of four regiments of the enemy s to flight, in full view of 
 all the army and the king. There were later rumors, 
 emanating, doubtless, from the envious persons who en 
 deavored to belittle his achievements, stating that the 
 commander ran ignominiously, and caused the enemy s 
 whole brigade to take flight in pursuit, but they only re 
 lated part of the occurrence. 
 
 No military man will, for an instant, believe that so 
 large a body of soldiers would pursue to capture a single 
 officer ; nor that a king in the presence of an army would 
 honor an officer for simply flight, for merely a glorious 
 retreat ; though all soldiers will admit, that had my an 
 cestor only a broken sword, a hasty falling back before 
 armed men would not only be considered allowable, but 
 also perfectly justifiable and sensible; many soldiers would 
 not entertain the idea of flight for merely the saving of 
 their own lives ; no ! perish the thought ; but might do 
 so after considering that they had no right to lessen their 
 army s strength by the loss of their individual selves ; 
 but the great are ever subject to malicious attack, and so 
 we will let it go at that, and I will tell you the facts re 
 lated by my ancestor as they truly occurred. Just at dusk 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 85 
 
 in the end of November, about a month after the great 
 victory of Eindorf, which had taken place the middle of 
 the preceding October, and which reflected such credit 
 on the Prussian arms, and in which the Bombazeunt cav 
 alry rode through a hail of shot and shell, right up to the 
 enemy s fortifications, sabered the gunners, captured the 
 outworks and compelled the evacuation of the last fort 
 held by the enemy on Prussian soil ; well, just at dusk 
 it was the very end of the month of November, during 
 the drizzling and rainy season and immediately pre 
 ceding the battle of Kremzburg, in which the army 
 and Great Frederick sent all the united allies flying in 
 wild disorder from which they never recovered and which 
 made them sue for peace beyond the border, leaving all 
 their arms, cannon, supplies and twenty thousand pris 
 oners in our hands, and losing the flower of their army 
 by shot and saber, and which success was the ending of 
 the Seven Years War, and beginning of the greatness and 
 ascendency of Prussia over the German-speaking States 
 of the north, and which convinced the world that King 
 Frederick was invincible well, as I said, it was the end 
 of November of that year, and still drizzling nearly every 
 day, when my ancestor with a couple of dozen brother 
 officers of Frederick s standard, were all agreeably and 
 comfortably sitting together around a large table in one 
 of the wine cellars of the Black Raven, in Gerbstadt, to 
 refresh themselves for the coming campaign for King 
 Frederick was planning an attack on the enemy s en 
 trenchments, the last stronghold, the last position that 
 they held in Prussia, and which they had retreated to and 
 now occupied in force at Kremzburg, fifty miles away. 
 The wine cellar was in the foundation of an old monastery 
 which in medieval times had been strongly fortified ; it 
 had fallen to ruins, however, after being taken and held 
 by first one side and then another, and eventually razed 
 by the purchasers to the massive foundations, which, be 
 ing beneath the ground, were left for cellars, and the 
 Black Raven Inn erected upon them, from the fallen 
 stones that were lying scattered all about. The large room 
 in which the officers had congregated was beneath the 
 
86 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 ground, except the extreme upper part, from which two 
 windows, heavily barred, admitted a faint light from the 
 stone-paved street ; the walls were heavily built of stone, 
 were six and eight feet thick, and the room ended up 
 ward in an arched stone ceiling ; only a dim light was 
 admitted by the high windows to the lower part of the 
 cellar room at the best of times, and even in broad daylight 
 flaming candles were needed. All the officers were known 
 to each other except one, a stranger, who was a spare- 
 looking man, with a thin face and palid countenance, 
 with jet black hair and eyes, with a small, stiffly waxed 
 mustache, and a small pointed goatee on the very tip of 
 his chin, and who had a satirical expression, at some 
 times more perceptible than at others, playing about the 
 corners of his mouth. None of the officers seemed either 
 to have met him before or to know anything about him, or 
 how he came to be seated among them at the table, and 
 just opposite my ancestor, the commander ; for all had 
 come in a body to the door with an attendant who had 
 unlocked it and admitted them, and who, upon lighting 
 the candles on the table and ordering his underlings to 
 carry in the lunches and the liquors, had retired ; how 
 ever, there he was, that was certain, and the officers wish 
 ing to welcome him to their company, all saluted him in 
 a military manner after seating themselves ; at which the 
 stranger arose and gravely bowed in acknowledgment. 
 
 "His dress betokened a high military commander in 
 some extremely northern country that no one present 
 could designate, or recognize from it or its decorations. 
 That he was an officer from a frigid zone all mentally 
 agreed, as his exceedingly tall cap, made in the shape of 
 an inverted bell, was composed of thick woolly and long 
 haired black bearskin and had a yellow and white rosette 
 on one side of the top, from which decoration arose, 
 towering above the cap s flat summit or crown, a tall 
 black plume. 
 
 The bottles were opened, the glasses filled and emptied, 
 and the officers fell into discussing the oncoming battle, 
 the probable results of the previous victory in influencing 
 the army in an assault on the enemy s works, the 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 87 
 
 amount of stores and supplies the enemy still had, etc. 
 Soon all were getting garrulous and becoming wine- 
 heated, flushed and red-eyed from their deep potations as 
 the night wore on, and as dozens after dozens of bottles 
 were drained and flung aside. At length the assembly 
 grew noisy, songs were sung, toasts were made, their 
 military hats waved about and swung around over their 
 heads in their exuberance of spirits, and to emphasize 
 their remarks. * Let us uncover ourselves all together 
 and drink to the king, said one finally. This met with 
 instant, unanimous assent ; was regaled with immediate, 
 loud and joyous approval. The goblets were again filled, 
 and all removed their military head-dress with one hand ; 
 raised them altogether high in the air, and giving in loud 
 concert responses to the health of the immortal Frederick, 
 lifted their glasses, clinked them one with another and 
 then all in unison and with a last deafening cheer raised 
 their bumpers to their lips and drained them. Only 
 the stranger said nothing, never spoke a word, never 
 opened his mouth in speech, and never even touched his 
 tall bearskin covering which all along he had kept tightly 
 upon his head ; but sat erect, silent, pale and calm, 
 though he had slowly and coolly filled an immense gob 
 let, held it up and touched with all the others in respon 
 sive greeting to the officers in their toast to their king, 
 and quaffed it off in company with the rest. It was now 
 getting far into the night ; the large quantity of wine 
 consumed began to have its effect. Vengeance is mine ; 
 I will repay , sayeth the L,ord. Voices grew thick, 
 glassy eyes dull and heavy ; heads after nodding awhile 
 sank upon breasts ; deep breathing emanated from all 
 parts of the room, and at last one by one they lowered 
 their heads in sleep upon folded arms on the table before 
 them, fell with limp necks and back-hanging heads 
 backward in their chairs, or dropped off their seats to the 
 floor and rolled under the table until all were deep in 
 stupor and an intense silence supervened, broken only 
 at times by the heavy sighing and breathing of the uncon 
 scious ones all except my revered ancestor the com 
 mander, and the stranger, who were still occupying their 
 
88 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 seats at the table as at the first of the evening, just oppo 
 site each other. Then for the first time the stranger 
 spoke, and in a clear, thick, round, cutting, peculiar, 
 musical voice, addressed my ancestor and said: 
 
 " Now, since these worthy gentlemen have seen fit to 
 withdraw their highly entertaining conversation and ex 
 tremely pleasant companionship from us, and have, snail- 
 like, shrunk into themselves, withdrawn into a reserved 
 stand-offishness seemingly ; in this gathering, peculiar to 
 only those who are now deeply enfolded within the arms 
 of Bacchus, depriving us of their agreeable and interest 
 ing songs, and dispossessing us of the sight of their war 
 like figures and handsome countenances ; and now that 
 we have a clear field before us, and as I am exceedingly 
 empty, distressingly dry, and very thirsty, indeed, and 
 would like to open a few more bottles, if you are samely 
 disposed, and it is agreeable to you, we will quench our 
 thirst in a flagon or so of the famous vintage of 1612, 
 than which no finer nor better bouqueted wine has been 
 seen in all Germany north of the peerless grape-raising 
 banks of the Rhine for two hundred years. 
 
 "The commander nodded to him in acquiescence, of 
 course; he was never the one to offend a strange guest or not 
 make him feel perfectly at home by refusing to accept con 
 vivial hospitality from him. Whereupon the stranger seized 
 the large brass bell, raised it and rang a furious peal, and 
 on an attendant entering ordered several dozen bottles of 
 the famous vintage of the year 1612. And be sure and 
 get it from the south or sunny side of the cellar , contin 
 ued the stranger as the attendant was leaving. After his 
 departure the stranger explained to my ancestor that the 
 vintage of 1612 had been casked in the deep cellars of the 
 Rath Haus (town hall), and stones, timbers, and 
 other rubbish, had gradually accumulated about the door 
 leading to the vaults until the passage-way was finally 
 blocked up and its existence eventually forgotten for over 
 a hundred years ; until about thirty years since on clean 
 ing out the cellars the passage-way and the door were 
 disclosed to view, the cellar broken into and the casks 
 discovered containing the wine, which was at once drawn 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 89 
 
 off into flasks. The bottles were finally brought, being 
 carried in in immense topless oval-shaped baskets by the 
 attendants, one carrier at each end being necessary to 
 convey each of them, and all placed on the floor by the 
 side of the stranger. Now, said he to my ancestor, after 
 the attendants had retired, kindly do me the favor, as you 
 are the nearest, to close and bolt the door, so we may not 
 be interrupted by some disagreeable fellows tumbling in 
 upon us. 
 
 "The commander arose, went to the door, and being 
 under the impression that he heard someone knocking, 
 opened it and looked out into the stone-pillared and high- 
 vaulted passage, but seeing no sign of life anywhere 
 about, except that suggested by the lights streaming from 
 under the doors of opposite cellar chambers all along the 
 wide stone-paved hallway, and that expressed by the 
 clink of glasses and the gay songs of revelers emanating 
 therefrom, withdrew his head into the room, and at once 
 closed the massive and heavily ironed great oaken door, 
 shot its two large bolts firmly and securely, and returned 
 to his seat at the table just in time to witness the stranger 
 lovingly brushing the cob-webs of over a score of years 
 from off the necks of a couple of dozen bottles, which he 
 had already lifted up to beside him on the table. 
 
 "The stranger filled the glasses of both my ancestor and 
 himself, and together they drifted into conversation ; and 
 the commander found him a gentleman of marvelous 
 education, widely learned, and who conversed on all sub 
 jects as familiarly as though he were intimately and per 
 sonally acquainted with them. They finally, quite natur 
 ally, got to speaking of the recent battles, and the insight 
 the stranger displayed in regard to all the tactics of the 
 army, the position of every army corps, the knowledge 
 of the actions the commander s own regiment partici 
 pated in, etc., was so true that it perfectly astounded my 
 ancestor. From the last topic of conversation they 
 gradually came to the discussion of former battles and 
 wars, great leaders of earlier and ancient date ; and all 
 the time emptying glass after glass, bottle after bottle, 
 until when the stranger got to explaining the movements of 
 
90 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 Xerxes in the year 480 B. c., in conveying his vast army 
 over the pass of Thermopylae before and after overwhelm 
 ing Leonidas, the commander s head was so muddled 
 and giddy that he could barely make heads from tails of 
 it. The sides of the compartment wavered backward and 
 forward to his gaze, the table and chairs seemed to whirl 
 about the room, the plates of lunch, bottles and glasses 
 were dancing the lanciers all over the table, and my poor 
 ancestor s head felt so big and heavy that he thought sure 
 it was about to burst or else topple him over by its great 
 weight plump upon the floor. 
 
 * The stranger, however, still sitting in the chair oppo 
 site him, as he had done all evening, calm, cool, collected, 
 erect and pale, was continuing his explanations in which 
 he seemed to be deeply and retrospectively interested ; he 
 had taken strings of pie-crust in illustration of his ex 
 planations of the line of wheeled or movable wooden for 
 tifications behind which Xerxes legions advanced to the 
 attack, and which were finally found too heavy and cum 
 bersome to scale the heights with ; his battalions he had 
 constructed out of rows of bread crumbs ; the mountains 
 he made by piling up a number of the twos now sleep 
 ing companions tumblers ; the pass of Thermopylae repre 
 sented by the space between the necks of two upright 
 wine bottles placed close together ; a large puddle of wine 
 with small pieces of cork floating in it, indicating the 
 ^gean sea and the L,amian gulf with the fleet of Xerxes 
 upon it ; a long streak of the liquid that he had drawn on 
 the table toward his left from out the Gulf of I/amia, 
 showed the Spercheius river at which Xerxes swore so, 
 etc. The stranger moved his legions from one position 
 to another about the table, explaining the movements 
 minutely, bringing up a battalion to the front at one 
 place, spreading it out in a skirmish line at another, em 
 barking a legion on the sea at one part of his position, 
 carrying it around by water and disembarking it at 
 another, and marching it up to the scene of strife ; show 
 ing the projecting eminence on the Saromata Mountains, 
 an uncomfortable looking sitting point on the glasses, in 
 deed, where Xerxes sat as he viewed his vast armed 
 
STUDENT UFK IN GERMANY. 9! 
 
 horde strenuously striving to scale the mountain heights 
 down which L,eonidas, the heroic king of Sparta, and his 
 brave band were rolling great stones, giant boulders and 
 immense masses of large rock upon them in floods. Five 
 glasses, two standing upon top of three, and a single one 
 capping the two upper ones, all in the shape of a cone, rep 
 resenting the distant heights which Xerxes finally gained 
 by leading a body of archers in person, and from which 
 eminence they eventually so shattered the forces of the 
 handful of brave defenders by shooting heavy arrows 
 from their mounted colossal bow-guns upward into the 
 air, and at last getting the exact range, making them 
 drop from above down upon the unprotected heads of the 
 three hundred, which destroyed so many, that with a 
 final rush the enemy s myriads overwhelmed the few re 
 maining defenders, and L,eonidas went down to death 
 and never-fading glory with the last of his immortal war 
 riors just as the setting sun was taking his dying rays 
 from off the lofty peaks of Thermopylae. 
 
 All the time the stranger was absorbed in his recital he 
 was emptying bottle after bottle and talking as coolly 
 and collectedly as though he had touched nothing but 
 water for months, while the commander could barely keep 
 his head off the table, and the room, stranger, fortifica 
 tions, glasses, bottles, chairs, sleeping companions, table, 
 pictures, and candles, were all swimming around and 
 around in a great rapidly-moving swirl before his eyes. 
 But I see you are losing interest, finally remarked the 
 stranger, shutting one eye and drawing his mouth around 
 to the ear under it. So let s drink perfect success to the 
 Prussian arms of the immortal Frederick in the coming 
 battle, and quit. Saying which he seized a bottle, filled a 
 glass for my ancestor and then one for himself, put his 
 own to his lips and at once drained it off. The com 
 mander, in order to respond to the stranger s offering 
 toast of drinking the military success of his beloved 
 captain, made a last convulsive effort to pull himself to 
 gether, and with his head whirling like a spinning-top, 
 made a wild spasmodic grasp at where he supposed his 
 goblet to be sitting, by good luck managed to seize i.t 3( 
 
92 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 raised it to his lips and making strenuous exertions, gulped 
 it down. Just as he threw his head back in patriotically 
 draining the last drop, however, he observed the stranger 
 run his hand up over his ear and under his great bear 
 skin busby, (a movement he had made several times dur 
 ing the evening) and a second later saw a cloud of 
 yellowish fumes issue out into the air around about the 
 stranger s head, from beneath his shaggy head-dress. 
 You have brushed against a candle-flame, your cap s 
 smoking, shouted out the commander; and then his head, 
 being much heavier than all his body, overbalanced him 
 to one side ; however, he caught the top of the table 
 with both hands to stay himself, and just the few seconds 
 before his head, toppling over sideways, went beneath 
 the table-top, as he was about tumbling off his chair, he 
 shot a final startled look at the stranger and perceived 
 that he had for the first time raised his cap from off his 
 head and placed it upon the table, and with his long, 
 pale, white hand lifted up to his brow, was calmly 
 smoothing with a slow, meditative stroke the hair back 
 from his temple, and ascending straight upward into the 
 air in the shape or form of a cornucopia or horn, with 
 small end downward, as though from out a small, 
 rounded aperture in the very summit of the stranger s 
 head, and just midway between two short black horns 
 growing out the sides at the top, he perceived a faint 
 greenish fog arise, widen, and grow dimmer and more 
 vaporish as it dissipated itself, and gradually mingling 
 with the surrounding atmosphere grow mistier and fainter 
 and disappear altogether in space, and all the time also 
 perceived the stranger staring straight at him with an 
 inquiringly quizzical knowing gaze. 
 
 "The commander, losing his hold upon the table, sank 
 out of his chair plump upon the floor, alighted on one 
 shoulder, rolled over and settled squarely on his back 
 upon the stone flags. The stranger jumped up with abound 
 from his seat, whirling the chairs out of his way in some 
 mysteriously dextrous manner as he rushed around the 
 table, his footsteps making a noise as of a two-footed horse 
 running over the floor ; and coming to where the com- 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 93 
 
 mander lay on his back, with wide staring eyes and 
 intense astonishment expressed in his look, he stopped 
 and again fixed his curious gaze on my ancestor; the 
 commander gasped out with an effort, Frigid zone 
 forsooth ! He s from an extremely hot zone, or else 
 am I much mistaken, for I now greatly bethink me 
 that he wore that warm cap to conceal his horns and 
 so that they might be more in keeping with the tem 
 perature of his own native clime ; frigid zone indeed ! 
 I believe it s the foul fiend himself, who has been our guest 
 the whole of the evening. c You never made a truer 
 guess in your life, said the other in his strange musical 
 voice ; and unstopping a small vial, which he drew from 
 his pocket, he bent over the commander and held it under 
 his nose. The commander, thinking it was intended by 
 the stranger for him to swallow the contents, closed his 
 mouth tightly and gave several suspicious sniffs at it ; 
 what was his surprise on inhaling the fumes emanating 
 therefrom, to instantly find all the effects of his convivi 
 ality disappear ; the stranger immediately pocketed his 
 vial, and retiring to his side of the table resumed his 
 former seat; and the commander at once arising from off 
 the floor, smoothed his clothing, pulled his chair up to 
 the table and again seated himself, feeling as empty, cool 
 and lightheaded, as though just back from a campaign in 
 which he had drank nothing for weeks. Your power of 
 acute observation, your aptitude of deduction and deep 
 insight into affairs is perfectly marvelous, said the 
 stranger, arising in his seat just opposite my ancestor, 
 and with his handkerchief, which he drew from an in 
 side breast pocket, sweeping the table clear of all military 
 display of crusts, crumbs, cork, puddles of wine, etc.; 
 and after drying it, by a few seconds holding over a 
 candle, laying it down at the side of his glass. And 
 centuries back I determined to richly reward every one, 
 who, in a friendly drinking bout with me, could keep his 
 penetrative or perceptive powers clear, under wine, long 
 enough to perceive the smoke coming out of my head, by 
 which means I instantly eliminate all the bad effects of 
 drinking ; and if you will allow me the honor, I will do 
 
94 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 so now. Saying which, he again arose from the seat he 
 had resumed while speaking, and leaning over the table 
 tapped my ancestor on the left temple with his long, lean 
 right forefinger, at the same time informing him that 
 whenever he was deep in wine and wished to rid his 
 brain of the clouding and befuddling effects, to search 
 among the hair at the side of his head with his left hand, 
 and, on finding, gently twist the little thumb-screw he 
 would feel deeply concealed there above his ear, and he 
 would instantly discover that all the muddle, whirling 
 and heaviness of his mind and senses would be dissipated 
 as though by magic. 
 
 " The stranger then took up his handkerchief, which my 
 ancestor noticed was in the shape of a half square, and 
 seizing the commander s glass and then his own, wiped 
 away from the external part the sticky gaum that had 
 collected there from the liquid s drying, and polished the 
 outsides of them until they shone and sparkled so bril 
 liantly that my ancestor s eyes were dazzled, filled both 
 glasses again, and, taking up his own, once more resumed 
 his seat, and with up-raised glass nodded at my ancestor 
 to respond. 
 
 " That must be a wonderful handkerchief, said my an 
 cestor moving his eyes from the dazzling reflection of the 
 goblet he was just raising, to where the stranger had laid 
 it again beside his bottle. 
 
 " It is, indeed, and has many historical associations con 
 nected with it, or rather the other half of it has, for you see 
 but half remains ; and your company is so very agreeable 
 that if you don t mind I would like to prolong our com 
 panionship to the extent of my making you acquainted 
 with its history, said the stranger, emptying his glass. 
 
 " Nothing could be more perfectly to my taste, replied 
 my ancestor, following his example. 
 
 "Again filling both goblets, the stranger spread the 
 handkerchief flat upon the table before him, and smooth 
 ing it with both hands, continued : 
 
 You are the only gentleman since several thousand 
 years who has witnessed my method of effacing the brain- 
 clouding effects of wine. I was a guest, many centuries 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 95 
 
 before the coming of Christ, of Cheops, one of the grand - 
 est Pharaohs of remote times, and who reigned during 
 Egypt s highest civil and military power. He, considering 
 himself the greatest personage on earth and almost a god, 
 was most anxious to out-drink me at the banquet table 
 in the presence of all his court, not liking, naturally, for 
 it to be known that there was a single merit extant in 
 which he did not excel. In order to test his capacity 
 and to sound the depths of his determination I always so 
 regulated the evaporation of the fumes from my head at 
 these matches that the king, after drinking until he 
 dropped, did so just about a goblet before it seemed to 
 the assembled guests that I myself would have to give 
 up. So each succeeding evening the Pharaoh would 
 stretch himself, and be able to conquer a few goblets far 
 ther than the previous one, I would pretend to be just 
 able to keep pace with him, but still to seem when he 
 was overcome to be able to swallow one more. The king 
 made strenuous efforts, indeed, to overcome that mysteri 
 ous one more goblet ; but at length one evening, after 
 prodigious efforts on his part, he succumbed, saying as 
 he was being carried away by his counselors, I give up, 
 I acknowledge my first defeat, there is no beating the fel 
 low, he s from the infernal regions I am sure. See, he s 
 afire now ; there s bluish smoke pouring out from under 
 his head-dress. I wore of course the Egyptian cos 
 tume of that day , continued the stranger. The as 
 sembled guests all looked at me - in answer to his remark, 
 but seeing of course nothing unusual, accused the wine 
 of causing phantasies in their monarch s mind, and Pha 
 raoh, lapsing into unconsciousness, was borne to his apart 
 ments. 
 
 1 1 Some days later, as I was standing upon the brow 
 of an eminence overlooking the Nile, I saw the imperial 
 barge approaching on its way up the ancient river. 
 On arriving opposite, the king perceived me and di 
 recting his oarsmen to land, stepped ashore and bidding 
 his retinue remain in the vessel until his return, picked his 
 way alone up the slope and ascending the prominence to 
 where I stood, his imperial form and mine were finally 
 outlined together face to face in relief against the sky, 
 
96 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 in full to the view of his attendants. Mysterious 
 stranger , began the king of kings, my friends and coun 
 selors all declare my words the other night arose from 
 the overheating of a fanciful brain. Let me ask you in 
 all candor, and despite the fact that all my guests saw 
 nothing, did I not perceive at the last banquet, just prior 
 to lapsing into unconsciousness, and at the moment you 
 stroked your hair from your left temple, vapor or smoke 
 ascend into the air from under the covering on your head ? 
 * Truly thou speakest, Oh mighty king , replied I, and a 
 resolution long since made and never broken by me shall 
 be placed at thy service a vow I made to reward the 
 man who retains his intellect under wine long enough to 
 perceive in what manner I prevent my mind getting 
 under its influence. Make your wish, Oh noble 
 Pharaoh ! think long and well, mighty Cheops ! ponder 
 upon whatever is dearest to thy valiant heart, for its 
 granting shall be thine. 
 
 " That will need no waste of time, not one moment s de 
 liberation, answered the king in return, for there is one 
 desire of mine that stands so paramount as to dwarf all 
 others to insignificancy. Far-famed is my country s 
 greatness; renowned above all else upon earth is my 
 land s magnificence ; the kings of the world bend to me 
 in submission and obeisance. But all is transitory. Of the 
 epochs of civilization that have appeared and departed, 
 following each other in brief succession since the advent 
 of man ; of the eras of monarchial-like governments that 
 have come and gone since the world began ; of the series 
 of kingdoms and empires of royal splendor that have 
 arisen and fallen in the gone-by ages, all are forgotten 
 all have crumbled to oblivion amid the wrecking tramp of 
 ensuing events, along the effacing march of succeeding 
 consummations ; everyone has passed into obliteration 
 adown the long vista of the departed aeons of years. Be 
 tween the far past then and the present now all have 
 been lost in the engulfing swirl of time, in the revolving 
 wear of the periods of enlightened man s existence; not one 
 enduring record remains ; they have come and gone e en 
 like the waves of the deep sea, and as each foamy-crested 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 97 
 
 lave is swept upon the shore and drawn back again, as 
 much impression rests upon the sands as remains of 
 ancient empires and their rulers after a few miserable 
 hundreds of years. What is left of them to awaken won 
 der and inquiry; what denotive of their influence ; what 
 suggestive of their power, skill, glory and opulence ; 
 what to excite investigation or call forth the antiquary to 
 delve beneath the surface, uncover and bring to light 
 evidences of the civilization of past and forgotten ages ! 
 My desire and how oft I have pondered upon it and be 
 wailed the incompetency of puny mankind I need not 
 dwell upon to thee, to such an one as thou, who hast 
 walked the realms of endlessness, beyond the threshold of 
 mathematically considered infinity is to leave behind 
 me an unalterable record of my reign, something of more 
 permanence than written rolls and plates of metal that 
 war and years obliterate ; to bequeath a memento of 
 Egypt s greatness while I ruled it ; a monument expres 
 sive of its wealth, art, high civilization and power of ac 
 complishment, an unperishing memorial that could never 
 again be paralleled, such to endure for all the countless 
 years to come, to last for all immeasurable futurity, a won 
 derful structure of awe-inspiring dimensions that should 
 never cease to be, and over the majestic grandeur of 
 which the suns of centuries shall rise and fall until time 
 shall be no more ; something to remain for all eternity, in 
 witness for nations yet to come, as evidence of my mag 
 nificence, power and skill. Our people mummify the 
 dead ; and when of royal lineage, or of illustrious name 
 or eminence gained through merit, are enclosed for their 
 last limitless rest in mounds of stone of greater or less 
 cost and beauty, according to their standing, wealth or 
 the love of their descendants or of their fellow -men. I 
 shall follow the custom of my race ; but for my sepulcher 
 for the king of king s sovereign mausoleum I would erect 
 a monument of stone so vast and enduring as to continue 
 unconsumed into the boundless ocean of forever; to outlast 
 all the universe s aggregation of cycles, and be a record 
 in itself to succeeding empires and races of the glorious 
 and wonderful reign of Pharaoh over a marvelous and 
 
8 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 all-conquering people. I would build my monarchal tomb 
 of stone, an uncostly substance, so not to excite the cu 
 pidity of possible future conquerers of this land and 
 cause its destruction for plunder. I would erect a pyra 
 mid of wondrous proportions, rear it aloft with blocks of 
 stone of size so large no army of vandals, no nation of 
 ruthless destroyers, could ever move in their barbarous 
 endeavors to mutilate for the base human pleasure of in 
 juring a work of art exhibiting the original ideas, labor 
 and accomplishments of others. Such is my desire; but 
 of such huge dimensions, so immense and weighty must 
 the separate stones be to prevent wanton tearing down, 
 to avoid envious despoliation, that mankind s strength 
 does not exist sufficient to move and place them in 
 position. My wish is a means to succeed in this, if thou 
 wilt grant it, O mystic stranger. 
 
 " Nothing easier, mighty Pharaoh, replied I, and taking 
 from the pocket of my Egyptian dress my handkerchief, 
 the same one of which only the remaining half you now 
 see, or anyone else has seen for that matter for several 
 thousand years, continued the stranger retrospectively, 
 smoothing his hands over it as it lay still outstretched 
 before him on the table. I tore half of it away, touched 
 him on the lips with the half I then gave him and ad 
 vised him that whenever he wished any great weight 
 lifted to blow the cloth full of air in the shape of a bubble 
 about as large as a closed hand, tie a stout string around 
 the end so that it would appear as though enclosing a 
 ball, tie the string to the heavy object, and the ball ascend 
 ing would lift within a few pounds weight the heft of 
 whatever it was secured to. 
 
 " I see you do not quite grasp my meaning, said the 
 stranger, noticing a blank, incomprehensible look on my 
 ancestor s face. You see, whenever Pharaoh wished to 
 lift any object, however heavy, all he had to do was to 
 attach the ball to the top of it; the ball straightway went 
 upward like a balloon, and such was its curious power 
 that if an object weighed a hundred pounds, the ball 
 lifted ninety of them, leaving but the force needed to 
 lift ten pounds necessary to be exerted ; the same with 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. -99 
 
 any immense weights, no matter how heavy, on being 
 secured to the ball they would weigh but the ten pounds 
 mentioned. So you see, by means of the ball fastened 
 to the bung, a child could have carried in the hollow of 
 its hand, held over its head, the Heidelberg tun, plumb 
 full, and that cask is so large, as you probably have seen, 
 that it took the entire vintage of three years to fill. 
 Pharaoh thanked me kindly, not, indeed, as a king, but 
 as a child securing the toy of its dreams man is, as you 
 know, but a grown-up child, with but larger and more 
 complex playthings descended the hill and returned to 
 the shore, where, entering the barge, he stretched forth 
 his arm, waived me a dignified and respectful farewell 
 and departed. 
 
 " Urgent affairs requiring my immediate and particular 
 attention elsewhere prevented me from again visiting 
 Egypt until years after, when happening to be on the 
 west bank of the Nile, around in the vicinity of Gizeh, 
 I noticed that the Pharaoh Cheops had the pyramids and 
 Sphinx well along in building, and then I saw that my 
 gift was working like a charm ; immense stones had been 
 cut and dressed at the quarries, the ball attached to the 
 top of a chain fastened around them and each one con 
 veyed to a flat-boat in the Nile, and when the boat was 
 loaded with them to the height of its carrying or contain 
 ing number, to the limit of its holding capacity, the two 
 ends of mighty chains fastened to the sides of the barge 
 were joined over the tops of the heap of stones, the ball 
 fastened to the summit of the chains, where all were 
 brought together, and then you see, as the whole caboodle 
 (vessel, load, men in it, oars and all) only weighed ten 
 pounds and sat like a plank on the river, practically dis 
 placing no water, that the boat was rowed very swiftly to 
 the place of disembarkation, where they were taken in 
 bullock carts to the pyramid s site, a very appropriate level 
 space of the Libyan chain, in the same manner as from 
 the quarries to the Nile. You can also see that it was 
 no trouble at all to pull them up slides and troughs of 
 wood to their places in the growing monuments; and if a 
 mighty block of stone did not quite fit its place a man at 
 
100 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 each end took hold, lifted, and held it up while numer 
 ous stone-dressers worked at the sides and underneath to 
 smooth it. 
 
 4 So skillfully, industriously and faithfully worked these 
 artisans at their craft that when the enormous stones were 
 finally set in their places, so nicely were they approxi 
 mated and finished off that one could not discern where 
 they were joined. As soon as one was in its final resting 
 place the ball was released and sent down for the next, 
 and immediately another stone was in the act of ascend 
 ing, and I assure you that after the Sphinx and the great 
 Pyramid were completed, sand-papered and polished off, 
 they looked for all the world as though they had been 
 carved each from an immense mountain of solid stone, 
 concluded the stranger again filling the goblets. 
 
 "My ancestor cast covetous eyes upon the remaining 
 half of the handkerchief, and wild schemes of future re 
 nown whirled through his head, and his hand made an 
 involuntary motion as though to grasp it, but he sup 
 pressed the movement almost before it was perceptible ; 
 not liking to take more of the stranger, and soon feeling 
 that he had already been favored so greatly, was quite 
 ashamed that for an instant his deep interest in the story 
 and his excitement had gotten the better of his lofty 
 sense of honorable conduct and gentlemanship, of both 
 of which he was ever the height. 
 
 " I see by your countenance , remarked the stranger, 
 that you have some desire you wish to accomplish, and 
 I noticed a moment ago that you would fain possess 
 yourself of the remainder of my handkerchief. What is 
 it you wish ? In this life you are as well aware as I that 
 one who does not ask has faint chances of receiving. 
 
 " I have a great desire, indeed , replied the com 
 mander, of as long a standing as the length of my con 
 nection with the army, the army of my own ruler of 
 Aufburg s firm ally, King Frederick, and the knowledge 
 of being able to accomplish it an achievement reflected 
 upon for years by means of the handkerchief flitting 
 through my mind made me make an uncontrolable move 
 ment to grasp it. I have long exhausted the resources 
 
STUDENT UFE IN G&QSfAZSTf . IOI 
 
 of military science iu endeavors to promulgate a plan by 
 which I could quickly move my ordnance along with my 
 troops, for should I engender such an invention, my reg 
 iment would at once be singled out by the sharp eye of 
 the ever-watchful Frederick and become the pride of the 
 army. When after heavy rains the roads are muddy and 
 cut up by a marching army, most trying indeed it is to 
 the spirits and strength of my soldiers to pull, push, and 
 shove, and drag their five big heavy cannon through 
 miles on miles of deep bog, slush and sticky mud. Could 
 I get the means of transporting my artillery without 
 trouble, thus relieving the men, what an appearance they 
 could cut on parade, plenty of leisure to shine up their 
 uniforms, arms and accouterments, instead of plenty of 
 hard labor and toil getting them dirty. Our victories are 
 always neutralized by the enemy in retreat moving as fast, 
 if not faster, than our pursuing victorious army, as disor 
 derly bodies generally out-travel orderly ones. Although 
 the pursuers have the elation of success to carry them on, 
 the fugitives have the strong sentiment of fear and the in 
 centive of terror to lubricate their knee joints and urge 
 their forward movements. The fleeing also cast away 
 their arms and accouterments, and even all clothing that 
 is superfluous, to lighten their footsteps, and our cannon 
 being stuck in the mud, and usually of course at the rear 
 end of our pursuing army, are ineffective. 
 
 1 If I could get my artillery to the fore and open with 
 shot and shell on the rear of the flying mass I am sure 
 I d give the miserable hound invaders of our land such a 
 lesson that they would see how soon they could be able 
 to collect themselves and come at us again. A victory is 
 but half won if a vigorous and energetic pursuit of the 
 defeated does not follow it to disorganize the enemy. 
 Frederick has never been defeated, though such over 
 whelming numbers of the allies are so often pitted against 
 him. Should our ordnance be captured it would of 
 course be only after the last man was slain ; but so used 
 are the allies to flight, and so much do they expect it as 
 a part of their combats with Frederick, that they always 
 keep a bunch of files tied to each cannon to spike it in 
 
1D2 S TODE N.T LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 case of having to flee (which latter is, by the way, the 
 usual outcome). Frederick s soldiers had to have this 
 explained to them on capturing cannon, that the enemy 
 just before flight drove the pointed end of a file deep in 
 the cannon s touch- hole, and then broke the end off in 
 there to prevent us turning their own heavy guns to in 
 stant use against themselves. 
 
 1 The handkerchief alone would have been but of 
 little use to you. However , said the stranger, here it 
 is. And grasping my ancestor s right hand tightly with 
 his left one, with his other he pressed the cloth firmly 
 into it. Now, first make a well-cooked apple dumpling, 
 using the handkerchief for its cover, and whenever you 
 wish to move your five pieces of ordnance, strap their 
 wheels together, tie the dumpling firmly on top of the 
 barrel of the center one, and you will find that a single 
 horse can draw them all with perfect ease and comfort 
 over the deepest and thickest mud in all the fatherland, 
 which is saying a great deal, as you seem well aware. 
 
 My ancestor placed the handkerchief carefully and 
 securely away in his deep inside coat pocket, and while 
 his attention was distracted from the stranger in doing 
 this he suddenly heard outside in the quiet night of the 
 street, the sudden swish of a spiked tail against the side 
 of the building near the high windows, and then a clatter 
 of cloven hoofs galloping over the paving-stones of the 
 street, flying away and dying in the distance. My an 
 cestor put his hand to his temple, and on actually finding 
 a screw there, turned toward the stranger with out 
 stretched arms to thank him, when behold he was gone 
 had utterly disappeared, to my ancestor s deep wonder 
 ment, for the windows were barred so closely and heavily 
 that not even a rabbit could have escaped that way. 
 
 "After examining the door and finding it still strongly 
 bolted, just as he had left it, my ancestor took a light and 
 searched every nook and crevice of the room, but no 
 aperture large enough to admit a mouse could be found ; 
 the cellar being, as I told you, in one side of the founda 
 tion of an old fortified monastery, with walls of stone, 
 six and eight feet thick and having been in use during 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 103 
 
 its peaceful days for storing the vintages of the surround 
 ing fields. My ancestor could scarce believe his senses 
 for quite a time, and upon reaching across the table and 
 out of curiosity seizing the stranger s goblet, finding a 
 pale bluish vapor arise therefrom and a slight smell of 
 brimstone becoming perceptible in the air, he had his sus 
 picions of the stranger s identity pretty well confirmed ; 
 resolved to keep his own counsel, hailed the attendants to 
 care for his still sleeping compatriots and took his de 
 parture just as a faint light in the eastern sky showed 
 that the darkness of the night would soon be dispelled. 
 
 " He was ever very reticent about the subject, as you 
 can well see from the very little we could ever glean from 
 him about it, and when questioned thereupon by any of 
 his descendants always became very pensive and thought 
 ful, much to our regret, for more particulars would have 
 been very interesting. But the commander was ever 
 glad that the stranger had not asked his name, and dis 
 liked to relate much of what had occurred for fear the 
 stranger might get to know who he was and take revenge 
 for a shabby trick one of the commander s ancient ances 
 tors, Baron Gustavus von Vielbeer, had played on the 
 stranger just six hundred and twenty-four years ago this 
 very year. 
 
 "Well, it was after this event that the commander 
 achieved such military glory that his name resounded all 
 over Germany. The commander did about the apple 
 dumpling as he had been instructed, and prepared it 
 carefully the very next day on joining his command, 
 which he lead at Kremzburg a few days later, and during 
 the night before that famous battle (it was a night fitting 
 for his purpose, dark, rainy and mud to your waist) tied 
 the dumpling to his artillery in the manner he had been 
 informed to do, and moved it without the least incon 
 venience along with his regiment to a woody heights on 
 the left flank of the allies. 
 
 "The commander then went alone as near to their 
 campfires as he dared, to spy out their position, and ran 
 suddenly right against the enemy s wagon that contained 
 the demijohns of wine. The commander immediately 
 attacked the two soldiers in charge of it, deeply wound- 
 
IO4 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 ing them both and breaking his sword short off at the 
 hilt in the encounter, took the dumpling out of his pocket, 
 quickly tied it to the front of the wagon, got alongside 
 the tongue, took firm hold and made off afoot like the 
 wind toward his own men and would have escaped in the 
 darkness without the following commotion and all the 
 subsequent glory it occasioned had not just then the 
 clouds moved away and daylight breaking discovered him 
 to the enemy. 
 
 "The enemy s whole brigade of four regiments recog 
 nizing in an instant their refreshment conveyance, seeing 
 it rapidly disappearing, and realizing the fearful disaster 
 its theft would cause to fall on them, as well as the de 
 pressing effect its loss would occasion on the spirits of 
 their whole army, at once pursued with loud cries, fear 
 ing to shoot, else their bullets would work irreparable 
 damage to the wine vessels, in which I can commend 
 their prudence," soliliquized Vielbeer. "Each one strove 
 to be first at the rescue. The commander of course made 
 for the woods where his regiment lay concealed and which 
 point the enemy s own artillery commanded, but well 
 they knew that no cannon of ours could by any manner 
 of means be there, as all ordnance had been stuck fast 
 and immovable in mud for days. 
 
 "My ancestor was fleet of foot and in order to awaken 
 the zeal of his soldiers shouted as he came running on, 
 Hurrah, refreshments ! refreshments ! hurrah ! to in 
 form them of the substance of the load he was attempt 
 ing to convey into their midst. This had an immediate 
 effect on the alacrity of his command, and berloom-blung- 
 boom-berloom ! opened our artillery over my ancestor s 
 head, carrying havoc to the pursuers, and sweeping the 
 enemy s left flank like wild fire. Then a loud, joyful and 
 exultant hurrah! from the eleven hundred deep beer 
 voices of the command, as my ancestor pulled in with all 
 his capture safe and sound, was mistaken by the pursuers 
 of the commander for the whole army of Frederick being 
 in the woods, having executed a flank movement, and 
 they turned and fled in the wildest panic straight back to 
 their army which caught the contagion. 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 105 
 
 "As the day getting brighter, great Frederick, ever 
 watchful, and quick to see a situation, opened on them 
 with all his available cannon. Disordered, confused and 
 appalled they wavered. Frederick s cavalry immediately 
 took advantage of their plight and charged their cannon 
 so suddenly that they fell back from them like chaff fly 
 ing before a blast. The king s infantry at once crossed 
 the space between the two armies in pursuit, seized the 
 cannon and turned them on the enemy s center with 
 fearful effect. The cavalry went after and cut down the 
 the right wing, while my ancestor s artillery played on 
 their left, and in a complete rout they were sent flying 
 away beyond the border. The stores captured, arms taken 
 and prisoners secured were immense. And that was the 
 end of the Seven Years War, for the allies never re 
 covered and at once sued for peace. 
 
 "It was three days later that the immortal Frederick, in 
 the presence of the whole army, made the commander s 
 regiment his imperial bodyguard, and calling up my an 
 cestor in view of all, embraced him, and with tears in his 
 eyes said, Take away the whole of my brave and unpar 
 alleled army ; take away the last ship of my brilliant and 
 glory-covered navy ; take away all I have, everything I 
 possess, but leave me my commander, the noble Baron 
 Marverdt von Vielbeer, behind me with a cannon, plenty 
 of powder and sufficient balls, and I will strike a warlike 
 attitude, draw my sword, wave it in challenge over my 
 head and defy the world. 
 
 "That is what Great Frederick said. My ancestor 
 also, after peace was declared, became renowned through 
 out the land as far south as the Danube river for his ca 
 pacity for drinking wine. I believe that he made a bet 
 once that he would out-drink the whole Potsdamer coun 
 cil of seventy-five burghers at a sitting, and captured the 
 bet without getting the least sparkle in his eye ; and all 
 the other ventures he ever undertook were prosperous 
 and successful beyond his wildest dreams, so much so 
 that he was just swimming in wealth all the time; and 
 on being invited to the court of Komwecht, fell deeply in 
 love with my great grandmother of sainted memory, then 
 
106 STUDENT I,IFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 the young Princess Christina Marienchen Hedwig Wil- 
 helmina, of that royal house, married her, and as I never 
 heard anything to the contrary, I suppose lived very 
 happy with her. 
 
 "One night, however, there came a fearful thunder 
 storm over Germany. The wind blew in hurricanes, 
 lightning flashed and thunder crashed as though the very 
 heavens were being smashed against each other in conten 
 tion ; immense forest trees that had stood for ages were up 
 rooted and thrown far away ; the rain fell in floods, and 
 vast sections of the black forest were laid low and washed 
 to the valleys all over the lower provinces. Well, that 
 night, during this terrific thunderstorm my ancestor dis 
 appeared and was never seen afterward not the least 
 trace of him could be found, nor was he ever heard of al 
 though minute search was made in every wine celler in 
 all Germany, from Memel to Saarbruck, until thirty 
 years afterward in one of the deep vaulted cellars of Viel- 
 beer castle there was discovered a glowing light in one of 
 the distant dark recesses. On close inspection it was 
 seen to be a moldy decaying ball about the size of an 
 apple dumpling, which gave forth a faint phosphorescent 
 glow that lighted up a grewsome object lying alongside, 
 which object on investigation proved to be a skull, in the 
 left temple of which was a hole in which was skillfully 
 fitted a small silver thumb-screw. On attempting to 
 handle the ball it crumbled at the first touch to dust 
 which seemed to melt away on the stone floor and dis 
 appear, emitting a faint sulphurous odor. Although the 
 whole castle was searched and all my ancestor s papers 
 and archives carefully and thoroughly perused, we never 
 could get any more information or light upon the mys 
 terious occurrence," said Vielbeer, showing by his tone 
 of voice that he had concluded. 
 
 " But about that shabby trick, Vielbeef, how was 
 that? " we all asked eagerly, let us hear that. 
 
 That has nothing whatever to do with the narrative I 
 have just completed," replied he. 
 
 " Let us have it anyway," we all answered in unison. 
 
 " No ; I ll sing a song now, I have such a beautiful 
 one in my mind. It goes : 
 
STUDKNT I<IFK IN GERMANY. 107 
 
 Was ist das leben ohne bier, 
 
 Alles hangt daran, 
 Sehr wenige yahre sind wir hier, 
 Ich sage oft, Herr Mann. 
 
 " Nur einmal kommt s zu jederkerl 
 
 Die schoeue herz liebe treu, 
 Und der wo nicht * * * * " 
 
 At this juncture Schnurkely ah raised his head into the 
 air from off my lap and elevating his nose toward the 
 ceiling emitted two or three prolonged, mournfully re 
 signed wailing howls, as he always did on hearing his 
 master begin singing. 
 
 Vielbeer with much good humor showing from his face 
 looked down at Schnurkelyah in my lap and teasingly 
 continued : 
 
 " Who loves not smoke, beer and song, 
 He stays a fool his whole life long." 
 
 I Song be cursed, said several ; let us hear that other 
 story." 
 
 "No," replied Vielbeer, " I am much like my ancestor 
 in that regard, quiet, close mouthed and taciturn, and I 
 never like to put our family s former splendor forward, 
 nor like their valiant and heroic deeds to recount ; it isn t 
 gentlemanly like." 
 
 II But give us a short outline, Vielbeer, like you have 
 of the others," said all together. 
 
 "Well, that little I will of course do, as you all request 
 it. You all well know that in the fourth century one of 
 my very ancient ancestors, Centavus Vielbeer, assisted 
 Monk Monastus in an interview with the Forty Saints, 
 which was productive of so much benefit to the dwellers 
 in the small hamlet of Koln (Cologne the Colonia 
 Agrippina of the Romans), on the western bank of the 
 Rhine, that the village built the worthy monk a chapel 
 of stone. The building which stood for nine hundred 
 years, or until the thirteenth century, contained in front 
 a large prayer-room or service chamber, and at the back 
 numerous stone cells for the monk and his worthy asso 
 ciates, in which to make their devotions, alone and un 
 seen, or to reflect in silence and tranquility on the fleet- 
 
IO8 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 ness of this life, and prepare themselves, and with their 
 fervent prayers others, for the one to come ; or from which 
 they could be summoned by the inhabitants at all hours 
 to go forth on their charitable missions of mercy. 
 
 "When the holy monk finally died he was laid to rest 
 in the little garden adjoining the building, among the 
 flowers and shrubs in the midst of which he so loved to 
 wander in his moments of leisure and recreation . Some 
 day in the far off years to come I may find time to tell 
 you all a little something about the monk, to give you a 
 short account of his times as laid down upon the skin 
 tablets prepared during the fourth century by my ancient 
 ancestor Centavus Vielbeer, now among the very early 
 records and archives in the vaults of Vielbeer castle. But 
 for the present it has but little to do, and that little in a 
 somewhat indirect way, with the shabby trick my ances 
 tor, Gustavus Vielbeer, played on the devil now nearly 
 seven hundred years ago. 
 
 "Well you must remember that in the year 1242, the 
 wealthy burghers of the city of Cologne, at that date 
 grown into a large, important and properous town, meet 
 ing in council, decided unanimously to tear down the old 
 chapel erected nine hundred years before for the monk, 
 and which had been occupied by his sect ever since, a 
 structure representative of a by-gone and rude architect 
 ure, now fast falling to pieces and replace on its site a 
 lofty building for worship, a cathedral which should be of 
 a design entirely new and original, differing from any 
 edifice in existence, and a work of great perfection, which 
 by its beauty and grace should be the admiration and 
 marvel of the world and attract men of learning and 
 science to the city as the seat of an art culture showing 
 itself capable of engendering such a production, a struct 
 ure that would be, on the site of his grave as well as that 
 of his old chapel, symbolistic of their love and veneration 
 for him, and that would be worthy to commemorate for 
 ever their gratitude to the holy monk, whose bones had 
 been dust for nine hundred years. 
 
 " The burghers caused the report of the council s de 
 cision to be spread far and wide, asking for plans for such 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. I OQ 
 
 a building as they wished for, setting the day to receive 
 and inspect them a good year off, to allow all architects 
 to compete who were willing ; and the greatest in all the 
 surrounding land, as well as those of distant countries, 
 exerted their talents to the utmost, and many were the 
 plans sent to them. At the expiration of the year, on 
 the day set for inspection, the worthy burghers met 
 again in council and opened the many rolls received. All 
 were good and of worth ; many meritorious and beauti 
 ful edifices were depicted ; but of them all not one was 
 entirely original. All of them were in some parts copies 
 of already existing structures. One architect had taken 
 a nave and its carved arched columns from the church of 
 this distant city ; another had copied the front from the 
 abbey of that foreign land ; another had drawn the win 
 dows and steeples from so and so, a remote towns minster, 
 and his beautifully interlacing arches and his flying but 
 tresses from a monastery of a certain other far off country; 
 and still another had used the spiral-columned arcade of 
 such and such a distant cathedral, the cornices of this 
 convent, the towers of that way-off castle ; and some 
 had mingled Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Gothic, Tuscan, 
 and other styles of architecture all together, and so on ; 
 none were in their entirety new, and as the greatest archi 
 tects of the world had competed, the worthy burghers 
 despaired of ever getting better. 
 
 " Supposing that all architectural ideas and science in 
 herent in mankind in building had long since been ex 
 hausted, and nothing new or different could be brought 
 to light, they decided to examine the plans received 
 thoroughly, weigh them deeply in mind, and select the 
 one found most appropriate to met their city s wishes. 
 One night, during the weeks the deliberation among the 
 council was going on, some hours after midnight, all out 
 side being as black as pitch, or even blacker, if such could 
 be, the abbot or superior father of the ancient chapel 
 was awakened from his priestly and refreshing slumbers 
 by a loud rapping at the door, and on opening it admitted 
 a young man of pale face and delicate mold whom he 
 recognized as a young architect of the city, who asked to 
 
110 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 be closeted with him in secrecy for a moment. The 
 priest, after closing the door, led the way to a deep cell, 
 and on setting his light into a niche in the wall turned in 
 inquiry to the young architect who began : 
 
 " Father, said he, this midnight, when passing 
 through the deep, dark woodland, being attracted thither 
 as the gloomy surroundings seemed in keeping with my 
 present spirits, lowered in melancholy and dejection at 
 the knowledge that my plan, on which I have labored 
 diligently and earnestly for the year, being numbered 
 among those the council this day refused to consider 
 farther, while walking in the dense woods with slow 
 steps and bowed head, I was suddenly accosted by a 
 stranger in a long, black -hooded cloak, which reached from 
 his neck to heels ; all parts of him were concealed save his 
 face, on which a sardonic grin was portrayed ; he carried 
 a flaming pine torch and a roll of parchment as long as 
 himself. I noticed, also, as he politely requested me to 
 step back with him to beside the body of a giant oak, 
 that he left cloven tracks in the ground he passed over ; 
 on arriving at the oak he unrolled the parchment and ex 
 hibited to my astonished eyes a plan of an immense 
 cathedral, something so new, and of such original draw 
 ings and ideas, of a design so beautiful, of such noble, 
 graceful and enchanting proportions, that I stood gazing 
 at it with outstretched hands, unable to speak, almost 
 perfectly deprived of mind in wonder and admiration. It 
 was such a marvel of perfect loveliness and shapely ele 
 gance that I was rooted to the spot and speechless. See 
 ing my attitude toward the vision, the stranger s very 
 eyes seemed to emit light, his sardonic grin deepened, 
 and he said, i0 Tis thine, for thy and thine posterity s 
 souls for a thousand years." 
 
 * No offer would he entertain in any manner, shape, or 
 form, although I exhausted the resources of my linguistic 
 capabilities in the endeavor. No other compensation 
 would he listen to. I, even, finally losing hope of secur 
 ing it for myself, spoke of the gold the burghers would 
 give for it ; he would none of it ; would hear of nothing 
 else but an acceptance or rejection of his proposition 
 
STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. Ill 
 
 inade at the start. So I asked for time for deliberation 
 before paying such a price, and he granted it for a sun s 
 turning, agreeing to meet me again at the oak at mid 
 night of the morrow. I have come at once to you, 
 father, for the price is too much to pay, although most 
 anything is worth sacrificing to gain the plan. Being 
 the architect of such an edifice as was shown me would 
 cause my name and that of my posterity to be remembered 
 in glory forever. Undying fame shall be mine. On 
 leaving him I at once hastened to you. 
 
 " And well you did, my son, ere agreeing to such an 
 unholy and nefarious scheme. It smacks of the infernal 
 one, or much I am mistaken. But outwit him we will , 
 observed the wily priest. Do but hold thy tongue and 
 meet him as appointed tomorrow night. I will give thee 
 a charm along to counteract his evil ways and render thee 
 safe from harm. Ask again to see the plan, to inspect it 
 more minutely, and when the chance offers and he holds 
 it lightly, tear it quickly out of his hands and make 
 swiftly off with it. With the charm he cannot harm thee. 
 But stay, he may pursue, and attacking thee, recover it ; 
 alone, and appalled as thou mayest be, awed by the 
 silence and darkness of the forest and by his affrighting 
 presence. Take along some stout friend with thee , 
 craftily continued the priest, * some one thou knowest 
 and can rely upon ; who would not meanly lay claim by 
 reason of his help to a large share of the gain and glory, 
 the profit, fame and renown that will be thine should the 
 venture succeed , continued the intellectually deep and 
 far-seeing successor of the ancient monk ; some one of 
 courage and bravery who would but love such an adven 
 ture tasting of danger and deviltry. Canst call to mind 
 such ? asked the priest. 
 
 * * That can I , replied the young architect. I will take 
 along my friend Baron Gustavus von Vielbeer, a roistering 
 young blade who would jump at such an adventure, par 
 ticularly as it speaks of dangerous complications, some 
 thing he chases after. He has been going to the devil as 
 fast as he can the past few years, and I will now bring 
 him to his Satanic majesty all at once and thus save my 
 
112 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 friend Gustavus much future troublous search. And 
 should his Satanic majesty, after losing his plan as well 
 as his prospective souls, wax wroth, I will set Vielbeer at 
 him, and much I warrant that the Evil One will soon find 
 his hands full. I misdoubt not that he of the sardonic 
 smile will, soon after coming in whack with Vielbeer, 
 offer me still another plan to call my champion off. 
 
 " Tis well , replied the priest. Vielbeer, since thou 
 mentionest him, I now call well to mind, and although 
 sad do I feel at the much I have long heard of the young 
 man s ungodlike ways and carryings-on, still safely does 
 it beseem me that with him thou goest in good hands for 
 such an occasion as this one. 
 
 1 The priest then took up the light from the niche in 
 the wall and opening the door of the cell was followed by 
 the young architect to the chamber of worship ; and 
 ascending the steps leading to the altar, on reaching the 
 holy place, took therefrom a bone of the little finger of 
 Saint Ursula. 
 
 " Take this, my son , said the priest, dismissing him 
 at the front entrance, and when in the presence of the 
 Infernal One, and you come to strife, hold the sacred relic 
 far out at arm s length toward him, and all the powers of 
 evil cannot harm thee or e en come within the guard of 
 the consecrated memorial thou holdest. 
 
 "So at dusk the next evening two briskly stepping 
 young men, the architect and my ancestor, might have 
 been seen making gallant strides in the direction of and 
 toward the forest. On arriving at the great oak my an 
 cestor drew his blade, cut a few slashes in the air, that 
 made the wind whistle, to feel satisfied that the supple 
 ness of his wrist was in proper trim, and hid himself 
 among the thick underbrush behind the forest monarch, 
 while the young architect paced the ground to and fro in 
 front of it, to while away the slowly expiring moments 
 and calm his anxious soul and eager appearing demeanor, 
 for the stake was great ; its gain or loss meant all in all 
 to him. The moments sped on, the moon fell and intense 
 blackness supervened. Punctual to the second he of the 
 cloven foot appeared, again with his flaming torch and 
 
STUPENT UFE IN GERMANY. 113 
 
 giant roll, and seemingly in much good humor, foresee 
 ing in the return of the young architect the acceptance of 
 his proposition. 
 
 " Let me view the plan once again , asked the young 
 architect, to see that my vision of yesternight was not 
 all fancy. I would look once more after a day of cool 
 comparisons turning in my judgement. 
 
 " The stranger again politely unrolled the great parch 
 ment and the young architect made as though minutely 
 examining it. At this moment my ancestor ready to 
 spring out to the relief of his companion, rustled slightly 
 by accident the underbrush among which he was con 
 cealed, and this attracting the instant notice and attention 
 of the stranger, the young architect suddenly snatched 
 the plan from out his grasp and backed away just as 
 Vielbeer rushed from the thicket and made to his com 
 panion s protection. The stranger, on perceiving the on 
 coming new-comer, threw his torch to the earth where it 
 remained brightly flaring, drew from his girdle behind 
 him an arrow-pointed, four-pronged, great iron fork ; 
 whereupon Vielbeer drew his blade and at it they went, 
 the stranger s grin broadening to his ears as he contem 
 plated his easy victory ; but as the weapons flew faster 
 and faster and struck from each other showers of sparks 
 which soared upward all about and lit up the surround 
 ing deep shadows, and overhanging boughs and dense 
 foliage, his grin lessened and lessened until finally having 
 received a wound in his right hand he transferred his 
 fork to his left one, and his smile disappearing entirely 
 his face took on an awful and deeply profane expression ; 
 his eyes rolled and flashed in hatred and he used language 
 so fearfully terrible that the young architect s very bones 
 shivered, and having no weapon of offense or defense he 
 hastily and involuntarily moved some distance away . 
 
 "Vielbeer played so industriously that soon the 
 stranger s hood and gown were cut to shreds and fell 
 from him entire, leaving him revealed in all his satanic 
 blackness, horns, spiked tail, cloven hoofs and all, until 
 finally, by a dextrous masterstroke and expert twist of the 
 wrist, Vielbeer sent the stranger s four-pronged fork flying 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 115 
 
 away out of his hand, it alighting some distance off, 
 almost at the feet of the young architect. The stranger 
 then brought his tail into play and tried with it to get 
 within my ancestor s guard and puncture him with its 
 spiked, harpoon point-like end, but my ancestor at once 
 gave it such a whack with his sword as made the sparks 
 fly and caused some exceedingly uncultured language to 
 emerge from his antagonist s lips. This last weapon of 
 the stranger s then being returned to where it belonged, 
 behind him, my ancestor, at the sword s point then backed 
 him to the body of the giant oak and ran his blade 
 through his stomach and well into the tree and thus pin 
 ning him to the sturdy monarch, with his free arm he 
 then spun him around on the blade like a whirligig or 
 revolving wheel until the fire shining from his eyes and 
 mouth looked like a complete flaming circle, and until 
 the echoes awoke with his terrific fiendish howlings. 
 Eventually withdrawing his sword and allowing his an 
 tagonist to drop at the tree s foot in a heap, Vielbeer said, 
 Now hustleth ! get ye gone at once and let s no more of 
 ye. 
 
 * The cloven hoof picked himself up and emitting blood 
 curdling oaths, rushed as swiftly as lightning to where his 
 fork lay near the feet of the architect, picked it up and 
 made for the unprotected young man still standing some 
 distance away from my ancestor. The young architect 
 perceiving his swift-footed oncoming had just time to raise 
 his arm and hold out toward him the Saint Ursula s finger 
 bone, on seeing which the cloven hoof grew furious ; his 
 mouth emitted bluish fiery vapors to such an extent that 
 the whole forest smelled of sulphur, and he danced in 
 fury up and down, gnashing his teeth, and waving and 
 charging with his fork, running around and around the 
 architect looking for an opening ; but the young man 
 kept turning around with him, constantly facing him, 
 letting him whirl around him, like the hands of a clock, 
 many times in a circle, but always keeping presented to 
 his front and holding out to him at arm s length the sa 
 cred relic. 
 
 All this happened as swiftly as a whirlwind and occurred 
 
Il6 STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 
 
 during the time Vielbeer, heavily booted and naturally 
 slower of foot than his Satanic majesty, was rushing to 
 his friend s rescue. Just as he arrived to his companion s 
 succor the Evil One made a last desperate grab for the roll. 
 The young architect drew it instantly aside, but not be 
 fore the cloven hoof had seized hold of the end of the 
 plan, and the young architect pulling it backward had 
 caused to be torn off the extreme top of the parchment, 
 which remained in the cloven foot s hands ; then backing 
 away from the two companions he cursed my ancestor 
 loudly, rapidly and thoroughly, vowing he would haunt 
 him and his descendants to the thousandth generation ; 
 vowed that the cathedral should never be completed, and 
 finally vowed that the young architect s name should, at 
 his death, be forgotten and remain forever unknown, ran 
 and picked up his shreddy garment and still flaming 
 torch, and with a last terrific, demoniacal, wailing howl 
 disappeared in the deep fof est. 
 
 "The two companions at once betook themselves to the 
 city, and at daylight, on investigating the plan, found 
 that the Evil One had torn off the upper part of the two 
 beautiful towers, which were of course positioned at the 
 top of the roll and which part he had secured hold of as 
 he grasped at it. When the plan was shown to the burgh 
 ers in council that very day, as the work of the young 
 architect, they were absolutely astounded that anything 
 so beautiful could be engendered in and emanate from a 
 human mind, and perfectly captivated at its beauty, and 
 trusting to the young architect s promise of replacing 
 the drawing of the upper portion of the towers, which, 
 he explained, he had lost merely through a sudden and 
 unforseen accident the night before, they immediately 
 and unanimously decided to adopt it, and at once 
 ordered its erection. The old chapel, fast falling into 
 ruins, was vacated by the priests and demolished, the 
 stones used in making the new edifice s foundation, 
 upon which ground- work, as the years rolled on, one of 
 the noblest specimens of Gothic architecture in Europe, 
 and the most beautiful and graceful edifice in the world, 
 the Cathedral of Cologne, arose all finished entire ex 
 cept to where the upper third of the two large front spir- 
 
STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 1 17 
 
 ing towers began, and there the architect, now grown 
 old, stopped ; he could go no farther ; had never in all 
 those years spent in the construction of the building since 
 his youth been able to devise a design to complete the 
 airy, graceful and lofty towers that would at all agree or 
 be in harmony and keeping with the part of them already 
 completed and with the lovely grace of the rest of the 
 cathedral ; and no one could help him out with any 
 idea or plan. There the work on the beautiful world- 
 famed edifice ended. Designs and plans and draw 
 ings by the many had drawn the aged architect in all the 
 by-gone years ; ever trying to search his memory of the 
 spires as he had beheld them on the roll in the cloven 
 hoof s presence. But in vain. 
 
 "All work was suspended, the whole land awaited his 
 untiring efforts. Years rolled on, until finally the Huns 
 threatened an invasion into Germany ; there was an instant 
 rush to arms, and into the southern countries to forestall 
 it, and during the long wars and dissentions which fol 
 lowed, the architect died, the archives and records of the 
 building were lost or destroyed by the many ransackings 
 and plunderings the town and its cathedral were sub 
 jected to, by first one enemy or set of conquerors, and 
 then another. And when peace again entered the land, 
 after years of turmoil, strife and devastation, accounts 
 came of great reverses to the armies of the Soldiers of 
 the Cross in Palestine, and at this news the knights of 
 entire Christendom, German, Huns, and all, dropped their 
 private quarrels and united again in the attempt to retake 
 the Holy L,and from the grasp of the infidel ; and at the 
 close of the great struggle and return of the vast armies, 
 and tranquility settled once more upon the land after a 
 space of nearly a century, all records had been long lost 
 and forgotten, and so the Cologne Cathedral has stood as 
 it was then left the day work was stopped, and so it 
 stands today ; never has been completed, and the name of 
 the architect is unknown. And the devil, as all of you 
 are well aware, has hung to our family with great per 
 sistency and tenacity ever since", concluded Vielbeer 
 with a proud, grandiloquent and slowly waving flourish 
 of his old pipe right before our attentive faces. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 AT this juncture a confounded rumpus was heard at the 
 front door, and soon in at the entrance came a noisy 
 crowd of young men, all wearing the uniform caps of the 
 Maikaefer club (pronounced my-ca-fer), the body of the 
 cap a dark green, with a band of yellow around the rim. 
 They carried with them a long, slender, yellow- trimmed 
 green leather rapier case, and also a little leather satchel 
 of the same colors containing the protective dueling para 
 phernalia, and it was evident that a duel was on the 
 tapis. 
 
 In Germany, where the whole nation is of a military 
 stamp and soldierly cast, nearly everyone is uniformed. 
 The country resembles a vast arsenal, or does so to us 
 over here where uniforms are so rarely seen. Every 
 where over the Teuton nation you hear the tramp, tramp 
 of the military. Even the school-boys have their mili 
 tary caps, and each grade a different one in shape or 
 colors, so that one can tell at a glance which school a 
 boy attends, and what grade he is in. This takes the 
 place largely of discipline for an untractable or indolent 
 youth. He is merely lowered in grade and has to stand 
 the jokes of his companions, and endure the shame of ap 
 pearing among his town-folks as a big lubberly fellow in 
 a baby grade or class ; and the incentive among the 
 whole school is by industry and application to secure for 
 wearing as high a grade cap as they can. This method 
 of degrading has been found to answer better than any 
 other plan yet devised. So all the school-boys, wearing 
 uniform caps, are added to the rest of those of the nation 
 in military dress. 
 
 The Universities, ^assuming their students are men and 
 gentlemen, exercise in consequence not the least super 
 vision or control over them, hold no roll-call and no reci 
 tations, and of course have no uniform. The members 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 119 
 
 of the faculty lecture and demonstrate as their several 
 hours come according to the curriculum, and the lecture 
 goes on if but a single student is present. Some profess 
 ors are popular, and their lecture-rooms are crowded with 
 eager, ardent, attentive faces, while other lecturers have 
 ever but a sprinkling of listening ears and absorbing 
 minds in their amphitheater while holding forth. This 
 plan is necessary in a great city like Berlin, the seat of 
 so much science and deep learning. Many thousand 
 students attend the University, great numbers from for 
 eign and from distant lands, every nation on the earth 
 being represented in numbers more or less large ; and 
 many students, some of them aged men, white-haired 
 and bent, are attending but two or three professors lec 
 tures for special purposes of their own. 
 
 To an American mind the word student usually con 
 veys the meaning of a young man at an academy or col 
 lege. Far different in Germany ; many gray heads at 
 tend the University ; one, while I was there, came to 
 take his degree from some place in the south of Africa. 
 He was seventy-five years of age and came back from 
 where he had lived for fifty years to get a diploma from 
 the University. The professors addressed him as "worthy 
 colleague," and the students as "Papakin," a word in 
 dicative of respectful and reverential endearment. Many 
 literary men, whose names are already famous, deep in 
 their coming books, take but one or two lectures to 
 gather the material necessary to complete their works, 
 and so on. The younger members of the University 
 coming fresh from these boy schools and endeared by 
 custom and long association to these colored caps, usually 
 form themselves into clubs and again wear their beloved 
 distinctive head dresses, or join an old club and adopt its 
 colors. Their " colors " designate their caps. Asking 
 a student in Berlin to " Name thy colors," is equivalent 
 to requesting the name of the club to which he belongs. 
 Of course all the young men know the colors of each and 
 every club by heart ; they learn that to perfection long 
 before they absorb the first month s teaching, and great 
 rivalry exists to be known as the first or second, etc., in 
 
120 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 standing among the clubs, to be known as the one con 
 taining the most distinguished members, or the one of 
 greatest exclusiveness, or as the one having the highest 
 general standing, etc. 
 
 It can readily be seen that our club, the Prussian Eagle, 
 in its possession of Vielbeer posed on the summit of fame 
 and occupied as high a position compared to the rest and 
 stood out as prominently in the opinion of the city in 
 contrast with the other clubs, as the name of Washing 
 ton does among the other patriots of 1776 here in 
 America. 
 
 No club has ever dared to question the Prussian Eagle s 
 claim to supremacy since Vielbeer joined it fifty years 
 ago. But the Baron s fame does not rest alone on his 
 rich powers of story- telling, not by any manner of means; 
 perish the infamous thought, that is the least of his many 
 meritorious accomplishments. He has the eye of an 
 eagle, and in the duels which so often take place among 
 the members of the rival clubs, is chosen the umpire as 
 often as he can be had, on account of his quick eye, 
 which is so sure, and his marvelously good and true 
 judgment, which never fails to satisfy all ; and in all 
 truth has never been known within the memory of the 
 clubmen to have been questioned. No one has ever 
 asked an appeal from his decision, so sure has always 
 been his sight. In addition to the above highly esteemed 
 qualification, he is the greatest beer-drinker in all Berlin, 
 and the quantities of lager he can absorb at a sitting is a 
 marvel to behold ; glass after glass can be poured down 
 without him ever showing the effect of it, and one won 
 ders where in all the world it goes to. A heavy bet was 
 once made by some members of our club, who had sized 
 up Vielbeer s capacity pretty thoroughly, with some 
 Asiatic fresh arrivals at the University, that the Baron 
 could drink two great hogsheads of beer, containing a 
 quantity many times his own cubic space, in an hour. 
 The bet was, of course, eagerly taken ; Vielbeer was 
 located and approached with the subject in hand. The 
 whole party adjourned to a brewery on the outskirts of 
 the city, and the full hogsheads pointed out. Vielbeer 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 121 
 
 demurred for a while on seeing the size of the vessels he 
 was expected to empty, and not liking to risk his friends 
 losing the bet, but finally asked for an hour s leave of 
 absence to deliberate in and promising he would then re 
 turn and decide. 
 
 In an hour he was back, told his friends to go ahead 
 and close the bet, saying, " Yes, I will put myself at your 
 disposal, for I can do it, " started in and really got away with 
 the very last drop of the lager long before the last minute 
 of the hour had gone into the past. When asked, after 
 the bet was paid, by the astonished assembled crowd, 
 what had led him during that hour s deliberation to de 
 cide that he could do it, replied, "Oh, I didn t want to 
 deliberate, that was merely an excuse to get away ; I 
 went right across the street to a rival brewery and tried 
 it first, so I would be sure we would win the bet. Since 
 that achievement any club dreaming of reaching the emi 
 nence held by the Prussian Eagle with a ten-foot pole 
 would be liable to examination by a commission as to 
 their sanity. The best club of Magen (pronounced mah- 
 ghen) once sent a challenge up to the capital city to send 
 down their best beer-drinking club for a match between 
 them, the losers to pay for and present to the winners a 
 golden cup, a tall vessel, the cup part being upheld by 
 two draped female figures, a beautiful work lately finished 
 by a Magen goldsmith. The challenge was naturally 
 turned over to the Prussian Eagle club, which sent word 
 in return that the matter was too small for them, as a 
 body, to consider ; that if that was the best offer the 
 Mageners could make to the champion club of Berlin, it 
 was almost an offense, and they had better have held 
 their breath and saved it from useless waste. Had they 
 said all Magen would drink against them the club might 
 have considered it, but for just the club of Magen alone 
 they would send one man down, a single member of the 
 Prussian Eagle, to compete alone against them, and, of 
 course, Vielbeer was shipped thither accompanied by 
 Count lyuft and Felderstein as his body-guard and matched 
 alone against them, and long before four o clock the next 
 morning he had drank the whole Magen University under 
 
122 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 the table and was calling loudly for a keg or two more as 
 a night-cap. 
 
 The joy of the Prussian Eagle at the depot, where all 
 the members went to meet the victorious and triumphant 
 return of the triumvirs, covered with glory, and by re 
 flection covering the whole club and even the city of Ber 
 lin, and best of all, with the golden cup, the emblem of 
 success in their possession, was a sight to behold, and 
 welkin ringing was the shouts, and furious the demon 
 stration. The champion, however, did not return in the 
 palace car surrounded by all the comforts and luxuriance 
 of ease that the defeated Mageners had placed at the three 
 Prussian Eagles disposal, but instead, on a dirty old 
 flat-car, where he had to sit with his two friends and a 
 large sack of sand on each side of him to prevent him 
 rolling off, the whole way, not having been able to 
 squeeze through the door of the elegant railroad carriage, 
 and time being up the railroad officials at the last mo 
 ment hauled out an old flat-car which the three took to 
 and made the best advantage of they could. 
 
 Vielbeer s temper was by no means of the sweetest on 
 being lifted down from his stiffened position by half a 
 hundred willing hands, and let out the suppressed spleen 
 of his long uncomfortable journey, and emitted his 
 opinion of soulless corporations in no mild language. 
 " The black, thundering devil take these infernal car- 
 companies " said he, " they make plenty special cars for 
 sleepers, plenty special cars for smokers, and have plenty 
 special cars for ladies ; they can also have a special car 
 for fat people too, and be danged to them, the infernal 
 apes ; the next time they get fourteen thalers from me 
 for a round-trip ticket to ride back home in the dust, cinders 
 and hot sun like a stuffed pig they will know it, I tell 
 you. No, not if they present me with a ticket and four 
 teen thalers beside," etc. 
 
 The golden cup has, of course, an honored and promi 
 nent position in the club-rooms, but not more so than 
 many other unique trophies that Vielbeer s merits have 
 brought to the club from victories during half a century. 
 "My family always talk about my drinking," says he, 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 123 
 
 * but no one thinks about my thirst. What a blessing 
 from heaven is water," is one of his sayings, " for if we 
 had no water we could make no beer." 
 
 The Maikaefer fellows crowded in at the door, talking 
 and singing, and as it was about three o clock in the 
 morning by now, and they all were more or less gay and 
 frolicsome, they had probably been having a night of it 
 somewhere. 
 
 4 Hello, there, Vielbeer ! Hey, old boy! Whoop! 
 How are you, old sod ? cried several rushing up and 
 slapping him on the shoulders, much to his good-humored 
 disgust. 
 
 " What do all these sheepsheads here and at this 
 hour ? " inquired he of his surrounding friends, every one 
 of whom bewilderingly shook their heads in reply. 
 
 "I am on for a deadly duello with Hecht and Brun of 
 the Maikaefers," calmly remarked Felderstein. 
 
 "How is that?" asked Vielbeer of Felderstein, who 
 answered, "They both insulted me grievously on the 
 open street the other day, and I challenged the two of 
 them." 
 
 " Both for a single time ? " 
 
 " Yes, both tonight, one after the other." 
 
 "That is bad," replied Vielbeer, "they are both 
 seniors of their club, and I hear are the best swordsmen 
 there." 
 
 Felderstein shrugged his shoulders, at the same time 
 saying, "I ll take my chances." 
 
 Although this cutting and slashing of each other, and 
 usually the breast and face, by the German corps studen- 
 ten is looked upon in America as a species of coarse, 
 low brutalism, it is viewed far differently in Teutonland. 
 It is a long standing custom of the country, and an out 
 growth and the remains of feudal days ; and a country s 
 custom, no matter how it may be looked at by outsiders, 
 is an expression of its interior conditions, its surround 
 ings and old associations, its people s natures, and of its 
 soil. Like our present American cattle-herding cowboy 
 he is no part of the wooded Bast ; he is a product of 
 theG treeless plainsjrf _the West, 
 
124 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 The scars of these fights on the face are not viewed as a 
 disfigurement in Germany ; far from it. They are greatly 
 admired by the ladies. Sentimental fair ones have been 
 known to cry because the students fight protected by 
 leather and not in armor as in the days of old, for the 
 duello is all that remains of the days of chivalry the 
 long-past good old times of ribbon-streaming lance and glit 
 tering armor, when the new woman was unknown, and the 
 olden time ones so conducted themselves as to be consid 
 ered goddesses on earth ; and brave knights, armed in 
 suits of mail from head to heel, rode forth on gallant, 
 prancing steeds to battle for their fair ladies smiles. The 
 duello is a degenerate relic of all this former gallantry. 
 A student having two scars on his face is prouder than 
 he who has but one, and one whose face is covered with 
 scars struts and swaggers about the streets, the admira 
 tion of all his lady friends ; and let a student but get his 
 face to resemble a butcher s chopping block and he can, 
 with perfect confidence, aspire to the hand of almost the 
 highest daughter of the land, being reasonably trustful 
 that to the girl at least he will appear as though sur 
 rounded by a halo. 
 
 In the photographs of the corps studenten or dueling 
 students, of profile view, the side of the face, usually the 
 left of course, containing the most scars is invariably 
 taken. In America here a few scars on the face would 
 be considered by the generality of the people as having 
 been gained in some disgraceful manner, such as a low 
 drunken brawl, etc. It is as you view it ; it is the way 
 a country s usages run. 
 
 Contrariwise, to strike a man a blow, to come to per 
 sonal physical combat, which is prevalent even among 
 the highest gentlemen of the United States, is, in Ger 
 many, held to be a kind of vulgar, barbarous rowdyism, 
 excuseless except among the very lowest classes when 
 besotting their cares and poverty in liquor ; but a blow 
 among German gentlemen is something almost unheard 
 of, and its dust left on the clothing is only erased by 
 apology or blood. Among the first things you hear from a 
 compatriot in Germany is, "If you ever get into a fuss 
 
STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 125 
 
 with any of these fellows over here just politely knock 
 him down ; they don t any of them know how to hit 
 don t know a thing about striking." It is all as you view 
 it. 
 
 The Hindoostanee belles laughed immoderately on see 
 ing the Christian ladies of our touring parties visiting 
 their country wear rings in their ears. It was so funny 
 to them ; they had never seen the like ; yet all their lives 
 they had worn rings in their noses a matter of course to 
 them, but a method applied only to hogs and cattle among 
 us. The Moslem thinks it sacrilegious to uncover in his 
 house of worship, and remains with his head-dress on 
 while at his devotions while preventing his veneration for 
 the prophet from getting rusty. What ! bare his head in 
 undignified arrogance before his Supreme Being s altar? 
 Never ! and considers us profane for removing our hats on 
 entering church. All the same, before entering his 
 mosque he takes off his shoes, while for all our American 
 gentlemen to deposit their boots in a heap in the vesti 
 bule at the entrance, and enter church in their stocking 
 feet would be regarded by us as a desecration of our 
 house of worship, not saying anything about the chance 
 that the foot-gear might all be stolen by some passing 
 unchristian -like inclined or ungodly minded fellow ; and 
 those paying homage to the Divinity not only go in that 
 way, but discover, on the conclusion of services, that they 
 would also have to return home still in the same gentle 
 and soft-shod manner. 
 
 Something like this only occurs among us amid the 
 jack-rabbit, sunflower and prairie-dog lands of our West, 
 when a bridegroom standing up at his marriage, and be 
 ing requested to produce the wedding ring and on fumb- 
 lingly searching his pockets learns that it has slipped 
 through a hole down into one of his tight boots and on 
 stepping aside and nervously removing the wrong one 
 first and then the other, finding that he cannot get them 
 back over his swollen feet, goes to the conclusion of the 
 interrupted ceremony with them under his arm. 
 
 The wild Indian on swooping down into an unprotected 
 border town and killing half a dozen women and children, 
 
126 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 and bringing back their scalps to his tribe would receive 
 high honors from his people; it is the custom of his land; 
 it is as he was reared to do. While let a white man do the 
 same at a neighboring village of an unfriendly state and 
 return with the scalps unto his people and he would also 
 receive high honors, but at the end of a rope, in quite a 
 different manner than that accorded his red brother ; it is 
 as you view it. 
 
 "What was the insult, Felderstein ? " asked several. 
 
 "Hecht shoved Brun against me in the street, nearly 
 pushing me through a show window." 
 
 "Was he intoxicated ? 
 
 "No, not in the least ; neither was Brun. I told Brun 
 that I had nothing against him as he was an innocent 
 cause, but for Hecht s outrageous offense I challenged the 
 latter right there. But Brun at once spunked up, called 
 me zwei lumpen (two rascals) and replied that he in 
 dorsed Hecht s procedure to the utmost, and I of course 
 then could do no less than offer him satisfaction also. I 
 know it was a put up job between them, the two cowards ; 
 they are the best swordsmen of their club and think 
 themselves my superior, I am confident, else they would 
 never have taken the means to draw out my challenge. 
 They also made me challenge them so that over my de 
 feat they could crow at their own club what a dressing 
 down they gave a young Prussian Kagle upstart who 
 dared to have the face to challenge them. But let them 
 watch out ; they don t know me yet, and the battle is not 
 yet over. 
 
 "You challenged them?" asked Vielbeer. "Then 
 why was it not fought at their club ? 
 
 "Because they are in repairs there." 
 
 It was characteristic of Felderstein that he had all even 
 ing made not the slightest mention of, nor the least ref 
 erence to, his coming fight ; had been quiet and calm 
 listening to Vielbeer and joining in his companions 
 games, and not a ruffle had he shown on account of the 
 desperate combat he was due to enter into in the early 
 morning. 
 
 "What s that I hear from some one, Felderstein?" 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 127 
 
 asked Hecht coming up to us, " that you call me a 
 coward. I shall remember that at the duel." 
 
 "It s what I wanted you to, coolly replied Felderstein," 
 turning his back on him and walking away. 
 
 1 Did you fellows bring an umpire along with you ? 
 asked L,uft, who was to back Felderstein, of the two 
 seconds of Hecht and Brun. 
 
 "No ! but we ll accept Vielbeer," replied they. 
 
 Whereupon Vielbeer, hearing this, arose from his chair, 
 went over to one side of the room, reached up and took 
 down his trink horn from where it was hanging upon a 
 bracket on the wall and swung it on his left shoulder as a 
 badge of office or authority. At this juncture the whole 
 number of students still in the building at this late hour 
 left the big room we had been in all evening and congre 
 gated in the large front hall on the ground floor, the hall 
 that was decorated with the antlers of deer, elk and 
 moose, the swords, sabers, scimetars, armor, shields, 
 lances, etc., arranged about the walls. A case of dueling 
 rapier blades and the necessary trappings were brought 
 and placed on a table at the side of the hall. 
 
 The length of the blades used in these encounters de 
 pend upon the arm sweep of the contestants ; they are 
 proportioned to the height of the duelists ; they run from 
 twenty-eight to thirty-eight inches in length, exclusive of 
 the serrated sided or saw-edge-like part of about four 
 inches long at the larger or handle end that is inserted 
 into a hilt and strongly fixed there when making the 
 weapon complete for use ; from the shoulder to the tip of 
 their respective swords must measure the same in both 
 fighters, else one of a shorter arm, say two, four or six 
 inches less in extent, would almost be at the mercy of his 
 opponent who could stand off out of his reach and slash 
 him at leisure ; so any deficiency of arm length is made 
 up by using a longer rapier blade to put both antagonists 
 on an equality in that regard. 
 
 Felderstein went up to the table and carefully picked 
 over the case of points for awhile, balanced several up 
 and down one after the other laid flat upon his outheld 
 palm, in order to test their weight or heft, and finally 
 
128 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 selecting one of the longest one of those of the maxi 
 mum length allowable even for a six-footer like himself 
 fitted it into a light handle and screwed it there tightly, 
 then faced the spectators, and striking an attitude made 
 a few sweeping cuts and keen whistling maneuvers with 
 it in the air, as though to get its peculiar motion, to 
 thoroughly size up its manner of action and get his acute 
 senses apprised of the way the weapon took to him and to 
 test its suitableness to his revengeful mood. Apparently 
 feeling satisfied with it, he stood it hilt up against the 
 wall and prepared for the encounter. 
 
 A stuffed leather band about four inches wide, jet 
 black, with an upper and lower bordering of silver color, 
 and having a half-moon scooped out of one edge, to fit 
 under the chin, he first buckled around his neck ; it 
 flanged outward at its lower part so as to come well down 
 to the collar bones ; then a large wide oval, or more 
 nearly diamond-shaped band of the same material, heavy 
 leather and stuffed, was fastened around the abdomen, 
 and also buckled at his back ; this too, was of black 
 leather with an inch of silver bordering all around it. By 
 these all the viscera, for the oval-shaped band came well 
 up over the stomach, as well as the important jugular 
 veins, carotid arteries, and nerves of the neck, were well 
 protected from harm. Over his eyes he placed a pair of 
 iron goggles, firmly held on his face by fan-like flanges 
 on each side that covered the vital temples, and also pro 
 tected the less noteworthy temporal arteries. His right 
 arm then from an inch or so above his wrist to his 
 shoulder he proceeded to shield, and wound it closely with 
 a long black rope made of several strands of twisted or 
 plaited black silk cloth. This, while it perfectly protected 
 the arm, and particularly the dangerous blood-vessels of 
 the axilla under the shoulder, yet allowed of the freest 
 movement being made with it. Thus, in fact, all parts of 
 the young man liable when struck to produce serious in 
 jury were protected, except the breast and face. To every 
 rose there is a thorn. As all misfortunes have their com 
 pensations, so to all honors there are drawbacks. 
 
 It is considered a great disgrace to allow your antago- 
 
STUDKNT UF3 IN GERMANY. 129 
 
 nist to hit you on the upper three-fourths of the ear, or on 
 the lower third, or the wings of the nose ; for while scars 
 on all other parts of the face are regarded as high honors, 
 and are denotive of honorable warfare, those on the nose 
 or ears are looked at something in the light of your an 
 tagonist having left his mark upon you, for the wings of 
 the nose and all of the ears except the lower tip are com 
 posed of cartilage, and a vicious cut running through 
 heals very slowly and badly ; the blood-vessels are small 
 and few compared to other portions of the body, and the 
 two sides of a cut on those parts of the ears and nose 
 usually hypertrophy greatly in healing, the cartilagenous 
 tissue becoming three or four times as large as before the 
 division, and look elephantine, gross and revolting. One 
 student s nose, a wing of which had been incised through 
 months before, had augmented in volume in consequence 
 of the increased nutrition to an enormous size compared 
 to the uninjured wing; it was also reddish blue in color, 
 due to the dilated blood-vessels nature had seen fit to 
 cause in healing the parts, while the other wing was pale 
 and of an elegant contour. This student also had a kind 
 of half-laughing, shame-faced look as though he felt that 
 he only showed his countenance in the world by reason 
 of the world s good-natured tolerance thereof. His look 
 was engendered doubtless by the ill-concealed repulsive 
 demeanor assumed so often and constantly toward him by 
 nearly all the strangers he ever meets. Several ears 
 among the fighting members were also more or less thus 
 injured, but the marks left were extremely less noticeable 
 than those upon the noses. One rarely looks at a man s 
 ears, but his nose is the most prominent part of his face 
 and the first thing one s eyes run against on a close view 
 of him. 
 
 Finally, just as Hecht and all his crowd, who had pre 
 pared their champion at the other end of the hall, came 
 up, Felderstein put on a thickly padded cap of the club s 
 colors, black and silver, the body ot the cap black, indic 
 ative of the color of the bird of their national emblem, 
 the Preussische Adler (Prussian Eagle), and the band of 
 silver in allusion to the beautiful democratic metal the 
 
130 STUDENT XIFB I** 
 
 immortal Frederick the Great so much loved to circulate 
 as money. 
 
 Hecht s cap, as well as those of all his companions 
 along with him, was, of course, of the Maikaefer club s 
 gay colors, namely, dark green cap and yellow band. 
 He was picturesquely encased in leather similarly to that 
 worn by Felderstein, his protective armor being of leather, 
 and was also dark green, with yellow borders like his 
 cap. 
 
 Vielbeer, seeing all were ready, went over to the table, 
 seized a piece of white chalk and going to the middle of 
 the room, stooped down with many puffs and grunts and 
 marked off in the center of the floor the different places 
 for the antagonists to stand, and then backed away a few 
 steps to the side, where he took his station as umpire. 
 Schnurkelyah who usually had but two locations for his 
 canine anatomy, when his master was sitting down, 
 snugly ensconced in my lap, and [when Vielbeer was 
 standing up, sturdily sheltered between the Baron s 
 feet now realizing from long experience by an observa 
 tion of the preparations that a fray was imminent, and 
 that someone was liable to get hurt, decided that he 
 would let the honor pass him by anyway, and at once 
 took to cover beneath Vielbeer s far protruding stomach. 
 
 Hecht, with his rapier, one of the number his followers 
 had brought along with them, strode instantly up to his 
 mark and stood waiting, with his second at his side, and 
 slightly off behind him. 
 
 Felderstein also, immediately afterward stepped up to 
 his place. "Measure swords!" sung out Vielbeer, and 
 each duelist reached out his point and protruded it against 
 the inside of his adversary s shoulder ; they were seen to 
 be of the same length, and then Felderstein s second, 
 Count Luft, fell into his proper position by his principal s 
 side, and the whole mass of students formed a circling 
 crowd about the umpire and the four most deeply con 
 cerned. The two seconds are also armed with rapiers, 
 but blunt ones, and stand slightly to the side and back of 
 their respective principals. At the end of each gang " 
 (pronounced gahng), a round of ten minutes, when 
 
STUDENT LIFE) IN GERMANY. 
 
 time is called, they at once strike in with their 
 weapons and force the combatants swords up to prevent 
 a slashing blow from one taking effect after the other has 
 thrown up his guard. At the instant time is called, both 
 principals are supposed to throw their sword points to 
 their shoulders and the seconds strike in to prevent a 
 wound given by a blow started out half a second before 
 or even just at the instant time is called. Also, if a 
 wound is delivered by a principal, his second at once 
 strikes the blades up and claims the stroke ; if but a 
 slight one, the first blood, or if a more serious one, asks 
 for the victory, etc., for his principal. For this reason 
 each contestant s second stands at his side a little way off 
 and just a trifle behind him, so as to as fully as possible 
 watch the sword-play of his champion and instantly de 
 tect if a blow falls upon the opposing warrior s person. 
 These gangs or rounds of such and such length of time 
 are usually fought when the combat takes place between 
 friends, friendly bouts for amusement and exercise, and 
 to test each other s skill, and to keep in practice ; but in 
 a duel of the kind which was to take place now between 
 these two, where a direct insult had been concocted and 
 intentionally given, no rounds are called, but both parties 
 fight until one or the other gets a real serious wound or 
 drops from exhaustion, which, of course, gives the battle, 
 with high honors, to the other, by reason of his strength 
 and endurance, or the merit of having more cautiously 
 husbanded his resources, etc. 
 
 The four principal members involved stand almost like 
 the four letters of a weather-vane which indicate north, 
 east, south and west, the umpire off a little to one side 
 within the circle of enclosing audience, all four in their 
 pretty caps, their gaily colored armor, their bright, flash 
 ing blades, their stalwart figures, erect and straight as 
 arrows, their set determined faces, the glittering hatred 
 of Felderstein s deep gray eyes ; the confident, easy ele 
 gance of manners displayed by Hecht showing in every 
 movement and inch of his powerful form ; the group of 
 surrounding spectators enclosing them and the umpire ; 
 students from five or six different nations, and represent- 
 
132 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 ing, as showing by their caps, half a dozen clubs of the 
 city, all gathered in the center of the light, shed upon 
 them by four surrounding equidistant cluster chandeliers, 
 made the whole scene appear worthy of a medieval king s 
 tournament in the feudal days of old, in the palmiest 
 times of the lance and sword combats between the knights 
 of the shadowy past taking place before the fairest of the 
 land. 
 
 Both principals stood silent, facing each other, about 
 five feet apart, and each with both feet together and each 
 right arm held low against the side, keeping the rapier s 
 blade close against the shoulder, the left arm of each bent 
 into a triangle and held out of the way, the fore-arm hori 
 zontal against the back. 
 
 "Cross the swords ! " said Vielbeer, and instantly like 
 two clock-work automatons, both principals stepped back 
 a pace with their left feet at the same instant that the 
 brightly shining swords were crossed, each one s point 
 right before his antagonist s face, and the two seconds, 
 also, struck attitudes and threw their blunt rapiers up 
 and crossed them right beneath the weapons of their 
 principals who were looking each one, his enemy, 
 squarely in the eye. At once deep silence ensued ; all 
 the directing, disputing and talking going on among the 
 assembled students and the vain-glorious braggadocio-like 
 blowing of Brun, who had been loudly bewailing his dis 
 appointment at not being the first antagonist, ceased on 
 an instant, and intense quiet prevailed ; the two principals 
 were standing like statues awaiting the word. 
 
 11 L,os ! " (pronounced lohs let loose, or let fly) 
 howled Vielbeer, suddenly, in a booming voice from the 
 depths of his stomach ; the seconds instantly removed 
 their weapons, and quick as lightning Felderstein with 
 drew his sword from where it was crossing his opponent s, 
 drew it back above his head, and made a terrific sweep 
 ing slash direct at his opponent s face that was parried 
 with the greatest of ease and grace by Hecht, and seem 
 ingly without the least exertion on his part, outside of 
 turning his wrist, much to the surprise of some of those 
 new to the duello, who showed by their looks that they 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 133 
 
 had expected, at seeing the blow made, to the next in 
 stant discern Hecht s whole head roll far over on the 
 floor. Hecht then raised his rapier and made a feint at 
 Felderstein who met it half way, and then blocked the 
 real stroke by a skillful turn. Hecht continued to make 
 feints, and struck high and low, in vain endeavoring to 
 catch an unprotected place or get within his guard, but 
 this Felderstein was too adept to permit ; then for a time 
 Hecht tried to draw his opponent out or get him angry, 
 but he did not know Felderstein, who never got angry 
 unless he wanted to, at least never so far that anyone 
 could by the least sign see that he showed any ; seeing 
 this fail, for awhile he charged in at Felderstein s head ; 
 the latter defended himself splendidly, however. Then 
 first one took the offensive, and then his adversary, rain 
 ing blows after blows on each other until both looked 
 like they were standing among a shower of lightning 
 flashes ; at it earnestly and furiously they went, now up 
 stroke, now down stroke, now shoulder, now thigh, now 
 hip, now head, thrust, feint, slash, carte, tierce, plunge, 
 now one pressing forward, now being in turn fought back 
 ward and pressed down ; faster and faster flew the 
 weapons until one marveled how an eye could keep track 
 of all the sword movements. 
 
 Suddenly Felderstein was seen turning off his enemy s 
 point and swiftly striking in at him. Count I^uft in 
 stantly threw in his foil and sent the swords flying up. 
 
 "A blow, a blow for my man !" he cried. 
 
 "No, no!" replied Hecht s second, quickly. 
 
 "I saw it!" saidLuft. 
 
 "Never!" from Hecht s second. 
 
 "Umpire, I appeal to you," cried L,uft, turning to 
 Vielbeer. 
 
 " No strike, " said Vielbeer emphatically and decisively; 
 whereupon Count Luft, who had all this time been stand 
 ing with his feet apart and right knee bent and with his 
 rapier "struck in", holding by this attitude quiet the 
 duelists, at once withdrew it and the antagonists resumed 
 the fight. 
 
 Hecht well knew that Felderstein had outgeneraled 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 him, had flung aside his point and had cut at him unop 
 posed, and that he had just escaped a slash by reason of 
 his opponent s rapier falling short about an eighth of an 
 inch, and feeling muffed, now began beating at him with 
 all the power of his superior weight, endeavoring to 
 break down his guard by sheer force of onslaught, backed 
 by his heavier build. Felderstein, although in appearance 
 slight of figure and spare looking, was very muscular, 
 and had the fullest powers of endurance, and was not 
 overwhelmed and routed, and did not go down before the 
 furious pressure of his opponent s attack, which Hecht 
 seemed to have hoped and probably to have expected, as 
 one could intuitively divine from the momentary expres 
 sion of surprise that flitted over his face. Felderstein 
 held his own, however, with ease, skillfully bending back 
 to neutralize as far as possible his opponent s over-weight, 
 when suddenly by a dexterous turn of his fore- arm he 
 threw up Hecht s sword and, in a retaliative temper of 
 mind, made a slash at his body so viciously that the noise 
 of the stroke-fall resounded throughout the hall. In 
 stantly both seconds struck in and threw up the rapiers. 
 Felderstein backed his point to his shoulder, brought his 
 feet together and letting his left arm drop to his side, 
 stood erect in his place, panting slightly through his dry, 
 parched lips. 
 
 Vielbeer drew forth his little ivory measure, the sec 
 onds and a lot of Hecht s friends crowded around him, 
 and it was found that the blow had fallen on that part of 
 the leather armor protecting the stomach, just two inches 
 below its top, had cut through both layers of leather, all 
 the intervening padding, and merely scratched the skin, 
 from which a slight flow of blood appeared while they 
 were examining it. 
 
 The wounds in the duels are graded : a wound so deep 
 is a stroke, and counts so much or so many points for the 
 one giving it ; a more ugly wound an increased number 
 of points, etc., but it has to be of a certain length and 
 depth and of some seriousness to be declared sufficient to 
 end the fray or give the victory to the duelist who caused 
 it. A minutely graded ivory measure is used to determine 
 the exact status of the cut. 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 135 
 
 In an affair like that now taking place, however, a very 
 bad wound must be given to close it, and Hecht s injury 
 being found insignificant of course counted for nothing 
 in this affair, and his big stomach band, which had been 
 removed to investigate the damage done him, was now 
 buckled around in its old position ; the seconds again 
 stepped back to their places, and once more Vielbeer 
 shouted, " cross the swords " and "los " (go it). 
 
 Hecht was now hotly angry at being this time certainly 
 so nearly wounded, and bitter rage, that he took no pains 
 to conceal, was now depicted on his countenance. Had 
 the blow struck two inches higher his breast-bone would 
 have been cut into, and his lungs have surely given him 
 trouble for many days. He was also much infuriated at 
 the thought of his near defeat in the presence of his 
 friends, by one whom he had specially determined to 
 overthrow and humiliate, and realizing that he had met 
 his match resolved to make a speedy end of the conflict 
 by power of strength and superior heaviness, and he at 
 once desperately assumed the offensive, playing for Fel- 
 derstein s head. One could see by his actions that he was 
 risking any wound on his body, was relaxing his breast 
 guard all his efforts being directed to strike Felderstein 
 on the face. Rapidly as he gave his blows they were 
 all skillfully parried by Felderstein, too cautious to fall 
 into the trap of striking for Hecht s breast and getting in 
 return his enemy s sword full in the face. The bait was 
 tempting, but he saw through Hecht s scheme. The latter 
 finding his plan fail, and realizing the depths of his an 
 tagonist, grew angry, struck wildly, lost his caution, and 
 rushed down on Felderstein, cutting right and left, up 
 and down, paying no attention any more to guard, just 
 in the hope of perplexing and bewildering his contestant 
 into puzzlement, and cutting him down. This was what 
 Felderstein, still skillfully blocking and warding off the 
 blows, was waiting for, and suddenly ceasing to parry 
 the cuts, with a swift dexterous back-handed stroke and 
 turning of his wrist, he sent Hecht s shining blade flying 
 up above his head, and at the same instant, before his an 
 tagonist could lower his steel or recover his guard, with 
 
136 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 all his might he cut down squarely upon his enemy s face. 
 There was a great spurt of blood, a groan of wretched 
 anguish from the injured duelist, the clank of his rapier 
 as it dropped from his hand, and the miserably frustrated 
 Maikaeferian fell backward into his second s arms, from 
 whence he sank to the floor in unconsciousness. 
 
 Felderstein never moved from his tracks, but stood 
 with flushed face and heaving chest, staring unsympa- 
 thetically at his subdued insulter until he had measured 
 his full length in dismaying insensibility supine at the 
 feet of his fellow-clubmen, and then backing to the wall 
 and sitting down he shoved his cap to the back of his 
 head, and wiped with his handkerchief the perspiration 
 from his face. 
 
 A circle of students were soon kneeling around Hecht 
 with basins and cloths, washing away the blood that 
 flowed, tying the severed blood-vessels and endeavoring 
 to bring him effectually out of his deep unconciousness, 
 occasioned as much by the loss of such a quantity of 
 sanguinary fluid as by the stunning effects of the blow 
 from which he would at intervals partly revive and into 
 which immediately lapse again. The blade had struck 
 the side of his head in front of his ear, and his mouth 
 being partly open to better enable him to breath during 
 his over-heating exertions, had cut through his left cheek 
 from his ear into his mouth, dividing the parotid gland, 
 and such was the force given by which the blow was 
 struck that it was only prevented from severing his right 
 cheek also and thus splitting his mouth from ear to ear, 
 by being delivered in somewhat of a downward manner, 
 for after passing through the cheek, it had glanced over 
 the tongue and landed on the bone of the right jaw be 
 low the teeth, several of which were much loosened. 
 
 His wound was finally dressed and he reviving suffi 
 ciently to sit up, partook of a stimulant, and without say 
 ing a word, accompanied by two of his friends, left the 
 hall, entered the cab which had been quietly called to the 
 front door, and soon the low rumbling of wheels off into 
 the night apprised us that the vanquished clubman and 
 his comrades had departed. 
 
STUDENT I^IFE IN GERMANY. 137 
 
 " His beauty has been spoiled for a while and the ar 
 rogant lumps is badly injured ; the game, however, was of 
 his own seeking," said L,uft, as with a glass of cracked ice 
 water in his hand he came up to where Felderstein was 
 sitting in a chair placed against the wall and set it down 
 on the floor beside him. 
 
 "I am still a little too warm for that, Luft," replied his 
 principal, "but will drink it just before the next fight. 
 I shall rest a while and in a few moments give that 
 1 Rindvieh (steer) Brun the chance he all evening has 
 so impatiently and loud mouthedly been waiting for. I 
 am stirred up now and am feeling splendidly and have 
 all my aggressive inclinations and guarding faculties 
 alert and fully awake. I feel in perfect trim, I/uft, and in 
 great confidence, and if he is no better man than his 
 partner, who got what he so well deserved, the squabble 
 won t last long." 
 
 Brun was got by his friends into his armor, and took 
 his position on the floor and proved himself not so good 
 a man as Hecht by any means. In tact Brun wished 
 himself well out of it all. It wouldn t do to back out, 
 however, as all his friends now looked to him to retrieve 
 their club s lowered prestige, or at least even up matters 
 by something of a return victory. Brun, however, did 
 not seem to feel that he cared particularly to be the 
 one picked out and expected to balance the honors be 
 tween the clubs, and looked as though he hoped some 
 objection would be made to Felderstein s again taking up 
 the rapier against a fresh man, in which case, the duel not 
 taking place at the appointed time, would, in all probabil 
 ity, be declared entirely off. He had expected Hecht to 
 wipe the floor with Felderstein, who, on account of his 
 habit of usually keeping his mouth shut, had been greatly 
 underrated, and not thinking he would have to come to 
 blows with him ; but after Felderstein s downfall would at 
 once magnanimously let him off of his part of it; and had 
 been blowing around among his crowd during the time the 
 preparations were going on, of how anxious he was for his 
 turn to come, and how he was just spoiling because Hecht s 
 time came first, etc. Now, he looked far from anxious 
 
138 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 for the fray, However, in the presence of all eyes, and 
 as the last hope of his compeers, he braced up, clamped 
 his teeth fiercely together, glared viciously around and 
 came up to the mark with a great assumption of courage 
 and eagerness, and crossed his sword with Felderstein s. 
 
 Felderstein had heard great tales of these two young 
 men s skill and prowess, and knowing he was shorn of 
 his best and freshest strength by his previous contest, was 
 exceedingly cautious and wary at first, but he soon be 
 came aware of his opponent s inferior ability as the fight 
 progressed ; and it dawning upon him that Brun was a 
 miserable blow-hard, and had been crowing over him too 
 soon, resolved to pay him dearly for all his insolence and 
 offensive demeanor ; and after a few moments unevent 
 ful play to lull Brun s caution, turned away a thrust from 
 Brun and delivered a swishing cut squarely at him, just 
 missing by half an inch laying his whole forehead open. 
 
 This stroke produced quite a sensation among the audi 
 ence from the heat with which, self-evidently, it had been 
 sent out, and all saw that Felderstein was determined to 
 seriously injure his opponent, and as the assembly were 
 already somewhat appalled at the serious wound received 
 by Hecht, great anxiety prevailed, which was painfully 
 and, to Brun, exceedingly unflatteringly, portrayed over 
 all the onlooking countenances. Verfluchter Schweine- 
 hund !" (cursed pig-dog) cried Brun, blazing into anger 
 like a flash on noticing the deep solicitude displayed by 
 the surrounding crowd for the welfare of his visage just 
 missed getting spoiled by a mere fraction, his eyes emit 
 ting sparks and his face assuming an expression of deep 
 hatred, and he glared in animosity at his antagonist. He 
 nerved himself for a desperate effort, and at once quick 
 ened his play and showered slash after slash, thrust after 
 thrust on Felderstein, who, seeing his opponent s angry 
 mood, defended himself guardedly and with extreme care 
 until Brun s energetic and furious efforts began to slacken, 
 then took the offensive himself for a short time until 
 finally a skillfully made uppercut feint followed instantly, 
 in the wink of an eye, by a downward slash of Felder 
 stein s rapier, landed plump on Brun s nose,, the whole 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. ] 3y, 
 
 lower half of which it took off; the blade, in continuing 
 its course, also cutting through the upper and lower lips, 
 through the chin to the bone, and sinking deep into the 
 padded leather band around his neck. The seconds simul 
 taneously, and quick as thought, struck up the swords. 
 
 " I am undone," wailed the "last hope of theMaikae- 
 fers," carrying his hands to his head as the blood, spurt 
 ing all over his face and into his eyes blinded him, and 
 letting fall his rapier just as the end of his nose dropped to 
 the floor, where puppy Schnurkelyah, who had all this time 
 been viewing the scene from between Vielbeer s legs, 
 feeling, of course, protected there from all dangers and 
 downfalling missiles, thinking it a piece of waste pretzel, 
 suddenly sprang forward, snapped it up and gulped it 
 whole, to the dumbfounded amazement of all. 
 
 "Htmmel!" howled Brun s second, exasperated to 
 fury at the second defeat of their colors. " Cut him open 
 and take it out quick and sew it on." 
 
 "What ! shrieked Count lyuft, aghast at the very idea, 
 and instantly getting aflame. "Not for ten thousand such 
 infernal noses." 
 
 " Cursed dog !" yelled Brun s second, now half wild, 
 "I ll pretty soon fix you," and before anyone could 
 divine his intention or prevent him, he seized Brun s 
 rapier from off the floor, and drawing back the weapon, 
 aimed and struck a blow at Schnurkelyah that, had it 
 landed where it was intended to, would have sent the 
 poor little innocent-minded bench-legged dachshund in a 
 hurry to the place where all good little fat dogs go, 
 wherever that may be ; the blade s point, however, sung 
 through the air just an inch or so above his back. 
 
 Schnurkelyah, hearing the angry, contentious voices, 
 seeing the suspicious actions of Brun s second, and feel 
 ing from the swish of the rapier the renewal of the air 
 above him, surmised what was happening, and giving a 
 couple of alarmed apoplectic yelps, made a bound toward 
 the front swinging doors of the hall, which being un 
 bolted from the departure of Hecht and his two com 
 panions, swung open, let him tumbling out head-over- 
 heels to the sidewalk from where he rolled down the 
 
 10 
 
STUDENT UF IN GERMANY. 141 
 
 pavement like a flour barrel to the curbing, and went 
 bump into the gutter, where he lay on his broad, fat little 
 back, unable to right himself, with his feet feebly 
 waving in the air. 
 
 Brun s second s blow, delivered with such vigor, and 
 not meeting an obstacle, threw him off his balance prone 
 upon the floor. Recovering his feet, the swinging doors 
 closing behind Schnurkelyah hid his great acrobatic 
 feat from view. When the second reached the door, 
 Schnurkelyah had just struck the gutter, and the second 
 springing out upon the pavement, and rapidly glancing 
 all around, seeing in the dim light of early morning no 
 dog nearer than one running along about his own busi 
 ness a short distance down the street, took after him with 
 all his might, yelling at the top of his voice, " Stop him !" 
 "hold him ! " "cut him open ! " etc., etc., to the great 
 astonishment of two or three early risers already on the 
 street who paused in their walk and stood looking in 
 wonder after the flying figure of a man with a sword 
 pursuing an imaginary enemy. 
 
 Vielbeer rushed to the door with Count L,uft at his 
 heels, where the former got fastened tightly between the 
 door frames, and the greatest exertion of others in pulling 
 and pushing failed to get him either in or out. Count Luft 
 had flung down his foil or blunt point, grasped Felder- 
 stein s rapier out of his hand, and at Vielbeer s coat-tails 
 had brought up against him, at the final stoppage of the 
 rush, with such impetus that he had but jammed him in the 
 doorway the tighter ; and all the time they were putting 
 forth all their efforts pulling at Vielbeer, Lutt was get 
 ting more furious at the delay ; he was jumping up and 
 down about the room, waving his rapier about, cursing 
 and swearing, and crying out all the terrible things he 
 would do if he didn t get there in time to rescue Schnur 
 kelyah. 
 
 Eventually seeing no hope of a speedy release from the 
 hall through the door, he rushed to the front of the hall, 
 bounded upon a table at one side of the door where the 
 students were still at their struggles, and raising his blade 
 with a few terrific slashes he cut through curtains, win- 
 
142 STUDENT LJFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 dow and shutters, and leaping to the sill instantly dis 
 appeared outside and down the street. 
 
 Finally after the liberal use of a saw on the door, Vielbeer 
 was released and landed outside on the pavement, and a 
 couple of members on each side of him grabbing up his 
 stomach in their eight arms galloped him between them 
 at a gallant rate along the street after L,uft, who could be 
 seen away down the "Unterden Linden", the pride street 
 of Berlin, just a flying along, wildly waving his rapier, 
 his long blond hair streaming out behind him in the wind 
 and his fearful oaths coming back to us on the breeze 
 with ever diminishing clearness, still in pursuit of Brun s 
 second, whose dim figure could be seen in the early gray 
 of the morning a couple of blocks ahead of I/uft, still en 
 ergetically pursuing a terrified little dog, just a skinning 
 along for dear life, far ahead of him. 
 
 Vielbeer and his supporters, were getting along finely 
 and were making the fastest time out when suddenly, and 
 without any warning whatever, his left leg gave out and 
 plump the whole of them went down in a lump on the 
 pavement, forming as pretty a mess as one ever sees. On 
 disentangling their limbs and extricating their bodies and 
 arising, seeing then no signs either of L,uft, Brun s 
 second or Schnurkelyah, and knowing their further efforts 
 would be of no avail, they came slowly back to the club, 
 in front of which the remainder, excepting those inside 
 in care of the unfortunate Brun, of the previous fight s 
 audience were gathered anxiously awaiting the returns. 
 Vielbeer stopped on the pavement in front of the entrance 
 and suddenly overcome at the thought of the probable 
 demise of his nobly and valiantly pedigreed and ever 
 faithful dog, pulled forth a handkerchief of antediluvian 
 appearance and gave vent to his grief, as did several other 
 members of the club, thinking that by now Schnurkelyah 
 had surely been caught and cut open by the enemy. 
 
 "Poor Schnurkelyah! poor Schnurkelyah!" wept 
 Vielbeer loudly, tears of beer as large as ounce globules 
 rolling from his eyes. 
 
 Suddenly a feeble but familiar "bow-wow" greeted us 
 from the gutter. There was an awe-struck ghost-creeping 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 143 
 
 silence among us ; a wild, scared look into each others 
 faces ; a rush in a body to the gutter, and then a loud 
 shout from all as Schnurkelyah was discovered still on 
 his back with feet still paddling the air. He was picked 
 up, carried in, put upon a table, given a vomit, and the 
 first thing that he threw up, along with a lot of pretzels, 
 beer and wurst, was the end of Brun s nose. It was at 
 once seized, washed and carefully sewed on the face of 
 the injured student, where it grew so nicely, being cut in 
 the soft muscular tissue above the wing cartilages and 
 below the nose bone, that no enlargement or discoloration 
 ensued, and three months later but a dim scar remained 
 to tell of his mishap. 
 
 A cab was called for Brun, after all the students were 
 again assembled within the building, so as not to attract 
 notice by their numbers, as it was getting lighter and 
 lighter as the moments stole on. Again two companions 
 assisted a defeated "Maikaeferian" (June-bug clubman) 
 through the great doors into a closed carriage and took him 
 away. The victorious Prussian Eagle, the valiant Felder- 
 stein, took off his armor, which, with the rapiers, were re 
 moved and returned to their places, the traces of the fray 
 obliterated, the lights turned out, and, after cautiously 
 spying out the door and still seeing no signs of the return 
 of the two seconds, the students by twos and threes slunk 
 away into the breaking day, like night birds on the com 
 ing of morning ; and soon the bright and glorious beau 
 tiful dawn cast its enlightening rays into a vacant hall and 
 a deserted building. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A NOTHER fad of Berlin at the time was for each fam- 
 /x ily that pretended to be anything, that laid claims 
 to being anybodies at all, to have, or rather to affect a 
 "Bayrisches Kinder Maedchen" (Bavarian child nurse, 
 or rather, companion). These girls were from the Ger 
 man province of Bavaria, a southern country which lies 
 just north of the Italian Alps. They could be seen all 
 about the streets of the city, and were to be met with every 
 where in the parks, wheeling their employers baby- 
 carriages, in which often nestled little cherubs, and often 
 were found vacant. These women were dressed in the pic 
 turesque costume of their native land, which consisted of 
 a tight silk-embroidered sleeveless bodice, shoe-laced in 
 front over a wide white ruffled bosom, which tapered to a 
 point at the belt, and puffed sleeves of pure white, on a 
 waist worn under the bodice, appearing from out the arm- 
 holes and ending in a ruffle at the wrists. The dress- 
 skirt was short not reaching quite to the ankles and 
 had four one-inch stripes about one and one-half inches 
 apart, just above the three-inch wide ruffled lower border. 
 An apron was worn over this. Their head-dress was at 
 times something like a Spanish lady s mantilla, but more 
 often it looked like our own liberty cap that we occasion 
 ally see on our old silver dollars, pictured as being held 
 up on the end of a pole. They wore white stockings 
 and neat slippers, looked quite captivating, and were reg 
 ular soldier-heart-smashers. When a body . of marching 
 soldiers was going past (which was often) they lined the 
 edge of the sidewalks in numbers with their little charges, 
 and all the soldiers eyes were strained to the sides of their 
 heads in endeavors to get glimpses of nods sent at them ; 
 or to recognize smiles from their admiring * liebchens 
 (beloved ones) and " sueszchens " (sweetnesses). 
 It was the fad for the big families to have one of the 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 145 
 
 Bavarian child attendants or baby care-takers, and those 
 who did not sport one lost much of their caste. So all 
 who had an infant, turned out a Bayrisches Kinder outfit 
 in as striking and stylish a manner as they could get up 
 a beautiful little carriage and a neat trim-looking girl. 
 The families who had no baby had the nurse or child- 
 companion and the baby buggy anyway, and sent the 
 girls, empty-vehicled, promenading out over the parks 
 and boulevards to keep in fashion, and waited patiently 
 until the Klapperstorch (clattering stork) brought one, for 
 the Klapperstorch brings all the babies in Germany. 
 These important individuals are to be seen in all 
 the rural districts in plentifulness. They have two very 
 long, thin red legs, and are white feathered. They build 
 their great nests on the very top of the chimneys of the 
 houses in the country build them of straw and large 
 twigs, branches and vine clippings, right upon the top 
 of the square of bricks enclosing the smoke hole ; lay 
 their eggs and rear their young therein, right amidst 
 and seemingly not incommoded or inconvenienced in the 
 least by the clouds of smoke that sifts up through the 
 nest. They were often known to put out fires in the 
 days of a hundred and more years ago when roofs in the 
 agricultural districts were mostly made of straw, and a 
 spark from one of the chimneys set fire to it by jump 
 ing down from their nests upon the blaze and flapping 
 their wings into it until extinguished ; probably doing 
 this by instinct to save from certain destruction, by the 
 fire progressing, their eggs or helpless young in the nest. 
 These olden time straw roofs were now and then still 
 to be met with in the far back districts of Germany. A 
 law had been passed years before, prohibiting their fur 
 ther construction and only allowing the repair of the old 
 ones, but the quiet, meek, light-blue innocent-eyed rural- 
 ists seemed to have gotten Americanized enough in that 
 one particular at least to circumvent the law, for by re 
 moving one side of an old straw roof and replacing it with 
 an entirely new covering of the same material, and after 
 allowing six months to elapse * patching" the remaining 
 side with a new straw covering, they succeeded in renew- 
 
146 
 
 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 ing entirely the inflammable roof and also in keeping be 
 yond the clutches of the law. These straw roofs were very 
 lasting, were made of bundles of the unweighty sub 
 stance laid on and over-lapping and a second layer put on 
 over the first one, in the space left where two bundles of 
 straw sided together ; they endured for years, and the 
 
 drizzling rains of October and November never pene 
 trated through them. 
 
 These Klapperstorches would often fly into the sub 
 urbs of Berlin, in the district where the manufactories 
 were situated ; they would alight from out the sky and 
 stand like statues upon the tops of the high smoke stacks 
 and brick flue or fume pillars. On my first seeing them 
 up there, outlined in relief against the heavens, I thought 
 
STUDKNT UFE IN GERMANY. 147 
 
 that they were sheet-iron figures set up as weather-vanes 
 or as decorations, but one day noticing one high brick 
 smoke stack particularly, I saw what I had supposed 
 was a figure of a long-limbed bird suddenly draw one 
 leg up to its breast and remain standing upon the single 
 limb ; it stood immovable upon this one leg for hours, 
 in a fixed deeply philosophizing position as though 
 musing upon the inconstancy or the susceptibility of 
 variations in the essential qualities of ornithological oc 
 currences, or else pondering upon its chances of roosting 
 upon a full craw. On looking for it later I found it had 
 g 0ne flown back to the country. This one-limb attitude 
 is its most favorite one ; its red legs are extremely long, 
 and it has a long straight conical bill, with which it 
 makes the klappering (clattering) noise upon the wood 
 en eaves of the house roofs ; and from this the bird de 
 rives its name of Klapperstorch (clattering stork). The 
 sound can be heard far away, like that which would 
 ensue from an immense woodpecker. Now and then 
 they are seen with some colored feathers on the tips of 
 their wings, all else of their feathery coats being white, 
 but most often they are of the latter color entirely. And 
 so these babyless families keep the nurse and buggy 
 ready and handy, for some night when all is dark and 
 still, so quiet that not even a mouse stirring is to be per 
 ceived by the ear, the family suddenly hear a great rust 
 ling and clattering coming down the chimney and the 
 next morning a sweet little girl baby is found in the 
 cradle. They do not tell who brings the boy babies, but I 
 suppose the old boy himself does gives a large share of 
 his diabolical attention to that purpose. 
 
 Menton and I once went along with one of our club s 
 mild students to call upon some friends of his who lived 
 in a flat on one of the fashionable thoroughfares of Berlin. 
 They happened to all be out in the city at the time of our 
 appearance there, and we waited upon the edge of 
 the sidewalk while the mild student rang the bell. 
 He, getting no response, supposed that it might be 
 broken, and so knocked for a short while to be better satis 
 fied of their not being at home, which he now suspected, 
 
148 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 before leaving. Finally a lady who was living in the 
 flat three or four stories above the apartments of the absent 
 ones, hearing the knocking, and assuming that the caller 
 was not aware that no attention would be given by anyone 
 to a knock as each set of rooms had their special bell and 
 thinking that he was not acquainted with the location of the 
 bell or had not even the knowledge of its existence, leaned 
 her head out of the window and called down to him, say 
 ing, "Bell einmal ! bell einmal!" (ring awhile ! ring 
 awhile ! ) This expression of bell einmal sounds very 
 much like "Belle (bel-lah) einmal (bark awhile); indeed, 
 the similarity is marked, especially when it is rapidly or 
 hurriedly spoken. The mild student understood very well 
 what she meant, but he caught the comical feature of the 
 resemblance instantly, and resolving to so misconstrue 
 the words, he turned about to the passers-by, opened 
 wide his mouth and gave forth several terrific barks, 
 "Boo-wow, wow-wow, boo-wow-wow ! " much to their 
 amazement and terror. 
 
 "Nein! nein !" (No! no!) "Bell! bell! bell!" (ring! 
 ring!) cried the lady. 
 
 "I do, madam," answered back the mild student ; "I 
 am bellen , I am so doing", again letting loose into a 
 loud wow-wow, whoof-whoof, wow-wow, making fearful 
 facial contortions and grimaces the while. 
 
 A scared crowd soon collected, but keeping away at a 
 safe distance, about him, thinking that he had been bit 
 ten by a mad dog, and that he had the hydrophobia ; but 
 he explained to them, with a very innocent face, that the 
 lady above had suddenly opened her window, leaned out 
 and had very politely requested him to bark awhile, and 
 that, although he had not the slightest idea why she 
 wished him so to do, he never refused to acceed to a lady s 
 wishes, and had accommodated her to the best of his 
 poor ability. 
 
 What occasioned the most curiosity among the German 
 students about Menton and myself, was our habit of sit 
 ting in our rooms with our chairs tilted back and our 
 feet up on the top of our study table, or high up on the 
 wall at the sides of the room. They would often come 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 149 
 
 into our apartments at night, and pause on the threshold 
 in perplexed wonder at the sight of both of us so sitting, 
 seemingly enjoying ourselves hugely in what, to them, 
 appeared a most uncomfortable position. We would often, 
 on purpose, at hearing some of them coming up the 
 stairs, and knowing that they were bound for a brief stay 
 in our rooms, hunch ourselves down into our far-back 
 tilted chairs until we were really sitting upon our should 
 ers and necks, and with our feet away up above our 
 heads on the wall, appear, on their entrance, to be so 
 deply absorbed in study as not to hear their incoming. 
 We always enjoyed the stopping of our callers, 
 knocked clear out of their self-possession at the sight 
 all standing transfixed in the doorway, the foremost one 
 with his hand still holding on to the knob, in surprise and 
 astonishment at our artfully constructed, and to their eyes 
 very singular, attitudes. After awhile we would, with deep 
 drawn and heavy sighs, awaken from our deliciously rec 
 reating postures, and reluctantly slide our slippered feet, 
 with a scrape, from their elevated situation on the wall, 
 and arise ; and with a "ha ! altes, haus" (hello, old hulk), 
 "how are you? come in" to the first comer ; and then in 
 much surprise at seeing some others following him, would 
 extend our greeting to them, saying, "kommt herein 
 alte kraken" (move in, old wrecks), of course seeming 
 not in the least aware that they had any occasion to see 
 anything remarkable at our usual way of sitting, wel 
 come our visitors into the sanctum. 
 
 German chairs are made exclusively for sitting and not 
 to lean in ; the backs are all perfectly straight and per 
 pendicular, and like our American parlor and drawing- 
 room furniture have no runged braces below as our office 
 and hotel chairs over here have, to prevent the two rear 
 legs when it is backwardly inclined, with a heavy weight 
 therein, from snapping off at the under part of the seat 
 board. 
 
 We soon discovered that our method of adjusting our 
 selves in our places of rest, appearing to give us such 
 happiness, had been rumored all about the University, 
 and we learned that a great many of the students had 
 
150 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 tried it for themselves with disastrous results to their fur 
 niture. Whenever we went to interchange civilities with 
 anyone of our colleagues and would see a chair or two 
 minus their back legs stored away upside down in con 
 fusion in a corner of the room, we realized at once that 
 the student had been endeavoring to find out wherein lay 
 the pleasure of our customary manner of sitting. 
 
 One evening just about dusk a gang of half a dozen of 
 us Prussian Eagles, with a mild student in our midst, 
 started out to attend a play at one of the theaters. On 
 arriving at the corner of the city s great boulevard, the 
 Unter den lyinden where it crosses at a right-angle the 
 Friedrich strasse (Frederick street), which latter is also 
 an important and busy thoroughfare, we all stopped on 
 one of the four corners for a moment to look about and 
 see if there were any more of our members in the near 
 vicinity. We stood waiting on the wide pavement in the 
 bright gas-light of the street lamps, and of the lighted 
 show-windows of the stores, and as a party of ladies and 
 gentlemen, about six of them altogether, came along 
 down Frederick street, and just as they approached us 
 and were about to pass the Unter den L,inden, the mild 
 student suddenly remarked to us quite loudly, at the 
 same time pulling out his watch and looking at the time, 
 1 Yes, he comes now in an instant ; keep a sharp eye, 
 jungens (boys), for the Koenig (king) is now about to 
 pass." 
 
 The old King of Prussia, afterward Emperor William 
 I of Germany, always came through the Branden 
 burg Thor, or great arch upon which stood the 
 famed female charioteer driving the four horses. The 
 arch being really the end of the wayfare he invariably 
 came through it and passed down the long great boule 
 vard on his way coming from the old palace of Frederick 
 the Great at Potsdam, sixteen miles away, to the new 
 palace in Berlin, situated near the other end of the Unter 
 den Linden, the end opposite to the Thor. He always 
 was seen in his carriage in his military dress ; his spiked 
 helmet adorned with a golden figure of the eagle of Prus 
 sia upon its front. He was always driven past quite 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 151 
 
 rapidly by his two coachmen, behind two horses, and 
 coming in usually at night and accompanied by several 
 attendants following as a mounted escort, produced quite 
 a clattering and sensation as they went swiftly past over 
 the smooth street, his white side whiskers contrasting 
 with his black helmet and his uniform coat. General 
 von Moltke often accompanied him; a thin-faced man 
 whose head appeared to have shrunk down into his shoul 
 ders, and who seemed to almost disappear down out of 
 sight within the cushions of the carriage seats. 
 
 Von Moltke always wore a soft military cap, a colored 
 band around the rim, over which the body of the cap 
 arose dilating to its round summit. Prince von Bismarck, 
 the Iron Chancellor, who also occasionally accompanied 
 his king, always wore the black spiked helmet, out from 
 under which peered his firm, strong looking countenance. 
 The king and his chancellor were both tall men and sat 
 erect; were broad chested, their shoulders being nearly a 
 yard wide in their epauleted coats. The right hand of 
 the Prussian king and that of whoever accompanied him 
 were continuously employed in being raised to their 
 heads in a military saluting manner in acknowledgment 
 of the raising hats of the populace as the equipage 
 sped by under the control of the two plume-hatted coach 
 men. The conveyance in which he was driven was a 
 landau, sometimes called landaw, a double carriage so 
 named from the German city Landau where it was first 
 originated or invented. The two seats were at the front 
 and back of the vehicle and faced each other, so one 
 could sit facing the horses or with his back to them. The 
 cover was coach-like and could be parted in the middle at 
 the top, and both sides thrown away from each other to 
 behind the back of each seat, making it then an open 
 carriage. It was so open whenever it came into the city, 
 and on his expected arrival getting noised about, crowds 
 collected on every corner of the great long boulevard to 
 witness his passing, and hats and caps by the thousands 
 went high into the air all up and down the length of the 
 Unter den Linden as he was rapidly driven along to the 
 palace. 
 
152 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 sharp now, boys, for he is shortly to come," 
 continued the mild student. 
 
 "Hear you?" remarked one of the gentlemen of the 
 six passers by, "hear you that ? that the king comes im 
 mediately." 
 
 " Yes, " they all replied. " So let us stop here and see 
 him pass. 
 
 They all congregated at our side and four or five more 
 people coming along, the mild student, each time one 
 came within hearing, would repeat, "The king comes; 
 he comes now at once," as though talking to himself. 
 The new arrivals also stopped, and finally others seeing 
 the crowd collecting, were attracted to it in curiosity, and 
 on asking the cause of the assembled citizens, the first 
 gulled comers themselves now would answer that the 
 Royal William was expected in a moment on his way to 
 the palace. And so the mild student and his crowd, after 
 a jam of people had been brought about, quietly slipped 
 off, laughing in their sleeves. 
 
 We went to the theater, and soon the incident dropped 
 from our minds ; but on leaving the play-house after the 
 close of the piece, and returning home down the same 
 street at about half past twelve o clock, we had it brought 
 again to our memories on nearing the same corner, by 
 seeing that the great crowd was yet standing there still 
 waiting for the king s appearance in the same place 
 where we had left it earlier in the night ; but all were re 
 cent comers. The crowd was ever changing its individu 
 als, but ever kept up its numbers. Old members of the 
 concourse, after standing half or all of an hour or longer, 
 would at length grow weary and bethink themselves of 
 other duties (than that of saluting their sovereign) some 
 what more pressing and that they were neglecting, and 
 would give a final look down the street, and seeing yet no 
 commotion or agitation in the distance would skip out ; 
 but new ones ever came to take their place to swell the 
 thinning ranks. And so the gathered numbers had re 
 mained about an even hundred or so just enough to 
 seriously discommode the hurrying passers-by. 
 
 "What is it? what s the excitement?" asked the 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 153 
 
 mild student, rushing out from our midst and up to them, 
 with inquiring eyes and much eagerness in his manner. 
 
 "Koenig kommt ! Koenig kommt ! " (King comes, 
 King comes) replied several. 
 
 "Schoen" (that s fine). "Hurrah! then it is true, 
 boys," loudly shouted the mild student back to our ap 
 proaching selves. "Then it is so what we heard down 
 the street, that the King is due to pass here at a quarter 
 to one o clock. Let me see (looking at his watch), he 
 is due now in seven minutes ; then we must stay and see 
 him, for I would not miss it for the world. Quick! all of 
 you ; come along, boys, and we will run across the street 
 and quench our thirst with a seltzer each, and then hurry 
 back in time to let his Royalty have the great pleasure of 
 seeing some handsome fellows, who will very much re 
 semble us, enthusiastically greet him." 
 
 We all lit out over the wide boulevard, got lost to the 
 crowd s view after getting beyond the rows of trees lining 
 the street s center, and of course did not see fit to return. 
 
 It was three weeks later before the footsteps of the 
 same gang of us were led to that corner again, but when 
 they were we noticed that the large assembly of Berliners 
 were still occupying the pavement. 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha! " fairly yelled the mild student, pointing 
 to the waiting gathering of citizens ; "just look at that ! 
 Those people have been standing there all these three 
 weeks in expectation of seeing the King drive by. Ha ! 
 ha! ha!" 
 
 The story of the first night s joke had been told about 
 of course, and it appeared that each evening since, some 
 new mild student had gotten a gulled throng to collect 
 there ; and so it looked as if the same old mob was always 
 staying on the corner for a sight of the Royal turnout. 
 
 Menton, in his conversation, amputated his r s like a 
 good-fellow. As an illustration of his mode of speaking 
 I can give no better example than that presented in the 
 following old piece of early war-time poetry, as it 
 graphically shows the exact style in which it would have 
 been recited by him had he been singing it : 
 
154 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 " Once on a time I fondly loved 
 
 A young gu l booight and fai ah; 
 The sunbeams spa hkled in hu h eyes 
 And glistened in hu h hai ah. 
 
 " She said that she would ma a a ay me 
 
 When the cruel wa h was ova h ; 
 
 Like a chicken in the cotton patch 
 
 A-scuy atching up the clova h." 
 
 The last verse meaning that if the war was over she 
 would marry him like fury, or like a chicken in the, etc., 
 probably not willing to be made a widow too soon all 
 the young men being in the army. 
 
 Menton was much older than I. He had also loved and 
 lost, but in a far different way from the manner in which 
 Vielbeer had. Menton had been secretly engaged to 
 marry a very beautiful young lady of seventeen years of 
 age, an only child, whom he had met in a neighboring 
 State. He had her likeness taken about 1860, and it was 
 a fair specimen of the early photographic art. The pic 
 ture showed her as being the loveliest type of the south 
 ern girl ; tall, graceful and willowy ; large liquid eyes, 
 and aristocratic features. By one of those contra-analo- 
 gies of nature her mother was a coarse brutal being, with 
 about as much of an insight into the refined, intellectual, 
 and sentimental nature of her daughter as a bivalve is 
 capable of having. The girl was high minded, and ex 
 tremely proud and sensitive, and as she grew up strove 
 by every means at her command to keep from her friends, 
 and the public generally, the knowledge of the thousand 
 and one humiliations she was subjected to at home at the 
 hands of her parent. Her mother had never yet struck 
 her with a whip, but often spoke of so doing, and had 
 purchased a cowhide whip which she kept hanging on 
 the wall of the up- stairs hall by the side of her daughter s 
 room, as a rod of terror to be daily and hourly seen. 
 Under threats of direct personal chastisement her mother 
 made her perform the most menial and, to one of lofty 
 spirit, lowering services, and so much did the girl dread 
 receiving a whipping on account of the consequent shame 
 that would be hers before her companions and friends, 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 155 
 
 and fearing that they would all be aware of it, and of 
 course construe that it had been richly deserved else it 
 would not have been given, judging naturally from their 
 own probably kind parents natures, that to avoid this 
 kind of punishment she submitted to anything that her 
 mother subjected her to. Of this the mother took ad 
 vantage ; of course easily reading her fears and wishes, 
 having seen her daily from childhood, and it being no 
 extensive matter for her to overcome the girl in shrewd 
 ness she matching her forty years of life and experi 
 ence against the daughter s less than half. It was known 
 that at times she, a large heavy woman, would get her 
 daughter down on her back on the floor, and placing her 
 knees and whole weight upon the child s breast then 
 about from ten to fourteen years of age, with not yet 
 wholly hardened bones and pull her hair at both sides, 
 and bump her head up and down, forcibly striking it 
 upon the floor, and all the time yelling and screaming 
 and otherwise working herself into a passion, and after 
 fully gratifying her low nature with the delight of wit 
 nessing the child s intense terror, would, after the daugh 
 ter, nearly insane from fright, had recovered her senses, 
 threaten her with a terrible punishment if she ever dared 
 to breathe a word of it to her father ; the girl of course 
 kept silent tor fear of her complaint not rectifying matters 
 and leaving her still under her mother s full control with 
 the desire for revenge upon her then also added to her 
 parent s proclivities and inclinations. 
 
 11 But did her father not see the state of affairs and sus 
 picion something of all this, I asked. Surely in the vary 
 ing demeanor of the girl toward him and toward her 
 mother, and her different actions and behavior toward 
 him when alone with others, and then when he and her 
 mother were together with others ; and then again when 
 in and out of her mother s presence ; surely the dissimi 
 larity of her conduct must have been apparent to him." 
 11 Yes," replied Menton. "You or I would have no 
 ticed it, but some men not ; it appears he didn t, you see ; 
 either he was aware of it and weakly ignored it, or else 
 his dense mind noticed but a slight part of what took 
 11 
 
156 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 place, and imagined no more that just the little his super 
 ficial nature saw, leastways he did not interfere, being 
 in business and putting his whole attention to that. One 
 New Year s eve a large dancing party was to be given 
 by the young people of the town to dance the old year 
 out and the new one in, and all the young folks were 
 agog with the oncoming event. I think the mother s 
 actions dwelt largely on the daughter s possession of a so 
 far superior beauty to that held by her parent that she 
 could not forgive it ; it was gall and wormwood to her ; 
 the difference in appearance between them would be re 
 marked by friends as well as enemies, and she would be 
 certain to hear of it, and in a pure malicious spirit 
 showed the girl that although she might be beautiful she 
 was still body and soul in her power, and that she could 
 subject her to any degradation that she chose ; and to 
 make the girl feel it she let no chance pass by to show her 
 tyrannical dominion; that although she soared above 
 her in beauty, she would show her that she was still 
 totally under her sway. 
 
 * The mother knowing her daughter had set her heart 
 on going to the ball, gave out to the girl s visiting friends, 
 on several occasions, some days before the ball, that my 
 sweetheart had been unruly, and that she should not be 
 permitted to attend the dance unless she first submitted 
 to a whipping. This of course the girl would not do, 
 and so all thoughts of the much coveted ball were given 
 up by her ; on the day of the event, however, she told 
 my affianced that she could go to the dance that night, 
 and without receiving the punishment ; really thinking 
 the girl would go, and maliciously gloating over the 
 pleasant thoughts of the humiliation she would feel, and 
 the shame that would be hers during the night among 
 her friends, the girl feeling full to the limit that they 
 knew she must first have been soundly thrashed before 
 donning her ball dress, and that under her gauzy should 
 ers were the tinglings of a recently received lashing, and 
 her self-respect and pride lowered to the dust; the mother 
 gloated all day over these gratifying thoughts, life and 
 food to her being. At night several of her young asso- 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 157 
 
 dates, already equipped, appeared at her home for her, 
 and her father asked for his daughter, and was told by 
 his wife that she was probably in her room dressing for 
 the night event ; after waiting awhile, and she not 
 appearing, all of them together ascended the stairs and 
 entered her chamber. They were all much surprised to 
 find her in her night-dress sitting before the fire, reading. 
 Her father asked an explanation of her absence from the 
 ball. 
 
 " Mother prevented it, replied she, in saying that I 
 must receive a whipping before being allowed to go. 
 
 " Not in the least, sharply spoke her mother. I 
 told her this morning that she could go, and that I would 
 overlook the misdemeanor for which I had determined on 
 severe punishment. 
 
 " She did, replied the girl, in answer to her father s 
 inquiring looks, but the whole town would have 
 thought that I had received the whipping if I had gone, 
 so I determined to remain at home. 
 
 " So you are not going, then ; just doing that to spite 
 me, are you? said the mother, and securing the cow 
 hide whip, sprang for her daughter, and seizing her by 
 the back of her neck and tearing her night-robe from her 
 shoulders, struck her half a dozen sharp stinging blows 
 on the bare skin in the presence of all her companions, 
 who had accompanied the parents up-stairs to her room. 
 The father, grasping the infuriated woman and tearing 
 her from the apartment, closed and locked the door, taking 
 the key away with him. 
 
 "The next morning at daylight the girl s body was 
 found by some negro men, who were returning from a 
 hunting expedition, in a deep pool in a big stretch of 
 woods some distance back of the residence. They re 
 ported the fact, and neighbors came to tell the family, 
 who would not believe it, but on their entering her room 
 it was found, of course, vacant, and with one window 
 raised, and on searching the apartment they found a note 
 on the mantel written by her and stating that she had 
 been subjected to such public humiliation that she felt 
 she could never again hold up her head among her friends 
 
158 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 and that she would end it all and drown her sorrows be 
 neath the black waters of the pool." 
 
 I wonder why she never notified you to come and get 
 her," I asked. 
 
 " I suppose," replied Menton, "that she never took 
 time for thought or reflection, but immediately on their 
 leaving her alone, while the deepest sense of degradation 
 was upon her, in a fit of desperation wrote the message, 
 jumped from the window and rushed to the woods and 
 sprang into the water. Women, when in deep trouble, 
 always look upon calm, placid water in a peculiar way ; 
 its glassy stillness has a strange fascination for them ; 
 they seem to think that beneath its silent surface they will 
 find a deeper peace, a more quiet slumber; that surrounded 
 by its peaceful tranquility they will find a greater restfulness 
 from the turmoil and weariness of their lives. A woman 
 will sit for hours near by and listen to the gentle lap-lap 
 or low swish-swash of slowly running water ; they can 
 hardly tear themselves away from the almost irresistible 
 magic spell the sound casts over them. 
 
 1 Of course, the family not knowing of my engagement 
 to their daughter, and the two or three intimate friends to 
 whom she had confided it keeping silent, I many miles 
 away, only got to hear of the sad affair nearly three weeks 
 later, when even a last sight of her was lost to me forever." 
 
 Menton here ceased speaking and shed tears. I kept 
 silent for some time, not wishing to intrude upon his con 
 templation of this sorrowful happening connected with 
 his past life. And to see men of lofty mentality weep 
 is really heartrending ; one is intuitively conscious that 
 their anguish must be keen, from the very fact of their 
 highly-strung natures being the more sensitive to the 
 finer sentiments, and thus feeling the loss of one upon 
 whom they had set their hearts the more. 
 
 "Alas! beneath the moss-hung trees, far off by the 
 southern sea, under the green sod of his palmetto-shaded 
 land, he has slept for thirty years." 
 
 " The ever onward stealing years 
 
 Will never more by him be seen ; 
 Or bring a joy, a vale of tears, 
 Or regret for that which might have been." 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 159 
 
 Early one morning he and I went down to visit Pots 
 dam. It is one of the sights of the country the old 
 home of Frederick the Great. Potsdam lies sixteen 
 miles southeast of Berlin, contains something over fifty 
 thousand inhabitants, and is situated on an island be 
 tween the small streams of the rivers Havel and the 
 Nuthe where they join. 
 
 Frederick the Great was the son of Frederick William 
 I of Prussia, who had the famous company of Pots- 
 darner guardsmen. He died in 1740. This latter named 
 king had a fancy for tall soldiers, whom he formed or in 
 augurated into a company of giant guardsmen. All were 
 men from seven to nine feet high and over. Every year 
 his friends, the rulers of Russia, Austria, etc., in making 
 him Christmas presents, sent a few a half dozen or so 
 eight or nine-footers, to his unbounded delight and joy; 
 and whenever he heard of, or himself ran across, an ex 
 tremely tall man, the latter unfortunate was at once 
 taken up and made to swell the ranks of the Potsdam 
 company. No matter what his individual wishes or oc 
 cupation might be, he was impressed to serve his majesty 
 in such manner as his royal grace desired. 
 
 In one of the out-lying countries he once came upon a 
 strapping, buxom young milkmaid of an enormous stature, 
 and gave her several pieces of money to take a note, which 
 he at once wrote, to one of his recruiting officers in her vil 
 lage. She took the money and note, but being suspicious, 
 gave the latter to an educated friend with a request to read it 
 for her, and was informed that it said for the officer to in 
 stantly take the bearer to Potsdam and marry her to so 
 and so (the tallest soldier in his noted body of guards, 
 the king doubtless thinking that it would be an appropriate 
 match, indeed) . The girl took back the note, and, on meet 
 ing an old bent and wrinkled hag a centenarian gave 
 her a piece of the money to deliver the note, which she did, 
 with results not only surprising to the officer, the hag 
 and the dumbfounded tall soldier, but later on, when he 
 came to look up the carrying out of his orders, also to the 
 king himself. 
 
 These guardsmen all wore the tall busby head-cover- 
 
160 STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 
 
 ing, a brimless military coiffure two or three feet high, 
 and fur covered, which, with a tall plume poised away 
 above its top, and their own height, made a line of them 
 a spectacle indeed. 
 
 He once, by glorious accounts of the happy life he 
 would lead, enticed a young Irishman ten feet tall to join 
 the company, promising, as he was the greatest in statue, 
 to after awhile make him captain. The son of Erin soon 
 sickened of his job, nevertheless, and longed for the land 
 where Saint Patrick, years since, caused the frogs and 
 snakes to cease to grow and disport themselves. Like a 
 sensible man, however, he kept his mouth tightly shut 
 and pretended to be immensely happy. He, at length, 
 seemed so overjoyed at his position that the king let him 
 go back to the Emerald Isle in order to bring over his 
 elder brother, who, he stated, was over fifteen feet high ; 
 so lengthy, indeed, that he could take the conceit out of 
 any two of the guardsmen standing one upon the other s 
 shoulders. It is said that, unlike the famous cat, the native 
 of the "Land of Go Braugh," did not come back, but, 
 on again reaching Ireland he would ever after weekly go 
 to the cliffs overhanging the sea, and looking toward 
 Germany, assume a position the opposite of compliment 
 ary to the Prussian king. 
 
 This monarch s son was Frederick the Great, who was 
 destined to become the most eminent captain of his age. 
 He was made to undergo a very strict and harsh military 
 training. His father did not recognize the extraordinary 
 powers that his son was endowed with, nor realize his 
 wonderful merits ; could not understand his superior 
 mindedness and lofty intellectuality, but mistook his 
 flights of genius for what he chose to call 4 infernal non 
 sense", and of which he endeavored by cruel treatment 
 to break him. 
 
 Frederick the Great, who increased the domain he suc 
 ceeded to by half of its former extent, and who died 
 leaving to his nephew an army of over two hundred 
 thousand men, is buried in a vault directly beneath the 
 high pulpit of the old church in Potsdam. The guard 
 ian of the edifice got the keys to the tomb, unlocked and 
 
STUDENT UF3 IN GKRMANY. l6l 
 
 opened the massive iron door to admit us. We both en 
 tered and stood at the side of his casket. It is of zinc and has 
 no lettering whatever upon it. On top, lying horizontally 
 with the length of the case containing all that is mortal 
 of him, with end of blade toward the foot, was the great 
 warrior s old sword. At the head of the zinc lid was 
 a large wreath of faded flowers and leaves. A new 
 wreath is placed there every year, and the old one re 
 moved, by the reigning king of Prussia, on each anniver 
 sary of his ancestor s, the immortal Frederick s death. 
 We stood silently by, and with our hands gently touched 
 the coffin, and felt the solemn reality of being within a 
 few inches of the man of whom Napoleon, having nearly 
 all Europe suppliant before him (standing, sixty-two 
 years previous, at the side of the custodian of the build 
 ing with upheld light, and in his other hand the down- 
 held large keys just as we were then doing), said, "Had 
 this man lived I should never have gotten to Potsdam." 
 Accounts have it that the French Emperor carried 
 away the dead old warrior s sword, and sent it to the 
 home for invalid soldiers in Paris, with the remark that 
 the old veterans there would view with pleasure the 
 weapon which had seen victory upon every field over 
 which it had been waved. This, however, is an error as 
 far as the sword taken away being the true one is con 
 cerned ; for the authorities of the town fearing that the 
 conqueror would secure the sword as a spoil of war, re 
 moved it and laid another one in its old place, which was 
 the weapon Bonaparte carried away with him. The real 
 sword was afterward replaced, and now lies upon the 
 lid of the casket of the captain who formerly wielded it 
 over so many scenes of desperate encounters. Frederick 
 was a doting and tender lover of horses and dogs, and 
 nearly all the paintings of him represent the king in the 
 company of several tall, slender hounds. All of these 
 faithful animals of his are buried in the grounds of Sans 
 Souci, the royal park surrounding the palace ; we 
 visited the graves, a large, square slab marking each of 
 the last abiding places of his horses and dogs, all with 
 their respective owner s names carved upon them, seven 
 
1 62 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 dog monuments in all, placed side by side. Frederick 
 himself wished to be laid in a final resting place in the 
 grounds of Sans Souci along with and by the graves of 
 his dogs and horses, beings which were ever faithful to 
 him, saying, " Quand Je serai la, Je serai Sans Souci," 
 the two latter words meaning without care, and the 
 entire translation is, " When I am there I am without 
 care"; but to this burial, of course, the royal family 
 would not consent. We also visited the old windmill, 
 still standing on quite a mound, which Frederick wished 
 so much to purchase to extend the grounds of the park, 
 and which the owner would not sell ; the king replied 
 that he then would take it without pay ; the miller ap 
 pealed to the courts which sustained him, and the owner 
 held his land and still continued to aggravatingly grind 
 out meal right under the very nose of his irritated mon 
 arch. Many instances of the king s peculiarities are told 
 of him here at Potsdam. We visited his palace, built of 
 cuiious stones, and in an unique manner, erected just 
 after the ending of the Seven Years War, to show that 
 his treasury had not been depleted by the long and costly 
 contest ; also his other chateau, containing his old pi 
 ano and his desk, the cloth cover of which, originally 
 glued on to the top, Napoleon, with his own hands, tore off, 
 and took away as a souvenir of the sovereign, who must 
 have written many letters upon it. At all these places 
 of interest we heard many tales of his quaint ways. It 
 is said that if he met a person idling about the streets, 
 he took his stick or long walking-cane and gave the 
 shoulders of the loafer a good beating to send him about 
 his business or to his work. 
 
 I forget now whether it was his father, the giant 
 guardsmen owner, or * Alter Fritz " (Frederick) himself, 
 about which the above was said ; but it was the latter, 
 certainly, who accosted a man upon the streets (it was in 
 the time of Voltaire, the celebrated French author s 
 widely read writings on infidelisni), and taking him by 
 the ear asked him what was his belief; the man replied, 
 1 I believe the same that that shoemaker across the street 
 believes, the very exact same. " You do ? " said the 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 163 
 
 king, " Indeed ! and pray what does he believe? " The 
 man replied, " He believes that he will never be paid for 
 these boots I have on, and which I bought from him on 
 credit, and I also believe the same thing." 
 
 One day a person from the now capital city was con 
 versing with Frederick, and the king finally getting angry 
 said, as he raised his long cane, with which he always 
 walked, and shook it savagely in the direction that Ber 
 lin lay, "Yes, I know the Berliners, they are all a set of 
 knaves." " No, your majesty, you are mistaken", re 
 plied his companion. "What! I am, ami"? asked 
 the king. "Yes, indeed", replied the other. "Not all 
 are knaves; your majesty is nearly right, but not quite. 
 They are all knaves but two." "And who are those ? " 
 extremely interestedly asked Frederick. "None others 
 than your majesty and myself", answered the one ques 
 tioned. 
 
 We were shown the old thick-trunked, extensively out 
 spreading tree, standing a few yards from the side of the 
 palace and near to his windows. Under the foliage of 
 this tree anyone who considered that he had been 
 wronged in any way had but to come and stand at a cer 
 tain hour of the day to be sure of the king seeing him from 
 his windows, asking him to step forward and granting 
 him a hearing. And the complaints laid before him were 
 ever thoroughly investigated and justice administered. 
 
 We were also shown the room in which Frederick died 
 thirty years after the Seven Years War, at the Chateau of 
 San Souci, in 1786, and the old clock, still upon the wall, 
 which had stopped at the moment of his death. 
 
 We left Potsdam in the afternoon of the second day, 
 and on coming into the outskirts of Berlin, stopped off to 
 see a number of African Bedouins who were being taken 
 about the country by a manager, in something like the 
 style of a circus or show. They were camped in their 
 native tents on a large field, outside of the city, out be 
 yond the Thiergarten ( pronounced Teergar ten), or great 
 wooded park and gave exhibitions in the evenings to a 
 vast audience that daily assembled to witness their adroit 
 maneuvers, the expert and clever feats which they 
 
1 64 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 performed with their weapons, and the facility with which 
 they managed the movements of their gracefully outlined, 
 handsome and agreeably dispositioned horses. The wild 
 sons of the desert galloped about in their white flowing 
 robes and hood-like turbaned head-dress, jumping up 
 into a standing position on their horses, gesticulating 
 with their long guns, holding them by the middle with 
 their fingers and twirling them rapidly around above 
 their heads, throwing them up and about in the air and 
 catching them again while going at full speed upon their 
 well-trained Arabian equines, making quite a romantic 
 and spectacular appearance. Their glossy, long-flowing 
 maned steeds were all female animals, with compact and 
 muscular forms, with motions the perfection of agility ; 
 beautiful, slender-limbed and fleet, with proud curving 
 necks and wide-flaring nostrils, and were as gentle and 
 affectionate to their masters, and as intelligent almost as 
 a human being could be, docilely obeying their riders 
 every slightest wish, which the latter transmitted to them 
 by movements of the head, hands and body, or by the 
 pressure of their knees and feet. Their colors varied 
 through all the shades from black to purest white, and 
 many were spotted with these two colors, while others 
 were gray, chestnut or bay. 
 
 The male Arab steed is not so intelligent, nor is he as 
 tractible, as the female ; nor can he be taught to her 
 heights of excellence. Six or eight of the most skill 
 ful and adept among the equestrians, taking their scime- 
 tars by the handles, threw them whirling handle over tip 
 up into the air far ahead of themselves, and still standing 
 and going at full tilt on their steeds would catch them 
 again by the handles as they came circling point over haft 
 downward. All this was going on while the audience 
 was collecting in the grounds ; and after the hour for the 
 performance arrived and the place was full of spectators 
 the riders retired from the field and the exhibition or 
 scene they gave in return for the admission price, began. 
 It represented the attack on, capture and plundering of, 
 a European caravan while crossing the desert with cam 
 els heavily laden with valuable goods and rich merchan- 
 
STUDENT UF IN GERMANY. 165 
 
 dise. Some of the largest camels had great boxes or 
 chests hanging, one on each side of them, each box 
 nearly as large as an elevator cage ; others were packed 
 with bales, etc. Here came the caravan from out the far 
 distance, getting nearer and nearer, all the camels strung 
 along one after the other for a quarter of a mile, the 
 camels attended by their English owners, who were be 
 stride them or riding sideways as they saw fit. The Eng 
 lishmen wore the regulation desert white derby hats with 
 long white sashes tied around the rim and hanging down 
 at the rear upon their shoulders to protect the back of 
 their necks from the blazing sun. 
 
 The caravan was accompanied by several fierce Arabian- 
 horsed Bedouin guardsmen. As the caravan came right 
 before and into the full view of the audience the Bedouin 
 robbers, who were all this time lying concealed among 
 the rocks and trees awaiting the caravan s arrival, sud 
 denly galloped out with a whoop and with furious ges 
 ticulations with their long barreled guns, and swooped 
 down upon the outfit. The Bedouin guardsmen (in ca 
 hoot with the thieves of course, and really having posted 
 them as to when the caravan would start out) discharged 
 their guns in the air and made off with loud cries. The 
 robbers plundered the caravan, opening all the bales and 
 boxes and searching their contents ; and in the last box 
 they got into they came upon a portly merchant who had, 
 at the beginning of the attack, tumbled out of it all the 
 merchandise and crawled into it himself. Finally the 
 fleeing guardsmen returned with reinforcements came 
 galloping back accompanied by a large party of brother 
 Bedouin guardsmen and on their arrival at the scene 
 the merchants being now as strong as the attackers, a 
 show of resistance and fight was made, a parley instituted, 
 and by the merchants paying a sum of money to the gal 
 lant rescuers as well as to the plunderers a compromise 
 was effected. The robbers relinquished the goods and 
 drew off, galloping away into the distance until only a 
 streak of dust over the plain showed the track they had 
 left behind them; and the goods being re-packed the cara 
 van again strung out into a long snake-like band, once more 
 
1 66 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 resuming its plodding way over the sands of the desert. 
 Finally getting off into the distance and night overtaking 
 them, they bivouacked far away. The several campfires 
 of the caravan could be seen flickering about and lighting 
 up the figures of the Englishmen, Bedouin guardsmen 
 and kneeling and standing camels, and all surrounded by 
 desert .darkness, showed with great picturesque effect. 
 
 This was the close or ending of the exhibition or en 
 tertainment, and on getting out of the crowd and to where 
 the buses stood in order to make our way to the city, we 
 found them perfectly jammed with people ahead of us, 
 of course, and were obliged to climb up and seat our 
 selves on the top. Here we rode for some miles through 
 the deep woods of the Thiergarten, and all being silent 
 and as still as could be Germans being so untalkative, 
 so quiet and uncommunicative when they are traveling 
 and are all strangers to each other we let our feet hang 
 down over the side of the bus and getting lost in our 
 own thoughts, and being sensibly affected by the dark, 
 silent surrounding influences, we began softly to whistle 
 Yankee Doodle. Our thoughts grew farther and farther 
 away from ourselves and our situation, and unconsciously 
 we gradually arose the tone of our warbling louder and 
 louder, and finally made the darkness and gloom fairly 
 resound to the shrill whistled strains of the soul-stirring 
 1 doodle Yank. " 
 
 Suddenly at the end of a verse as we both caught our 
 breath together for a renewal of the terrific outburst we 
 heard, in the second of intervening silence, "Wunder- 
 schoen " (wondrously beautiful), pronounced in unison 
 by two dozen or more voices below. Having such an 
 appreciative audience we renewed our efforts and made 
 the woods fairly ring. Soon the bus stopped at a cross 
 ing road, and here a jolly crowd of brother students, 
 composed of Felderstein, the perfect type of the furious 
 corps student, and ten or twelve other Prussian Eagles, 
 all got on, having come on foot by a different route to 
 intercept the bus. They all had to climb on to the top, 
 also, and they explained to us that they had heard the 
 whistling, while yet the bus was far away, and that in 
 
STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 167 
 
 the calm still of the night it had sounded very lovely ; 
 the strains also having the charm of being new and 
 novel to them. We with growing pride told them of the 
 whole bus load also greatly appreciating our efforts, and 
 were informed in return that we were entirely mistaken ; 
 that it was exceedingly impolite to whistle in company 
 in Germany, and that we had deeply offended the bus 
 passengers. We, of course were dumbfounded, for we 
 had really taken the sarcastic remark of wondrously 
 beautiful, made by the passengers in concert, so compli 
 mentary, as something of gratitude also for our endeav 
 ors to cheerfully enliven the weary way, that we had 
 afterward exerted our tongues and lips to the utmost, 
 and holding forth with all our might had awoke the dis 
 tant echoes, and fearing that they would think we had 
 intentionally ignored their feelings stated that we would 
 now apologize to the passengers for our misbehavior. 
 
 <4 Apologize thunder ! " ripped out Felderstein. How 
 ever, he continued we would be absolutely and without 
 qualms forgiven by the passengers if he would take the 
 trouble to explain to them that we were two crazy Amer 
 icans from a wild, barbaric, and naturally uncivilized 
 country, where such things as manners and culture had 
 never yet reached, and were utterly unknown the 
 ideas of most of them about the United States being very 
 vague and generally being that of a whooping wild In 
 dian land, bloodthirsty, scalping and red-faced war danc 
 ing prevailing, and that thereupon they would realize 
 that nothing better could be expected of two such as us. 
 This, however, he said he would not do. 
 
 " Let the insulted hundesfussen nurse their ire with all 
 the pleasure they can get out of it and we will go you two 
 rarely met gentlemanly-like natures, in your offers of 
 apology, one over in high gentlemanship by now all of 
 us new-comers also insulting the passenger audience by 
 singing together, and your little offense will become in 
 significant by comparison with the immense insult which 
 we shall immediately give them. We shall now with 
 our united voices send forth one of the most charming 
 songs of our fatherland, in which we respectfully request 
 
1 68 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 you two to join the lovely tones of your sweet voices." 
 At which we all started up the refrain of the young poet 
 Korner s (written by the light of a campfire on the field 
 of war in 1813, during the struggle of Germany for lib 
 erty, and while wearing the trooper s uniform of the L,ut- 
 zow regiment. He was killed in battle, in August, 1813, 
 at the age of twenty- two years), commencing " Deutsch- 
 land, Deutschland ueber alles" (Germany, Germany over 
 all). 
 
 " Wir wollen ein Hell erbauen 
 Fur all das Deutsche Land." 
 
 " The free land, the German land, 
 That was the German s fatherland." 
 
 "Yet brothers \ve together stand 
 
 That keeps our courage good ; 
 Bound by one speech, a holy band ; 
 lyinked by one God, one fatherland, 
 
 One faithful German blood", etc., etc. 
 
 The crowd tried themselves, each one to outdo the 
 other, and deafening were the sounds that arose on the 
 still night air. 
 
 "Over all" we two " wild, uncivilized Indians " con 
 strued of course as indicating over all Kurope, which is, 
 in fact the song s meaning. We didn t consider it as in 
 cluding any land situated or existing any farther away 
 than the continent we were then honoring with our 
 gifted presence. 
 
 This furious insult so overwhelmed the lower passen 
 gers that at its conclusion deep silence prevailed. Only 
 the low rumbling of the wheels and the soft tread of the 
 six horses broke the stillness of the night air. But the 
 crowd of students now having gotten their organs of 
 music excited appeared in the mood of continuing the 
 vocal exercise, and Felderstein the most of all ; so he 
 spoke up, "Now boys, since you have gotten the night 
 mist out of your throats, all together now our country s 
 soul-stirring national air, Die Wacht am Rhine " (Who ll 
 Guard the Rhine), the song of our beloved though unhap 
 pily disunited country. I,et me get the beautiful refrain 
 first. Let s see": 
 
STUDKNT UFE IN GERMANY. 169 
 
 "Lieb Vaterland magst ruig sein 
 Fest steht und Treu die Wacht, die Wacht am Rhine." 
 
 All right now, here goes, all together, one, two, 
 three ! " 
 
 A cry ascends like thunder crash 
 Like ocean s roar, like saber clash ; 
 Who ll guard the Rhine, the German Rhine ; 
 To whom shall we the task assign ? 
 
 Dear Fatherland, no fear be thine, 
 Firm stand thy sons to guard the Rhine. 
 
 From mouth to mouth the word goes round ; 
 With gleaming eyes we greet the sound, 
 And old and young we join the band 
 That flies to guard thy sacred strand. 
 
 Dear Fatherland, etc., etc. 
 
 And tho grim death should lay me low, 
 No prey wouldst thou be to the foe, 
 For rich as thy resistless flood 
 Is Germany in heroes blood. 
 
 Dear Fatherland, etc., etc. 
 
 To heav n we solemnly appeal, 
 And swear, inflam d by warlike zeal, 
 Thou Rhine, for all their flippant jests, 
 Shalt still be German, as our breasts. 
 
 Dear Fatherland, etc., etc. 
 
 While there s a drop of blood to run, 
 While there s an arm to bear a gun, 
 While there s a hand to wield a sword, 
 No foe shall dare thy stream to ford. 
 
 Dear Fatherland, etc. , etc. 
 
 The oath is sworn, the masses surge, 
 The flags wave proudly, on we urge ; 
 And all with heart and soul combine, 
 To guard the Rhine, our German Rhine. 
 
 Dear Fatherland, no fear be thine, 
 Firm stand thy sons to guard the Rhine. 
 
 At the completion of the song so emblematic of the 
 people s devotion to their country, their beloved father 
 land, and so figurative of their patriotic sentiments, in 
 tense quiet again prevailed, and was the more heightened 
 by contrast to the previous resounding strains, only 
 
1 70 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 the same low, monotonous creaking of the wheels and 
 gentle beat of the horses feet on the soft earth again 
 broke the deep silence, when suddenly from far over the 
 dark woods, coming to our ears from away beyond, 
 through the faintly sighing branches of old oaks and out 
 spreading great linden trees, borne on the night breeze, 
 like a voice from a distant world, came floating back to 
 us, clearly and distinctly, the refrain, 
 
 " Dear Fatherland, no fear be thine, 
 Firm stand thy sons to guard the Rhine." 
 
 "What a lovely echo," Menton exclaimed, completely 
 lost in admiration of the beautiful sound. 
 
 " Echo, thunder ! " yelled Felderstein, springing up to 
 his feet on the top of the bus and looking far over into 
 the darkness ; that voice sounds marvelously familiar to 
 me. That s Vielbeer for all the world ; what in the name 
 of all that s wonderful is he doing here at this time of 
 night?" 
 
 Vielbeer it certainly was, for we soon turned a bend in 
 the road and immediately saw distant lights flickering 
 about hither and thither among the deep foliage, and 
 then we discovered, on getting a half a mile further along 
 in the woods, that we had run across our beloved veteran 
 member, a great crowd of students and a wrecked vehicle, 
 all gathered in a bunch in the road ; they had broken 
 down ; a rear wheel had given way ; they had lighted 
 sticks of wood, and while endeavoring to repair the dam 
 age had heard our singing, and Vielbeer, with his rich, 
 deep bass voice had answered, in what Menton and I 
 mistook for one of the loveliest echoes in the world. Our 
 bus was, of course, brought to a standstill ; the dam 
 aged vehicle blocking up the entire middle of the road, 
 and Felderstein at once suggested for us all to get down, 
 haul Vielbeer up to our former place, and lay him down 
 flat on top, and with a single strong student at either end 
 of him for safety, proceed, and all the rest of us walk 
 along behind, to the suburbs, which now we were not 
 far from ; this met with unanimous approval, and suit 
 ing the action to his words all but half a dozen of us 
 at once slid off, and dropped to our feet upon the earth to 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. lyi 
 
 put his offer into instant realization ; this the lower pas 
 sengers, suddenly getting a sight of Vielbeer, whom a 
 dozen or more had grabbed hold of preparatory to boost 
 ing him up to the down-reaching arms of the several that 
 had remained on the top to help haul him up, fiercely 
 objected to, and raised their united voices in loud and 
 strenuous antagonistic protest. Felderstein insisted, and 
 the passengers preparing to resist, grasped firmly their 
 canes and umbrellas and began filing out of the bus to 
 show fight and a scrimmage was imminent ; no compro 
 mise could be thought of, for all could see that Vielbeer 
 could by no possible means get through the door of the 
 bus and sit inside ; the vehicle he had been in along with 
 his companions was an open one with no top. 
 
 Finally, however, it was agreed to take the tongue of 
 the broken carryall, and the two good wheels still at 
 tached, set him on the axle, and the whole crowd of 
 students attending him behind and at the sides, except 
 about eight or ten on each side of the tongue, which the 
 latter party took hold of, and the balance following, 
 after dragging what remained of the lame vehicle to one 
 side of the road, we all set out. The angry (and "with 
 good cause for fear ") passengers resumed their seats in 
 the bus, and everything now being smooth again all soon 
 reached the suburbs. Here, seeing something going on 
 in the distance off to the left we quitted the road and the 
 company of the bus, leaving it to pursue its own way in 
 silence, and all went over to where the strains of a band 
 of music were emanating from what on approaching 
 nearer we found was a concert garden, open-air theater or 
 out-door opera cafe. The improvised conveyance for our 
 ever victorious aged champion was hauled to the shelter 
 of some trees, and out of reach of vulgar observation 
 Vielbeer was removed from his perch, which he swore 
 had almost cut him in two, and altogether the students 
 entered the garden and seated themselves at one of the 
 tables. These places of amusement usually contain a 
 theater building, the stage open to the air and to the view 
 of the audience who assemble in the gardens after the 
 close of the day s business affairs. Here among the 
 
 12 
 
172 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 shrubbery the members of the band sit and play, and the 
 populace meet for sociability. Restaurants are attached 
 to these concert places, and supper can be had as well as 
 nearly all kinds of refreshments, such as ice-cream, 
 seltzer- water, lemonade, and so on. It is all brought to 
 your table by quickly-stepping, genteel-looking and polite 
 waiters, and you can sit and order supper, and eat it at 
 your table in any part of the extensive grounds where 
 you may see fit to select and appropriate one. At inter 
 vals acts go on upon the stage, and between them the 
 bands play. Great crowds come to these open-air en 
 tertainments. The grounds are laid out like those of a 
 park, and much care is taken of them, and the numbers 
 of tables surrounded by benches and chairs are set in 
 collections in special places about the lawns so as not to 
 interfere with the large passage-ways, the small walks or 
 the beds and plots of grass, trees, and flowers. We had 
 all taken possession of a few tables, all in a bunch, and 
 the agile quick -eyed waiters had supplied us with our 
 ordered fizzing seltzer- water, of which we were all thirst 
 ily partaking. Meanwhile the band had ceased playing 
 and a woman had come out upon the stage and was sing 
 ing in German, and silence ensuing (from the previous 
 hubbub of the students) caused by the cessation of the 
 music, the tune coming from far over the mass of tables 
 and people, between us and the quite distant stage, sud 
 denly attracted my attention. Surely, thought I, I have 
 heard that song before ; but yet, impossible. Still the 
 sounds were as familiar to my ears as the smell of pare 
 goric was to my nose in infanthood. Where, where have 
 I heard those beautiful notes before ? In some past state 
 of existence, perhaps, a faint trace of which still lurks 
 somewhere in our make-ups. I listened attentively, and 
 all at once as the songstress began on a new verse I rec 
 ognized it. Having been searching my memory for a 
 German song to suit the tune, it had bewildered for a 
 moment my mind, had led me astray. It was no strain 
 of a previous celestial life, though well worthy of being 
 so ; but was the Suwanee River a translation into Ger 
 man, of which I afterward learned there were several 
 
STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 173 
 
 which had been lately introduced into the country. It 
 made me quite homesick as I listened to the old, familiar 
 saddening song. 
 
 "Say, ain t that the Suwanee River she s singing ?" 
 asked Menton, all of a sudden, pausing in caught inter 
 est with his glass half way up to his lips and listening 
 attentively. "That s just what it is," continued he. 
 "Listen, now" : 
 
 " Weit unten an den fluss Suwanee, 
 Fern, fern von hier," 
 
 came the voice of the songstress. 
 
 Just then a big crowd of students, about one-fourth of 
 whom were Prussian Eagles, and who had all been to 
 gether in another part of the garden, now came slowly 
 strolling up toward us, on their way out, being on the 
 verge of leaving the gardens for the city. Recognizing 
 us, they stopped for a moment, and we all arose and 
 joined them. 
 
 O Brien was along among this new crowd, and had 
 been relating some instances connected with the former 
 devastating famines that had taken place in Ireland. 
 After the interruption of meeting us and our joining the new 
 crowd were over, he resumed his talk, and during the con 
 versation asked Menton why it was (as he had frequently 
 heard stated) that it was considered impossible for a 
 famine to occur in the United States of North America. 
 Menton answered that he was not quite certain what was 
 the reason, but he supposed it was because if the corn 
 crop failed, the United States could feed the hogs with 
 some of its doctors. 
 
 Being now in force, and feeling very courageous on ac 
 count of such numbers, the crowd took the street cars, 
 which ran to within a short distance of the Branden- 
 burger Thurm or Thor, where all alighted, and hiring a 
 buggy and setting Vielbeer therein, to be driven along 
 close behind us, formed ourselves into four rows abreast, 
 and with arms around each other s shoulders, struck up 
 a sauf lied (drinking song) and started off down the 
 street leading to the arch ; and it being now about two 
 o clock in the morning and but few pedestrians upon the 
 
174 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 street, and those passing along with almost silent foot 
 steps, and all else being quiet and still, we lifted our 
 young, strong voices high into the night air, and Viel- 
 beer, joining in behind with his deep, beer- voiced bass, 
 we made the echoes reverberate: 
 
 1 Last tins unsere Flaschen austrinken 
 Und rufen fuer Flaschen neu, 
 Wir sind alle Preussische Adler, 
 Und wir haben Geld wie Heu. 
 
 Hoch soil der Adler leben, wen alles andere 1st 
 vorbei. 
 
 Hoch soil Br leben, 
 Hoch soil Er leben, 
 D-r-e-i m-a-1 h-o-c-h." 
 
 Ivet us drink our seltzer bottles out, 
 
 And, waiter, fresh bottles bring, 
 We all are Prussian Eagles, 
 
 And we just have money to fling. 
 
 When all else has departed, may the Eagle still 
 reign king. 
 
 High may he sail, 
 High may he sail, 
 T-h-r-e-e t-i-m-e-s h-i-g-h. 
 
 This last ended in an ear-splitting prolonged yowling 
 yell. 
 
 High above the singing voices of all could be heard 
 the Baron s rich and deep barrel-like resounding tones. 
 
 Soon we came opposite a nightwatchman with his horn. 
 He was standing upon the curbing smilingly watching us 
 go by. These men parade all the streets, back and forth, 
 the entire night. They are mainly a fire watch to guard 
 against fire breaking out and gaining too great a head 
 way ere being discovered ; and as each hour arrives, and 
 the district clocks strike it, they call it out in a loud, slow 
 sonorous voice, and then blow a couple of toots on their 
 horn, thus : " It is now eleven o clock, my townsmen ; it 
 is time all good people were sleeping ; eleven o clock it is 
 now. See that all fires and lights are out, my towns 
 men. Toot! toot! " Then at twelve the same is repeated, 
 and so on throughout all the dark hours and until the 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 175 
 
 breaking of day. They have their beats to traverse, and 
 are very vigilant in their business, and when they see a 
 fire breaking out anywhere, they run toward it, and to 
 arouse the populace, shouting the word "feuer" (pro 
 nounced foyer) and blowing on their horn as follows : 
 "Feuer ! feuer ! toot ! toot ! feuer ! feuer ! toot ! toot ! " 
 (fire, fire, toot, toot). 
 
 This night owl (they were called so by the boys) was 
 standing on the curbing facing us, and had his horn held 
 under his left arm, and was amusedly viewing us passing. 
 A mild student had noticed him while we were still some 
 distance down the street, and had quietly left our ranks 
 and slipped up behind him and suddenly jerked his horn 
 away and with it ran out into the middle of the street 
 ahead of the crowd of us, who at the sight of all this 
 at once ceased singing. The startled watchman, as soon 
 as he recovered from his surprise, took after him with 
 might and main, but the student was of course the more 
 fleet-footed, and they both kept running around and 
 around in a circle in the middle of the wide street and 
 about half a block ahead of us, the mild student shouting 
 and blowing with all his power feuer ! feuer ! (fire ! 
 fire ! ) toot ! toot ! the watchman with flying coat-tails 
 right at his heels yelling out in answer, * * Es ist nicht 
 war, er luegt ! es ist eine grosze luege ! " (it s a lie ! it s a 
 lie!). 
 
 Fire ! fire ! toot ! toot ! toot ! Fire ! fire ! toot ! toot ! " 
 went the fleeing mild student. "It s a lie! it s a big 
 lie ! " kept shrieking out the close pursuing watchman. 
 
 Windows went up with banging sounds all over, up 
 and down the street, and "was ist s? was ist s? we could 
 hear in shrill tremulous voices emerging from the vicinity 
 of frilled white night-caps suddenly appearing and pop 
 ping out from the dark apertures beneath the uplifted 
 sashes. "Was ist s? was ist s?" (what is it? what is 
 it ?) asked they in scared tones. 
 
 " It s a fire ! it s a fire ! toot ! toot ! " went the student. 
 " It s a lie ! it s a lie ! " frantically howled the chasing 
 watchman. 
 
 "It s the Prussian Eagle, dear women ! " Felderstein 
 
176 STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 
 
 shouted out loudly. " He flies high tonight." And then 
 gruff, calm sleepy voices would come to us from out the 
 deep blackness within the windows in reply to the good 
 women s inquiry, " Es ist eine masse besoffene studen- 
 ten, das ist alles, was anderes kann es sein ?" (It is a 
 parcel of skylarking students, who are three sheets in 
 wind, that is all. What else could it be?) Soon the 
 mild student ceased his fun, and gave back the horn to 
 the now puffing and blowing watchman, who received it 
 with many swears and maledictions on the head of the 
 joker in particular, and all the students in general, and 
 then Vielbeer again started up the melody, all joining in. 
 Through the great arches of the massive old Thor, 
 right into the wide boulevard, we all swung, and down 
 the tree-lined Unter den L,inden we went ; our lines 
 stretched far out, nearly across the street ; all shouting 
 and singing at the tops of our voices ; we could see the 
 guardians of the peace of Berlin, with true German afore 
 thought, discretion and prudence, slink off out of the 
 near -vicinity , down dark side-streets, away ahead of our 
 approach, and during the long march of over a mile not 
 a policeman was to be perceived in any close proximity. 
 On our approaching a gloomy-looking building, a few 
 stray students were seen standing upon the pavement in 
 front of it ; they stopped us and explained that a lot of 
 kneipers (pronounced kny-pers or cny-pers) were in the 
 structure and should be taken home. A kneiper is a 
 student who gets his head packed so full of the learned 
 and doubly profound teachings of a German University 
 that he has to go off on a spree for a few days every now 
 and then to clear his head and straighten out the tangle 
 in his mind ; he generally goes to some appropriately se 
 lected dive in the rear of some somber appearing building 
 and there fills up and stays for some days, drinking and 
 smoking, his whereabouts utterly unknown to all his 
 companions ; sometimes other students, maybe total 
 strangers to him, drop in, and they all strike up friend 
 ship and kneip together. At the end of a week or so he 
 turns up early some morning at his rooms, wild-eyed, 
 haggard, pale and disordered, but with a mind now won- 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 177 
 
 derfully clear and eagerly desirous for the absorption of 
 more deep teachings. Whenever a student is missed by his 
 fellows at the University or at his club or from his rooms 
 for a few days, and no one can be found who can tell 
 what has become of him or explain his absence, inquiries 
 are dropped, and even mention of the subject ceases. All 
 know that he has been studying too hard of late, and 
 that he is now kneiping somewhere and will show up 
 safe and sound in proper season. These fellows had been 
 kneiping out too long for their constitutions, explained 
 the students who had stopped us, and were at present too 
 weak from lack of proper nourishment to walk, and had 
 sent word around to their friends to come and get them 
 during the darkness ; so they were brought out, limp and 
 nerveless, and divided up among the big crowd, the 
 members of the different clubs each selecting their own 
 brands, and all then taking the directions of their several 
 abiding places, soon disappeared and became lost in the 
 shadows of the night. 
 
 In the spring Menton and I received our degrees, and 
 (amid general rejoicing and fireworks in the evening) 
 left the University and city of Berlin together, and on the 
 shores of France we parted, he for his distant American 
 home and I for the lands of the Orient, and soon the 
 wild tossing waves of the ocean were rolling between us. 
 I never saw him again. From the Crimea, in the Black 
 Sea, I sent him a curiously carved meerschaum pipe, and 
 received in return a tear-stained letter from his sister 
 telling me he was no more, and that in the last wild de 
 lirium of his dying moments he had called my name 
 among the rest. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 VER twenty years 
 elapsed ere I en 
 tered Berlin again. 
 In 1888 I was once 
 more walking down 
 Unter den Linden 
 street and reflecting 
 on what a change 
 had taken place in 
 the city since I had 
 left just a score of 
 years back. Whole 
 streets of mansions 
 and palatial build 
 ings had arisen as 
 if by magic, taking 
 
 the places of old tumbling shacks of former days. Evi 
 dences of prosperity and wealth were everywhere ; were 
 apparent in a manner undreamed of when I was there 
 before. And what a revolution in all Germany. Other 
 nations had rested upon the glory shed over them by the 
 armies of their old generals, and were slumbering deep 
 in their night-caps of fifty years past, when, to the aston 
 ishment of the world their imperial cities, the proud 
 capitals of their countries, had gone down before the all- 
 conquering Prussian, and the Germanic race of Europe 
 had once more assumed its inherent supremacy, and Ger 
 many, fair and historic Germany, the land of poetry, 
 legend and song, which I had left divided into thirty-two 
 principalities, states or kingdoms, all of them of tenth- 
 class power and standing, and perpetually quarreling 
 among themselves and with each other, had united all 
 factions in one patriotic confederation, and now posed 
 undisputed as the first military nation on the globe. All 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 179 
 
 Europe was copying her; the armies of other powers 
 were teeming with officers who had been through the war 
 within the German army lines, and were now back to 
 their native countries giving the military organizations of 
 their own lands a German training, a German dressing, 
 and a German gloss. What a change from 1868, when 
 divided Germany, with its collection of ever-fretting little 
 weak kingdoms was the despised of all military powers 
 of any standing! 
 
 Prince Bismarck, the admirable old iron chancellor, was 
 making the proud boast that The Germans fear God, 
 but nothing else in the world." The tramp, tramp, 
 tramp of the military was still going by, just as it had 
 twenty years before; but now there was a prouder carriage 
 to the regiments, and each soldier and officer in his bear 
 ing showed that he felt, as they passed you by, that no 
 criticism on tbem could be made. Who is there to com 
 pare them with to their disadvantage? Monuments 
 erected in gratitude to the victorious legions reared their 
 proud heads aloft toward the azure sky and were towering 
 all over Germany. A lofty mass of brown granite and 
 bronze, capped with a gilded figure of "Victory," a 
 winged female with a wreath held in the hand of an ex 
 tended arm, had been raised on a prominent elevation in 
 Berlin and met the eye from all parts of the city. 
 
 Germany had soared in twenty years like a rocket. 
 Berlin, the former capital of Prussia, had emerged from 
 "ein groszes dorf " (an immense village) into one of the 
 greatest seats of learning and science in Europe, and had 
 taken its place, as the capital of united Germany, among 
 the great cities of the world. But what a wreck twenty 
 years had made among known faces ! I wandered about 
 the stores of old, the few of them still left unmolested to 
 make room for palaces and towering modern mansions, 
 and only at rare intervals met a face I had known in the days 
 of the past ; a face last seen in the appearance of the prime 
 of life, now grown wrinkled and old, with whitened head 
 bowed in the weakness of age that the silent years, so 
 swiftly passing, never fail to effectuate. Alas! the whirli 
 gig of compassionless time brings around its changes. 
 
l8o STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 
 
 What is twenty years to science in the building of a 
 strata! What an insignificant period of duration in the 
 cooling of a sun ! But what a great section it is out of 
 our miserably brief lives. 
 
 The aged emperor, William I, had been buried but 
 a few days before. I had witnessed the pageant, the 
 pomp and splendor of the burial of this wonderful old 
 man, who, as a boy under ten years of age and all un- 
 concious of his exalted destiny, had fled with his 
 mother, the sainted queen Louisa, so revered by all the 
 fatherland. In 1806, at the invasion of the French, 
 under the great Napoleon, the conqueror of Europe, they 
 were fleeing for months, in vain seeking a haven of rest 
 secure from the armies of the all-triumphant Corsican, no 
 sooner quieted in one place than again sent flying out 
 into the cold world by alarms of the near appearance in 
 pursuit, of the soldiers of the immortal Emperor. 
 
 This wonderful old man, who had in childhood slept 
 on cannon barrels to inure himself to endure hardships, 
 and who had lived to thrice enter the enemy s capital 
 with a victorious army he had brought the fatherland 
 to an unparalleled prosperity, and from what? In 1807, 
 when his land was under the heel of the victor, the 
 country was so impoverished that the government pub 
 lished for the benefit of the peasantry a list of roots and 
 herbs that would sustain life. What will patience, per 
 severance and the flight of time not accomplish ! 
 
 He had now been laid to rest in the magnificent 
 mausoleum at Charlottenburg, a few miles west of the 
 city, by the side of the two marble sarcophagi of his 
 father and beloved mother, and the gorgeous parade was 
 now something of the past. 
 
 Not having been able to get near the tomb until some 
 days later, I then visited it ; the building is large and 
 lofty, is one story, entirely of marble, a flight of steps as 
 cend to the dome-like room in the center of which rest, 
 side by side, the marble cases enclosing the earthly dust 
 of his parents ; supine figures of them are cut in marble 
 on the top or lid of each of the monuments Frederick 
 William III, the founder of the Zollverein, which made 
 
STUDENT UFK IN GERMANY. l8l 
 
 the customs and duties of the German dominion uniform, 
 and who died in 1840, sculptured in full military costume, 
 and Queen L,ouisa in the drapery, the high waisted dress 
 of the time. A faint bluish light emitted from above 
 through blue glass windows in the lofty dome, cast a 
 reverential shade over the marble tombs ; the late Em 
 peror s casket, almost covered with wreaths, was lying at 
 their heads, having been placed there temporarily. 
 
 I was walking down the boulevard slowly, having on 
 either side of me bare trees and brown grass-plots, and 
 thinking of the changes, when suddenly I heard just 
 back of me a familiar bow-wow. A dim mistiness of the 
 past, a faint recollection of by-gone years, stole over my 
 mind, a voice or sound out of the long ago seemed to be 
 speaking or calling to me, awakening remembrances lost 
 in the rapid march of time. At the same instant I felt a 
 tug at the heel of my trousers leg, and being unable, 
 from some weight attaching itself thereon, to move my 
 leg farther, was brought to a stand still, and on turning 
 my head and looking down behind me, met the recogniz 
 ing upward gaze of an exceedingly fat little bench-legged 
 dachshund (badger dog) who had snapped his teeth into 
 my trousers rim and swung on to me with a teutonic grip. 
 A surge of old memories, a rush of old associations, came 
 and went over me in an instant. I stooped over and 
 picked him up. Yes, it was ! it was indeed Schnurkelyah 
 (snoor-cle-yaw), hoary and gray faced as a patriarch, and, 
 if anything, fatter still than he was in the days of yore, 
 but still the same dear old Schnurkelyah. I hugged him 
 fervently, right there on the boulevard, and squeezed him 
 tightly to my chest over and over again, and he gave a 
 half dozen gasping, wheezy, apoplectic yelps, wiggled 
 and made desperate attempts to lick my chin and neck all 
 over in his delight. To be held in kind remembrance, by 
 even a dog, is always affecting, and tears filled my eyes. 
 He had remembered me all these years ; his sharp little 
 nose had run across my track on the street and he had 
 followed on my trail, running ahead of his companion 
 and had tackled me. 
 
 "Himmel Reich ! " (land of heaven) I heard exclaimed 
 
1 82 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 by some one approaching, in great astonishment, with 
 wide staring eyes, at the peculiar conduct of his dog, and 
 of the stranger in thus caressing him. It was Felderstein ; 
 I recognized him in an instant, although he was now a 
 man of middle age. I would have known those penetrat 
 ing gray eyes anywhere, and that cool, calm demeanor 
 that was still apparent in his approach, although his face 
 showed that he was deep in wonderment. 
 
 Still holding Schnurkelyah tightly to my chest, I held 
 out my hand to him; quick as a lightning flash he grasped 
 the situation. " By the saints above ! the American stu 
 dent," he cried, and rushed, German style, to embrace me, 
 forgetting that Schnurkelyah was still in ray arms and was 
 in the squeeze between us, and only the latter s energetic 
 squealing brought us to our senses. I put Schnurkelyah 
 down, and together we went into the Cafe Bauer, and 
 over our glasses of seltzer Felderstein related the news. 
 Vielbeer was in the city now and at the Central Hotel ; 
 he had come up to the burial of the old Emperor ; was 
 now on the eve of his departure back to his castle ; he, 
 Felderstein, had but a few hours ago left him ; had taken 
 Schnurkelyah out for a little promenade, and was shortly 
 to return him to his master ; and I must come along for 
 Vielbeer would be most happy to see me. And, by the 
 way, he supposed that I did not know that Vielbeer was 
 now Baron of a vast holding, was rolling in wealth, and 
 lived in his ancient ancestral home on the Rhine, in grand 
 style. The war of eighteen hundred and seventy came ; 
 the enemy s capital fell ; the lately deceased aged king of 
 Prussia had been crowned sovereign of all the German 
 states, provinces and kingdoms in the court hall at Ver 
 sailles, near Paris, by all the German States in unity, and 
 was thus made Kmperor William I of a united Germany; 
 and that the fairy queen Elfrida s vow had at length 
 come true in its entirety, the young prince of the year 
 eighteen hundred and thirteen, who had fled in horror at 
 the sudden death of his companion at the chasm, had lived 
 to raise his country to an unparalleled prosperity and had 
 reigned over Germany entire. 
 
 Vielbeer s uncle, Thorwald, a younger brother of the 
 
STUDENT UFB) IN GERMANY. 183 
 
 house and who, as a young man of twenty-five years of age, 
 had helped the aged Emperor when a prince in eighteen 
 hundred and thirteen to get a sight of the beautiful fairy 
 queen s much coveted but fatal crown, and who had lost 
 his life in the gallant attempt to bring it up from the un 
 fathomable black depths to the prince, could not of course 
 be recompensed. He had met his rewards above, a great 
 one of which was witnessing the " wiedersehen " (again 
 seeing) of the aged Emperor on meeting the heavenly 
 shades of his sainted mother, beloved father, and the col 
 leagues of his youth who had long gone to the land 
 above before him. But the grateful emperor while still 
 on earth, had made what restitution was in his power to 
 the remaining members of the family. 
 
 The confederated states had voted a large sum to re 
 coup the fortunes of the Vielbeer family ; the Baron had 
 restored Vielbeer castle entire, and refitted it in all its 
 former grandeur ; the turrets, walls, battlements and 
 towers had been rebuilt as in the days of old, and all the 
 surrounding land it once owned re-purchased, and it was 
 the home now of the noble family. Vielbeer having 
 never married, his great, good heart having been burnt 
 out by his fierce flame of love in his youth, had called 
 his cousin s family, the children of the son of Thorwald s 
 and his own father s younger brother to the castle, and 
 this family s two sons now there, were considered by him 
 as his heirs and the future heads of the house. 
 
 The Prussian Eagle club was long since no more. An 
 immense stone State building now occupied its former 
 site. At the outbreak of hostilities, when war was de 
 clared against the fatherland, the club had at once dis 
 banded and joined the army. Count L,uft had headed 
 his regiment and had been killed at Gravelotte, along 
 with sixty percent of his men, in a cavalry charge on the 
 enemy s center. His body had been brought back to 
 Germany and interred in the family burial ground, and 
 a beautiful monument marked his last resting place. 
 
 His own (Felderstein s) father had gone the way of 
 all humanity years before, and during my twenty years 
 absence, two of his six brothers had died natural deaths. 
 
184 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 One was drowned at sea off the coast of Madagascar, and 
 two killed at Sedan, where he and another, who subse 
 quently died from the effects of his injury, were wounded, 
 leaving him the last son remaining and the inheritor of 
 the title "Graf" von Felderstein. "A rather empty 
 one, it is true," he remarked, for the death of his father, 
 who had been in high favor at court, leaving little but 
 his title behind him, threw the sons into the position of 
 having their fortunes to make with their swords, their 
 careers relying upon their own efforts. 
 
 All the beautiful mementos, trophies, and works of 
 art of the club had been sent to the families of those who 
 had presented them, a great portion naturally going to 
 Vielbeer castle, as so many of them had emanated from 
 its owner s skill in always being successful. 
 
 We remained at the cafe several hours discussing old 
 times and watching the ever-coming and going throng of 
 customers, the never-ending passing crowd on the street 
 ever present to view through the windows. The cafe had 
 a coal-black Ethiopian standing in front of the door as a 
 drawing card ; he was dressed in vivid blue from head to 
 foot ; he was at all times surrounded by a wondering, 
 admiring audience. He was black as jet, and his face 
 shone as though lately oiled. lyittle children were among 
 the crowd, which was large, and was ever present to gaze 
 at him, and they were tightly clinging to their parents 
 hands and drawing back shrinkingly in fear of the 
 " Mohr (Moor), as they called him. 
 
 Negroes are very rare in Germany. It is only at inter 
 vals of weeks that you meet one even in such a metropolis 
 as Berlin. The climate is too cold for them, too damp 
 and penetrating ; their teeth chatter, and they have to 
 wear overcoats even in July and August ; and this one 
 was as much of a curiosity as an Eskimo would be in 
 any of our cities here. The people about him asked each 
 other, Do they let him go about loose ?" "I guess they 
 surely keep him chained at night," etc., etc. He was 
 enjoying the sensation he created immensely, and when 
 an American (knowing full well that he was a darkey 
 from the United States) stepped up and addressed him 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 185 
 
 in English, saying, " Ah there, boss, how s everything, 
 hey?" With a shake of his head the black replied (al 
 though one could see from the light of recognition in his 
 eyes that he understood) in French, "Par comprenz, 
 monsieur, Arabe ! Arabe ! (pronounced Ahrahbuh) claim 
 ing to be an Arab (though black as coal, indeed) from 
 the interior French Algerian colonies along the south 
 Mediterranean sea, in northern Africa. 
 
 "Come along with me now and we will go right to the 
 hotel and meet Vielbeer, said Felderstein, as we turned 
 and left the richly dressed darky to his admirers, and all 
 three of us were soon walking down Friedrich strasse 
 (Frederick street) on our way. We finally reached the 
 hotel, entered and went straight to the Baron s apart 
 ments, and on knocking and receiving in response an old 
 familiar deep bass "Kommt herein" (come in), opened the 
 door, and sitting behind a cloud of smoke drawn from a 
 marvelously "well aquaintedto our view old meerschaum 
 pipe, I recognized the Baron. Vielbeer (pronounced Feel- 
 beer) also knew me at once, through his large spectacles. 
 
 "Donnerwetter" (thunder weather) "here s that Ameri 
 can student, back again after all these years", he cried out 
 instantly on clapping his eyes on me. He extended his fat 
 right paw in a welcome greeting, and I could see by the 
 humorous twinkle in his eyes that he was thinking of the 
 same thing that my own thoughts were upon, namely, 
 the last few times in which we had met, my final session 
 at the University and last winter at the club, the gay 
 times and lively scenes of twenty years ago when I was a 
 mere thoughtless youth and his own joints were much 
 more limber than at present. I gripped his old hand the 
 hand that had carried so many bumpers to his lips and to 
 victory; the hand that had marked off so many places on 
 the floor for duelists to station themselves on ; the hand 
 that had been ever just ; the hand of a man who had 
 never been the slave of his own characteristics, never 
 been the prisoner of his own nature, nor the captive of 
 his own sentiments, but had been ever right and true to 
 justice ; the hand of a human being such as is extant in 
 one among each ten thousand with both of mine, and 
 
1 86 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 was unable from emotion to speak a word for some time. 
 Felderstein related to him the circumstances of Schnur- 
 kelyah s memory, of nosing my tracks out upon the 
 street, and of his brilliant break for my trousers leg to 
 attract my attention, and Vielbeer seemed not surprised 
 at all, but remarked that Schnurkelyah had a great deal 
 more sense than thousands of men whom he had met. 
 
 The Central Hotel was in the near vicinity of Viel 
 beer s depot. The Baron was a prudent man and always 
 got near his starting point on the last few days of his 
 stay, to be reasonably certain not to lose his train by a 
 mishap on account of his weight. His hair and mustache 
 were now snow white; his hair falling almost down to his 
 shoulders gave him something of a patriarchal appear 
 ance ; he was far over eighty years of age, but still 
 walked about erect at times and with fair strength. He 
 at once invited me down to spend the summer at Viel 
 beer castle in southern Germany, remarking that I would 
 find a different state of affairs there now than what I 
 would have had I visited it in the days of the club, when 
 the few acres he still owned surrounding the building 
 barely paid him enough for his subsistence. 
 
 I accepted his kind invitation on the spot, and ringing 
 for his valet, Diedrich, who was also his old coach-driver 
 at home, and who accompanied him everywhere, he 
 asked him to bring in a bottle of Rhine wine, which was 
 drank altogether to the memory of the good old days 
 "the days," said Vielbeer, "although not by far as prosper 
 ous as now, that will nevertheless ever remain fresh and 
 brightly outlined among our recollections, for they were 
 the days of our youth, of our health and our strength." 
 
 "Baron," said I, after a while, "you have never been out 
 of my thoughts for one whole week at a time in all these 
 twenty years since I have seen you. He was much too 
 intelligent a man for one to presume to flatter, and on 
 his asking me in what regard he had been so constantly 
 in my thoughts, I told him the truth, that in America my 
 friends had never forgiven me for not being able to make 
 them acquainted with the circumstances relating to the as 
 sistance his ancient ancestor Centavus Vielbeer had given 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 1 87 
 
 Monk Monastus in the fourth century in that interview 
 with the Forty Saints, and that I had been pitched into 
 weekly by friends ever since because I had thoughtlessly 
 left Berlin that time, at the close of my final semester at 
 the University without learning it. The Baron laughed 
 long and loudly on hearing this, his fat sides shook, and 
 old as he was a flattered expression of amusement stole 
 into his face, and he remarked that I could have the 
 opportunity of searching the archives of Vielbeer castle 
 soon myself, and glean the whole history of the interest 
 ing and romantic occurrence to my full satisfaction. At this 
 we shook hands all around, all four of us former Prussian 
 Eagles, although Schnurkelyah, curled up on Vielbeer s 
 slippered feet, looked far from being able to soar like the 
 bird whose name had given the club its designation, and 
 Felderstein and I took our leave. 
 
 On again finding ourselves in the street, I remarked to 
 Felderstein that it appeared strange to me that he and 
 the Baron, seeming to be, to all outward appearances, 
 such bosom friends, yet Vielbeer had given me a direct 
 invitation to visit his home in his ( Felderstein s) pres 
 ence, and had not mentioned even the word to him. 
 " I see, " replied Felderstein, "that you have in your 
 twenty years absence from the University largely for 
 gotten the * corps studenten honorable interpretation of 
 high gentlemanship. Had Vielbeer invited me, it 
 would have been with an intention on his part to directly 
 and deeply insult me, and so I, in my position of a retired 
 corps student would have construed it. The very fact of 
 his never opening his mouth to me about coming to the 
 castle means that I am considered as a beloved brother, 
 whose home the castle is supposed to be at any time and 
 whenever I see fit to go there for a period. As the 
 Baron and I stand in friendship together, the invitation 
 would be about as one inviting his wife to come down 
 and make a short visit to his home. I shall be down 
 this summer while you are there ; shall come to the ball 
 of which the ladies of the castle give two yearly, one in 
 the midst of bleak winter and the other in the season of 
 blooming flowers." 
 
1 88 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 We soon got on to the great boulevard again, and were 
 walking down its length toward the old Brandenburger 
 Thor or gate, to pass through it on our way to the station; 
 when still quite some distance away, we noticed a great 
 commotion going on about it, and on quickening our 
 pace and arriving there, we found a mild student had 
 played a prank at the Thor, after first attempting and 
 failing to get off a joke on the guard-house. 
 
 Since 1870 many beautiful and costly monuments have 
 been erected all over Germany, such as the Column of 
 Victory, crowned by the heroic sized and gilded statue of 
 Bonessia, in the Koenig s Platz of Berlin, the Niederwald 
 Denkmal, and so on. Soldiers stand in duty about these 
 magnificent structures to prevent their defacement by 
 relic hunters and evil minded persons. A barracks was 
 now stationed near the old Thor ; it was situated in a 
 building on the left side of the street as one approached 
 the Gate, and was about two hundred feet from it ; four 
 soldiers also guarded the center passage way of the Thor, 
 which is at the west end of the boulevard. The great 
 gate itself is really in three divisions, all three being 
 passage ways into the Thiergarten beyond ; the two struct 
 ures at the sides are in the shape of porticoes, are about 
 seventy feet high and have several rows of pillars running 
 from front to back, and thus form lofty open colonnades, the 
 right one having several transit ways and the left one half 
 a dozen or more; these are for the use of pedestrians. The 
 center structure, the monument between the two side 
 porticoes, and what is really meant as the Brandenburger 
 Thor itself, has six eighty-foot doric columns supporting 
 a fifty -foot high right-angled parallelogram, composed of 
 a richly carved and decorated architrave, frieze, and cor 
 nice, on the summit of which the bronze ornament, the 
 Goddess of Victory upon her quadriga or chariot drawn 
 by four horses abreast, overlooks the Unter den Linden. 
 The six columns form five passage ways or corridors, and 
 are for vehicles, the one in the center being the widest 
 and is guarded by four soldiers, one at either side of its 
 entrance and its exit, which latter is also its entrance into 
 the boulevard from the Thiergarten ; this central one of 
 
PHP^ ! w : 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 189 
 
 the five corridors is intended to be used exclusively for 
 the passing of the carriages of the Emperor and the 
 members of the royal family, the general public s convey 
 ances having the use of the four others. A soldier is also 
 stationed in front of the barracks mentioned, who keeps a 
 vigilant watch and look-out for the coming down the 
 long boulevard of any carriage containing a member ot 
 the imperial household or any high military officer, and 
 on them approaching to within a reasonable distance, he 
 calls out " wacht heraus " (guard, come out), and a file 
 of soldiers, who are always ready, like a thunderbolt 
 string out of the g;uard-house door, line up abreast on the 
 sidewalk with glistening bayonets and salute the occu 
 pant of the carriage ere it passes through one of the cor 
 ridors of the old Thor, then they turn about and re-enter 
 the guard-house to await the next summons. As soon as 
 this call "guard, come out" is heard everyone on the 
 pavement in the immediate vicinity of the barracks steps 
 briskly out of the way to allow the emerging soldiers a 
 free pathway over the pavement for their coming salute, 
 in the same manner that we do on hearing the bell of a 
 fire engine coming around the corner, all our rigs and 
 pedestrians at once clear the track for its passage. A 
 mild student heading a crowd of his * pals had come 
 along, and just as he got in front of the guard-house 
 door, between it and the military watcher on the curb, 
 who was industriously looking out for an imperial per 
 sonage or a high officer s carriage, and whose back was 
 necessarily toward the barracks, just as the student 
 was in the act of passing the entrance, the watching 
 soldier perceived a conveyance coming, containing an 
 occupant to whom a salute should be made, and at 
 once cried out "wacht heraus." The mild student, so 
 skillfully as to make it seem a perfectly unavoidable 
 accident, at once made a wild skittish maneuver as 
 though attempting to get out of the way, and then sud 
 denly fell down with a smash cane, cap, gloves, eye 
 glass and all right on his stomach, flat upon the 
 pavement, and just before the entrance, as the waiting 
 guardsmen came flying out. The expected mess of sol- 
 
 13 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 diers did not turn out satisfactorily to the mild student for 
 they all lightly leaped over and sprang around him . Be 
 ing all young active fellows they easily cleared his pros 
 trate form and without the least disorder or trouble, took 
 their station on the pavement aligning the curb, and 
 made their proper salutation in a highly creditable man 
 ner. Three large heavy policemen, however, had their 
 misgivings as to the fall right smack in front of the door 
 way and in the direct path of the watch being so very in 
 nocently unintentional, seriously aroused, and rushed 
 over to where he lay, fell on top of and made a grab for 
 the coat collar of the mild student, who agilely crawled 
 out from under them all and made off into the middle of 
 the street toward the Thor, where the two soldier guards 
 of the royal driveway were standing in mute awe at the 
 audacity of anyone daring to take the liberty of so offend 
 ing, or offering such insolence as to attempt something 
 witty or sportive on, the arms of the military. The 
 nimble and quick-eyed mild student saw at once that the 
 two guards nervous systems had been violently deranged 
 consequent upon the overwhelming emotions produced 
 by the attempted jest on some of the members of an or 
 ganization which they held in such supreme awe, and 
 were in an apathetic and unalert state, and he yelled at 
 once to his companions, "Quick, boys; all of us to 
 gether through the royal driveway ! Quick, now ! Hur 
 rah ! There he goes ! there he goes ! catch him quick ! 
 hurrah ! " And the mild student darted through the 
 wide center corridor (while all the onlookers were be- 
 wilderingly scanning about for a sight of the invisible 
 fugitive who was seemingly being chased), with the crowd 
 of students at his heels. Past the unexpectant guards (who 
 couldn t understand or imagine why anyone should want 
 to go through the imperial driveway when it was known 
 to be especially prohibited) they all went through like 
 a hurricane, and at once scattering out soon disappeared 
 entirely among the bushes and trees of the Thiergarten. 
 Quite an agitation had been raised around the Thor at 
 the act, and soon a large number of police officers (mem 
 bers of the finest) gathered, and loudly expressed them- 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 1 91 
 
 selves that if the crowd of transgressors had been caught 
 they would have made "die funken davon fliegen" (the 
 sparks fly from them). 
 
 This lark of the mild student brought forcibly to our 
 minds the same thought of the flight of years, and Fel- 
 derstein echoed my sentiments and just what I was think 
 ing of when he remarked that he realized we were now 
 old men in comparison to the present University student 
 who joins the mild and corps bands, and were no longer 
 of them. 
 
 Ah ! sad is the day when we, in long after years, visit 
 our former Universities, where we once had the proud 
 distinction of being one of the youngest among the 
 young, and feel that we are now looked upon as old fel 
 lows by the present students. 
 
 We wander among the lecture rooms, the galleries and 
 halls, yet our footsteps fail to awake even an echo of a 
 former time, and on the assembling of the classes we 
 scan the crowded amphitheaters over a sea of industri 
 ous, fervent zealous faces meets our view, but they are 
 all strange ones, and are the countenances of two gener 
 ations behind us. 
 
 Twelve thousand students now attend the University. 
 The staff of professors has risen to one hundred and 
 seventy-five, and as an institution of learning it has no 
 superior. 
 
 We parted at the depot, Felderstein boarding his train 
 and going up to the North Sea on some business affairs of 
 his own. Some weeks later I went down into southern 
 Germany and made for Vielbeer castle. I quitted the train 
 of cars at Holtz, a town of some considerable size, and 
 the nearest point by rail to my destination. The town 
 was in gala attire, a "Schuetzenfest" being in full blast. 
 It is something like an exposition, but lasting only a 
 week. However a half year s jollification is crowded into 
 the week. The streets and houses were decorated in all 
 colors of flags and streamers, and long bands of cloth 
 hanging in festoons. The "Marktplatz" (market place), 
 a large square or plaza in the heart of the town, was the 
 center of the show and excitement and was crowded with 
 
IQ2 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 carousalles, shooting galleries, side shows, curiosity ex 
 hibits, target-throwing dummies, whirling wooden horses, 
 games of chance, etc. And all about the sides of the 
 square were rows of booths and stalls temporarily erected 
 to contain wares exposed for sale. 
 
 I stopped after awhile before one tent, on the large 
 painted canvas stretched before which was displayed a 
 wild black man in his native jungle of Africa among 
 giant trees and dense tropical underbrush, tearing to 
 pieces an immense struggling buffalo with only his naked 
 hands and sucking its life s blood, while immediately 
 above him curled among the branches and partly stretched 
 out in hiding upon a large limb, for fear of being dis 
 covered by the ferocious black and sharing the same 
 terrible fate as the buffalo, was an enormous terrified 
 python, capable of swallowing a horse, tremblingly await 
 ing the departure of the ravenous savage black lord of 
 the forest, to skip out and shake hands with its tail in 
 congratulation upon its narrow escape. On a red cloth- 
 covered box at the door of the tent stood a showman, 
 speaking in a loud resounding voice and inviting the awe 
 struck crowd, gaping with saucer eyes and open mouths 
 at the picture, to enter the tent, telling of the wonderful 
 wild man who had been captured in the dense wilderness 
 of the far-off mysterious dark continent ; a squadron of 
 cavalry had chased him three days and nights over the 
 deep marshes, deadly swamps and through the dangerous 
 fastnesses of his unknown country before he was finally 
 overpowered, and then he nearly killed and eat two or 
 three of the troopers before he was firmly secured in 
 chains and brought out to civilization. 
 
 "Come right along, ladies and gentlemen ! pass right 
 in and see the wonderful wild black man perform his great 
 war dance right before you all. He eats live animals 
 whole right on the stage. Pass along in ! " etc. The 
 crowd listening to him, wavered, scared and fearful of 
 what the tent contained ; mothers with children held 
 them closer to themselves in fear. 
 
 Surely he cannot break loose ? 
 
 "He will not be allowed to harm some of us or eat our 
 children?" inquired several of the peasant mothers. 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 193 
 
 "No danger at all," replied the showman, u he is 
 heavily chained and his keeper with a club is always at 
 his elbow, prepared to wade into him forcibly if he shows 
 dangerous symptoms of breaking his chains. Pass right 
 in frauen and herren and get a look at the wonder of this 
 4 yahrhundert " (century). 
 
 We paid our fee and passed on in, quite a crowd of us 
 for safety, with fluttering hearts and creepy feelings going 
 up and down our spines, and while waiting for the man, 
 whom we found inside, sitting on the stage playing an 
 accordion, until a sufficient number of audience had col 
 lected for the wild man to be brought in, to stop his 
 music, I noticed several boys stealthily abstract their 
 knives from their pockets, quietly open the biggest blade 
 and return their thus armed hands cautiously into their 
 trousers receptacles, ready to withdraw their weapon and 
 do battle in case the dangerous captive should break 
 loose ; a sufficient audience soon assembled, the accordion 
 ceased, the musician arose and seizing a great "wendel- 
 treppe" (wen-tle-trap) or immense spiral sea shell, using 
 it as a horn, he raised it to his lips and blew a terrific 
 blast upon it. At once horrible sounds, mingled with a 
 great clanking of chains, coming from back of some hang 
 ing drapery, assailed our startled ears, and amid fearful 
 whoops and yells, the chained wild man tore out from be 
 hind the curtain and on to the stage followed by his keeper 
 with an immense club, the keeper took up a position be 
 tween the wild man and the audience, facing the chained 
 black and all the while made violent demonstrations, 
 menacingly waving the club over his head at him, to 
 deter him from promulgating any deadly rush at the on 
 lookers. The wild man was clothed in but a short skirt of 
 cloth covered with turkey feathers; he had a necklace of 
 stringed feathers, strung through the large end of their 
 shafts, hanging around his neck down on his chest, and 
 also was decorated with several large turkey feathers 
 stuck in his woolly hair ; all else of him was naked, ex 
 hibiting his shiny black skin in all its glory. He carried 
 a spear which he waved about while he danced and yelled ; 
 he howled and opened his mouth to its fullest capacity, 
 
194 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 which was an appalling sight indeed, and rolled his eyes 
 about, showing great amounts of white eyeballs, and all 
 the while making an awful clanking noise with his 
 chains, all of which, with his fearful grimaces, which he 
 threw in ever and anon, was quite terrifying, especially to 
 the younger members among the onlookers. At last he 
 quieted somewhat under the increased energetic threaten- 
 ings of the keeper with the club, knelt down on one 
 knee, pointed his spear upward and waving his free hand 
 toward the zenith, made his wild fetish prayer or super 
 stitious worship and adoration of his deity in the follow 
 ing manner : 
 
 Awful spirits did dey raise, hark ! doom ! 
 
 Till de audience crazy wild, 
 Rushed and broke into de dark room, 
 In a frenzy fa h from mild. 
 
 "But at sight ob de spirits dey were dazed, 
 Fa h dey saw two jugs ob whisky, 
 Ivookin very jaunt and frisky, 
 An as do h dey had been pretty often raised. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 "White boy gimme gold and silver, 
 
 Black boy gimme pearls, 
 White girl wears straight brown tresses, 
 Black girl she wears curls. 
 
 "Ky ! yi ! boss! kum ! ketch, kuhnotchka, cum, hi, O, 
 Ise de homesickest niggah in de Ian , 
 Yi, yi, ky, ya-a-a, O-o-o-o-o-o." 
 
 I at once of course recognized him as being a Sambo 
 from my own land, and let him know by my laughter at 
 the song that I was "onto him." He at once bounded 
 to his feet, rushed to where I was standing in the front 
 row of the onlookers, grasped my hand, knelt and kissed 
 it, arose and fell over my shoulder and wept, muttered a 
 lot of gibberish, gave a last lingering wring to my hand, 
 made as though brushing tears from his eyes and went 
 back to his devotions, on finishing which a dead chicken 
 was brought in, which he grasped, raised it to his mouth, 
 tore the feathers off with his teeth, blew them all about 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 195 
 
 in the air over the audience s heads, and grasping his 
 spear, with a last furious dance, a wild whoop, and a final 
 demoniacal yell and a wave of his hand toward me, dis 
 appeared behind the curtains, leaving the onlookers 
 standing all wrapped in amaze. 
 
 The keeper with the club got upon the four-foot-high 
 platform which the wild man had just left, and explained 
 to the crowd that the foreigner, whom the wild man had 
 embraced, had, years ago, rescued him from death. He 
 was once captured and was to be eaten by a party of en 
 emies in the jungles of Africa ; was lying tied while they 
 built a fire and heated the pot, and the foreigner had 
 crept up on his stomach for half a mile and released him 
 by cutting the thongs from off his bound limbs, where 
 upon he had jumped to his feet, seized a club, and had 
 immediately killed all his enemies and eaten them then 
 and there, after cooking them in their own pot ; and on 
 recognizing his deliverer a few moments ago had been 
 immediately overcome with grateful emotion and ran up 
 to caress him, etc. 
 
 From the glibness with which he got this off, together 
 with the fact that toward the middle of the story he sud 
 denly found that he had left out some and went back and 
 started afresh, I saw at once that it was a "stock act"; 
 that, of course, he must run across lots of Americans in 
 traveling about with his show who would recognize and 
 speak to the wild man, and the act of rushing up to his 
 deliverer and its accompanying explanation was a "cut 
 and dried" part of the performance to be brought into play 
 when the necessity arose. 
 
 On leaving the tent, the showman outside asked the 
 outgoers what they thought of the exhibition. Won 
 derful," they replied. "We wouldn t have missed it for 
 anything." At this there was a rush by those still star 
 ing at the picture to get in and also see the great Afri 
 can. He created so much excitement in the town that 
 doubts were entertained of him being really black, and 
 hints went around that probably he was a white man 
 stained with some kind of juice or color, and that maybe 
 his head had been shaved and black sheep wool skill- 
 
196 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 fully pasted upon it, and that the whole thing was a fake 
 played on them ; and the population began to feel in 
 sulted at the idea of a showman taking them for such ig 
 noramuses as to try to make them believe that he had a 
 man who was really black and had woolly hair. Their ire 
 arose the more they thought about it, and finally a dep 
 utation of the principal citizens, including two physi 
 cians, got together and called on the showman and de 
 manded a thorough examination by themselves of the 
 wild man. The sharp showman bowed at their approach 
 to the very top of the box he was standing upon, know 
 ing the instant they had presented their case that the 
 fact of the examination proving the wild man to be real 
 would be noised abroad at once and be spread through 
 out the whole country and cause such a rush to see his 
 captive as he had never dreamed of before. 
 
 1 Certainly, my respected Herren " (misters), replied 
 he ; "all of you step right in, and as many more as will 
 fill the tent, and all free, all free, and I will let you prove 
 his genuineness to your entire satisfaction." The com 
 mittee filed in, followed by a large, eager crowd, and the 
 tent was soon j ammed. The chained African was brought 
 out and was made to submit to an examination. The 
 doctors put acids and bleaching chemicals on his skin, in 
 spots all over his arms, back, and legs, but without effect 
 ing the ebony tint in the slightest degree ; and on inves 
 tigating his wool, of course it was found genuine, and to 
 the astonished contentment of all. They retired with loud 
 exclamations of wonderment that a being could be a man 
 and still be born black as coal ; they had read about and 
 heard of such individuals from persons who claimed to 
 have actually seen them, but the general rural public 
 had a very misty idea of how they must look, if, indeed, 
 the accounts of them were really true, which many of 
 the unlearned much doubted. 
 
 As the showman had foreseen, the rush to get a view 
 of the wild black the next few days was unprecedented, 
 and money just poured into his coffers. All were more 
 than satisfied. Only a few, however, marveled that the 
 wild man had been so extremely tame, good natured and 
 
I 
 
 c ,2 
 So. 
 
 01 
 
 . 4) 
 
 E 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 1 97 
 
 quiet during the examination, while at all other times his 
 keeper had to stand between him and the audience in a 
 dire threatening attitude with a club to keep him from 
 making a break and slaughtering the whole crowd. These 
 few deep thinkers pondered awhile and then gave it up 
 they couldn t understand it. 
 
 I left the town of Holtz the next day and went by a 
 stage route, which ran between the latter place and the 
 little dorf of Bischen, to the last named village, the nearest 
 one to the castle. It was about two o clock at the time 
 of my arrival in Bischen, from whence I decided to give the 
 "go by" to conveyances and walk to the castle, the loom 
 ing turrets of which could be seen about twelve miles 
 away on the heights in the distance. I went along a well 
 worn road, that I was told would bring me direct to the 
 principal gate belonging to the inclosure of the extensive 
 wooded park that surrounded the heights on which the 
 great building stood. On arriving at the gate, at the end 
 of about two hours walking, I was met by a keeper 
 coming out of a little house within the inclosure, accom 
 panied by three Dutch doggers. These animals are as 
 large as our English mastiffs are probably the same race 
 of dogs. They are most often yellow, but now and then 
 grayish ; their heads are very big and broad, but they 
 are not specially vicious ; they were the same kind of ca 
 nines themild students in Berlin, in 1868, had so much af 
 fected as companions and pets, decorating them with beau 
 tiful and costly collars and taking their dogships along 
 with them upon the street, to their own rooms, and into 
 those of their brother students when calling upon the 
 latter, and also in their carriages when driving. They 
 are, in fact, really good natured animals when properly 
 reared. 
 
 The gateway was of stone in the shape of an arch, two 
 massive side pillars supporting the half circle above. 
 Carved on the keystone of the arch, on the side facing 
 the incomer, was the heraldic device or coat of arms of 
 the noble family I was on my way to visit. It consisted of 
 a laughing fox in mid air, in the act of springing from one 
 rye or wheat stack to another, the fox s face expressive 
 
198 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 of the highest of glee ; it all being portrayed on a shield, 
 running around the upper rim of which was the word 
 1 Auf-immer (forever) . Passing the gate and entering the 
 great wooded grounds surrounding the castle site, I strode 
 upward along a deeply shaded graveled drive, between 
 woods of giant oaks, linden and other trees, for about four 
 miles. On all sides were evidences of a gardener s high 
 taste. When the trees finally ended I came upon the 
 flower and shrubbery garden made upon the several 
 plateaus, and extending up toward the heights, on the 
 extreme summit of which, high up over all, towered 
 the surmounting castle. 
 
 After getting past the garden I then began the climb 
 to the building, going up winding ways cut, in places, 
 through solid rock ; up zigzag roadways, beautified on 
 either side by trees, flowers, shrubbery and plants. The 
 whole ascent was through a cultivated garden. The 
 plants and trees would change at different elevations, and 
 hardier flowers and shrubs had been set out on the 
 heights than at the base near the valley. Up, up, I went 
 along the same wide path, up and down which so many 
 brave and gallant knights in iron and steel, and with 
 proudly flying pennons, ensigns and standards, and so 
 many fair ladies on snow-white steeds in richly decorated 
 trappings, had ridden in the days of "once upon a time 
 long ago." 
 
 All the surroundings appeared as in the days of old. I 
 could easily fancy myself transported back to medieval 
 times the romantic days of hunting horn and falcon 
 and had a knight, a Baron von Vielbeer of old, clad in glit 
 tering armor from head to foot, his helmet crowned with 
 waving and nodding plumes, with erect lance and clink 
 ing sword and bearing his emblazoned metal shield, 
 mounted on his armored and gaily-caparisoned, fiery, 
 prancing war-steed, come riding down from out the castle 
 gate, and on passing raised his vizor from before his face 
 with a strongly gauntleted hand, and informed me that 
 he was on his way to a tournament at which the fair lady 
 of his choice and affections was to preside by right of her 
 being the queen of beauty and of love, and passing me 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 199 
 
 descended the winding way, and finally have disappeared 
 in the green woodland beyond, it would all have seemed 
 perfectly appropriate to the surroundings. 
 
 As I continued niy way up I realized pretty fully how 
 extremely apt the constructor or originator of the coat of 
 arms had been in realizing or reading the strength of the 
 castle s position the inaccessibility of its situation ; the 
 interpretation of the very appropriate heraldic design 
 being that Vielbeer castle was so strongly and safely 
 built that its capture or destruction by an enemy was con 
 sidered impossible, and so even the foxes had played 
 always and were never disturbed in their amusement in 
 the gardens inside the outer walls and fortifications by 
 any of the long wars of medieval days that had so 
 shaken the country ; but forever had daily gamboled 
 about, jumping from one wheat or rye stack to another, 
 grinning in frolicsome sport entirely oblivious of war and 
 its meanings. 
 
 It was no easy jaunt to get up to Vielbeer castle to a 
 light-footed man, and for one in armor and heavily 
 weaponed, as in the middle ages, it was a stout-hearted 
 job for a warrior alone, and if astride a likewise iron pro 
 tected animal a still tougher job for the beast ; the end 
 less windings and acute angles necessary to be traversed 
 to approach nearer and nearer were disheartening. 
 
 On arriving at the uppermost plateau, the one on which 
 stood the building, however, the scene repaid many times 
 over the toil of the ascent, for the view was magnificent. 
 One could look back over all the ground he had traversed 
 as from some peak. You could trace the passageway by 
 which you had ascended winding away down until it 
 almost spun out like a thread to the valley, dotted here 
 and there with groves of trees and small villages, the 
 clusters of dwellings looking like spots on a green carpet, 
 for the people do not live on their farms but build their 
 homes in little collections about six or eight miles apart ; 
 all the barns, stock etc. , of the surrounding agriculturists 
 are at the village. This custom is also a remnant of the 
 days of feudalism, when the rural inhabitants had to 
 live as near together as possible, had to congregate in 
 
200 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 little hamlets for protection from small bands of marauders 
 and from which places they could receive in a body the 
 news when large bands or armies threatened, and they 
 could sound the alarm and all fly in a company to the castle 
 for protection. It would not have done in those unsettled 
 and unlawful times for single families to have resided on 
 their farms, almost at the mercy of every wandering 
 couplet of outlaws that came to the vicinity. So the in 
 habitants clustered together in little towns about seven 
 miles apart, and paid heavy tribute to the fiery lords of 
 the castle, the ancient Vielbeers, for protection when 
 danger threatened, and for an avenging pursuit on bodies 
 of evil doers, too large for a town to cope with or oppose, 
 when sweeping suddenly down in a surprise upon them. 
 
 This custom of dwelling in little villages and going 
 from thence daily to their outlying farms to work, driv 
 ing the stock there in the morning and back home again 
 at eventide, still hangs on to the older inhabitants, although 
 no country is now more law-abiding than Germany ; but 
 it is difficult to eradicate old usages. I could see the little 
 village that I had walked from easily, lying nestled 
 among green branches, some twelve miles distant, and its 
 tree-bordered road leading away to the depot town where 
 I had left the cars, which place was also discernible 
 against the green background stretching into the gray 
 mistiness beyond, a long line of space among the trees 
 indicating the railroad track, and ever and anon a crawl 
 ing black band with a low streak of smoke hanging over 
 it showing the passage of a train. 
 
 Just below, on the descending heights, and clear to the 
 woods were splendid evidences of landscape gardening, 
 the heights were laid out in plants and shrubs, trees and 
 flowers, and now and then in looking over the surround 
 ing inclosed forest one could see where whole streaks of 
 trees had been removed, sometimes a tunnel-like clearing 
 or passageway having been made through them for two 
 or three miles, at other places merely trimmed in proper 
 shape to open up a view to a small pavilion and boat- 
 house on a little river, flowing a few miles away on its 
 journey to the Rhine, or a giant path cut through in 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 2OI 
 
 another part of the woods to unobstruct the vision of a 
 little summer hunting cottage in the distance, surrounded 
 by a small park of tame animals such as deer, fox, mount 
 ain goats, etc. All this on looking backward over the 
 trail from whence one comes up to the building on the 
 landward side. 
 
 Looking forward, on the opposite side, a sheer precipi 
 tous rocky cliff led away far down to the Rhine, the sil 
 ver, historic, beautiful, beloved Rhine, flowing in silent 
 majesty far below. Onward, ever onward past so many 
 ruined strongholds of the dark ages, its surface dotted 
 with boats making their way down and up stream ; and 
 opposite on the other side the lowlands, sloping away 
 into the dim perspective, both banks, where not too per 
 pendicularly inclined to render it impossible, in a high 
 state of cultivation, covered with grape vines, and over 
 and beyond them, toward the interior, the fields of wheat 
 and rye, etc. 
 
 Both the sloping, and where at all practical, the steep 
 acclivities are terraced and planted in grapes. A wall of 
 stone would be built near the river, of greater or less 
 length according to how soon it ran across or into a deep 
 gully, and the ground leveled from its top back say eight, 
 ten or twenty feet where another wall is erected eight or 
 ten feet in height, and another patch of level ground 
 made from its upper surface back to the lower part of the 
 next wall. And so the banks ascend in receding tiers 
 from the pure transparent stream, far up toward their 
 summits like enormous steps. On the level places thus 
 made the grapes are raised and carefully attended to, so 
 that both banks for miles and miles, as far as one can see 
 with a glass, look like a terraced garden not a weed to 
 be seen. The bank on the other side to that upon which 
 the castle was situated being the lower, the building 
 overlooked the opposite country, as it did all the land on 
 its own side of the river. 
 
 One could easily see that the structure had been placed 
 on a site well adapted to suit the manners of the baronial 
 lords of the past, and perfectly in accordance with the 
 prevailing conduct of its time. From its lofty towers, 
 
2O2 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 commanding a view of the whole surrounding country, 
 the old feudal masters and their retainers could spy out 
 all traveling caravans, journeying from one large com 
 mercial mart to another, loaded with rich goods, wares 
 and merchandise, and swoop down upon them, exacting 
 heavy tribute for the privilege of safe passage through 
 their vast domains, or rinding the caravan s armed escort 
 a little too heavy for their stomachs, and ready to resist 
 payment, courteously apologizing to the merchants for 
 the trouble given them, and withdrawing with many 
 left-handed wishes for good speed. Alas ! human nature, 
 hast thou ever changed an iota under any circumstances, 
 conditions or climes since the oncoming of man ? 
 
 The river was alive with traffic in merchandise, fruits, 
 wine, grain, products of factories, etc., and numbers of 
 gaily decorated passenger boats, with bands of music and 
 flying flags, crowded with tourists and sight-seers, were to 
 be seen going one way or the other, the Rhine, with its 
 beautiful scenery, its castles, and terraced vineyards be 
 ing one of the sights of Germany. 
 
 I seated myself on a stone at the end of the cliff for half 
 an hour and overlooked the Rhine and all its enchanting 
 surroundings, and industriously rubbed my calves to feel 
 sure that they were still flesh and not lumps of lead ; and I 
 also had it to faintly dawn upon me that the elasticity of 
 twenty years ago, when we students toured it every va 
 cation on foot over mountains and valleys and into dis 
 tant countries, and were almost unaware of the existence 
 of such things as legs, was becoming a feature of the 
 past. My aching limbs, after a twelve-mile level walk, 
 and a climb to the lofty summit of the eminence, was a 
 fair reminder that youth is short, time flies, and that 
 human machinery also wears out and grows old ; and as 
 necessity is the mother of invention, and a great engen- 
 derer of trials to overcome obstacles and the need for 
 labor, and the stimulator of inventive thoughts, I began 
 to ponder, and wondered why so many things came out 
 of place in this world, and why elevators were not in 
 vented in feudal days, for then it would have been no 
 trouble at all to land any number of men and horse up or 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 203 
 
 down at an hour s notice, and the shaft could have been 
 easily protected on the near appearance of an enemy. 
 
 I finally arose, after resting, and approached the grand 
 entrance door of the castle, mounted the broad granite steps, 
 and advanced into the large, the wide and deep, area way 
 formed by a high pillared and sculptured arch, about six 
 feet above the keystone of which was a similar escutcheon 
 or shield, chiseled in relief on the wall, having on its sur 
 face carved the same coat of arms of the family as that I 
 had seen on the gate that gave entrance to the wooded 
 park, the jumping fox and grain stacks, but here very 
 much more elaborated and finely worked out. The figure 
 of the fox had been so well dressed out in the stone that 
 a kind of witheringly, contemptuous grin was plainly dis 
 cernible on his face, and in the background of the well- 
 pictured stacks were cut splendid representations of stone 
 fortifications. 
 
 The entrance doors were of oak, massive, and studded 
 all over at about eight inches equidistant with nails, the 
 heads two inches in diameter. The knocker was of brass 
 and in the shape of a chest handle, the covexity of the 
 curve bulging into the life-size representation of the head 
 of a laughing fox. In appearance the knocker looked as 
 though a large, curved bar had been run through a fox s 
 head just back of his ears and the ends then bent to fit 
 into two brass decorated screw eyes, from which it hung 
 pendant, and could be raised and lowered at will ; the 
 under chin of the fox s head rested upon a large, round 
 piece of metal, imbedded in the oak even with the wood ; 
 the knocker was of great weight, and took a good deal of 
 force to lift, and when brought down upon the round 
 piece of metal it was intended to strike, with a strong 
 hand, it made a noise that went resounding throughout 
 the great hollow halls, along the stairways and into the 
 rooms of the structure loud enough to awaken the seven 
 sleepers. 
 
 I had just got through inspecting the curious knocker, 
 and was on the point of reaching for it to * thunder at 
 the gate," when one of the wings of the heavy door 
 swung slowly back, and there on the stone floor of the 
 
204 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 hall stood Vielbeer, and between his feet Schnurkelyah. 
 The baron had seen me wandering about the base of the 
 building from his window in a tower overlooking the 
 Rhine, and recognizing me had come down to the door 
 just as I had put forth my hand to knock. One of the 
 most flattering circumstances I ever ran across in my life 
 was the unbounded delight expressed by Sehnurkelyah 
 at my appearance ; he gave one upward jump, and I took 
 him in my arms and hugged and squeezed him to me 
 again and again, just as I had on the streets of Berlin 
 early in the spring. 
 
 "Donnerwetter," said the Baron, and tears gathered 
 in his dear old eyes as I grasped his extended hand and 
 was welcomed to the castle. Here at the end of an in 
 tended two- weeks sojourn I was urged to stay so vehe 
 mently that I realized that the request was not left- 
 handed, and so settled down and remained the balance of 
 the summer, as Vielbeer s invitation in Berlin had really 
 meant for me to do. I was given apartments on the same 
 floor as were those of the Baron s own, in one of the lofty 
 towers, from where I could look out upon miles of scen 
 ery and fancy myself a Raubritter (robber knight) of old, 
 spying sharply from the windows, keeping a vigilant 
 lookout for the sight of dust raised by traveling bodies of 
 traders and merchants, and was told to make myself at 
 home. This latter offer has a far different meaning in 
 Germany from the manner in which some guests in our 
 own land construe it, as they often, on being requested to 
 make themselves at home, do so with a vengeance, liter 
 ally kick the host out and install themselves in his dwell 
 ing in great style and comfort. At home I immediately 
 felt at once, and if for no other reason could have done 
 so by cause alone of here again seeing all the old familiar 
 trophies won by Vielbeer s never lowered championship 
 that I had admired so often and that were so much 
 thought of at the old club. 
 
 In the hall the first object I ran across was the well 
 known immense metal and carved wood hat and coat 
 rack that had stood at the side of the door of the princi 
 pal chamber of the club-rooms in Berlin. It had been 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 205 
 
 constructed by a carver in wood as a sample and display 
 of his artistic work for exhibition at some exposition, and 
 after the closing of the fair it had been auctioned off and 
 the clubs of several cities had purchased it in conjunction 
 and then had a contest for its possession, and Vielbeer 
 had lowered all their colors with a rush, while the Prus 
 sian Eagle s banner, which he represented, still soared. 
 It was an elegant, large-mirrored piece of furniture, was 
 deftly carved in a decorative manner, and was a work of 
 high art, and had taken a prize at the exposition where 
 it had been displayed. At the first landing on the stair 
 way and from which place it divided to take its upward 
 flight in opposite directions was the ten-foot-high grand 
 father clock, its large dial staring me right in the face, 
 and its slow, solemn, low, regular tick-tock was being 
 sounded down through the halls in the same monotone of 
 long ago, when the timepiece had shown the all-too-soon- 
 sped-by hours on the interesting nights at the club. 
 
 All the trophies of the Prussian Eagle that were won 
 by the Baron during a victorious career of half a century 
 I again saw here, and they seemed so familiar to me after 
 the intervening twenty years that I felt, on seeing them 
 about everywhere, as though I was returned to my old 
 home after an absence of two decades. All the gold and 
 silver flagons, drinking-cups, mirrors and pictures, etc., 
 were here, and were met with at almost every turn. 
 
 A neat little hand-elevator had been placed in the side 
 of the building ; it ran up several floors, from whence 
 another and a much lighter one ascended to the loftiest 
 floor of one of the towers that overhung that portion of 
 the structure facing the Rhine. The convenience of an 
 elevator in a towering castle cannot be overestimated. 
 
 The stable maintained was quite large, and Vielbeer s 
 great desire and pet wish, which he had expressed so 
 often and with such heartfelt earnestness in the days of 
 the club, was here at last attained in near perfection ; 
 for he had his own coach and special pair, and was driven 
 about to his fullest satisfaction. Having been deprived 
 of this earnestly-yearned-for treat for so many years, he 
 now laid a greater value upon it. It assumed much im- 
 
 14 
 
206 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 portance in his eyes, having looked at the vision of him 
 self in his own vehicle through the small end of a telescope 
 for so long, he still saw the now- gained, longed-for enjoy 
 ment largely magnified ; and the baron never tired of sit 
 ting in his coach, fat little Schnurkelyah snuggled up on 
 the cushion beside him, and following his mettled steeds 
 over the surrounding territory, often crossing the Rhine 
 bridge a few miles farther up the river than where he 
 dwelt, and driving far over into the opposite country. His 
 old coachman Diedrich, the same one who had accompa 
 nied him to Berlin, dressed in his dapper uniform, being a 
 landmark for the whole encompassing region, for where- 
 ever he was seen driving the heraldic emblazoned baron 
 ial barouche, the inhabitants knew full well that the 
 master was behind him in the conveyance, for the young 
 men and ladies of the family preferred a younger, more 
 dashing and a faster driver. 
 
 These young members of the noble house, however, 
 had all their own driving and riding horses, and were 
 often to be seen riding down the long winding passage 
 from the grounds of the elevation on which the castle 
 stood, to the level lands below, on their cream or black 
 steeds, in their picturesque riding costumes, for a gallop 
 over the country or a visit to distant neighbors, a great 
 crowd of dogs always accompanying them. And it was 
 often a gay party, indeed, that would, on getting down 
 beyond the base of the eminence, canter through the four 
 or five miles of towering old oaks and aged linden trees, 
 branching aloft and rising on each side like the pillars or 
 columns of a vast ancient structure, and trotting through 
 the old arched gate with neighing horses and joyful bark 
 ing dogs, gallop out into the wide spreading lowlands. 
 
 I often accompanied these parties, and the return at 
 dusk or night was the most enchanting part of the afifair. 
 Entering the gate, lit by a single lantern hung on one of 
 its pillars by the old gate-keeper, we would slowly walk 
 our horses home, and in the calm still of the night, with 
 no sound to break nature s harmony but the panting of 
 our tired dogs following after us with drooping heads and 
 tails and lolling tongues, we would listen to the warblings 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 207 
 
 of the finest of songsters the nightingales, which birds 
 are numerous over southern Germany. Their sweet 
 songs are heard in the woods after nightfall on every side. 
 
 Our ears would take in the strains until the beautiful 
 notes all died away over the great masses of green foli 
 age, and again on coming to where a vista had been cut 
 through the trees to open a view of the boat-house, stop 
 for a moment in the silence and listen to the rippling of 
 the distant river looking in the soft purple moonlight like 
 a glistening line winding along its way to at length min 
 gle with the clear waters of the old Rhine. 
 
 Occasionally the leading riders of the party would get 
 square in their faces the full benefit of a mass of cobwebs 
 swung across the driveway during our absence by a lot 
 of industrious spiders that, German like, had thoroughly 
 labored during our ride, and like their human teutonic 
 co-laborers had never considered whether their toil would 
 amount to a row of pins or not, but had worked, it 
 seemed, just for the pleasure of being able to show others 
 that they had not thrown their leisure away, but all the 
 time had " duechtig geshaft " (put in their level best). 
 "Well, Claus," a good old German mother often says to 
 her brawny son, patting him on the back as he sits with 
 head bowed in depression on his hands, " cheer up, 
 there is one comfort through it all, we have fallen be 
 hind a hundred dollars this year also in running the 
 farm, but you can still have the consolation that it was 
 not your fault, that you worked the whole year like a 
 horse." 
 
 Or the leading riders would have a cloud of startled 
 German * fledermause (flying mice bats) swirl around 
 them, and flap their clammy wings in their faces, until 
 at length getting near the end of the woods we could see 
 the old castle high up and far above us, looming upon 
 the heights in colossal proportions as a great, dark, 
 gloomy mass, its turrets, pinnacles and towers faintly 
 outlined against the sky, a light here and there about 
 the edifice shining from some of the windows but ac 
 centuating the deep, silent awe-inspiring gloom that 
 seemed to be part of its nature, and after our tired horses 
 
208 STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 
 
 would climb to the summit, their footsteps enlivened by 
 the thoughts of supper, we would also hasten the ex 
 changing of our riding-habits in order to be soon at our 
 own suppers, at which, among the rest of the food, a 
 plentiful supply of wurst, kartofFel salat, and other whole 
 some and delicious teutonic dishes were sure to be met 
 with, and all eaten along with the juice of grapes gathered 
 from the banks of the Rhine. 
 
 I one day sauntered into the large gallery that con 
 tained the life-size portraits in oil of the members of the 
 Vielbeer family from the baron s own likeness, painted 
 some fifteen years before, to those dating back into 
 ancient times. The gallery was a long, wide hall, situ 
 ated at one side of the upper part of the castle, and was 
 lighted from the roof ; the pictures were hung along the 
 sides of the walls in several rows, from the high ceilings 
 to near the floor, line after line of the family ancestors 
 and ancestresses, and with each is connected a longer 
 or shorter narrative of former events, some noted for their 
 heroic deeds, some for their beauty and the delightful- 
 ness of their amiable and charming personality, and 
 others famed for their intimate association with this or 
 that historical occurrence. Here was the painting of the 
 baron himself, looking just about as he had at the club 
 in Berlin ; on a nearer inspection the canvas showed that 
 it had been executed in 1872, just four years after I left 
 the Prussian capital, and about at the period of the 
 flush times connected with the restoration of the build 
 ing ; there was also one of him represented as a young 
 man in the neighborhood of twenty years of age, about 
 the time of his desperate attempt to abduct his peerless 
 inamorata, Gretchen, and which ended so lamentably for 
 him ; it was the same face as the baron then wore, only 
 the ravages of time had changed it ; the features and ex 
 pression were those of the now aged man, the same mild 
 blue eyes that could be so firm, yet gentle, the identical, 
 genial, open-hearted honest face ; one would have recog 
 nized it as Vielbeer in his youth among a thousand. 
 
 Here was also the painting of his great grandfather, 
 Commander Marverdt von Vielbeer, who disappeared 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 2OQ 
 
 that night during the terrific thunderstorm which shook 
 all southern Germany and made such havoc among the 
 black forest mountains ; he was drawn in the picturesque 
 costume of an officer of the army of Frederick the 
 Great. 
 
 Here also was the portrait of Baron Crusadus von Viel- 
 beer in his dress of the crusades, cap-a-pie in shining 
 metal, his three plumed helmet on his head and lance in 
 his gauntleted hand, his suit of mail being chain armor, 
 over which a skirted vest was worn, a large cross of golden 
 cloth being sewn on to the front of the vest, below the 
 neck . He it was who had the romantic ariel flight along 
 with the fowls and the devil from out the black depths of 
 the dreaded chasm. 
 
 High up hung the picture of Gustavus von Vielbeer, 
 the roistering young blade who helped the young archi 
 tect get the plans from the cloven hoof, and to whom the 
 city of Cologne is so much indebted for its beautiful 
 Cathedral ; he is depicted just as one would imagine him 
 to be, young, strong, a slight tinge of good cheer on his 
 nose and full cheeks, from high living, and a reckless 
 "who-may-care" look upon his set "no-insolence-taking" 
 countenance. 
 
 I stepped back from the likenesses and running my eye 
 about took a general sweeping look at the mugs of the 
 long lines of Vielbeers, which run for generations upon 
 generations back; the visages grew more savage and 
 vicious as one went back to remote ages along the ances 
 tral line, until when I got to the delineations of those 
 portrayed garbed in skins and armed with great, many- 
 spiked clubs, who had had it up and down with the early 
 invading Huns ; it seemed that the fierce looking cut of 
 their jibs alone were enough to scare off the Huns with 
 out any display of arms whatever. 
 
 Then I took up the antecedent line of the ladies of the 
 family ; here was the Baroness Marverdt von Vielbeer, 
 nee Princess Christina Marienchen Hedwig Wilhelmina 
 of Komwecht, the wife of the commander and the great 
 grandmother of the baron, a very beautiful young woman 
 indeed, and dressed in the Queen L,ouisa costume of a 
 century ago. 
 
210 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 The features of the ladies changed as I went down the 
 line to earlier ages, just as the men s did; after some 
 generations back, the women of the race grew less and 
 less lovely and seemed to have rather forsaken great 
 beauty for massiveness and strength, and as I got far 
 back beyond the Middle Ages the Vielbeer ladies nearly 
 all were heavy and powerfully built. 
 
 I stopped before the life-size painting of one whose 
 weighty arms and shoulders gave evidence of great 
 strength, and who looked a physical champion, and in 
 whose fair face no trace of amiability showed in the least; 
 on a nearer view of it I learned that this was Germania 
 Vielbeer, the fair oak of the black forest. I^ater on I 
 asked the baron about her, and he stated that she was 
 the bewitching daughter of a neighboring baron whom 
 his ancestor, the master of the house, had married in the 
 seventh century. Vielbeer told me that she had once de 
 tected the master of the castle red handed in the act of 
 throwing sheep s eyes at another fair damsel, and utterly 
 prostrated at the discovery had laid for him when he re 
 turned home that night, and that they had had a terrible 
 battla together in their lofty chamber in one of the towers; 
 such a frantic struggle had they that the noise alarmed 
 the entire building, and all the master s relatives armed 
 themselves with bludgeons and whatever they could lay 
 hands on, and gathered together at the outside of the 
 locked door from whence the fearful uproar of strife pro 
 ceeded and thundered loudly for admittance and to know 
 the cause of the great disturbing rumpus. 
 
 The clamorous tumult eventually quieted when the fair 
 Germania had finally overcome the master and wrapped 
 and wound him round about from neck to foot with a 
 lengthy rope, and then taking a great spike and a heavy 
 sledge-hammer she ascended a huge cask standing at the 
 side of the chamber and drove the iron into the wall, 
 deep between the great stones, high up toward the ceiling, 
 and then shouldering her lord she hung him by the en 
 circling ropes at the back of his neck upon the spike, de 
 scended, rolled away the cask to the other end of the 
 apartment, unlocked and opened the heavy door of the 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 211 
 
 room to the now furiously crying-for-admittance relatives, 
 who, no longer hearing the master s voice, were getting 
 seriously alarmed. The fair Germania suddenly and 
 without warning unbolted the door, which flying in un 
 expectedly from the outside-pressing force, spilled half a 
 dozen of those foremost in the pushing mass in a lump 
 upon the floor. Germania stood a few steps back from 
 the threshold, pointed dramatically to her lofty suspended 
 lord, and said, Da bleibt der hund die ganze nacht (there 
 sojourns the hound this entire night), planted her feet 
 firmly, and with a swing poising her sledge above and 
 back of her head, dared all his relations the whole 
 house of Vielbeers to step in and take him down. 
 
 "The tradition runs," said the baron, "that those of 
 the crowd who were the farthest behind were the most 
 vehement in urging the foremost ones on to the fray, and 
 that the extreme front ones put forth much strength in 
 shoving shrinkingly back upon the others. Rush 
 in quick and grab her, boys ! shouted those at the back. 
 I just wish I was in front, I know what I would do, 
 said one far in the rear. So do I, repeated another at 
 his side. I would down her mighty quick, " etc. 
 
 Finally, however, all together made a desperate, mad 
 rush inward, the whole excitement of an American dis 
 cussion on the silver question ensued in the next few mo 
 ments; there were shouts, groans, yells and dire impreca 
 tions for a spell, and then the silence of night reigned 
 supreme ; and on the smoke of battle clearing away it 
 was discovered that the fair Germania was the only one 
 whose perpendicular attitude remained unhorizontalized. 
 
 The baron took me to the upper floors of the tower and 
 showed me the room in which the fray occurred and the 
 enormous spike high up on the wall, it having been put 
 in so tightly that no force has since been able to get it 
 out again, and there it had remained to this day. The 
 sides of the walls also showed where pieces of stone 
 had been chipped off during the rash, headlong encounter, 
 fought in the unavailing attempt to rescue the master 
 from his uncomfortable position, "where he remained," 
 said Vielbeer, "until near morning, for his better half, 
 
212 STUDENT I,IFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 after turning out all the vanquished ones, extinguished 
 the light and calmly retired to her downy couch and 
 went to sleep, and only after the night had well departed 
 and her lord had promised many times over to never 
 again even look at the hat of any but his own gentle 
 darling one, that she recovered from the utter prostration 
 into which she had been thrown all along since his de 
 tection, relented, arose and forgivingly released him from 
 his suspended place of repose." 
 
 As I got still farther along down the ancient line of 
 the Vielbeer ladies, I came to one more picture that 
 caught my attention another of those charming dames 
 among the ancestresses of the Vielbeer family, who, like 
 the soft and winsome Germania, were noted for all of the 
 previously mentioned traits comprised within the mean 
 ing of "a delightful feminine personality." It was 
 the portrait of another massive woman, this time 
 clothed in the skins of wild animals, a club in her 
 hand, a Roman helmet upon her head, around which 
 was painted a halo. This, the baron informed me 
 later, was Teutonia Vielbeer, a very ancient young 
 daughter of the house, who, when the last Roman 
 invasion was made into Germany, and her barbaric peo 
 ple were giving way before the legions and fleeing, Teu 
 tonia headed the women, who, with clubs, met their run- 
 ning-away fathers, husbands, brothers and sons, and with 
 blows drove them back to the struggle, where, shamed 
 before their women folks, they had rallied their courage, 
 and putting forth renewed efforts were finally victorious, 
 overcame the Romans and utterly annihilated the legions, 
 almost destroying them to the last soldier ; and in con 
 sequence made all Rome howl twice in unison, "O give 
 us back our legions ! " which victory, caused by Teuto 
 nia s great leadership of the women, was the beginning of 
 the downfall of the proud " Mistress of the World," for 
 the wild skin-clothed nations took heart at the now 
 gleaned fact that the armies of the invaders were not in 
 vincible ; and appropriating the mailed suits and armor 
 of the defeated, and seizing their swords and spears all 
 arms so much superior to their own (that is, they 
 
STUDENT I,IFB IN GERMANY. 213 
 
 took the offensive weapons of their vanquished, under 
 sized enemy, to the last one, but of course could only 
 use the captured protective armor when the immense 
 thighed conquerors could get into them, which was the 
 case once in about each hundred suits) and following up 
 their successful conflict with the Romans, and pressing 
 closely on the heels of the remaining legions, one after 
 another of which the leaders at home withdrew from afar 
 to bring them back for the defense and protection of the 
 home city, it all ended in one conquest after another, and 
 finally in the downfall and plundering of the haughty Eter 
 nal City itself by the barbarians the warriors under 
 Alaric, the king of the Visigoths, in the first few years 
 of the fifth century. 
 
 Here was also the painting famed as a great work of 
 art all over Europe, of the elopement of Thermusia Viel- 
 beer. She was called in her day " The Rose of the 
 Castle," and was courted by the great nobility of the 
 land from far and near ; and her parents had set their 
 hearts upon her marrying a duke at the very least, but 
 she had given her affections to a young nobleman of the 
 vicinity who had a lovely, soft, silken mustache and dark 
 curly hair, and who had told her that he loved her dearly. 
 He was forbidden the castle, but came down the Rhine 
 under the shadows of night, in a skiff, accompanied by 
 two companions, an old man and a young boy ; had left 
 them in the boat moored to the bank at the river side, and 
 had scaled the heights to the base of the edifice, and with 
 unerring aim had shot an arrow with a long twine at 
 tached right into her window, which twine she had 
 drawn in until a stronger one came up at its end, and on 
 getting this last into her chamber, a ladder of rope ap 
 peared which she and her maid pulled into her room and 
 fastened, and then followed by her faithful girl had 
 courageously descended to the arms of her lover, who 
 carried her down the precipitous cliff into the boat. 
 
 The painting shows the old castle way up on the 
 heights in the background ; in the front is the river with 
 the skiff at the bank, and standing up near the boat s rud 
 der, with fingers on the end of the tiller, is the old, long 
 
214 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 grey bearded man, who is looking at the fleeing ones with 
 an expression as of deprecating the rashness of youth. 
 Sitting near the prow and at his oars, steadying the boat, is 
 the boy whose face is upturned in open-mouthed wonder, 
 and whose features are delineative of being perfectly lost 
 in admiration of the vision of loveliness which young 
 curly hair, who is just stepping into the boat, bears in 
 his arms ; the gallant is looking longingly into the eyes of 
 his sweetheart who is adoringly returning his gaze ; he 
 has one foot on the seat-board of the boat, the other still 
 on the bank he is just quitting ; as he carries her she has 
 one partly bared arm thrown over adown his shoulder, 
 the other resting lovingly and trustfully around his neck; 
 a few paces back of them and still some distance up the 
 cliff, the rocks and crags of which are so naturally repre 
 sented, is her following maid, with head half turned from 
 looking back to see if any signs of the discovery of the 
 elopement were yet apparent at the castle, against the wall 
 of which the rope ladder can be faintly seen hanging 
 from the window by which the two maidens had taken 
 flight. The low descending moon is just shedding its last 
 soft rays over the romantic scene and looks as though re 
 luctantly disappearing, as if it were unwilling to sink its 
 face beneath the surface of the earth while the rose of the 
 castle remained above it. 
 
 I was shown the window from which she escaped and 
 was impressed at the sight, by the thought of the deep 
 affection she must have had for her lover to risk the frail 
 ladder, and also the perilous heights reaching to the river. 
 It also shows the loyalty of her faithful maid in making 
 the same venture to accompany her mistress. The paint 
 ing is renowned, not only from the fine execution of the 
 work, but also from the great insight the artist displayed 
 of human nature in portraying what a smart youth the 
 dark haired lover was, as he had taken along as his two 
 helpers an old man in whom all thoughts of love was 
 long something in the past, and as his other assistant a 
 boy of an age when all women seem to him to be hal 
 lowed angels ; had young curly hair have selected two 
 stout companions of his own years to help him kidnap a 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 215 
 
 lovely being, they might have been bewitched clear out 
 of their senses by her overpowering beauty on his arrival 
 with her at the boat, and there might have been an im 
 mediate three handed fight for the possession of her and 
 to decide which one of the three handsome young fellows 
 should continue the elopement with her ; the ascending 
 rocky cliff, the castle, river and the figures of life size are 
 all splendidly drawn, and so naturally colored that one 
 almost expects to see the participants in the affair move, 
 so truly does the scene seem to be enacted in reality be 
 fore you. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE ball was given one night in the late summer, by 
 the young ladies of the family, and the dancing took 
 place in the large banquet hall. All the surrounding 
 landed families took part in it, and lots of Vielbeer s old 
 friends from Berlin. Felderstein, now Graf, of course 
 came down ; also Hecht arid Brun, his two former antago 
 nists, all now meeting together in the best of comrade 
 ship, for the necessity of mutual protection had united 
 them all the declaration of war against Germany in 
 1870, and the threatened invasion of the fatherland ; at 
 the oncoming of which the clubs had disbanded and all 
 had entered the ranks of the army in patriotic defense 
 of their country ; had endearingly joined them every one 
 into a common brotherhood. These had come along with 
 a lot of their officer friends and lady companions. 
 
 Hecht s face showed plainly the scar where Felder- 
 stein s rapier had made such a startling cut, but it did 
 not disfigure him in the least ; in fact it gave him some 
 thing of an intense look, an appearance of firmness and 
 mystery that his wife remarked was such a source of de 
 light and entrancement to the ladies that she had to ac 
 company him everywhere to shoo them off. Brun 
 picked up Schnurkelyah and the little dachshund stared 
 knowingly at the end of his well healed nose, as if he 
 recognized it as having been part of his own dogship s 
 little anatomy twenty years ago. 
 
 We spent many long hours together, we old former 
 students, in calling to mind the occurrences of past days, 
 and especially in reminiscences of our host s former 
 wonderful achievements, pacing back and forth along the 
 ridge of the precipitous cliff, arm in arm, smoking our 
 cigars and watching the boats going and coming on the 
 Rhine ; or at times we sat on the broad stone steps lead 
 ing up to the front arched area way and listened to Viel- 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 217 
 
 beer, who, sitting in his old comfortable cushioned chair, 
 pointed out objects of interest about the surrounding 
 country and related historical events connected or asso 
 ciated with them. 
 
 The banquet room, which must have been the scene of 
 many merry parties and roistering celebrations in days 
 gone by, was floored in wide stone flags which had been 
 covered at the time the Baron restored the castle, as he 
 had all the floors, excepting the wide lower hall, with in 
 laid wood- work. The walking surface of the great lower 
 hall Vielbeer had left, showing its immense flag stones 
 or slabs as in the Middle Ages. 
 
 The dancing hall floor had been covered with a large 
 and pretty pattern of this inlaid wood- work, and the 
 walls were decorated by a series of pictures and paintings 
 framed in a rare and costly manner ; on one of the sides 
 of the walls, and just above the center of it, two stag 
 heads were fixed about six feet apart, and between them, 
 about four feet higher, hung Vielbeer s old silver-mounted 
 drinking horn that he had always worn hanging from his 
 left shoulder, as his badge of office in umpiring a duel or 
 deciding a contest when appealed to by some of his club 
 members who had got their opinions mixed in an athletic 
 competition or in a game of some sort. On again seeing 
 the horn for the first time, Vielbeer s appearance, as he 
 had so often looked twenty years before at the club 
 standing with the horn hanging at his left side, puffing 
 slowly away at his pipe, deeply weighing the case of each 
 side, both of which had been presented to him with 
 much vigor, and little Schnurkelyah wisely blinking, 
 standing between his feet came as vividly to my mind as 
 though seen but the day before. 
 
 The ball scene was a vision to remember. From the 
 ceiling were suspended eight chandeliers of curious and 
 beautiful construction, containing lighted candles which 
 shed their soft refulgent rays over the assembled happy 
 crowd. Candles were still the correct mode at that time, 
 ere electricity had been generally introduced into the 
 households. In Germany the candles do not drip. One can 
 be placed upon a silver quarter and be allowed to burn 
 
218 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY, 
 
 down to its last flicker, leaving but a fourth inch long 
 char of wick on the quarter dollar and not a drop of tal 
 low will be found to have run over the piece of money. 
 One never sees a drop descending the sides of the candles 
 in Germany. At the manufactories when a stock is 
 made it is tested, and if it does so overflow the candle 
 shaft while burning, the whole lot is immediately turned 
 back into the great caldrons and remelted, something it 
 has lacked is added and the stock molded over again. 
 They are made in all colors and convenient sizes, and often 
 in fanciful shapes, and besides presenting in their places 
 on the chandeliers a magnificent effect of tastefully ar 
 ranged colors, also greatly enhance the ladies beauty by 
 their mellow rays, in contrast to the effects of other lights 
 which render powder, paint, wrinkles and sallow necks 
 painfully apparent. 
 
 lyarge vases of wax flowers, and shell-work in the 
 shape of pedestals, crosses, and so on, under glass covers, 
 stood on polished top stands about the sides of the 
 hall; lovely mirrors, broad and tall, and inclosed in 
 carved frames reflected the enchanting ball scenes from 
 all parts of the room ; officers in all the charm of their 
 showy uniforms, high-heeled boots, clanking swords, and 
 stiffly- waxed mustaches, supporting on their gallant arms 
 ladies gowned in masses of flouncing and costly material, 
 rustling in silks and glittering with jewels, were soon 
 whirling over the floor in step to the low strains of sweet 
 music, in the heavenly enthrallment of the Blue Danube 
 waltz ; the low, soft murmuring voices of the women, 
 the fairy-like whisk over the smooth floor of satin slip 
 pers, the resplendent chandeliers, the radiant young faces, 
 the brilliant eyes, the fascinating white gauzy dresses of 
 the young ladies, the shining uniforms and swords of the 
 young officers, and the entrancing sound of music the 
 music of poetic, legendery Germany, of the land of sen 
 timent and song issuing from the artificial shrub 
 thicket-hidden orchestra, gave the scene a resemblance to 
 what one in childhood imagines the innermost regions of 
 fairy land to be like, and awakens the thought of what 
 must have been the beauty of those ancient pleasure 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 2 19 
 
 gatherings in the same chamber, when gaudy colored 
 velvets and silks were the costumes of the cavaliers of the 
 time. 
 
 The flames from the high chandeliers shed a flattering 
 light over all, and were reflected back from the mirrors 
 in thousands of beautiful blazes of light ; and the white 
 flounce-attired women in the seventh heaven of bliss on 
 the arms of meritorious sporters of brass buttons, float 
 ing about in the dizzy mazes of the dance, looked like fairy 
 queens tripping the light fantastic toe with their brother 
 magicians the gnomes and kobalds of the famous black 
 forest mountains amongst millions of dazzling stars 
 twinkling about their regions of wonderland. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A PARTY of us went from the castle a few days later 
 and took passage on one of the excursion or sight 
 seeing boats, so many of which ply upon the Rhine for 
 the benefit of tourists. 
 
 We, comprising most of the younger members of the 
 family and the remaining visitors who had come to the 
 ball, and whom the young hosts and hostesses were go 
 ing to accompany as far down the river as the city of 
 Cologne, where they were to say farewell, and the guests 
 to take their departure for their homes in northern Ger 
 many. The boat was fairly well filled with tourists, 
 mostly in parties, and many nationalities were repre 
 sented. A party of Spanish were among the passengers, 
 they having several young ladies along, the latter on a 
 vacation tour from their studies at a pension in Hanover. 
 The magically brilliant-eyed young women of the land 
 of the Abencerrage and the Alhambra, paraded the deck 
 most of the evening, and seemed to have the prettiest 
 formed ankles and the smallest feet that walk. At night 
 sitting out upon the deck under the moon s pale beams 
 they sang together in their native language, and also in 
 English and German. Among the English songs they 
 favored us with, one began thus : 
 
 " Someone is coming when the dewdrops fall, 
 He will be welcome the first of all." 
 
 And I thought that I had seldom heard anything so 
 exquisitely lovely as their dulcet tones floated softly out 
 over the rippling water into the darkness of night, their 
 clear silvery voices rounding and mellowing each word 
 into something of a dreamy southern modulation. Only 
 one who has been in the situation where for years even 
 the tongues have been a stranger, can realize the pleasure, 
 and how grateful to one s ears it is, of hearing an Amer 
 ican song again. It is like the worn and thirsty traveler 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 221 
 
 among the burning sands of the desert sighting an oasis, 
 and having wafted to his listening ears the welcome sound 
 of a flowing brooklet. 
 
 We steamed down the current to the city of Cologne, 
 now one of the most important commercial places in 
 Germany, situated on the western bank of the romantic 
 stream. Coming to it by way of the river the city with 
 its numerous spires and towers presents a highly charm 
 ing appearance. Across the Rhine, which in places still 
 show traces of Roman masonry, it has a bridge of boats, 
 and a grand one of iron which connect it with the 
 suburbs on the opposite bank. 
 
 Our boat soon landed, and all visited the beautiful 
 cathedral, the most magnificent Gothic edifice in the 
 world, which justly excites the admiration of every be 
 holder, and for which the city is far more famed than for 
 its renowned perfume, Kolnisches wasser (cologne 
 water). 
 
 On the outcoming of the new translation of the Bible, 
 issued in the early eighties, the bibliologists having dis 
 owned the Evil One, and eliminated the infernal regions 
 entirely, and therefor substituted sheol, the city of Co 
 logne took heart, threw off the superstitious traditions that 
 had hung around it for a thousand years, and appealed 
 to the country, to the German public, for aid to com 
 plete the structure, on the grounds that the devil now 
 being entirely "out of it" his vow no longer held good. 
 All Germany subscribed heavily, the aged Emperor, 
 William I, heading the list of those making large dona 
 tions, and being closely followed by the nobility and the 
 wealthy men of the land, and adding thereto the sums 
 raised in all the great cities, the towns and villages, the 
 city of Cologne itself made up the remainder needed, 
 and thus managed to at length, after the lapse of over 
 six centuries, complete the building, finally succeeded in 
 rearing up into the skies the last and topmost third of the 
 two front cloud-piercing towers, and in 1882 the structure 
 stood for the first time finished, amid a great celebration 
 in the old city, in which the venerable emperor and the 
 high officials of the fatherland took part. 
 
 15 
 
222 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 How far extending the new version of the Bible has 
 been in its effects one can see from this single illustration, 
 from this one portrayed instance. The building stands 
 on an eminence sixty feet above the Rhine, and is situ 
 ated nearly in the center of the city, and not a great ways 
 from the river. Its cost was five million dollars. The 
 largest of the bells in the tower was cast with the metal 
 of captured guns, and weighs twenty-five tons, and re 
 quires the united exertion of thirty persons to send its 
 peals out over the surrounding land. We entered the 
 cathedral at a time when services were going on, and the 
 long-gowned and white-surpliced clergy and boys to the 
 number of about one hundred were standing in front of 
 the altar facing the congregation, and singing in accom 
 paniment to the great, sweet-toned organ ; the strains of 
 the chanting and of the music commingled would ascend 
 aloft to the dome-like roof of the building, so far up as to 
 be almost lost to view in the dim above ; the beautiful 
 and harmonious tones would rise on high overhead 
 toward the interior of the roof and seem to wind about 
 the arches, cling around the chaptrels, the tops of the pil 
 lars and columns and die slowly away to complete silence 
 in the distance. The monks all had light wooden canes, 
 about four feet in length, with which they beat time in 
 the air as they chanted to enable the boy part of the 
 choir to keep in tune, and one finally brought his stick 
 down with a whack on top of the head of a youthful 
 warbler who was cutting up some devilment along with his 
 singing, just as a section of the song was melting gradu 
 ally into quietude, so hard that the sound it made on the 
 young, hollow pate, was loud enough to be heard through 
 out the whole church. Have boys either ever changed 
 a jot under any circumstances, conditions or climes since 
 the coming of mankind on the earth ? 
 
 There are two winding stone stairways leading up to the 
 top of both towers which are five hundred and twelve 
 feet in height, and are the loftiest church towers in 
 Europe, and after about an hour s hard work at climbing, 
 on reaching the end of them, one has a view that is un 
 surpassed. The cathedral, in the midst of the houses of 
 
STUDENT WFB IN GERMANY. 223 
 
 the town, looks like an immense hen surrounded by in 
 numerable little chickens. The course of the Rhine can 
 be followed with the eye both ways for many miles ; the 
 large blocks of buildings, far below us, seemed diminished 
 by distance to children s toy-houses. Interesting speci 
 mens of architecture of the twelfth and thirteenth centu 
 ries are to be seen in many of the old streets. The moving 
 inhabitants in the thoroughfares were mere specks ; the 
 parks and suburbs of the city, with their aligning long rows 
 of trees, appearing like miniature play-gardens, laid out for 
 children to romp about in, while beyond was the rolling 
 country, beautiful hills and valleys, and far off, lying like 
 a low haze along the horizon, were the mountains, the in 
 tervening land dotted with innumerable small patches of 
 planted trees, and covered with the cultivated growths of 
 the soil. 
 
 The cathedral is entirely of stone, and very solidly 
 built. Of course, having stood all these centuries one can 
 not expect to see anything else ; it looks as well and 
 strong now, however, as though it had been but lately 
 erected, and after the passing of a second thousand years a 
 visitor will see no change for the worse in the appearance 
 of the edifice. 
 
 From here from the city of Cologne the last of the 
 visitors of the Vielbeer family flitted away to their own 
 homes, and the host s folks and I at length found our 
 selves alone. On getting back to the castle some days 
 later, and after all the guests but myself had flown, I put 
 the whole of my attention and leisure, strongly to play 
 in endeavoring to locate the ancient archives and glean 
 therefrom some of the great events they were reported to 
 chronicle, I searched faithfully through all the deep 
 dungeon-like cellars, which were so low beneath the 
 ground and so far from the light of day that winter and 
 summer the temperature never changes. I ran on to tiers 
 on ties of shelves built all about the sides of the vaults 
 against the heavy stone walls, piled high with bottles of 
 wine, mellowing for use in the years to come. Some 
 kinds of the Rhine vintages must be kept in the upper 
 cellars to season properly, others in the deep lower ones, 
 
224 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 farther from the outer air, while special vintages must 
 ripen against the walls on the sunny side of the cellar ; 
 other kinds get their bouquet from the shady corners of 
 the opposite end of the vaulted underground apart 
 ments, etc. 
 
 In order to feel certain that I had overlooked nothing 
 in my hunt for the valuable old records, and also to be 
 conscious of the fact that I had German-like so thoroughly 
 labored in my search as to leave nothing within reason 
 undone, every now and then I opened a bottle to see if 
 the archives might not, by some of the many mysterious, 
 strange and unexplainable ancient goings-on about the 
 castle, have gotten perchance into a wine bottle, and not 
 finding them in it naturally had to then drain the con 
 tents to save it from spoiling. 
 
 However, after my patient look through the castle s cel 
 lars, and failing to find even a trace of them there, I ex 
 plored the old musty vaults of the upper part of the 
 building with the success of running across, in one out-of- 
 the-way chamber, a great pile of old parchment-leaved 
 books made of glazed goat- or sheep-skin. In some 
 places where holes had existed in the pages, the sheets 
 had been neatly repaired by another piece sewn into the 
 place by skin thread and the restored part showed evi 
 dences of having had heavy pressure applied to smoothen 
 it down to the level of the rest of the leaf before having 
 been written upon ; the threads were spread so flat upon 
 the surfaces of the pages that they looked like streaks of 
 paint. After viewing quite a number of the vast 
 amounts of them, and so far succeeding in deciphering 
 some as to feel certain that the ancient German characters 
 or language of writing was started, by copying for let 
 ters the impressions left by a couple of dozen cats dipping 
 their toes in ink and dancing the olivette farandole all 
 over open pages, I concluded to say nothing to Vielbeer 
 about my coming upon the archives with their hiero- 
 glyphic-like formed letters, but resolved to ask him for 
 an account of the history of his ancient ancestor in 
 conjunction with that of Monk Monastus, both of whom 
 lived in the fourth century. I being pretty dubious 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 225 
 
 but what his relation of the occurrences would not take 
 near the length of time seemingly necessary to its pro- 
 curance by digging it out of the records. 
 
 The archives will be a feast to some antiquarian in 
 future years for they are almost as well preserved as on 
 the day each one was completed. They are written in 
 ancient German and in Latin, on animal-skin leaves pol 
 ished as smoothly as our present glazed writing paper. 
 The leaves were sewn together in books of about two 
 hundred pages, and were in two sizes, one square, about 
 twelve inches each way, and the larger one twelve inches 
 by eighteen and more in the shape of the books of our 
 day. On the cover of each, in front on the outside, was 
 painted a picture something representative of the 
 work s contents ; and on the cover s back was usually a 
 decorative design or ornamental device of some curious 
 and antique pattern, also painted. The paint was as 
 fresh and true to its colors as ever, not even the green 
 had faded, the fading of which color among art works, 
 like paintings, etc., has caused such distressing effects 
 upon masterpieces of later ages, and the painting looked 
 as though but lately executed, and the accumulated dust 
 of a few centuries suddenly poured over the volumes. In 
 side all was writing in inks that also held their own col 
 ors as well as the outside painting better, if anything, 
 as the inside leaves were protected. The beginning of 
 each chapter is headed with a word, the first letter of 
 which is made in very large size and in the form of an 
 emblematic or decorative pattern just the same as we 
 sometimes do today in our books, but it must have taken 
 the writer of old half a week to finish each big letter, to 
 trace out all the intricate curlings and circles in several 
 different colored inks ; and one must bear in mind that a 
 false stroke or an accidental slip of his quill would have 
 spoiled the entire leaf and he would have to take a fresh 
 one and commence anew. The letters of the archives 
 are well formed and are of splendid workmanship, and 
 show that skilled hands had labored at them and that ex 
 treme care had been taken in their formation. 
 
 At the time these pages were covered with writing the 
 
226 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 great masses of the people were densely ignorant, writing 
 and reading unknown among them, and such things as 
 books and written messages that conveyed the thoughts 
 of one learned person to another were held in great 
 superstitious awe. The monks in those times had all the 
 learning themselves and did all this work in their stone 
 cells and behind their cloistered walls. Sheltered in soli 
 tude and silence they often spent their lives in writing 
 copies of the testaments and histories of the events of the 
 times. Had they not done so we would be poor, indeed, in 
 knowledge of ancient occurrences. A very good part of 
 a life time would be taken up in copying the Bible, and 
 consequently books were very rare, and were valuable, 
 highly cherished and well taken care of. 
 
 How many monks have spent years upon years in 
 quiet behind their gloomy walled monasteries writing 
 these old works, found now and then in hidden places on 
 tearing down the remains of old chapels, houses of 
 worship, etc., one with good imaginative powers can 
 think out for himself. 
 
 Reverently I handled this literature of antiquity 
 these old musty records some of them almost concealed 
 in the impalpable fine dust that had been collecting 
 upon them for years. In silence I viewed the leaves 
 speaking of long gone ages the handiwork of men 
 whose bones have been dust and whose very names have 
 been forgotten for from three to fifteen hundred years. 
 One feels in the presence of these skin pages as though 
 time had rolled backward, and could easily fancy himself 
 invested with the monkish gown and sandals of over a 
 thousand years ago, reading the freshly written work of 
 a brother monk just handed in for one s perusal and for 
 an opinion on how truly he had depicted, as a record for 
 the future, the recent happenings of the time, worthy or 
 of sufficient importance, and of such interest, or so 
 greatly far-reaching in their results, or considered deserv 
 ing enough to be handed down to coming generations. 
 
 I at length reluctantly replaced the ancient writings 
 after looking at the pictures, the illustrations of the 
 customs, the habits, the attire, the superstitions, the wars, 
 
STUDKNT UFE IN GERMANY. 227 
 
 the tournaments, the habitable structures and the ruling 
 forces of early years ; and that same evening, on again 
 sitting alone with Vielbeer before the large stone and 
 grated fire-place in his room within the tower, for the 
 early fall nights were chilly, and, taking up a little 
 "hasen " (hare) furred robe and again lifting sleepy -eyed 
 Schnurkelyah into my lap, as I had done so often at the 
 club twenty long years before, I asked the baron for his 
 promised account of the monk and his ancient ancestor. 
 
 Vielbeer slowly filled his old familiar pipe, and in a 
 state of deep retrospective thoughtfulness, blew the smoke 
 for some little time in rings above him, and puppy 
 Schnurkelyah that used to be, hoary Schnurkelyah then, 
 with such a learned expression upon his countenance 
 that one would be justified in thinking that he had 
 promulgated a new theory upon the internal calculus, 
 wisely rolled his eyeballs up to the face of his old master 
 and blinked the sleepy lids as if he knew as well what was 
 to follow as he did in the far past days of the Prussian 
 Eagle when we two, his master and I, were attendants at 
 the University, and all three of us members of the famous 
 club. Twenty years at that moment seemed to roll around 
 again, and I saw revolve before my mental eyes in a flash 
 as though it all had happened but the day before, 
 the occurrences of two full decades, from Schnurkelyah s 
 disastrous exploit at the duel to that present moment 
 when he was again cuddling down upon my lap, his head 
 on one paw and his face in adorable attentiveness on his 
 venerable master s every motion. 
 
 " It was the year three hundred, and I forget what just 
 at this augenblick " (eye-wink), began the baron, "but 
 I know that it was in the Vierte yahrhundert (fourth 
 century) that a distressing war broke out in the Rhine 
 countries of Germany. A fierce renunciation took place 
 against the authority of the chieftain of the southern 
 provinces. The uprising was put down at length, how 
 ever, but only after such a desperate resistance on the 
 part of the insurrectionists that the conquering chieftain 
 swore a great oath that he would put to death every man, 
 woman and child every last one of them except the 
 
228 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 burgemeister, the priest, and a half score of the most 
 prominent officials and citizens, whom he would allow to 
 remain unmolested to suffer the pangs of remorse for the 
 fate their exasperating actions had drawn upon their inno 
 cent families and the other inhabitants ; that outside of 
 these he would leave none spared of all the dwellers of 
 the then small dorf (village) of Cologne, situated on the 
 western bank of the Rhine, and from which place so 
 much assistance was lent to the rebels and which had 
 been the means of conveying, by reason of its important 
 position upon a great navigable watercourse, so many 
 supplies to the warriors of the side they had joined that 
 it was thus specially designated and selected by the con 
 queror to feel the full effects of his anger. 
 
 "Now at that time my ancient ancestor, Centavus 
 Vielbeer, was the burgemeister " (burgomaster) or 
 governor of the village, and had been one of the first 
 among the chief magistrates of the rebelling towns to 
 march out at the head of a lot of sturdy followers to the 
 scene of the conflict in defense of what he thought was 
 right, and had, of course, returned to the village after 
 the defeat, with his now but a handful of war-worn and 
 grizzled warriors, most of them suffering from deep and 
 yet unhealed wounds. But he was a veteran to the full, 
 was the burgomaster, and as soon as the first inkling of 
 the fate in store for his native place reached his ears, he 
 at once made earnest preparations to defend the dorf, 
 threw up embankments, and had great trees felled and 
 rolled about in lines around the village, and was getting 
 in good shape for a stubborn defense and a desperate re 
 sistance that all were unanimous in their determination 
 to make. 
 
 " * What! my ancestor would say to the toiling inhab 
 itants, as the great log-defensive fortifications grew thicker 
 and higher, What ! I surrender calmly, and hand over 
 our citizens, our women-folk and children to slaughter, 
 while I and my men have a drop of blood left to battle 
 with ? I, the descendant of the great chieftain, Unus 
 Vielbeer, who in the first century made four journeys to 
 Rome to engage in the gladitorial fights, and in the great 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 229 
 
 contests on the grand opening, in the year eighty-one, of 
 the just completed Coliseum there, at each time he was 
 pitted in mortal affray against numbers, cleaned out the 
 whole amphitheater, and who became the guest of all the 
 Roman emperors from Vespasian, who invited him down 
 to take part in the great demonstration made on laying 
 the foundation-stone of the Coliseum in the seventy- second 
 year, to the successor of the great Titus, under whom the 
 exhibitions reached such a high stage. Yes, indeed, and 
 who was time and again the guest of the emperors, and 
 of all the nobility of Italy, and who was only prevented 
 from going back a fifth time by the fact that he was a 
 very prudent man, and because, on his fourth departure 
 from the great Roman capital he had carried away with 
 him as his bride the Princess Clotilia, the beautiful young 
 daughter of a brother of the then emperor, along with 
 sundry gold and jeweled candelabra, goblets, flagons, 
 and other vessels of valuable metals that he had managed 
 to lay hands on, and which he had deftly and snugly 
 placed in a good strong sack, thinking probably the 
 practical western thought, that as they had so many, and 
 he had none, he would divide the things up a little so 
 that both would have some, and feeling also pretty cer 
 tain that they would come in handy in setting up house 
 keeping on his arrival home with his lovely and youthful 
 bride, who had fallen so desperately in love with him, 
 had become so infatuated on account of his great prow 
 ess and exploits, that she was willing to elope from her 
 home and from her city, the center of power, civilization, 
 culture and refinement of the age, to spend her life with 
 him as chieftainess of all the German barbarians who 
 lived south of the Schwarzwalder, and by whom she be 
 came to be so much loved. Never shall a descendant of 
 such a gladiator, to say nothing of the daughter of 
 the Caesars, even entertain the thought of such a thing ! 
 Pile this log a little higher, you heavy feet ! I^end a 
 hand here, some of you fellows, and let s give this 
 tree trunk another boost! that s it, altogether, now ! 
 etc., etc. 
 
 41 Thus spoke my ancestor Centavus, the burgo- 
 
230 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 master of Cologne, while directing and assisting his 
 men in building the defenses, and the troop of on 
 coming minions who were to do the base work of ven 
 geance of their lord would have met a warm reception 
 indeed on their arrival, as all was soon staunchly 
 fixed for a big fertilization of the German soil surround 
 ing the village, with the three phosphates of ammonia, 
 magnesia and lime, as well as a couple of oxides and 
 several other substances proceeding from the decomposi 
 tion of bones, and the vile minions would have furnished 
 the osseous material, when monk Monastus, the spirit 
 ual adviser, just returning from a distant mission of 
 mercy, cool-headed and strongly intellectual, knowing 
 the futility of resistance as but more deeply exasperating 
 the conqueror and making the final slaughter of the 
 women and children certain, when, by submitting to be 
 taken without a blow might at least speak well enough 
 with the swearer of vengeance to eventually cause him to 
 spare the weaker sex and the younglings, at last so far 
 prevailed upon my ancestor, the fiery burgomaster, to 
 accompany him on a mission to the forty saints to plead 
 with them to intercede for the village with the conqueror, 
 and in some manner induce him to forego his terrible 
 threat. 
 
 1 The saints succeeded so well that the chieftain sent, 
 along with a guarantee of their safe return to the village, 
 an order for the monk and the burgomaster, demanding 
 their presence at his court, and on their arrival before 
 him asked what they proposed to, in recompense, should 
 he consider to overlook the misdoings of their dorf, and 
 their kinsmen. Many plans were put forth and offers 
 made by Monastus, but all were scornfully refused. 
 Finally the long-headed and observant monk noticing 
 that the chieftain s wife, who sat beside him, was not so 
 young as she used to be, by any means, but that she was 
 striving by every method possible to show to the world 
 that she was, craftily working into use his great insight 
 into, and knowledge of, human nature, responded that 
 they both, the burgomaster and himself, would journey 
 into the far East, a land wrapped up in the vast unknown , 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 231 
 
 in search of something for each, the chieftain and his 
 wife, and bring back to them a present that should be 
 certain to please them for the lady some rare and costty 
 bauble, or decoration, perhaps, the wearing of which 
 would but enhance, if such could be possible, her many 
 charms and peerless beauty ; and for the chieftain some 
 weapon may be, some implement of war that would be, 
 on presentation to him, as an offering, in allusion to his 
 great military skill and knowledge. 
 
 * The monk was well worthy to have lived at a much 
 later day of the earth s existence, however, so well poured 
 he sweetness into the willing ears of the two occupants 
 of the seat of power that each was but too eager to urge 
 the consent of the other, and the two from Cologne were 
 about to withdraw after gaining the consent of the chief 
 tain to delay the accomplishment of the threat until their 
 return. 
 
 " But restrict the time, spoke the spouse, quickly, to 
 her lord; they may remain away for years, and (emitting 
 a barely perceptible sigh) time is ever passing. 
 
 " True, answered her lord, and it is well that thou 
 mentionest it to me, else they might have stayed away 
 altogether and we be holden to our word of tarrying 
 vengeance until they return, which may be never. No 
 laggard in mind is this same monk, I now discover ; no 
 muddle-brain is he, and well thou speakest. I will grant 
 a trace of years, thrice twelve months from this day; if 
 the contract is not fulfilled, thrice over vengeance will I 
 take in recompense for the delay. 
 
 "With that he arose and dismissed the monk, my 
 ancestor, his state advisers and the great assembly that 
 had congregated to hear the conference. lyight in heart, 
 indeed, did the two return to their village, to their kin- 
 folk and their fellow-men, the monk in elevated spirits, 
 because he knew humanity s frail hold on life ; the chief 
 tain might not live to wreak his will, and he also, held 
 well in mind the vengeance-allaying influence of time. 
 Burgomaster Vielbeer in happy mood, because he had, 
 while on their long journey together to and from the seat 
 of power, as well as during the discourse that ensued on 
 
232 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 their arrival there, gained such an insight into his com 
 panion s capabilities that he felt confident, long ere thrice 
 twelve months should roll away, that the monk would 
 certainly euchre some great somebody out of some great 
 something, and he rested his part of the cause upon, 
 figuratively speaking, his companion s broad and respected 
 shoulders. 
 
 * So the two men now made high preparations for the 
 journey into the far East in pursuit of the wherewith to 
 fulfill the contract, and had many pairs of serviceable san 
 dals made, and good, thick, warm-lined clothing prepared, 
 of well- tanned, sewn animal skins. Vielbeer stood by 
 the village smith and directed the welding of a good, 
 stout blade, which the maker used so much skill upon 
 that after it was finished the burgomaster loudly spoke 
 its praise. Monastus selected the articles which he 
 thought most appropriate and necessary to take along, 
 and early one bright morning, with a bag heavy with 
 gold, which the monk took charge of and which he wore 
 well concealed from view at his belt beneath his gown, 
 after taking farewell of all, and with many tearful wishes 
 of good speed, and prayers for their welfare and safe re 
 turn from the inhabitants, the two pilgrims shouldered 
 their packs, turned their faces toward the rising sun and 
 soon disappeared from view over the wooded hills and 
 beyond the limits of their native territory, while yet the 
 mournful a^rid sad good-bys shouted after them by the 
 villagers, as long as the two were within their sight, were 
 cognizant to their sense of hearing. 
 
 "They followed the bank of the Rhine to near the 
 river s origin in the upper mountains of the Swiss can ton 
 of the Orisons, and there leaving this guide for their 
 footsteps, and widely circuiting south of the Brege and 
 Brigach streams which arise within the trackless depths 
 of the black forest mountains, traveled through the val 
 leys and in the paths which led over the peaks of the 
 Tyrol, until they reached the source of the Ober Inn, the 
 third or most southern one, which with the two above- 
 mentioned are the three long tributaries forming the 
 headwaters of the Danube, and at this locality purchas- 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 233 
 
 ing a boat, laid in it their packs and went down the swift 
 current of this ramification to where it flowed into and 
 mingled with the waters of the beautiful blue stream 
 along the course of which they floated to the Black Sea, 
 and there securing passage on a small sailing vessel were 
 finally landed upon the northern shores of Asiatic Tur 
 key, from whence they journeyed to the capital, the 
 monk desirous of an interview with the ruler, in hopes of 
 making a barter for something rare and thus accomplish 
 the object of their mission. 
 
 "They eventually arrived at their destination, and after 
 a few days spent in rest and recuperation from the effects 
 of their long and wearisome journey for they had been 
 just fourteen months upon the way and after furbish 
 ing up their sword, buckles and buttons so as to present 
 the most favorable appearance possible, they prepared to 
 seek an interview with the Sultan, and having sent word 
 to the Grand Vizier that they were two pilgrims and had 
 journeyed hither on a mission from a far Western land, 
 soon found themselves admitted within the palace. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " ]\|OW, just twelve years before monk Monastus and 
 I N Burgomaster Centavus Vielbeer from the distant 
 West had arrived at the palace of the Turkish ruler, there 
 had appeared out of the mysterious East, from far India, 
 away beyond Afghanistan, and coming through Persia, 
 and down over the Zagros mountains into Asiatic Tur 
 key, an aged man, his back bent nearly double beneath 
 a burden which he carried, and who was supporting his 
 frame with a staff as he plodded slowly and wearily 
 along. His hair and beard were both snowy white, his 
 hair long and falling in thick masses about his shoulders ; 
 his beard, which he kept confined by the girdle about his 
 waist would, if allowed its free sway, have dragged upon 
 the ground ; his outer covering was a single garment a 
 heavy gown that reached from neck to heels, through 
 two apertures in the shoulders of which protruded his 
 long, bony arms clothed in the sleeves of what might be 
 a jacket he wore beneath ; on his feet were sandals of 
 good and strong make, and over his head he wore a 
 pointed hood to protect him from the direct rays of the 
 sun ; his eyebrows were also snowy-white and protruded 
 thick and grizzled from out his face, and beneath them, 
 deep in their sockets, were two glistening eyes that 
 seemed ever to be looking for something they could not 
 find ; his clothing, though dusty, worn and tattered, was 
 of good texture, and had been of worth in its day, and 
 his conversation was that of one well learned in the ad 
 vanced arts and the lore of the age ; his bundle was cloth 
 enwrapped, and bound about with many thongs, one of 
 which in the form of a broad band coming down over his 
 head to about his breast, was the means by which he 
 held it secure to his person. That he had journeyed many 
 miles was by his appearance betokened, and all who saw 
 him agreed that he must have wandered from some far 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 235 
 
 distant land ; at times he would pause, free himself from 
 his burden, and staff in hand, sit down upon the edge of 
 some wayside boulder to rest, while the little children of 
 the neighborhood, attracted by his strange appearance, 
 would gather around him in awe and wonder at his 
 curious garb and lengthy whitened beard, and marvel if 
 he was of the times ere the world was made. He would 
 often coax the youthful ones, both girls and boys to him, 
 by means of beautiful tales of the wondrous accomplish 
 ments of the great genii who live in the magic land of 
 impossible workings, so enchanting to the ears and dear 
 to the hearts of childhood, and after getting them around 
 about his aged and stiffened knees, would clasp them 
 yearningly to his breast, closely caress and pet them as 
 though they were his own lost ones whom some miracu 
 lous intervention of nature had brought back to him. 
 Then he would ask them to gather for him the reeds and 
 flags and rushes growing about the marshes along the way 
 side, and on them being brought to him would fashion for 
 the little ones head-dresses, armlets, necklaces and brace 
 lets of so unique a pattern, of such dexterous workmanship, 
 showing such high knowledge of, and acquaintance with, 
 the advanced arts, and such skill in manipulation that 
 convinced the elders at the homes to which the children re 
 turned in glee to display their charming gains, that the 
 aged one was of those marvelous artisans of the far Bast, of 
 whom returned travelers of their own country, who had 
 gone forth journeying in their youth and returned as old 
 men, spoke in such high praise and of whose manufac 
 tures and works they had given such incredulous ac 
 counts that the friends and companions of their childhood 
 were certain that their long wanderings or lengthened 
 stay in those distant oriental lands had seriously affected 
 their regard for veracity. 
 
 "Such was the skilled workmanship of the trinkets that 
 he had made for the youths that the shop-keepers bought 
 them from the children and exposed them in the bazaars 
 as wares for sale ; and they found ready purchasers, and 
 one and all of them were anxious to secure his services 
 for the manufacture of articles for merchandising about 
 
236 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 the country. And many offered great inducements to 
 detain his footsteps and acquire the use of his accom 
 plishments and reap the benefit of his handicraft. But 
 all were refused. I cannot tarry , said he ; I am very 
 old, and have many long distances to go ere I can stay 
 my ever-weakening footsteps, or arrest the increasing tot 
 tering of my limbs, I must not tarry ; I dare not delay, 
 else it may be too late. I must on, on, ever onward . 
 Saying which he would arise, resume his burden, and 
 wander again forward, soon disappearing from the view 
 of the regretful lookers-on, ever toward the setting sun, 
 ever westward. His footsteps were far from rapid, and 
 he made but slow progress, and the fame of his workman 
 ship spread far and wide and preceded him by many days. 
 His passage was ever blocked by crowds of wondering vil 
 lagers ; by gathered bodies of the lords of the land, along 
 with their fair ladies, who offered large requital for decora 
 tive trinkets to adorn their gentle persons ; by throngs of 
 children begging for an hour s stay to form them baubles ; 
 by numbers of dealers and traffickers making their prop 
 ositions to secure his services more tempting by the display 
 and tender of gold. At length the rumors, flying about, 
 repeated from one mouth to another, and losing nothing 
 in the telling told from one village to the next, and from 
 large towns to cities magnified and exaggerated as they 
 grew, they finally reached the ears of the Sultan in 
 such shape as to lead him to believe, if what he heard 
 was true, that the strange old wanderer could cause to 
 arise from out of a no more costly substance than weeds 
 and underbrush the most beautiful objects, by merely 
 looking at them. So the Sultan sent out couriers to in 
 tercept and bring the old stranger to the palace, and on 
 the messengers arrival with him had the aged wanderer 
 brought before him in the throne hall, where seated upon 
 his jewel-bedecked chair of state, and surrounded by his 
 ministers, counselors, viziers, and high state officials, he 
 questioned him about his work, about his intentions ; in 
 quired from whence he came and to what land he was 
 journeying, etc. Said the Sultan, Surely, one so aged 
 as thou hast little yet left to get from life. According to 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 237 
 
 thy appearance any day may see thee depart into the 
 hereafter, the bourn from whence there is no return. Nay, 
 each single hour even, may be thy last one upon the 
 earth, hoary and gray as thou art. Why journey est thou 
 so impatiently, old man, and in thy extreme dotage at 
 that ? And what searchest thou for ? For if rightly I 
 divine by the gleam of thine eye, thou seekest for ought 
 precious and dear to thy soul. 
 
 1 The questioned one removed his hood and bowed low 
 before the Sultan, and then brushed back the white hair 
 from his forehead, displaying a brow lofty and noble. 
 * Your eminent majesty, replied the stranger, with falter 
 ing voice and tear-bedewed eyes, has unconsciously 
 wounded me deeper than one couldst imagine possible to 
 be conveyed to another by such unintentionally sharp 
 and far-striking words. From thy speech I glean that I 
 appear to eyes outside mine own as being of an age so 
 great as to cause marvel that I yet breathe the medium 
 that keeps the warmth of life within my being. Aged 
 am I, your majesty, and far beyond that reached by any 
 of the companions of my youth ; they have grown old 
 with me and have dropped away like the forest leaves in 
 the time of the end of the year, long, long ago, and I 
 still remain to witness the rapid flight of time. Old, in 
 deed, am I in the frame that thou seest before thee, in 
 the physical bulk that appearest to thine unobstructed 
 eye ; whitened as the snows of the mountains is my hair 
 and beard ; weakened is my arm and tottering my foot 
 steps ; but all is thus only outwardly ; all is so but appar 
 ently to the view of my fellow-men. I am still as young, 
 lighthearted and gay as in the long-past days of my 
 youth, so long ago now as to seem to me to have been 
 lived or spent in some previous state of the earth s exist 
 ence. My body has grown old, but my spirits, my 
 aspirations, my pleasures, fancies, joys, desires, tastes, 
 imaginations, hopes and loves, all remain as in the time 
 of young manhood. Exchange but my frame for the one 
 of a youth ; transfer my inner being to that of a person 
 of but twenty years, and both my physical and mental 
 state, my material and spiritual being, the substance of my 
 
 16 
 
238 STUDKNT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 human form and the incomprehensible consciousness of life; 
 the outward anatomy, and the master power that governs 
 all its actions; both, both my exterior youthful appearance 
 and my inner self will be in perfect keeping, one with the 
 other, in direct harmony each to each, in one single accord 
 will be the condition of my corporeal and my immortal 
 constituents. I am not old except in body. I could run 
 and play as in the days of my youth. I could join in 
 the friendly combats and trials of strength and endurance 
 with gusto and great pleasure ; could enter along with 
 youthful companions in the chase over hill and dale with 
 enjoyment. With elation and joy could I once more love, 
 court fair dames as in the halcyon days of long ago, and 
 with rapture again have little children, with cunning 
 small hands, clasp my own and climb about my knee. 
 With unalloyed happiness could I again go out into 
 the world of traffic of my native land and battle with the 
 striving throng to gain for my own ones the comforts, 
 necessaries, and even the luxuries of life. The desire I 
 still have within me ; the wish and will, the energy and 
 spirit of youth is now, and ever has been mine. But 
 alas ! the body has grown old, has weakened and stiff 
 ened, and has become vexatious to move ; the ghostly 
 principle of life within me is fresh and aspirant, but the 
 outward frame has gotten aged beyond the power of ex 
 pressing the spirit s desires. lyOve has ever been the high 
 longing of my life, as it is of all nature, could we but 
 read it properly there. Dissolve but two chemicals in 
 water separately and then unite the solutions thus formed, 
 and the two formerly combined substances of each, 
 though probably having been connected since time began, 
 now part entirely from old associations and rush in loving 
 attraction and marriage each to a new comer, all four 
 elements having torn themselves away from old in 
 terests, from all ties of long ages of friendliness, ac 
 quaintance and close companionship, and formed two en 
 tirely new unions. My children have long since grown 
 old and passed away ; their offspring have also aged to 
 the end of their allotted time, and gone the way of all 
 mortality ; the posterity of these latter are too far re- 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 239 
 
 moved to be ought but strangers to me, and I also feel 
 that they are so distant in blood as to no longer be con 
 nections in kinship of mine. I would grow young in 
 body once more as in the years of my young manhood ; 
 love and court again, and lead a fair young damsel to the 
 altar, and begin life anew. I seek only youth in body, 
 for my spirit has ever been young, has never aged 
 through all the time-wearing experience of my frame. 
 I heard in our far distant Eastern land, for I have been 
 years upon my expedition, of a fountain of perpetual 
 youth existing in a country beyond a great body of water, 
 a sea so wide that months were necessary to traverse its 
 breadth, e en in the fleetest sails ; this fountain bubbles 
 high into the air out of the earth, and one has but to lave 
 in its pure, clear waters to rehabilitate the flesh aged by 
 the passage of time and useless from the wear and clog of 
 years, and emerge therefrom in all the glory of youth 
 of marvelous youth, upon which is ever so great a pre 
 mium set to rise out of its waters in all the pride, 
 strength, suppleness and beautiful physique of man s 
 early years. 
 
 " This land in which exists this wonderful fountain is 
 inhabited, I am told, by a people of great wealth ; their 
 cities are built of precious metals, costly marbles and rare 
 spiced woods ; the domes of their houses of worship 
 adorned with glittering jewels of incomparable splendor 
 and worth ; their streets are of silver, their pavements of 
 gold. The country is of so great a size and of such un 
 told wealth that no monetary considerations have any 
 value there. In order for one to be enabled to enter the 
 far interior of the vast domain and reach the charmed 
 fountain, he must bring along with him something of a 
 great degree of utility or else of high excellence in the 
 shape of art, something new or novel or applicable to the 
 usages, needs and conveniences of the inhabitants far ad 
 vanced state ; something such as an invention of useful 
 ness to mankind or a capability of workmanship, a skill 
 in handicraft, a cunning in the art of constructing new 
 devices to serve the pride, sentiments or wants, or flatter 
 the vanity of the dwellers there by showing that one has 
 
240 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 come from afar with the best of his land s out-turnings 
 as an humble offering to such lavish greatness as exits in 
 the country containing the marvelous fountain. I was 
 told that mariners, storm-tossed and spent, have been 
 cast upon their shores, but were quickly dismissed with 
 but glimpses secured of the external parts of the land ; 
 but they have returned home over the seas, and related 
 about the richness and wonders of the interior, of which 
 they had gleaned much in hearsay during their but too 
 short stay on the strange shores. Oft have I searched 
 for the sources of these rumors ; long have I wandered in 
 days of the past from one city of my land to another, in 
 the hope of getting interviews with one or more of these 
 returned shipwrecked mariners, but ever the trace by 
 which I had followed led to nought, all ended in hear 
 say. One city had heard of such a returned sailor, with 
 his wonderful tales of the land beyond the great sea, but 
 upon being closely questioned, the inhabitants stated that 
 the news was brought them by visitors from a distant 
 sister city, and on my journeying to that one, they re 
 plied that they had heard it from some other way-off 
 place. All, all my inquiries and searches, all ended in dis 
 appointment ; none could give more information than that 
 they believed the tale was true, and that in order to visit 
 the fountain of youth one must have in his possession 
 something considered of sufficient value in the eyes of 
 the inhabitants of that thrice-lucky land to tempt them 
 to allow one to journey inward and make his way to the 
 magic fountain, and in its waters forever renew his youth. 
 So, at last, I concluded to waste no more time in making 
 useless inquiries, but start at once for the distant land. 
 An art or a craft I have, and long years of usage of my 
 fingered limbs in dexterous handicrafts have stood me in 
 great stead. After years of patient trials and long calcu 
 lations, after again and again desponding on meeting 
 failures, seemingly at the very threshold of success, after 
 great lengths of time in ceaseless midnight toilings and in 
 tireless industry and perseverance, I have been successful. 
 An art or craft I have discovered, to make two articles 
 held in the highest esteem throughout all the world, use- 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 241 
 
 ful fabrications upon which more time is spent in manu 
 facturing, in searching the world for new devices, in 
 penetrating the interior of the earth for better substances 
 to formulate their parts, in fashioning new designs of 
 them to please the eye, humor the fancies of the owners, 
 and in inventing new methods of constructing them, than 
 upon all else together existing among the arts of the 
 races on earth, one of each I have discovered, one for 
 each sex, and I rely upon the pleasure and satisfaction, 
 one at least, of my inventions, will give to the high au 
 thorities of the land, of the far-famed country that I 
 now am on my way to, either to the governing lords or 
 their fair ladies, to speak and plead for me in my desire 
 for permission to depart into the land s interior, and for 
 an escort along to the wonderful fountain of perpetual 
 youth. I have here in my bundle the materials and sub 
 stances, tools of hand and contrivances, many of them of 
 my own invention, to make both articles. I/ong have I 
 toiled under the burden of the bundle ; oft have I fallen 
 in weakness and been overcome by fatigue upon my way; 
 but I have ever gathered together my remaining strength, 
 arisen and come on ever facing myself toward that far 
 western land said to so surely exist beyond the great 
 water. Every moment now is precious to me, and I must 
 away. I have already delayed my departure too long, 
 having spoken my case at far greater length than first 
 intended by reason of my being carried away by 
 your majesty s enwrapped and flattering attention, 
 and by the all-engrossing silence and deeply appreci 
 ative listening of your assembled court. I bid you now 
 farewell, said the aged one, once more taking up 
 his bundle, bending beneath the weight of it, cover 
 ing his head with his pointed hood, and seizing his staff. 
 Ere the morrow breaks I must be far away and well 
 upon my route to the Christian lands that border the 
 immense sea the lands which have torn themselves 
 from the faith of their fathers, now since many years, and 
 who have set their faith upon the teachings of Jesus of 
 Nazareth, claiming Him as the Son of the All-seeing 
 One, sent on earth to redeem a fast spiritually perishing 
 
242 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 mankind. He of Nazareth has now been crucified for 
 over three centuries, but the faith that he taught, it is 
 said, is spreading over all the domain, from your majesty s 
 land to the vast water, and thence upward to the frozen 
 zones of the bleak and sublime north. Ere the suns of 
 another long year roll over my dotaged head, as thou 
 callest it, I will be well upon my way among the people 
 of those Christian countries where, if no more evil befall 
 me from the worshipers of the Nazarene than there has 
 in my wanderings up to the present part of your majesty s 
 land, I have hopes of soon witnessing my safe embark 
 ation upon the rolling waves of the mighty ocean. 
 
 " Well, good-by, old man, replied the Sultan, and 
 well may you, on your thoroughly imbecilic journey, fare 
 in the Christian lands ; aye, the teachings of the Nazarene 
 are God-like and noble. I have nothing to say against the 
 teachings ; far, far from it. I have heard of them and 
 have studied them over carefully. Than the teachings of 
 Jesus of Nazareth there is nothing purer on earth. "All 
 things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, 
 do ye even so to them." What can be sweeter than that ? 
 The teachings are God- and Heaven-given, but much I 
 doubt, from what I have heard of these Christians, that 
 they follow them. That they pursue a course the 
 very reverse has ever been my experience in all that I have 
 had to do with them. Take my advice, given from dearly 
 bought practical acquaintance with them, and on thy trip 
 through these Christian lands, in some parts of which I 
 understand that such, to their view, insignificant things 
 as principle, honor, and character are as little known, 
 even the words as destitute of meaning to them as our 
 writings are to our fattening kine, on thy journey 
 through them, old man, speak little of the worth of what 
 thou carryest in thy bundle, and look well to its safety ; 
 rely not too much upon the honesty of those who speak 
 too freely of Jesus and their endeavors to aid His holy 
 cause, else they might consider thy goods, but feebly pro 
 tected by thine weakened arm, as being valuables neces 
 sary to enable them to extend His faith to new countries, 
 and without thy consent, and e en against thy vehement 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 243 
 
 protests, abstract them from thee in His name, as a course 
 needful to Christianize others. But stay, venerable and 
 most worthy sir ! Stay thy eager footsteps but for a moment 
 longer ; that what thou seekest in far distant lands and 
 which may be, and in all likelihood is, non-existent there, 
 perchance may lie here right beneath thy now weary feet; 
 it is like the child that in pursuit of the beautiful butterfly 
 which ever eludes him, tramples the fragrant lovely flowers 
 to the earth as he rushes by with eye uplifted to the air ; 
 " it is distance that ever lends enchantment to the view." 
 Those stories and tales of that wonderful land are but 
 mythical, have no foundation, except in the imagination 
 of idle gossipers ; of one fact I can assure thee, that no 
 vessel has ever penetrated beyond the dismal sea s wild 
 waste of waters to such an extent as to find evidences 
 that land exists beyond, and shipwrecked mariners, cast 
 away upon a strange rich shore would be objects of too 
 curious interest to be expelled, to be at once compelled 
 to leave by the inhabitants ; they would be from too 
 strange a land of such different customs, manners, dress, 
 and appearances to be treated inhospitably by a rich and 
 powerful and advanced nation whose desire is to secure 
 the paramount, for themselves, of all existing arts. The 
 sailors would be questioned and well treated in hopes of 
 gleaming from them unique, curious and useful and 
 worthy crafts of the sailors own land which now they 
 could be certain existed over the sea, and would have 
 adventured across it here to us ; the mariners would have 
 fared well by them in their expectations of learning of 
 manners of civilization that they could adopt, if found as 
 being improvements upon their own; and they would 
 visit this land in great force of numbers, bring the cast 
 aways back with them to gain our good will along with 
 a knowledge of our devices and superiorities over them 
 selves by eye-witness ; the tales are false, the aspect of 
 them show it so. I feel assured that you have never in 
 all your search caught up with one who got the story 
 from an original cast-away himself. 
 
 It is all but too true, sadly replied the aged one, paus 
 ing in hesitancy, with deep pondering gaze at where his 
 
244 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 staff rested upon the floor ; it is but too true, and in the 
 reasoning light that thou presenteth it to me, I much fear 
 it is but a chimera I pursue ; that it is unreasonable on 
 the face of it I now begin to perceive. I fear my aged 
 brain has been getting back to the fanciful days of child 
 hood when we grasp all tales that are marvelous and im 
 possible as certainties, be they but beautifully colored and 
 charming to our ears. 
 
 " Stay with us, then, skilled sir, replied the Sultan; 
 remain and make thee thy home amongst us in the 
 palace ; ply thy art here and we will do our utmost to 
 recompense thee according to thy desire. Thou art old 
 and unlovely to the sight of youth, yet wouldst thou be 
 young and love again. That showest not, as thou sayest 
 it does, that thy aged brain art getting back to the fanci 
 ful days of childhood ; on the contrary, it speaketh still 
 of much wisdom and human-like yearning. Thou art 
 not alone in thy desire ; far from it. We would all be 
 young and love again ; would all be fair and strong and 
 pleasing to the eye ; would all once more return to the 
 days, the enchanting days of youth, the hours ere we 
 ceased to be a light in the eyes of our opposite sex. That 
 wish of thine, hoary sir, is but in keeping with the de 
 sire of us all ; is common to entire mankind, and showest 
 that truly thou speakest, thou, with others, art not 
 old except in thy and their own wintry frames, to renew 
 which we here, right amongst us, here at the very palace 
 thou hasteneth to flee from, have discovered the secret, 
 lost since the days of Solomon, my great ancestor ; lost 
 by reason of not being understood and explained and 
 thus forgotten. Solomon was aged far greater than thou, 
 who art but a child in years compared to his ; but the 
 means by which he attained his many years, although 
 plain to us now, have lain unread in nature throughout 
 all the centuries since his time. As to whether King 
 Solomon held all his years in the appearance and elastic 
 ity of youth, or carried them mainly in the expression 
 of middle or of hoary age we now have no means of 
 ascertaining ; all that has been lost in the dim mist of 
 past time. But reason thou, why did his skilled phy- 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 245 
 
 sicians order him many wives, all without exception 
 youthful and gay ? Well they understood, the olden day 
 medical advisors, that the aged absorb vitality from the 
 young, who, in their exuberance of animal life and over 
 flowing spirits, can well afford to lose much. So as the 
 years rolled on over the head of Solomon and he began 
 to feel the departure of youth and sought his physicians, 
 many young and frolicsome wives were ordered him, and 
 from the pages ot history we gain that he accepted his 
 prescribed medicament without a murmur, and in the 
 daily companionship of his wives grew young again and 
 lived far beyond all the allotted days of man. We will do 
 the same here for thee ; thou shalt have a harem of young 
 beauties, the fairest of this and all surrounding lands ; 
 thou canst take thy pick and choice of them, select those 
 most pleasing to thine eye and fancy. We all know that 
 when aged men marry, that all their companions remark 
 they seem to have grown young again ; that a score of 
 years appear to have fallen off their snow-capped heads, 
 and that the sprightliness of youth seems to be in a 
 measure returning. It is so common to hear of this 
 that it is worthy of higher note and inquiry than 
 has been given it by the wise. Mine own learned 
 and all-enlightened doctor, he that thou seest sit 
 ting on thy right, looking so well and strong and ap 
 parently in the prime of middle age, is in reality of years 
 fewly inferior in number to thine own, but he has 
 pondered deeply upon the methods pursued by his col 
 leagues in the ancient time of our royal line and has 
 himself studied out the meaning of why Solomon s 
 physicians gave the prescription they did ; to his deep 
 researches and his ready grasping of the hidden meaning 
 of parables of old, I owe my own life ; for when born, a 
 puny, feebly vitalized being, with not the strength to 
 suck in sufficient atmospheric fuel to sustain the barely 
 flickering flame of life, his great skill and wisdom, his 
 aptitude in mental readings of the customs of old came 
 to my aid. Bullocks, young and teeming with animal life, 
 were brought to the palace and slaughtered, their sides 
 cut open and lower body eviscerated, and I, naked as 
 
246 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 when born, instantly inclosed in the cavity thus made 
 and well folden in except my face for breathing, all done 
 at the moment life in the bullock became extinct and 
 while still warm and reeking with animal energy upon 
 which rny pores fed, the weakling absorbed the vitality 
 from the immense body surrounding him, and after half 
 an hour another was slaughtered and myself moved from 
 the first without an instant s delay or loss of time to the 
 second one so prepared; and so on, day after day, in each 
 several trials of this kind were made, and the puny infant 
 throve and grew strong from imbibed animal vigor and 
 in late infanthood and early childhood was already the 
 equal in health and strength of its companions. My 
 physician shall also be thine, hoary one; if old men marry 
 and become so young again with one wife as to occasion 
 remark, then shalt thou marry a couple of dozen and be 
 come twice twelve times young once more and that 
 should be youth attained ; secured by sufficient back 
 ward turning of years, to satisfy even thee. Thou shalt 
 have the pick of the maidens of the provinces for thine 
 own, a part of the palace shall be set aside for thee and 
 thy family ; thou and thine canst have the freedom of the 
 extensive gardens surrounding the vast parks of 
 the palace ; thou canst wander with thy wives, thy 
 family, through all the flowered and vine-entwined 
 bowers, the mossy crags, the cultivated groves, the 
 miniature artificial woodlands ; canst glide over the rip 
 pling waters of the glassy lakes in pavilioned vessels, 
 sail about over their silvery surfaces accompanied by soft 
 strains of music from our own royal bands, sit with thy 
 wives in the shaded alcoves of giant towering monarchs, 
 and canst watch the happiness of sweet-toned and 
 brilliant-plumaged birds joying about their nests sus 
 pended aloft, the arching and surrounding branches 
 about which are interwoven with the scarlet linonia and 
 the slender stems of the winding, clinging ivy, and see 
 in their delight and happiness and content of mind but a 
 reflex of thine own, and as the sleepy brown shadows of 
 calm, contemplative eventide descend over the woodland 
 thou canst cast thine eyes o erhead and catch glimpses 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 247 
 
 through the softly sighing branches, of the heavens, il 
 luminated by the same serene resplendent moon of the 
 Orient, the same evening stars of the East, that have 
 looked down upon the beauty of the Queen of Sheba in 
 the days of the wise King Solomon; and in continued asso 
 ciation with thy family, catch their youthful spirits, 
 awaken again within thee the latent energy to romp, 
 dance and play ; in truth, by being constantly among 
 them and within the area of their emanating animal 
 spirits, within the circle of their outflowing youthful 
 refulgence, they yielding up animation and thou ever 
 aquiring it ; thou shalt absorb in vast quantities their in 
 visible sublimated radiations, their delicious, thrilling, 
 feminine aura, and shalt detect thyself grow young again 
 day by day ; wilt find thy frame lose its stoop and be 
 come erect, thy tottering limbs grow firm, thy slow and 
 weary footsteps get strong and elastic, and thy heavy 
 drooping head rear itself aloft and face the world once 
 more in all the pride of conscious strength and power. 
 
 1 The wanderer wearily stroked his brow, and slowly 
 and sadly shook his head. But love, said he, 
 love, the subtle influence that moves the world, will not be 
 mine. Unpleasing is my aged and hoary looks to the eyes. 
 What woman of mature age would espouse such as I ? 
 And thou speakest of me in the same sentence with the 
 love of maidens; alas ! I fear thy majesty talketh wildly. 
 
 Fool thou, old man, to brush aside my words so 
 lightly ; thou still holdeth in mind the damsels as they 
 were at the time of thy youth of a gone-by period. 
 New women have sprung up since then. Little thou 
 knowest of the gentle sex of the present age as thou well 
 showest by thy remarks. Young men can take their 
 choice from among the fair ones of the world, and full 
 conscious of this, have, in consequence, but little appre 
 ciation of the worth of the sex, common, from the super- 
 abundancy of numbers, to their boyish eyes. Young men 
 can choose from the plenty, and so value none ; and their 
 wives are not held in the esteem and regard by them by far, 
 compared to that which the husbands of older years do hold 
 them. The life partner whom the young man selects is 
 but little, if any, in his regard and affections, above num- 
 
248 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 bers of the plentifulness of her kind he could have 
 gotten for the asking, and she is treated by him accord 
 ingly ; often slightingly, and rarely held as anything 
 much of a treasure ; but as for older men who feel the 
 charms of youth departing in the frost-touched hair and 
 in the wrinkles of coming age, and who are cognizant of 
 being crowded into the background by younger and 
 stronger arms, they desire but to gain one youthful 
 wife whom they may love and cherish, and having se 
 cured her hold her dear, as a jewel far beyond an estima 
 tion of value. It is a well known fact that elderly 
 men make by much the kindest husbands ; and the far 
 aged husband is ever lavish in his expenditure and love 
 for his youthful bride, while the young the married 
 youth it is rarely that he is not at war with his espoused 
 one. Women know this well. It is often but a choice 
 left them between being "an old man s darling or a 
 young man s slave. Thou here shalt have wealth, station 
 and position, and if thou cautiously and slyly causeth it to 
 be hinted about that the bride showing thee the greatest love 
 and devotion shalt be left the richest pretty young widow 
 upon thy naturally early expected demise, I speak that 
 thou shalt receive love and affection sufficient and galore 
 to suit even thy accumulated yearnings of a century or 
 more. This will we do for thee, old man ; and in return, 
 so that thou needst not feel that thou art accepting 
 charity from strangers, continued the lofty minded 
 and noble Turk; thou canst make for us the two wonders 
 which thou sayest thou hast alone discovered the 
 method of constructing. Take thine own time and ply 
 thy craft as suits thee, at thine own will and at thy 
 leisure. Go not from us, withered dotard that thou art, 
 but view it in this light, that what thou in phantasm 
 seekest among the clouds exists in truth and will be trod 
 den down by thee and passed over here beneath thy de 
 parting footsteps. 
 
 " The aged one consented. Let us not judge or blame 
 him. Who wouldn t ; indeed, how could he refuse, or re 
 sist all the aural sweetness that the Sultan had poured 
 into his ears ? and the greatly aged are notoriously lack- 
 
STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 249 
 
 ing in the capability of resistance to words that awaken 
 the thoughts and memories of siren voices of the fair 
 
 sex. 
 
 i < < 
 
 I recognize the weight of thy words, he replied, and 
 am convinced that my wish to believe in the existence of 
 such a shadowy land containing- a fountain of such 
 coveted virtues, has overbalanced my judgment, my 
 powers of reflection and my strength of reasoning and 
 co mparison . Here , then , will I remain in the palace of your 
 majesty, and the highest skill and most painstaking care 
 my aged frame is yet capable of shall be brought into 
 use at your respected service. 
 
 "So the Sultan gave the proper directions, and the 
 old artisan, releasing his bundle into the willing hands of 
 attendants, bade a present adieu to his majesty and 
 then to all assembled, and following his guides departed 
 from out the royal presence." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 "1YIOW, just two years previous to the arrival of the 
 1 N wanderer with his burden, the Sultan had selected 
 as his favorite wife a beautiful Albanian girl, lovely as 
 a dream, and at the time that he had made her Sultana, 
 though but sixteen years of age, yet in the full develop 
 ment of all the charms of delightful young womanhood. 
 Her luxuriant glossy black hair, when unrestrained, fell 
 to her feet in broad silky waves, nearly concealing the 
 perfect formation and snowy whiteness of her arms 
 and shoulders ; her eyes, large, liquid and almond-shaped, 
 were as black as the deep recesses of the earth where 
 the shades of ancient night ever rule, and contrasted, 
 when she smiled, with the dazzling whiteness of her 
 teeth, and the lustrous orbs of sight, at times shown with 
 such intense feeling as to resemble glowing metal, and 
 beamed with an expression that seemed to search one s 
 inmost soul. She was tall, shapely and pliantly graceful, 
 with face and hands fair as the Nubian lotus bloom, and 
 white as the floating lily of the old Egyptian Nile; a true 
 and unsurpassed daughter of the Southern Orient, where 
 languishing, passionate beauty is regarded as the charm 
 of womanhood in the same manner that amiability and 
 gentleness are considered the types of loveliness of the 
 women of the North. And who shall say which is the 
 more attractive, the more worthy of fondness and devo 
 tion, of tender attachment and affection, the more irresist 
 ible, the more lovable. 
 
 1 No one had ever charmed the Sultan so ; no one ever 
 gained the influence over him as she; none ever been 
 held in such great adoration by him as the fair and 
 peerless Albanian ; her very appearance suggested to be 
 holders that she was in all her being and in every trait of 
 her character innately fit to be a queen. But two years 
 later than his marriage with her, and at the time of the 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 251 
 
 appearance of the aged wanderer on his westward jour 
 ney in search of the fountain of everlasting youth, the 
 Sultan began to tire of his favorite, and at eighteen she 
 appeare^ to him to be getting old ; for women in south 
 ern provinces develop early, and correspondingly fail in 
 the same swift manner ; and the Sultan, comparing her 
 with younger members of the harem, noticed that their 
 cheeks were peachier, their natures more guileless, more 
 new and novel to him ; that to them he held the great 
 charm of mystery that long intimate association with the 
 favorite had somewhat dispelled, that they hung upon his 
 sayings and delightedly listened to his recounts of ex 
 periences and adventures with unfeigned pleasure, ad 
 miration and attentiveness. Whereas, in relating the 
 same to the favorite, he could see the weariness gather in 
 her lustrous eyes at the oncoming repetition of something 
 she had heard dozens upon dozens of times before. The 
 effects of novelty were being thrown over him by the new 
 and younger members of the household, and though still 
 much devoted to his selected one, was ever and anon 
 commencing to cast eyes about elsewhere. Although it 
 was some time before this was generally observed in the 
 palace, that there were sentiments shaping that might 
 eventually result in the displacing of the favorite, you 
 may believe that she was by far the first of all to take 
 notice of it herself, and many a day was spent by her in 
 retrospective sadness, and many a night passed in the 
 contemplation of prospective resignation, upon a tear- 
 stained pillow. All this, of course, did not add to her 
 beauty. Her large, liquid eyes became cold and dry; her 
 face appeared drawn and worn from the sleepless hours 
 of darkness, and finally it was generally remarked about 
 the palace that his eminence could not be expected to be 
 faithful to one who allowed herself to get haggard and 
 old when there were so many fresh and blooming young 
 girls about. 
 
 " It was just at this stage of these sad proceedings that 
 the aged wanderer had arrived, and certainly the report 
 of his appearance and reception was soon noised to the 
 inmost chamber of the palace, and you can be sure was 
 
252 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY, 
 
 quickly carried to the ears of the desponding favorite ; 
 and, woman-like, on learning that an exclusive art, 
 known alone to himself, for making two articles, one 
 pleasing to one of the sexes and one to the opposite, was 
 claimed by the wanderer, she immediately sent a messenger 
 to see that, after his nourishment and rest had been con 
 summated, that he was instantly requested to attend her 
 presence. The aged one, on learning the bearer s mes 
 sage, replied, Rest and nourishment to the fiends ! a 
 single glance at the eyes of the Sultana would be suste 
 nance sufficient to make amends for the physical loss of a 
 month s unnourished travel ; take me at once to her 
 supreme presence. Although I am aged my spirit is 
 young and has never learned patience, never been taught 
 cool, reflective observance of slow and vexatious formal 
 ities. I go with you at once; e en now my soul chafes 
 impatiently at the delay. 
 
 1 * On entering her presence, the beautiful favorite was 
 revealed reclining on a richly cushioned lounge, and sur 
 rounded by the groups of her young ladies. As her in 
 signia of Sultana she wore a sparkling ornament, inter 
 woven at the front of her jet black tresses ; a crescent- 
 shaped collection of emeralds, diamonds and topaz, the 
 appropriately arranged jewels, vividly colored in green, 
 white and gold, were gleaming above her alabaster fore 
 head like triumphant stars exulting in their location, so 
 near to the matchless beauties that lay beneath them. 
 
 "The hoary artisan again uncovered his head, as he 
 had done before the sovereign, and once more brushing 
 the thick whitened locks of hair from his elevated and 
 stately forehead, bowed long and deep in dignified rever 
 ence at the throne of supreme beauty. 
 
 "Be seated, venerable sir , spoke the Sultana in a 
 low soft voice, with a musical cadence that sounded in 
 his ears like the whisperings of the angels he had heard 
 in the far distant years, when smiling in his sleep, an in 
 fant in the cradle. Be seated , again spoke the consort 
 of the Ruler of Asiatic Turkey, as an attendant placed a 
 downy seat beside him, into which he immediately sank 
 his stiffened bones. I learn that you are to remain 
 
THK SULTANA. 
 
 Page 256. 
 
STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 253 
 
 among us and become one of our household, an agree 
 able knowledge to me, and all of us, let me assure you ; 
 and I also hear that you have, contained deep within 
 your breast, the secrets of two handiworks of your own 
 invention ; that you alone have acquired and now possess 
 the knowledge of making two objects that are the most 
 desired by humankind, and best of all one of them for 
 each ; one to delight the lord and another to bring joy to 
 the heart of the lady. You will pardon my womanly 
 curiosity in that I sent for you in my eagerness to learn 
 what it was you have discovered to so please our sex. 
 As for the other, the one for the masters of creation, let 
 it pass for the present ; they can well take care of them 
 selves, of their own affairs, and of what pleases them. 
 Speak, O, reverend sir ! I await in great impatience. 
 My inventions, most lovely moon of the oriental 
 heavens , replied the wanderer, for the fair and gentle 
 sex, is the craft of constructing for them a garment of 
 whatever size, shape, style or fashion they may wish and 
 direct, of building it of a substance a stock of which I 
 have brought along with me from my far distant home 
 a fiber, an asbestos of the purest dazzling whiteness. 
 Such prettiness, such a feathery, velvety, fairy-like ap 
 pearance does the substance of which it is composed 
 give the garment, that the being clothed in it shines out 
 as the peer of all beauty in the world. She has but to 
 present herself to have all fall down before her, deep in 
 admiration, glorified veneration and exalted regard, as 
 though she were a deity. All gaze at her in rapture, 
 from the young to the aged. She is adored with a sacred 
 reverence extended to none below the celestial ones ; she 
 becomes a being of such perfect loveliness that all other 
 women fade to insignificance beside her. She need only 
 appear to view and all hearts are her own. This sub 
 stance is so peculiar, this material out of which I form 
 the apparel is of so strange a nature that it is indestruct 
 ible, and a chief merit in the favor of a finished garment 
 is, that on its becoming the least soiled it can be placed 
 in a fire for a few moments, and on being taken from out 
 the flames it will be found restored, absolutely uninjured, 
 
 17 
 
254 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 to all its former beauty and its pristine supra-snowy 
 whiteness. 
 
 " The fair Sultana, who had all this time been listening 
 with intense interest, with wide-staring, penetrating eyes, 
 her breast heaving with gasping respirations, at his con 
 clusion arose from her divan, threw herself full length 
 upon the floor at his feet, and looking up into his face 
 with tear-streaming eyes implored the aged one to at 
 once commence the garment. 
 
 " Let the invention of the lords wait, venerable sir , 
 she said, let it be until afterward; they have so many 
 joys and pleasures, so many of nature s immense re 
 sources to apply themselves to, to beguile their hours and 
 play to their fancy ; and we women so few, so restricted 
 are we by customs and habit that we almost get into such 
 a state as the child, heartbroken at the loss of a little 
 something so dear perhaps to it and to us, but its equiva 
 lent not being worth a second thought to our masters, 
 they having such a vast command of distractions at their 
 disposal to turn to at a moment s notice. Begin at once, 
 venerable sir , continued the fairest gem of Turkey, the 
 princess jewel of the Orient, still prostrate before him, 
 clinging to his knees and still with uplifted imploring 
 face, from the liquid, black lustrous eyes of which tears 
 yet flowed. Leave not the room, but let me order your 
 bundle brought and set at once, in the presence of us all, 
 to work. Your every need and wish shall be supplied. 
 Say nothing to my lord of what you are constructing ; he 
 shall remain in ignorance of it all until completed. I 
 confess to one so intelligent as thyself, what thou must 
 naturally have perceived at once from my demeanor, that 
 I fear thy sudden demise, and thou canst not realize un 
 less thou wert indeed the Sultana herself what thy early 
 loss may mean to me. Thou art old and thy life is nearly 
 spent. I am young and have all the years before me to 
 be passed in happiness, contentment, and in the power of 
 doing good, or in melancholy grief and despondency. 
 Consider that, and overlook my rashness, but let me beg 
 of thee, commence the garment at once. 
 
 " Your supreme loveliness has but to request to be 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 255 
 
 obeyed , replied the gallant old man, and with something 
 of the old-time grace of his youth, with a remnant or 
 trace of the elegant and courteous manners of centuries 
 gone by, he arose, assisted the Sultana to her feet, and 
 with the air of a school of politeness, now long lost in 
 the forgotten ages, escorted her back to her cushioned 
 rest. 
 
 "The bundle was brought; all obstacles removed from 
 a large space in front of the Sultana; a great rug was spread 
 over the mosaic floor ; the aged one placed his bundle in 
 the center of it, untied the thongs that had so well done 
 their duty during his long expedition ; unwound the 
 cloth, displaying a large heavy bag which he opened and 
 emptied therefrom what was needful, and sitting cross- 
 legged in the center of the rug, facing the favorite, 
 seized his curiously-shaped tools, and his delicate fibrous 
 masses and started work. 
 
 1 As it may be days before my master can select and 
 arrange for thy harem, and as every hour is precious to 
 thy ageing and weakening frame, I will arrange to sup 
 ply thy needs of vitality at present by surrounding thee 
 with some of my young frolicsome and spiritful ladies, 
 that thou mayest at once begin imbibing animal magnet 
 ism, and lengthen the days of thy skillful, and extend 
 the period of thy welcome, presence among us upon this 
 earth. 
 
 "So she inclosed him about with three or four rows of 
 young and blooming girls, teeming with humor and 
 gayety and overflowing with life ; and the old man had 
 much need of their services, it seemed, as the work pro 
 gressed, to hand him his several tools, to hold portions of 
 the garment, to pick from his fingers the superfluous and 
 curious strands and fibers that he wove into delicate tex 
 tures, to bring him drink and food, and to remove and 
 again place on him light shawls as the coolness or 
 warmth of the air seemed (so incomprehensively to 
 others) to effect him. Much need of their varied services 
 he continually had, and they, in high pleasantry and 
 earnest, helpful mood, gave all assistance in their power ; 
 lent the willingest of hands and hearts, for none knew 
 
256 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 better than they that the displacement of the favorite, 
 through whom they held their high position, meant the 
 complete although faultless downfall of themselves. 
 
 1 The languid afternoon waned, the work went forward, 
 the eyes of the old fabricator grew sparkling, his frame be 
 came more erect, his long depressed spirits arose, he be 
 came lively and kissed several of his nearest helpers in 
 appreciation of their quick-witted services, and he finally 
 lifted his voice raised it aloft and loudly sang love 
 songs of old in the height of his elevated exuberance 
 and delightful ecstacy of mind. 
 
 The days and weeks and months wore on silently and 
 rapidly, and the garment progressed under the deft hands 
 of the artisan and his surrounding bevy of youthful 
 helpers, who lent no mean assistance after their first few 
 days careful observation of his methods of interweaving, 
 fiber separating, sewing, etc. The dress advanced to near- 
 ing completion with marvelous rapidity . From earliest light 
 of day and far into the night of each turning of the sun, sat 
 the Sultana silently and intently watching the growing 
 of the work, never opening her heart-shaped ruby lips 
 except in directing the fashion and style of the garment ; 
 and when it was finally finished it was a marvel of beauty 
 to behold ; and on the Sultana donning it and emerging 
 from her dressing apartments to before the old manufac 
 turer to see if aught else were needful thereon for his 
 skillful hand to apply, before his final dismissal as artisan 
 from her presence, all her ladies acknowledged that no 
 fairer vision was ever presented to human eyes upon the 
 face of the earth ; and when she appeared invested with 
 the raiment before the Sultan, he instantly fell down upon 
 his knees before her in an attitude of adorable supreme 
 veneration, and while still upon his knees uplifted his 
 hands and raised them out wide before him and vowed 
 that the houris of paradise would be deep sufferers by 
 comparison. 
 
 "That had now been twelve years before Monk Monas- 
 tus and Burgomaster Centavus Vielbeer had arrived upon 
 their memorable mission, and the beautiful Sultana was 
 now thirty years of age ; but during all the period of time 
 that had elapsed from the completion of the garment to their 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 257 
 
 coming, she had held to the fullest the affections of the 
 Sultan. He had had no eyes for any but her, no thoughts 
 but of how the execution of them would be likely to 
 please or displease her ; no wish of the favorite could he 
 refuse, no expressed desire proceeding from her that he 
 left a stone unturned to fulfill. So supreme had she all 
 these years reigned in his affections, so entirely had she 
 held full sway in his heart, that all had bowed in the ac 
 knowledgment that such an idea as of a rival arising was 
 something never even to be entertained. Beautiful and 
 lovely, indeed, she appeared, and celestially radiant be 
 yond all manner of description ; and in the throne-room 
 and in the departments of state, among deeply import 
 ant papers and his country s affairs, whenever the sover 
 eign was seen to sink into a state of thoughtful intro 
 spection and a heavenly expression of intense rapture 
 pass over his intellectual and noble countenance, his ob 
 servant ministers all knew that thoughts of the peerless 
 Sultana were passing through his mind. 
 
 " Now the aged wanderer had been growing more youth 
 ful all along during the term of his duties for the fairest 
 on earth, and at the completion of his undertaking for 
 her supremeness, looked so spry and buoyant, so middle - 
 aged-like and energetic, that on meeting him again, for 
 the first time since his tottering departure by the assist 
 ance of his staff, and along with his bundle, from out the 
 throne-room, he looked so well and fine that his majesty 
 supposed it must surely be the old man s grandson come 
 in search of his wandering ancestor, the resemblance be 
 tween their principal features being so greatly marked. 
 On learning that it was indeed he, on being assured that 
 it certainly was the same aged wanderer who had been 
 spending the days of the many passed weeks in the re 
 ception-room of the favorite, the Sultan was dumb 
 founded at the pleasing change wrought, and after inquiry 
 discovering that the fair possessor of his heart had at once 
 applied to the hoary guest the prescribed treatment of 
 their all-wise medical counselor, and had continued it 
 with such happy effects until his recent dismissal, upon 
 the fulfillment of his task ; he decided to make no fur- 
 
258 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 ther delay but at once assign to the artisan his part of the 
 palace, and his score of loving damsels. 
 
 "This being arranged satisfactorily to all concerned 
 (for truly as had the Sultan prophesied of all those fair 
 and youthful maidens whom the wanderer selected out of 
 the great number his majesty one day caused to congre 
 gate before the artisan, none refused to abide with him ; 
 not one withheld the soft connubial hand), and the es 
 pousals over, and their celebration by all the court in a 
 fervent and appropriate manner completed, the old fab 
 ricator and his household enjoyed to the utmost the im 
 mense romantic gardens, parks and luxurious and dense 
 woods that surrounded the palace. 
 
 4 * In the long sunny days growing vivacious and cheer 
 ful, with elastic steps and encompassed by his frolicing, 
 dancing household, he and they would pass the fleeting 
 hours as happy as they were long their footsteps gliding 
 along through entrancing rustlings of fallen leaves, they 
 would ramble through groves of ancient and towering 
 trees, fragrant with the jasmine and mauria, and musi 
 cal with the songs of beautifully feathered warblers. At 
 times they would wander among the flowery gardens, 
 and gather roses and leaves and weave garlands and or 
 nament themselves in great profusion with nature s 
 never equaled productions, or play at hide and seek 
 among the trees and shrubs of the cultivated semi-tropi 
 cal forests, which in places were reflected into double by 
 the placid waters of artificial lakes ; flitting about and 
 hiding behind giant palm trees which reared their wide- 
 spreading heads far aloft as though expanded into table- 
 tops upon which to set a feast to dwellers in the Turkish 
 skies. 
 
 "The artisan grew younger and younger, and as his 
 strength increased he turned his mind to the construc 
 tion of the other article, of which he alone possessed the 
 knowledge of making ; bent his thoughts upon produc 
 ing the second object, the one that now should so please 
 the Sultan. He presently spent hours of the nights 
 deeply employed in his workshop, forging metals, ham 
 mering iron, beating copper, and cutting and polishing 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 259 
 
 rare jaspers and ivory; and on-lookers coming up silently 
 in the darkness would stand by, respectfully and with 
 veneration, and watch his seemingly tireless work, and 
 many of those who curiously paused and who had seen 
 the hoary, slow-moving and tottering figure as it entered 
 the throne-room that former day, bent beneath its burden, 
 now marveled at the change as they would see a form in 
 the midst of the workshop appliances, towering up in all 
 the grace of power and strength, raise an enormous ham 
 mer aloft, and with an easy swing above his head bring 
 it down and smite a metal band held firmly upon the 
 anvil, a blow that would have commended itself well to 
 a far younger man. 
 
 "At length the object for his majesty was completed by 
 the artisan, and on its presentation to his eminence was 
 seen to be an article of defense, a something to wave over 
 the field of war, glorious war ; a sword, with blade of 
 marvelous flexibility; a sword of curious design and of 
 costly worth, for its handle and scabbard were richly 
 inlaid with precious stones and metals, rare marbles and 
 other beautiful minerals, a sword of master workman 
 ship. So thin and sharp was the blade that the lightest 
 downey feather blown into the air, and wafting gently 
 upward and about in the atmosphere, and finally slowly 
 settling, being allowed to alight on the blade s edge, 
 would at once be divided by the force of its own weight 
 pressing down upon the sharpened margin of the wonder 
 fully fine tempered metal ; so thin was the blade, of such 
 a mixture of ingredients of different qualities, and yet so 
 strong, that it could be rolled like a band of parchment 
 from its tip to its handle, into a small close roll that the 
 hand could encompass, and on being released uncurl 
 itself and spring back again as straight and true as a 
 line. 
 
 * That the Sultan was delighted goes without saying ; 
 and that the entire court was charmed, and felt that the 
 wanderer had far beyond their wildest expectations re 
 quited his promise, no one need for a moment doubt. 
 His majesty and his people all felt confident that they 
 had in their possession two things of such high workman- 
 
260 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 ship, uniqueness, strangeness and wonderful value, that 
 no even fancied improvement on them could be suggested 
 but what its adoption would detract from their merits. 
 And as the wanderer had brought but sufficient material 
 with him to construct the two articles now finished, he 
 ceased his labors from necessity more than wish, and with 
 his youthful family continued to grow young, tarrying 
 among the verdant hills and glossy glades, walking 
 through the great masses of flowery shrubs and green 
 foliage, or wandering in merriment with his gleeful and 
 sportive young wives, hand in hand, along the margins 
 of the waters of the clear, fascinating lakes fringed with 
 rare water lilies, and the semi-tropic vegetation of a 
 southern clime ; a land where the icy winds of desolate 
 winter ever sleep amid the fragrance of roses and the per 
 fume of the orange blossom, vanilla and vine. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 "1\TOW, Monk Monastus and Burgomaster Centavus 
 1 N Vielbeer on being admitted into the white marble 
 palace had not long to wait ere they were ushered into the 
 throne-room, the very hall, forsooth, in which the aged 
 wanderer had entered, his staff in his shaking hands, his 
 limbs weary, and his back bent beneath his burden just 
 twelve years before, and they now stood before the throne 
 of the sovereign of Asiatic Turkey, in the same space 
 upon the richly mosaic floor that his fatigued feet and his 
 treasured bundle had occupied so long ago. 
 
 " The Sultan had grown much older since then in de 
 spite of complying with his physician s prescription in 
 ever surrounding himself with youthful beauties, and 
 plentifully besprinkled with gray was now his formerly 
 raven-wing locks ; and although his voice still was clear, 
 his frame yet erect as the mast of a vessel, and his eye 
 as firm, glittering and penetrating as of old, still it could 
 be noticed that more than half a score of years had passed 
 and gone into the vanished period since first the aged 
 wanderer had stood before his imperial presence. The 
 now Sultan, the present man, the feeble, puny infant that 
 was, had not received from heaven that cast of strength, 
 that stamp of the principle of animation necessary to robust 
 existence. Nature had not intended him to live, it 
 seems, but was defeated by the wise healer of corporeal 
 afflictions ; great vitality had not the Sultan to enable him 
 to withstand the ravages time makes in one s appearance, 
 the progress of years he exhibited, but his vital tenacity, 
 his adhesiveness to existence, his attachment to nutri 
 tive activity was great, and one could well note that al 
 though the years had told upon his frame, they had but 
 done so in apparent sincereness and not in reality. 
 
 " However, as all losses have their compensations, 
 much deep wisdom had the Sultan gained in return for 
 
262 STUDENT UFB IN GERMANY. 
 
 the loss of his unbesprinkled hair. He was now seated 
 in his ivory and gold chair of state, and richly dressed in 
 the silks, velvets and furs of his official robes, while about 
 his person, from various parts sparkled the light, radiat 
 ing from jewels of an empire s ransom. Immediately sur 
 rounded by his fair young beauties his reign being long 
 before the days when the ladies faces were hidden from 
 view and more distantly inclosed (back of and toward 
 the sides of him, in a half circle, of which he was the dia 
 metrically central point), by his viziers, ministers and 
 court, he awaited the opening words of the far western 
 visitors who were standing before him in the soft skin 
 and leathern garb in which they had left their village on 
 the Rhine over a long year before, the monk in his cowl 
 and waist-girdled gown, and Vielbeer in his heavy 
 leather trousers and jerkin and feathered hat, and carry 
 ing his worthy sword that had stood them in such good 
 stead all along without the damage of a nick or dent 
 hanging at his side from his broad leathern belt. 
 
 1 Reaving Vielbeer standing in his tracks, gazing in 
 wonderment at what he saw, the monk advanced, re 
 moved his cowl, bowed low, and approached near to the 
 foot of the broad and costly rugged steps leading to the 
 waist-high platform, erected upon which stood the throne 
 whereon the Sultan was seated, and in the language of 
 the court introduced himself, spoke his own name and 
 that of his companion, and designated the whereabouts of 
 the remote land from whence they came. 
 
 " Bring forward thy companion, armed as he is, and 
 introduce him to me; I fancy his appearance well, 
 replied the Sultan, in answer to the monk s opening 
 words. 
 
 " His majesty sayeth he likes the looks of thee and 
 that thou mayest approach his imperial presence and still 
 retain thy weapon ; a great honor to thee, indeed, I must 
 mention, said the monk, turning to the burgomaster. 
 
 ^Oh! he doth, doth he? replied Vielbeer. Im 
 perial, presence be hanged ! Much sorry am I that I 
 cannot return the compliment he maketh me, for the 
 looks of him I like but little. Much he appeareth to me 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 263 
 
 enveloped, as he is, by all these young women, as an in 
 fernal, sly old villain ; and as to his doing me such high 
 honor in allowing me to retain my good sword, why, what 
 would be done with it ? for I would not lay it aside ; and 
 by all the forty saints whom I shall ever hold in such 
 reverence, I should like to behold the one or the many to 
 take it from me, continued the burgomaster, getting 
 warmed up and withdrawing the weapon from his side, 
 and raising it high up in front of himself, he cut a few 
 terrific slashes with it through the air right before the 
 astonished gaze of the Sultan. 
 
 " Ha, ha ! ho, ho ! continued Vielbeer, doth he think 
 that had he merely spoken the words that I could not 
 approach armed would have caused me to be dispossessed 
 of my faithful and true weapon ? L,et him but give his 
 slaves such an order, and after making huud-wurst (dog 
 sausage) of them, I will grant him a swipe from crown to 
 foot that shall make two Sultans of him, and his harem 
 can divide the spoils between them. Ha, ha ! ho, ho ! 
 loudly laughed Vielbeer at his own wit, throwing back 
 his head, shaking his fat sides and portly person in 
 boisterous guffaws ; and bringing down his open hand 
 upon his leg above the knee, in great glee, with a forcible 
 and resounding slap. 
 
 " What! replied the Sultan, with flashing eyes, 
 arising from the throne, grasping the jeweled handle of 
 his scabbarded scimetar (which hung at his left side), as 
 though to draw the blade, and making a step or two for 
 ward. What ! does the infidel giaour first threaten 
 and then make sport and ridicule of our imperial per 
 son? 
 
 " * Nay, nay ! your majesty ; nay, nay ! quite opposite ; 
 indeed, quite opposite; quite the contrary, hastily inter 
 rupted the monk as he perceived Vielbeer instantly clutch 
 firmer his sword and his face harden and set in sudden 
 dangerous anger and resentment at the Sultan s aggress 
 ively suggestive demonstration. Nay, quite otherwise. 
 He sayeth , continued Monastus, * that he is so appalled, 
 dumbfounded and overcome in finding himself in such an 
 august presence as thine own that he cannot find his 
 
264 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 tongue; it cleaves in admiration, reverence and awe- 
 stricken wonder to the roof of his mouth, and he mean- 
 eth to express by his sword-play that should any offer to 
 do harm to but a single hair of thine imperial eminence s 
 head, that he will spill the last drop of his sanguinary 
 fluid in your supreme majesty s defense. 
 
 " * And really sayeth he that, and meaneth he the rest? 
 By the infernal, far looketh he from it, replied the Sul 
 tan, resuming his seat with the faint suspicion of a smile 
 lurking about the corners of his mouth. His attitude 
 and expression lendeth a far different meaning to his 
 utterances, conveyeth quite another impression to one s 
 mind, and wert I an infidel giaour as thyself, Monastus, 
 thou slick-tongued monk, and speaking in thy language 
 and using the phrases and vernacular dialect of thine own 
 land, I would make answer in response to the reverential 
 explanation and artful, gratifying construction thou 
 makest of thy valiant companion s remarks regarding my 
 sacred personage, that thou wert " way off" in thy highly 
 pleasing interpretation. Cannot find his tongue, indeed ! 
 Cannot lose it, surely thou meanest. His tongue cleaveth 
 to the roof of his mouth, doth it ? It cleaveth there 
 tightly, perchance, but only so in the middle, and swing- 
 eth with much freedom at both ends. However, I admire 
 largely his brave, warlike spirit ; and also I feel that 
 much have I this moment gained in respect for the length 
 of thy head, Monastus, for I plainly discern that thou 
 pickest with a sensible eye the companion to accompany 
 thee through dangerous traveling on thy missions ; a 
 little rash is he, it is true, but when controlled, balanced, 
 and in conjunction with thy deep head, thou two maketh 
 a wondrous combination indeed. Well do both of thee 
 appear to have come through thy long, long, adventurous 
 ramble from thy native lair. 
 
 " Hold thy peace, burgomaster, now bade the monk. 
 The Sultan meant no offense when he spoke about 
 allowing thy armed approach, but a high honor to thee 
 surely, for thy very appearance, massive, great and 
 powerful, conveys a threat of injury or harm to all be 
 holders. Thy warlike mien has indeed been well to our 
 
STUDENT UFE5 IN GERMANY. 265 
 
 advantage along our route, it is but too true, for evil 
 doers seek not to work their base designs when there are 
 prospects of resistance and a combat, but await the oppor 
 tunity to direct their mischief upon weak and unprotected 
 ones. Ever the best method to insure safety and peace 
 is to be well armed and seem strong as though spoiling 
 for a conflict as thou by right of thy very build looketh 
 so remarkably ; but, remember now, what we stand here 
 for, bear in mind the cause wherefore we undertook our 
 long journey; come forward now and let me bespeak thee 
 to his eminence in proper manner. What hast thou to 
 criticise customs and manners of other lands, when those 
 of our own are yearly changing ; what surety hast thou 
 that in the centuries to come, these satined, jeweled and 
 gauzy lace-apparalled Turkish women whom we now 
 consider so bolden in allowing so much of their arms to 
 be seen, and so much of their shapely lower limbs to be 
 displayed to casual view from out the end of their silken 
 puffy trowsers for he who runs to see, and who dress in 
 such thin soft-clinging garb as to exhibit with every turn 
 of their well studied movements and poses the graceful 
 curves of their divine forms, may so greatly change their 
 ways and usages as to even shield their faces from all 
 gaze, and regard it a high breech of decorum for them 
 selves to even set foot within their country s state and re 
 ception halls, and our own gentle women, the fair sex of 
 our blessed Christian lands, grow bolden and rough, un 
 womanly, arrogant, and disagreeable to our minds ; and 
 what knowest thou but that in the far off years to come, 
 say perchance in the twentieth century, our own lovely 
 fair ones may become new women to our sorrow, and so 
 mannish that the male shall be considered the gentle sex? 
 More of thy own now well and heavily covered form, for 
 instance, so lightly clothed as these women are, we 
 would not like to see, for fear of the ensuing nights 
 ghostly and frightful dreams produced in consequence 
 and occasioned by a view thereof; but regarding the 
 picturesquely arranged attitudinizing display of these 
 lovely women, as is by their custom allowed and com 
 mended, comely to the organ of vision do they appear, 
 
266 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 them mayest not fancy the seeming brazen effrontry of it, 
 Vielbeer, but consider that we of our own land are not 
 all the world, there are others. What hast thou to utter 
 censure on, others can well do the same of the (to 
 them) curious modes of thy land, and speak in much 
 ridicule of them. How seemest it to the people of 
 strange lands thinkest thou, the customs of the non- 
 abstemious minded worthies of our own Christian 
 countries of repeatedly treating one another at the places 
 where wine is sold by the gourd sip or by the flagon, 
 and causing each and every one to beswill his brain in 
 vast quantities and whoop about in ungodly doings as a 
 result thereof, whereas, had each been left to his own 
 free will and unhampered devices he would have bar 
 gained but for a drink or two, or at most a flagon ? Or 
 else what think they of our own pure Teutonic people 
 sending at great cost our learned, and we had hoped wise, 
 men to sit in council and legislate for the nation, and the 
 greater part of them making such inane laws and in such 
 vast numbers that nobody gives any attention to them, 
 except to pay heavy fees to employ learned counsel but 
 to break them again ; and our people all send thankful 
 praise to the forty saints that their great law-making as 
 semblies sitteth in council not weekly, but only once in 
 a good twelvemonth; how thinkest thou that these 
 Christian and moon-blossoming ways of doing seem to 
 their view, seemest it not to thee that our ways but dimly 
 interpreted and not clearly understood by them, look as 
 unseemly to their eyes as their (to thee) unusual customs 
 do to thine ? 
 
 * Remember the anxious ones whom we left and 
 whose hopes are built upon us; let not a momentary 
 passion influence thee, Vielbeer, and cause, by some rash 
 act of thine impulsive nature the defeat or failure of the 
 object of our mission, and be the means of the death^of 
 our townsmen, our village s helpless women and the in 
 nocent babes at home, for when thou calmest from thy 
 passion, and cool reflection comes, and reason which thou 
 loseth in thine anger again assumes its sway over thee, 
 thou wilt from the fullest depths of thy great heart regret 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 267 
 
 it ; the awful specter of remorse will ever haunt thee, Viel- 
 beer, and the reasonings of long, weary years shall fail to 
 allay it ; and the grim reaper, death, whom thou now view- 
 eth with horror, wilt thou then welcome and consider as thy 
 greatest friend, as being the only alleviator of thy ceaseless 
 gnawing anguish the only one to relieve thee from the 
 ever-pursuing frightful phantom s near propinquity, the 
 only one who can free thee from the thrice hellish appa 
 rition s presence. Come forward now, and as I introduce 
 thee, bow, and scrape thy giant foot in respect to this great 
 Eastern nation of which his majesty is the noble repre 
 sentation, and thee and I together, with thy shoulder 
 touch on my left to support my courage, through my lips 
 wilt we plead our cause. 
 
 So Vielbeer came forward and made a large and 
 stately bow, and swept, with a noise as of rushing thunder, 
 his left sandal backward over the beautiful mosaic floor 
 at the throne of the monarch ; and standing both before 
 him, the monk made known to the Sultan the object of 
 their mission and the reason for it, together with all the 
 harrowing circumstances which had led up to it. The 
 Sultan, a wise and intellectual ruler, deep in learning and 
 the desire of knowledge of strange lands, listened atten 
 tively throughout the monk s well presented recital, and 
 at its close inquired of Monastus if the vengeful chief 
 tain was a Christian. 
 
 " Y e , n o ; that is I think , I really know not, 
 replied the lightning- witted monk, instantly seeing the 
 trap laid for him. 
 
 "Then canst thou tell me if he doeth that in the 
 name of Christianity as something that will give great 
 pleasure to his God ? 
 
 " I fear that he is no , that is I hope that he is no t, 
 that is I mean, perchance, he is yet no Christian, con 
 fusedly answered Monastus. 
 
 If he be a Christain and thy mission go astray, and 
 he wreak his vengeance, doeth he it to better keep in 
 hand with the beautiful teachings of Christ ? Surely 
 among the Ten Commandments given by your Deity and 
 taught by Jesus of Nazareth, which the professors of 
 
268 STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 Christianity claim to take as their standard, I learned 
 naught of this nothing of slaying innocent women and 
 children, but much of forgiveness and leniency to mis 
 guided ones. Deeply have I thought on the teachings of 
 the founder of this new religion, and far from the chief 
 tain s construction of them have seemed their meaning to 
 me. However, he remarked, and a humorous twinkle 
 appeared in his eyes, dire, indeed, must have been the 
 Christian chieftain s desire for vengeance not to have been 
 smoothly talked out of it by thee. Certainly we will do 
 all that lies within our power to aid thee. Thou two shalt 
 have the run of the public rooms of the palace, of the 
 buildings of state and the freedom of the museums of the 
 city. Thou canst wander through the apartments of the 
 palace as freely as among the bazaars of the streets, and 
 select thyselves, after plenty searching and deliberation, 
 what thou thinkest will be proper to barter for, and what 
 will appear to thee certain to fulfill thy part of the obli 
 gation for which thou two have wandered so far on such 
 a noble mission ; all the aid within reason will I lend thee. 
 And with that he dismissed them. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 "NTOW, it was not long, certainly, before the two, in 
 M their search (for two rare objects that surely must 
 not fail to please the powers at home, the chieftain and 
 his wife) through the marble home of the Sultan, the 
 state structures and among the spacious bazaars, and in 
 their passing hours of recreation amidst the alluring 
 scenes of the surrounding highly-cared-for grounds not 
 long, indeed, before they got much inkling and breeze of 
 the story of the aged wanderer and of his rejuvenation ; 
 his growing backward into a more puerile condition, and 
 of his astounding fabrications ; and they were finally 
 given an opportunity to see them, to behold the Sultana 
 in her garment, witness her supremeness appearing like 
 a white-robed goddess from the celestial realms and to 
 observe the unique workmanship and the merits of the 
 famed sword. Monastus at once saw that these two ar 
 ticles stood out so prominently in being the objects that 
 would, beyond question, enchant the two rulers at home, 
 that nothing else they had seen was worth entertaining 
 in comparison with them, and he held a long consulta 
 tion with the burgomaster as to the best means of secur 
 ing possesion of them, as bartering for articles so price 
 less was felt would be held as absurd, even were their 
 resources many times greater. 
 
 " Surely, spoke Vielbeer, one so crafty as thou 
 canst promulgate some scheme to wheedle them away 
 from the owners. Canst thou not present them with 
 some of the things in thy bag curious to them and 
 by stories and tales wondrous to hear, of the greatness, 
 wealth and glories of our own far western land, and by 
 leading them to think that we .at home, that our people 
 hold them and their country and their arts in but little 
 respect, and so work upon their feelings and so pique 
 them that they will send the articles along with us as 
 
 18 \ 
 
270 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 just slight tokens to our land of some of the minor every 
 day and not much esteemed works of theirs ; that they 
 feared to send aught of much value, in that we might 
 lose it, etc. Surely thy head that hast carried us so safely 
 and securely through so many dangers the past year, and 
 which contains such a subtle mind as thine will not 
 slump now at working out a method such as this. 
 
 " When it comes to artfulness loth am I, Vielbeer, to 
 match my capacity against that of the Sultan; however 
 great an opinion I naturally may have of my own capabil 
 ities, the depth of them but enables me to perceive the 
 greatness of his majesty s own. To use an expression of 
 our own western land, Vielbeer, which heaven grant that 
 we shall see again with our journey s object accom 
 plished, the Sultan is no slouch." If I am a shade more 
 crafty than he in anything, it may lie in that, that I can 
 bethink me of the way to handle him. Trickery and guile 
 will not do here in this ; to so intellectual a one as the 
 Sultan, its application would but work the opposite of 
 our wishes ; his keen insight would at once peruse the 
 method employed by us like a plainly written page, and 
 feeling we had ill-requited his benevolence, trust and 
 generosity withdraw from us as undeserving the 
 graciousness of his good will and earnest wishes for the 
 success of our pilgrimage, and retract from us, to our in 
 calculable disadvantage, his beneficent confidence and es 
 teem. In this case not craft but candor is of paramount 
 importance or marvelously much do I mistake the noble 
 ness of the Sultan s rare qualities. 
 
 " L,et us go to him and ask for the loan of the sword; 
 let us get an audience with the Sultana, let us approach 
 her first and speak of the endangered sisters of our town, 
 let us plead the cause of the innocent babes at home, 
 now nestling in confidence of protection at their mothers 
 breasts, all unconscious of their impending doom, hovering 
 on the failure of our undertaking; and I warrant the Sul 
 tana, from what I discern of her lofty nature, and unless 
 much I misconstrue the reading of her ideal and divine 
 character, will not only relinquish fora time the garment, 
 but will add her pleadings to our own at the feet of the 
 monarch, for the loan of the sword. 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 271 
 
 " But now that I think more of it, craft must also 
 come into play ; it is passing strange that I can advance 
 the interests of no cause entirely without the use of some 
 artifice or duplicity. Ah me! well let it be so, but the de 
 ceit must only be employed after reaching our own land, 
 for we must arrange a plan to gain them away from the 
 clutches of the chieftain and his consort after the ban is 
 removed from the village, after the curse of vengeance is 
 appeased, and for that purpose, indeed, will I bring for 
 ward all my skill in shrewdness, to that end devote my 
 entire adeptness in trickery and deception. We will ex 
 plain the entire arrangement to the Sultan, that the 
 young vizier with his youthful wife must accompany us 
 home ; he hath, thou hast noticed as well as I, but a 
 single wife, for although it seems that the number of 
 women one can take in marriage is not by their laws so 
 limited, yet still do I observe that the system of a plu 
 rality of spouses is not general among them ; that by far 
 the vast majority of these Turks have but one partner of 
 their bosom, but one sharer of their joys and sorrows, 
 she being, it seems, all-sufficient for them to handle ; they 
 appear to find in swinging a single wife that their hands 
 are largely full and to spare. The vizier and his wife must 
 accompany us on our return home with the two treasures, 
 and on the inventions of such inestimable worth being 
 offered to our rulers as fulfilling our obligation and our 
 part of the contract, and on their being accepted of course 
 beyond question, and the anathema of retribution hang 
 ing over our townspeople removed, to also present the 
 vizier and wife as care-takers of the two wonderfully con 
 structed articles which were sent (we will state, to allow 
 no opportunity for suspicion to arise) by the Sultan and 
 Sultana, as gifts to the rulers of our land the vizier as 
 " Gentleman of the Sword " to see it ever kept in proper 
 state, and the vizieress as " Maid of the Garment " to 
 attend its donning, doffing, and insure its safety and pro 
 tection from injury. After the ban is removed and all is 
 clear before us, we will assist the Turks in carrying away 
 the loaned objects, and attend them back to the western 
 shores of the Black Sea, where at the near end of two 
 
272 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 years the Sultan can have a vessel in waiting to bring 
 them back here, and we return again to our domiciles. 
 
 " Great art thy thinking powers and well planned out 
 thy schemes, O, penetrating and far-seeing monk ! In 
 all thou now sayest I fully agree with thee. In not one 
 particle can I add a word or suggest a variation from thy 
 originally formed idea and the method of thy contrived 
 procedure, remarked the burgomaster fervently. 
 
 " So together they first sought the Sultana and urgently 
 laid their entreaty before her for the loan of the garment 
 for somewhat over two years, and the description pictured 
 by the sly monk of the tiny, cute-handed little sucklings, 
 all unconscious of evil, clinging in full trustfulness and 
 nestling security to their mothers perhaps soon lifeless 
 bosoms, so affected her that she shed dewy tears and 
 promised the garment at any time they requested to take 
 it. Next went they to the sovereign, and again Monastus 
 explained his outlined plans and spoke for the sword, 
 mentioning the already secured consent of the Sultana to 
 relinquish, for the time desired, the bewitching snowy 
 raiment, and dwelt long and fully on the promise of its 
 certain and safe return within two, and perhaps a half 
 longer, years. 
 
 " Again the lurking smile stole on to and played about 
 the finely chiseled mouth of the Sultan, just as it had on 
 his first interview with the two when the burgomaster 
 rashly drew his blade and presented a dexterous combina 
 tion of slashing strokes in the air before his very nose, 
 and the monk had so flatteringly interpreted his com 
 panion s threatening demonstration. Again the humor 
 ous gleam shone from his deeply penetrating eyes. 
 
 "And so, spoke he: Monastus, thou hast already 
 wheedled my wife out of her fine dress, and now comest 
 with thy oily language to me to relieve me of the care 
 and cumber of my valuable sword. Yet much of truth 
 fulness and faithful willingness and good and firm inten 
 tion to carry out thy promises, do I detect in both of thee. 
 Certainly thou mayest have the sword to take along with 
 thee as well as the garment, and if not returned, in a 
 length of moons within reason, after the lapse of the 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 273 
 
 specified time, better by far for me than for thee and thine, 
 for I will then come and take them, and in doing so 
 casually wipe out all Christendom ; it will be but giving 
 me a good cause and excuse to invade and plunder, to 
 conquer and pillage, to subdue and sack the land. 
 
 "All this last the monk did not see fit to translate to 
 the burgomaster, having knowledge of Vielbeer s heat 
 and his quickness to take offense, and fearing that he 
 might resent the words, the imputation that all Christen 
 dom was only allowed to exist because it merely suited 
 the whim of the ruler of Asiatic Turkey for the present, 
 and that whenever his caprice led him to think otherwise 
 he had merely to make the attempt, to succeed in yoking 
 the necks of all that portion of the world in which Christ 
 ianity prevailed. This was conceit, Monastus full well 
 knew, that, uttered in the burgomaster s hearing, trans 
 posed in language of Vielbeer s understanding, would 
 again cause him to lose his self-possession, fire to anger 
 and unreason, and mayhap greatly endanger the burgo 
 master s own as well as the Sultan s imperial person, and 
 quarrel just as all their hopes were consummating, so he 
 held his peace and said nothing in answer to Vielbeer s 
 expectant, inquiring look, but raised his eyes to the Sul 
 tan s own laughing ones, and there saw that he had 
 again been highly complimented, for he read in his ma 
 jesty s twinkling eyes that he knew full well his high 
 opinion of the monk s discretion and prudence would not 
 be lowered by Monastus oversetting, to the inflammable 
 burgomaster, in their native tongue, his eminence s 
 joking speech. 
 
 1 So the Sultan caused the sword to be brought, 
 and well wrapped in oiled and costly goods, and 
 handed it himself to the two grateful visitors in the great 
 throne-hall, before all the assembled court, and the Sul 
 tana entered with her young ladies and the spotless rai 
 ment and assisted them in carefully bundling the dress to 
 save it from harm during its carriage so many leagues 
 toward the setting sun, and then, although the travelers 
 were strangers from a Christian, hostile and religiously 
 antagonistic land, and although the relinquishment of 
 
274 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 the garment might mean the loss of all to her; the 
 loss of the appearance of youth, the loss of beauty, of 
 husband, love, position and power, yet without the faint 
 est tremor in the tone of her soft, silvery voice, and with 
 out the mistiest shade of moisture in her lustrous, black 
 and soulful eyes, and with an expression of the angels 
 upon her face, with her own hands she placed the em- 
 bundled garment in the grasp of the two now departing 
 visitors, and bade them God- speed God-speed for the 
 sake of her imperiled sisters of a distant land for the 
 sake of the innocent little children clustering and cling 
 ing about their parents knees for the sake of the babes 
 nestling in confident helplessness to their mothers 
 breasts ; and they both bowed low in reverence before 
 her. And the Sultan at that moment arose in his grandeur 
 of character and showed that he was not a man, but in 
 his ability to appreciate true and noble womanhood, a 
 gift from the gods sent upon earth, for he fell upon his 
 knee before her in an attitude of exhalted adoration, just 
 as he had done on her first donning the garment twelve 
 long years before, and taking her hand in his own raised 
 it to his lips and kissed it, arose and embraced her before 
 the great assembled court, and stated to all, that she 
 looked more heavenly at that moment, a thousand times 
 more seraphic and celestial, than in all the years since the 
 magic dress had been in her possession. And then after 
 making their farewell obeisances to the monarchs and 
 then adieus to all, the two in company with the youth 
 ful couple, comprising the young vizier and his bride, 
 who were but too delighted at the prospects of a visit to 
 strange and wondrous lands went out of the sight of the 
 Sultan and wife and into their dreams forever. 
 
 " Ah, the changes of time ! What will they not work ? 
 What will honesty and candor, patience and perseverance 
 not accomplish ? The two travelers, jaded and worn, 
 dusty and travel-stained, down-hearted and melancholy, 
 had but a few months before entered the Asiatic capital 
 afoot, heavy spirited, sore-soled and weary. They de 
 parted from it in his eminence s luxuriant carriage, behind 
 six cream-colored Arabian steeds, which, caparisoned 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 275 
 
 in harness refulgent with gold, silver and gay-colored 
 trappings, drew them along from out the gates of the 
 palace on their journey home. 
 
 " They had come to the capital in a worn and fatigued 
 state, as one who has been for more than a year journey 
 ing afoot, can well describe and imagine for himself. 
 They had gone from it with light hearts, their mission 
 having succeeded beyond their greatest hopes and ex 
 pectations, and they had now but to look forward to the 
 Godward sent thanks of their anxiously waiting villagers 
 and kinsmen, so sure to be given upon their safe return 
 with the object of their expedition accomplished. They 
 were conveyed to the sea, and all four of them em 
 barking, white sails were flung to the breeze, and the 
 rolling waves plowed, and soon were all standing with 
 light hearts and buoyant spirits upon its western shore, 
 near the same place where not so many months before 
 the two travelers, on their way to the Hast, had 
 stood alone with downcast spirits and heavy hearts, and 
 had sadly and wearily looked out over the vast expanse 
 of desolate water before them. From here, from this part 
 of the shore, at the mouth of the Danube, the blue waters 
 of which could be noticed flowing far out into the sea, 
 where the vessel was to meet them within two years, and 
 failing their appearance, await a space of time not beyond 
 reason, they followed the route backward, reversed the 
 order of their out ward trip from home, by this time pursu 
 ing on foot the path of the Danube and again crossed the 
 Tyrol, its vales and mountains, upon the snow-capped sum 
 mits of which the two Turks did much shivering in con 
 sequence of their thin warmblooded structural organiza 
 tions, so much better adapted to the languid summer 
 afternoon clime of their native land than to resist the 
 constitution-wrecking icy blasts of these azure-pkrcing 
 and perpetually snow-covered elevations; much shivering 
 did they both, the two from the land where luscious figs 
 ripen and where roses ever bloom, and the vizier vowed 
 as he snugly shrunk into himself, deeply among his 
 wraps, loudly vowed from under his embrowned blue 
 nose and from between his chattering teeth, that should a 
 country be discovered that in summer would at no time be 
 
276 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 too warm, would never become so sweltering as his own land 
 grew in the mid-season of fragrant blossoms, and that in 
 the winter failed by far to get as cold as did these 
 Christian wastes in the season of snow, that should such 
 a country be uncovered it must surely be a portion of 
 paradise fallen upon earth. 
 
 "Leaving the Tyrol back of them, they traveled 
 through the northern portion of Switzerland to the head 
 waters or source of the Rhine, this time descending its 
 course and in a small boat which needed no rowing along 
 the swift upper course of the river, but merely good 
 steering to keep it from running into the banks, and to 
 continue it safely on its way in midstream ; it was not a 
 great length of time after entering the boat before the 
 holy monk and the worthy burgomaster, along with their 
 two guests, anchored right before the noses of their towns 
 men, having faithfully performed their all-important 
 errand and safely returned to their home, which, after 
 their long absence looked most inviting and attractive to 
 their gaze, and having yet a good many weeks time to 
 their credit. 
 
 "Of the unbounded joy that their presence occasioned, 
 of the praises to the All Ruler above, given for the suc 
 cess of the mission and the two pilgrims unharmed back- 
 coming I need not dwell upon or even state, suffice it 
 for me to mention that the merry jaunt, accompanied by 
 thankful numbers of the villagers, was made to the royal 
 abode of the chieftain, the articles and their attendant 
 Turkish care-takers presented, as answering their requisi 
 tions of the dorf of Cologne s part of the obligation, and 
 the Turkish guests, the monk and the burgomaster with 
 all their accompanying train of followers had the heart 
 felt satisfaction of seeing the offering accepted by those 
 in power, with unconcealed delight, and the ban of ven 
 geance which had been lurking over their town like some 
 most deadly poisonous vapor, at once removed, and in 
 exhilarated spirits indeed did the villagers return to 
 their homes, their wives and little ones, now again to 
 breath the pure air of freedom. 
 
 "And after the months had rolled on into the past, and 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 277 
 
 the vizier and his wife grew weary of strangers, of new 
 scenes and the harsh roughness of a northern clime, and 
 longed for the mellow twilight and softened shades of 
 their oriental home, they quietly and without the least 
 boisterous or noisesome ado abstracted the garment and 
 sword at dead of night when all but their two stragetic- 
 ally maneuvering and worthy selves were deep in the bliss 
 ful, recuperating, refreshing and unconscious depth of 
 slumber, and flying from the seat of the chieftain s court, 
 and meeting Monastus and Vielbeer at an appointed ren 
 dezvous long previously agreed upon, all fled rapidly to 
 Cologne, from whence, after a hasty refitting, they all 
 four once more followed the course of the Rhine, now all 
 afoot. And when the chieftain found out the theft, which 
 he did the next day after vainly searching for his sword, 
 on his furiously excited spouse early in the morn acquaint 
 ing him with her discovery of the disappearance of her 
 half of the two offerings, and rightly construing that the 
 strangers must, being but little acquainted with the form of 
 the land, naturally seek out, in their flight to return to 
 their own country, the same paths over which they came 
 he hastened his emissaries straight to the village ; and 
 on their arrival at Cologne the minions of the chieftain 
 were given by the townsmen the instructions left them, 
 to mouth out, by the monk (Monastus being well aware 
 that a scrupulously regardful and conscientious at 
 tention to the minutest details was most necessary as a 
 fundamental element in ensuring the success of their 
 scheme, having, ere he departed, carefully and thoroughly 
 enjoined them in the manner they were to enlighten the 
 oncomers, and having furnished them with the requisite 
 information they should impart to them) ; and they were 
 to the effect that the two Turkish personages haid been 
 seen in the vicinity lurking suspiciously about late one 
 evening, having in their possession bundles and wraps, 
 and mistrusting that all was not regular, and fearing from 
 indications presented that they had absconded from where 
 their duties lay, in some deep, shadowy and not alto 
 gether just, sincere and rightful manner becoming to the 
 noble confidence and deep trust the monk and burgo- 
 
278 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 master had reposed in their honesty, and much alarmed 
 that all was not right, and that the Turks were making 
 for their palm-shaded home on the olive-clad shores of 
 the slipper- shaped sea, Monastus and Vielbeer had im 
 mediately rushed to their preparations and at once set 
 out to follow them in hot pursuit, which fully explained 
 the absence of all the four ; and with that tale sticking 
 deeply down where it had been shoved into their throats, 
 the emissaries had to be content, and returned and made 
 their report to headquarters ; and the chieftain, his wail 
 ing spouse and all, awaited with great anxiety the out 
 come. 
 
 " Hot, indeed, must have been the pursuit of the fugi 
 tives ; so hot and blasting that it seems to have 
 burnt up and obliterated entirely every trace of their 
 trail ; to have absorbed away into the elements every im 
 pression produced by their footsteps or passage, for over 
 a gocd year later the monk and the burgomaster returned 
 and gave out that the fleeing unbelievers had, to all ap 
 pearances, vanished from off the face of the Christian 
 lands, and in desperation at last the pursuers, despairing 
 of ever coming upon a vestige of their track, had 
 hastened to the shore, where the fleeing ones must em 
 bark, and they had arrived there after prodigious run 
 ning only to see a white sail upon the melancholy sighing 
 waves of the Black Sea, slowly disappearing from view 
 in the distance over the restless waste of dark and dreary 
 waters, and on them loudly shouting, violently waving 
 their hats and arms aloft, dancing wildly up and down 
 upon the shell-strewn beach and making furious gesticu 
 lations, had only the satisfaction of seeing the Sultan s 
 flag, the silver moon of the Orient upon a dark green 
 background, run up to the masthead, slowly and gently 
 unfold to the breeze and display itself, to their far-strained 
 eyes, in the expression of a saluting * good-by for ever, 
 and then the proud flag, white sails and all, grew dim 
 mer and finally faded off into the sea s far-away deep 
 blue-hazed horizon beyond their range of vision, and 
 with that tale all concerned had to be content. 
 
 " That a deeply sly finger in the disappearance of the 
 
STUDENT UFE IN GERMANY. 279 
 
 garment had that self-same monk, much confident and 
 satisfied am I, pensively remarked the disconsolate 
 chief tainess on one occasion to her noble lord. 
 
 " Never doubt it, replied he; that monk, in his 
 deviltry, is more than some, he is a little hundred. 
 
 " So the villagers, in thankfulness to their benefactors, 
 erected the stone chapel for the monk, as expressive of their 
 deep love for Monastus and their undying gratitude for 
 his services in their hours of sad need and distress. And 
 when his holy body was at last without life when it be 
 came freed from his immortal soul they reverent^ and 
 in profound sorrow laid all that was mortal of him to his 
 last rest in the little secluded garden alongside his house 
 of worship, amidst the flowers and trees, among which in 
 moments of thought and recreation he so loved to pace 
 to and fro; and there his dust remains undisturbed. For 
 close on to nine hundred years later, in the middle part 
 of the thirteenth century, the crumbling chapel was torn 
 down and over its site, and that of the grave in which he 
 was taking his eternal rest, was reared up into the blue 
 vault above the magnificent cathedral. 
 
 And my ancestor, Burgomaster Centavus Vielbeer, 
 was presented with the portion of the unused money 
 brought back from the long voyage by the frugal monk, 
 and also given a sum added thereto, with which he 
 came farther up the Rhine and purchased this site and 
 all the land surrounding, and thus laid the foundation of 
 the fortunes of this noble house and for the future knight 
 ing into barons of his long line of descendants who later 
 became so illustrious as to shed glory over all Germany, 
 and for the erection of this castle as a stronghold becom 
 ing the extensive lands of the baronial estate; and, Ger 
 man-like, well and thorough, as evidently you can see 
 for yourself, and as the state of the edifice gives witness, 
 did the builders in stone do their work upon the construc 
 tion of this fastness," concluded the baron. 
 
 "The night is now far spent," said I, "and however 
 much I would like to hear about the wonderful exploits 
 of the burgomaster of Cologne s ancestor, Chieftain 
 Unus Vielbeer, who paralyzed all Italy on several occa- 
 
280 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 sions in the first century by his astonishing deeds in 
 the Roman amphitheaters, still I fear I must forego the 
 pleasure. They were achievements of a surprising nature 
 I can but think." 
 
 " They were indeed ", replied the baron. c The never- 
 equaled feats that he performed in the Coliseum were the 
 marvel of the Eternal City for two centuries, and the 
 beautiful young bride that he carried away with him was 
 the cause, by her disappearance, of much wailing and 
 gnashing of teeth for years by all the young men of the 
 Roman nobility." 
 
 "I must, however, renounce the hope of hearing it, 
 and I suppose for good and all, as I leave your charming 
 and most hospitable roof, baron under which I have 
 spent no happier months elsewhere since the enchanting 
 time of childhood in the evening of the morrow. 
 
 "Nay, nay" replied the baron, "you will come back 
 again to see us from your far distant home ; say that 
 within ten years from now, say that we shall see you 
 again." 
 
 "Yes, dear Vielbeer " I replied, "it can be; I may 
 come back again ; such is possible, but will I find you 
 still here?" 
 
 Why not?" responded the snow-haired, patriarchal 
 baron. " Why not? I am but eighty-eight. My sainted 
 mother was over a hundred and six years of age ere she 
 departed this life, and my grandfather dwelt upon this 
 earth well up into the far nineties. Eighteen or twenty 
 years yet I easily could survive, and I feel somehow sure 
 that you will come back, almost feel certain of it some 
 thing seems to tell me that I shall see you again. " 
 
 With that in my ears I bade him good-night, and re 
 tired to my own apartments, opened the lofty tower 
 window, and took one last look at the far-gone night 
 time appearance of the scene ; the low-hanging crescent- 
 shaped golden moon, in all its lovely splendor, just sink 
 ing to rest over the distant vine-clad hills of fair and his 
 toric Germany, the land of poetry and lofty sentiment ; 
 the brightly twinkling stars shining from out their black 
 firmament, as beautifully and calmly now, as they had in 
 
STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 281 
 
 the days of old over the many never-to-be-unearthed 
 villainous misdoings carried on under cover of the night ; 
 one last look down upon the silver Rhine shimmering in 
 the moonlight, flowing past in all its lovely majestic 
 grandeur, in legend -awakening sublimity. And then I 
 closed the tower window and packed my grip, and late 
 the next evening, just before the shades of darkness be 
 gan to fall into the vaulted chambers of the great somber 
 building, I took my departure. They all gathered about 
 the door, in the area- way under the immense sculptured 
 front arch of the building the one which had the Viel- 
 beer coat of arms of fox and stacks so truly and nicely 
 carved above it to see me off and bid me good-by. 
 Schnurkelyah came down the steps, slipped on the last 
 one and landed plump upon his broad back on the old, 
 well-worn rock pathway, in which position he remained 
 wildly and furiously pawing the German evening breeze 
 until one of the young men, descending after him, pro 
 truded a foot and gently turned him over. Immediately 
 giving himself a jelly-like shake and an apoplectic 
 sneeze, he ran after me, as I left, for about the space of 
 a hundred yards, and seeing none of the family follow, 
 turned himself and returned to the door, nervously dab 
 bled around about for awhile, and then with a whine pad 
 dled after my footsteps again to about half his former dis 
 tance, and on then looking back and once more seeing 
 none of them following devised that I was leaving, and 
 giving a loud lamenting howl again went back to the 
 arch, and then as I got farther and farther away down 
 the elevation and into the distance and deepening shad 
 ows, and turned once more for my last look, I saw him 
 give a few spasmodic runs of ten or twenty feet or so 
 each time, toward me and back again to and up the steps, 
 leading from the arched area- way to the ground, and at 
 last, as if in broken-hearted resignation to the fact that 
 I was going for good, he faced my departing form, reared 
 back upon his haunches, and with his nose lifted toward 
 the zenith, and giving vent to a last long mournful wail, 
 I saw him turn around, run up the stone steps, dive be 
 tween Vielbeer s legs and disappear within the fast gath- 
 
282 
 
 STUDENT LIFE IN GERMANY. 
 
 ering gloom of the massive doorway, and thus, in almost 
 the final view I had of Schnurkelyah his heels were 
 again up and his head again down. So with a last 
 wide-circling sweep of my hat around in the air in re 
 sponse to their waving handkerchiefs in the distance, I 
 bowed my head on my chest and turning my back on 
 the castle again left behind me a home, a dejected dog, 
 and the kindest of friends, and once more wandered 
 sadly out into the wide world. 
 
 The following verses by a friend are illustrative of my 
 inmost feelings at that parting long years agone : 
 
 AUF WIEDERSEHEN. 
 
 " Good-by ", we say, but do not mean it so ; 
 
 The voice is trern lous with the halting word 
 Our hands unclasp, the last fond sigh unheard 
 Our ways part here and may not meet below. 
 
 " Adieu ", the soft lips breathe with hidden pain ; 
 There is no wish express d, no joyous hope 
 Expands within life s mystic horoscope, 
 Nor love looks into eyes which love again. 
 
 " Farewell ", we sigh, and go where duty calls ; 
 The word so idly spoken may not be 
 The crowning piece of an eternity, 
 Nor ever lie where fate so rudely falls. 
 
 " Good-by," " Adieu," " Farewell," all bring us pain ; 
 But Love will softly breathe, "Auf Wiedersehen." 
 
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