GOLDEN DAYS IN MANY LANDS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 149, 24 June 1908, Page 6

GOLDEN DAYS IN MANY LANDS.

if! £"■ THE RHINE AND DANUBE" 1 f CONTRASTED. P :!J£BX "WINIFRED H. LETS, AUCKLAND. ■ Hf! ■•••' , "~ f| F It is more pleasing to go with th< | istream than toil up against it. So, ii J! I fpossible, it is less tedious to go fr°n tj '. >ilayence to Cologne than from Cologne =■ Ito Mayence, and from Xiinz _t< I I jVienna, than from Vienna to Liuz I fjiThe passage is shortened by hours X , -though that is not always an advantage it J |jand there is an added pace and brisk I I Laess that keeps the inetrest alive-ano I I T-Baves the mind from weariness. The |f i between that nineteen hours j< j- jipassage from Vienna to I/inz and the nini i \ viours from Linz to Vienna will be strik i jing to those who know it, though : s £ fllong August day, from sunrise to sun I fefset, and the following hours of gentl< \ fe jlaioonlight, on the Danube, is by n( I |r f| jneans time wasted. a f'-K- A small beginning may lead to a grcai I ||end, as is indeed the case with the rive; I g-uDanube. Its source is a matter o : j- v controversy, some claiming that its ori '■■ I f gin is due to a little spring whicl \ <: -; bubbles up in a palace garden in th< i I piilly district of Baden; other authori i I |ties contend that, in the union o^ ; |: J two little streams up in the Black For ; I S'est is born this great liver, whosi ! I .'"waters, as they proceed through Ger I f f many, Austria, Hungary, and Turkey J ; I gather volume from the junction witl !:, f I nineteen other river 3. Much of thi p jtf "water it receives is again dispersed ty ft bits numerous tributaries, but the mail i f I stream winds in and out for the dis I f jjtance of 2000 miles, dropping from moun j |tain height to the level of the plain I i>-until at length it reaches the Biacl , I Sea. With both Rhine and Elbe thi J Danube holds communication by mean: lof canals. Unlike the Rhine, which ha i always been a highway in timee of peae ' :ior war, the Danube was for many centu 1$ Ties swift and rocky, and almost useles tlf for trafGc. In-recent years, howevei ; much has been done in blasting awaj ;.'} obstructions and in dredging and bank J ing up the current, so that the Danub' .: j now ranks as one of the most importan j and busy highways of all Europe. But I ,] though man may cope with nature v i j many of her phases, he cannot overruli : ? the elements. Hard winters cause tbj I ;\ upper parts of the river to freeze,solidly ' and even the lower reaches are rendere( '< almost unnavigable, and thus for month : the waterway is practically closed. Thei j .'; follows a time of great anxiety for th< I ■" ': dwellers on the river banks, for th< j -ithaw breaks up the ice, which in hugi : "■■ j blocks comes tearing down the strean > I ruthlessly destroying all that may ob =: ; struct its way. Watchmen are sta i ' i tioned on points of vantage, and they J ■..: ■'. by means of a gun, signal to the low I I lands the moment the ice breaks away <:~l High up among the Jhills— for the ■ 'i-\ Danube is at times 2550 feet above sea I~; level—the river may be of the glorioui yj,blue colour for which it has becoms f famous. Perhaps before it was ton ; f i about, and- turned to man's advantage fl its watere were clear and fresh to loot M upon; but where we joined it at Vienna ■I the colour was that of a very muddy I H river, llowing busily along and too much I occupied in commerce to bedeck itseli ■ ~t in the tints of the sky or to vie with I the clearness'of the ocean. S g But the muddy river has its gems, -: « and the finest of all is Vienna. The I city is closely built with very distinctive p I old and new quarters. In the very heart . lof the shopping quarter, which is in j many ways as alluring as that of Paris. ' ;rthere rises the old church of St. Sfcet, phen, with its mosaic roof glistening in v the sunshine. Portions of this church I date to the 12th century, and the greater Ft part of it is 14th and loth century work. jl. Quite near to Sfe. Stephen's is the Im--1 perial Palace, or Hofburg, much of which I was standing, in the days of Irederiek f.ihe Wise. . .

■ ij: However, it is the newer portions of I iVlenna that are so delightful. No other I city walk that I have taken has imI pressed mc as did that which we took i -;■; one' sunny morning along the Ring : Strasse. This great boulevard 'is 2J miles ?• long, and,' with ffranz Joseph's quay, 1 forms the older part of the city into a C hexagon.. , At several points the King jj Strasse widens into tree-planted and if shady squares; and each separate Tjuild-i-ing along "this /magnificent 'boulevard jj claims the attention and admiration of is passers-by. Leaving the delightful flowerI; bordered square, which is flanked on I either side by tie museums of art and .-of natural history, we pass on towards - the Houses of Parliament, which ire p raised slightly from the roadway, and S faced by a heavy portica of Corinthian ji »olumns, in front of which stands a huge ;_ statue. Beyond the Houses of Parliament is the - Rathhaus, or Town Sail, I *nd immediately following this, and vy--1 ing with it in Gothic magnificence, -is the ,f University. So we pass from one.buildL ing to another until, while still speaking a of the jgorgeousness of the decoration ff thai we had seen in the great Opera I House, we find that we have wandered ;; on to where the exquisite little votive•l raises its twin spires towards g heaven in thanksgiving for the Austrian ?; Emperor's escape from assassination in ;v. 1553. As an example of what may be by the combination of classical and f;t Renaissance architecture, the Ring -J Strasse is something of which not only % (Vienna, but also all Europe, may well S be proud. To a large extent, the Viennese <i adopt the system of living in tenement [I houses, but the tenement housee of B Vienna have no resemblance to their ft agly relations that crowd the streets |f of the Scottish capital. The nation whose I love of dancing has brought the music I of the waltz to the perfection in which I it flowed from the brain of Strauss k could never, I am sure, design anything I; bo sombre and nnpicturesque as the I homes we are accustomed to see in the I £owns of Scotland. Vienna is a merry I city, but, in contrast to Paris or to Ber'i lin, it is an "early city," and after 11 t o'clock its "streets are almost deserted. ' : Out -in the Prater during the afternoon ft , —as on' the Champs Elysees or in Hyde f Park—one' "mingles with the parade of J. fashion,' and we were impressed not so inrach by the beauty of the Viennese worneii as by the 'graceful manner in'which they carried, themselves -when walking. On rthe whole, Vienna .is not. so .brilliant as Paris," nor so sombre as Ijondon,but it leaves on the mind the impression of a eartain. solidity temp'ared . by ,..a bright- * "pess of ellmate and_ a. light-heartedness I .of its paople, But let H3 return to out riyers. I are very different these two; great' rivers t af Europe. Leaving out of question tte t charm passessed ? by . the ■/eestlee of ; tie \ Jililne, the .Danube is a more rdrled [ stream. In place of the li!g& of the : Ehine, eastlea perched *t ewypro- ■ rainence, we find lew-lying banks etretch- -; ing away ta undulating bills j Jittle te\rtt3. ;- and. AallageSj many \vith at I T?erk and: well stacked yaids of vhite i yuoj and on thq river itself txngei rafts

of log 3 drifting down -with the ewift, swirling current, steered by men with great oars that are fixed at one end of the raft. In the centre of the raft is the •home of the raft-men—a tiny hut—while over the rounded logs their children and their dogs scamper and play, apparently quite content. The cultivation of the distant hills is patohy, and mostly they are covered by forests of tall pine intermingled with a species of beech and chestinut. There ■is variety too in the country through which the Danube flows, for after passing Persenberg the hills rise almost straight out of the water and continue so until after Sarmingstein's rounded tower and timber laden yards have been left astern. Indeed for some distance the densely wooded hills press close towards each other, narrowing the stream and intensifying the turbulence of the current. Yet before we arrive at Wallsee, before we can become depressed by the frowning hills, the banks slope gently down, becoming in fact almost flat and swampy, and the pine and spruce give place to the feathery willow and poplar. In accordance with its search after variety the Danube soon finds its way among the hills again and runs beside their -protecting walls and past their nestling villages until we bid it farewell at Linz. Of castles, the banks of the Danube between Vienna and Linz cannot make much boast. Yet there are a fewj and more picturesque even than they are the rounded watch-towers placed here and there on projecting cliffs. These, indeed,

are rent and torn with mediaeval strife, yet no towns or villages of sunny Southern Europe look more delightfully clean and peaceful to-day than those whose sloping gardens creep down to the Danube's stream. « And the Rhine—who has not heard and read and sung of the ■ohar.m and fascination of the Rhine? And if Vienna is the jewel of- the Danube, Cologne cathedral is a possession of which the Rhineland may boast with impunity. The dark grey stone of ■which the cathedral is built gives to it an appearance of age which is, in a way, deceptive, for, though the foundation stone was laid in 1248, the building of the cathedral was at various periods abandoned and it was not until 18S1 that the external ornamentation was finally completed. Even the fretwork spires that draw one's eyes like two irresistible magnets can only claim fifty years of antiquity. But to-day it is our good fortune to see it complete; just as it was designed to be by the original architect, who, tradition says, sold his soul to the devil for the plans of this, his masterpiece. That is, by the way, a strange tradition when one thinks of the real stimulus that brought about the building of this magnificent shrine. The truth is that when Milan fell captive to the forces of Frederick Barbardssa the greatest relic of that city was a casket containing the bones of the three wise men—known in the middle ages as the Magi—who came to visit the infant Saviour at Bethlehem. The bones of the Magi had been brought by Queen Helena from Palestine to Constantinople, and afterwards transferred to Milan. When .Frederick Barbarossa sacked that city he gave the bones of the three wise men to the Archbishop of Cologne, and the relics were placed in the then existing cathedral. But the inhabitants of the Rhineland, being filled with pride and reverence for their holy possession, bethought themselves that a more worthy shrine should be raised in which to place these sacred relics , . So it was from the desire that these simple people felt to do honour to the Magi that the now perfected Cologne cathedral owes its origin. The spirit of enthusiasm, however, ebbed and flowed until, though commenced so very long ago, the cathedral was only completed during the reign of the present emperor.

I love a gothic cathedral. - I love

the endless surprises that await one at every glance. The profusion of ornamentation fascinates mc; the airiness and apparent fragility of pinnacle, and crochet, and gable, and the innumerable statues which on the exterior and in the interior fill up every available corner; all are a perfect stimulus for thought. You may live for years beside a beautiful gothic cathedral and, looking at it each day, you vrill find some detail which till then had escaped your notice. A thousand fancies and thoughts and ideas are here embodied in stone, clustering and beautifying. ! Within, the great expanse is divided up into aisles by rows and rows of massive pillars, which support" the lofty and stellate vaulting of the roof. A thou-

sand coloured rays creep in through the glorious windows and gleam now in one corner, and now in another—at one time setting ablaze the stone canopy that hangs . over the head of some -sculptured saint, and at another tinting to an autumn red or golden some leaf design that ornaments the capital of a plain or a clustered column; or, again, streaming through every opening in the fretwork and pinnacles that surmount the miserere seats. In Cologne cathedral everything is noble and good, and most pleasing of all is the absence of all the tawdry tinsel that so often clashes with the magnetic beauty of Roman Catholic churches.

After the tall thin steeples at' Cologne Cathedral had faded from view until the busy, bustling waterfront of the University town of Bonn is before us, thfcRhine possesses little that is characteristic or in keeping with our expectations. From then onwards, howeverj.-for that afternoon, and the -whole of the next way, we followed the winding course of the river through a country of hills and valleys j watched on either side by innumerable frowning castles perched on almost every point and corner, rock a"nd pinnacle, that breathed down on us the air of old-world daring and romance.' The Rhine banks are, for many a mile, banked up into artificial terraces, on which flourish short bushy grape vines, and from these are made the wines for which the Rhine land is famous. Especially remarkable are the terraces of the Neiderwald, that rise behind Rudesheim. The river itself, in those August days, was gay with many a crowded steamer going up and down, the steersman smartly dodging those long, heav-ily-laden cargo barges that are towed from town to town. Stragner even than the barges are the floating wharves that went bobbing up and down with the force of the water we displaced. I

Little white-washed villages are dotted down every few hundred yards. Homely ang full of comfort they look, the roundpoihted spire of the church rising in the centre of the clustering cottages, in the courtyards of which the laughing children played. On seats by the river the old cronies, with knitting in hand, sat and gossiped, while not so far away the shady trees of an inviting beer-garden sheltered many a man and maid, both old and young. The ennimer life of these village folic appeared a very pleasant one, and more than once the sweetness of a snowy village called to us to rest awhile; though Cofelenee, where vre spent a night, was not one of these, ' * In faelyit is in the life, both of to-day and ef dsya gone by, that lies'the charm

of the Shine, rather than in its natural scenery. Above almost every village stands a ruined castle, rich' in history and legends of-lords and kings, of knights and beautiful maidens, who lived and fought and loved many a century ago. As children we had read those legends of the Rhine with no small degree of excitement,and now as we passed the ?wo castles, Sterrenberg and Conrad, known as "The Brothers," we remembered that it was here that Conrad and Heinrich loved their adopted playmate Hildegarde. Looking at Castle Sterrenberg we think of Conrad and his faithlessness—how he went to the wars and, soon forgetting his old love and playmate, though he knew she loved him dearly, brought back home another bride. Beneath the shadow of his Home it was easy to picture the anger of true-hearted Heinrien and his consequent quarrel with his brother. But, keenest of all on that sunny August day, our hearts went out to the gentle Hildegarde, who brokenhearted, could yet find forgiveness for Conrad, and who, after making peace between the brothers, retired to spend her yet young life in a convent.

We listened for the cries of the spirits who perished in the haunted pit of Castle Marksburg.

By and by, we passed St. Goar, with the great ruined Castle Rheinfels crowning the hill behind. While just as we were reading the legend of the lovely maiden whose beauty and melodious voice charmed men to destruction in the dreaded Lurlei Whirlpool, we came abreast of the rocks of Lurlei standing about 450 feet above the very whirlpool.

To left and to right of us stood castles, all the way up the river from Coblence until we came to Mayence, where we bade it farewell. Travelling with our party on that memorable day was an American doctor, accompanied by his wife and two children. The eldest girl was but a child of twelve years, yet her enthusiasm over the castles and the legends attached to them was great, and her excitement reached a most amusing climax as we came near to a rocky island in the middle of the stream opposite Bingen, on which stands the Mausethurm, or the Mouse Tower, made so familiar to us all by Southey's poem on Bishop Hatto and the "Revenge of the Mice." Oblivious of the smiling faces of our German fellow-passengers, she recited in her excited childish voice the famous poem, refreshing her memory from time to time by a little book of Rhine legends she carried. 'Tis a gruesome story, yet, I expect, the one we all know best.

In speaking of the smiling faces of our fellow passengers, I am reminded of the noisy parties our steamer took from town to town; I have scarcely ever seen greater hilarity. Whoever weaved the tradition that the Germans were a stolid people could never have travelled by a Rhine steamer on a summer's day. Why, they sang and laughed and waved handkerchiefs to passing steamers in a manner that quite surpassed any bank holiday crowd on the Thames. The men nursed the women on their knees, and gleefully kissed their neighbour's wife. Every extravagance of a fete day was indulged in, but with absolute good nature on the part of both men and women. Away in the stern of the boat a honeymoon couple spent the day. Their contentment in each other's company was supreme, and excluded all knowledge of any other presence. Toward evening, when both had laughed themselves weary, the man stretched himself on the seat while his pretty bride nursed his head on her knees and patted his face. Anyone more absolutely oblivious of public surroundings I have never seen. , Next Week: THE TYROL. Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, and Innsbruck.