Zigzag Journeys in Northern Lands;
Page 3
CHAPTER I.
THE RIVER OF STORY AND SONG.
The Rhine! River of what histories, tragedies, comedies, legends,stories, and songs! Associated with the greatest events of the historyof Germany, France, and Northern Europe; with the Rome of Caesar andAurelian; with the Rome of the Popes; with the Reformation; with theshadowy goblin lore and beautiful fairy tales of the twilight ofCeltic civilization that have been evolved through centuries and havebecome the household stories of all enlightened lands!
A journey down the Rhine is like passing through wonderland; wildstories, quaint stories, legendary and historic stories, areassociated with every rood of ground from the Alps to the ocean. It isa region of the stories of two thousand years. The Rhine is the riverof the poet; its banks are the battle-fields of heroes; its forestsand villages the fairy lands of old.
When Rome was queen of the world, Caesar carried his eagles over theRhine; Titus sent a part of his army which had conquered Jerusalem tothe Rhine; Julian erected a fortress on the Rhine; and Valentinianbegan the castle-building that was to go on for a thousand years.
The period of the Goths, Huns, Celts, and Vandals came,--the conquerorsof Rome; and the Rhine was strewn with Roman ruins. Charlemagne clearedaway the ruins, and began anew the castle-building. A Christian soldierin one of the legions that destroyed Jerusalem and tore down the temple,first brought the Gospel to the Rhine. His name was Crescaitius. He wassoon followed by missionaries of the Cross. Christianity was establishedupon the Rhine soon after it entered Rome.
INTRODUCING CHRISTIANITY INTO THE NORTH.]
The great conquests of modern history are directly or indirectlyassociated with the wonderful river; Caesar, who conquered the world,crossed the Rhine; Attila, who conquered the city of the Caesars;Clovis, who founded the Christian religion in France; and Charlemagne,who established the Christian church in Germany. FrederickBarbarossa and Frederick the Great added lustre to its growinghistory, and Napoleon gave a yet deeper coloring to its thrillingscenes.
CASTLE IN RHINE LAND.]
When the Northern nations shattered the Roman power, people imaginedthat the dismantled castles of the Rhine became the abodes ofmysterious beings: spirits of the rocks, forests, fens; strangemaidens of the red marshes; enchanters, demons; the streams were theabodes of lovely water nymphs; the glens of the woods, of delightfulfairies.
TOWER OF RUeDESHEIM ON THE RHINE.]
Into these regions of shadow, mystery, of heroic history, of moralconflicts and Christian triumphs, it is always interesting to go. Itis especially interesting to the American traveller, for his form ofChristianity and republican principles came from the Rhine. Progressto him was cradled on the Rhine, like Moses on the Nile. In the Rhinelands Luther taught, and Robinson of Leyden lived and prayed; and fromthose lands to-day comes the great emigration that is peopling thegolden empire of America in the West. "I would be proud of the Rhinewere I a German," said Longfellow. "I love rivers," said Victor Hugo;"of all rivers I prefer the Rhine."
It is our purpose in this story-telling volume to relate why theZigzag Club was led to make the Rhine the subject of its winterevening study, and to give an account of an excursion that some of itsmembers had made from Constance to Rotterdam and into the countries ofthe North Sea.
"All hail, thou broad torrent, so golden and green, Ye castles and churches, ye hamlets serene, Ye cornfields, that wave in the breeze as it sweeps, Ye forests and ravines, ye towering steeps, Ye mountains e'er clad in the sun-illumed vine! Wherever I go is my heart on the Rhine!
"I greet thee, O life, with a yearning so strong, In the maze of the dance, o'er the goblet and song. All hail, beloved race, men so honest and true, And maids who speak raptures with eyes of bright blue! May success round your brows e'er its garlands entwine! Wherever I go is my heart on the Rhine!
"On the Rhine is my heart, where affection holds sway! On the Rhine is my heart, where encradled I lay, Where around me friends bloom, where I dreamt away youth, Where the heart of my love glows with rapture and truth! May for me your hearts e'er the same jewels enshrine. Wherever I go is my heart on the Rhine!"
WOLFGANG MUeLLER.