Part 14 (1/2)

CHAPTER VI

NIGHT SECOND

SEVEN NIGHTS ON THE RHINE:--BASLE--MARSHAL VON MOLTKE--THE STORY OF THE ENCHANTED HEN

Our second night on the Rhine was passed at Basle Leaving Lake Constance, the Rhine, full of vivid life, starts on its way to the sea At the Rhinefall at Schaffhausen the water scenery becoantic rock, over three hundred feet wide, impedes the course of the river, and over it the waters leap and eddy and foaes whose s glitter in the sun

We rode through the so-called Forest towns High beeches stood on each side of the river, and the waters here were as blue as the sky, and so clear we could see the gravelly bed

The river hastened to Basle We hastened on like the river Basle is the first town of importance on the Rhine

Here we obtained a fine view of the Black Forest range of hills, and beheld the distant sues

[Illustration: A VILLAGE IN THE BLACK FOREST]

Basle was a Roles of Roray with history,--with the battles of Church and State, battles of words, and battles of deeds and blood

But the sunlight was poured upon it, and the Rhine flowed quietly by, and the palaces of peace and prosperity rose on every hand, as though the passions of men had never been excited there, or the soil reddened with blood

[Illustration: PEASANT'S HOUSE IN THE BLACK FOREST]

We took a principal street on our arrival, and followed the uncertain way It led to the cathedral, on high ground At the entrance to the grand old church stood the figures of St George and St Martin on prancing horses The interior was high and lofty, with an ian Here we read on one of the tombs, ”Erasmus of Rotterdam”

The famous Black Forest is cole, which has Basle and Constance at each end of the line of base The Rhine turns toward the north at Basle, and very nearly folloo lines of the figure The forest covers an area of about twelve hundred square , and Baden-Baden for its cities of supply and exchange; full of pastoral richness, lonely grandeur; a land of fable and song

The Black Forest Railway is one of the great triu, and has some forty tunnels It takes the traveller fro, a very quaint town, is situated in the forest

Master Lewis spoke briefly to the Club of Von Moltke, the great Prussian general

MARSHAL VON MOLTKE

Never was a nation more fortunate in its leaders than was Prussia when she aimed to achieve Gerreat crisis comes upon a country, uides of the people This was never o, she entered upon the ith France which was to decide not only her own destiny, but that of the whole German people

Three Prussians towered, at that ti; Bis statesman; and Von Moltke, the skilful and consummate soldier It was the united action of these three, as much as the valor of the Prussian ararnered its fruits

All three of these(1882-83), and still active, each in his own sphere The hale old king, now e of his sturdy powers

Bis and stubborn will the affairs of the youthful ehty-two, reure of Gere From his earliest youth he has followed the profession of arms He has always been every inch a soldier In the course of years, he became an absolute ers' ends In every eency he knew just what to do

[Illustration: VON MOLTKE]

To be sure, he has not been one of those brilliant and dashi+ngexploits and sudden triumphs, become heroes in the eyes of men He has been a careful, studious, deliberate coency, looking well ahead, and closely calculating upon every possibility of events