XV.

Down the Rhine.--Belgium.

WHEN I turned my back upon Switzerland, I felt like

one leaving home. I had now been several weeks among those stupendous mountains, and wandering through those green sequestered valleys. It was to me a new experience. Such scenery I had never seen before. Indeed, such scenery is nowhere else to be found. In respect to its natural features, it seemed more like home to me than all other lands, because, more grand and beautiful than all others. Where we find most to love, there we find most of home. The soul is most at home amid the grand and beautiful, because it finds itself there reflected. It sees itself, and it sees God, the Infinite Soul. It flows out into the objects around, and becomes one with them. It is conscious of its own greatness and beauty. The Alps are its fellows, the avalanches its playthings, the green valleys its sense of beauty, the sound of

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streams and waterfalls its own music, in which it is perpetually expressing joy and adoration.

Does not the soul always feel sad when it leaves the beautiful behind-whether it be the beauty of Nature, or the beauty of Art, or the beauty of "the human face divine" the index of the loving heart?

We had one month before entered Basle from the French side of the Rhine: we now descended on the German side, and passing through Freiburg, before nightfall were again at Baden-Baden. The throng of visitors had passed away, but a very considerable number yet remained. The region had lost none of its beauty. I took some charming walks, the early part of the next day.

In the Conversations Haus, I found the rouge et noir and roulette tables still surrounded by absorbed and eager gamesters. There was the same awful stillness, the same joyless faces. Chink, chink, the money was still changing hands. They appeared like men offering sacrifices to the Destinies.

Speaking with a gentleman about these gambling establishments, he related to me a story which illustrates the infatuation of play. A porter in Paris who earned about twenty-five franes a week, went, at the end of a certain week, with what he had accumulated, into a large gambling-house to try his luck. The play all went in his favor, and he came out with forty-five thousand francs in his pocket. He immediately deposited the money with a banker whom he happened to know. After a few days, he called upon the banker and asked for ten thousand francs, that he might go and try his luck once more. The banker strongly dissuaded him,

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but all in vain. He gave him the ten thousand francs, telling him at the same time that he would not let him have any more of his money for that purpose. The man lost his francs, and came back to the banker for more. The banker refused, told him he would not suffer him to ruin himself, and urged him to invest the remainder in some kind of business. The man insisted upon having his money, and at length told the banker he wished to rob him of his own. The banker grew

angry, returned him all his money, and bade him begone. He lost the whole, and the next day he was at his old employment again.

At Baden-Baden we took the train for Manheim, passing through Carlsruhe. The station-houses were decorated with wreaths and garlands, in preparation for the Duke, who was expected that way. We saw the carriages designed for himself and suite. The one he was to occupy was decorated with the ducal arms. In Europe the carriages on the railroad are taking the place of all other vehicles. Kings and princes travel now in this way as well as other people.

I noticed in the Duchy that the fields were mostly worked by women. The men are called off for garrison-duty. Emigration to America is going on very actively from the Duchy. I was informed that whole villages were nearly deserted. In Mayence is an office for emigrants where they take passage for America. In many places I observed placards were posted designed to dissuade the people from emigrating. They contained accounts of the manner in which emigrants are cheated at New-York by agents, and of the unhealthiness of the climate in our Western states and terri

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MAINZ.

tories. At one of the stations I noticed a laborer on the road eating his dinner. It consisted of a chunk of black bread and

some hard pears. He was nevertheless a hearty-looking young fellow, and ate with a good appetite.

We reached Manheim in the afternoon. It is a dull-looking place, situated on very low ground at the junction of the Neckar with the Rhine. It was once a strongly fortified position, and the capital of the Palatinate. Its fate, like that of Heidelberg, has been a sad one, having been several times bombarded, and twice burned to the ground in two centuries. How this rich and beautiful country has been desolated by war, truly called the pastime of princes! The people—the poor people, have had to endure the suffering and bear the burdens.

At Manheim we took the steamer. Night had set in when we reached Mainz. It being Saturday night, we remained here during the Sabbath. We took apartments at the Europäischer Hof-a fine hotel, and which boasts of the distinction of having entertained Queen Victoria.

Travellers on the Rhine are very apt not to stop at Mainz at all, but to land at Biberich, as we did when ascending the river, and to proceed on immediately to Frankfort. Indeed, there is not much to detain one here. The cathedral, built of red sandstone, has many interesting monuments. Those of the Archbishop Electors are particularly so, both from their historical associations and from the effigies of the archbishops represented in full costume. The cathedral itself is admired by architects as a fine specimen of ecclesiastical architecture. There is also a fine bronze statue of Gutemberg, the reputed

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inventor of movable types. It is cast after a design by Thorwaldsen.

The public gardens around the city are very agreeable. The town is very compactly built, and the streets are narrow and crooked. It drew my attention particularly as a garrison town. The fortifications are very strong. It is connected by a bridge with the opposite shore, where there is a fortification commanding the bridge. It is, I believe, the most important fortress on the Rhine after Ehrenbreitstein. It has been a place of consequence in military operations from the days of the Romans. It now belongs to Hesse Darmstadt, but is garrisoned by the German confederation. The troops, eight thousand in number, are partly Austrian and partly Prussian.

Sabbath morning we went to the cathedral for a short time, where many of the Austrian troops were assembled. There is but one Protestant church in the place besides the garrison church of the Prussians. We attended divine service at the latter.

The orchestra was composed of the military band. The music was admirable. There were but few instruments besides the organ. The church was filled by the soldiers. They all had prayer and hymn books, and, according to the German custom, they all united in the singing. Their conduct was perfectly orderly, and they appeared attentive and devout. They were young men of fine robust forms. At their homes they had been trained to religious duties, and their early habits had not forsaken them here. The preacher delivered an appropriate sermon with much earnestness, and his prayers were devout.