USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, 1900-1901 > Part 35
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THE LEGEND OF THE INDIAN PIPE.
When the white-faced European Drove the red man from his lands- Drove him from the broad Atlantic To the far Pacific sands- The Great Spirit, looking downward, Grieved to see his children sad, Told them they might leave behind them One small thing of all they had. Then they quarrelled-all; and one said. "Let us leave a thing of war- Tomahawk that they, by fighting, May at last exist no more." And another said, "Nay; let us Leave behind an arrow-head, That its point may draw their life-blood Till these people all are dead." "But, my brothers," cried a third one, "Tomahawk and arrow bring Death so sudden, swift and painless That it loses all its sting;
Rather let us leave the snake-skin
That I belt about my waist, That a subtle, silent poison May destroy them-not with haste."
Then there came great Assegoyne, He, the greatest chief of all, From his hut beside Niagara, Where the thunder waters fall. "Brothers!" cried the aged sachem, "Will you now, about to go. Leave but war and hate behind you? Will you treat the white men so? Let us answer the Great Spirit, Asking not for strife and war, But that he shed peace and plenty On this land forevermore. Now, ye thunder waters, listen! And, thou rolling river, hear! And, ye rocks and trees, remember! Harken. brothers, now, and fear! Though the red man leaves his wigwam Passing toward the setting sun, Though he take with him his blanket And his tomahawk and gun, Let him leave behind his peace-pipe By the ashes of his home, Leaving it alight and burning, O'er the land he used to roam."
The Great Spirit heard the answer. And it pleased him there above; For he said, "Between the red man And the white man now is love."
-Margaret Doane Gardiner in St. Nicholas.
A TOUR OF THE WORLD.
'OHN J. VALENTINE, PRESIDENT OF WELLS-FARGO & CO., WRITES HIS FRIEND, AARON STEIN, OF SAN FRANCISCO, AN ACCOUNT OF HIS TRAVELS.
(Published by Special Permission of Mr. Valentine.)
BERLIN AND VICINITY.
Charlottenburg and Potsdam.
Prague, Bohemia, Dec. 19, 1899. DEAR UNCLE AARON:
Under date of 12th from Berlin I sent you a brief sketch of the city, with- out entering upon particulars as to what we saw of the uses of some of the public buildings mentioned. I attended divine service in Kaiser Wilhelm's Memorial . Church, and the service was in no essen- tial respect different from the Christian worship that takes place in the United States and elsewhere. The singing was about the same as Americans enjoy or may enjoy-only rendered in German. The attendance was large and composed oi most respectable-looking people; a notable feature of it being as in the United States the preponderance of wo- men.
I did not in my previous letter refer at. all to the two Opera Houses, the Royal Theatre, the Varieties, the Circus- es, etc., all of which constitute no unim- portant detail in the social life of any city. The opera nouses are not especial- ly striking buildings, externally; and in- side, while fairly attractive, are not equal to those of Stockholm, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, or Dresden, and do not sur- pass those of Warsaw or Prague. As to the performance, of which I saw two at the Royal Opera House-Rigoletto and Lucia-they were well staged, but the singing, as a whole. was nothing beyond the ordinary. The price of admission to hear Rigoletto sung by the regular com- pany was ten marks, or two dollars and a half: for Lucia (Melba night) I paid sixteen marks, or four dollars; and bar-
ring Melba, I have heard as good sing- ing at the Tivoli and Auditorium, San Francisco, for one-quarter of the price, and at times in either of the latter places, better singing than in the Royal Opera House of Berlin-Melba, of course, ex- cepted. Her voice is still good and pleasing, and specially suited to the role of Lucia, but her face and figure are no longer suited to impersonate either Lucia, or Violetta in Traviata, which she sang earlier-the spell of beauty is lack- ing to complete the illusion of youth, music and sentiment. As to the per- formance of Frau Herzog, as Gilda in Rigoletto, she is not to be compared with Repetto; and as to the tenor and bari- tone, Marconi and d'Andrade, as the Duke and Rigoletto, respectively. they were only passable. While I have no disposition to inviduously criticise Ber- lin's singers, I am willing to be quoted as saying that Marconi and d'Andrade are really below the average in their line, although the latter was heralded as the court singer of Lavaria, and the other as a tenor of unusual accomplishments. In the Royal Opera House there was. how- ever. one performance for which I have unqualified praise-the symphony con- cert of the Emperor's Orchestra, conducted by its leader, Prof. Weingartner. Under the leadership of that distinguished and gifted director, the musicians played in such perfect accord and harmony as to cause unalloy- ed delight and satisfaction to the audi- ence. This kind of concert music is. however, not to be had in Berlin for the asking, the regular price of admission being six marks ($1.50), about the same
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as what an entertainment of the same kind and calibre would cost in our large cities.
As to so-called Musical Concerts: The music hall in the Zoological Gardens is one of the finest in the city, and there I listened to the orchestra which plays every afternoon. It is composed in part of a regimental band, but there was noth- ing about the music in any respect ex- ceeding in merit what is usually heard in the United States, especially that heard there under the leadership of the late Anton Seidl, Thomas, Scheel. Gil- more, and our own Golden Gate Park Band-to say nothing of Sousa.
I have given theatres the go-by here. My knowledge of German being very slight I did not attend any strictly dra- matic presentations in Berlin. The Va- rieties, the three leading exponents of which-the Apollo, Monopole and Win- tergarten-are establishments similar to Koster & Bial's in New York, Keith's in Boston, and the Orpheums in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The per- formances do not, in general, excel those of the places mentioned, and the audito- riums are not to be compared in point of beauty to Keith's in Boston. The price of admission is three and one-half marks (85 cents)-that is to say more than Keith's in Boston, New York or St. Louis, and more than the Tivoli and Orpheum in San Francisco. or the Or- pheum in Los Angeles. But I must not forget to add that in the European at- tractions are included the charms of such famous people as Cleo Merode, of Paris, and Miss Truly Shattuck, of San Francisco.
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The circuses, of which there are two in the city. do not excel ours. and I am not indulging in any national prejudice when I say that the best performers, ac- robats and riders I saw there are Ameri- cans. The trained horses-by no means an unimportant item in a circus show -I have invariably found good; wheth- er in Scandinavia, Russia, Poland, or Germany; but never better than the American variety. In Berlin there was tacked on to the regular ring perform-
ance a sort of spectacular pantomimic ballet, which, if the Berliners' will par- don the criticism, I pronounce about as stupid as could well be, the only real good features being some high diving by Americans during the pantomine.
As indicated hitherto, these northern people are eminently social, and the operas, concerts, theatres, varieties and circuses are well patronized-some of them rather more so than they deserve -and these places afford the traveler ex- cellent opportunities for observing the people, their average apparent condi- tion, demeanor, etc., and I have found them at all times apparently well fixed. unobtrusive, decorous and polite to strangers. I am usually quite favored in my desire to see men and manners . when journeying, and this good fortune " did not desert me in Berlin, where I twice enjoyed a near view of the Em- peror and Empress-the first opportu- nity being at the opera. Instead of oc- cupying the royal box, which is situated in the center of the first gallery directly facing the stage, the imperial couple oc- cupied a side box diagonally opposite to where I was sitting in the orchestra cir- cle, and from this point of vantage I could take close observations with my opera glass without turning in my seat or becoming unduly conspicuous. The second view was equally good-even better-being in the clear light of day, at the Museum of Arts and Industries. A wealthy citizen had loaned for exhibi- tion ten fine large pieces of Belgian tap- estry, and the Emperor and Empress happened along that day to take a look at them. While they were admiringly in- specting the triumphs of the loom, the other visitors, including myself, had our eyes directed on them, and as they passed out they brushed by within a few feet of me. The impressions I received were very agreeable. In bearing and manner the Emperor appears like a frank and possibly impulsive man. It amused me to observe during his inspec- tion of the tapestries that, when he be- came particularly interested. he raised his right hand and with extended index
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finger, gesticulated with animation. My little boy, Dudley, who frequently em- phasizes his conversation with eager ges- tures, will be especially interested in this reference. On retiring from the room, the Emperor bowed very pleasantly and politely to his impromptu audience both on the right and the left.
PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
As for the Empress, she inspired my unqualified respect; and this sentiment is, I think, universally conceded her among the German people. I have yet to hear any expressions other than those of respect and esteem for her. She is not, strictly speaking, handsome; her complexion is florid, hair blondish, and now preceptibly grey. In figure and pose she is gracefully majestic, being about 5 feet 10 inches in height, well proportioned, and carrying herself with the ease and dignity befitting a Queen. Her dress that morning, was simplicity itself. A little fluffy toque or bonnet of dark purple, with just a suggestion of a white tuft on one side; a sort of Queen Elizabeth ruff collar, high at the back of the neck; dark cloth bodice, neatly em- broidered; and a skirt of purple ma- terial, a shade or two lighter in color than the bonnet. Her appearance was most becoming, and every movement and ex- pression indicated a woman of amiable and loveable characteristics. As my lady readers especially may be interested to know, I will mention, confidentially, that she celebrated her 41st birthday last autumn, and has seven living children. The Emperor will be 41 in January.
CHARLOTTENBURG.
The transition from royalty of today to that of the past is natural and easy, hence we will proceed to Charlottenburg and Potsdam. As I mentioned in my last letter, the wooden park, known as the Thiergarten extends from the Branden- burg Gate to Charlottenburg which is situated on the river Spree, about three miles outside of Berlin, and was founded by Queen Charlotte in the last century. It contains the usual palaces, commonly called schloesser. or castles; but there is so little about them in the nature of a
castle, that palace is the more correct word to apply to them. An interesting feature of the place are the several royal mausoleums, notably those within a lit- tle sandstone building of classical design, with four granite columns in front, and above the Greek alphabetical characters, Alpha and Omega. First in order and perhaps the most impressive of them. are the two recumbent figures extended on richly carved sarcophagi of white marble, placed side by side, representing King Frederick William III and his royal consort, the famous Queen Louisa, of Prussia, who upheld so bravely the honor and dignity of her country in its struggle with Napoleon Bonaparte-the parents of Kaiser Wilhelm of our times. Beyond them, in similar state, lie Wil- helm himself and his esteemed spouse, the Empress Augusta. A blue light of the cornflower hue (the national flower, to the adoption of which attaches a ten- der memory of Louisa) is sifted through a glazed roof adjoining and falls in richest tones upon the slumberers beneath. Under the same heavenly light, whence it originates in the vestibule of the sepuchural cham- ber, stands a white marble statute of the Archangel Michael, and in an alcove in the rear of the chamber-a little chancel-is a half life- size crucifix in marble, and above that a painting of Our Lord, with the Emper- or William I on one side and the Em- press Augusta on the other, meekly proffering to Him the wreaths of laurel typical of their earthly achievements and renown.
Charlottenburg is a beautiful city and like other German cities intersected by a river. is improved in appearance by it and by connecting canals with their neat- ly walled banks.
POTSDAM.
Potsdam, which is located on the Havel, at its confluence with the Nuthe. about 17 miles southwest of Berlin, is a city of 70,000, including 10,000 soldiers. and here again are the castles or palaces. in liberal profusion. Without attempt- ing to studiously examine the innumer-
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able features of interest within them, I proceed to the famous Sans Souci (French for "free from care") of Fred- erick the Great, in the near vicinity. As a palace, it is not superior to some others of the hundreds scattered throughout Europe, except in point of situation. It is most beautifully located on an elevation about 100 feet above the level of the river, where it wends its way through the southern part of the city, and from the front and rear commands views that must in summer be charming, as on this occasion, a cold winter's after- noon, with the snow glistening through the forests they were impressive.
Frederick the Great, the founder of Sans Souci, who led a stormy and tumul- tuous life as is generally known, has powerfully impressed his versatile and indomitable spirit upon the people of Germany, and hence is entitled to the distinction of being called Great. Of his extravagant excentricities, verifying at times the poetical dictum:
Great wit to madness oft is close allied,
I prefer not to speak; especially as any reader of Carlyle will know how to ac- count for the checks and warps in his great nature by the laws of heredity, his father, Frederick William I, having been admittedly of grossly unbalanced mind, and by the unspeakable miseries and hardships to which he was subjected in childhood by that capricious-I had almost said unnatural-parent. What- ever aggravating peculiarities Fred- erick thus acquired-and his phys- iognomy bears evident traces of
such-certainly
"there
was meth-
od in his madness." An amusing illustration of the keenness of his satir- ical wit is encountered within the walls of the Sans Souci Palace, in the apartment occupied for several years by Voltaire. When that insufferable genius had vol- untarily absented himself for a time, Frederick determined to get rid of him quite, and with that end in view had his room re-decorated and re-furnished, and it is now just as then finished-the wall-paper covered with squirrels, to suggest the propensity to appropriate
the stores of others; peacocks, to sug- gest pride and vanity; parrots, to suggest incessant chattering; and non- keys to suggest the tendency to mischief and imitation. The furniture was up- holstered with brocaded cloth, illustrat- ing in the raised figures La Fontaine's fables, which Voltaire detested. Within the walls of Sans Souci stands a marble statue, just completed by a Danish sculptor-Magnussen-"The Last Days of Frederick the Great"; and in The Hermitage at St. Petersburg there stands one by Houdin, "The Last Days of Vol- taire." Both are works of high art, viewing the subjects probably from dif- ferent standpoints of inspiration, but both are strikingly meritorious and en- title their authors to lasting. fame, for portraying in cold and enduring marble, warmed by the fire of genius, the last days of two of the most famous men of modern Europe.
Crossing to Havel, over a handsome stone arched bridge, one comes to a gnarled old oak. enclosed by an iron fence. This tree is called "Petitioner's Tree," because when Frederick the Great from his living-room window in the cas- tle, near by, saw any one waiting there, he would grant such person an audience. Not far from this tree is the Court and Garrison Church, where lie the remains of Frederick the Great. Standing at the foot of the sarcophagus, in 18c6. Na- poleon said to his officers in attendance: "Gentlemen, if he (Frederick the Great) were alive, we wouldn't be here!"
One of the sadly impressive features of Potsdam is a mausoleum erected to. the memory of the late Emperor Fred- erick III, by his widow. It constitutes an annex to the Church of Peace. I re- fer to this memorial not for the purpose of describing it. but to speak of the uni- versal affection manifested toward its silent occupant. "Unser Fritz." The people throughout Germany, every- where and always, speak of that distin- guished but unfortunate emperor in terms of regard amounting to affection. His sympathies seem to have been with the masses-the common people-and
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beyond all doubt they return many fold the affection he manifested toward them.
Potsdam, like Charlottenburg, is an independent municipality, and is said to date from the time of the Vandals-i. e., it was a Vandal camp 1500 years ago. "SWINGING 'ROUND THE CIRCLE.
Dresden, December 26th, 1899.
Christmas Day came and went here in something like the usual tranquil, sooth- ing way. My observance of it consisted mainly in church-going, having attend- ed divine service four times during that day and. the Sunday preceding it (24th). As mentioned of other European cities, there were but few men in attendance- as few, I regret to say, as it is customary to find in California churches.
My last budget-Berlin and Vicinity -was dated Prague, Bohemia, Decem- ber 19th. I left Berlin ten days ago, on a round trip which has included Stettin, Posen, Breslau, Salzbrunn, Prague, and Dresden. If this seems like an extensive itinerary of sight-seeing for that number of days I will explain that the run from Berlin to Stettin is only two hours; thence to Posen four, to Breslau four, to Salsbrunn, one and a half; to Prague seven; while from Prague to Dresden is only four hours, and from there back to Berlin, to complete the circuit, three hours-total on the road, I day, I hour and 30 minutes.
STETTIN.
I must necessarily treat of these places very briefly though each is worthy of a budget in its own right. Stettin is sit- uated on the Oder River near where it flows into an estuary of the Baltic Sca, and to my agreeable surprise I found it to be a modern city of 150,000 inhabi- tants and very handsomely built, inter- spersed here and there with parks, mon- uments, etc. The particular object of niy visit was to take a look at the Vulcan Shipbuilding Works, the great German plant (employing 8.000 men) that turned ont the steamship Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (North German Lloyd Line), the fastest long-distance steamer in the world. which has made 22.8 knots per hour. The Vulcan company is now con- structing, along with several other ves-
sels, the "Deutschland" (Hamburg- American Line), to be launched in Jan- uary-a steamer 684 feet long, breadth of beam, 67 feet, with double engines and twin screws; the engines being of 34,000 horse power; water displacement. 18,000 tons; and for speed, the builders guarantee 23 knots per hour.
POSEN.
Next in the order of my progress came Posen, in Prussian Poland, a fortified town with modern defensive walls on three sides of it, and the river Warthe on the other. The city has 150,000 in- habitants, of whom one-third, or over 50,000, are Jews. Posen is the least pre- possessing of any of the cities I have visited. Its people seem to feel the blight of the destroyed nationality resting upon them. 'Tis a city within whose gates the ghosts of dead hopes wait.
BRESLAU.
From Posen to Breslau, which is lo- cated as is Stettin, on the river Oder, the country presented the same general char- acteristics as that traversed between Ber- lin and Posen-unbroken and slightly rolling. I found Breslau quite a differ- ent city from Posen; showing, in con- trast with it, modern progress and pros- perity. It has a population of nearly 400,000 (the German element predomi- nating), university, museum, academy of arts, fine zoological gardens, opera houses-in fact everything constituting a modern, wide-awake city. The num- ber of churches here of gothic architec- ture is unusually large, but in the main they are homely examples of that style.
SALZBRUNN.
Leaving Breslau, enroute to Prague. I stopped over for three hours at Salz- brunn (Salt-springs), a sanitarium with mineral springs. A peculiar feature of the hygenic treatment there is
the use of asses' milk as a diet for patients. At Salzbrunn the first broken country sighted by me outside of Norway came grate- fully into view. In nine weeks' travel I had noticed but two localities of more than 100 feet elevation. From St. Pet- ersburg for a thousand miles northeast. southeast, and soutliwest. the country is
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practically level. No wonder the Tartar hordes roamed over it with impunity in the dawn of civilization. I think it is Mommsen who suggests that the Mon- gols occupied northern Europe before the Aryans ever did.
To return to my subject: At Halb- stadt I crossed the Austrian frontier into Bohemia, a broken, rolling country, on the foothills of the Alps lightly timbered, · with occasional groves of small pines in- termingled here and there at the edges of the forests with birch. The elevated ground is well cultivated, showing thriv- ing orchards and vineyards. Whether the people are Slavs Poles, Bohemians or Magyars (a question it would take an ethnological expert to decide), the lan-
guage spoken looks in type and sounds like Polish, but all rules, instruction notices, etc., displayed
on cars or at railway stations are in Bohemian and German. The people in the main appeared less well nourished than the Germans; are less comely, and both men and women less well clad-in short, life along the border seemed Bohemianish. I noticed two gangs of women shoveling snow on the railroad, and another gang unloading coal from railroad cars. The day was fine, and the landscape really beautiful -not the same kind of forestry, but topographically reminding me of Cali- fornia's foot-hills looking down the west- ern slope from Auburn.
Supralentine
NESIKA WA-WA.
PIONEER MONUMENT AND OREGON NATIVE SON CELEBRATION.
The committee appointed by Presi- dent Blumauer, of the Society of Oregon Native Sons, having in charge the mat- ter of erecting a monument to 'the pio- neers and Indian war veterans of Ore- gon, is hard at work maturing plans for carrying out the object for which it was appointed. It is proposed to have the affair so far in hand as to be able to lay the cornerstone of a memorial building at the next annual meeting of the Pio- neer Association. It is intended to make this occasion one of the grandest affairs ever witnessed in the Northwest, and one which will not fall short of the celebra- tion recently held by the Native Sons of the Golden West in San Francisco.
Notice is given that next year will be Native Sons' year, and everybody will be called upon, whether he is a resident of fifty years, or fifty minutes,to aid in providing amusement and entertainment for the hosts of people that will undoubt- edly throng our streets during the week's celebration it is proposed to give. Business men are especially requested to sharpen their wits and make free to advise the committee of anything they think will subserve to make the affair a grand success. Pioneers, Veterans, Na- tive Sons and Daughters, and everybody everywhere, that are interested, are in- vited to call at the office of the Oregon Native Son, 184 Fourth Street, and talk it over, andthen go forth into the high- ways and by-ways and talk it over again, and keep talking it over until it is tlie "talk of the town."
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Remember, 1901 is "Native Sons' Year."
Since the above was in type the com- mittee has decided to consult the busi- ness men of the city and the Pioneers, War Veterans and Native Daughters be- . iore settling on a day for the celebration.
CONSTABLE'S LONG RIDE.
It may not be generally known that when this region was a portion of Clack- anias county, in the early 50's, Mr. D. Butler was constable for The Dalles pre- cinct, and had occasion to serve a sub- poena on a witness residing near Fort Hall, now in Idaho. That was then with- in the limits of the county over which a justice of the peace had jurisdiction. Mr. Butler vividly describes his ride through this wild region with the judicial writ in his inside pocket, feeling not the least fear of Indians or road agents, be- cause he was armed with the authority of the law. He was then much younger than he is now, and the country was new to him. Later on, after he had become accustomed to the habits of the "wild and woolly west" he placed more reliance on Colt's latest patent or a Henry repeat- ing rifle than on a subpoena from a Dalles justice court. His story awaken- ed great interest and chained the atten- tion of his audience until some inquisi- tive individual inquired what mileage he was allowed for doing such service. Thuis elicited no answer. and the thrilling story of a constable serving a civil writ in Oregon territory, a thousand miles distant from the magistrate's court, came to an abrupt ending.
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