HANOVER, GERMANY, _Oct. 20, 1854_.
Since I wrote you from Frankfort, I have visited Hesse Cassel.
The chateau of Wilhelmshohe, the summer residence, about three miles
from town, with its hydraulics, and the effect produced by the cascades
and jets d’eau, are superb. The great cascade is nine hundred and fifty
feet long, and forty feet wide, interrupted by basins from one hundred
to one hundred and fifty feet apart, as the water descends from a high
hill, the summit of which is covered by an octagon tower, surmounted
by a colossal Hercules of bronze, club in hand, thirteen feet high.
Walking through the grounds alone, I could scarcely realize the fact
that twelve years had elapsed since I climbed up the height and peeped
out of a little opening within the huge club which the gigantic figure
holds in his hand; that I had wandered, since, nearly twice around
the globe; had been exposed to all the accidents and casualties of
life, in every variety of climate; and that I found myself, through
a protecting Providence, on the same spot again. I should not have
made these remarks but from hearing of the frightful loss of life by
the steamer Arctic, in which I came last to Europe, and have reason
to believe that four of my fellow-travellers, who were in Rome during
the Holy Week, and who accompanied me in excursions from Naples, have
perished. I was waiting the departure of a steamer from that city to
Leghorn, when we heard of the frightful catastrophe, and sinking of the
Ercolano by the steamer Siciliano, an affair similar to the one just
mentioned. This deterred these persons, among others, from taking the
sea route, and they left by land. My logic has been, usually, after an
accident, to take the same means of conveyance, as more care is then
exercised.
From Cassel, I went by post to Gottingen, famed for its University,
with some six hundred pupils, and its extensive library.
The contrast between the railroad travel of the present day, with its
rapid transition from one city to another, and the slow mail coach of
the past, was striking; and I was reminded fully of my first journey
through Austria, Hungary, Prussia, and Saxony, by all sorts of fast
and slow conveyances, when all the countries named had not two hundred
miles of railway. It was certainly tedious, and occupied much time;
but the country was seen to better advantage, and the halts at small
towns and villages were entertaining and instructive, and gave a better
idea of the people and their customs than the present lightning line of
communication.
Although great improvements have been made, the people seem to toil as
formerly for the necessaries of life, and the weaker sex is made to
bear largely its share of the burden.
Not only are fine-looking, healthy girls seen constantly in the fields,
performing men’s labor, but in the cities they perform the most menial
service of wood-sawing, sweeping streets, and loading carts with offal.
How often I think of our blessed country, the paradise of women, and
the thousand advantages they enjoy there, in comparison with their
sisters in continental Europe. Not only is the sex compelled to perform
a full quota of the service, but the brute creation must also perform
its part. I have often thought how odd it would appear with us, to see
the butchers’ and bakers’ carts, and milk wagons, drawn by collared
and harnessed dogs, and the novel sight of single cows, or spans of
cows, coming to town with loads of grain or vegetables. The truth is,
when carpenters and masons obtain but fourteen groschens, or forty-two
cents, per day, and laborers from twenty-five to thirty cents, and the
necessaries of life are at the present dear rates, every measure is
resorted to for earning an honest living.
The lager, or encampment, of fourteen thousand men, is situated in the
suburbs of the city. The citizen army is composed of thirty thousand
men.
We have just had a sham fight, which was seen to great advantage from a
hill in the vicinity of the plain upon which the manœuvre took place,
and gave a good idea of the battle-field. The approach of the marching
forces, to the sound of drum and fife, and shrill tones of the bugle,
and the bayonets glittering in the sun’s rays, were exciting. The
cavalry was led by the king in person. Then came the conflict, the
thundering noise of the cannon; the continued volleys of musketry from
the infantry; the reconnoitring movements of the riflemen; the dashing
charges of the horsemen, half-buried in smoke; the retreats, the
reforming of the ranks; the advantages gained and lost; the leaps of
the horsemen over artificial stockades and sloughs of water; the queen
and royal family, with liveried outriders, drawn by and mounted upon
magnificent steeds, hovered around the borders of the battle-field.
The thousands of citizens on this festival day crowning the heights,
and the enthusiasm manifested, gave interest to the scene.