The Argosy — page 139: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

124 In the Black Forest. wafts, and the rustle and murmur of the trees make music for you as you journey. It was after such a drive that the view suddenly burst upon me just outside the gateway of the Castle of Eberstein. An immense, fertile valley stretched before one, through which the Murg wound its rapid, white, frothy, shallow course. The slopes on which stood the castle were in part cleared and cultivated, in part still given up to the pines and their sombre verdure. For whilst it is refreshing to be in the midst of the pine forests, undoubtedly they have a melan- choly influence when looked upon from a distance. In the valley, on the borders of the stream, great saw mills were at work, and it is pleasant to enter these mills and watch primitive machinery doing its labour, and revel in the pine scent the sawdust so prodigally throws out. Small villages were dotted about ; and oppo site, rose other pine hills, until the ranges seemed to meet and close in the scene. ‘To the left stretched the valley of the Rhine, bounded in the far distance by the soft and graceful undulations of the Vosges mountains. The castle itself was worth inspection. <A half courtyard, half garden with old-fashioned flowers formed a picturesque entrance within the gates: and the old armour, the stained glass, the curiosi- ties, ending with the ancient pictures in the oratory, the polished floors and low, wainscotted rooms with their subdued lights, all sent one for the time being into a glorious medizval age, where all was quaint, bold and vigorous: an age of sunflowers and estheticism, perhaps, but manly and earnest ; and guiltless of all the effeminate absurdity that has distinguished the movement of a later age—and must soon cease to be. | Above all, the view from the windows was glorious, framed as it was by the old-fashioned windows which opened to it from all sides of the castle. Terraces of flowers brightened the slopes immediately beneath ; and still lower, the vineyards spread their green leaves, suggesting ideas of rich and ruby cups, and sparkling wine, and a hospitality that should be freely given by all who have freely received. A young bride and bridegroom—the former one of the loveliest and most graceful girls I had ever seen: both of them the very types for this beautiful old place—joined me in the inspection under the guidance of a youthful and singularly civil housekeeper —a very different character from the quaint, original old woman who had taken us through the cold, creepy dungeons of the New Castle of Baden. This happy pair, I think, threw an extra glamour and romance over the building by their devotion to each other, which was as chivalrous as ever could have been the devotion of any one of the knights who, in ancient days, had worn the armour that surrounded us. One en- joyed and entered into their unmistakable happiness—for what is life: worth if it is not gilded by a ready sympathy with the joys and sorrows of our fellow pilgrims ? ECORNIE OOOKS.(E©) m