It is the ornaments, or style of
architecture, which give it this character of antiquity. The ornaments,
which are on each side of the doorway, or porch, are quite
extraordinary.
[Footnote A: From "A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour,"
published in 1821.]
[Footnote B: Ratisbon has now (1914) a population of 53,000. Its
manufactured products consist chiefly of pottery and lead pencils.]
IV
BERLIN AND ELSEWHERE
A LOOK AT THE GERMAN CAPITAL[A]
BY THEOPHILE GAUTIER
The train spins along across great plains gilded by the setting sun;
soon night comes, and with it, sleep. At stations remote from one
another, German voices shout German names; I do not recognize them by
the sound, and look for them in vain upon the map. Magnificent great
station buildings are shown up by gaslight in the midst of surrounding
darkness, then disappear. We pass Hanover and Minden; the train keeps on
its way; and morning dawns.
On either side stretched a peat-moss, upon which the mist was producing
a singular mirage. We seemed to be upon a causeway traversing an immense
lake whose waves crept up gently, dying in transparent folds along the
edge of the embankment. Here and there a group of trees or a cottage,
emerging like an island, completed the illusion, for such it was.
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