"I have not the slightest notion," said I. "I'm waiting for letters from Ireland,"—yours, my dear Tom, the chief of them,—"and therefore it must be somewhere in the vicinity."
"Go over to Rastadt, then," said he, "and amuse yourself with the fortifications: they are now in course of construction, and when completed will be some of the strongest in Europe. I 'll give you a letter to the Commandant, who will show all that can interest you, and explain everything that you may wish to know." Rastadt is only twenty miles away; it is, however, in all that regards intercourse with Baden, fully two hundred distant. It is cheap, rarely visited by strangers, has no "fashionables," and, in fact, just the kind of model-prison residence that I was wishing for to discipline the family, and get them once more "in hand."
Thither, therefore, we remove to-morrow morning, if nothing unforeseen should occur in the interim. Morris, as you may observe, behaved most kindly in this affair; and, indeed, showed a strong interest in James, from certain remarks the boy himself has let drop; but he seems cold, Tom,—one of those excellent fellows that are always doing the right thing for its own sake, and not for yours. I don't want to disparage principle, no more than I do a great balance at Coutts's, or anything else that I don't possess myself; but I mean to say that, somehow or other, one likes to feel that it is to yourself, as an individual,—to your own proper identity,—a service is rendered, and not to a mere fraction of that great biped race that wear cloth clothes and eat cooked victuals.
That's the way with the English, however, all over the globe, and I have often felt more grateful to an Irishman for helping me on with my surtout than I have to John Bull for a real downright piece of service. I suppose the fault is more mine than his; but the fact is true, and so I give it to you. I suppose, besides, that an impartial observer of both of as would say that we make too much of every favor, and the Englishman too little; we exact all the obligation of a debt for it, they treat the whole thing lightly, as if the service rendered, and those to whom it was done, were not worthy of further consideration. However we strike the balance between us, Tom,—in our favor or against us,—I own to you I like our own way best; and though nothing could be truly more kind and considerate than Morris, it was quite a relief to me when he gave me his cold shake-hands, and said "Good-bye!"
And so it will ever be, so long as human actions are swayed by human emotions. The man who recognizes your feelings, who regards you with some touch of sympathy, is more your friend than the benevolent machine who bestows upon you his mechanical philanthropy.
"The Golden Ox," Rastadt. We left Lichtenthal like a thief in the night; and here we are now in the "Golden Ox" at Rastadt, which, I own to you, seems a most comfortable house. James and I—for we are now two parties domestically, Mrs. D. and Mary Anne living very much to themselves, and Cary still on a visit with Morris's mother—had a most excellent breakfast of fresh trout, a roast partridge, a venison steak with capers—a capital dish—and chocolate, with abundance of good white wine of the place, and on calling for the bill, out of curiosity, I see we are charged something under a florin for two of us,—about tenpence each. Tom, this will do. You may therefore look upon me as a citizen of Rastadt for the next month to come. I have kept my letter by me hitherto, to give you a bulletin of this place before closing it, and I have still some time at my disposal before the post leaves.
I'm not sure, though, I'd exactly recommend this town to a patient laboring under nervous headaches, or to a university man reading for honors. Indeed, up to this—I suppose I 'll get used to it later on—the din has so addled me that I have often to stand two minutes reflecting over what I had to say, and then own that I have forgotten it. We are—that is, the "Ox" is—in the quietest spot in the town, and yet close under my bedroom there are, from early morning till dusk, twelve drummers at practice, with a head drummer to teach them. In the green, before the door, two companies of recruits are at drill. The foot artillery limbers and unlimbers all day in the "Platz" close by, and what should be our garden is a riding-school for the cadets. These several educational establishments have their peculiar tumult, which accompany me through my sleep; and for all the requirements of quiet and reflection, I might as well have taken up my abode in a kettle-drum. Liège was a Trappist monastery in comparison! As it is, the routine tramp of feet has made me conform to the step, and I march "quick" or "orderly," exactly as the fellows are doing it outside. I swallow my soup to the sound of a trumpet, and take off my clothes to the roll of the drum. James is in ecstasy with it all; I never saw him enjoy himself so much. He is out looking at them the entire day, and I 'm greatly mistaken but Mary Anne passes a large portion of her time at the green "jalousie" that opens over the riding-school.
I am always asking myself—that is, whenever I can summon composure even for so much—what do the Germans want with all these soldiers? Surely they 're not going to invade France, nor Russia; and yet their armies are maintained in a strength that might imply it! As to any occasion for them at home in their own land, it's downright balderdash to talk of it! Do you know, Tom, that whenever I think of Germany and her rulers, I am strongly reminded of poor old Dr. Drake, that lived at Dronestown, and the flea-bitten mare he used to drive in his gig. She was forty if she was an hour; she was quiet and docile from the day she was foaled: all the whipping in the world couldn't shake her into five miles an hour, and yet the doctor had her surrounded with every precaution and appliance that would have suited a regular runaway. There were safety-reins, and kicking-straps, and double traces without end,—and all to restrain a poor old beast that only wanted to be let alone, and drag out her tiresome existence in the jog-trot she was used to! "Ah, you don't know as well as I do," Drake would say; "she's a devil at heart, and if she did n't feel it was useless to resist, she 'd smash everything behind her. She looks quiet enough, but that does n't impose upon me." These were the kind of reflections he indulged in, and I suppose they are about the same in use in the Cabinets of Austria, Prussia, and Bavaria. I was often malicious enough for a half wish that Drake should have a spicy devil in the shafts, just for once, to show him a trick or two; and in the same spirit, Tom, I cannot help saying that I 'd like to see John Bull "put to" in this fashion! Would n't he kick up,—would n't he soon knock the whole concern to atoms! Ah, Tom, it's all alike, believe me; and whether you have to drive a nag or a nation, take my word for it, the kicking-straps are only efficacious when the beast has n't a kick in him! At all events, such are not the popular notions here; and on they go, building fortresses, strengthening garrisons, and reinforcing army corps, till at last the military will be more numerous than the nation, and every prisoner will have two jailers to restrain him. "Who is to pay?" becomes the question; but indeed that is the very question that puzzles me now. Who pays for all this at present? Is it possible that a people will suffer itself to be taxed that it may be bullied? I 'm unable to continue this theme, for there go the drums again,—there are forty of them at it now! What's in the wind I can't guess. Oh, here's the explanation. It is the Herr Commandant—be sure you accent the last syllable—is come to pay me a visit, and the guard has turned out to drum him upstairs!
Four o'clock.
He is gone at last,—I thought he never would,—and I have only time to say that he has appointed to-morrow after breakfast, to show me the fortress, and as I am too late for the post, I 'll be able to add a line or two before this leaves me. Mary Anne has come to say that her mother's head is distracted, and that she cannot endure the uproar of the place. My reply is, "Mine is exactly in the same way; but I cannot go any further,—I 've no money."