Odd Bits of Travel with Brush and Camera

by Charles M. Taylor

Delighted with the prospect of relief, the people gathered on the appointed day in such numbers that the barn was soon filled. The archbishop ordered his servants to fasten all the doors and windows so that none could escape, and then set fire to the building, declaring that they were as troublesome as rats, and should perish in the same way.

The following day, when the bishop entered his dining-room, he found that the rats had gnawed his recently finished portrait from the frame, and it lay in a heap of fragments on the floor. While he stood gazing at it a messenger burst into the room with the news that a great army of fierce looking rats were coming toward the castle. Without a moment’s delay the archbishop flung himself on a horse and rode rapidly away followed by thousands of rats all animated by the revengeful spirits of the starving population he had burned. He had scarcely dismounted and entered a small boat on the Rhine, when the rats fell upon his horse and devoured it. Rowing to his tower in the middle of the Rhine, he locked himself in, thinking he had escaped his voracious foes; but the rats boldly swam across the Bingerloch, and gnawed thousands of holes in the tower, through which they rushed to their victim. Southey in his ballad, thus describes their entrance into the tower:

“And in at the windows, and in at the door, And through the walls, helter-skelter they pour, And down from the ceiling, and up from the floor, From the right and the left, from behind and before, From within and without, from above and below, And all at once to the bishop they go. “They have whetted their teeth against the stones, And now they pick the bishop’s bones; They knawed the flesh from every limb, For they were sent to do judgment on him.”

This is the old legend; but now comes the searcher after truth with the information that the tower was in reality erected in the middle ages as a watch tower, and the name is derived from the old German “musen,” to spy. These ruins were again converted into a station for signalling steamers, which in descending the Rhine are required to slacken speed here when other vessels are coming up the river.

Taking one of the small steamboats which run from Bingen to the opposite bank, we land at the little town of Rüdesheim which lies at the base of the mountain. This old town is one of the most famous on the river, not only for its wines but for the legend of the beautiful Gisela, who was commanded by her father to become a nun in fulfillment of his vow made in Palestine during the crusade against the Saracens. The maiden had a lover, and finding that no entreaties could save her from her fate, Gisela leaped from a tower into the river, and the fishermen declare that her spirit still lingers about the Bingerloch, and her voice is often heard amid the rushing torrent.

The first vineyards here are said to have been planted by Charlemagne, who observed that the snow disappeared earlier from the hills behind the town than from other regions in the neighborhood. The Rüdesheimer Berg is covered with walls and arches, and terrace rises above terrace, to prevent the falling of the soil.

We drive to the top of this charming hill whose sunny slopes are clothed with vineyards. Upon the summit, as on most of the others in the neighborhood, there is a hotel with grounds prettily laid out, and here one may remain and enjoy the pure air and enchanting views, for a day, a week, or for the whole season.

Here, too, is the National Monument, in describing which I will copy the words of my guide book:

“The National Monument on the Niederwald, erected in commemoration of the unanimous rising of the people and the foundation of the new German Empire in 1870-71, stands upon a projecting spur of the hill (980 feet above the sea level; 740 feet above the Rhine), opposite Bingen, and is conspicuous far and wide. It was begun in 1877 from the designs of Professor Schilling of Dresden, and was inaugurated in 1883 in presence of Emperor William I. and numerous other German princes. The huge architectural basis is seventy-eight feet high, while the noble figure of Germania, with the imperial crown and the laurel-wreathed sword, an emblem of the unity and strength of the empire, is thirty-three feet in height. The principal relief on the side of the pedestal facing the river, symbolizes the ‘Wacht am Rhein.’ It contains portraits of King William of Prussia and other German princes and generals, together with representatives of the troops from the different parts of Germany, with the text of the famous song below; to the right and left are allegorical figures of Peace and War, while below are Rhenus and Mosella, the latter as the future guardian of the western frontier of the empire. The fine reliefs on the sides of the pedestal represent the departure and the return of the troops.”

We visit many of the most noted breweries and wine vaults in the neighborhood. Those of Herr J. Hufnagel are the largest in this section of the country. They are cut in the base of the mountain, and extend inward many hundred feet. Here the choice wines are stored, many of the enormous casks containing upwards of twenty thousand quarts. Hundreds of barrels and hogsheads are seen; in fact every nook and corner of the vault is filled, and so extensive is this subterranean apartment, that avenues are made from one part to another, and along these we walk, the guide bearing a lamp to light the way.