The Life of Bismarck, Private and Political / With Descriptive Notices of His Ancestry

by George Hesekiel

From the mansion we passed on to the upper terrace of the park, and wandered down the cool shady alley of limes, the branches of which bent to the ground, forming a verdant arbor of singular beauty. In this magnificent spot the lord of the mansion often had the table spread for himself and friends. The park is remarkably distinguished for fine rows of trees, both old and new, and the lime-tree seems ever to have been the favorite tree of the Bismarcks of Schönhausen.

On the wall, separating the terrace from the park itself, there is growing a very handsome birch-tree, which appears to have been self-sown. It has rooted itself deep into the stone, breaking down a portion of the wall, and now grows up amidst ruins and wreaths of roses, like the green flag of a victor.

The park is laid out according to the antique French style, with straight hedges, basins, and statues; but Nature has long since overcome the garden shears of Lenotre.

It is easy to perceive from the lower park itself that the lord of the manor is no longer present, and that the farm is leased. Between the tall noble avenues and picturesque foliage, broad patches planted with vegetables may be observed. This gives a homely, but scarcely a neglected, appearance to the place, as it does not destroy the general beauty of the view.

By an avenue, adorned with really splendid limes, we reach a small bridge, leading across the mantled pool which divides the park from the fields. On this side is the cool shade of the limes; yonder in the sunshine is Indian corn and beet-root. By this bridge stands a statue of Hercules with its hand on its back, cut in sandstone, on the north side of which the Junker Otto Bismarck once fired off his rifle—the marks of which musketry are still visible—and he ever afterwards used to assure his friends that Hercules put his hand there because the shot still pained him! On one thigh, evidently by a later hand, some person has written “Adam.” This person, obviously somewhat wanting in his knowledge of mythology, no doubt was led to the explanation by the very primitive style of costume. But so long as the country side contents itself with such explanations, there is not much to be said against it. It is somewhat more reprehensible to decapitate the gods, to provide a whetstone for the scythe. This fate, however, a somewhat massive Flora has had to undergo; and there it stands behind a thicket, apparently mourning the loss of its curly head.

Upon a small artificial island in the park stands a lonesome pavilion in the style of the Regent, half hidden by trees and overgrown with moss. The poet might select it for the scene of the catastrophe of a romance. We did not cross the wooden bridge, because our friendly guide warned us against the gnats which for a long time, in many sorts and sizes, have enjoyed their innocent lives in that locality.

We did, however, visit two solemn places in the park—two graves. In a dark shrubbery, grown quite wild, lies an elder brother of Bismarck, deceased as a child. The cast-iron cross has evidently been erected over the grave at a later time.

At the very remotest corner of the park, close by the sedgy shore, we found the second grave. Here Captain von Bismarck, a cousin of the Minister, reposes. Above the last resting-place of the wearied soldier is another iron cross. This was the favorite spot of the old gentleman during his lifetime; beneath the trees, on the banks which now watch over his grave, he used in summer time to muse every day over his quiet fishing-rod, or gaze dreamily across into the blooming meadows beyond the water. At his express desire he was buried in this spot.

Besides the six-and-twenty farms and subsidiary patches, there is also at Schönhausen a knight’s demesne (Rittergut), formerly likewise the property of the Bismarcks, but which had to be sold in time of need. It now belongs to Dyke Captain Gaertner. It is related that the Minister wished to repurchase it, but Captain Gaertner, who did not wish to part with the property, asked 150,000 thalers more than the value, upon which Bismarck observed, “I would have given 50,000 thalers more than it was worth, but I can not agree to a larger sum.” This is only a popular tale, for the truth of which we can not vouch.