[CHAPTER XV]
Down the River—German Women's Duties—Bathing as We Went—A Handsome Picture: Girls in the Willows—We Sight a Tug—Steamers on the Neckar—Dinner on Board—Legend "Cave of the Spectre "—Lady Gertrude the Heiress—The Crusader—The Lady in the Cave—A Tragedy
[CHAPTER XVI]
An Ancient Legend of the Rhine—"The Lorelei"—Count Hermann—Falling in Love—A Sight of the Enchantress—Sad Effect on Count Hermann—An Evening visit—A Sad Mistake—Count Hermann Drowned—The Song and Music—Different Trans lations—Curiosities in Titles
[CHAPTER XVII]
Another Legend—The Unconquered Monster—The Unknown Knight —His Queer Shaped Knapsack—The Knight Pitied and Advised—He Attacks the Monster—Victory for the Fire Extinguisher—The Knight rewarded—His Strange Request——Spectacles Made Popular—Danger to the Raft—Blasting Rocks—An Inglorious Death in View—Escaped—A Storm Overtakes us—GreatDanger—Man Overboard—Breakers Ahead—Springing a Leak—Ashore Safe—A General Embracing—A Tramp in the Dark—The Naturalist Tavern—A Night's Troubles—"It is the Cat"
[CHAPTER XVIII]
Breakfast in a Garden—The Old Raven—Castle of Hirschhorn—Attempt to Hire a Boat—High Dutch—What You Can Find out by Enquiring—What I Found out about the Students—A good German Custom—Harris Practices It—AnEmbarrassing Position—A Nice Party—At a Ball—Stopped at the Door—Assistance at Hand and Rendered—Worthy to be an Empress
[CHAPTER XIX]
Arrive at Neckarsteinach—Castle of Dilsberg—A Walled Town—On a Hill—Exclusiveness of the People—A Queer Old Place—An Ancient Well—An Outlet Proved—Legend of Dilsberg Castle—The Haunted Chamber—The Betrothed's request—The Knight's Slumbers and Awakening—Horror of the Lover—The Wicked Jest—The Lover a Maniac—Under the Linden—Turning Pilot—Accident to the Raft—Fearful Disaster
[CHAPTER XX]
Good News—"Slow Freight"—Keramics—My Collection of Bric-a-brac—My Tear Jug—Henri II. Plate—Specimen of Blue China—Indifference to the Laugh of the World—I Discover an Antique En-route to Baden—Baden—Meeting an Old Acquaintance—A young American—Embryo Horse Doctor—An American, Sure—A Minister Captured
[CHAPTER XXI]
Baden—Baden—Energetic Girls—A Comprehensive Yawn—A Beggar's Trick—Cool Impudence—The Bath Woman—Insolence of Shop Keepers—Taking a Bath—Early and Late Hours—Popular Belief Regarding Indians—An Old Cemetery—A Pious Hag—Curious Table Companions
CHAPTER XV
[Charming Waterside Pictures]
Men and women and cattle were at work in the dewy fields by this time. The people often stepped aboard the raft, as we glided along the grassy shores, and gossiped with us and with the crew for a hundred yards or so, then stepped ashore again, refreshed by the ride.
Only the men did this; the women were too busy. The women do all kinds of work on the continent. They dig, they hoe, they reap, they sow, they bear monstrous burdens on their backs, they shove similar ones long distances on wheelbarrows, they drag the cart when there is no dog or lean cow to drag it—and when there is, they assist the dog or cow. Age is no matter—the older the woman the stronger she is, apparently. On the farm a woman's duties are not defined—she does a little of everything; but in the towns it is different, there she only does certain things, the men do the rest. For instance, a hotel chambermaid has nothing to do but make beds and fires in fifty or sixty rooms, bring towels and candles, and fetch several tons of water up several flights of stairs, a hundred pounds at a time, in prodigious metal pitchers. She does not have to work more than eighteen or twenty hours a day, and she can always get down on her knees and scrub the floors of halls and closets when she is tired and needs a rest.
As the morning advanced and the weather grew hot, we took off our outside clothing and sat in a row along the edge of the raft and enjoyed the scenery, with our sun-umbrellas over our heads and our legs dangling in the water.