And farther and farther with clang and song!
And sadly listens that maiden long.
"O, wo! and the youth removeth,
Whom only my heart still loveth.--
"Here stand I, ah! in my love profound,
With roses and with wallflowers around--
And he for whom all I would sever,
He's gone--and gone for ever!"
So marches he forth, and--"other cities, other maidens!"
If the stranger suffer himself, by his hunger after fresh air, to be led away, in the days of a strong winter, to the hills above Heidelberg, how monotonous and wild appears to him there nature in her funeral robes. The mountains, the valleys, all wrapt in that white winding sheet, are silent. From a distance only comes a heavy sound, as the ice-covering of the Neckar is heaved and rifted by the combating flood that rushes beneath it. That feeling of solitude seizes him, and he follows the course of a small stream which will, however, conduct him again to the banks of the Neckar. The water, whose course he has followed, has wonderfully wrought the leaves and the grass into fantastical ice-forms; while, above him, hang from the rocks enormous icicles, glittering in the wintry light like crystal daggers. Again he finds himself by the mirror-like surface of the wintry flood, and behold! the uniformity of nature has only enabled man to multiply his pleasures. A glad multitude here is full of life and activity. With delight the eye follows the skilful skater, as he now, with wonderful rapidity flies right forward, now winds in graceful sweeps and circles through the human mass. He moves so freely and easily, that his art would appear quite destitute of art, did we not see the learner in his first attempts tumbling at every trial, till exhausted, he stands and watches, with envious eye, the evolutions of the practised student. The ice-field becomes every moment fuller and fuller, till the strongly congealed surface can scarcely support the hundreds which crowd upon it. And there comes a troop of blooming ladies, hastening down the steep bank of the Neckar. They descend the narrow path, slippery with frozen snow, cautiously, and a troop of their worshippers fly to receive them, place them triumphantly in the chair-sledges, and pushing them before them, vie with each other in sending them, with flying speed, over the crystal ice-plain far away.
Nothing can well make so vivid an impression on the foreigner, especially on the Englishman, as the sledging processions, which, as soon as the snow is trodden hard enough to bear, may be daily seen issuing from Heidelberg. Sometimes we see individual sledges, which are of striking appearance, gliding rapidly through the streets; then greater sledge-parties, which the students make amongst themselves, or in association with some of the inhabitants. A troop of fore-riders, with the thundering cracks of their heavy whips, announce the approach of the sledge of the lady of honour, drawn by four horses. Then follows a long train of sledges, each with two horses, and each containing only one lady and gentleman. These sledge-parties afford much amusement to the students, and opportunities for many a frolic, and the Chores vie in outshining each other in ingeniously planned and splendidly achieved processions. In earlier times masked sledge-parties were the order of the day; but, in consequence of many well-known and distinguished individuals of the university city being represented, or rather misrepresented, they are now formally forbidden. Even the ladies, and the venerable heads of the senate, were not secure from the caricaturing of the students. Thus a stranger related to me, with great horror, that he had met a great company of ladies and gentlemen in sledges; all the ladies had wafted to him hand-kisses, and, horribile dictu! at the very next confectioner's, the ladies, with evident delight, had each drunk a glass of brandy!
We recollect a winter, some years ago, that was particularly distinguished by these pranks. In the first place, one of the Chores set out a sledge procession, which was imposing from the number of its sledges and the brilliance of its torches, which were carried by the whole assembled body of Boot-foxes. But this was speedily cast into the shade by another. The second Chore celebrated a Bauer's wedding, riding and driving in numerous sledges, in the Sunday attire of Bauers and Bauerinen, the country people and their wives, old and young, masked, into a neighbouring village, the sledge of the feigned bride and bridegroom being richly garlanded, and there, this fictitious pair--a couple of disguised students--were solemnly conducted through the ceremony of a marriage. A third Chore then, in order to strike out something more piquant, undertook a voyage by land. A number of Neckar boats were secured on sledges. They were all bravely rigged and equipped with sails, masts, and cordage, and sailors were in full activity, each crew zealous to maintain the honour of their ship. Some of them were seen with huge spy-glasses looking out ahead in the streets, to descry any dangerous rocks that might lie in their track, which might obstruct or fatally terminate their voyage. And behold! all was suddenly at a stand--the sign of a Beer-Kneip was the rock on which they struck. All hands were now busy in trying to rescue the ship from this perilous situation, and the way they went to work was to blow it with a vast number of pairs of bellows, in order to send a very tempest of wind into the sails. The captain gave his commands, in masterly style, through his huge speaking-trumpet, and at length the vessel heaved off, and all was quickly again under sail, the whole body singing--
[THE GALLANT SHIP IS GOING.]
The gallant ship is going,
The strong east wind is blowing,
The far-off fading strand
Shows no longer,
Yet glows stronger