Show CURRENT TOPICS IX EUROPE The Hermit of the SonnUIcL The Three Eraprejes of eraianr Death of Robert Broirnlntf Halfs Gratitude Influence Cf Irhl Jlallads tire l EcnorE December 2nl 1SS9 Special Correspondence of the DEERE = gws1Tbo American miner who visits the Airs will very likely l notice too abrcncoof many mineral deposits thatnrc frequently met with Ia the mountains of America Amid n the mighty uphcarlngs of the Alp n beds of coal 1 cr iron have ytt been fouud Xo deposits of copper lead Of sliver have awakened the eager search to general in the Rocky Mountains Yet In the buns valley nud In some other puts of the Tyrol there were extensive mines five hundred years ago Her Roiacher thu son of a pasnnt In tho hahn district determined some years ago to again work the long abandoned mines and for this purpose went to Colorado Col-orado and Utah to learn the most modern systems of minium Returning Re-turning to his uatlveland In ISS4 he purchased a tract of country ou the Sonublick mountain including that jwrtlou ot the Rauris valley trhere were situated tie ancient gold mines Since then hu has transformed the quiet secluded valley val-ley i into a thriving center of industrial in-dustrial life to see which peoplu come from far and wide He has Introduced the telephone electric mountain railway atitl Illuminated the mines and town of Roles Salgnm and indeed a great part of the Rauris valley with electric i light for which the motive piwer is taken from the waterfall in the neighborhood Herr Rojaclicr is a selfmade man of undaunted energy and has wisely determined to spend a portion por-tion of his fortune in the pr tenets of science Three years ago he established the Sonn bllck Observatory which Is the highest meteorological station in Europe and with exception of tile station on like Peak the highest In the world The height of Uie bonnblick Observatory Is ten thou sand one hundred nud slxtyelgut feet above the level of tile sea and Peter Lechncr Is the solitary cern pant who inhabits thU veritable castle In the airtt A telephone connects the observatory with the Rauris valley twelve miles distant and four thousand feet above Three times a day at seven oclock in tie morning two In the afternoon and nine in the evening Lechner can communicate the sioriolof man kind for then It is that he makes his reports the Academy of Science Vienna Here during the winter month Lechner Is a veritable Cloud king Xo human being in Europe has at this time s lofty a residence Thestllluess around him is supreme About him the neighboring moun tIns rear their glint forms in aw ful grandeur Last winter Dr Joseph Perutcr spent the month of February with him The eden tific results of Dr Pernters visit have been published and the general gen-eral public have learned through him what winter life on the Sonu bUck means and how Lechner passes his time after tlC last tourist in the late autumn has taken his farewell When the clouds are rifted he can H the distant bald tattoos of men and on clear nights he can see the electric lights in Rauris For the t howcvir hp is left alone with his scientific Instrument the sky the stars the cloud and the winds as lonely as any real hermit ever was Last summer the youngEmpres Augusta Victoria l Germany paid I this lofty scientist a visit and she was 8 veil pleased wiUi him that she has determined if I possible to send him a present and some sme companions during Christmas week By tile aid of noble St Bernard Ber-nard dogs whowlll carry the bur dens the hardy mountainuenof the Tyrol will make their way to cheer and goodwill to the Hermit of the Sonnblick By the way is it not remarkable that the three Emp rkble many should be such remarkable women At one time the report went abroad that theyoung Emprosa was simply a typical German ham frau with no idea beyond the nur sery and the kitchen The public Is awakening to the fact that though she has no especial talent for paint ing or music she Is nevertheless a cultivated lady and one who knows how to patronize worthy genius She has a fair gentle face a fresh healthy complexion blue eyes smooth hair gathered In a knot on the top of her head and an expres sion so kindly aud benevolent that few ever meet her glance and go away saying she I not handeone Of the Empress Victoria the Princess Royal of England the 1 worm already knows her iuttJlcc S tual superiority At the time cl 1 r her marriage she undoubtedly joyed her husband with the fond loveofa lrlIn I < hierteensforthe right ani honorable young prhncc up Is esteemed and loved by lt1 r r Gen and English nations In I more mature years the secret of her influence over Frederick L was the motherly nursing and tender care she lavished upon him the intelli ere gent soothing of ha fears and lulling luUng of his ambition till hu recognize bls own fireside a a tumplu ruizeJ sacred than the grandeur of a palace 1 g and the glory fr throne and she stifled before him the Impatient cry te ImJtent which had risen s often to her lira that others had caught thu lp tbsounl Oh to Empress onlyan hoed The aged exEmprkss Augusta is also I remarkable woman Forty years ago she was one of the most I beautiful women in Europe mat the diplomacy of court ceremonl and royal receptions t > be had per haps no rpoD can tell how much the success of the Hohenzol len dynasty has depended on her tact and diplomacy It was she who gave the Insult to the French minister which was the Immediate cause of the FrancoPrussian war oflSTO Wi A very significant incident took place at 3 fancy fair fore charitable purpose in Berlin In December 1SS7 Among thu articles mbr tll artice wa a port of a proud and at one time beautiful woman signed Augusta AUgf Empress and Queen the second was a small but beautifully painted Italian landscape signed pinted artists own hand Victoria the CYlctor tl third was a present of six pairs of tiny knitted socks with no name signed They were the siged wer contribu I tions the three Empresses of Ger I many t t During the past week the news has been flashed along the wires and ten thouesnd voices have repeated In saddened tones Robert Browning Brown-ing Is dead1 And jrcttplhttie who I were personally acquainted fl him the news Was tcatcey e1 su prise biell boriS nl Cjnllierwell London in 1S12 and was therefore a little more thin seventyseven yean of age For come time His yrrJ Fme health had been tilling aud lie bad gone to Venice hoping to regain I gne Browning was married to Elizabeth Barrett In ISM Mr Uarrett Browning the wellknown I painter was tbclronljr ciiUd The puttr of V tniltister has granted l the prldll placing the mortal tle remains tli Uliiarlousioet in the great national oauwtum of Westminster nalool muotum minter Abbey Rely are tho stones In the pavement or the ally uou removed to adinlt the relics o > mortality t hoI sob look cn the I genius the charade ad tie career of Robert Browning there can sarcely be two opinions concerning con-cerning his risht to repose among the greatest Britains iJead Italy indeed would gladly have claimed hits ashes As I was the Venetian tarca or funeral gondola that bore gondol him out of tho city won covered with immorlcltci Italy remembers him not only us a giant among men of letter but llfcen e a the fast friend of ItnllaU Unity nd I inile I pendence HU heart anil minu < wer in accord with that of his wife and there was no more passionate pleader far tbe cause of Italian liberty no poettjs more vehement in denunciation Sofm the wrongs of Italians no songstress v hoe voice rose in clearer brighter not exultation when Italy threw ofT tilt Austrian joh than Eli beth liarrett Browning SIte did not live to sec the final consummation consumma-tion Italian liberty to see thelatt Austrian gunboat sail out of tho port of Venice or the Italian legion pouring through the Purta Pta to hall their elected king In thu Capitol of Rome but fil did live Ions enough losing thesoitgof Miriam and Hall the uiiwu Irewlotnln the triumphs of Magenta and Bolfcrlno The ItaliansJiave not forgotten these thing They know how love for their country which both he and she had glorified in enduring song drew him again ana mail to the sunny land where he had spent the happkjtvcarscf life how many ofBritaiuspcvtsdielnTtaly r mute English ccmrtcr ntdfthc pJttmM of Cams Ltstiiis lie the ashes t Shelley Shel-ley and John Kent tllofc name will endure as ltu sw English poetry pElted and tuneful melody loved Mrs Barrett JlrottnluK sleeps at Florence and her husband might have rested there no had not England claimed her Illustrious 1 dead HU corpse is therefore to ba borne acro s the s to be lid in thereat the-reat shrine Cf Edward the Confessor Con-fessor where kisirs and princes noble Slid cricrdls r iilksupuimxt f and poet are gathered lu the austere quality of the grave The continuous aglLitiuu of thy Irish question Is to say the least Hording an opportunity to view Irish character incntirclydlfftreut conditions llvhlnd Ireland fierce and mutinous 1 Ireland poetic passionate and fanciful Il > ftC noUu and froth of political Jargon lie the still waters of Irelahd9 bal t lad literature The character of the people and their national traditions have kept alive these ballads which In oUter more commercial countries have bcca allowed t lt In Ins laud every ivymatted towcr can ies its legend of stormy feud or lot lorn lady and over all broods the one great dominant thought love of country while around that Uiought gather the longremembered names of exiles Many of these exiles have been the lets also A com man cu lon haaunited them with time people Were the peoplu poor they were llr also did the people sutler they suOered 1 aloe did the people love Uielr country so did the poets only more intensely The ey consequence Is Uiat while England I > ballad literature has been growing less and less since the days of Eliza beth that of Ireland is ny flourish ing She van boast a Ion lit of native bards whose songs sink deep Into the national heart amid influence thediaracterofher iwople To unlentnml the political I nit ton of IrelatiJ wtmust know w1u someUiIngof her ballad literature for the one Isiutimatelv InUnvoveu with the other The legends of the 1113 we eto il childhood from our own door are moro to us than the t legends of any other place on earth Such poetry sinks ptr deeper Into mens lives than any verges of Uiu cities no matter how full these mav be of tie passion of intellectual attain l en j H > VAKD |