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Show SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY. The Siori'ii Scenery Not Yet (ieuer.il Grant ami Dom Pedro Following Our Salt I.ako Student Ton fists. fttiiiihlliig in lite Art (tile rivs n ud lIuttiioltbtiiK with Miui-ucricn Miui-ucricn miii llic IMihi-hIis. Still lliinury nntl I. mining For tt I'titie ul Atncrit-itii Ilu.th. tpjcial Corroipundi.nei' ) Lizekne, July 20, 1S77. 1 am so behind-hand iu my writing that 1 am nearly frantic. In order to facilitate my correspondence I will try the experiment or writing by an amauu?!isis and have installed El. into that responsible position; mid our first ttbrtfroui our juiui nu'e nook 1 cive vuu iu llie cuticiudimi part ol this iettir, which should he dated at Berlin although writ ten b-ru. We have material for anoti.er letter Irom Berlin describing opera, theatres and concerts; one from Drendcn, one from Nurenihurg and one fruin .Munich, which we propose putting into shape as uoou as pusaille. tVe arc at the Swan hotel, where wo lire receiving every attention thanks to Dr. Wiuslow's letter ot introduction to the jolly host. Lnzmie is a heavenly place, and you shall hear more about it hereafter. We first put foot on the soil of Switzerland on Tueeday, the 17ln ultimo, since which time we have feasted our eyes ou mountain scenery almost familiar, so like is it to what we have seeu in our own mountains. Until I aee glaciers I do not expect to be astonished. aston-ished. Our lake Tahoe and lakes Independence In-dependence and Webber, in the Sierras, have all the beauty ol thee Swies lakt-a, except the beautilul hamlets, ham-lets, villaB, and the steamboats aud rush ot travel, We ascended llie lihijii in a storm of rain, staid ttiere over night aud had a slight ruu through the lug in tho morning. W'u havd met some very pleasant people here, and our visit promises to be eoeialiy very agreeable. Among the number is an old and very p-iruuuUr Ineud oi Mr. Secretary L.icK y- .Mr. Oyer, the American consul at Odessa, Runsia, who is a vey vain able acquaintance, and propose lo ketp us company over the Furca pa.-s. Gen. Grant is here, and Hum Pedro is coming. Hurrah ! heie comes the postman with letters Irom America. We are glad enough to cry, aud must shot ten this burned scrawl aud reler you to the CONCI.LION. Dipping the very cumbrous pen winch 1 uold in my hand into the little Bonemian glass of water before me, which lorms my ever-ready inkstand, ink-stand, I attempt to iulfill the promise made to triends in the land so 1-ir away towards tiie Occident; the prom- 1 i?e to give them from time to time a sketch ul Hie adventures of our little 1 party, and a taste ul the new wine of ! lile which we are drinking Irom uid vintners. To clironiclu the di.iugs ot these time American girls ; to pen down their wise say ings aud take note of their several fiascos; to iullow theru "up stairs, down stairs and through my lady's chamber;" to shake my head at them iu street care, when they presume too much upun Ger- j man muorance of the English lan guage, auu speag tneir minu upon the lerlile subject ot German, masculine mascu-line ungraciuusuess as contractu,! with American politeness; to play dragon or loving motner as occasion demands these are a tew oftbe tasks 'I have assumed iu undertaking the 'charge of tins triumvirate of youth, intelligence aud Pacific American schoolgiriism. Not any science they . do not know chemistry, botany, logic, conchology, etc. aud although I hey have yet to learn the very alpha net ol art, they unhesitatingly criticize, criti-cize, approve or condemn Titan or Murillo, Kaulbach or Hins Mackart; pronounce antique sculp'uro "horrid" and dub the Appolo Belvidere "an awful swell." A month in Berlin, spent in visiting visit-ing the treasures of art accumulated by Fredericks great aud small; the many rumbles through apartments in which have lived aud loved dead queens, whose noble faces are everywhere every-where reproduced on canvas, cut m maibie or mouldt.-d in wax ; the hushed voice and " buted breath '' under the spell ol chapel, cloister or mausoleum ; all ol thee springs ol knowledge and refining influence have toned down the daring ol their iuexyerience and, subdued by the inexpressible charm of beauty they are learning the lesson to hard to young America, to uncover in the presence of royalty, to bow to the exalted and to estimate true values. Here can be studied the history his-tory ut all uortheru Europe, the pro-grcss pro-grcss ol the arts, and the discoveries of science tor three centuries, and one can yet a peep cle tr hack to the times of Mesea. We have si.aken hands with mummit.3, viewed tho burial places of the Pharaohs, and have even seen, what is by comparison quite modtrn, a cast of the head of Christ found iu the R man catacombs. We are told thiil the art treasures of Berlin are insignificant compared with what we shall find in other cities Urther south, that the Kplondorof her palaces pales before those ol Italy; but to our deficient art education what we have here learned is a most important Addition which will render the advanced ad-vanced study of the Dresden galleries more satisfactory ana enjoyanie. While we are delighted with the fine arts of Germany, for the consolation consola-tion of our lest ie;lhelic natures we would hke to find here what seems to he a li st art the art of cooking. II these people have advanced in good living lor the three centuries past in the eatiie ratio with their progress iu other arte, Frederick the Great must have lived on raw (mails, and John the Baptist, with his locusts and wild honey, was a "good 'provider" for his times. As Americans, used to a comfort-fib comfort-fib e morning meal of beefsteak or million chops, we are hungry; as "Pacific elopers, " accustomed to such a wealth of fruit and vegetables, we are starved, literally famished, and we sigh for the "llesh pots ol Egypt," even for the boarding school fare, despised in by gone days; and the much-abur ed breakfast hash. The two members of cur party, who have Uvcil, I cannot say thrived, on this fare Ur the year pa5t, Beem to be satisfied with a cup ol tea or coffee and a biscuit with which to commence the day's labor, but "aH the twig ia bent, the tree's inelui(d," (see Solo nion, I believe) and I confess to a yearning ai 8 o'clock a.m., or thereabouts, there-abouts, which refuses lo bo satietied ilh weak tea and semuls. and de-niandii de-niandii a savory heelcteak, for which luxury wa draw on a neighboring reatauraut and get a fry-ntver a broil. In little mutters of home comfort and eonveriicnre the Ger:nans far behind uh, i iiouyh on arti-Lic principles I should like to tub-tiliile their ornamental porc-I.un heaters for our ug'y, mishapen bUek stoves. There is a singular uniformity in house lurnishing in an ascending scale ft nni the H'.'cond clacs hotel in the kai-er's pa nee; I lie t-ame on carpeted Honrs, the inconv; nient windows on hinCt. and the billowy bumpy beds, though as an ?xc ption to this lust,. I must mention the em peror's couch which we saw all prepared pre-pared for tiis oecupincy at Babets-burg Babets-burg a hard, soldier''1 bed w.th hih, largo pillows and light coveritu. Kaiser Wilhelm is very particular about having bis personal properly, papers, etc., disturbed, so wo Raw his room just as he had left it, with papers piled on chairs, aud little loviniE mementoes on every ev-ery side ; an easy chair turned by the royal carpenter, the Crown Prince, (which, of course, the girls :ach satin iu turn,) and a bust of the empress, chiseled by the hand of his daughter-in-law, the Crown Princess. We have spent two days in visiting the royal palaces in Pols-dam, Pols-dam, and can talk glibly of Frederick I he Great, of Voltaire and the B,ir n) tl, !.,.,.- I,'I0,;.B "L furst and King and Frihderich Wil-helms, Wil-helms, two or three or four of them, down to the grand man simple Wilhelm Kiiser von Deutchland, probably the greatest and most be loved monarch of modern times, not even excepting the empress of India. At Bahelobcrg wo were shown the j rooms first occupied by the daughter ot Victoria, where, as the bride of the Crown Prince, she was welcomtd by her royal pupa-in-law, whoe good taste and delicate instinct provided (or her reception a suite of private apartmonts, furnished like tlnse Fbe had leit behind ber in Windsor castle. Everywhere the praises of the English princess are sounded, and among the names of Prussia's royal ludies, hers will rank in history next to that of the queen, Louise, whose beautilul face hallows every sanctuary, and crowns, like that of the Madonua, all the woika ol brush aud cnisel. No woman iu Europe baa done more truo woman's work than Ibis cultivated English gentlewoman, aa artist, aa scholar, or as humanitarian; and iu her almost republican simplicity and earnestness ot purpose, she has proved heratlf truly regal, a queen to whom the world ol woman may bjw. E. G. H. |