Recollections of My Life and Reflections on Times and Events During It: A Memoir by Father W. J. Howlett

Page 65

of human bones of all sizes artistically arranged in pleasing figures, thus taking away of the constituting material. These were supposed to be relics from the martyred companions of the Saint. The following morning I said mass in a chapel of this church while before me lay a skull which they told me was that of St Ursula.

          A noticeable feature of Cologne was the great number of shops where each one announced that there and there only could be got the genuine Johanna Maria Farina water. Farina was the original discoverer of the famous cologne water.

          A trip up the Rhine is a treat of a lifetime, and from Cologne to Mayence is the essence of it. It has been so often written up that I can say nothing new, but I must say that I do not think it has been over-written. Apart from its interesting legends it is unexcelled in the beauty of its scenery, and with them it is like passing through fairyland. The Rhine steamers are magnificent, and if the company is intelligent and congenial such as I chanced to fall in with, the trip is most enjoyable. The country is rather mountainous and every mountain has its history and romance, and many a ruined castle and fortress conform the tales of chivalry and song; Sonn with its university, the Drachenfele with Nonnenwerth and Rolandseck, Coblentz, the Lorelei, the Rheinfels and Rheinstein, Binger Jchanninsberg and so many other wonders crowding into the day that one almost regrets the time to partake of the veritable banquet they serve as a dinner. All this, and the beautiful mountain sides now covered with vines bearing the grape. of the most famous wines in the world and toning down the ruggedness of the hills, being a sense of rest and enjoyment not found in a month of sight-seeing in Paris or London.

          At Mayence I said mass in the Cathedral, one of the finest in Europe, but badly crowded by shops up to its very walls. No good view can be gotten of it from the outside.

          I did not delay in Mayence but took the train for Wuertzburg, where I arrived a little after noon and had my first experience in speaking German while trying to order dinner at a restaurant. I had taken several prizes at the seminary for my excellence in German, but now it had all evaporated and all I could think of  was the phrase, “Ich bin hungrig,” and the waitress smiled an amused smile and brought me my dinner.

          I had no difficulty in finding the residence of Doctor Hettinger, who read my letter of introduction and most graciously offered to find lodging and entered a room occupied by a young man. They began conversation in German while I waited from [for] some kind of an introduction. Suddenly the young man turned to me and said in plain English: “So you are from America?" I gladly pleaded guilty to the impeachment, and asked him if he were from the same  country. He replied that he was; that his home was in Louisville, Kentucky, and his name was Louis G Deppen. When I told him I was

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