YS IN NORTHERN LANDS.

CHAPTER I.

THE RIVER OF STORY AND SONG.

The Rhine! River of what histories, tragedies, comedies, legends,
stories, and songs! Associated with the greatest events of the history
of Germany, France, and Northern Europe; with the Rome of Caesar and
Aurelian; with the Rome of the Popes; with the Reformation; with the
shadowy goblin lore and beautiful fairy tales of the twilight of
Celtic civilization that have been evolved through centuries and have
become the household stories of all enlightened lands!

A journey down the Rhine is like passing through wonderland; wild
stories, quaint stories, legendary and historic stories, are
associated with every rood of ground from the Alps to the ocean. It is
a region of the stories of two thousand years. The Rhine is the river
of the poet; its banks are the battle-fields of heroes; its forests
and villages the fairy lands of old.

When Rome was queen of the world, Caesar carried his eagles over the
Rhine; Titus sent a part of his army which had conquered Jerusalem to
the Rhine; Julian erected a fortress on the Rhine; and Valentinian
began the castle-building that was to go on for a thousand years.

The period of the Goths, Huns, Celts, and Vandals came,--the conquerors
of Rome; and the Rhine was strewn with Roman ruins. Charlemagne cleared
away the ruins, and began anew the castle-building. A Christian soldier
in one of the legions that destroyed Jerusalem and tore down the temple,
first brought the Gospel to the Rhine. His name was Crescaitius. He was
soon followed by missionaries of the Cross. Christianity was established
upon the Rhine soon after it entered Rome.

[Illustration: INTRODUCING CHRISTIANITY INTO THE NORTH.]

The great conquests of modern history are directly or indirectly
associated with the wonderful river; Caesar, who conquered the world,
crossed the Rhine; Attila, who conquered the city of the Caesars;
Clovis, who founded the Christian religion in France; and Charlemagne,
who established the Christian church in Germany. Frederick
Barbarossa and Frederick the Great added lustre to its growing
history, and Napoleon gave a yet deeper coloring to its thrilling
scenes.

[Illustration: CASTLE IN RHINE LAND.]

When the Northern nations shattered the Roman power, people imagined
that the dismantled castles of the Rhine became the abodes of
mysterious beings: spirits of the rocks, forests, fens; strange
maidens of the re