interior, the whole of which had quite the
air of English cleanliness and order, we prepared to mount the famous
tower. Our valet, Rohfritsch, led the way; counting the steps as he
mounted, and finding them to be about 378 in number. He was succeeded by
the guide. Mr. Lewis and myself followed in a more leisurely manner;
peeping through the interstices which presented themselves in the open
fretwork of the ornaments, and finding, as we continued to ascend, that
the inhabitants and dwelling houses of Ulm diminished gradually in size.
At length we gained the summit, which is surrounded by a parapet wall of
some three or four feet in height. We paused a minute, to recover our
breath, and to look at the prospect which surrounded us. The town, at
our feet, looked like the metropolis of Laputa. Yet the high ground, by
which we had descended into the town--and upon which Bonaparte's army
was formerly encamped--seemed to be more lofty than the spot whereon we
stood. On the opposite side flowed the Danube; not broad, nor, as I
learned, very deep; but rapid and in a serpentine direction.

Upon the whole, the Cathedral of Ulm is a noble ecclesiastical edifice;
uniting simplicity and purity with massiveness of composition. Few
cathedrals are more uniform in the style of their architecture. It seems
to be, to borrow technical language, all of a piece. Near it, forming
the foreground of the Munich print, are a chapel and a house surrounded
by trees. The Chapel is very small, and, as I learned, not used for
religious purposes. The house (so Professor Veesenmeyer informed me) is
supposed to have been the residence and offices of business of John
Zeiner, the well-known printer, who commenced his typographical labors
about the year 1740, and who uniformly printed at Ulm; while his brother
Gunther as uniformly exercised his art in the city whence I am now
addressing you. They were both natives of Reutlingen, a town of some
note between Tuebingen and Ulm.

[Footnote A: From "A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour,"
published in 1821.]

[Footnote B: Ulm has now (1914) a population of 56,000.]

AIX-LA-CHAPELLE AND CHARLEMAGNE'S TOMB[A]

BY VICTOR HUGO

For an invalid, Aix-la-Chapelle is a mineral fountain--warm, cold,
irony, and sulfurous; for the tourist, it is a place for redouts and
concerts; for the pilgrim, the place of relics, where the gown of the
Virgin Mary, the blood of Jesus, the cloth which enveloped t