Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 197, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1913 — An Ideal Honeymoon Spot [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

An Ideal Honeymoon Spot

FROM Berlin to the Schorfheide, from the most magnificent of the Imperial palaces, filled with a company of unprecedented brilliancy and distinction, to / the woodland alienee and simplicity of Hubertusstock—no transition could be more complete. Within little mpre than an hour a special train carried the newly wedded Prince Ernest August of Cumberland and Princess Victoria Louise, the only daughter of the kaiser, to the modest . hunting box. from which raids are made upon the largest and best stocked hunting ground of the Hohenzollerns. It stands In a pleasant glade In the midst of a tract of oaks, which are by no means common in this part of Germany/for the sandy soil, as a rule, affords nourishment to nothing less hardy than Scottish firs and birches. But here, as is testified by the undulation of the landscape, and the granite drift blocks, which He about in all directions, we are in the midst of one of those terminal moraines that the glaciers of the ice age piled-up with the spoils of the arctic regions, and the earth is consequently richer than It is elsewhere on this dried up seabed. How the Site Was Chosen. It was on a day in the year 1849 that Frederic William IV., granduncle of the present emperor, rested in this .glade after a tiring day’s shooting,

and, struck by the beauty of the scenfe, plunged his stick into the ground, declaring* that on that spot a house muist be buijt for him. The structure which arose at his command is in the style of the simpler Swiss chalets. For the most part it is composed of wood, and a plainly carved balcony runs round the upper of its two floors. In its dimensions it is not more imposing than an ordinary suburban villa, and all its appointments are of the simplest description. Hundreds of antlers hang on the walls, both within and without, and the other principal interior mural decorations are framed prints and photographs, most of which have some connection with the chase. The furniture is plain and substantial, like that of a yeoman farmer. Even the room in which the emperor sleeps during his annual autumnal visits is hardly* big enough to admit the simple bedstead, washstand, and dressing table, and the chief members'of the suites he brings with him are, of course, no more sumptuously lodged than their master. A corridor connects the chalet with a larger wing, where are the kitchen, the servants’ rooms and the stabling. When the suite is at all numerous eome of its members sleep at two foresters* houses, one of which is close to the chalet, while the other occupies a magnificent site on the shores of the lovely Wherbellin lake, about a mile distant. There is no inclasure or garden worthy of the name to shut the chalet oft from the outside world. Only a notice nailed to the posts warns the wanderer that some of the paths in its vicinity are "forbidden.” But when the court is not in residence he has free access to the "hunting Schloss,” and may, for a small fee, inspect all its apartments except the bedrooms of the emperor and empress. Outside the chalet, on the spot where Frederic William IV. made his thrust at the ground, rises a "bildstock" (picture stick) or shrine, on which ie painted the vision of St. Hu"bertus, who, the legend tells, was brought into the paths of piety when .bunting on a sacred feast day by seeing a stag with a golden cross between its antlers. It ie from this shrine that the Schloss takes its name.

In the Midst of Dense Forest.

Those who wish to be alone could And no more undisturbed retreat than the Schorfhelde. To the west of Hubertusstock one can walk in a bee line for ten miles without once emerging from the forest, without seeing a single human habitation, and without, unless by rare accident, meeting a soul. On the other hand, the woods are swarming with game, and one cannot go far without encountering a herd of deer, of which some three thousand head are stocked in this vast preserve. Tho animals are but little molested, And are dependent upon the keepers for their food In winter. A walk of less than a mile 50 the east brings one to Lake Wehnbellin, which is the true charm of Hubertusgtock. In proportion and contour this lovely sheet of Water is not unlike Windermere. It, too, is a "winding"

lake. Its length Is seven miles, and its greatest breadth about three-quarters of a nolle. On the opposite shore, infinitely the more picturesque of the two, its banks rise steeply to a height of a couple of hundred feet, and are densely clothed with trees, which indeed encircle the lake without a break. From the southern extremity, for a distance of about three miles, the wood Is exclusively composed of thickly planted beeches of great height Their foliage meets overhead, and to walk among their straight boles in the gloaming is like passing among the columns of a Gothic cathedral. The northern remainder of the eastern shore Is lees thickly planted with a mixture of beech, birch and Scottish fir, one of the most beautiful or arboricultural combinations. “The Wehrbellln,” as it is called, is the center of rich legendary, historical and natural associations. It is still said by the villagers in the neighborhood that the lake suddenly appeared where dry land had formerly been, and that a capital city was engulfed in its surging waters. It ie whispered that fishermen's nets have been torn by coming Into contact with the battlements and turrets of the sunken ramparts. These things, however, are said of all the deeper lakes in this part of Germany, and the Wehrbellln is exceptionally

profound. Indeed, the few. natives of its shores declare that in places it is unfathomable.

HUBERTUSSTOCK LODGE