Rollo on the Rhine

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ROLLO ON THE RHINE,

by

JACOB ABBOTT.

Boston: Published By Taggard And Thompson M DCCC LXIV.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by Jacob Abbott, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts

Stereotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry

Riverside, Cambridge: Printed by H. O. Houghton

[Illustration: ROLANDSECK AND DRACHENFELS.--See chap. 5]

[Illustration]

ROLLO'S TOUR IN EUROPE.

ORDER OF THE VOLUMES

ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. ROLLO IN PARIS. ROLLO IN SWITZERLAND. ROLLO IN LONDON. ROLLO ON THE RHINE. ROLLO IN SCOTLAND. ROLLO IN GENEVA. ROLLO IN HOLLAND. ROLLO IN NAPLES. ROLLO IN ROME.

PRINCIPAL PERSONS OF THE STORY.

ROLLO; twelve years of age.

MR. and MRS. HOLIDAY; Rollo's father and mother, travelling in Europe.

THANNY; Rollo's younger brother.

JANE; Rollo's cousin, adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Holiday.

MR. GEORGE; a young gentleman, Rollo's uncle.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I.--THE APPROACH TO COLOGNE, 13

II.--THE UNFINISHED CATHEDRAL, 28

III.--THE GALLERIES, 44

IV.--TRAVELLING ON THE RHINE, 60

V.--THE SIEBEN GEBIRGEN, 77

VI.--ROLAND'S TOWER, 95

VII.--ROLLO'S LIST, 107

VIII.--A SABBATH ON THE RHINE, 117

IX.--EHRENBREITSTEIN, 135

X.--ROLLO'S LETTER, 141

XI.--THE RAFT, 146

XII.--DINNER, 168

XIII.--BINGEN, 185

XIV.--THE RUIN IN THE GARDEN, 194

XV.--RHEINSTEIN, 202

CONCLUSION. 219

ENGRAVINGS.

PAGE

ROLANDSECK AND DRACHENFELS. FRONTISPIECE.

THE RIDE, 12

COLOGNE IN SIGHT, 19

THE BEGGAR, 31

MINNIE'S ROGUERY, 51

TOWING, 63

DONKEY RIDING, 75

THE STUDENTS, 114

THE NUN, 122

THE EMIGRANTS, 132

ROLLO ON THE RAFT, 163

DINNER ON THE RHINE, 173

MINNIE, 190

THE NIGHT JOURNEY, 218

[Illustration: RIDE.--See chap. 15.]

ROLLO ON THE RHINE.

CHAPTER I.

THE APPROACH TO COLOGNE.

If a man were to be raised in a balloon high enough above the continent of Europe to survey the whole of it at one view, he would see the land gradually rising from the borders of the sea on every side, towards a portion near the centre, where he would behold a vast region of mountainous country, with torrents of water running down the slopes and through the valleys of it, while the summits were tipped with perpetual snow. The central part of this mass of mountains forms what is called Switzerland, the eastern part is the Tyrol, and the western Savoy. But though the men who live on these mountains have thus made three countries out of them, the whole region is in nature one. It constitutes one mighty mass of mountainous land, which is lifted up so high into the air that all the summits rise into the regions of intense and perpetual cold, and so condense continually, from the atmosphere, inexhaustible quantities of rain and snow.

The water which falls upon this mountainous region must of course find its way to the sea. In doing so the thousands of smaller torrents unite with each other into larger and larger streams, until at length they make four mighty rivers--the largest and most celebrated in Europe. All the streams of the southern slopes of the mountains form one great river, which flows east into the Adriatic. This river is the Po. On the western side the thousands of mountain torrents combine and form the Rhone, which, making a great bend, turns to the southward, and flows into the Mediterranean. On the eastern side the water can find no escape till it has traversed the whole continent to the eastward, and reached the Black Sea. This stream is the Danube. And finally, on the north the immense number of cascades and torrents which come out from the glaciers, or pour down the ravines, or meander through the valleys, or issue from the lakes, of the northern slope of the mountains, combine at Basle, and flow north across the whole continent, nearly six hundred miles, to the North Sea. This river is the Rhine.