Bingen

bing'en, a city of about 8,000 inhabitants on the west bank of the Rhine. It is a center of the wine trade. The American schoolboy is familiar with the verses of Mrs. Norton's poem beginning "A soldier of the legion lay dying in Algiers." Each stanza closes with the refrain: "Fair Bingen on the Rhine."

Bingen is indeed a fair city. A castle still lies behind it; the Rhine in full majesty flows at its foot. A mile or two down the river stands the famous Mouse Tower of the Rhine. It stands on a quartz rock in the middle of the river. It is in reality an old watch tower. The original German name is Musen, meaning to watch. The modern spelling is used, however, in deference to a popular legend. According to this tradition, it appears that during a period of famine the cruel archbishop Hatto caused a lot of poor people to be shut up in a barn and burned to death to save feeding them. In punishment for an unfeeling remark that they were of no more value than so many mice, he was attacked by a multitude of mice, and given rest neither day nor night. He fled to the Mouse Tower, but was followed by these little animals and devoured.

On the east side of the river, surmounting a high bluff, rises the Niederwald Denkmal, a national war monument commemorating the victories of the Germans in the War of 1870 and the restoration of the German Empire. A noble gowned figure of Germania in bronze stands on an architectural base 78 feet high. Germania is 33 feet high. She has flowing golden hair and bears the imperial crown and a laurel wreathed sword the emblem of the unity and strength of the empire. The details have been wrought out most artistically. The pedestal of the monument is adorned with figures representing the Rhine and the Moselle. The mountains of the south, the walled cities of the plain, and the masts and shipping of the Baltic are given place to represent different parts of the Fatherland. In a series of reliefs the youth takes leave of his aged parents; the husband parts from children and wife; the old emperor rides forth to battle, surrounded by his advisers; Mars sounds the trumpet for conflict; then the conquering legions march homeward, citizens, women, and children come out to meet them, and sad-eyed Peace laments the ravages of war. The details of the chair from which Germania has risen, and the ornaments on her dress, are no less instructive. The entire monument is about 111 feet high. It cost a quarter of a million dollars. It may be reached from Bingen by crossing the Rhine in a steam ferry and climbing for three-quarters of an hour through vineyards. It commands a magnificent panoramic view of Bingen and the valley of the Rhine.

See Rhine