Bavarian

“ There is a strange, clear beauty of form about the men of the Bavarian highlands, about both men and women. They are large and clear and handsome in form, with blue eyes very keen, the pupil small, tightened, the iris keen, like sharp light shining on blue ice. ”

“ He had had an uncle killed in the Bayerischenwald by the Bavarian forest guards, when in the excitement of hunting a black bear he had overpassed the limits of the Tyrol frontier.
That fate of his kinsman, a gallant young chamois-hunter who had taught him to handle a trigger and load a muzzle, made the very name of Bavaria a terror to August.
"It is Bavaria! It is Bavaria!" he sobbed to the stove; but the stove said nothing to him; it had no fire in it. A stove can no more speak without fire than a man can see without light. ”

“ Swabians, Franconians, and Rheinlanders are our true sanguineans; and the last altogether our German-French, who dance through life like their Rhine-gnats.
The Bavarian is straight-forward, frank but dry, blunt, and he has hitherto been ruder, more ignorant, more fond of quarrel and drinking, more given up to superstition and old things than others; for his land was the home of priestcraft and monkery. You may ever distinguish the national Bavarian by his nervous squat body, small round head, and beer-belly, immediately beneath which the trousers begin ”

“ If you don’t drink beer at all, the Bavarian does not think you are merely odd, but he thinks you are in danger in mind and body.
Munich was rebuilt after the great fire, and extended by Emperor Ludwig, the Bavarian. Indeed, the rulers of Bavaria have spared neither pains nor expense to make their capital beautiful and attractive. Artistic buildings and monuments are distributed everywhere. ”

“ The king was silent.
"The great thing would be," he said, after a pause, "to reach Bavaria. If we succeed in this, the army is saved, and will be free to take a part in the great struggle on the fate of Germany. We must know exactly where the Bavarian army is."
"According to what I heard yesterday, the Bavarian outposts are near Eisenach and Gotha," said Count Ingelheim. ”

“ Its newly acquired lands to the south were given back to Austria; but it made large acquisitions to the north-east. Modern Bavaria consists of a large mass of territory, Bavarian, Swabian, and Frankish, counting within its boundaries the famous cities of Augsburg and Nürnberg and the great bishoprics of Bamberg and Würzburg. ♦Her Rhenish territory.♦ Besides this, Bavaria recovered a considerable part of the ancient Palatinate west of the Rhine, which adds Speyer to the list of Bavarian cities. ♦Württemberg. ”

“ We have been accustomed to Bavarian peculiarities for years; we know that Bavarian affairs, and in general South German affairs, are not to be measured according to the North German standard; and no one can be more tolerant than the Berlin comrades who, in front of the gates of the Imperial residence city, have to deal with peculiarities which, though of a different kind, are quite as striking as the Bavarian possibly can be. ”

“ A Bavarian patriotism would never grow in the Palatinate. When the Bavarian government sent “Old-Bavarian” officers into the Palatinate to help govern its people, the attitude toward one another became still more unfriendly, as the hungry “Old-Bavarians,” it was said, were sent to the rich Palatinate to grow fat. Their relations were much like those that existed between the Prussian province on the Rhine and old Prussia. ”

“ Long live the Bavarian government of Kahr and Pöhner! Long live the new German national government!"
General Ludendorff declared, "Seized and overcome by the greatness of the moment, I hereby place myself at the disposal of the new German national government. I shall strive to restore the black-white-red badge of old to its rightful place of honor, from which the revolution has taken it. Everything depends on us today. For a German man, there can be no hesitation at this hour, no obstacle to full devotion not only with his mind, but full devotion to our task with all his German heart. ”

“ The Bavarians, too, are very industrious, and take great pains to bring their army organisation up to our standard, in spite of certain hostile elements whose aim it is to frustrate this object, and who have succeeded in preventing Prussian instructors from being sent there, and Bavarian soldiers from coming to us to learn their work, which Württemberg has done for the last eight years. ”

“ The chief temporal power which arose in this region was the Palatinate of the Rhine, a power which, like others, went through many unions and divisions, and spread into four circles, those of Upper and Lower Rhine, Westfalia, and Bavaria. ♦Bavaria.♦ This last district, though united with the Palatine Electorate, was, from the early part of the fourteenth century, distinguished from the Palatinate of the Rhine as the Oberpfalz or Upper Palatinate. To the south of it lay the Bavarian principalities. These, united into a single duchy, formed the power which grew into the modern kingdom. ”

“ As we started on our trip to Ober-Ammergau we were filled with the thoughts of the great and only Passion Play, and found our daylight ride from Munich to Ober-Ammergau, through the German Alps, one panoramic view of loveliness. It is impossible to convey to you the charms of these Bavarian highlands, with crystal-clear trout streams, lovely woods of many tints, mountains of wild, weather-worn shape, and, above all, that deep blue sky overhanging the landscape. The mountains are clothed with fir trees,—fine old trees,—making a worthy background for an equally charming picture. ”

“ The Isar is essentially the national stream of the Bavarians. It has belonged from the earliest times to the Bavarian people and traverses the finest corn land in the kingdom. On its banks lie the cities of Munich and Landshut, and the venerable episcopal see of Freising, and the inhabitants of the district it waters are reckoned the core of the Bavarian race. ”

“ An extremely dirty, unsoldierly Bavarian sentry was sloping about outside, apparently having a beat of 200 or 300 yards long. He was merely typical of all Bavarian sentries. They are all, with rare exceptions, filthy and slovenly, and an incredibly large proportion have most unpleasant faces. Before I went to Bavaria as a prisoner, I had always looked on the South German as a kindly man—"gemütlich" is the word [60] they like to use about themselves—but it did not take long to completely change these ideas. ”

“ I expect of all the officials of Bavaria, above all from the gallant Bavarian officers and the soldiers of Bavaria, that they will, in remembrance of the solemn oath with which they swore loyalty to me, remain faithful to me and stand by me in this heavy hour.
“Every loyal citizen is called upon to brand Prince Luitpold and the former Ministry as traitors. ”

“ The government was inspired by the narrowest clericalism, which culminated in the attempt to withdraw the Bavarian bishops from the jurisdiction of the great German metropolitans and place them directly under that of the pope. On the eve of the Revolution the intellectual and social condition of Bavaria remained that of the middle ages. In 1792 the revolutionary armies overran the Palatinate; in 1795 the French, under Moreau, invaded Bavaria itself, advanced to Munich—where they were received with joy by the long-suppressed Liberals—and laid siege to Ingolstadt. ”

“ This war of the Bavarian succession is unfortunate, and no one knows whether the German empire will derive any important advantage from our sustaining by force of arms a little duchy. It is a question whether it would not be better to abolish the little principalities, in order to strengthen the greater German powers. The king will support Bavaria, because he envies Austria its possession, and, as he has decided upon war, it becomes his crown prince to yield to his decision without murmuring. Therefore, Wilhelmine, I will today witness to you the oath of fidelity. ”

“ That great European movement in the direction of the secularization of thought to which the expressive term, the Aufklärung or Enlightenment, has been applied, and which reached its apogee in the latter half of the eighteenth century, encountered a stubborn opposition in southern Germany in the electorate of Bavaria. The pivot of Bavarian politics, particularly from the beginning of the sixteenth century, had been the alliance which had been effected between the clerical party and the civil power. ”

“ But the contemptuous attitude of the French towards the Bavarian troops, and accusations of looting against himself, exasperated the general's fiery temper, and both in 1807 and in 1809 even outward harmony was only maintained by the tact of the king of Bavaria. ”

“ Especially have we been touched here in München, where your wonderful hospital is, and where we have so many Americans. Between Germany and the United States there exists a strong bond through commercial relations, but between your country and Bavaria there is something more intimate. It is because so many of your countrymen come here. They like the Wagner-festspiel, they are so fond of German music and our Bavarian art. They like to spend their summers among us. They get to know us and we them. You have no idea how many Americans live here in München. ”

“ The adult Bavarian who does not daily double, if not treble, my best performance is either an oddity or a complete financial failure, yet I have never seen one affected by his constant libations even to the point of increased gaiety. ”

“ Austria could be sure of the faithfulness of the Tyrol, and made haste to occupy the country. When the first troops were seen entering the passes, the people arose and drove away the Bavarian garrisons. The alarm was soon sounded through the deepest ravines of the land. Never was there a more united people, and each troop or company chose its own officers, in the ancient German style, from among their strongest and best men. ”

“ By the exclusion of Austria from Germany, the Alps have become the southern frontier, and only two comparatively small branches (the Algau Alps between the Rhine and the Lech, and the Bavarian Alps between the Lech and the Salzach) belong to the German empire. 2. The terraced country of central Germany has its nucleus near the junction of the boundaries of Saxony, Bohemia, and Bavaria, about lat. 50°, in the Fichtelgebirge, the watershed of the tributaries of the Rhine, Danube, and Elbe. Thence a number of mountain chains of the secondary order radiate in all directions. ”

“ But that he was sufficiently alert as the principal adviser of the elector the results of his labours in that capacity amply prove. He reorganized the Bavarian army; he immensely improved the condition of the industrial classes throughout the country by providing them with work and instructing them in the practice of domestic economy; and he did much to suppress mendicity. The multitude of beggars in Bavaria had long been a public nuisance and danger. ”

“ The Bavarian Palatinate is a country richly blessed by nature; the beauty of the landscape and the wealth of its resources are well apt to nourish in its inhabitants a natural disposition to enjoy life merrily. The Pfaelzers had been known from immemorial times for their light-heartedness. ”

“ The French armies crossed the Rhine and united with the Bavarian troops. The combined battalions marched, sweeping all opposition before them, to Lintz, the capital of upper Austria. This city, containing about thirty thousand inhabitants, is within a hundred miles of Vienna, and is one of the most beautiful in Germany. Here, with much military and civic pomp, the Duke of Bavaria was inaugurated Archduke of the Austrian duchies. A detachment of the army was then dispatched down the river to Polten, within twenty-four miles of Vienna ”

“ The Rhenish Palatinate was established as an hereditary possession as early as the 11th century, and in 1216 it was granted to the duke of Bavaria, and this and the Bavarian territory were held by the Bavarian house. In 1559 the Rhenish territory and the electoral vote passed to Frederick III; afterward to Frederick V; and finally to his son. In 1801 France took possession of the western part and gave the eastern to Bavaria, Nassau and Hesse-Darmstadt. The left bank was restored to Germany in 1815, the larger part going to Bavaria, the rest being divided among other provinces. ”

“ Thus Ranke of Munich, most eminent authority, has striven for years to account for the broad-headedness of the Bavarian population by making it a product of the elevated and often mountainous character of the country. ”

“ During the war with France he had distinguished himself by his gallantry and other high qualities. Therefore, in spite of the pleasure caused in Germany by his betrothal, it would be a matter for regret if he were to be lost to the German, and particularly to the Bavarian army. Up to the present, there had not been any such [p. 195] intimate personal connection between the Bavarian army and the dynasty as existed for instance in Prussia and Saxony, and it must therefore be hoped that the rumour would not be confirmed, or that the decision might still be altered. ”

“ This had for long been an apple of contention between Austria and Bavaria, and the new rector of the college at Gratz, Father Haller, in describing the situation to the General, wrote: "Outsiders on either side naturally throw oil on the flames, and as regards Ours, I doubt whether they do their best to extinguish them, exercising the necessary charity and prudence. Father Viller does the reverse, blaming and condemning everything Bavarian, while he praises and defends the Austrians indiscriminately. ”