94 Rambles with a FisJting-Rod. 



glistening waters of the Argen where it gleamed 

 below, yet its own attractions compensated 

 for its more contracted views. 



Opposite to one sitting at the writing-table 

 was the door, the two panels of which depicted, 

 in elaborate carving of the period of the Ee- 

 naissance, a strong castle, with courtyard and 

 towers ; the panelled walls were likewise en- 

 riched with foliage and heads, and on the door- 

 post was plainly to be seen the date 1539. 

 Leaning back in the chair, the eye would 

 rest upon the handsome bosses and tracery of 

 the wooden ceiling. Imagination would carry 

 one back to the days of medieval Germany, 

 were it not for the well-filled bookcases, and 

 bronzes after the antique, which showed that the 

 room of the noble of the past had become the 

 library of the reader of the nineteenth century. 

 It was the gem of one of those architectural 

 remnants of the past which tell where a noble 

 family at one time dwelt, possessors of the 

 land which is now covered by the farms of the 

 peasant proprietors of Bavaria and Wurtem- 

 berg. Below in the valley wound the Untere 

 or Lower Argen, which there for many miles 

 forms the frontier line of Bavaria and Wiirtem- 



