378 GRAPE CULTURE AND 



And head it with a golden crown ; 

 Of all the wine which here you see, 

 The Human Race the heir shall be." 



No death bell ! Let the goblets ring ! 

 And jolly boys my requiem sing. 

 Each cask filled with the golden wine, 

 Shall be a monument of mine. 

 Write this and make, dear notary, 

 Eternal thus my memory." 



The following acquires a peculiar significance to me, as I 

 look back through the past, and think of the genial spirit now 

 laid at rest, old te Father Muench " as he was familiarly called 

 by his friends. One of the pioneers of German descent, in 

 Missouri, who served his adopted State in her legislative halls 

 as well, and by his numerous writings in various fields of 

 literature, with all the enthusiasm of a polished and patriotic 

 soul, he was one of the first who followed the then new in- 

 dustry of grape culture, and his earliest beginnings date back 

 to 1846. His " American Vintners School," a text book for 

 the beginner, attained a deserved popularity, and was trans- 

 lated from the German, in which language it was originally 

 written. Warm personal friends as we were, I often had the 

 pleasure of meeting him among the vines, and at his own 

 pleasant homestead. At my farewell visit in 1881, he ex- 

 pressed the wish to t( die in harness," without any previous 

 illness. This wish was gratified by an all wise Providence. 

 He was found among his beloved vines/ one pleasant winter's 

 morning, dead, with the pruning shears yet in his hand, in 

 his 84th year. Peace be to his memory. One of the best 

 and most genial of men, he yet lives in the grateful remem- 

 brance of his many friends. 



