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AN AUTUMN AT OEDT.

WHERE and what is Oedt? is a question which may probably be asked by some one glancing over the table of contents of this number of Bentley's Miscellany. Oedt! Whereabouts can that be? In Hungary or Transylvania, Lapland or Kamtschatka? In Australia, Africa, or America? Oedt, good reader, is neither on the troubled plains of Hungary, on the distant confines of the frozen zone, among the deserts of Africa, the backwoods of America, or the gold diggings of Australia: it is a small village lying midway between Aix-la-Chapelle and Düsseldorf, and about a three hours' journey from Cologne. It is a place easily reached, but not so easily left when one gets there.

Are its attractions, then, so great? Has it hot and cold springs of peculiar virtue, beautiful scenery, gay society, gambling saloons, all or any of the agrémens of Baden-Baden, Homburg, or the other favourite German baths? Indeed, no; it is quite destitute of health-restoring waters, there is not a roulette or rouge-et-noir table in the place, not a ball-room, not a reading-room, not even a circulating library of the smallest dimensions; there is no society whatever, and as to scenery, it is scarcely possible for any spot to be less picturesque. Neither nature nor art has done anything for poor meagre little Oedt, and yet people flock to it, and stay at it for weeks. The fact is, that Oedt is the abode of an extremely skilful and talented oculist, and therefore is in progress of becoming what the well-known Gräfrath was during its palmy days, when old Hofrath de Leuw reigned there, and operated with equal care upon the eyes of princes and peasants, making, it is said, no sort of distinction between high and low, except, of course, in the prices of his services. But the old Hofrath has been gathered to his fathers, and the young oculist of Oedt is now the rising star, of that profession, in Germany.

The village which he has chosen for the scene of his inexpressibly useful labours is one of the most primitive description, and though near so many thickly populated towns, appears to be quite out of the world. The necessaries of life can be obtained there certainly, but none of its luxuries. There is no market, and there are scarcely any shops; every article that is not absolutely required for daily use must be sent for to one or other of the small neighbouring towns, such as Kempen and Crefeld. There is not even a chemist's shop in Oedt, which seems strange in a place that is filled for many months of the year with invalids. This, however, is not owing to any supineness on the part of the residents in the village, or of the adjacent farmers; they are no way to blame; it is the fault of a humane and very just enactment of the Prussian government, which, in its paternal care of the people, has wisely ordained that no chemist's shop shall be opened in any village or small town containing less than eight thousand inhabitants! The population of Oedt is reckoned at about five thousand souls; the five thousand bodies which encase them, of course, therefore, go for nothing. This is a great drawback, and would be a most serious evil if cholera, or any other de

structive epidemic, were to break out there. Persons taken ill in the evening would have to wait till next morning before they could possibly obtain the most necessary medicine, and even during the day three or four hours might elapse before the remedies absolutely required could be obtained. It is a sinful edict, a disgrace to Prussian legislation, and one that ought immediately to be annulled, if only for the sake of humanity. We would strongly advise any persons going to Oedt to consult its excellent oculist, Dr. Mooren, to carry with them a supply of the most necessary medicines; they will find no difficulty in passing them through the Belgium and Prussian custom-houses. As, on leaving England, I was much of an invalid, we were provided with a good stock of medicine, therefore we should not probably have found out the dearth of such needful matter at Oedt, if one of our party had not happened to inquire for some camphor, and then, the said camphor having to be ordered from Kempen, was elicited the statement above made of the regulation enacted by Prussian wisdom in high places.

I had not heard of Dr. Mooren in England, where, as yet, his name is little known, but tired of handing out guinea fees without deriving any benefit, and of using eye-lotions, and all sorts of embrocations, every one of which might have been applied with quite as good a result to the sole of my foot as to my eyes and eyebrows, I had determined to go to Düsseldorf to consult the successor of the old Hofrath, who, I was told, was his son, and a very able oculist. In Germany, however, I heard that the son had died before the father, and that the successor of Dr. de Leuw, at Grafrath, was a young man of fair abilities, but no way remarkable for his skill. Was I, then, doomed-to use a not very elegant saying "to fall out of the frying-pan into the fire?" Happily not, for, chemin faisant, we heard of Dr. Mooren, of his extensive practice, great experience, and wonderful skill. We were assured that he was a highly educated man, and a good physician as well as oculist, an advantage not possessed by the Hofrath. He had been, we were informed, for some time the first assistant of the celebrated Dr. von Gräfe, of Berlin, who had the highest opinion of him-in short, we heard in his favour what it would take pages to repeat. On arriving at Düsseldorf we made further inquiries about him, and the previous account we had received of him being fully confirmed by persons of the highest respectability, we determined to make a pilgrimage to the place of Dr. Mooren's abode.

Taking the railway between Düsseldorf and Aix-la-Chapelle, we left it at Gladbach for the station at Viersen, the nearest to Oedt, which is about an hour's drive from thence. I wore a pair of blue eye-protectors, and these attracted general observation, and of course notified my errand, for we heard Dr. Mooren's name on all sides, and assurances were given us from total strangers that I would be in excellent hands. One lady, who happened to be in the same railway carriage with us, told us that she had been under Dr. Mooren's care for some time; she had been quite blind of one eye, and he had entirely removed her blindness by forming a new pupil in her eye, through which she could now see quite well.

"You may trust to him implicitly," she said; "he has never been known to make the most trifling mistake; his judgment, his skill, and his goodness, are equally great."

No sooner were we seated in the vehicle at Viersen, which was to take

us to Oedt, than the driver, with the freedom of manners so common among Germans of his class-a freedom, however, quite inoffensive, and combined with the utmost civility-began to descant on the talents and good qualities of Dr. Mooren, of his marvellous cures, his kindness and benevolence to the poor, the interest that he took in all his patients. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "you strangers cannot imagine how he is beloved and respected; and he deserves it, for he is an angel-a real angel!"

We could not but smile at the talkative Joseph Küpper's enthusiasm, while, at the same time, we could not but admit that the man whom everybody "delighted to honour" was not likely to be a humbug, though humbugging appears to be, in some places, part of the business of an oculist.

The country we passed through was flat and uninteresting, but seemed well cultivated, and the farm-houses we saw were all well-built, comfortable-looking houses. On approaching the village of Oedt, we were surprised to meet, walking on the path by the roadside, several persons with their heads bandaged; of these some were strolling on alone, others were in little groups of twos and threes, among them were occasionally a man or a woman apparently without any contusion of the head or face, but most of them had a handkerchief tied across one eye, in some cases across both eyes. It was a strange spectacle, and our first idea was that there must recently have been a fair, or other rustic meeting, at the village, and a fight after it, in consequence of which many of the peasantry had got beaten and bruised. Our ignorance, however, was soon enlightened by Joseph turning round, although very busy whipping up his old horses before entering the village, and telling us that these were all patients of the doctor's, adding, that he liked them to be in the open air as much as possible.

Joseph succeeded in making his weary-looking nags get on at a brisk pace, and they went clattering over the stones, while the air resounded with the noise of the cracking of their master's whip. This frightful cracking of whips seems to be one of the principal studies of German childhood in the lower ranks of life, for one's ears are kept in constant misery with the sharp, detestable sound in the streets of the towns and villages, in what is called Rhenish Prussia at least. At Oedt it was dreadful; every urchin in the village, and there were swarms of them, from four to fourteen years of age, was armed with a whip, which he amused himself by cracking in the one street from five in the morning till late in the evening. Custom, I suppose, had rendered the inhabitants insensible to the sound, but it is unbearable to strangers. In fact, dear little Oedt, secluded as it is, is one of the noisiest places that can be. What with the clattering of the generally-worn wooden shoes, the rattling of the carts over the sharp stones in the street, the cackling of the numerous geese, the barking by day, and the howling by night, of the innumerable dogs, the cracking of the boys' whips, the screaming of the babies, the monotonous sound from the weaving machines, and the watchman's discordant horn at night, there never is a moment's quiet. I should be very ungrateful if I did not mention the fate of the poor watchman's horn, time-honoured as the custom of sounding it at night had been; it was abolished by an order from the young burgomeister, when he heard how much I was disturbed by it. He most kindly substituted a low whistle

for the shrill old horn, and thenceforth the strangers at Oedt could sleep in peace.

I suppose I was tempted by his Satanic Majesty, but I could not help sometimes wishing that I could see all the dogs hung up on one side of the street, and all the boys on the other. However, I dare say, had this inhuman wish been fulfilled, I should have been one of the first to have run to cut down my enemies, the boys at least, though I might have left the dogs to their fate. Nevertheless, the noise and constant stir of which I complained at Oedt might not be disagreeable to every one-for many persons dislike perfect stillness around them.

No sooner had we entered the village, announced by the noise above mentioned, than we were arrested in our progress by a man who had apparently been looking out for us, and who made signs to our driver to stop. The proceeding surprised us. "Surely," we thought, "there cannot be douaniers stationed in every little Prussian village?" But the poor village was quite innocent of custom-house officers, and the functionary turned out to be Dr. Mooren's porter, or sub-assistant, who was speedily introduced to us by Joseph Küppers, and who had been desired by the doctor to meet the English ladies on their arrival, and tell them how much he regretted he could not see them that afternoon, having been obliged to keep an appointment at a place some distance from Oedt-an appointment made before receiving the letter requesting him to see us that day, and to which letter there had not been time to reply. Mr. Heckers (an important personage, well known to all the "eye-doctor's" patients) said that Dr. Mooren had engaged rooms for us at the boarding-house till the following morning, when he would receive us as early as we pleased. We debated for a minute whether it would be best to retrace our way to Viersen and take the first train to Düsseldorf, coming back next morning, or to avail ourselves of the doctor's thoughtful care to save us two additional journeys by securing lodgings for us. The latter alternative was determined on, although we had come quite unprepared for staying more than half an hour, were quite destitute of night-gear, and had not even tooth-brushes with us.

When our answer was given, we-that is to say, the horses-galloped on, and presently were brought to a stand before one of the bestlooking houses in the village, the boarding-house kept by Mr. and Mrs. Buschen, a most excellent couple, in praise of whom, and of whose kind-hearted amiable family, too much cannot be said. They had expected us, and did all they could to make us comfortable, though we - all could not fail to perceive that they and their other boarders German-felt a little shy of us. We heard afterwards that they had debated among themselves whether to admit us or not, as we were English. On this head they were somewhat mistaken, because, though having been educated in Great Britain, and having resided for many years in England, I, at least, am not English.

The fracas in which Captain Macdonald was so involuntarily and so unpleasantly involved, has apparently made a great impression on the Prussians, who are very sore on the subject, and warmly embrace the cause of their own Bonn functionaries. The letters in the "Teemes," as the Times was sometimes pronounced, gave great umbrage, and the

insolence and hauteur of the travelling English in general were descanted on in no very measured terms. But it is only fair to say that these vituperations did not proceed from the better-class Germans, and that frequently, when those who had commenced haranguing on "the Macdonald affair" found that we took a totally different view of it, and further, that our party had the pleasure of being acquainted with Captain George Macdonald, and knew him to be an amiable and very gentlemanly young man, they always politely dropped the subject.

Though in the case of Captain Macdonald the Bonn worthies were decidedly in the wrong, the Germans and other foreigners have undoubtedly often just cause to complain of the travelling English, too many of whom sometimes assume the most absurd airs, and treat "the natives" with unprovoked rudeness and scorn; occasionally as if they were the dirt under their feet. These bad specimens of English society must necessarily make a disagreeable impression on all with whom they come in contact. The foreigners do not reflect-indeed, are not probably aware that these very supercilious people are just as bad-hearted and insolent in their own country-bad-hearted always, insolent when they dare be so. Civility costs nothing, and it is a great pity when persons either of high rank or no rank will not exercise it. May it not be added that arrogance is a sign of a vulgar mind wherever it is found?

The accommodation for strangers at Oedt is, as yet, very limited, consisting of only two small hotels and the boarding-house above mentioned. In the latter there are eight bedrooms, with ten beds for the reception of strangers. They are kept scrupulously clean, and are neat rooms, though scantily furnished according to English ideas. The living is plentiful and good, though plain, but both Mrs. Buschen and her daughter-in-law, who superintend all the household affairs, including the kitchen, are most assiduous in procuring everything which may be wanted by their invalid boarders, as far as the resources of the place go.

Why, it is often asked, has Dr. Mooren chosen such an out-of-theway place for the scene of his labours? Various answers are given to this question: some say that Dr. Mooren is attached to Oedt as having been the abode of his childhood, the place of which his father was, and his brother is now, burgomeister; others, that he has settled there to increase the prosperity of the place, by means of the numerous visitors which he draws to it, and the money consequently spent in it; others, again, say that his health is so delicate, and he devotes so much time to his profession, in which he is quite wrapt up, that he fears to encounter the excitement and interruptions unavoidable in a large town, where society would be forced upon him. Certain it is that he has received the most flattering and favourable proposals from the authorities both of Düsseldorf and of Cologne, if he would but remove to one of these towns. The Düsseldorfers have offered to build an hospital for diseases of the eye, to be entirely under his jurisdiction, if he will settle among them; but he has hitherto declined all the handsome offers made to him, and remains in his modest home at Oedt.

I do not think that Dr. Mooren is indifferent to fame-no ardent mind can be so—but he is so devoted heart and soul to the branch of the scientific profession he has embraced, that he has no thoughts to bestow