It is from this dreary and infertile plain
that for many centuries conquering military races have poured
over Europe. The climate is not so cold in winter as that of
the northern part of the United States. There is much rain and
the winter skies are so dark that the absence of the sun must
have some effect upon the character of the people. The Saxons
inhabit a more mountainous country; Wurttemberg and Baden are
hilly; Bavaria is a land of beauty, diversified with lovely lakes
and mountains. The soft outlines of the vine-covered hills of
the Rhine Valley have long been the admiration of travellers.
The inhabitants of Prussia were originally not Germanic, but
rather Slavish in type; and, indeed, to-day in the forest of
the River Spree, on which Berlin is situated, and only about
fifty miles from that city, there still dwell descendants of
the original Wendish inhabitants of the country who speak the
Wendish language. The wet-nurses, whose picturesque dress is so
noticeable on the streets of Berlin, all come from this Wendish
colony, which has been preserved through the many wars that have
swept over this part of Germany because of the refuge afforded
in the swamps and forests of this district.
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