chains, none of considerable altitude, and all for the most part clothed in forest. Unquestionably at one time it formed a vast inland sea, till the Elbe cut its way through in the north and drained the entire basin. But the floor of this mighty lake was never level. Actually it consists of terraces; the highest is to the south, and the lowest bed is to the north, where the enclosing chain of the Riesen Gebirge and the Sudetten are most abrupt and lofty. Towards the south and east the heights towards the Austrian Duchy and Moravia are nowhere raised into mountains, they are mere swells in the land. Moreover, out of the old lake-bed rose volcanoes, the so-called Mittel-Gebirge, of which the highest is the Donnersberg, all composed of basalt or phonolite. These form highly picturesque masses, such as the two pinnacles of Trozky, or Troitzky, each crowned by a ruined tower—and once upon a time one inhabited by an old lady, Margaret von Berka, and the other by her granddaughter Barbara. Now it so fell out that Barbara adopted the Reformed religion, whereas Margaret held fast to the old faith. These two women spent all their time when not at their meals or asleep, in screaming controversial arguments at one another on their several peaks. This went on to such an extent, that the crows, swallows, and even the sparrows were scared away. Barbara built for herself a chapel in which she could enjoy a rousing sermon on Justification or Predestination, but Margaret had her chapel at the foot of her pinnacle, where she attended Mass. Both chapels remain; but, as to the towers, that of Margaretta von Berka is only to be reached by a climb perilous to limb and life, whereas that of Barbara von Berka, on the loftiest prong of rock is wholly inaccessible. People passing along the highway would halt to hear the granddaughter scream texts at her grandmother, and Dame Margaret retort from the window of her tower with other texts.
This went on for several years, each finding plenty of material in Scripture wherewith to pelt her relative, and maintain their conflicting opinions. After a while one of the ladies died, and the other, deprived of her wonted vituperative exercise, lost appetite, fell into low spirits and died.
It is from this castle that the murderous Jew, one of the heads of the Bolsheviks in Russia, has taken his name.
The Jewish world is divided into two entirely—as far as opinions
