Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1851-12-03
Letter from Europe.

Correspondence OF the L,wistown Gsa,tte.
PARIS, Oct. |. 1851.
In my last letter from Venice, | gave
YOU an account of grand fair and carnival
there This time I'll give you some items
from my memorandum book, if you are
satisfied to take them in the disconnected
style | give them, as one has seldom either
time or inclination for better writing in
Paris, where there are so many follies and
"mystcries" ana museums and galleries of
paintings and statues, all to be seen for
nothing.
But to the Alps, of all mountains the
most grand and terrific, We enter Savoy
from the eastern frontier Of France, and
find ourselves at the same tine among the
Alps. These mountains Offer to the tray
elcr. sights the most curious and the most
imposing, productions the most varied, and
contrasts the most singular. For three
long hours the clumsy French diligence
with all its bacgaee on top slow y labors
up the winding ascent along side Of the
laundering torrent The French diligence,
with its clumsy horses and clumsier bar
ness, looks like ton Of hay on a farm
wagon; but wait until it and its twelve
horses and its twenty-four passengers III
side and outside arc On the top Of the
mountain, they'll 90 down the other side
like locomotive; the noise Of the cataract
that rushes after will be hushed by the
hundred little bells that hang over the
tops of the horses collars. This is on the
road to Turin by the pass of Mount Gents,
and some authors affirm that 1t was 10y th.s
first mountain that Hannibal opened a
passage for his troops By the aid of fire
and vinegar There is some difference of
opinion as to the route by which Hannibal
passed, but the priests of the mountains,
with great deal of assurance, point you
to the camp of Hannibal near the summit
Of the mountain called the Little SAINT
Bernard. There is a circle 240 feet In
diameter, made of huge stones buried deep
in the earth, with their tops two or three
feet above the surface. 1t is called the
Circle of Hannibal, and tradition says that
Hannibal held coureil of war within this
circle. But some say that this circle of
stones was made by the Romans IN the
time of their conquest Of the country this
side of the Alps others again say that 1t
was made neither By the CarthaseHans
pcr Romans, but that it was a Celtic tenn
rIe. made in the time when the god Pen
was worshiped by the Centrons. This
Highway across the Alps was begun by
Napoleon, and finished by the King OF
Sardinia in 1917. In travelling through
Italy, one sees many improvements that
were made by Napoleon, and which the
imbecile Italians would scarcely have ven
tured to make to this day; Improvements
that have made him a bcnefactor, rather
than a scourge to the Italians of the pres
ent generation, whatever he may have been
to them in the days of his victories. One
of the former routes is visible from this
one 1t is called the Ladders, and travellers
crossed the Alps by this route BY means of
ladders placed one above the other, or in Il
kind Of arm chair, tied to the backs of the
mountain peasants Of Savoy.
Chamber, u city of l., 1900 inhabitants,
is the first city you enter on leaving France.
1t contains several towers and other frag-
mcnts Of the ancient castle of the dukes of
Savoy In an ancient gothic chapel, yet
occupied and enclosed hy the towers, they
tel you Of holy winding sheet (sania su-
sario) which wfs Il long tine kept in this
chapel, bu, which has been taken 10 Turin,
aud which Francis l. Kiag of France, made
n pious pilgrimage to see, waking bare
footed all the way from Lyons, in France.
At St. Peters, Rome, there is another
santa sudarjo, which is shown to the peo-
pie on extraordinary occasions In this
chapel read from a frame that hung on
the wall, that an indulgence Of hundred
days would be granted BY the Pope to such
persons as would come there a certain
number of times and say certain num-
ber Of pater nosters, and are n,arias, and
OF course give a little or something for
some pious purpose. Before the French
revolution, Chamber contained twenty
converts; at present there are but seven
OF which four are for women and three for
men. In the museum Of Chamber they
show many Roman medals, specimens of
Roman pottery, &c, and in the library,