Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1856-04-12
q m flaiIp p2.
sannRnAY. APRIL u. 1856.
Correspondence Of the spy<
of n Traveller in Europe.
GrNBvA, fswitzerlandl, July Soth.

We left Chamouny for Geneva in the diligence
Surinr a hard shower, which lasted two or three
hours 1t was the first rain storm we have had,
in the day time, since being in Europe, not hav
ing yet been detained an hour from that cause
However, it did not incommode us at all, or pre-
vent our having full view Of the wild, noun
famous country, and numerous vineyards and
beautiful fields, which we passed.
Geneva is prettily situated at the west end of
he beautiful lake Of that name and is the largest
city in Switzerland having population Of about
thirty-dve thousand three-fourths of whom are
Protestants. 1t is celebrated for the manufac-
ture of watches, musical boxes jewelry, &c; sew
erai thousands Of its inhabitants; well as many
people in the neighboring villages, being engaged
n the business. We spent few hours in some
of the largest establishments, and saw watches
valued at eight hundred dollars, and many other
costly toys The Cemetery here is a very interest
ing spot; VIC saw there the graves of John CAL
win, Sir Humphrey Davy, and many other distin-
guished people who have died here Geneva,
however, possesses but few objects of interest to
the passing traveller.
The Lake of Geneva, Lake Leman," is mere
ly an enlargement of the Rhone, which takes its
rise in the Alps It is beautiful sheet of water,
about fifty miles in length and three or four wide
An immense causeway of earth and stones near
ly half mile in length, is thrown across its west
end which serves as bridge to connect the two
parts of Geneva, and also creates great water
power. The lake is usually about four feet high
er in the summer than in the winter, owing to
the melting snow and ice in the mountains The
stranger will be surprised at the intensely blue
color of the water of the lake, which is certainly
very remarkable, resembling indigo water after
being used by the dyer. The cause of the phe-
nomenon has never been fully explained.
Leaving Geneva in one of the small steamboats,
which ply on the lake, we landed at Lausanne,
after delightful three hours sail up the beauti-
full lake. We had fine view of the environs of
Geneva, which have more of ANEW Englandlook
than any we have on the Continent. The
shores of the lake are dotted with pretty villages,
and the land is very FERTILE aud highly cultivated
in grass and wheat, with extensive vineyards =
and it seemed as if the people might live COM
Portable and happy. as need be.
At Lausanne,we lodged at the "Hotel Gibbon,"
fine house overlooking the lake, and rendered
otherwise interesting the traveller from the fact
that it is the house lin part in which Gibbon
wrote his history.
Freybwrg, (SWitzerland), dug. lst.-We travel
ed here from Lausanne in private carriage,which
we hired to carry us to Basic, through Freyburg
and Berne, as being pleasanter than by the dill
gence, enabling us to travel more leisurely, and
to have better view of the country. The wealth
er was as fine as traveller could desire,an we had
-. A..
country as / ever saw; noyery high hills, and not
an of waste land, to be seen; the whole bear
ng great crops of wheat, hemp, fax &C.; but no
Indian corn is grown here, the farmers not ap-
pearing to know much about it. Wheat is large
ly cultivated, and the people are now busy gath.
ering it. Quite as many women as men are at
work in the fields, and they are reaping, moving,
blowing, &c. The laborers here seem always to
work in large companies, we rarely see less than
en- or dozen, and sometimes many as thirty
or forty are together All their farming tools are
of the most uncouth and clumsy make and
could but often wish, when seeing them working at
such disadvantage, that they were supplied with
a few samples of the admirable agricultural i'm
plements manufactured il Worcester. However,
they so bound to their old ways and so unwil-
ling to adopt anything different, that doubt
whether they would use new and better tools, if
they had the opportunity. | will mention an in
cident, in illustration of this trait in their char
acter. While riding by some large wheat fields,
where numerous laborers were grading the wheat,
/ noticed that they swuag their cradles tosoards
the standing crop, and tumbled the swath up
against it, instead of swinging the cradle the 9TH
er way, from the standing grain, and laying the
straw off smoothly out of the way, as our farmers
do-aud woman or girl followed the GRADER to
gather the swath out Of his way before he got
round again I'could not feel easy to pass by
without stepping into the field, and showing the
men, as well as could, how the American farm
ers used their cradles All the laborers at once
came up to see what was going on; and, as took
a few strokes with one Of their cradles, laying off
the straw evenly out of the way, they all smiled
and acknowledged that ours was much the better
plan, and even the children present admitted it;
but they all, notwithstanding, shook their heads
saying they could make no such change in
their work, as had proposed-"our fathers, and
everybody else in our neighborhood, have never
Graded their wheat in any other than the old
way; and, therefore, we cannot ln-and more
over, if we adopt the American plan, our women
would not have SO much work to do! !" Per-
ceiving that my advice would not, probably, be
followed, did not stop long to argue the ques-
ton; especially as there was probability of the
women being thrown out of employment, if the
new way was adopted.
Wheat is much used here to feed horses with
and We often see teamsters giving bread to their