The Portland daily press., 1865-09-15
Friday Morning, Sept. l5, 1866.
BERNIE AND ITS BEARS EUROPEAN
RAILWAYS. F

The following is from the lively Paris cor
respondent Of the N. z. Tribune: salsi ie
EMS, Ang. II, 1866.
How it happened was this IL moan how it
happened that your Paris Gown" has got past
the Notifications for almost the first time in
five years-a desertion of his post which he
feels Obliged to explain. At eggs last Tues
day morning-Madame Busque lays them on
the table very fresh-Afajor x proposed 1.-THE
Major in question, with whom am connect
ed by ties of old friendship and other bonds,
lately arrived in Europe to mend some parts of
his health, broken by three years campaign
ing,) that should accompany him as guide,
philosopher and friend, by way of Switzer-
land TO Ems. That day in Paris it was near
ly as hot as the gentleman said 1t was, and
Ems presented itself in alphabetical order as
the next appropriate place to CO. Besides the
heat, the air OF the great city was dusty and
ill-havored, and breathed over and again by
the natives and strangers within its gates,
seemed stale, fusty, secondhand, as 1t were.
Then, Emperor, Ministers, "the town. were all
gone, and considering these things, why might
not our "Owno safely leave too? And SO I
struck off the second eggs head with decis-
i've sweep of the knife and hands with the
Major, singing, after Scott, s'ip
-Good bye, Mrs. Brown, ,5lsss s..t
am going out of town, .iuo .o
Over dale, over down, naH 4y
Where bugs bite not,
Where lodgers fight not, si.fsi + M s
Where below you cochors drink not, lf g
Where beside you guttors stinR not, li..
Bu all is iresh, and clear and gay, saiis "a
And merry lanbkins sport and play, II
And they toss with rakes uncomnl0nly short
hay. ftl - 1855 & I Z .if
UncUmmonly short-and very sweet too
to be sure, was the hay which we saw the
men shaving rather than moving with their
broad-bladed, short scythes, and the women
tossing with wooden pitchforlSs as we rode
along the valley meadows from Basle to Derne.
At the railway station we met the Minister of
the United States at the Swiss capital. No,
man in OR out of our or any other country's
diplomatic or any other service, has more lof-
ty, pure and noble views than this gentleman,
the windows Of whose hOspitable cottage look
out upon the panorama of the snOw-coyered
Bernese Alps. He was good enough to point
out to us the Mirabilia and Memorabilia of
the place, an Office for which his large kind
ness, his high intelligence, and long residence
make him plenipotentiaL
The wayfaFer through this city's streets,
though as much of a fool as Slender, need not
ask: "Re there Sears i the town?" The good
town, when, indeed, il was only little ham
let, snuggled around the castle that oppressed
and protected, took its name from Bruin, lin
Germany, Bar, plural Barren. which was in a
sort Nlwsa Major, as Dibsbury says, foster
mother and godfather to the infant settle
mant; which now grown up to great city es-
tate, still holds its namesake in high and man
ifold honorable respects. a painted bear
stands rampant on the city shield, large carved
and molten images Of him in stone and brass,
on all fours, on back and rump, and in every
possible bruineqSue posture, adOrn the public
monuments. His lesser eidola abound in Jew
eRers' and toy-shpp windows, done in cum
nAhgly cut wood, and in precious metals and
stones, and in wood-cuts and lead and tin.
And the bakers do him in pastry and ginger
bread-bald-hea parents and grand parents
fondly giving cater in that form to good little
Bernese, who recite their fourth command
ment. and Kings ii:2, %, "a ia fayorite scrip
ture in these parts) with proper glibness. The
capital of Switzerland counts 10000 inhabit-
ants--souls--so called. / doubt, il by raking
and scraping all the back streets, SO many as
AZ children could be found who would dare to
say anything disrespecttul to a bald headed
traveller. la ealem
Hardly one ofthe bridges that leads over
the beautiful, swift-howing Aare, and main en-
trance-way to tbe city, is the palatid den where
half dozen bears are kept in elegant care, the
city's guests. 1t is a circular courtyard sunk
ten feet or so below the surface of che sur
rounding public walk, paved with stone, separ-
ated in two equal parts by diametrical stone
wall. surrounded By handsome bTeast-high
parapet in cut stone, having in connection
with it retiring private dtns for its inhabitants,
and pretty stone pavilion for their resident
guardians. There are stalls ON the public
walk where old women earn their bread by
selling small leaves to kindly-designed visitors,
who throw the victuals down in morsels to the
city's guests These, expecting such things,
60 through a formula Of greatly humorous an
tics as readily as guide book could ask them
to put themselves into solitude, quite human
rearward, and await their bread-fee with open
Jaws. 1t was pleasant to see the little birds,
fitting abont and lighting down to gather the
smaller crumbs, SO cumberleSs and confident
among these big fellows, the big fellows max
ing no quarrel, charita bly, good natured in their
strength
Not that they are always good-natured; even
they recognize a point beyond which bearing
Indulgence ceases to be virtue. Just that
point was unhappily hit upon by one OF par
ty Of late dining EnglishmeD, passing that
way one night some four years ago.. The tipsy
misinanaged to climb or tumble himself INTO
the den. Instead of his being sobared by the
situation down there, or his boon companions
above by the contemplation oft, be and they
must needs disturb and generally initiate the
bears, the eldest of whom inally-to make
long story short-munched and ate the gen.
teman to death. Meantime some of the un-
consumed members of the party had run or
staggered of on help, and brought up a gen
darme TO the scene. There Is every reason, de-
duceable from the intelligent, right national
character IN general, and from the character
OF SWISS CHOSEN ior posts of duty in particular,
that this man did all that could be dome
which at that stage Of the wretched case. was
nothing to save the life Of victim Of foo
much wine. But report that has mn ;ntn
local legendary form with the Fnclish goe
about to the effect that the policeman ,yho
was armed, end might BY hurrying un and
shooting the bear, have saved the man. aid
rather coolly look on the case from the point of
view ofthe clown in the Winters Tale: @Iql
go and see if the bear be gone nom the gentle
man. and how much be hath eaten they are
never curst but when there are hungry: if there
be any of him left, Pll bury him,
The next year there came, among the multi
tude Of quiet. decent, sensible English tourists
who throng through Switzerland every Sum.
mer, John Bull of the exaggerated spread
hon-a and-unicorn type One of that sort OF per
sons, Of which every nation furnishes the small
contingent Of foreign travellers that give all the
worst and most OF the false notions to forelgn-
efs regarding the entire nation. Wen, TINS
ieilow, very. proud Of Lord Palmerston and
ms personal right as "Ciuus RonsGnicus' $50 l
once heard, one Of the sort phrase it--and
pray don't make haste to sneer exclusively,
dear general reader-there is not fig to
g hoose between the Ignorance and ill-breed-
Ing Of britisher, Yankee, a German or a
trenehman, as there is nothing but the emba-
Tas du choiq for pleasant companions among
them aii Ia nlne cases out of ten.) Well, this
fellow, speaking sufficient, bad German or
worse French for the purpose, found, or fanci-
ed he had found the very gendarIne who
had let British subject' 60 to the bad
and that, osall things on sthe continent Of
~. , -stt- etes t4ist