Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1868-06-10
LETTER OF REV. DIR. LORD,
lSrERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND, !
MAY II. 1868.

/ / lth, came over the Brunic Pass, BY the
/ lakes and several of the finest mountains Of
| Switzerland, to this beautiful and Alp-sheter-
ed village, lying sweetly under the shadows
of the lofty Jungfrau Eiuer, Monek and Sill
verhorn. On Tuesday, with a party Of two
ladies and three gentlemen, we made the as
cent Of the Mirren, the first party Of the
season Our way up lay along the edge Of
Wecipice most Of the route, from which at
Rany points we could have cast a stone into
the valley beneath. We climbed and climb
ed, until We reached an altitude Of nearly six
thousand feet The snow lay deep along the
last part Of our way, and cataracts crossed
our path, 20 plunge a thousand feet az a single
fall into the valley beneath The beautiful
fall Of the Staubbach, Of thousand feet, lay
under our feet, at such a distance as to make
my head swim TO look down to it, But when
we reached the summit, (which We gained
with the single adventure Of one Of the horses
rolling over and over down the steep precpice
till he was happily caught by the trees, which
here grow in the creyices Of the rocks,) we
had one of the finest views in all Switzerland.
An immense gorge, thousands Of feet deep,
and not half as many wide, was all that sepa-
/ ldAtn hn nun AlN 7uNM pdNilNhlNhte Vi AAANtA-
horn, from the ten marvellous glaciers of
Jungfrau, Eiger Monck aud Wetterhorn.
You cannot conceive the effect, unless you can
imagine yourself standing upon peak six
thousand feet high, looking down into valley
Of few hundred feet wide, beautifully green,
and looking up over miles Of glacier and snow,
out of which ragged bastions of rock, that
could not hold snowflake, shoot up above
the white waste around them. | say miles,
for Jungfrau is 1900 feet high, two miles
and half perpendicular,) and many more
along its sides, full of ravines and glaciers and
seas Of snow and ice. 1t was a memorable
view, and not the less so because | had il all
alone, upon solitary peak surrounded by
snow, at whose base / had scared up the wild
cock de brieuse Of the Alps Three of our
party gave up the ascent when We lost one Of
our two horses. Two followed me to the
beautiful opening of the Miirren, and from
thence | scaled the massive rocky rampant
alone where naught interrupted my vision
save the indescribable mountains of rock and
snow which had come to see You may be
astonshed to hear it, but | thought then and
there as much Of home as of these mighty
hills and deep, enhancing valleys | longed
to have my best friends look on the same
scene The loneliness of the mountains top,
when | could only hear the sound of the wa
ter-falls of the Lauterbrunnen, brought me
into sympathy, more than | ever have been
before, with all those whom | know and love-
wondered sot that Christ chose the mountain
as the place Of prayer for everything turned
my thoughts irresistibly to God, in connection
with those for whom and with whom l have
so often prayed The peak of the mountain
is the place for interccssion. One by one the
( familiar faces ofmy own mountain home pass
ed before me. Not one was forgotten there
in the sacred seclusion Of that great church of
/ God, whose ceiling was the sky, whose col
umns were the mountains, whose aisles and
nave we're the green vallies of the Lauterbrun-
men and Guidelwold, and whose organ was
the diapasin Of the cataracts and glaciers.
Yet even there, with every sense filed to re-
| pletion, took out my letters from home and
read them once again, and mingled my warm
est thoughts toward my earthly friends with
my best aspirations to the Creator of this va
ried magnifcence
We were Joined at Lucerne by party Of
| American ladies, wives and one daughter of
certain officers of the American feet under
/ Admiral Farragut We met them first at
Munich, and found them en- route for Geneva.
We crossed the Brunic Pass together and had
a fine SNOWFALL on its very summit | need
not assure you that the reputation of the ma
w did not suffer in the hands of the ladies'
When the captain of the Canandaigua, and
the commander Of the Franklin, nd the chief
engineer of the feet read this, (which they
probably never will do,) they may exult in
| the knowledge that the carriage which con-
veyed their wives to Interlaken was as brave
| ly and eficctually defended with snowballs by
their fair hands, against most vigorous as
sault, as were ever their ships against the
shot of an enemy After this encounter we
formed treaty of peace whose entente cor
dale has not since been broken Our only
regret is that our course so soon diverges from
the way they have marked for themselves
| One of these ladies was the only lady who
succeeded in scaling the Miirren, and it was
her horse that rolled so madly or foolishly
down the precipice only moment after she
had dismounted | think these Swiss are
great cheats, for | was furnished with colt
Tor the same route which had never been
mounted before, and | only learned the fact
after he had made several violent plunges and
kicks. After riding him short distance
concluded he would be unsafe for the noun
tain path and was quickly assisted to dismount
without any injury at all done to the horse.
We are little early for Switzerland, they
say. That is, the mountains and valleys are
here the valleys green aud the mountains
white as ever, aud air clear and the water de-
licious, and the temperature soft as June, and
every work of God crowned with yernal
splendors but the crowd has not come, the
little shops and kursaals along the way will
not be opened till tomorrow, and the London
Times is ordered only to reach here on the
18th of this month. We are day too soon
for the reading rooms and stores but not a
day too soon for all that makes Switzerland
glorious. Interlaken, Jungirau, and Eiger
are as good now as they win be in August.
Switzerland is as much better in May, as Ver-
mont is in june even though the season Of
summer travel dees not begin till July. The
climate is delightful. For the first time in
Earope have slept with my windoY OPEN
There is no asperity or malaria in the atmos-
phere. The water is as cool and sparkling as
iced water, and drink it deep and long u
remembrance of home. | should love to stay
here Cor months, but the apat conriers ofthe
crowd are already on hand, and am greatly
desirous to have a few weeks in England aud
Scotland | shall reach Paris in two weeks,
making my way thither through Berne, Lau-
same, and over the Chamouny Pass to Ge-
neva.
heard the finest organ in the country at
Lucerne, by all odds las they say) better than
the larger instruments of Harlaem and Frei-
burg 1t was manipulated by the best or
ganist in the twenty-five cantons. J. listened
to it for an hour. Concerts (organ) are CIV
en- every night, and for one franc your soul
may be wrapped in the music OF Eysium
It, was good, better, best no effect that
music can produce was wanting; and am
now satisfied that good organ is the king