Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-01-04
EN ROUTE TO THE COUNCIL.

4 W
New Haven to Dieppe AS for me, 6
picture of steamboat turns my stomach,
but here were lots of people, who hao
crossed the Atlantic several times without
discomfort, lying with their mouths wide
open over a basin for the whole seven
hours. The Gext time come to Paris
by that route, / shall certainly try anoth-
er. So much for the Mediterranean route
to Rome 1t may do in summer, but in
winter there are no more capricious and
bOwelsOme waters, | am told.
So here goes for the Mount Gems route
with the hazard of getting stuck in
snow drift But who would not rather
die the proverbially delightful death by
snow, than live for 40 hours after you are
dead of sea sickness? However, fortune
favors the cowardly. We had what Paul
wanted-a prosperous journey to Rome.
The time is about 60 hours from Paris,
but we don't keep at it.
| The Mount Gents route is abundant IN
interest. Your ride over the mountain is
huge Snow everywhere and more fall
ing, but the track is open--a fact which
| ought not to be fact. One would sup
| pose that squat of night would put
an end to the railway for the winter, but
last winter we were told the track was
epen all winter. When it is closed you
are conveyed over by diligence. This
track running over the mountain Is
scientific miracle, but what will it be
| when il runs under the mountain!
Going over Mt. Gents you 60 up grade
which sometimes reaches one foot in every
eleven, or nearly ninety-One in 1000.
This is an unprecedented railway gradient,
and is very diverting TO travellers who are
| accustomed to the venerable nonsense that
steam is incapable of prOpelling anything
on any but level surface. The highest
point we reach is $3.50 feet above
the level of the sea. St. Michel,
where we begin the ascent on the French
side, is 2, 223 feet above the sea, and Su-
sa, on the Italian side, 1880. So that, in
distance of twenty-five miles, we as
cend 1867 feet, and descend 5000 feet.
We must all get out and examine the
engine and the track, both of which have
| peCuliarities, of course. On the ascent
there is third rail, rising several inches
above the other two rails, and containing
cogs, of which horizontal cog wheels on
the locomotive take hold: and so, like
all good Christians, track and engine bear
one another's burdens We ask the en-
zine driver some questions in bad French,
and he answers in good English. lie IS
an Englishman. So is Mr.. Fell, the head
center of this whole enterprise. Where
upon the old lady from Canada wants to
know if the world could get along any
how without Anglo-SaXOn brain and
Drawn. And the FrenChman, in specs
and mustachc, begs TO remind madam that
''Ze engineer of re tunnel and of &c Suez
canal is a FrcnChman."
The tunnel under Mount Gents is above
all adiectives. We gazed upon the dark
hole with amazcment. lis length is TO be
1920 metres, or nearly eight miles.
More than 900 metres are completed.
The work goes on at the rate of about ll5
metres a month 1t is to be done accord
ing to the contract by the first of January,
1872.
The scenery, as well as the atmosphere
of Mt Gents, is eXhilarating. As you go
worming up and down and around the
mountain you get some sweeps of land
scapc which make your soul rise, and
some peeps of rayine Just under the win
dow which make your hair stand
The road winds like a cOrk-sCrew. The
young fellow from Albany tells the twins
that we "Ought never to run down after
such a winding up. This is joke. The
tall pines are heavy with snow. If they
should ''fall in" and step off, what a
stately army they would make. Some
times the hoary-headCd mountains bulge
up close to the train, and threaten to
squelch u.s. Then they fall back, and
glorious cxpansc of valley stretches out
| below us. The snow ceases to fall. The
clouds dissolve and the sun shines. II Is
q feast. The imagination luXuriatcs in ii.
| There is the fort of EsscillOn, covering a
towering clump of cliffs. 1t is very i'm
| posing. and the French officer says as I'M
prcgnable as any fort in Europe. There
! is a large hospice which was rebuilt by
| NAPOLEON |. The Mountain of Roc; ia
| Melone looks like one of the pyramids of
| Egypt. On its summit stands the ''Chapcl
of Our Lady of Shows. Bcautiiulname,
is it not!
| No sleeping cars. Europe has no
| Pullman. But the tirst-Class carriages
arc elegantly gotten up, dyoureally can
make yourself very comfortable in them.
| Some of them are in saloon form, with
seats for twelve, and must say passed
a more agreeable night sitting in one of
their soft rOomy seats than ever did lying
| in a railway berth at home. You must
take the first-ClaSS ticket on the Continent
if you are going a long journey, OF you
will be walked up some midnight by a
| guard who informs you that the tlTst-class
carriages have gone on and yours not. l
once spent the delightful hours from |
to at night, in a railway station, as a
penalty for riding sCCOnd-Class.
The scenery from Turin to Florence is
continuously captivating. 1t is eminently
Italian, if you know what that means. ]
| am sure | do not. But | think one has a
mind full of softness, grace and tranquility
when one thinks of Italy.
As to Florence | was disappointed.
walked all over the town. Perhaps Win
| ter robs it of its romance, and being on
the way to Rome But the fact is, when
ever YOU arrive at a celebrated town OF
man, you always cXclaim: GLOW this
world is given to lying and dreaming.
As soon as those who so abroad stoI
living, and those who stay as home STOP
dreaming, things of note will find theil
lcvel-at least with those whose heads art
level.
Florence has do much more modern
wcIl-to-do, sensible air than l anticipated
Of course there is antiquity, and history
and art enough togive you many mind.
meal, and | should like to return anC
''call for more viCtuals of this sort, Sc
as to do the great city deserved justice
| Some of the streets are so narrow as e
, rive you the sensation of a carriage wheG
screwing round in your vest pocket.
strolled along the fashionable promenad,
at the fashionable hour. The men had 1
EAST look anda Takish air. The womel
were heavily painted. The American
| ladies las usuaD were distinguishable b!
the tasteful elegance of their attire, Will,
, ! physical beauty they excel here as wei
, as in every ether European capital.
only wish they were all as elegant in dia
lect, and so forth, as they are in ward
, robe. Many of them talk so generously
. and so ungrammatically, and so head
long-a-tively TO call it by no more sug
, gestiye name), that one can not resist tn
! conclusion that more money has been lai
, out on their wardrobe than their education
= Time is wearing the stones of ok
Florence The wolf which suckles Rom
lus and Remus at the entrance of til
croot Gordon boc lost his loft ear and Re