The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1872-03-27

upon bright open space and browa cha
let on shelf or plateau Overhanging gid.
dy pfecipice. Here, sitting under a vine
covered trellis built out on the very brink O
the cliff, we find three mountaineers discus
sing a flask of the good red wine Aforesaid.
In this picturesque eyric we made oul
midday halt. A smiling madchen brough
us coffee, brown bread and goats mill
cheese; while our guide, pulling out huge
lump of the dryest sehparises brod from hi:
wallet, fraternized with the mountaineeI:
over half-f1ask of his favorite vintage.
"There must surely be moments" said
Egerton Wolfe, after a while, I" when evcr
such men as you, Frank-men of the world
and lovers Of it-feel within them some stir
rings of the pr miiive Adam some f,in'
longing for the ilylic life of the woods anG
fields that we 6reamers are still, in our in
nermost souls, Insane enough TO sigh afJe.
as the highest good.
be q Swiss pe easant-farmer, with sabots 81
goitre; wife withons-form as rsHacsl
person, and void as regards ler head; aiio
cretin grandfather hundred and three
years old? Why, 20. Ipreier myself as
am"
Nv friend smiled, and shook his head.
"Why take it. for granted" said he, ''tha'
no man can cultivate his braios, and his pa
ternal acres at the same time? Horace,
with none of the adjuncts yOa name, loved
country life, and turned it to immortal
poetry
ct. world has gone round once or twice
since then, my dear fellow, l replied. philo-
| sophically 1.-The best poetry comes out of
cities nOwad VS."
"And the worst. Do yos see those ava
lsEches over yOnder?"
Following the d'ri ction NJ his eyes, | saw
something like thy puff of white smoke
glide over the shoulder Of huge mountain
on the opposite side of the valley. L. wa
followed by another aud another. We could
neither see whence they came nor whittier
they went We were too far away to hear
the sulen thunder of their fall. Silently
they flashed into sight, and as silently VAN
ishad.
Wolfe sighed heavily
"PoOr Lawrencen' said ne. "SwtZer-
land was his dream. He longed for the Alps
as ardently as other men long for money or
power"
Lawrence was younger brother of his
whom l had never seen-a lad of great prom
Use, whose health had broken down at Ad-
discombe some ten or twelve years before,
and who had soon after died Ot rapid con-
sumption at Torquav.
And he never had that l)ngirg graft
lied, had he?"
"Ah. no-he was never out of England
They prescribe the bracing climates now,
am told, for lung diseases but not so then
Poor. dear fellow! | sometimes fancy he
might have lived, if only he had had his
hearts desire"
81 would not let such a painful thought
enter my head, if / were you," said hast
lily.
But can't help it. My mind has been
running on poor Lawrence all the morning;
and, somehow, the grander the scehcry
gets, the more | keep thinking how he
would have exalted in ii. Do you re.
member those lines hy Coleridge, written
in the Valley of Chamouni? He knew
them. 'Twas the sight of yOnder ava
lanches that reminded me. Well! | will
try not to thihs Of these things. Let us
change the subject"
Just at this moment the landlord of the
chalet came out-a bright eyed .voluble
young mountaineer about five or sIx-and
twenty, with spring of Edeiweiss in his
hat.
GOOD day, meine Herren," h said in
Guiding all alike in his salute, but addres =
ing himself especially to Wolf and myself
"Fine weather for traveiing-fine weather
for the grapes. These Herren al going on
by the New Pass? Ach, Herr Gott! grand
work! a wonderful work and all begun
and completed in less than three years.
These Herren see it to-day for the first
time? Good. They have probably been
over the Tete Noir? No! Over the Splu
gen? Good-goodl If these nerren have |
been over the Splugan they can forEl an |
idea of New Pass. The New Pass is very |
like the Splugen. Ii has gallery tunnelled |
in he solid rock just like the gallery on the |
Via Mafa, with this difference, that the gal
lary in the New Pass is m ich longer, and |
lighted by lOop-holes a. regular intervals. |
These Herrcn will please to observe the view !
looking both up and down the pass, before |
entering the mouth of the tunnel-there is |
not finer view in all S SyitZeraDd.''
1T must BE- a great advantage to the |
people hereahouts, having so good a road |
carried from valley to valley" said lsmil-
ing at his enthusiasm.
'Ob, it is fine thing for US. me in Herr :"
he replied. And fine thing for all this |
part of the Canton. 1t will bring visitors
floods OF visitors! By the way. these
Herrea must not omit to look out for tie
waterfall above the gallery. Holy st.
Nicholas! /! the way in which that waterfall |
has been arranged!'
Arranged 70 echoed Wolf, who was as
mpch amused as my self. '.Diauolo! Do
you arrange the waterfalls in your coun-
try:"
1t was the Herr Becker" said the land
lord, UNCONSCIOUS OF inter "the eminent
engineer VINO planned the NV Pass. The |
waterfall you see. meme Herren, would not |
be suffered to follow its old urse do yn the |
face Of the rock through which the gallery |
is tunneled, or it would have i,wed in at |
the loopholes and flooded the road What, |
ther- fore, did the Herr Becker do?''
"Tnrned the course of the fall, and |
brough' it do vn hundred yards further |
on said |, somewhat impatiently.
Not so, mein Herr-not so! The Herr |
Becker attempts nothing so expensive. He |
permits the falls to keep its old ceuloir and |
come down is Old way-but instead OF let. |
ting it wash the outs de of the gallery, he !
pierces the rock in another direc ion-vert;-
the tunnel constructs an arti- |
ficial shoot, or conduit in the heart of the |
rock and brings the fall ont below the gal |
lery, just where the cliff overnangs the !
valley. Now what do the English Herren |
say to that?"
THAT I" it must certainly be clever piece
Of engineering replied Wolfe.
s And that. having rested long enough,
we will push on and see it," added I, glad
to cut short the thread of our hosts native
eloquence.
So we paid our reckoning, took last look
at the view, and plunging bsck into the |
woods, went on our way refreshed.
The path still continued to ascend, till we
suddenly came upon burst OF DAYLIGHT, |
and found ourselves on a magnificent high |
road some thirty feet in breadth, with the |
,ofest and the telegraph wires on the one
nahu, and the precipice on the other Mas