The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-02-08

preclplce. Here, sitting under vine
: covered trellis built on the very brinl
of the cliff, we find three mountain
eers discussing a flask of the good re-
wine aforesaid.
In this picturesque eyrie we mad
our midday halt. a smiling mad
chen brought Us coffee, brown breal
and goats milk cheese; while on
guide pulling out a huge lump of tn
dryest sctJCdrtzes 6rOe from his wal
let, fraterniZed with the mountain
eers over a half flask of his favOrit
vintage.
''There must surely be moments,
EgertOn Wolfe, after while, "whel
even such men as you, Frank,-mel
of the world, and lovers Ofit-feel with
in them some STRINGS of the primi
tive Adam some vague longing 70
that idyllic life of the woods field
that we dreamers are still, in our in
most soul, insane enough to sigh af
ter as the highest good"
"YOu mean, don't I sometimes
wish to be a Swiss peasant farmer
with sabOts gOitre a wife withou
form as regards her person and volt
as regards her head and a crefin grand
father hundred and three years old
Why, no. prefer myself as l am
My friend smiled, and shook hii
head.
"Why take it for granted" said b,
''that no man can cultivate his brain:
and his paternal acre at the same
time. Horace, with none of those
adjuncts you name, loved a country
life, and turned it 70 immortal poet.
ry."
"The world has gone round once oI
twice since then, my dear fellow"
replied, philOsOphically. ''The best
poetry comes out of cities nova
days"
"And the worst. Do you see those
avalanchesOver yOnder?''
Following the direction ofhis eyes
1 saw something like a tiny puff OF
white smoke glide over the shoulder
of huge mountain on the opposite
side of the valley. It was followed
by another and another. We could
neither see whence they came nor
whittier they went. We were too far
away to hear the sullen thunder OF
their fall. Silently they flashed into
sight, and as silently they vanished.
w Ollc SlZlltu nGaNllY.
'POOr Lawreneew said he. "Switz-
erland was his dream. He longed for
the Alps as ardently as other men
long for money or power"
Lawrence was a younger brother of
| his, whom / had never seen-a lad of
great promise, whose health had bro
ken down at Addiscombe some ten or
twelve years before, and who had
soon after died of quick consumption
at Torquay.
"And he never had that longing
gratified, had he ?''
"Ah, nO-he was never out of Eng
land. They prescribe bracing climates
now, I am told, for lung disease; 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, ifI We're you, {"
said 1 hastily.
"But can't help it, My mind has
been running on poor Lawrence all
the morning; and, somehow, the
graDdeT the scenery gets, the more /
keep thinking how he would have
exulted in it. Do you remember those
lines by COleridge, written in the val
ley of ChamOuni? He knew them
by heart. Twas the sight of yonder
avalanches that reminded me. Well :
I will try not to think 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 q sprig of
edelweiss in his hat.
"GOod day, meine Herren, )" he said,
including all alike in his salute, but
addressing himselfespecially to Wolfe
and myself. "Fine weather for trav-
eling-fine weather for the grapes.
These Herren are going on by the New
Pass Ach, Herr GOtt a grand work!
q 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 NOiI
No! Over the Splugen? GOOd-good.
If these Herren have been over the
Splugen they can form an idea of the
New Pass. The New Pass is very
like the Splugen. 1t has a gallery
tunneled in the solid rock, just like the
gallery on the Via Mala, with this diff
ference, that the gallery in the New
Pass is much longer, and lighted by
lOOp-hOles at regular intervals. These
Herren will please to observe the view
looking both up and down the pass,
before entering the mouth of the tun-
mel. There is not finer view in all
Switzerland"
sit must be a great advantage to
the people hereabOuts, having so good
a road carried from valley to valley"
said I, smiling at his enthusiasm.
"Oh it is a fine thing for US, mein
Herr :" he replied. "And fine thing
for all this part of the canton. 1t will
bring visitOrs-1OOds of visitors By
the way, these Herren must not omit
to look out for the waterfall above the
gallery. Holy st. Nicholas! the way
in which that waterfall has been
arranged %
Arranged ~ echoed Wolfe, who was
as much amused as myself. "DiGUOLG!
Do you arrange the waterfall in yO ur
cOuntry?"
''It was the Herr Becker" said the
landlord unconscious of banter; "the
eminent engineer who planned the
New Pass. The waterfall, you see,
meine Herren, could not besuffered to
follow its old course down the face of
the rock through which the gallery is
tunneled, or it would have flowed in
at the lOOphOles and flooded the road.
What, therefore, did the Herr Becker
do ?''
"Turned the course of the fall, and
brought it down a hundred yards furth-
er on, said 1, somewhat patiently
'Not so, mein Herr-nOt so /! The
Herr Becker attempts nothing so ex-
pensive. He permits the fall to keep
its old eOulOir and come down its old
way-but instead of letting it wash
the outside of tie gallery, he pierces
the rock in another direction-verti-
cally-hehind the tunnel; constructs
an artificial shoot, or conduit in the
heart of the rock; and brings the fall
out below the gallery, Just where the
cliff Overhangs the valley. Now what
do the English Herren say to that?"
"That it must certainly be a clever
piece of engineering" replied Wolfe.
"And that, having rested long enough,
will push on and see il, +" added I, glad
to cut short the thread of our hosts
native elOquenee.
So we paid our reckoning, took q
last look at the view, and, plunging
back into the woods, went on our way
refreshed.
The path still continued to ascend,
till we suddenly came upon a burst of
daylight and found ourselves on a
magnificent high road some thirty feet
in breadth, with the forest the tele-
graph wires on the hand and the pre-
cipice on the other. Massive granite
posts at close intervals protected the
edge of the road; and the cantOnniers
were still at work here and there
breaking and laying fresh stones and
clearing debris. We did not need to
be informed that this was the New
Pass.
Always ascending, we continued
now to follow the road, which at ev-
cry turn commanded finer and finer
views across the valley. Then by de-
grees the forest dwindled, and was at
last left far below; and the giddy prec-
ipices to our left grew sleeper; and the
mountain slopes above became more
and more barren, till the last Alp
roses vanished, and there remained
only a carpet of brown and tan moss
scattered over here and there with
great bOulders- freshly broken
away from the nights above, Others