Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-06-26

winter SHOWS. Much as love pets, and
of all pets dog, / fondle these noble
helpers of the perishing with zeal
have never shown to dogs before. Down
the mountain, our horses on run, we
fit by many small stone house built
for refuge in midwinter severity. Each
are numbered, and passing No. we are
startled by the grandest gorge our eyes
ever beheld we are on its very margin
and twisting and turning with a whirl,
and break-neck pace that calls to mind
the graphic description of the Colfax
party crossing the Rocky Mountains. L
| shall now make a heavy draft upon
your creduilty, and believe it or not, as
yeu may, | shall cling closely to the
truth in telling you of wonderful freak
of nature we saw here. On the side of
a distant ledge where human feet could
not have found resting place, we saw
the mammoth profile of a lady's figure
fashioned by the disappearing snow. In
| her hand is what appears like boquet.
Most singular of all huge chignon
dressed high on the head, a genuinely
| shaped panier, and she certainly has the
| Grecian bend. The only distorted parts
of the whole figure are her misshapen
feet.
The features were so regular, the,
| hump so exact, the ChignOn so like
olive one" that we could not for long
while check our establishment. The
snow all about it remained intact, and
we have not the shadow of doubt that
twas wholly freak of nature. We
| wish that chignons and panniers might
as inevitably and Intellectually disappear
as will this figure after a few days OF
sunshine.
| cannot describe to you the novelty
and rarity of that ride down the noun
tain, but at sunset hour we are in the
Iuxuriant valley straining our eyes to the
summit, from whence we have come so
rapidly and with such transports of de-
light. A decided home-feeling takes
possession of us in the valley, which,
more than aught else, attribute to the
numerous Protestant churches dOttlng
the plain. But the canton we are now
| inis regarded as the Nazareth of SWltzer-
land. IT'S the outcast of the twenty
one cantons, yet we have seen more
frank, generous people and tasteful
homes in an half-hour than all the time
we were in Andalusla.
After leaving BriQue fell in with
delightful companion, a Swiss gentle
man who spoke English tluently, and
who soon gave evidence of much Gull
ture. He told me of compulsory educa-
ton in Switzerland, and said that each
| girl, aged seven to fifteen, and each boy,
seven to sixteen, was required to be pres
ent at the school house each morn
ing at six o'clock; four hours each day,
Sundays excepted; from eleven o'clock
to one o'clock primary class, and, OF
winter nights, class OF mathematics
from s to 10 D. m. The only vacation
of the year is a fortnight granted IN the
prape-picking season of autumn. When
the girls are fifteen and the boys sixteen
school DAYS end by graduating eXer-
else in which. for the first time, they
partake of the Lords Sacrament of the
established Presbyterian Church. Here
is open communion with vengeance.
The schooling fees for each child are
three francs Sixty cents) and two pounds
of tallow candles per annum. g When
was a boy" said the gentleman, 81 if |
was absent from school two days, the
police would institute inquiry. If my
parents should resist, they would be
fined, and l would finally be taken from
them by the government. A clergyman
who is paid by the canton for Sabbath
preaching, has charge of each school. "
With an enthusiasm | could not help
but admire. he said "The fruits of our
| school system are its best commentary.
If you were to climb with me 1900 feet
up wonder mountain, we should find
peasants tending goats and sheep, each
! one of whom could read and write as
lawyer"
Our interesting conversation was
brought to a close by the halt of our
stage at the village of Sierre at $50
o'clock p. NJ, and here we tarry for the
night.
At seven o'clock on Wednesday off by
railway, and $50 found us at Martigny,
Here we secure a guide and mules, and
not to be overcome by threatening skies
and misty weather we climb heaven
ward again, and cross another chain of
the Alps. At noon we were among the
clouds, and at o'clock a thousand feet
above them. At wayside inn, nearly
5000 feat from the sea level, we tarry
for luncheon. Our guide speaks only
| French, and q pretty cherry checked
maid seems not to understand our call
for meat. "Beefsteak," say we. mo -
is her reioinder. ''Meat of any kind p
No comprehend. ''Oh, pshaw - said
Smaller, and then did his utmost, but to
no avail | tried it without success and
then Sheldon called to the blushing
maiden, 'Oh ali! Madamoiselle, flesh,
meat, cold ham" and spanning his great
thigh with both hands he holds out his
Leg to the astOniShed maid She pom
dered a moment, and then trimming
over with merriment cried ''Oui! Oui T"
and off she went Imagine our surprise
when it was evident that she had trans
lated Sheldon literally and brought us a
genuine leg of mutton. After luncheon
we crossed the road to a stone hut where
an old granddame made us welcome be-
fore a fire place large enough to take in
a small forest, and the old lady with a
| blacksmith bellows blew the embers
aflame and looked with motherly SYM
| pathy upon the three drenched victims
of a merciless storm, and the maid came
in and gave US many glance of sym
| pathy which we were not slow to
recognize. | have since thought that the
old granddame may have had a son ia
far off America for she tried to tell us
| something about our native land. We
| found the atmosphere really cold after
the hospitality of the inn, and the guide
cooler than all, when he ordered US to
dismount and to promenade steep de
scent.
We have promenaded before but never
knew slippery descent in a cold, pelt-
ing rain, with labored hop, step and
| Jump, to be promenade, but that was
the way, and guides traduced many
bright spot in memorys halls with sweet
reminders of clinging, trustful Great
ure in the soft moon rays, or the flaming
gas jets of gilded hall. And this is a
promenade, in the rain and the mist, and
a feeling of dampness comes over me
that my body cannot resist, feeling of
dampness and longing that is only akin
| to pain, and resembles disgust as much
as the mist resembles the rain.
Down the mountain, Se0erelg DOZEN,
with feet upwards and corpus down
wards more than once, and now at even
ing we pass through a tunnel and on
the farther side, in the glory of red
dened sunset, Chamounix Valley bursts
as vast picture upon our enraptured
| vision Well does II dpcprvo tho ronuto