Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-10-08
EUROPEAN TRAVEL,
Travel AbrORd-AmerieRu shoddyItes-
swift zer1And and the swiss-Munieh-Ba-
deu.Baden-paris

deu.Baden-ParS,
The following letter from Col. Thorn
| burgh to Knoxville friend, our readers
| will find interesting:
.. PARIS, September s, 1873.
MY DEAR 4 =: / do not feel to-day
in the mood to write this letter, but it is
raining and l will devote IA little time TO
| giving you some notes of travel, which you
] mus. take "for better or for worsen in
| spirit Of patience. Geneva is situated on
the Rhone, where it starts out from the
| lake at the southwest extremity. The
| lake, river, snow capped mountains, among
them Mont Blanc ITSELF glaciers and
beautiful city, all aid in making this one
of the most delightful places in Europe,
| furnishing the greatest variety of scenery
| and interesting excursions. You here find
| pleasure seekers, coming from all sections
of country, from California to Palestine
and the interior nations of Asia, with a
! light sprinkle Of "the heather Chinee."
| The air is cool and bracing, and Swiss
cooking and Swiss hotels are noted for be-
| ing about the best and cheapest in the
world, always excepting American hotels,
! for there are no hotels in Europe that equal
| our best hotels in America.) And here /
| may mention the fact that there are more
! Americans to be found at these European
| hotels, than people from any other country
| and believe, / would be safe in saying
| ludb There ulOEH AIueIlCdD lIdNeleTS III
Europe than travellers from all the other
nations combined. There are now, it is
| estimated $4,000 here in Paris alone. ]
| have found them every where, from Den.
| mark to Italy and from the British Isles to
| Western Hungary. They are at the hotels,
on the trains, diligences and steamers, on
| mules, in the mountain passes, everywhere
| you find the American. Many cultivated
and refined people are among them, but
| there is also quite .... .....
.. A SPRINKLE OF SHoDDYITES,
and idiots who have only one thing that
the most miserable could covet-that
| is money. 1t is amusing to see
some of these wearing, the i'm
importance of princes upon their counte-
rances, and trying to ape royalty. You
would never suppose for moment to see
! them that their money was made by sell
| ing "lightning bed-bug eXterminator', or
"Snobb's double barrelled back-action
| tripple-geared sewing machines" but
| would think they were the descendants of
princes of the blood-royal for at least one
thousand years. have seen SO much of
it here that l am sick of it. 1 went into a
! jewelers. at Geneva Geneva is one vast
watch and jewelry shop,) and was shown
many different designs he had made for
Americans who had caused him to ransack
the old books on heraldry and get them up
in "coat Of arms which they have cut
on their jewelry and plate, painted on
their carriages, printed on their cards, &c.
/ suggested design for all who might
hereafter apply which was
DONKEY RAMPANT ON AN EMERALD
FIELD,
But the ieweler thought it would not be
popular and he did not promise to try it.
But enough if this. / determined to see
something of peasant life away from the
cities of Switzerland. | desired to learn
something more of this people who had so
long enjoyed a republican government
here in the midst of monarchies.
Leaving Geneva, l passed through the
bright green valleys, and along the base of
the many mountains, up to Lausanne, to
Berne, TO Zurich, and its beautiful lake
finally to St. Gall and Appenzell, in sight |
of Lake Constance and the Austrian coun- |
try beyond the Rhine. Swiss scenery has !
both grandeur and beauty. The people |
live on their little farms and own the soil. |
(This is not generally the case in Europe) !
Among the highlands hay is prin- |
cipally grown. TakeAppenzell for instance, |
and travel all over the conton |
and find not Il single field or patch of any
thing bat grass. Beef, cheese, butter, |
milk, &c, and their manufactures they |
rely on for support This part OF the |
country is dotted with villages From |
some of the hills You can often see half |
dozen, and here they make much of the
lace curtains and needle work which we |
find in the cities both of Europe and |
America. A hardy, honest, contented race
of people are these descendants of the Helve-
til, against whom Imperial Caesar was
wont to hurl his legiOns many centuries
ago, and who have by their courage and
love of liberty, held no obscure place in
history from that day to this. The whole
country smiles like garden; every foot of
ground capable of cultivation is made to |
produce something The people seem
prosperous-no legion of beggars at every
town, as there are just across the Alps in
Italy. Their soldiers look and step like |
soldiers who would hold these mountain
passes or die defending them and the Re-
public. l might fill up pages telling you
how their elections are held how the |
voters each in stove-pipe hats, black coat |
and short sword, come into the chief village |
of the canton and assemble on the public |
square; how officers are elected ViUa Uoce,
and questions settled in the same manner;
the "Landsmann" presiding, and how,
when the business is over, they quietly |
without scenes of disorder and drunken
ess, Immediately scatter to their mountain
homes.