The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1873-10-16
WAITS WAITED WESTWARD FROM
OyER THE WAVE.
CHAMoUNy. Julv 3Ist. 1873.

refuge from the atrocities of the reign of
bloody Mary Here the Rousseau first
saw the light of day, and here Voltaire
lived for nearly twenty years. With
history associated with such men, there
are many attractive "reminiscences to be
visited Roman Catholicism was here
abolished over three hundred years ago
ard her bishops expelled through the
influence of the talented Farel. John
Calvin, passing as fugitive from Italy
to Bale was entreated to remain and
60 them; he accepted the call and by his
talents and powerful eloquence this for
eign itinerant was soon raised to be die
tator Of the republic, ruling its turbulent
democracy with sway not more mild
than that of the bishops, under whose
authority the people had been ruled for
ages, and from the pulpit of St. Peters
he denounced immortality with such elo-
quence and force that prohigacy was
| obliged to hide its head. His laws
enacted and rigidly enforced were severe
and even tyranieal, and his fair fame and
that of the Protestant reformation is
stained with as deep dye by the execu
ton of Servetus as is the Papal Council
| of Constance with the burning of Huss.
But | must away to Chamouny or L not
reach it to- night. The Diligence. drawn
by five horses, started at seven clock in
the morning, and for the first hour we
passed through suburbs, by beautiful
villas. and well kept grounds in uulnter-
rupted succession, ever and anon CATCH
Ing glimpses of the % dear placid Gene
va :" how its smooth waters contrast
with the wild scenes before me. The
soft ripplings on her peaceful shores
sound as sweetly as a sisters voice, while
the moan from out these mountains is
| more like the angry ocean roar. On our
| right flows the muddy Avre fed by the
SHOWS and glaciers of Mount Blanc, a
furious torrent rushing in its mad career
DOWN toward the clear blue waters of the
Rhone, just below, where it energies
from the lake, they unite, the Rhone re-
fuses to mingie with its furious ally and
for some time they keep close to the
right, the Arve finally gains the mastery
and the Rhone, once polluted, does not
again recover her purity until lost in the
trackless sea. We next round Mount
Saliye, a long line of limestone rocks
which seemed from Geneva to overhang
its suburbs, but are really five miles
away, rising precipitately over 5000 feet
from the surface of the lake On our
left as we cross the handsome bridge of
double arches oyer the river Menoge, the
picturesque castle of Etrambiere with its
four towers caps the Petite Saleve. The
Landscape now broadens. the Mole, 6,l28
feet high stands like a vast Egyptian
pyramid In our very path, an English
mans country seat towers above the
trees on a distant frclad eminence.
| We next cross the Arve and pass lofty
monument in honor of King Charles,
Felix of Sardinia, but how small and in
significant do these monuments of man
seem when brought so close to the grand
| O i mountains-the monuments of God
that here bound the fertile valley.
| After changing horses we next pass the
romantic valley of Reposoir, then a water
| fall leaping thousand feet down yell
| low limestone rock, then the black dis
NAL front of a Stalactite grotto. Here
is the most wild and romantic place of
all the route, here "where the swift
Arve cleaves his way between heights
which appearas lovers who have parted. "
| Here is p valley in which the sun never
shines and where dusk and dawn are
| tremendously blended. Soon river leaps
| from the rocks by the roadside, supposed
| to be the outlet of Flairre lake situated
over 5000 feet high on an adjoining
mountain. A fine echo was produced by
the shrill cry of the drivers voice We
now come to the effects of an avalanche,
which my childhoods fancy had painted
far different. A large company of men
were engaged in removing the debris
| from the road, but we were obliged to
leave our carriage and walk mile to ST..
| Martin, where another was procured, and
after refreshments We pursued our jour
ney. The valley of the Arve now ex-
rands and reveals one of the most cele-
brated views of Mount Blanc in all Swift
zerland. The nature Of the surrounding
objects is SO stupendous. that the mind
cannot at first comprehend the vastness
of their proportions. Mount Blanc with
his clear sharp peaks rising before US in
huge mass of spotless snow, seemed
only mile away, while by the eagles
course it was fourteen; on every hand
lowered these mighty palaces of
nature" rearing their dusky forms to
such height that one becomes dizzy
with the sight, and l could but think
that here Byron stood when he wrote
as with an inspired pen the following re-
markable lines:
" Above me are the Alps,
The palaces of nature whose vast walls
Have pinacled in the clouds their snowy scaips
And throned Eternity in icy halls
of cold sublimity where forms and falls
The Avalanche, the thunderbolt of snow
All that expands the spirit, yet appals,
Gather around these SUBMITS 10 show
How earth ma, soar to Heaven, yet leave vain man
below"
After another hour we again changed
horses and continued along the banks of
the Arve, sometimes many hundred feet
above Its ever rushing, foamiDg torrent,
here, as in many other parts of Switzer-
land and Italy, has Napoleon reared mon
uments that will live long after the pres.
eat generation of French has messed
away. This road, in many places, is
blasted out of the steep side of the noun
tains aud bridged ever mighty chasms.
miracle of workmanship. We reached
Chamouny at P NJ, making so miles
in eight hours, all the way up bill. and
in many places very steep. This valley