Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1876-07-15
THE SWISS EXHIBIT,
Wonders Of the Watch Department--WOOd
CRrviDEs--SchoOl Apparatus--Lace Cur
Observation-Disclosures.


disappoints by its small extent, but the
visitor loses this feeling when he sees
how much is crowded into a little space,
and how compactly and systematically
the articles are disposed. With few ex-
captions, all the important export indus
tries of the mountain republic are rep
resented. The section is arranged in a
series of courts inclosed by showcases
of the severest plainness, the iron frames
being painted Quaker drab color, I'M
relieved by any ornament. Taking them
in their order from the main aisle to-
ward the wall, these Enclosures might be
called, from the principal exhibits they
respectively contain, the court of
watches, of education, of embreideries,
of textile fabrics, and of wood carvings
and chemical products. In the latter
stands pretty little one-story chalet,
used as an office for the commission. In
the last century matchmaking has be.
come the dominant industry in the
French speaking cantons of Switzerland.
More than 100000 watches, represent
ing value of over $40, 900, 900, are pro-
duced annually. 1t is no wonder that
this great manufacturing interest is
given the most prominent position in
the Swiss section. There are forty-fve
exhibitors of watches, chronometers,
and parts of watches, and their products
embrace the whole range of pocket
timepieces, from the cheapest silver
cylinder escapement up to wonderfully
elaborate pieces of mechanism that
strike the hour and the minute and tell
II l.. e h. kLo &c
the moon.
There are watches, too, so small that
they are inserted in finger rings and in
charms for ladies' chains, and one mira
Gle of minUteness is contained in q gold
penholder. 1t has three dials of three
sixteenths of an inch diameter each, in
dicating the time, the day of the week,
and the date of the month. The price
is $500. The watches set in gold rings
are little larger and cost in the neigh
borhood of $500. The most valuable
watch shown is held at 81, 900, gold. It
is an hour, quarter and minute repeater;
has an independent second hand, and o
! alendar of the day, month and year,
and shows the changes of the moon.
Some very handsome engraved work in
gold, Of different colors, is displayed in
watch cases, and the only painting men
toned in the Swiss catalogue is a copy
of Greuze "Morning" on the inner
case of watch; so it would seem that
what little art there is in Switzerland is
the servant of time. People who are
curious about movements, I'd" jewels"
and other features of the insides of
watches, can study the subject adj Hbj-
tatno on the cases Of "parts 3" exhibited.
The jewels, by the way, are not glass,
as many have no doubt imagined, but
are real stones. For the cheapest grades
of watches aqua marina is used, for the
better grades garnets, and rubies for
the best.
Scientific instruments, for the MAX
ing of which the Swiss are celebrated,
electric clocks, and music boxes are
shown in the same court with the
watches. The largest music box is in
the form of a sideboard, plays thirty
six tunes, and costs $4,000. A smaller
one, playing only eight tunes, but COM
bining with the ordinary music box ma
chinery a reed organ, a drum, and a
chime of bells, is also valued at 1000.
A chalet of carved oak, containing a
clock, music box, and a singing bird,
is pretty novelty.
The group of education is especially
I interesting. With those of engineering
and architecture it occupies the largest
Of the series of courts. Every canton
in the Confedel alton is represented.
We see here school books of all kinds,
full array of articles used in the Froe-
bel system of object teaching-collec-
tions of minerals, plants, insects, pieces
of the skins of animals, geometrical fig.
ures, diagrams and a great variety of
other objects designed to lead the child
to the study of nature-plain and relief
maps, philosophical apparatus, plans of
schoolhouses, specimens of drawings
and modelling executed by pupils in the
public schools, etc. Every canton es-
tablishes its own system of education,
but it is evident that there.sexists sub
stantial uniformity among them. In
the group of engineering material for
many days of study is furnished by the
drawings, photographs, and volumes of
description of the system of intercom-
munication which has overcome the
greet obstacles presented by nature in
the Alpine ranges, and covered the
country with a netword of railways and
with the best turnpikes in Europe. The
photographic art, which in Switzerland,
as in France and Germany, has been
brought to degree of perfection I'M
known in this country, is represented by
an admirable collection of maps, large
and sandstone so elaborate in details
as to show every depression and eleva-
ton in the surface of the country, and
every chalet and footpath.
The third contains the lace curtains
and the embroideries from the cantons
of Appenzell and st. Gallen-very beau
tiful work, especially the fern pattern
curtains, which at little distance re-
mind one of nothing so much as of deli
cate frosting on glass. The raised pat
terms, produced by building up the fig
ures stitch on stitch until they stand out
in bold relief, are also exceedingly Of
tractive, and the embroideries upon
white goods, and upon silks, woolens,
and velvets are of an elegance that
leaves nothing to be desired. Some of
the work is done by hand and some by
machinery; but so perfect are the ma
chimes now in use that it is almost i'm
possible to distinguish one kind of work
from the other. Evidently the slow and
laborious work of hand embroidery will
soon be thing of the past, like hand
weaving and hand knitting. Not the
least admirable popularity of the cur
tains is their cheapness. Handsome
pairs are marked $15, $18, 800, and 1915,
but the would-be purchaser is little
disappointed to find that the duty must
be added. You find an article that