Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1878-09-26
NOTES OF EUROPEAN TRAVEL.
interesting Extracts from Private
Letters of Miss Kate MilIikan to
her Family.
Ne. 8. Rue De la BIENFATsANcE, PARIS
August 18TH, 1873

u - L 81
August 18th, 1873. ! i
wrote from Geneva; loveliest of all
cities, with wide, clean streets, and lofty
houses with their quaint chimney-pots
the placid lake and the blue Rhone rush
ing along; the inhabitants so kind and
polite, that it is a pleasure to be cheated
and beguiled by them; and where, some
time in the Aeadian future, when the
ferule is at rest and pupils cease to vex,
l hope to spend one more summer in this
paradise of sweet idleness, jewelry, pic
lures and mountain scenery.
j had intended to ascend the Mer de
G1ace; and as Mout Blanc was distinctly
visible from Geneva, and appeared about
two miles distant-no one having told me
that it was fifty-two miles away-you
may imagine my astonishment when 1
discovered my error.
The Bragdons started early the next
morning after our arrival, for Chamourfx
and as I knew nothing of it., 1 missed
crossing the Flegere, as they where the
only ones who had time enough-being
forty-eight hours in the. attempt. Dr.,
those who wished to asceLd the Mer de
Glace would leave at four in the morn.
Ing; five gentlemen and myself put down
our names, and next morning, just as the
first rays of daylight came down.. or up,
beyond the many-shaped chimney-potted
streets of Geneva, we six sleepy individ-
uals assem- bled in the long dining room,
and hastily dispatching our matutinal
meal of rolls and unsalted butter, with
chocolate, were soon packed up in car
riage and rolling eastward through the
quiet Geneva streets. For miles and miles
we rode by little out-laying hamlets-so
close, that they seemed continuation of
the city. The sun came up and the fog
Fitted and rolled away over the mountain
tops; every wayside flower, spear and
blade of grass was gemmed with dew,
and glittered with more than diamond
brightness. The market garden carts be-
gan to throng the road the>early milk
maid and her traditional pail were visible
! on every side; small urchins followed us
persistently, begging for sous. The sun
rose higher and higher; cascades and
waterfalls were at every conceivable COR
ner and angle among the mountains; the
orchards became fewer, the rows of plum
and cherry trees which grew along the
roadside, and shaded it so charmingly
gradually gave place to forest trees and
chestnut. Mont Blanc had disappeared
behind the froward shoulders of nearer
and more consequential peaks, and the
blazing sun and stitiing dust were be-
looming agonizing, when we stopped a
the little village of Scionzier, and here ]
clambered aloft with the driver, which
vantage ground kept for the rest of the
journey At Sallanches we had lunch OF
fresh black bread and delicious Alpine
Strawberries; then, changing, horses, Wa
went on, past St. Gervais to Les Ohches
where, as the horses trotted sharply
around a iutting peak, the Chamouni1
Valley and the Mont Blanc range sudden
Iy burst upon our view; the glacier.
stretching down the vast slope, like thi
Ohio river frozen and thawed by a fresh
ct, and turned up at an angle of forty
1 five degrees, the confused masses of snow
and blocks of. ice plainly visible from on
lpoint of observation, ID miles distant; yet
so grand, so terrible in its vastness tha
the eyerefnses to believe it is more thar
a few hundred yards away. We Wount
along past de Gria, Des Blossoms andlL
cony, to the village of Chamounix, at TIN
Mer de Glace. The place was all ago
with excitement; men, women and chill
dren, busy as bees, arranging festoon
and wreaths of evergreens, and p1antin
large pine, fir and spruce trees along tn
Sidewalks, and getting all things read
for the grand Centennial Festival, whicl
was to be celebrated the succeeding Sab
bath, and in which. every Alpine CIn
twas to participate, g
On our, arrival at the hotel, withou
ljstoppipg to order dinner, we immediatel
tproffered q request for guide and mul
kwith which to ascend the Mer de Glace
but, to our dismay, it was impossible t
make the ascent. that day, it being fou
O'Clock in the afternoon, and Mer de GIac
was seven hours distant; so, if we wer
to climb a glacier, we must content GU
selves with Des Blossoms, and, mountin
a creature whose gait was a compromis
between a drOmedary and a cameleopart
L took up the line of march, with IL
gentlemen following on foot, throug
pleasant meadows; tiny stream,-ril
pling over its rocky bed, saecompanyin
us part of the way. The mountains ari
sheer from the plains, without any cf
} cumlocutiOn whatever, and as my mu
had most insuperable objection to a
cending, and had literally to be pulled e
F. cry step of the way, half the time w
divided in my mind, as to- whether
had better slide off down bis tail or sho
forward between his ears; and moreove
he had a most inordiEAate curiosity to s
how close he conld get to the very edge
\ every precipiee, all of which vas excee
. ingly trying to the nerves of the rid
and calculated to detract much attenti
from the surrounding scenery; therefor
i, III hardly realized where we were til
was dismouHted by a tiny cabin on I
edge of sheer precipice, so deep cf
not hazard at its depth, and extendf
upward till lost i'll in1inity, snow and i
= commingled. The scene was utterly 1
like anything we had expected. AT
blocking up at=the mountains for SO Ion
time, aud then, at this height, to lc
down so many thousand feet, that hum
beings were as rats and mice; and loOki
upward, see the piles of snow and i
= ready to slide downward and carry tie;
and destruction in its wake, were
- very reassuring to weak nerves.
We clam5ered along the mOrraine fo
quarter of mile or more, and then wa
ed over the ice and snow to II grotto,
1T, cavated in the solid ice, and through
we wandered, five hundred feet un
the glacier; the halls and corridors w
well lighted with oil lamps fastened