Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-11-14

are old and very quaint. Those two
are furnished with roafs and are dec
Grated with paintings, one with 154
pictures representing incidents in
the lives Of he patron saints of the
city. the other with 45 grotesque
pictures of the Dance Of Death. ("
1n these last death is represented as
present In every profession and oc.
cupation of life. OF course every one
hears til great organ, which ia one
of the bust three or four in Enrore.
But to me the finest thing in Laeer-
ne is Thorwaldsen's grand figure of
the dying lion. This is % fee. 10
length cut in the face of solid per-
pendicular rock, and ia monument
to the memory of &c officers and 700
soldiers of the Swiss guard who were
massacred in the defense Of the TuI-
leries in 1892 Its simple and grand
proportions are wonderfully impress
sive and show the power of true art.
| This work is Study for hours.
From Lucerne sail of three hours
takes us to Fluelen, at the opposite
end of the lake OF the Four Cantons,
one of the most beautiful sails which
oil Switzerland can boast. The
whole extent of the lake is associa-
ted with the Swiss hero Tell, and the
incidents and scenery are faithfully
depicted in Schiler's Willidm Tell.
We pass the little district of Ger
sau, tract of only eight square
miles shut in on all sides by noun
tains and lakes. 1t boasts the dis
tinction of being for four hundred
years free state, and the smallest
one that has ever had an indepen
dent existence. Soon after We pass
a perpendicular rock rising from the
lake which is inscribed in huge gilt
letters in honor of 'Frederick Schil-
Ter, the Bard of Tell A few min
utes later our steamer passes close
by little building called Tells
chapel, erected on the spot where it
is said he sprang from Gessler's boat.
Two miles from Fluelen is the lit
tie village Of Altorf where Tell per-
formed his terrible feat of archery
and de6ed Gessler. The familiar
story of his shooting the apple from
his sons head is dear to every Swiss
heart and is often illustrated IN orna-
menting houses, for | have several
times seen at one corner of house
the wooden figure of a boy with an
apple on his head and at the other
carved archer with drawn cross-bow
aiming al the apple.
At this end of the L. Ike we are in
the midst of snow capped mountains
and in sight. nearly over our heads,
glacier is working its way slowly,
It's lower end dropping almost into
the lake. Returning we land at Wit
znau, at the foot of Mt. Regi, where
we take the railway up the noun
tain. This road is about four miles
in length, and in this distance makes
an elevation of nearly 1000 feet. In
some places the elevation is one foot
in every four. 1t is constructed like
the Mt. Washington railway with
heavy cog rail between the two COM
mon rails, which connects with
strong cog wheel on the main axle of
the engine. The ascent takes about
an hour and quarter. TO my sur
prise l found in place of the cheap
and small hotel which was on the
summit five years ago, two fine ho-
tells, one costing nearly 100000.
The Regi is nearly 5000 feet above
the level of the sea, and about $500
| feet above lake Lucerne which wash
| es it's base. From the summit there
is one of the finest and most extend
ed views to be seen from any place
in Europe. This magnificent pano>
rama has circumference of nearly
| 300 miles, and includes range of
snow covered Alps 100 miles long.
thirteen lakes Of different sizes, one
so near that you think you can GER
tainly throw stone into it from
where you stand, and on one side
broad open plain which stretches
away into the Black Forest in the
far distance. After enjoying the
wonderful view for an hour or more
we retire early as We are to be awak.
ened by the Alpine horn a. $3.50 in
the morning to SEQ tho snnrise. At
that unseemly hour we hear strange
sweet sound ringing thro' the halls
of the hotel which seem to say to us
as we are yet halt asleep, "tra-da-
ira. da dui -da." In a few minutes q
a motley crowd of sleepy eyed PEG.
pie are shivering in the cold wind
which sweeps across the summit. and
looking anxiously toward that quar-
ter Of the heavens where it is hoped
the sun will soon appear. No Ian
guage can begin to describe the
beauty of the scene as the day light
and then the rays of sun glance from
peak to peak of the snow covered
mountains. A clear sun rise seen
from Regi is one OF The few things
which can never be forgotten. The
botanist of our party found more
than forty varieties of flowers grow
ing within few rods of the hotel.
After breakfast we descend bv
way of the inclined railway and take
the boat for Alpnach from which we
go by carriages over the Brunig Pass
to Giessbach on lake Brienz. The
carriage road over Brunig is won.
der of engineering skill and many
times as we looked ahead at the ap.
parently impossible mountains it
seemed as if the road must certainly
come to en- untimely end The as
cent is comparatively uuinteresting,
but the descent is very fine, beauti-
FIJI views constantly breaking 10 up
on US. At Giessoach we were also
pleasantly surprised to ind very
fine new hotel in place of an old one,
/ This place, which consisls of moth.
| ing but this great hotel, is visited en-.
tirely for the sake Of the waterfall
and its illumination by night. Its
six cascades are lighted by different
colored Bengal lights, which are
burned back of them. This gives
. the appearance of waterfall of diff
erent colored flame and is certainly
striking however questionable may
!. be its taste. A ride of less than an