The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1878-08-30
From Switzerland.
zUn1ou. switzerland, Aug. 4, rs

From our Regular correspondent.
From the gay center of fashion in
Paris, to the little. plain. solid city
of Zurich is not near SO far, but, in
some respects, it is a much greater
transition than from Paris to Mil
waukee, for one sees in the style
and fashion of dress much more
that is Partisan in our western cities
than In this ancient Swiss town.
But in their manner of celebrating
the Sabbath, the European, rather
than the American, style prevails.
I.had an opportunity to see the in
habItants on Sunday, in their plain
Sunday clothes, just such clothes as
you will see at a country meeting
house in America, perfectly clean.
but in style and cut such as were
worn in America twenty years ago.
They were out with their wives aud
children in the parks, on the streets,
in beer gardens, or fishing with
hook and line in the swift river that
flows through the town.
Situated on the banks of the river
Limmat; bordered on the east by
the Zurich mountain, on the west
adjoining the Uto mountain, with
its steep declevities; towards the
south opening on the lake, the shores
of which are covered with pictur-
esque villas and villages, with fine
back ground of forest, Vinyard and
Alps-the scenery of ZsIich-(the
Cdstruna IuTtcum of the Romans)
lie truly charming. Like the great
metropolis of the United Kingdom,
Zurich consists of nine independent
communities surrounding the centre
with belt of pretty little towns,
interpreted with parks and walks
and country houses. About 6O,OOO
is the number of the inhabitants of
the Canton. The center of the town
Is, in part, composed of narrow
streets, uneYen and billy, but on
entering the streets and quarters,
one sees fine, solid, modern houses
built of stone, which, If they do not
satisfy severe critics of architectural
beauty, furnish strong contrast
with the older and quainter build
ings of the city. First of all the
school houses, perfect palaces of
their kind, are to be admired. The
splendid pile OF buildings, known
as the polytechnic school and the
university, is 424 feet long, 253 feet
broad and SO feet high. 1t stands
on hill above all the other build
ings of the city. The rear rooms of
the enormous building contain geo.
logical, meteorological, and techno-
logical collections, while the central
part is devoted 10 archaeology and
collections of engravings and prints.
All combined they form the best
collective museum of Switzerland.
To the right of the Polytechnic
school are the Asylums for aged
citizens, monuments of civic charity,
to the left the Asylum for the blind
and deaf, and dumb. There are
also the Chemical laboratory, Agri-
cultural College, Cantonal Infirma-
ry, $50 feet long, with $50 beds, and
the Astronomical Observatory.
Other buildings devoted to COM
merce and traffic such as banking
houses, an immense railway station, \
and a palatial Butchers Hall, give
to this comparatively small commu-
nifty the aspect and Importance of a
city of more than medium rank.
If the reader desires to know any
thing more about Zurich, which is
not probable, respectfully refer
him to the school geography, and
the encyclopedias where get my in
formation. One scarcely knows
what to write about in these old
historic towns that have been writ
ten about so much already. Yet if
we could but have a true picture of
the trivial things that the tourist
sees and experiences, 1 am persuad-
ed 1t would be more interesting
reading than descriptions and sta
tistics. For my own part 1 have
been more interested in what have
seen from the car window while
travelling through the country, or in
the streets of different cities and
towns, than in the much Rewritten
museums,lart collections, architectu-
raj and other monuments that every
tourist has 10 "do," listening in q
lacadaisical martyr-like way to the
bore of 9 guide, telling how many
feet long, wide, and high, this part
of the cathedral is, who designed
that part, or who restored this, the
number of the statues of saints,
their cost per saint, and other statis-
teal rubbish. Most tourists think
they must see just who is put down
in the Guide Book and nothing
more. Knowing nothing of the his
tory or literature of the countries
they visit, they take home just what
they bring, vast amount of ignor-
ance, with relics of photographs
and pieces of stone, picked up in
this or that ruin.
1 got up quite early the other
morning in Berne, intending to
walk about the city before the time
for the train for Interlaken. In the
lobby of the hotel were half dozen
American school teachers with their
water proofs and umbrellas. /
gathered from their conversation |
that there was q wonderful clock In |
Berne, and L followed them in the
rain to see 1t, for in eight minutes it |
would strike. We formed a curl
GUS group in the narrow street,
looking up at the old automaton,
the market women knitting over
their cakes and fruit regarding us
American saYages with polite pity
lag curiosity. The clock struck,
and horizontal wheel having on it