Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-10-12
Correspondence OF The EVENING STAR.

STRANGE OLD MONASTERY TOWN, ETC.
| Correspondence OF The EVENING STAR.
INrERLAKEN. SWITZERLAND. Sept. 10.
The Swiss portion of our tour has been thus
far in every sense the most enjoyable. The
grand mountain scenery must be seen 10 be ap-
preclated-no description can give an adequate
| picture of the beauties of nature as here re-
vealed. The roads, as regards surface. are gen.
orally everything that can be desired; and even
If one must walk for several miles in crossing a
mountain he invariably meets rich reward in
an equally long coast, without once touching
! foot to pedal, down the other side
| Those of Us who arrived in Easel from Ger
many near midnights Silly hour. when the
whole city seemed to have put out its light and
| crawied into bed, were escorted to our hotel by
| party OF cyclists whom we OPPORTUNITY met
IN the earliest stages of our unaided search.
one or two OF our new-found friends knew a
! little English and. with the assistance of the
! Motel proprietor, who knew little more. we
| spent an hour or more conversing more or less
huently in English and German and slipping
the amber fluid. In justice we must say that
the local talent excelled at the latter. The fol-
I lowing morning We were startled at be-
ing given honey with our breakfast
OF coffee and rolls without being obliged to
ORDER 1t as an extra. We recovered
with an effort, only to receive a greater shock.
IL
to the city free, and by the hotel, Any one who
has Travelled for weeks in Europe without find
ing anything being given away can understand
what what must have been the strain upon our
| nervous system at suddenly encOunterlng with
out moments warning free gift at the hands
OF hotel. And the end was not vet, for when
We went after our extra baggage. which. nCtWith-
standing former sad experience. we had VEN
tured to send ahead from Mayence. got IL
without vexatious delay or dithculty-no hunt
ArOnn1 Al mn nj nf nlhp
officials.
One of the weak points of Switzerland is the
sudden and frequent showers. of which we had
three on the afternoon of our departure for
Lucerne. Following up the Rhine valley for
some ) miles. We turned southwark into the
mountains, which arose now in grassy, wooded
slopes, and then in prGclpitOus, barren rock
from the narrow valleys through which our
road led US the greater portion OF the way. The
gurgle and splash of running water now be-
came sounds rarely absent. the numerous little
rllls and brooks making merry music az, dow
ing from lnexhaustible sources, they ieaped
from rock to rock down the mountain side or
hurried along through the valley. Ten miles
from Lucerne We passed the town and lake of
Sempach near which. in battle. the Swiss pa
trlot. Arnold Won Winkelried. sacrificed HIM
self on the Austrian spears.
THE AMATEUR MOUNTAISEERs
As We strolled about The streets on the
morning following our arrival i'll Lucerne we
were completely ovCrshadowed and lost among
the swarmS OF knee breeches and climbing
outfits huttering about. There were nice new
aIpenstocks III abundance, gracefully welded
by young men with Gttenuated calves, and
young ladies who could have had no really
serious intentions of doing anv climbing be-
yond that necessitated by elevatorless hotels.
The rays of the sun beat down with such
feroclty that we expressed aloud our hitherto
secret ambition to climb up and play in the
SHOWS OF the EnSelberg Alps, apparently, but
only apparently, quite near at hand to the
southeastward. The chief object of interest,
aside from the beautiful surrounding scenery,
is the celebrated Lion monument comment
Grating the heroism of the Swiss guard of
Louis WI, which is carved out OF the natural
rock and Is, We think. the grandest and most
impressive We have ever Seen.
Bidding adleu to the alpenstocked, dress
parade athletes of Lucerne we turned our
wheels toward Zurich under the escort of one
OF our Basel friends, and just after dusk gided
down a two-mIle coast into the city. which lay
before us a mass of glimmering lights in the
gathering dar kness. Zurich, one of the prin-
clpal II not the chief manufacturing town of
the country, and the literary center of German
Switzerland. Is not as prettily situated as It's
nelghOor Lucerne. nor Is 1t nearly as much fire.
quented by the tourist. Our stay was rendered
very enjoyable through the continued courte-
sizes OF Basel friends and the kindness of the
Hon. MIR. George l.. Catlin, the American con-
eui, "HOSe MANY me quantities nave made him
deseryedly popular with the sturdy people
among whom he has lived for SO many years.
THE RIGI.
A 2S-mile ride southwark along the shores of
Lake Zurich, then up over the mountain and
along the shores of Lake Zug, brought us to
the little village of Arth, nesting, as it is
customary to say, between the Rigi and the
Rossberg. From a casual measurement with
our eye we were of the opinion that we ought
to be able to make the ascent of the Ripi in at
least two hours We wanted to see sunrise
from the summit and am. was determined
upon the hour for beginning the ascent.
until We obtained the opinions of some natives
that we should require between four and five
hours. when, to make dead certainty of get
ting to the top ahead of the sum- We changed
the hour of departure to IL midnight The
guide book, when we thought to consult it.
conveyed the information that three-and-a-
half hours was the time usually occupied in
making the ascent afoot. On the stroke of the
hour by the village bells we were up, dressed,
and after some time spent in racketing about
the halls, upstairs and down, ringing bells and
pounding on doors. succeeded in arousing
| the people of the house, who were to have
awakened Us, but didn't. With q portion of a
loaf OF bread III our pockets, instead of the
promised lunch for which we had no time to
wait, we set out by the light of a bicycle lamp
| in search of the path up the mountain, which
the guide book assured us was broad and we'll
trodden" and couldn't be mistaken" and that
it turned 'to the left by the chapel of ST
George, near the last house in the village"
Some instructions of the inn-people were not
sufficiently Ineligible to US to be of any sery-
ice, SO we were obliged to stick to the guide
book. On dark night one is liable to mis-
| take" almost anything. especially if he has
never seen it by daylight; and it was long after
l o'clock before We accidentally, and not be-
cause we found 1.-The last house" or any of the
other landmarks, stumbled upon the path and
began the climb in earnest
SCALING A MOUNTAIN AT NIGHT.
Until about one-third of the five-miles' climb
| ing had been traversed it was in many places
only trife better than scaling the side of a
house, oyerhanging trees adding to the dark
ness and increasing the general uncertainty of
| footing on the rocky surface. Then the ascent
was less abrupt until we neared the very sum-
| NIT itself, and the scant moonlight found un-
| obstructed access to assist us in selecting our
| footing. At various places we found benches.
| some of them under cover of sheds, erected for
| the convenience of the tired climber and which
| being free we patronized literally. Herds of
the lowing kline were seen, not lowing lust then
| but resting In calm contentment, chewing and
| chewing their early morning cud They paused
| to gaze at US in mild surprise then went on
chewing. Several times we thought We had
| reached our goal and said, Here we are at
last, but we weren't there at ALL At length.
| just as the first streaks of dawn were lighting
| ma ST tun