Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-10-19

scenery can surpass that of the Lake OF
| the Four Cantons in the vicinity Of Brun-
| men and Fluelen? Here is Tells Rock,
| with the Schiller inscriptions; there Tells
Chapel; there the Seelisberg and the
Engelberg, rearing their towering heads
| above the clouds; here is Altdorf, where
Tell shot the apple from the boys head
and a quaint old place it is. Now, at
Erstfeld commences the ascent of the
mountain, following the valley or gorge
through which the Reuss splashes down.
ward. There are no wilder scenes in
Der Freischutz or the Walkyrie than those
by which the train whizzes in this wild
gorge. Amsteg, Gurtnellen, Wasen, all
are picturesque with crags, tunnels, tor
rents, bridges and eyergreens, and at
Geschenen stands the diligence for Ander-
matt Hospenthal and the Hospice at the
Goth ard summit.
This Hospice has history of its own.
Its buildings furnished frewood towards
the end of the last century to the French
army camped there, and in this immediate
neighborhood French, Austrians and
Russians mingled in many a bloody
onset. Close at hand, on the roadside,
stands an inscription "Suwarrow Victor"
The story of all the good that the brothers
at this Hospice have done to cold, hungry
and needy travellers would fill many
book Lodging and food are given gratu-
itously to every conner. Should the
stranger insist on paying he can do so only
in the form of voluntary offering to the
brotherhood. Goethe was SO charmed with
this spot that he visited it three times,
l., t.ot 81
tions he found that part of the Hospice had
been torn away by an avalanche.
Perhaps there is no greater surprise
along the Gothard than the change in sur
roundings wrought by the passage through
the long tunnel from Goschenen to Airolo
On entering, one is to all intents and pur-
poses IN Germany or German Switzerland
On emerging, one has been suddenly trans
ported to Italy, and the transformation has
been in every respect complete in the
architecture of the villages and the phys
iognomy, costumes and language of the
people, one realizes that he has during the
short space of time in which he passed
the mountain, changed his country and
cline. And this impression keeps grow
ing upon him as he is hurried down
through the valley of the Tessin, past
Biasca and Bellinzona, and presently finds
himself at Lugano, Locarno or Como, any
one of them typical small Italian cities, as
thoroughly so as Genoa or Naples them
selves.
These were my impressions, remember,
as, alighting from the Gothard train at
Lugano, | rode down on the funicular
tram which leads to the steamboat land
ing. 1t was not yet in the afternoon and
had left Zurich at that morning. And
all this without a change of wagon, through
coaches running direct from Zurich to
Milan. have breakfasted in the former
city, and heard Victor Maurel sing Tampa
at La Scala in the latter on the same
evening.
But | am recalled from my reverie by
the sound of the distant fshermen's even
ing song waited over the lakes blue waters
before me. The shadows of night are
creeping over the scene and the massive
form of Monte Terro, opposite, is already
growing dusky in the twilight. The scene
is indescribably restful and beautiful, and
l wish all my readers could be here to en-
joy it with me- They would involuntarily
exclaim with delight "Great and beauti-
full is the Lago Maggiore, and grand is the
Gothard line that leads to it."