The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-12-04

feet above, some of the streets leading
down toward the water are only 5 to 10
feet wide. A boulevard follows the lay of
the land about the top of the hills, and at
various points affords grand views over
the city, surrounding hills, the harbor and
far out over the Mediterranean. The
great houses, many of them now used
for flats, show what powerful and
wealthy families once ruled Genoa.
A very large and finely finished statue
of Columbus stands in a little open
square near the railway station. The
grades of many of the streets leading to
the top of the hill, show splendid
engineering, they are so well laid out, the
ascent is made gradually, and the spaces
are so nicely utilized for pretty little
parks filed with trees and flowers. The
city left very pleasing impression on
our minds. The churches are peculiar;
outwardly they are very cheap looking,
the walls of plain grey rough stucco,
without decoration of any kind, but in
side they are very rich; some of them
are really dazzling with their wealth of
precious marbles, magnificent gildings,
pictures, frescoes, and all manner of
adOrnment.
From Genoa we took the route, to
Turin, a hundred miles away, the train
passing "a tunnels, the twenty-fOurth,
the one at the top of the grade, being
longer than the Hoosac: there do not
seem to be the usual passes in the
mountains abont here, so that the tre-
mendous grades and many tunnels are
necessary in crossing the range. The
summit reached, the train rushed down
a very long and steep grade, through
winding valley, finally emerging onto an
immense fiat plain, with low hills rising
out of it here and there; the streams all
heavily dyked.
Turin, though very old, is practically
modern city, for about 100 it was
totally destroyed, and while this makes
it less interesting, it now has wide,
straight streets, fine buildings, and is
clean and bright, while the boulevard
along the Pc, having double roadway
divided by trees and grass, is charming
feature. The very level site has caused
the city to spread widely, although the
pavements are of the Milan pattern,
petrified kidneys with the fiat stones in
the middle. A line of low hills is at one
side of the city, on the other the broad
plain extends about so miles to the great
wall of snow crested Alps.
The peculiar feature of Turin is the
arcade, most of the buildings on the
principal streets have the lower stories
set back number of feet, row of
pillars supporting the front wall. This
lower story is rented to shops, so that
one may walk miles and never be with
out shelter, excepting when crossing
streets. A funicular railway runs to
the top of hill on which stands
Capricine monastery where a fine view
is had of the city, but we took the steam
tram running about two miles into the
suburbs, where the cars were attached to
the queeresr machine ever saw, whicn,
by means of an endless cable operated
by a stationary engine, drew us to the
top of hill called the Superga, 2500 feet
above the plain; on this elevated place
stands great stone church to which pill
lgrimages are made; formerly, by means
Iof a very good road winding up
r hill or mountain as it should be
: called
, The view from the shaded grassy space
3 at the top, is one shall never forget;
r on one side the rolling country for many
4 miles, beneath us the great plain, full of
/ towns and villages, and the Po winding
v through it, the view extending for hun
4 dreds of miles, Turin almost under our
a feet, and the Alps rising up thousands
S of feet from the edge of this plain just
:, like wall. The engines on the Superga
L railway have two great iron wheels on
= one side, over these wheels passes the
| wire cable i'll different direct, ,ons, these
wheels take the power from the cable
a and transmit it to a pair of cogged
Il wheels fitting the cogs in the center rail.
v This engine resembling nothing else on
n earth, makes very queer appearance,
e butt answers perfectly for the use
is to which it is put: German invention
/; | believe.
., The plain about Turin is irrigated, and
It the lovely greenness was refreshing after
IS the hot, dry plains of lower Italy, it did
" look so good to see plenty of grass once
Ie more; no landscape can be really beauti
10 full without plenty of green grass.
" Leaving Turin the railway runs il
N nearly straight line across the plain
,r and enters valley opening into til,
E mountains, which it follows on steel
IF up grade by many windings to TIL,
IN Mt. Cents tunnel. This valley wa
re about mile wide for some distance anC
id so beautifully green; farther on it grew
N narrow and deep, many tunnels wer'
ne passed, and on both sides the quee
ly little chalets seemed to cling to tn,
II rocks. Many ruined castles occupied
III high points at various places, one wa
is perched on an almost inaccessible rocl
nv thousand feet above the valley; Will
,e strong fort commanded highway ant
6 railway, as the French frontier is nea
IL by.
ne The Mt Cents tunnel is more than
e. miles long, runs under high rock,
m peak at an elevation of several thousant
rs feet above the sea; has a steep grade u
which the train ran slowly to the middle
of then very rapidly to the other end. Nea
nj the entrance the tunnel is a gallery
ly only thin shell of rock between tIacl
or and valley below, and several window
in are cut in it, the railway is doubl
he tracked.
le On emerging at the French end, whicl
Of is Just over the little frontier town O
nd Modane, though high above it, the lin
Wy has to continue a long way on stee
a down grade, and then back again maxim
or great loop, in order to get down TO til
in level of Modane. On rock high abov
the town, commanding railway, tow
Ell, and tunnel, is a strong French fort
he lmpregnable because inaccessible. Ho'
in all the European States love each othel
tie MOdane is impressed on my memor
,ly from the fact of leaving valuable fiel
up glass when we changed from the Italia
of to the French cars, and which gave us a
ks opportunity of knowing the care an
lis honesty of the European railway en-
all ployees. did not discover the loss III
til Just as the train was about to star
re and had only time to give my addres
ng to the porter who had carried my bag
ue gage during the transfer and customs el
ed amipations; the cars we arrived in ha
ad gone back to the yard. From the ne1
nd stop also wrote to the station chief, an
ay asked him to send them on to Pari
in where in few days they arrived safel.
so On the case was pasted record of til
ed day, date and train, when found, as r,
sly ported by the man who cleaned out tn
be cars, and this was not an unusual exp
ite nence, From Modane the railway run
ed on very steep down. grade through
by narrow valley hemmed in by tremendoU
1er rocky cliffs, and with roaring streaI
n.y. running through it. This valley gradl
mt ally widened out and grew more leve
Tor finally opening into one much larger an
res very flat, the lower end of which merge
into very pretty lake about mile wild
ire and 20 miles long. The train skirte
In this lake, in many places runnin
So through galleries in the high rock
re- shore, the highway having long befoi
ad pre-empted the narrow margin. At th
Ike various stations since we had passed I'll
a French frontier, we had witnessed I'll
EN- French kiss in all its completeness
ms, Sometimes it was two men, sometime
mt different sexes, now a man and a boz
later children, but always the same styl,
me First they kiss each other on oppos:t
he cheeks, then reversed and tried III
ill other cheeks. 1t worked all right whe
re, they turned their heads in opposite
Dai rections, but the result was disastrou
on when they tried to turn the same way {