The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-10-30
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPE.

EIhBT ImPhESSlONS On EOAAON re
European Rail ways aud runhois -switEer.
land and ItaIy-AlplBe scfnery-Archi-
lecture and Novel Cusioms-The Plain
, from Coma TO oMiIan--Cathedral Square
Leouardo da vincI's Painting of the
Last supper Continental Customs
Venice, her Canals and Gondolas.
Especial Correspondence Of the Banner.l
NUMBER v.
Here two locomotives were attached tn
the train, and we started up marrow
valley on a steep grade, straight for the
centre of the wilderness of snowy peaks
we had seen from Pilatus, and where it
seemed impossible that a railway could
90. The train moved slowly along the
valley which was about 400 feet wide,
the rapid stream in the middle ran
through a gorge 80 feet deep and not
over 25 wide; as the train skirted the
edge, we had fine views of the rushing
torrent below. Tunnel after tunnel was
passed, many very long, and such a
winding and twisting as was done by
that train before it reached the top of the
grade 1000 feet above the sea, Headed
sometimes up, sometimes down the
valley, here dashing into the mountain
side at right angles. to the valley, only TO
make half circle on steep up grade and
emerge into the valley much higher up
than when we left it:at one place we could
see three tracks, one below the other
down the sides of the steep valley. and
both entrances of the tunnel men,
toned. Snow crowned the peaks in
plain sight all about us, but still up up
we climbed, till the valley grew very
narrow. The train halted at the station
close by the mouth of the great tunnel,
giving us a good view of it, but there
was nothing to mark it as being more
wonderful than anyOther tunnel, although
it is the longest in the world, miles;
the train running very rapidly was IS
minutes passing through. The tunnel
runs directly under the greak peak tow
ering 5000 feet above it, and the train
emerged into Italy. ....
After all had passed the custom house
at the frontier station, the train ran
down steep grade through wider and
less rugged valley than the one on the
Swiss side, the mountains towering
thousands of feet above us. All the
Swiss mountains are heavily wooded
and look delightfully."- fresh and green,
but the other side of the range, as soon
as we entered Italy, was nearly all bare
bleak rock, with scarcely any vegetation
to be seen. The clouds of vapOr rising
from the Atlantic, strike the lofty and
snowy SUBMITS of the Alps, and drop
their moisture on that side of the noun
tains, so that while rains were frequent
on the Swiss side, during nearly a
months stay in Italy we had only one
rainy day, most delightful weather for
sight seeing. The tunnels numbered 60,
on the route between Lucerne and Milan,
one days journey, not including the
great st. Gothard with its length of 8
miles. Altogether we must have ridden
that day at least 30 miles in the bowels
of the earth. II seemed to us that
European railway builders always pre-
ferred boring through hill or mountain,
to going round it, apropOs of which a
good story is told.
A Scotchman had settled on our
Western plains and lived there a long
time. When his neighbors began to
talk up railroad through that part of
the country they went to him as wise
man and old settler for advice. He told
them it was impossible. ''Why," said
he, "where can you put the tunnels?".
We passed through several tunnels
longer than the Hoosac in different parts
of Europe, aside from the great ones
which have names, like the st. Gothard
or Mount Gents: tunnels in no wise
celebrated, in fact we had not even
known of their existence. They are in
great variety, tunnels with steep grades
or sharp curves, circular tunnels and
those with double curves like the letter
s, in fact every kind that can be men,
toned.
The railway is now being double
tracked, and the small tunnels widened,
the great nelIoriginally was built for
two tracks; the whole job will be tre-
mendously expensive, the rock cuttings
are so heavy in addition to the tunnels.
The building of the Hoosac tunnel and
connecting roads was child's play COM
pared to the st. Gothard or Mt. Gents
routes, nevertheless, we showed them
how. At many elevated places along
the valley on the italian side were
chapels, perched in seemingly very in.
accessible places; one noticed partic
ularly was on top of an enormous rock
which had fallen from the mountain
above.
One very pretty feature of the st
Gothard route was the very large number
of waterfalls, running down the sides OF
| the mountains, sometimes for thousands
of feet, all supplied by the melting snow
| The train ran out of the narrow vale.
at Bellinzona, the capital of the province
where so much trouble has lately ariseI
regarding elections; the newspaper
have had many items from there of late
The town lies at the head of broaC
valley, the lower end of which is oocu
pied by Lake Maggiore, large and yer,
pretty lake. The route lay up the sid
of the valley on very long grade, at tn
end of it where we passed through
tunnel and into the next valley we Yer
several hundred feet above the lake; th
view over valley and lake from thi
height was charming.
Lugaro on the large lake Of the sam
name, the next stopping place. tn
railway entered on steep grade highe
at first than the roofs of the houses
The entire change in the architecture
told us at once that we had left Switzel
land; instead of wooden chalets, all tn
houses were built of brick or ston
covered with white stucco, giving theI
the most foreign appearance of any "
had we seen. The roofs, all exactl
alike, were a striking feature from tn
peculiar tiles of which they were made
each tile was like one-half of tn
red pipes used to drain wet land, Gu
lengthwise.
Each town had its Campo Santo O
Cemetery, a small walled inclosure gel
Generally arranged in two or three court'
a small chapel in one of them, the groun
thickly set with small monument
while almost every grave was decorate
while the absurd funeral wreaths {
metal painted in various colors; ever
where in Italy we saw in the same sty!
of Campo Santo, and the same horrib
wIeatht; when the paint wore off the
glittered in the sunlight, and looked !
CHASTITY, the whole effect was extremel
gloomy and forbidding to our eye
accustomed to the lovely park-like cen
eteries of America.
The Italian lakes are much alike, lor
and narrow, hemmed in by moutain
sloping so sharply down to the water thi
there is often no place whatever at Il
base to build n road: the bare rock
slopes looked so hot and dry after Il
Ilovalv Uraen maintains of SWitZerlanI