St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-12-04

| long, OO L DO nSH, Will
mosaic marble pavement and over one
hundred illustrious Germans are here
immortaIized in marble. In the rear are
dark forests, below, the Danube and its
rich valley dotted with villages, and the
| snow-capped Alps form the background
of the picture.
We took an evening train for Munich,
a three hours ride, and our beds that
night were very grateful We had per
feet weather the whole week and each
day increased our interest in this charm
ing city on the User 1t was rolling
| rapidly" as we had been taught in our
school day, for the late floods which had
been sweeping over Germany and Aus
tria had not fully subsidized.
Early in July we had decided to wit
ness the Passion Play" Sept. Dist, and
on the morning of the Goth we took the
train for Oberau, the nearest railway
station to Oberammergau. 1t is a three
hours ride and one of the loveliest car
rides in Europe. Over twenty cars were
| packed with people of all ages, profes-
sions and nationalities bound for the lit
| tie town in the Bavarian Alps which has
become so famous. We had eight in our
compartment, two from Malta, one
| from New York, one from London, three
| from Stockholm and one from Paris. 1t
| is six miles from the terminus of the rail
| way to Oberammergau and the road is
a fine piece of engineering, cut on the
| sides of the mountain somewhat like the
| "COrnice." 1t was a lively scene when
the train deposited its load of nine hun
! dred passengers in the little station of
| Oberau. | had written for carriage to
take our party and was not little sur
prised to find that the agent of H. Gage
x Son was not only young man whom
| had often met in New York, but also a
native of Malta and knew, of course, the
| l. family. This settled the question
of our accommodations at the Passion
| Play" for Mr.. Schembri met us with
| carriage at the station and during our
| entire stay was most attentive to our
wants. A mile from the village after an
| hours climb up the mounta ain, with
magnificent scenery about us, we reached
the summit of the pass and came out
| from the Gateway of the Notch into
| the valley of the Ammer narrow strip
of meadow land with bold mountains on
all sides. Our hotel was three minutes
walk outside the town and stood on a
| little hill commanding the village, the
valley and the grand mountains which
wall it in. Our landlord was the
''Herod'' of the play and said to be the
| richest man in the town, with more In
meadow land than any of his neighbors.
After dinner we walked across the
| meadow over the Ammer, with water
as clear as that of Lake George, and
about the village. The population of
the place is eleven hundred and this was
increased that Saturday afternoon by
over eight thousand Bavarian peasants
and visitors from all quarters of the
globe. 1t was strange sight, for the
streets were as closely packed as Broad
way" or the STRAND on fete days. We
he
and here we sat watching the crowd as
it moved up and down the streets. There
were peasants in Tyrolese costume,
students with knapSackS, and Alpine
sticks, Englishmen and Americans with
red Baedekers in hand, serious looking
Germans, groups of young men and
women as fashionably dressed as if just
from Saratoga or Brighton. All these,
some on foot, some in carriages and
carts, make up the picturesque crowd
which packed the streets of Oberam-
mergau At that hour there was not a
livelier town in all Europe.
The COWS made the town lively as they
came home toward evening from their
days browsing on the mountain pas
lures. To get a living in these Alpine
regions there must be economy in all
lines, and so the cows are educated to
care for themselves and while their own
erS are carving or making hay in the
meadows, these industrious and indie
pendent COWS go to and from the milking
sheds and pastures without the ordinary
small boys escort. Each knows her
pasture and village home and while they
walk demurely along in drOveS through
the village each with her little sweet
toned bell, at each end of their tramp
they separate to their proper pastures
milking sheds. We counted d drove of
thirty coming down from the mountains
and in little square where these roads
met this party broke up and each road
received portion of the disbanded pro-
cession. There are six hundred COWS in
this little town of eleven hundred inhab-
itants.
In this picture of street life at Oberam
mergau l have not told you of the out
look beyond the village; of the Rofel crag
withits shining cross, silhouetted against
the turquoise sky $500 feet above us; of
the forests of fir and brilliant colored
bircheS and beecheS 1ntermingled with the
black which crowned the mountains on
both sides of the valley; of the little
houses around us, their white sides fres-
coed with Bible scenes, tours with the
flight into Egypt and their roofs with a
ballast of small boulders; but all these
constituted a part of the panorama
which we enjoyed as we sat on a hard
bench beside the village hotel.
AT shutdown three cannons were fired
and the vesper bells were rung and a :.
TvrOlese band discoursed sweet music in
the streets. At our supper table there
were eighty guests, for besides the forty
accommodated at our hotel as many
more were lodged outside. We had as
good rooms as we had left at Munich,
quite in contrast with some of our friends
who were packed into small rooms with
mixed company.
In the morning the church bells rang
early and the streets were alive with
people long before sunrise. At eight we
went to the theatre and found good seats
reserved, with intelligent English-speak-
ing people about us. The seats were
folding seats and were wide and com
Portable. The four thousand seats were
early filled and the auditorium fringed
with border of the less fortunate who
were glad to get the few standing places
which remained. Your home papers
have already described in detail, and
with better pen than mine, the history
of the play and its present representa-
ton at Oberammergau by the peasants
of the village. l need only to say that
the eight hourssexercise with only an in
PERMISSION of ninety minutes for luncheon
passed most rapidly and left the build
ing at the close with no memory or i'm
preston which would wish removed.