Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-16

Corner glacier, which lay between IL:
| aud Monte Rosa. The snow extended
| from our feet down over the ice, and W
| TO meet the eternal SHOWS of Monte Rosa
l thought it would be al easy hour s
| walk down across the glacier and up the
mountain, but they told NE it WAS ten
hours steady ascent, and considerably
| more difficult than
| TIE ASCENT OF MOUNT BLANC.
Monte Rosa is the mountain next high
| est to Mount Blanc; but that, as we'll as
the Brett Horn and other mighty snow
! giant, seemed no more than beautiful
| white hills from this height. In that re-
spect the view from the Corner Graf
! considered one of the very finest in
Switzerland, is Disappointing. The Ber-
| nese Oberlani, sixty miles away to the
north, was far more impressive than
| these higher but nearer peaks. That was
| because we saw the Overland from across
| valley, which gave US the true meas
| ure of their height. The Matterhorn,
| the Neisshorn, all manner and shapes
! and sizes OF horns'' were around us.
! forming u complete circls OF snow peaks.
| Besides the cracker boxes, the dirty,
! hot water and that vast company of
'horns, we met some pleasant Eng
| lish people on the summit. You have
no idea how
CORDIAL ENGLISH PEOPLE
can be till you meet them on a mountain
top, aud the higher the mountain the
gren;er the cordially. l suppose two
stiffest cockneys, who had never been in
troduced TO each others ancestors, and
never spoke as they passed by on level
ground, would fall into each other 8
| arms on the top of Mount Blanc.
Coming down, we were in state OF
wonder rs to how we ever got up. How
glad we were to come across stretches of
nice, rich, sticky mud, l never loved
mud before, but should think noun
tGineers would dote on it, because when
you put foot in it you know it is going
to stay till called for, and not go career
ing off on its own hook. We went on
down nearly 1000 feet below the Riffel
house TO the famous RiGelalp hotel.
one of
THE FINEST IN SWITZERLAND,
where We spent the night. This is 5000
feet above sea level. aud has Il magniti-
cent view. 1t is a favorite resort OF
wealthy English people, particularly
literary people, they say. Whatever the
guests were that we saw, they were GER
tRinly such collection OF burnt-nossd,
peeing-cheeked men ard women IS we
had never beheld before. We were so
thankful that we had been on the Corner
Graf before stopping ut the Riffeialp and
also had some faces blazing like Texas
SUNSET in LulY: otherwise we should
have been ashamed to show ourselves.
But now, nobody that looks at US can
fail to know that
WE HAVE BEEN SOMEWHERE,
and with conscious superiority we can
look over our Illuminated cheeks, just
beginning to crack, at the poor, mex
perienced, pallid people Just come
up from the valley. To speak,
frankly, however, We did not know
just what we were going in for,
when we calmly sailed up SNOW noun
tain without masks or wells. One can
tell very accurately after some observa-
ton about where people have been by
the sunburn. 4 scaling chin and q nose
glowing softly like o Chinese lantern tell
of the Gorner-Gr8t, and perhaps few
other like modest accents; an all-over,
substantial color, face, neck and ears
blazing is the effect of q single high as
cent like the Breit-horn; Il face and
neck that is solid d-brown, polished
and shining as billiard ball, belongs to
q man who has his Alpen-stock marked
from end to end, and has been elm bling
in the snow all summer. They
ILLUMINATE EVERYTHING
over here, gardens, water falls and CAS-
ties, but this idea of illuminated folks is
All original one, and we laugh to think
how Innoceutiy We have added ourselves
to the show.
The next day we were driving away
from Zermatt in one of those antique
vehicles, drawn this time by mule.
From the train we saw, what had been
hidden from US by n cloud as we came
up the superb Weisshorn. The valley
here had 10 room for farms and chalets;
the high, rugged mountains on either
side met each other at the foot in q sharp
angle, with just width enough at the
bottom for the glacier stream to come
tumbliug along. The Weisshorn stood at
the end OF this vista OF mountains, filling
in the triangular opening with pure
and absolute whiteuess. 1t is grandly
symmetrical mountain as seen from this
side; its sharp conicel peak rising high
above its many snowy shoulders. The
Weisshorn fultills all my Ideals of what a
snow mountain should be; perfectly
white, shapely and of
APPEECIABLE GRANDEUR.
For half the day following we watched
t-fOr we were On the diligence going
over the Turka pass. The banquette OF
regular, old fashioned diligence is the
jolliest place imaginable; it is great
big roomy seat added on behind the big
body of the vehicle. The pile of bag
gage on the top of the diligence quite
cuts II off from the front part, so one is
as secluded as III a private carriage,
with all the added fun of the post-ho-n,
the swapping whip, the coGchrnan 8
jodel, the exhileration and hullaboloo OF
n big, four horse team. The first half
of the twelve hours drive we were de-
llvering mail at the little, brown viii
lagos of chslets in the Rhone valley. It
was nice to see whole villages of nothing
but chalets, without a tourist or pro-
vision for tourist in them! The tavern |
was only large chalet. with projecting |
caves and rows of mullioned windows |
like the rest. The barns and cattle |
houses were only to be distinguished |
from the others /
BY THEIR LACK OF WINDOWS.
These six hours were the most entirely |
Swiss of any we had spent in Switzer-
land. Stopping in those humble little
we seemed to get into the at
mosphere of unaffected, uspoled Swiss
ha oh holl