Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-24

The grade is quite steep, and Of necessity the
road 10 not one for bicycles 1t is not the east
est thing in the world to successfully and safely
round the sharp turns Of q terraced descent.
over surface consisting largely Of loose metal
Now YOU go into a dense cloud and can see
nothing more than ten feet ahead, and as You
look over the edge Of the road you do not know
whether you are looking down grassy slope
or . sheer descent Of hundreds of feet You
ring your bell as Q steamer befogged blows its
whistle, and As you suddenly come face to face
With the horses Of diligence or carriage Of
whose approach you have had warming by the
sound Of the horses bells you dismount and
stand at the outer edge Of the road till they have
passed by while the occupants Of the carriage
stare and wonder what pleasure you find in
this sort OF bicycling. You could easily answer
them In one word, none. Now you leave the
cloud, but there is another lower down, q great
nuffy wad Of cotton it seems. A few minutes
and you are in it, and. heavens it is full of
rain. and the drizzle, which commences when
you enter, is soon q shower, then pelting. and
you fly down the final stretches to the village
with the rain beating in your face and drench-
ing you through and through, in spite Of your
voluminous rubber cape.
cozY AND COMFORTABLE.
Fortunately for ne the little "Gasthaus EUR
Post" with its two or three rooms. had no
guestA II is neat and clean, coy and COM
Portable, but 10 not house patronized by the
tourists. From the post Office below we OBJ
tanned the package Of new clothes, ordered at
here, and casting aside the bedraggled cordu.
iroys, which We with difficulty persuaded our
hostess to accept as gift, we were soon in dry
clothing and our feet in slippers made to fit all
manner and shape Of pedal eXtremities, seated
IN n the gastzimmsr, consuming omelette and
Tried potatoes. The Herr Postmeister's frau
meanwhile sat by q window at the other end Of
the room, knitting industriously; and the rain
stlll Tell In bucketfuls, making rivers of the
road and bitches, and sad looking spectacles Of
every one Obliged to expose themselves to its
dampening tendencies.
IN THE voKDEs-RHrNI VALLEY
Another climb, over the Oberaip pass. and
We were In the Vordes-Rhine valley, one Of the
most beautiful in the Alps Here the common
language IL dialect found nowhere else
Romsnsch-a corruption Of Latin. the Ian
guage OF the early Roman inhabitants Of the
valley, then the Roman province of Rhsetia
now the canton Of Grisons. whose descendant 60
many of the present natives are. The manner
OF construction OF the houses changes some
what. the lower stories being geueraliy of stuc-
Good stone, and there seems to be a greater
diversity Of religion, the larger villages having
two or more churches. The names of the vii
lagos aud towns, too, are Of different charac-
Ter from those OF German, French and italian
Switzerland, such a. Tamins, Ilanz, Disseutis
Bicycles have been 30 rarely seen that children
fy in terror and the older people drop their
work to gaze in amazement ss we fash BY. A.
IN France, so IN Switzerland. one fnds few Of
the large estates, walled and hedged, with o
gate keepers lodge at the entrance, such as are
common in Great Britain and Ireland. and at
llanz we found what was once . grand chateau
and sun bearing traces OF its former great
ness demeaned 10 the purposes of . beer brew
cry. Through Brieg and Chur. the latter of
which We left yesterday, few miles MP the val
icy, are both interesting towns for persons who
hke old buildings and walls. We think nanz
eneeia both Part OF the old walls Of the town
stin remain, with one gateway which is freecoed
In coiors still quite brilliant. There are, be-
sides some borders and simple ornamental
work, the figures of angels amid clouds blowing
trumpets, and beneath are Latin inscriptions.