The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-10-23

4 hot buttered biscuits, and a tender juicy
tenderloin, so femptingly cooked, that 9
courts the luscious Fife Of the polished
i incisors. But a walk before sun up IN
mountain air makes even dry, coid roii
/ taste good, and after enjoying my break
fast / strobe along through the furka
pass, past the Rhone glacier, and stopped
for dinner at the Hotel du Glacier du
! Rhone, having laid twenty-one miles
behind me. 1t is here that the Rhone has
It's origin, springing first as melt-Water
from the glacier and being joinnd at the
| hotel below, short distance, by the water
from three warm springs. The natives
insist that these three springs are the
true origin Of the Rhonc, and not the SNOW
water from the Glacier, but you can take
your choice.
Just here let me say word about 9lac-
| iers. The name is mysterious, and one
forms indeiinate ideas, think, as TO what
q glacier really is. 1t turns out to be only
lot of snow which has partly fallen from
1.-THE sky and partly slipped and slid from
the mountain tops into The gorge below.
Through tlawing and re-frcezng it finally
becomes toleraby compact body OF ice,
covered for the most part with SHOW ana
looking like great field OF dirty snow
/ damned in between the mountains. Inc
dirty appearance is due to the dust and
! dirt blown from the rocks above by HE
wind The glacier is not as rule, as
imposing and majestic as it is cracked up
to be. The Rhone glacier has been good
enough to crack itself into great caverns
during its descent down the gorge, and
sends numberess icy shoots high up III
the air, and so presents a more varied ana
attractive appearance than the others |
have seen.
NV path lay by post and rail down the
Rhonc valley to Lake Leman. The valleys
fall RAPIDLY, and the Rllonc below, ut first
small stream for duck and geese to pad
die in, becomes gradually roaring noun
tain torrent and finally cmpties itself, a
placid river Of goodly proportions, into
| Lake Leman, Montreux, OH the extreme
eastern end Of the lake was my objective
point. 1t is pretty place and attracts
great numbers of strangers, especially
towards tile last of September. AT this
time the grapes, which cover all the sur
rounding hill sides, ripen, and the stran-
gers come, many Of them to have the ben
Gifts of grape cure" The Castle Of
ChiIlon is very near, and of course went
10 see it, finding crowds OF other people.
there bent on the same intention. Byron'S
:. Prisoner of ChiIon gives this old cas-
tie living interest which many lack, and
one examines the seven columns of gothic
mold, and in each QUINN an iron ring, by
tile dim light that comes creeping in
through the cracks in the stone wall above,
and can well imagine the patient prisoner
pacing to and fro at his chains length,
and finally wearing the little path in the
stone floor, which is still to he seen. The
real prisoner was Bourvard of Geneva, who
was kept imprisoned there chained to the
column for three long years, for his rclig-
ious doctrines, which led him to urge
Geneva to join the Swiss Confederation
against the Duke of Savoy. The Duke
was naturally tri1e ruffled in temper at
losing SO pretty slice Of his possessions
as Geneva, and Bourvard falling into his
hands had to suffer the consequences.
After three years Chillon was taken and
Bouryard with other prisoners set free.
| he was at first blinded by the broad light
of day, but the true history saYeth not
that he "rcgaincd his freedom with IL
| sigh" Byron's poem is more pathetic but
less real than Bourvard's history. But
who would deal always only with the
world Of facts The man who begins
every sentence with 1t is Il fact that So
and-so is an unutterrblc bore and should
be barred from society. All honor to the
genius which can soar above the world Of
| 70, II law l,afn no ri
for its enjoyment the beauties the ideal
and the imaginative
Montreux of course has casino where
all strangers gather in The svening TO lis
ten to German band in dress suit dis
course sweet musics, partake Of drnkables
and play at "petits chevaux" These
">little horses y are nothing more than
"rouSe ct noir," or roulette But the
| name sounds somewhat more decent to
polite cars, and hence is adapted in all
the watering places where public gambling
still exists at all, with the exception per-
haps of Monte Carlo. The game is said
to be limited to a franc chip, but the
ruling spirit who carries the board is al
ways obliSng enough to sell to the indi-.
vidual rs many tickets as may be desired.
| / invested six francs for the fun of the
thing and secretly believing that would
have streak Of luck and make enough
money TO pay off all deferred payments.
But it has always been my fate at gamb
ling to run parallel with the luck streaks
and never across them. So in due time
my six francs were all raked into the gem
tleman's pocket; my little horse either
was so lazy that he never reached The post
ut all, Or so Industrious and rash that he
overshot it entirely, Which is just us bad
for the expectent holder of the blue ticket.
Montrcux had too many strangers for
me, who wanted TO be quiet and study
French, SO took the steamer for Nyoa,
which is a quiet little village near Geneva
aud with Mont Blanc looming up in the
distance high above all the other peaks.
On clear days lie takes on remarkable red
glow just al sunset, called the . alpcn
glaehcu' (the glowing Alps, as though
he were great awkward young girl and
some one of the ncighborins young men
mountains had just said sometbihgimper-
tinent for the first time.
! am getting along so we'll with my
French that, to steal some other persons