The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-10-16
FROM s sFITzlsssEaND.
IL ss
"A Zig Stone Ga Travel Ter In the .pss
Nyoa LAKE LEMas,

before the cYesof those who have not seen
its pictures both fair and grand; towering
mountains With outlines against the ski:
to see which one has to look perPendIcu-
larly up, snow capped since the time be-
.yond which the memory Of man carrieii
not; glaciers, huge walls and fields and
.ravines fnllsof ice, holding doggediy their
places in spite Of a Burning summer sun
and reneyfing themselves from above as
rapidly as they melt away below; dasling
cascades and roaring torrents, in whose
crystal waters the sportive but shy trout.
spends his-time in avoiding the tempting
flies Of the sapguiue angler; beautiful
.blce aud green lakes scattered here and
there qnite jndiciously, walled in by abb
rupt aud rocky sleeps, with green slopes
and Alpine goats clustered here and there
in picturesque confusion; shepherds with
reed pipes sitting on rocks piping beausi-
full airs for Tie amusement of the chance
passer l,y, wth dogs and crooked sticks
+ lying beside them looh,ns up at them as
though wondering why the reeds are so
punished steep paths with other shep-
herds leading the goats and sheep and
COWS to the pastures high ION the noun
tain side and s'yodling," this time, for The
benefit o.; the same chance passer BY;
beautiful Swiss maidens with lovely COS
tunes showing glimpses of white iliroats
and premises of fair tusts above. and the
actually Of we'll turned ankles below, aid
ALWAYS carrying on head or in hand crooks
Of milk or other delicious beverages for
the benefit again Of the same chance
passer ly. In reality, it is ali very much
like This, only less ideal. Switzerland
has been and is being spoilt by the army
Of tourists that yearly pour across its
;)erders, and from whom The inhabitants
reap rich harycsts of golden Napoeons.
Il is loo civilized; scarcely an enticing
nook or rugged mountain side can be
found where CHE can spend al hour i'll
peaceful solitude without having some
busy tourist with the inevitable red Bae-
deker in hand, come busting up to edo"
the sight, and then hustle Oft quite as
busily to ''lo" the next. Everywhere are
hotels, and walters in dress suits, elegant
gentlemen (who take tips, lloweycr), to be
found on mountain tops, III deep anu ap-
parently nacccssibc'in gorgcs. on
lakes, and almost floating down over the
very Waterfalls. 1t is now even being
contemplated to ran an inclined plane
railroad 10 Tie top OF the Juagfrau! rs
we Americans have done muci! 10 bring
about this state Of things We should Prob
ably not kick about it, but mast protest
that an army Of tourists with Bncdekcr's
guides in hand take away very much from
the charm of the grandest outlook. The
piping and yodiing shepherds. the beauti-
ful shcphcrdesses in beautiful costumes ap-
pear to me myths. ~ any rate they have
become like the chamois, rare and shy,
and no longer accomnodatlngly pipe and
vodlc and show their pretty Threats and
trim ankles for the bencit OF! the chance
passerb by Having heard all his ] de-
tcrmincd to take my outing in the iyrocse
Alps. which are very much less frequent
cd and less known to the outside world
than Tie Alps OF Switzerland. There are
fewer railroads, no inclined planes, simple
hotels without elegant walters i'll dress
suits that make fellow ashamed of his
knckerbucks and hob nailed shoes, chiefly
German, and Austrian, and many without
Bacdcker; all in all, very much less civil
lied and elegant, and hence much more
economical than Switzerland. Up TO
twelve or fifteen years ago these noun
tains we're visited almost not at all, and
many OF the inhabitants have not yc! nd
den on Il railroad train. In one valley
where | tool, the post wagon, | noticed
The driver chewing tobacco, which, / thank
God. is n very unusual custom on "thiS
side" though smoking is universal. He
said the strangers had compelled the
drivers to take to tEe custom some ten
years ago, because the pipes smelt so hor-
rbly that tlicy were not allowed to smoke,
and hence they were compelled to take TO
chewing the filthy weed as they were Hn-
willing 10 give UP this pet vice CT the
modern world.
Bidding farewell to Heidelberg one
Sunday morning, stopped overat Baden
Baden with an American friend to spend
the day. II was Sunday, and hence the
day when everything was in full force and
cayoty was abroad, for Sunday is the day
in this part Of lie world when every one
has his day off, except the servers OF edl-
bles and drinkubcs, and they al have 81
day more than usually Gil. Ihe FIRST thing
that caught our eye w;'s an immense piac-
ard announcing that the great nterna-
tional racing was 10 take place on that
day in Baden Baden; 50 Of course We
went, for kentuckian who won't go 10 Il
horse race when he has the chance, is un-
worthy OF his native State. Instead OF
making things as convenient as possible
for The people to get to the track, every
thing seems to have been made purpos1ly
as difficult rs possible. The track was a
long way of and no way to get there eX-
cent bv driving, so we had to get seats at
a dollar ii head, or probably better, at fifty
cents a foot, and finally we reached the
course after two hours drive. We of
course wanted to get at the betting stand,
but finding that the privilege Of betting
cost four dollars, we coutented ourselves
with modest seats a;.d made up little pots
between us just to keep The interest from
diving out. Although the racing was IN
ternatonal in large letters, the horses
seemed to be all plugs and the lockers
all English. The crowd WAS all German,
and with not . particle of that entliusi-
assn that charactcrizes Our American race
day. But | don't blame them for not be-
ing enthusiastic. The events were all
tame and no running to speak of at all.
Only the last race was good one; q
steeplcclasc. The horses jumped very
fairly and The jumps were good ones. OF
course the horse with the green jockey
won, while had tl,e one with the rcd
Jockey, who finally came past The post
Heading his nag. Three went to ground at
the various rises, but ne sher horses nor
riders were seriously hurt After two
|hours more of dust we finally reached our