The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-08-14
OVER LAND AND SEA.
Picturesque Farming-Lausannr-Ii Dead
And its Liying-Lnke Leman-
Historic Gcne~a
GENEVA, July %, 1Syl

GENEVA, July -, 1881.
"God made the country, man made
the town, "and after month CT the heat
and hurry and ceaseless tumult of Chi
cago and New York and Liverpool and
London and Paris, the peace and quiet
and GOODNESS and rest of these tranquil
valleys and calm, majestic mountains
comes to the weary traveller as a fore
taste of Heaven.
1t is a twelve hours ride from Paris to
Lausanne. and every mile of the way
brings new delight. Rural France,
like rural England, is cultivated to
the last degree, the crops crossing the
valley and climbing the steep hiIlsides
in a fashion that makes q Kansas man
dizzy. They have peculiar way
here-it was the same in England-of
planting the fields in narrow strips of
different crops with no dividing line
between. For example, in one field of
ten acres you will find a strip of oats,
another of clover, another of potatoes,
another of rye, another of timothy,
another of wheat, and so on through
the whole list. Can you imagine with
out seeing it what beautiful effect
this gives? 1t is as if a great ribbon
made up of all the possible shades of
green in parallel lines were unrolled
and stretched away across the valleys
and over the hills. Add to this fire.
quent streams of clear water, white
roads bordered with trees winding in
and out among the fields, an OCCASION
al farm house with its white walls and
high pitched roof of thatch or tile,
men and women and great two-wheel-
ed carts gathering in the grain and
hay, and you have a picture of la
belle France" as it appears in the part
of it that God made. Most of the farm
work seems to be done by hand. 1t is
now the time of the hay and the wheat
harvest, yet did not see a reaper or
mower or sulky rake anywhere. 1t
was all done with scythes and cradles
and forks and hand rakes. The forks
are picturesqe looking implements
They seem to be made of wood |
throughout, and the three tines are
two feet long and branch nearly an
equal distance, reminding one of pic
lures of Neptune's trident. And there
are no four-wheeled wagons either.
Only two-wheeled carts drawn by one
horse or one OK. If the load is too
heavy for one horse another one is
hitched on in front, tandem fashion.
In Paris the other day 1 saw twelve
horses, one in front of the other, draw
ing an extra heavy load. There are
qui-e as many women as men at work
in the fields, and they seem to make a
full hand. There is an occasional
farm house, as already stated, but for
the most part the people seem to be
gathered into villages. They have
not got out of the way of the old feud-
al times, when they had to live close
together for mutual protection.
SCAt1 lev
ell, not unlike eastern Kansas. But as
we approach Switzerland it becomes
more broken, reminding one of parts
of Ohio and Indiana And pretty
soon We are among the mountains.
have read descriptions of Swiss seem
cry, and seen pictures oft, and dream l
ed about it; but descriptions and pic
tures and dreams did not prepare me
for the reality. These infinitely vary {
ing mountains, tree-covered and grass q
covered, these gardens of valleys, 6
these sparkling brooks, these quaint
and picturesque chalets,-they cannot G
be described or pictured. They must t
be seen to be understood. 7
x# Il
Lausanne is a town of perhaps 3d. u
100 inhabitants, nestled costly among d
he mountains at the head of Lake t
ieneva-Or Lake Leinan if you like v