The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-11-08

and zones, and parallels Of latitude and merid-
ians Of longitude. and isothermal belts. and
variations Of the compassion everything tidy
and right up to the latest Developments. you
know The doctor said Il was Inflammation Of
the soul. and Just The very thing. Well won't
right on gathering them In. toothache. liver
complaint. softening Of the brain. nostalgia
bronchitis osteoloRy. its. coleoptera. n.y.
drnngea. cyclopmdia britannica. delirium
tremens. and q lot Of other things that I've got
down In my List that I'll show you. and you con
keep It II you like and tally OF the brlo.a-brao
rs you lay It In.
"The doctor said twas grand proof Of what
these baths could do: said had come here as
side Of three weeks these baths had sluiced
out Of me every important ailment known to
medical science. along with considerable more
that were entirely new and patentable. Why.
he wanted to exhibit me In his bay window"
There seem to be q good many liars this
year. began to take the baths. and found
them most snjoyable: 90 enjoyable that II
hadn't had disease would have borrowed
one. Just to have pretext for going on. They
took me into stone hoored basin about four
teen feet square. which had enough strange
looking pipss and things in II to mako
II look like q torture chamber. The two
half-naked mon seated me on pine stool. and
kept couple Of warm-water Jets as thick as
ones wrist playing upon me while they kaead-
cd me. stroked me. twisted me- and applied all
the other details OF the scientific massage to
me for seven or eight minutes Then they
stood me up and played q powerful Jet upon
me all around for another minute The cool
shower bath came next, and the thing was
over. came out Of che bath house few min
utes later feeling younger and fresher and
finer than have felt since was q boy. The
spring and cheer and delight OF this exaltation
lasted three hours. and the same uplifting ef-
fest has followed the twenty douches which
have taken since
After my first douche went to tho chem
lists on the corner. as per Instructions and
asked for half glass Of Challe water. II comes
from spring sixteen miles from here It was
furnished to me. but porceiving that there
Was something the matter with II, offered to
wait till they could get some that was fresh.
but they said It always smelt that way. They
said that the reason that this was SO much
ranker than the sulphur water OF tho bath
was that this contained thirty.two times as
much sulphur as that It may be true. but
In my opinion that water comes from
cemetery. and not fresh cemetery.
either. History says that one Of tho
early Roman Generals lost IAN army down there
somewhere II he could como back now
think this water would help him ind Il again.
However. drank the Chslle. and have drunk
It once or twice every day since. suppose It
Is all right but wish I knew what was the
matter with those Romans.
My FIRST baths developed plenty Of pain. but
the subsequent ones removed almost all Of It
have got back the use Of my arm these last
few days. and am going away now.
There are many beautiful drives about Ait.
many interesting places to visit and much
pleasure to be found In padding around the
little lake Bourget on the small steamers. but
the excursion which satisfied me best was .
trip to Annecy and It's neighborhood. You 60
to Annecy in an hour BY rail. through Q gar
den land thst has not had It's equal for beauty.
perhaps, since Eden: and certainly not Eden
was cultivated As this garden Ia. The charm
and loneliness Of che whole region arc bewil-
derine. Picturesque rocks. forest-clothed
hills. slopes richly bright In the cleanest and
greenest grass. fields Of grain without neck or
haw. dainty OF color and ~ shiny and SHIN
mery as silk. old gray mansions and
towers half buried In foliage and sunny emil
nences. deep chasms with precipitous walls.
and Q swift stream Of pale blue water between.
with now and thena tumbling cascade, and
always noble mountains in view. with vsgrant
white clouds curling about their summitA
Then at the end OF an hour you come to An
necy and rattle through its old crooked lanes.
built solldly up with curious old houses that
are dream OF the middle ages, aud presently
you come to the main object Of your trip
Lake Annecy. It ia revelation. 1t is mira
ole. It brings the tears to bodys
eyes. II Is 50 enchanting. That is to
say. It affects you Just ss oil things
that you instantly recognise as perfect affect
you-perfeot music. perfect eloQuenoe. perfect
art. perfect Joy. perfect grief It stretches
itself out there in tho csressing sunlight and
away toward its border OF majestic mountains,
o crisped and radiant plain Of water OF the
divinest blue that can be imagined. All the
blues are there. from the faintest shoal.water
suggestion Of the color. detachable only in the
shadow Of some overhanglng object all the
way through. . little blue and little blusr
still and again shade bluer. till you strike
the deep. rich Mediterranean splendor which
breaks the heart In your bosom. Il IL 80 beau
tiful.
And the mountains, as you skim along on
the steamboat, how stately their forms. how
noble their proportions. how green their vel
vet slopes, how soft the mottlings OF sun and
shadow that play about the rocky ramparts
that crown them. how opsline tho vast up
heavals OF snow banked against tho sky In the
remotenesses beyond-Mont Blanc and the
others-how shall anybody describe2 Why.
no. even the painter can quite do II, and the
most the pen can do Is to suggest.
Up the Lake there is an old abbey-Tslloires
relic Of the middle ages. We stopped there:
stepped from the sparkling water and tho rush
and boom and fret and fever Of the nineteenth
century into the solemnity and the silence and
the soft gloom and tho brooding mystery Of
a remote antiquity. The stone step at the
waters edge had the traces Of worn.out In
scription on II: the wide flight Of stone steps
that led up to the front door was polished
smooth By the passing feet Of forgotten
centuries, and there was not an unbroken
stone among them all. Within the pile was
the old square clolster with covered arcade
all around It where the monks Of the ancient
times used TO sit and mediate. and now and
then welcome TO their hospitallties the wan.
dering knight with his tin brseches on. and In
the middle OF the square court topen 10 the
sky) was stone well curb. cracked and slick
with age and use. and all about It were weeds
and among the weeds mouldy brlckbats that