Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-05-31
A FAMOUS WINTER RESORT.
An Alpine Village That Is Without Inhab-
itants Most of the Year.

itants Most of the Year.
st. NORTH Bad, which Is situated about
mile from St. Moritz- Dorf, the well
known winter Alpine resort, is town
composed almost exclusively of gigantic
hotels, mammoth boarding houses, or, to
give them their more polite appellation,
pensions and gargantuan villas. In the
summer 1t is crammcd with people, holt
day makers and invalids who come to
drink its healing waters drawn together
from all points of the compass and repre-
senting divers nationalities, but in the
winter it is shut up and deserted No one
lives there but solitary caretaker or two,
and the town becomes as silent as and
three times more cold than the proyerbial
sepulcher.
The reason of this exodus is of course
due to the fact that St. Moritz- Bad &C.
cupies position which renders it far too
cold a spot to be capable of sustaining
human population during the winter time.
The town is built on a level stretch of
ground close to the lake of St Moritz and
SO closely hemmCd in by surrounding
mountains that the sun scarcely touches
1T at all for six months out OF II. Para
doXical rs it may seem, it is nevertheless
true that this unique little town of gigan-
tic hotels, mammoth pensions and gargan-
tuan villas is only, strictly speaking in
habited by the people for whom it was cX-
clusivcly built-that is to say, for holiday
makers and invalids-for about six or
seven weeks out of the So that constitute
the solar year The rest of that time it is
shut up-dcscrted-and nothing save bust.
ness or curiosity could tempt man to set
foot in it.
The erect upon mind and imagination
as you force your way through the hugo
masses OF snow that cucumber the streets
of st. NORTH Bad in winter time must be
somewhat similar to that which explorers
narratc their experience on first setting
foot within the mysterious circles of the
arctic regions. 1t is to be observed, how
ever that in tho latter case this gloom
and silence, which fall like u pail, us it
were, upon the awcd spectator and strike
him dumb with fear and admiration, are
unaccompanicd by any of the signs and
emblcms of human habitation, and, there
fore, though weird and terrible, nre nat
ural enough. In the former those two feel
ings become intensified, and by conse-
quencc their effects upon the imagination,
by reason of their being experienced amid
all tho signs of human life and business
and in the hearts, us it were, of II real
though latent vitality.
The huge hotels, with their closely shut
tered windows, smokcless chimneys and
general appearance of chronic neglect, re-
scmble nothing SO much MS deserted pal
aces from which all signs of life have been
cut off, all movement expressive of vitality
etfcctually banishcd by reason of pesti-
lcnce, crime or some other dreadful calam-
ity. Tho Snow lies several feet deep upgn
the pathways that lead to them and upon
the roofs of these gigantic buildings. The
shops on the quaint little main street hard
by are securely closed for the winter and
to all intents and purposes arc signlcss.
The caretascrs-a sleepy, idle tribe,
whose sole diversion seems to consist in
being showed up and occasionally dug out
again-spcnd their time III dreaming one
half the day and sleeping soundly the rest.
The watchdog's bark is probably the only
sound that pcnctratCs to their cars, but
when night falls-and it falls with II swift
ness and icy vengeance at st. Moritz- Bad,
of which only those who have experienced
it can possess any adequate notion-and
all sound is stilled and all movement ctfec-
tually stiilcd beneath the iron heel of King
Frost then is the illusion made complete,
and the stranger realizes mt once that he
is face to face rs it We're, with u genuine
deserted village.-Pall Mall Budget,