The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1894-04-26
a LONELY VILLAGE,
1t Is Without Inhabitants the Greater
Part or the Year.
Pail Mall Budget.

1t Is Without Inhabitants the Greater
Part OF the Year.
rail- Mall Budgct.]
st. Moritz-Bad, which is situated about
a mile from st Mertz-Dorf, the we'll
known winter Alpine resort, is town
composed almost exclusively of gigantic
lotels, mammoth boarding houses, or, to
give them more polite appellation, PEN
sions-and gargantuan villas. In the
summer it is crammed with people, holi-
dav-Wa kcrs and inralids, who come to
drink its healing waters, drawn from all
points Of the compass, and representing
divers Of nationalities, but in the winter
it is shut up and deserted; no one lives
there save a solitary caretaker or and
the town becomes as silent MS and three
times more than the proverbial sepulchrc.
The reason of this exodus, Of course, ia
due TO The fact that 81. Mori;z-B Bad cccu
pics position Which renders it fnr too
cold spo. 10 he capable Of sustaining
human population during the winter time.
The town is built on level etrctc1 of
ground close to the lake of ST. Moritz,an
is so closely hemmcd in by surrounding
mountains tlnt the sun scarcely touches
it at all for six month, out of the twelve.
Paradoxical as it may seem, it ia never
thcless true that this unique little town
Of gigantic hotels, mammoth pensions and
gargantuan villas is only, strictly speak
ing, inhabited for the people for whom it
was exclusively built--that is to say, for
holidar- and invalids-for about
six or seven weeks out Of the fifty-twO
that constitute the solar year. The rest
of the time it is shut up--dcsertc d-and
nothing save business or curiosity could
tempt man to set foot in it.
The effect upon mind and Imagination,
as YOU force your way through the huge
masses of snow that incumbcr the streets
of ST. Moritz- Bad in winter time, must be
somewhat similar to that which explorers
parrate their experience on first setting
foot within the mysterious circles OF the
Artic regions 1t is to be observed, how
svor, that in the latter case this gloom
and silence, which fall like 4 pail, as it
were, upon the awed spectator, and strike
him dumb with fear aud admiration, and
unaccompanied by any of the signs and
emhlems Of human hahitstion, and, there
fore, though weird and terrible, are nat
urul onough in the former those two ieel-
incs become intensified, and by conse-
oucnces their effects upon the magma
ton, by reason Of their being experienced
amid all the sigrs of human life md bust
ness, and in the hearts, as it were, OF a
real, though latent, vitality.
The huge hotals, With their closely
shattered windows, smokelcss chmncys
and general appearance Of chronic neg
lcct. resembles nothing so much &c dcs-
srted palaces from which all signs OF lie
have been cut off, all movement express
i've Of vitality efttctnally banishcd by rea-
aou of pestionce, crime or some other
dreadful calamity. The snow lies sew
cral foct deep upon the pathways that
lead to them, and upon the roofs OF these
rieantic buildings. The shops sn the
ouaiut little main street hard by are &C.
cureiv closed for the winter, and all IN
tentssand purposes are signi0ss
The caretul,crs-a sleepy, idle tribe
whose sole diversion seems TO consist IN
heinz ,newed up and occasionally dug
ont aga,u-spend their time in dreaming
ono half the day and sleeping soundly the
rost The vatchdog's bark is probably
the only sound that ever penc'rates te
tbe;r cars: but when nightfall--and IT taIif
with tha swiftness aud icy vengeance n
Ct Mor,z-Bad, of which only those who
h,ve csperienced it can possess any ade
or,te notion-and all sound is stlled, ane
al movement ctfectually s!ified beneath
the iron heel OF King Frost, then is the
1)nsion made complete, and tho stranger
r.o,;zos at once that he is face to face, q:
:, rora with y genuine deserted village.