The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-04-05
a time of .perfect peace.

a time of perfect peace.
I By far the most interesting frontier
in Europe, and certainly the most rig
! idly guarded, is that of Wirballen, on
the line from Konigsberg to st. Peters
/ burg. The platform is divided into the
middle by a high strong iron fence, and
in this is sliding gate which is drawn
back when a train comes in. On one
side of it stand two German guards.
and on the other two Russians. all with
loaded rifles and fixed bayonets. On
the German side the guard gauge for
the European railways ends and on
the other the broad Russian guage be-
gins.
SMUGGLING LACEs IN SNOW
BALLS.
Once through the gate no passenger
can return on any pretense without
first having the passport scanned and
obtaining official permission to enter
or leave the Russian territory, and
every article of luggage has to be
passed through the grille from the
German porters to the Russian, or vice
versa, as the case may be, for none
are allowed to go and come through.
/ Hence there are no such opportunities
/ here for seemingly harmless diversions
such as were once found by a party of
/ German peasants, who started snow
/ balling match with some Russians on
/ the either side, which came to an alb
/ rupt conclusion on the discovery by
sentry of the fact that the German
! srowballs were a mixture of snow and
valuable Brussels lace.
Certainly the most curious frontier
1 line in Europe is the one between Han
over and Holland on the lower Rhine.
1t is marked by row of boats
/ chained together and anchored to
mornings in midStream. The thaoreti-
cal line runs from stem to stern of the
! boats. Their German halves are paint
ed in the German colors and the Dutch
halves in the Dutch colors.
/ In some cases. though not in many.
land in Europe being too jealousy
sought after. frontiers are marked by
a strip of neutral ground or mo mans
land The two most notable instances
of this species of demarcation are the
low, sandy isthmus which unite Glib
raltar with Spain, and the mountain
tract between France and Italy, which
is pierced by the Mont Cents tunnel.
There are. of coure, not few places
on the continent of Europe where sew
eral frnotier lines intercept. Thus, for
instance, there is a spot a few miles
from Bale, inSwitzerland, where a per-
son may. by taking as many Strides
step into and out OF three different
countries: Switzerland, the Duchy of
Baden and the province of Alsace. In
this connection it may not perhaps be
amiss TO point out the fact that Mont
Blanc, which is nearly always spoken
of as being in Switzerland is really on
the frontier line between France and
Italy.
There is one spot on the frontiers of
Europe, without some mention of which
no article ON the subject would be COM
pleae. In a forest clearing on the way
from Ekaterinburg, in Russia, to Tin
men. in Siberia. there stands an obelisk
built of brick.
On the western face is carved the
word Europe" and on the eastern
Asia This is the famous Pillar of
Farewells," standing ON the frontier,
not of two countries, but of two CONT
nents
Probably no other structure in the
world has been gazed upon by so many
fearful eyes as this has been, for it is
here that the unknown multitudes of
the victims of Russian tyranny have
looked their last on Russian soil before
turning to face the dreary prisonland,
from which so few return. 1t is more
than a frontier mark: it is a monument
at once famous and infamous ito the
most innocent suffering and the most
savage cruelty that disgraces the mod
ern world.
LEVIN CARNAC.