The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-09-10

| lNTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND,
August 21st, 1897.
FRIEND HUNT
have let number Of weeks elapse
before fulfilling my promise to give
you some account of our journeyings-
partly in order that 1 might have time
to form some tolerably correct impress
sions of this side of the water; partly
because the days have seemed so full
as to leave no time for writing, and
partly for the reason that there has
been so much of interest that we have
seen as to make it difficult to know
what to write about and what to pass
by.
We had an unusually rough ocean
passage, having four days storm out
of seven, arriving at Queenstown,
Ireland, thirty hours late. The din
ing saloon was about deserted good
portion of the time, food being the
least wished for commodity.
We spent three weeks in Great
Britain and Ireland, and have been
now two weeks on the continent. in
Holland, Germany and Switzer and.
We sail for home in two weeks, one
week of which we expect to spend in
Paris.
We met Miss Scouten and Miss Van
Blarcum in London and travelled with
them week. They were we'll and re-
ported having glorious time.
will not attempt to write of what
we have seen. Neither my time and
patience or yours would be equal to
the task. We have followed mainly
the conventional routes, and seen the
things which a multitude of books on
European travel describe much bet
ter than I can. We have seen moth
ing in the way OF natural scenery on
this side of the water that compares
with Switzerland. We had heard the
Alps compared unfavorably with our
Rocky mountains, and were not eX-
pecting as much as we fOund-Were
therefore very agreeably surprised. 1
have seen nothing in American
mountain scenery that can approach
the Alps for beauty and grandeur,
They are entirely different from the
Rockies, having more acute outlines
and running more to crags and
pinacles, while the valleys are mar
rover and greener, and the snow line
runs lower than in the American
Rockies. While we have seen mach
over here that is beautiful Switzer-
land is the fitting climax for it ALL 1t
cannot be described in words, and the
camera does not catch it's l shall not
attempt to describe it, but wish all
our friends could be here to enjoy it
with US.
We have assembled several of the cog
railroads, including the Rigi and
Wengen, where from attitudes of 5000
to 5000 feet we get magnificent views.
These roads which run up on 80 to
so per cent grade, frequently on the
edge of steep precipices, are inclined
to make one nervous at first. We have
stood at the foot of the Yungfrau, up
which, by the way, they are building
a railroad to cost two million dollars.
Have visited the Grindelwald glaciers,
and yesterday we assembled the Wen
gen Alps and tried to reach,the Eiger
glaZier, but had to give it up about
half way, as about six inches of snow
had fallen during the night, the melt
ing of which made the steep paths
slippery and dangerous. We succeed
ed in getting thoroughly wetand cold
however,a somewhat unusual expert
ence for the twentieth of August.
Speaking of the weather, we have
not been uncomfortably warm since
leaving New York, and the most of
the time have been cold, although we
have worn our winter underwear con-
tinually. While we were in Ireland
we were too cool for comfort, and
were much amused on reading in
Dublin paper about the uncomfortable
heat, the article stating that the
thermometer had risen to SO degrees
in the shade, and so degrees in the
sum-" l saved the article for Curl
osity.
The habits and customs of the peo-
pie are to. me more interesting fea-
ture than sightseeing. We have seen
much of interest along this line, es-
pecially on the continent. So many
things over here are so different from
what they are with us. We have been
much surprised to see the great num-
bers of dogs used as horses in Holland
and Germany, the streets being filled
with them drawing quite heavy cart
loads. Then the beer and wine drink
ing is carried to an extent we had not
from previous reading anticipated.
The much advertised Brussels Tx
position is really nothing but large
beer garden, filled with vast crowds
of people seated at tables drinking and
1