The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-30

Picturesque Festival in a Perfumed
Valley of Switzerland.
from the Boston Transcrll

valley of Switzerland.
From the Boston Transcript.
A remarkably pretty fete takes place a
Montreux, in Switzerland. the 18th and
10Th of this month. 1t is called the Fete
des Narcisses, and is a glorlfcation of thar
stately flower so much admired every
where. I do not know whether there is
any place in the world where the poetic
Narcissus blooms in wild state as it does
on the slopes of the mountains that over
look the grim castle of Chillon. Anyone
who has taken the little cog-wheel rail-
way up the Rocher de Naye as far as
Caux, in the middle of May, or has driven
to Les Avants through those helds, white
with the snowy flower, or breathed the
fragrant air. which can easily be noticed
three miles away, has had an unfortunate
experience.
1t has been the custom from time imme
mortal for crowds of visitors to go to Mon
treux a this season simply for the pleas
ure of picking these flowers, and on Sun
days one could see a long procession of
men, women and children walking down
to the lake, carrying immense punches of
he blossoms. exactly as If they were
rather stiff babies. each bunch of stems
having q bit of paper wrapped around the
tip to keep the sticky juice from selling
Sunday clothes. This being the case. il
is not wonderful that some four Year,
1870 the Societe de advertisements ot
Montreux determined to utilize this Gus
tom and turn * into a local festival.
Montreux lies at the upper end of Lake
Geneva, between Vevey and the point
where the Rhone dehouches into the lake.
The mountains on both sides of the lake
crowd closer together TO make the Rhone
valley, and the effect is most picturesque.
Cd in hA
Dent de Midi. with its seven points. dom
mates the whole. On the north side the
Savoy mountains frown darkly of an after
noon, while the hills above Montreux
Snowy with the Narclssus flowers, shine
in the sunlight; above them tower grimly
the Rocher de Nnye and Dent du Jamin.
Imagine yourself on such sunny after
noon seated with some thousands of spec
tators in a great amphitheater of boarded
seats in the English Garden, between the
hills and the glistening lake. Far below
you Is q square platform, where a large
chorus is singing weird air, mingled
with the wailing of the winds. The sing
ers are all clothed in brown, gnome-iike
cioaks; they represent the wintry earth.
There is CLEAN of cheerier music en6.
a party of foreigners appear in the cos
tunes of divers countries. These are the
Hivernants, the winter visitors. to whom
girls, in the costume of Nice, offer south
things in store for them.
The brown hoods of the chorus ore
thrown back and CLEAN of green APP
pears. The winds come. with gulls on
their heads-the tame gulls which frequenl
the lakeside here and will catch bread
from your hand you throw 1t in the
air The swallows arrive, sweeping in
with a rush. Does it detract from the
poetry of the motion that you notice they
are provided with rubbertred wheels? The
brown cloaks DROP The chorus are in
shades of green, with gar.ands of leaves
on their headt Then come graceful
dances by groups of children, dressed to
represent violets, periwnkles, mountain
huttercups, snowdrops. and of course, the
Narcissus. Then the sun-king arrives in
his golden chariot, and all ends with the
flowers bowling down and singing the well
come of the spring to him.
Music, words ballets are all original
and are carried out by the natives with
out pay and with infinite delight The
ballet mis- ress comes from the Theater
at Geneva and begins to instruct the lit
tie children early in the winter. The COS
tunes are beautiful. and the performers
seem to enjoy it all The Alpine Glee
Clubs furnish the singers.
The performance over, those who are
wise will nibble a the refreshments they
hove brought while they enjoy the birds
lt4fil ny dlouilp tHtlll titAiilit tuG hONti :
and the blue ever-chanEing lake and the
glorious hills. Then, still sitting on our
| benches for which we have paid a mod
crate price we see the grand defile, all
the. performers followed by allegorical
cars, carriages dressed with flowers and
bicycles either emuslnglv turned into queer
animals or prettily decked with flowers.
A great many prize are given, and for
eigners may compete. Some of the cars
show much taste; scSne are only amusing.
Next comes the Battle of Flowers, In
which the Narcissus plays a prominen,
part and there is continual throwing of
co,ored paper ribbons and confetti-the
modern kind. tiny disks of bright-colored
paper. In the evening there is q dance
and fireworks at the Kursal, for those who
are not completely tired out