The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-25
PROF.. SMITH N EUROPE
FINDS WTHE CROSSING OF THE
ALPS" NOW AN ENJOY
ABLE TASK
GRANDEUR IN THE SCENERY
A Description OF the Brief 5OjOurR
fn the Region of Glaciers
News of HuRlbert's
Death.


drove in carriages to the railway station.
a distance CT about eight miles In part.
the ride was along tbs beautiful lake and
throughout 1t gave an idea OF italian life
at It's best We left the railroad at
Denao d Ossola, and took diligence
for 4 Brieg distant forty-one rifles. This
journey IS esteemed one of the best in
Europe. The road lies over the Simplon
pass and Is wonderful feat OF engineer
Ing, accomplished, in large part, by Ma
poleon- 1t was begun in 1900 and finished
IN 1866, at q cost Of SIS, 600 a mile and Is
a safe and excellent highway for all kinds
OF travel Before reaching the village Of
Sfmplon we came to the place where the
workmen were digging the 5implon tun-
mel through a solid mountain about ten
miles long. intended for the railroad that
is to be built over this pass. 1t really
seems that nature cannot successfully
or1osf. tie efforts OF man. "The crossing
of the Alps" within the memory possibly
! Of some one living, was regarded as al
most impossible except for those on foot.
We recall the inquiry of Napoleon I'd
dressed to his chief engineer, at Lans-
arrne, where he had collected an army fer
the invasion of Italy. is tie route
practieable?" To which the engineer re-
piled; 1T IS barely. so, sire" Then let
the army move forward" was the com
mand. Now the journey is more easily and
expedttiously made. and the undertaking
which destroyed one half OF FIannibai-s
army, and wasted to a mere shadow thu
remainder, viii scon be accomplished
over the Sinpion pass, or over the ST.
| ~ In
comfort.
GRANDEUR OF ALPS
The ride was very delightful. There $
a grandeur about the Alps that b longs
to few other mountain ranges The
mighty walls of solid rock rising tier ON
tier above the pass; the snow covering
the highest peaks. the glaciers filing vast
gorges; the cataracts pouring hundreds
of feet down mountain sides. all comb ne
to fin the mind with wonder and admira-
ton. We reached the highest point at
the hospice of st. Bernard. SO steep had
been the ascent that we had averaged
scarcely more than three miles on hour,
from Domo d'Ossola, and it was almost
Z clock when we halted at the Hospice
Mervere. at the top of the main range,
and looked down rather than up at the
gorges and torrents and fields Of snow
and ice, but to the east of us still rose
Monte Leone, 11,700 feet high, and the
Rant Glacier, vast field of Ice and snow.
Over these hung dark clouds. but they
were too high to interrupt perfect view
Of their natural wonders. The descent
to Brieg was made In about two hours,
at a pace which, at certain places and
at certain times, seemed reckless, but al
though one of our horses stumbled sever
oil times, and once fell entirely down, the
town OF Brieg was reached at $3.50 with
out any exciting incident A mountain
stream flowed past our hotel, and to its
music we slept soundly after we were
relieved Of the shouting of an excited
Frenchman who, in a terrible voice, IN
der our window, denounced all mankind
as ''canaille," for whom he had 4 pro-
found contempt. We could not make out
his grievance, nor do we know whether
he was suppressed, or finally exhausted
his strength; he at least became silent,
and we fell asleep, undisturbed BY the
fact that we had accomplished a feat
that day for which Hannibal. Caesar and
Napoleon had been praised. We did not
even dream of what we had seen, or OF
what we had accomplished. Truly 1t Is
as Carlyle says: This is an abomina-
BILE world, in which no man can be as
| tonished."
THE REGION OF GLACIERS.
We Travelled by way Of Chiffon, Ian
some and Bern, partly by rail and partly
| by lake, to Interlakin, and tarried over
night in the town, forever guarded by
| it's now crowned queen, the Jungfran.
We spent the day following IN visiting
Grindelwald. the region Of glaciers, and
not only approached them very closely,
but actually touched them. More than
| that, We entered the Blue GrottO," an
ice cave in one of them, and proceeded
| 200 feet and came out Feeling that we
had been really very near one Of their
Alphine curiosities.
| Two great seas Of Ice are plainly Wis
ible from the village, and from the por-
tlco upon which We ate our dinner, we
| looked upon SHOWS centuries old. WO
! have used so many adjectives in our cor
| respoHdence that we must omit descrip-
! ton of the bright day; Of the foaming
| mountain stream that we followed
! throughout; of snow peaks over which
white clouds foated Iazily; Of the green
fields along our road; Of the people We
met, and of the Alpine music, lest vain
repetition weary your readers.
We reached Luzerne over the Brunig
pass, leaving Megringen at p. m. The
road makes an abrupt ascent of nearly
| 1900 feet on narrow path cut out upon
the precipitous side Of a mountain.
| Speaking very mildly, it Is wild rail-
roading." but tested by the standard OF
safe tourneying, there Is no danger. In
twelve years no serious accident has Oc-
Cured. We arrived at our hotel at 10
| O'Clock and on the following morning
assembled Rigi-Kulm. The waters of the
lake are wonderfully blue; the towering
peak of Pilatus as impressive as we
supposed 1t would be. The view from Rigi-
Kuhn Is all that Is claimed for 1t; the
Lion Of Luzerne quite as woeful as he is
represented to be, and the old bridge and
its pictures quaint and interesting, but
our power of description is exhausted.
We do not feel that we could adequately
describe small hill or a St. Paul ice
palace. Doubtless your readers agree
with Us, but we trust that they will be
charitable. We are, in a certain sense,
overcome by the beauty and the stupen-
dousness of what we have seen. In due
time we shall recover and be able to
say something.
HEARS OF HUMBERTs DEATH
This morning we were awakened by
the loud hoarse cries of newsboy Of
fering for sale his papers containing an
account OF the assassination OF King
Humbert- We know that a kfngly and
kindly man has been murdered, and we
deeply regret that 1t seems possible that
the plot was Matched in and the as
sassin dispatched from land that we
rejoice to call our own. There is no ex-
cuse or paI1iation for the crime, but ir-
resistibly there came before US In con-
nection with the event the Indebtedness.
the suffering we had seen In that fair
land People living In houses little bet
tar than wretched prisons, subsisting
upon food unsuitable for human beings;
land Of castles and OF novels; OF great