Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-08
e. you will leave fair Lugano with re-

gret. -
We next saw Menaggio, Bellagio and
Como. but my vocabulary descriptive of
natures beauties has been nearly eX-
hausted. For miles along the shores
handsome country seats. surrounded by
gardens and groves, sit fairly in the
water. sometimes in nooks, carved by ma.
ture out of the vine-hung precipices, ana
with no ingress or egress save by boats.
Some have great broad staircases lead
ing down to the water. with heavy stone
balustrades, ornamented with statuary
and fancifully adorned With creeping
vines and bright-colored flowers. A great
feature of Lake Como's a~ttractiveness is
the multitude of pretty houses and gar
dens that cluster upon it's shores and on
its mountain sides. They look SO snug
and so homeiike, and at eventide, when
everything seems to slumber and the
music of the vesper bells comes steal
ing over the water, one almose believes
that nowhere else than on the lake of
Cccno can there be found such a paradise
of tranquil repose. We left Como in the
evening. and our express train, Shrek
ing like some demon of the night, carried
us toward Milan, while bits of Italian
landscape fitted past us in the gloam.ns.
OF course. in Milan it was the famed
cathedral! What a wonder it is! So
grand! so solemn! SO vast, and vet S,
delicate. so airy and so graceful! A very
world of weight, and yet it seems in the
soft moonlight only a fairy delusion OF
frost work, that might vanish with a
breath. 1t was a vision. a miracle! An
anthem sung in stone! A poem wrought
in marble!
They say that the cathedral of Milan
is second only to st. Peters in Rome. I
cannot understand how it can be second
to anything mad by human hand. I
can add nothing to the eloquent praise
b Mark Twain Here my reminis-
cences carries me on to Genoa, the SUI
perb! to Venice, he queen of the Adri-
attic: to Florence, Rome and Naples!
But I am tired and will not weary you
also, SO let us rest.
Mrs. Harriet Hamilton was i'll and her
vocal solo on the program was not given
to any other musician so there was no
music. Mrs. Jean I. Hall was down for
a paper on the new books of travel but
was absent.
President Holbrook announced that
hereafter she should strictly enforce a
certain rule and embe Of the W-o-
mans club should take heed. That rule
is when a member is down for a paper.
song or anything, if they are absent
without due and timely notice to the
chairman of the program committee
and there is no substitute for them, they
must pay the fine of five dollars.
Mrs. NJ. 1. Baker for her review of
books read a resume of the book by
R~ounsvelle Wileman, NJ. A., Consul
General of the United States at Hong
Kong, entitled china Open Door"
Mrs RaSaT commanded with fho state
1n,ent: Chinese history becomes inter
esting when you know, or think you
know, the Chinese. If Confucius had
returned to China a thousand years af-
ter his death he would nave found
everything substantially the same as he
left it. rThe greatest change in Chinese
life was wrought by Confucius himself.
He remedied the entire system of
thought, and gave his country an intel
lectual life. She has had a continuous
national life and has never beer driven
from her Garden of Eden.''
Mrs. Baker dwelt upon the fact that
China has no national airs. Public
spirit being lacking n in proof of the
assertion said: I'm San Francisco DUR
ing the China-Japan war a little colony
of Japanese raised a patriotic fund n
} offered their services to their father
An IL, numbering
over $1,000 and representing many mil
lions of capital did nothing nor made
any p~retensions. They show a love for
their own flag, or interest in the break
ing up of China, further han it affects
their persons, while patriotism is an
unknown quantity. Rations and good
pay are something every Chinaman I'M
d~erstands."
Mrs. Baker spoke of their economy,
and of how they utilized every weed and
every portion of an animal. The author
of the book says that ION the first of
November the white is exchanged for
the blue clothes and winter has arrived,
and on the first of May the blue is dis
carded for the white and hot weather
has arrived in spite Of your winter
Clothes" Many things not generally
known are narrated in the book. Els.
tory back three THOUSAND years before
Christ is given. The origin of Chinese
marriage laws, their fables, legends
We're touched upon by Mrs. Baker in her
resume.
Feudalism and its influences, the
grinding down of common people and
the birth, great career and death of the
great leader Confucius are given in de-
tail in the book. The writer says that
he prefers Poor Richards Almanac to
the teachings of C%onfucius. One thing
brought out clearly is the fact that
China has never lost her individuality.
Lii Hung Changes first appearance on
the scene as colonel of a volunteer regi.
ment is narrated. Their many wars,
Boxers, one thing follows another most
interestingly and judging from Mrs
Bakers review of the book it is weN
worth the reading. She closed her pa
per with this quotation from the book:
China should not be permitte TO
continue a hermit nation in this Goth
century. Let the nations force oren the
door, and then nail it back to the wall,
SO that the pure light of modern civil
ization can pour in. Then and not till
then, will the open door policy mean