New-York tribune., 1901-01-27
IN AND ABOUT GENEVA.
NATIVE LAUNDRESSES AND THEIR
METHODS-HAUNTS OF VOLTAIRE,
ROUSSEAU AND BYRON

METHODS-HAUNTS OF VOLTAIRE,
ROUSSEAU AND BYRON
The young American woman whose letters
descriptive Of a first trip through Holland and
Switzerland have already been printed in The
Tribune sends the following sdelights on
Geneva and its surroundings:
Geneva January Is
After Begnins came Geneva-Geneva, with its
wide streets, its beautiful lake front it's delight
ful antique and glittering jewelry shops. its vaunt
ed music conservatory and opera house, and its
many suburbs OF historical and literary interest.
With all this the chief charm OF the place US
lay in a certain honey feeling that impressed all
Of us. II began with landlady. who took to
her ample BOSOM as If we had returned home from
a perilous pilgrimage. All the shopkeepers fol-
lowed suit, and even the boatmen took a personal
interest in such as no one OF their profession
at home seemed to consider compatible with
his dignity. When one Of them spent half an hour
trying 10 remove cupsul or two of paint that an
unmarked post the wharf had bestowed upon
my gowD l ready TO donate all my worldly ap
purtenances TO the good natured Genevoise- There
are ways than cne of emptying the foreigners
pocketbook!
One of the quickest seemed TO be by paying your
laundry bills In BeGnns the price is rather below
what the washerwoman in smallest summer
resort demands The washing poor-there
was no doubt of that-and the ironing was poorer,
and their idea Of starchng hadn't reached the
point where any adjective was applicable rather
think we introduced both the substance and
ployment thereof. The first collars that came home
were about stiff a piece of crepe de chine
In Geneva there trouble neither with the stiff
ness of collars nor the price for making them So
Washing there is almost outdoor an affair as 1t
is IN the village. Apparently all the clothes OF the
city washed. rinsed and dried before the pub
Hes gaze Only the foreigners. however, found
anything novel enough stare at in the arrange
ments the city has made for laundresses. Long
low sheds with only end and roof coverings but
with wide platforms, stretch out on both sides
Of the river Here day after day, before bottom
less tubs Of ever changing water, stand rows OF
scrubbing away for dear life with never
need TO empty their tubs or so much as 10 turn
a faucet on off Some arrangement is made
whereby in certain divisions the water is heated
for steam is continually putting out OF iron
stovepipe at end OF the roof Across the plat
form strung the lines, and II one chooses one
may study all day long the various styles Of un-
derclothes and linen used by the Genevoise
stray handkerchief pair OF unmentionables is
infreQuently floating off in the whrlins
current under the bridges. You can't pick up your
wind blown wash in any honest neighbors yard!
What the river claims the river owns, and find
ings' imagine. always "keepings' here. In
rain shine cold heat, the women stand and
scrub, TO their ankles and down 10 their shoul-
ders. swept by the flowing stream. Their larBeness
OF circumference. apparent strength Of limb and
muscle and tanned, healthy skin incline one 10
bestow ones pity elsewhere
On our French teacher, for instance. Geneva
OF course. prides herself upon speaking purer
French than Paris No little idiosyncrasies, such
slipping over the 'r' sounding al like
eu" are allowed to interfere with this comfortable
belief Nevertheless felt q trihe reinforced
II were, when secured for teacher man
who had spent some Of his student years In the
French capital Professor ]. is author, painter
botanist, lecturer, mountain climber and instructor
in French and German 10 any stray foreigners who
come his way. They have to come. He never
had learned the art Of advertising or alluring'
which perhaps the reason that his many re-
furnished him with barely more than
the mere necessaries Of a very simple life As a
French teacher he charming. but ne labored
under one disadvantage. Nature had removed
so many OF his front teeth that for not
familiar with the language his pronunciation pre-
scented some difficulties. After became
ouainted with the European dentists achievements
concluded 1t not wholly question of
pense which kept him from having his deficiencies
resupphed
TRIPS IN THE SUBURBS.
OF more interest than the bright little city itself
the suburbs OF Geneva. These. every one
knows. filled with memories OF such great
names as Rousseau, voltaire and Byron. The pro-
fessor knew every house they had lived Wis
tied in, every stick and stone OF ground they
had fingered over Many OF the places could only
be reached on foot, and were too far away for
most Of 10 visit in that manner-much we sur
missed, TO the contempt of mountain climbing
professor
However, we saw the big old mansion in Geneva
itself where Votaire lived for two years and held
what almost a royal court. The grounds are
much cut up now, and a whole square fulT' Of
houses built in what his park. Half
OF the long walk between two tremendous hedges
Is still as Il was. Here Votaire used TO walk every
day toward sunset and meet the fashionable
women and famous men who came TO pay their
Epects 10 him.
An hours ride in tho electrics brought us TO
Ferney whore for twenty years the sceptic philos-
opher ruled king. bronze statue erected to
his memory shows him standing. in hand,
three cornered hat on HIS head and with the knee
breeches and full skrted coat OF his time The
emitting. cynical, decidedly untrustworthy face is
the know well, and a certain expression