The St. Louis Republic., 1902-11-30
At EVERY 5TEPYoU nEET
IA petty 5Wl5S GIRL IN
a WHITE CEp
Ss@o@o@o@o~

For three months the rates are Saa ss4 and
| szs and for the year $50, sS4 and si2e.
| This means that for s120 you could start
! in on January and keep travelling day and
night on Swiss trains and steamboats,. with
the very best accommodations, until Decem-
ber 81. without extra charge.
Such tickets are sold to any one who asks
| for them.
/ like the Swiss railroads.
The cars are about the same as ours
There is a passageway through the CEN
ter. with doors at each end.
The seats of the second class are uphol-
stored In velvet: they are clean and COM
Portable.
The windows are in brass frames, and
they can be dropped down out OF sight when
you wish to look out.
The express trains have dining cars called
wagon restaurants"
The dining car porter comes through ana
calls out that dinner is ready in French,
English and German.
The Swiss roads are well ballasted and
well kept
The tracks are watched for avalanches
and iandslides. and at every crossing stands
bareheaded girl, with red flag. to warn
all that the train is coming.
At every station you find from a dozen to
| a score of hotel porters. in livery, each
bearing the name of his hotel on his cap.
These notes are written at Lucerne, under
the shadow of the Pilatus and the Rigi.
/ went across the lake to Vitznnu the
other day and took ride to the top Of
Mount Rigi on one of the first OF Switzer-
lands mountain lines.
1t is built on the same principle ~ that
up Pixies Peak
The cars are open. and they are pushed
by little engine behind.
The views are magnificent.
There are no sides to the cars, and you
rise slowly above Lake Lucsrns, which dows
In and out like mighty river through the
mountains You are climbing.
Now the view Is hidden by trees; tall,
lean naples wall the sides OF the tracks
and the banks are covered with dandelions,
daisies and red clover. :
SNOW IN CREVICES OF
MOUNT PILATuS.
Higher up tbs lake view widens; noun
famous islands rise out of the water like
green monsters rearing their heads. Mount
Pilatus comes into view.
Its sides are gray and hoary and the snow
in its creyices marks the wrinkles in its
withered old face. You crawl along rayincs
with precipicss hundreds OF feet below you.
The snowy range of the Alps broadens as
you go upward, and at last you reach the
top, with one of the most beautiful views
of the world spread out before you.
Just below is the Lake of the Four Can
tons, with a score of Swiss cities ana vii
lagos dotting its shores, and all about you,
walling the horizon, are the mighty Alps,
giving you view of mountain grandeur ar
least 10 miles long.
The peaks of the Alps are covered with
snow, and the snow lies in drifts and mass
es in the rocks.
In places it has formed mighty glaciers
great rivers of ice, which are slowly but
imperceptiby flowing toward the valleys be-
low.
You are SO high that everything Is
dwarfed.
Tha rfa 1rrnv ha 1oI los 1Nak fbro
toy boats. the Sbarns and houses of the
peasants have d%indled to the Noah's arks
of the toy stores, and the great hotels are
dwarfed into cottages.
What place for meditation.
The grandeur of the mountains ID inde-
scribable, and you can appreciate the feel
Ing of the cowboy who, coming into Switz-
erland at night, awoke to find himself sur
rounded by these mighty hills.
He gazed and gazed, with tears in his
eyes, and at last threw up his hat and in
stentorian tones cried out, "Hurrah for
Godw
The Alps have beauty of their own
which in many respects surpasses that Of
the Himalayas or the Andes, although the
latter ranges are more stupendous in their
grandeur.
! 1t is only the tops of the Alps that are
bleak and bare.
The valleys are covered with verdure, and
there are nests everywhere in the hills
good for pastures and gardens.
These mountains are of incalculable value
to Europe.
ALPS FURNISH WATER FOR
RIVER TRADE ROUTES.
Bleak and bare as the tops look, It il this
very cold. evidenced by the snow upon
them, which squeezes the rain from the
winds and through the Rhine, the Rhone.
the Danube and the Po gives Germany,
Austria France and Italy the water that
makes their lands tillabe.
1t is the Alps which furnish the water for
the great river trade routes of Europe and
which indirectly have made this Continent
the most civilized and best part of the
i world.
The chief blot on the beauty of the Alps
is the Swiss tendency to turn every rock
and view and every cubic foot of ozone
over to the traveller at SO much per min
ute.
The subimity in Gods mountains is ped
died out for consideration.
There is not beautiful view unmarried
Every place has its hotel.
On the very mountain tops you find men
selling alpenstocks and picture postal cards.
On the Rigf 1 was offered a genuine St.
Bernard puppy. and. was shown kennels in