The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-07-25
QUAINT
YROLEANS
PEOPLE WHOSE MOTTO SEEMS TO
BE "WHAT,s THE oODsw

PEOPLE WHOSE MOTTO SEEMS TO
8 WHATS THE ooDs2"
They Are Jolly md Light Hearted.
With n Love For n Scrfnn-
n,sErTheir Costume md National
Dance Arc Both Pictaresaue-
The motto of the Tyrolean people
seems to be Whats the odds% They
are as light hearted q race of men as
may be imagined, and. their
lightneSS is from the heart it wears
we'll. The Tyrolean is not tie brightest
man in the world. but he is Il real man
and he is Il good fellow He Is buncn
of hearty instincts and aniilble weak
nesses, but in the center Of the bunch,
like a rod of iron in 4 bundle OF
fasots, are his personal courage and bis
dour independence His instincts are
right, and SO he does not think very
much; he does not need to. Wsen in
doubt he yodels. That is the only
quarrel the world has with him.
Otherwise, as it has been eld n
could no more quarrel with the Tyro-
lean thar with the goat
There is something Goatlike in his tenn
permanent, although rot in his disposi
ton. The,Tyrolean admits the likeness
when he wears a Goat tail in the prltn
of his hat. Even the yodel break in his
voice is like the treInulouS bleat OF the
billySoat. And, like the latter. as his
enemies declare, he leaps from jag TO
jag.
There is a legend that the Tyrolean
drinks more than is good for MN. y
viennese old me that "fruchtwelnH-
that is, hard Idle and kindred unchar-
tered beverages-was playing the ms
chief with the mountain people. In the
music halls of Bavaria and Saxony l
have seer him caricatured with a red
nose and q gait that wabbled worse
than his voice. But 1 have seen moth
ing in this land to justify the descrlp-
ton. 1t looks like a libel.
The Tyrolean himself looks more ike
a Joke than q crime. he carries an
OWLS wing or a bunch Of turkey feath-
ers in his hat; in place of n belt ne
wears a Surcingle; his begin
above his ankles and end before they
reach his knees, and his breecheS, when
are too short to cover his knees, nave
been well and s~uccinctly described as
breaches of etiquette. he Is from SLY
to seven feet high, and, added to that'
he is knee sprung" 1t comes, SO an
Austrian officer told me, from descend-
ing the hills too rapidly.
1 asked him what sort of q soldier
the Tyrolean made. "He makes a pref
ty bad one, for that reason he said.
He marches to get over the ground
rather than to keep step, and, when the
regiment lines up on parade, his knees
protrude." 1 suggested that these We're
disuualifications for a good peace sol
der merely. and asked him what sort
of a soldier the Tyrolean made in time
of war. The officer thought q mo-
ment. well, he's the best we have"
he concluded. HE shoots straight ana
he fights as if he loved it."
That remark sums up more than u
little Austrian history. For centuries
the Tyroiean has guarded the western
gates of the Hapsburg empire against
Italians and French and Bavarlans ana
SaXons and he has let nothing get past
him. The Instruction of the Tyrolese
peasants. with an innkeeper as their
leader. against the rule of Napoleon is
about tie brightest spot in all the
struggle OF Europe against the CorSl-
can. TIE innkeeper and his WATERS,
as history records, met the french vet
Grams IN battle on q bridge ana threw
them into the river. The enemy got
their varmest welcome at an inn, as
the Tyroiean leader is reported to nave
remarked afterward. On ever Terms
the French troops We're never able to
stand before the embattied i~nnkeepers
of the Tyrol. Then, as now their
charges were something terrible.
There were Bavarians with the
French, and that was one reason, 1t IS
said, WY the Tyroleans used them SO
roughly. The Bavnrians are their klns-
men. they have been at ODDS for gen
erations, and he Tyroleans are grad
ually getting all their mountain passes
named after Eavarian and saxon
armies which they have trapped and
captured there. They handled their
German cousins with the enthusiasm
with which Il man drlbs q poor reia-
ton.
The Tyro!can is jollS and light heart
ed, but he has q lurking love Tor Il
scrim and he has never got INTO
his thick head that it is logical TO be
ruled by any people without his con-
sent. SO throughout their history
these brave peasants have always been
streaming from the hills like q noun
tain torrent and flying ut the throats
Of the enemies of Austria.
A thousand years hence the Iyfoiean
will probably be just about as lie is
row, Il good farmer. an unriva.ed shot