The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-07-25

: PEOPLE WHOSE MOTTO SEEMS 70
BE "WHAT,S THE oDDSw

IS PEOPLE WHOSE MOTTO SEEMS re
BE WHATS THE oDDsg"
They Are Jolly and Light Hearted,
With u Lurking Love For n Scrina-
Costume and National
Dance Are Both p~icturesoue.
The motto of the Tyrolean people
seems to be Whats the odds:" They
are as light hearted a race of men as
may be imagined, and, because their
lightness is from the heart. it wears
well. The Tyrolean is not tie brightest
man in the world, but he is a q man
and he is a good fellow. He is a bunch
Of hearty instincts and anaiable weak
neSSeS, but In the center of the bunch,
like Il rod of iron in Il bundle of
fagotS, are his personal courage and his
dour independence. His instincts are
right, and SO he does not think very
much he does not need to. Neen in
doubt he yodels. That is the only
quarrel the world has with him.
Otherwise. as it has been held. one
could no more quarrel with the Tyro-
lean than with the mountain goat.
There is something goatlike III his tenn
permanent, although not in his DISPOSE
ton. The.Tyrolean admits the LIKENESS
when he wears a goat tail in the bri1n
of his hat. Even the yodel break in his
voice is like the t~renulous blcat OF the
billy-oat. 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 him. 4
Viennese told me that "fruchtwein"-
49,, b -. la al .i3a- D,,1 I.;, -al ", ~ "
tered bevernSes-was playing the mis-
chief with the mountain people. In the
music halls of Bavaria and Snxony I
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 descrip-
ton. 1t looks like q libel.
The Tyrolean himself ooks more like
a joke than a crime. He carries an
OWLS wing or a bunch Of turkey feath-
ers in his hat; in place of q belt he
wears q surcingle; his stockings begin
above his ankles and end before they
reach his knees. and his breaches, which
are too short to cover his knees, have
been well and succinctly described as
breaches Of etiquette. He is from six
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.
I asked him what sort Of 4 soldier
the Tyrolean made. Gle makes a pref
ty bad one, for that reason" he said.
"He marches to get over the ground
rather than to keep step, and, hen the
regiment lines up on parade, his knees
protrude." 1 suggested that these We're
disqualitications for q good peace sol
dior y,,nvalv oJ,l asked him what sort
of a soldier the Tyrolean made in time
of war. The officer thought a mo-
ment- ''vell, he's the best we have"
he concluded. He shoots straight and
he fights as If he loved it."
/ That remark sums up more than q
little Austrian history. For
the Tyroiean has guarded the western
gates of the Hapsburg empire against
Italians and rench n Bavarians and
SaXonS. and he has let nothing get past
him.. TIE insurrection 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-
Tie innkeeper and his walters,
as history records, met the French vet
in battle on a bridge and threw
them into the river. The enemy got
tl.elT "ElIlcSt NciCOule AL AL ILL.,, az
the Tyro;ean leader is reported to have
~afterward. On even terms
the French troops We're lever able to
stand before the embattled innkeepers
Of the Tyrol. Then, as now. their
charges were something terrible.
There were BavarianS with the
and thai was one reason. 1t is
said, why the Tyroleans used them SO
roughly. The Bavurians are their kins-
they have been at odds for gen.
and the Tyroleans are grad
laIly getting all their mountain passes
named after Bavarian and Saxon
lrmies which. they have trapped and
there. They handled their
Icrman cousins with the enthusiasm
which q man drlbs q poor rela-
ion.
The Tyro!can is jolly and light heart
I'd. but he has a lurking love for Il
;crimmage, and he has got into
lis thick head that it is logical to be
'ulcl by any people without his CON
sent. So throughout their history
hose brave peasants have always been
from the hills like Il noun
ain torrent and flying at the threats
e the enemies of Austria.
\ thousand years hence the Tyrolean
will probably be just about as he is
,ow. u good farmer. an unrivaled shot
.,,,J :, ,,j,,,c. :, nd irII1-- ,itf1or Tho .Girtr- :