Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-17
LAKES IN THE CLOUDS
With a Backward Glance at
That Dear Banff.
SOUVENIRS FROM JERSEY
The Lack of Feminine Beauty in
Canada.
IEATHERFACE," THE GUIDE
The Ethics Of Mountain Climbing and
the Good Form Of Sud-
den Death.
Special Correspondence of The Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Star
LAGGAN. Canada, August II. 1906
That dear Banff! There wasn't dry eye
in the party this morning when the trans
continental express, with our car on tho
tail end of it. snorted out of the Bann sta
ton and gathered Roadway for the steep
climb to the Great Divide. Even the UNI
couth mountains seemed to feel our sor-
row. for as we departed their topmost tips
were yelled in mist and each one wore
nice white cloud at an entirely fashionable
angle. I even forgot myself so far as to
throw a kiss to Mount Rumble, partfcu-
| larry stern old fellow. and he didn't seem
to mind little bit. The fact that we were
leaving the vicinity may have had some
thing to do with 1t.
We left behind. at Banf the beautiful, a
few impressions 1 trust-and all
our money. 1 was reading this morning In
one of the little advertising pamphlets gath
cred en- route-I now have 4,519-a little
paragraph relating to Banf that said:
1.-THE stores, while not pretentious have,
from years of experience and catering to
visitors. gained complete knowledge or
their requirements" / want to say most
| emphatically that this is true. They know
to cent just how much the mild-eyed tour
list will stand for. In Banf you may have
the unusual experience of paying anywhere
from 1.25 to 40 for a chamois matchsafe
or some OtneT equally uSSlul dIliClS, tiiS
selling price depending on how you grade
in the mind of the merchant.
But wasn't bothered by a little thing like
that. l boldly entered one of those souvenir
emporiums, Of which there are a couple
of dozen in Banff, and demanded real
Rocky mountain relic, a genuine some
thing other native to the peaks and
crags. I finally separated myself from
$3.50 for a pair of Indian moccaSins, orna-
mented by one Of the finest pieces Of gem
uine Indian beadwork l have ever seen.
My enthusiasm was somewhat dampened
when, in looking pridefully over my pur-
chase this morning I found the words
Made in Paterson, N. j.. stamped under
the heel flap. l have frequently heard
that there were Indians In Paterson. but
1 never believed 1t until now. Tas odd
and interesting the amount OF inferma-
ton one can pick up so far away from
home.
Easy to Tighten the Purse.
There are lots of other ways of getting
rid Of money-either American or Cana
damn Banff. The tipping proposition
helps some. The young man who carried
my heavy four-pound suit case distance
Of sixteen feet was so awfully polite about
it that I dropped half dollar into his
hand before / knew what / was doing.
When I regained my senses 1t was too
late.
But it was good investment after all.
The functionary who got my half sized me
up then and there as something important
think 1t was a duke-and followed me
| around the hotel like a water spaniel the
rest of the day. l think he wanted to kiss
my heel.
| So far as femininity Is concerned. Ban1f is
| in the same class with every other Cana
| dian town we've struck. Perhaps they
| have different standards of beauty up here,
| but I'm not alone In my views on this
| question. At an executive session OF our
| party held last night 1t was unanimously
| agreed that there wasn't really truly
| fv n Canada There lots
of nice looking ones, of course, and most
| of them seem to be as healthy as possible.
| But that's a long way from the beauty
| bench
The Ladies-God Bless EN-.
For instance, the women we saw at the
C. P. R. Hotel in Banff hailed from Canada
| and from the parent isle. Most of them
| were big and strong and fresh colored and
| looked as if they could put in a couple of
| tons Of coal before breakfast without
worrying much. They dress in the ker-fiop
style of rural England and walk with the
tra-la-la movement popular in little old
New York. The combination makes one
dizzy.
There's another reason why there was
general regret distributed among our party
at the necessity for leaving Banff in SO
much of a hurry. There's fine sulphur
spring near the hotel that is all to the
good. Fifteen minutes splashing around in
the swimming pool attachment and you
want to climb a tree away from the world
| and its worry and sleep peacefully for two
weeks The water smells like half-baked
bone fertilizer and looks as IL somebody had
spilled blueing in it.
1 hsve considerable of crouch against
the resident of Banff who Let me
take my choice Of the two swimming
pools. There was a crowd in one of them,
and being real exclusive when travelling
far from home, picked out the other one
which was empty, and jumped in.
Il hal ga /
naturally humane creature, but never
realized before the suffering that the poor
beast must undergo before it Is fit to
wear a ST. Regis price mark. I jumped
into that deserted pool quickly and conf
IDENTIFY, but I came out faster than any
human being ever moved before The
temperature was only 11S degrees, and
found out later that the pool was seldom
used except by chronic sufferers from
housemaids knee, the pip and other seri-
GUS ailments; The water in the other pool
was ordinarily hot, but it felt like ice
water after the first kettle.
Laggan and the Lakes.
But have hazy recollection that
there's a Laggan date line on this effu-
sion, and Banff. sorrowful1y realize. is
miles and miles back down the line The
line of scenery distributed over Laggan
and vicinity is not to be sneezed at. Two
and a half miles from the station lies
Lake Louise. and this surely Is one win
some spot. More than dozen distin-
guished authors and descriptive writer's
have thrown fits trying to put into words
the scenic wonders they saw painted by
natures brush at Lake Louise and as
none of them ever succeeded I'm going to
keep my hands off. But can say that
this is another spot where the eyes show
a tendency to fall out of the head and the
lower jaw becomes Unmatched and falls
on the throbbing chest. Mr.. Edward
Whymper, the mountain climbing special
ist and globe cireler has compared Lake
Louise to Lake Oeshinen In Switzerland.
I put this in for the benefit Of those who
have. at some time or another, snuggled
I'M TO the Alps. Personally ] wouldn't
know Lake Oeshinen If met 1t on the
street. But friend Whymp says that Lake
Louise SIS more picturesque and has more
magnificent environments" And we'll
take his word for that much.
Two miles across the lake there begins to
rise southwark the forefront Of the great
glaciers where the ice slants away upward
until It reaches depth of possibly 500
feet Of solid blue and green chill to where
II is fed by continuous performance aya-
ianches from the endless groups OF natural
skvscrapers beyond. At the upper end OF
this brown. boulder-coversd glacier rises