The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-10-19
VACATION DAYS
At SWITZERLAND
Summer in the Playground
of Europe
i -
GOOD ROADS ARE COMMON


ton Of Hotel Keepers, Who Give
Good Value for the Money Paid.
Ry Rev. A. Il. Hunter, OF Raleigh.
/ had no intention Of crossing the
ocean this summer. I left my home
in Raleigh expecting to get a change
of air in New England. One member
of my family of two had worked too
hard, and more than one physician
counselled a complete change Of scene.
A doctor in Philadelphia suggested a
visit to the Zoo at Hamburg, Germany,
and an intense contemplation Of a
StOrk standing on one leg. The least
he would accept was a trip across the
ocean on a slow steamer. Last year
we crossed on the Mauritania, in or
der to attend the Pan-Anglican Con-
gress in London We left Sandy Hook
Cor Ambrose Light, as we must now
say at noon or Thursday and sighted
land about two o'clock on Tuesday af-
ternOOn. This almost spoiled us. Still
we set about engaging passage for a
slow steamer and found one which
would Ian us in C~herbourg on the
ninth day. 1t is always prudent in
midsummer to engage a return pas
sage. The ships are likely to be
crowded. and as the tide of travel is
largely from America and back at hat
season, the jurisdiction of the rooms
10 apt u DS II III y III SIoAA 80
Europe. The same steamer OF the
North German Lloyd was to bring us
back. leaving C~herbourg on the 29th
Of August, and as We started on the
Sth of July, we had just six weeks on
land.
For the recreative effect of the trip,
Switzerland was chosen. We had
barely a half day in Paris and that we
used in arraying for our Swiss Jour
ney. We found however that the city
~ IL ,-n- ~ hnI,t holt way hafNNanY
Cherbourg and Paris. and by stopping
there We could break a long journey,
have a Sunday rest and revisit a place
interesting to all English-speaking
people as that from which William
the went to England in
1866. an event full of meaning for the
English language, English law and
English life. There are still in Caen
two old and beautiful churches, one
built by William and the other by
Matilda, his queen, each as an act OF
expiation, because they had violated
the old Canon law in marrying each
other. being cousins. The graVeStone
OF William exists still in st. Etienne,
and tina of Matilda in the Abbaye aux
cf the town DANES. In the n~elghbor1ng
town Of Bayeux, preserved there IN
the library of the town, is q large
piece of canvas containing an en-
broidered description of the conquest
O. England, said to have been worked
by Matilda and the ladies OF her court.
A picture of this is in the library OF
ST. Mary's School at Raleigh, and, l
am told, an exact reproduction on
canvas in Memorial Hall in Paramount
Park. philadelphia. Attached to each
scene is a description in easily read
Latin. The enc are worth study,
as giving almost at first hand, an &C
count OF an event or series of events,
SO full of meaning for the history or
England and America during the last
$50 years.
Bern. after which our own city of
New Bern was named, was our 1lrsI
sto~pping-place in Switzerland. Besides
being the capital Of the Swiss Confed-
Grafton. it is in itself an interesting old
town. beautifully situated, with IN
clear weather. q magnificent view OF
the Bernese Alps, full of fountains ana
with quaint streets reminding one Oh
old Chester in England by reason OF
the arcaaes under which it's sidewalks
run. From time ~immemorlai, the
people of Bern have been interested
in bears and they still MAINTAIN a.
public expense, a pear pit. Wntit
bruin disports himself 10 the oeiisnt
of old and young. The bear appears
in pictures, on armorial bearings, on
fountains and on wood carvings. fol
a long time, it was thought maj Lie
name Bern was derived from Barren
the German name for bears. but ! De
lieve tina opinion is now entirely given
up.
Our interest this year was not 10
be in the town but in the country
Our journey led us from Bern 10
the beautiful lake Of Thum, overlook
ing which and reached by a funlcular
railway in the village Of Beatenoerg
or Saint Beetenberg, for the name
goes back to a time when Beeten, q
holy hermit, lived in a cave at the 1901
of the hill. The village stretches