The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1910-10-20

~ WITZERLAND never grows old
or pale. 1t never wearies its
- lovers and admirers. 1t is al
AZ ways beautiful. Surely its peo-
pie have found the fountain OF
perpetual youth, for nothing stales its
infinite variety. 1t is the country OF
seasonal and perennial attractions,
possessing that rare thing that even
vandal men cannot destroy.
The peasants love their home and in
many instances preserve the delight
fully quaint customs which so greatly
charm the tourist. One would be mis-
taken to judge these people as igno-
rant; the constitution of the country
enables them to obtain an insight into
general state affairs and great care
is taken in the education of the
young to broaden their knowledge in
every direction. Their intelligence,
therefore, strikes the visitor as re-
markable.
During the summer n is not
troubled with snow until one reaches
about eight thousand feet altitude. In
the winter snow is, however, as low
as 1000 or even 1000 feet. The white
line thus moves high or low according
to the season.
The pageantry of the season indeed
is nowhere else so crowded with de-
lightful surprises in which the people
nov in sympathy. The peasants are
tv,,, +n fhn no+,,vn thot hoe n,nfhnTn1
them. In the spring the villages are
agog and abustle, holding picturesque
old-time festivals, preceding the start
of the herds to the mountain pastures.
The m~atrOns of the herds are provided
with m~elOdious bells, globular in form,
but thin and light and differing in
size from twelve to two inches in di
ameter. They are as varied in pitch
as in size, and their tones mellow into
a gentle, harmonious effect without
haTshness.
The herders and the dairy maids
meet on the village green to enjoy a
day of song and dance. Preparations
are made for the summers round OF
activity in the mountains, where, in
spite Of hard work, an almost idylliC
experience is lived by the light-heart,
ed peasants. The verdant and arc,
matte pastures, amid these wonderful
scenic settings, provide vistas opening
on wide horizons of Jagged peaks and
profound gorges clothed with the rar'
est verdure. The mountain herdsmen
and their comedy companions of the
churn are hardy and blooming, and
song and yodeling continually ease
and relieve the labors of the summer
when duties are arduous and results
imperative.
1t is a unique and inspiring sight to
witness the annual spring parade OF
procession starting for the mountain
pastures. The usual cooking and dairy
utensils have to be transported, for
these migrants from the wales must
remain with their charges in the
mountains until the time of return in
the fall of the year. They occupy their
mountain huts, which are fitted suit
ably for themselves as we'll as for the
necessary dairying. AS soon as the
snow begins to disappear from the
lower pastures the herder marshals
his herd and starts out. In the fes
tive procession the bull leads. On his
horns are placed a milk stool, and on
his head a chaplet of flowers. He
bears, hanging from his neck, the
deep-toned bell. These melodious
bells are made of alloyed silver. From
their tones have originated the imita'
tive yodeling or warbling of the herd
era sudden changing from the fal
setto to the chest voice, and vice
versa. Following the monarch of the
herd comes the queen Of the kline
gayly decorated and wearing the best
bell of the cows. Every COW has her
bell. and so accustomed are they to
them that losing them is a disaster,
even causing a loss of the 'cud." The
kline know their places. At the start
the strongest and best assert their
precedence. They will battle among
themselves for the right of way
which, once settled, all is peace. The
bell-cow leads in the search for pas.
lures new and she brooks no interior.
ence.
The mountaineer's response to the
sound of the herder's joyous yodel is
the "alpenhorn," a long horn. the eff.
feet of which must be heard in the
Alps to be appreciated. The noun
tains echo it with infinite sweetness,
and the effect is tender and thrilling.
The farther the distance from which
its tones are heard the more fute-like
seems its answer--powerful, mellow.
Strong and sweet, it fills the valley,
while the echoes are flung weirdly and
strangely from the mountain ram
parts. In the former times, when the
sturdy Schweitzer often had to leave
his herds and repel an ~intruding force,
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