The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-10-10

stopped for about three hours most
of the time being spent in eating.
The city rendered us a reception
where speeches were made and re-
sponded too. The whole front Of the
depot was lined with tables which
were ladened with sandwiches, wine
and beer. l wonder how many of
you have ever seen real Austrian
sandwich? This is the way they
make them. They take half of
bun, butter it and then put just a
little bit of everything on the top
of the butter, for instance sliced
hard boiled eggs, sardines, sliced,
salmon, as many kinds of cheese as
are obtainable, ham, and sliced
sausages. But don't think you will
get the other half of that bun on
top of this for you won't. However,
l believe you would enjoy them
especially if you were hungry. After
our lunch we had short time to
look over the city.
Salisbury is very quaint in it's
buildings and streets as we'll as the
people one meets there. We were
told that it was considered a very
well fortified place during Napo-
Icons invasion of this country and
that the people flocked here to build
their homes to be under it's protec-
ton. AS the city lies in narrow
valley, land was at premium. So
the man who owned house would
sell another man the right to build
another story on the top OF his and
SC on until the government prohibit
ed them building higher. Then they
began and divided up their houses
i.e., a man having five or six rooms
would sell half of them, etc. Now
these houses have so many masters
that it is impossible to rebuild as
of course they would never be of the
same mind at the same time. There
fore as you can imagine the houses
are old and quaint.
The city Notifications consisting
of huge old castle like buildings are
built on a high bluff above the city.
There was also an interesting old
monastry near the Notifications
but time would not permit us to visit
them.
After our tour of the city we went
to the hotel where dinner was serv-
ed. During the last course young
ladies dressed in their native cos
tunes distributed flowers and post
cards among the crowd. The flowers
were the genuine Mountain flowers
consisting of Alpine roses and Edel-
weise. The Edelweise is a flower
which belongs to the vegetation be-
fore the coming of the glaciers. 1t
is only found in the Alps above the
line of vegetation as it requires a
very cold climate. Many a life has
been lost in attempts to pick it so
we feel quite proud as we would be
had we picked it ourselves.
At four o'clock we resumed our
journey. The scenery in the country
through which We passed for the re-
mainder of the day was grand.
Gradually the mountains became
more steep and rugged and in a
short time we saw snow on many OF
the peaks. I wish l could find words
to picture to you the granduer OF
this country. The granduer of the
great mountains, their bases covered
with a thick growth of pine trees
which became thinner and more
sparce as it climbed the mountain
side and finally gave way all to-
gether to huge projecting rocks with
their many shades of reds, blues and
greys and ending either in a cover
ing of sparkling snow of f1eecy
cloud which seemed to descend and
cover it like soft mantel; of an Oc-
casional mountain hut appearing
just as in our minds we had often
pictured them; of the many falls
which rushed down the mountain
side and emptied into the river
which followed our road.
We saw many charming summer
resorts whose quiet was only dis
turbed by an occasional railway
train, the tinkle of cow bells and at
times the toot of an auto horn as
some lovers of nature sped along
the white auto road which lay in
sight of our road for many miles.
The people were out at the stations
to greet us and as we watched the
clouds sink behind the mountains
and the moon come to take its place
we wondered if the Alps in Switzer-
land could be more beautiful than
the Austrian Alps.
A we'll known writer says of
Austria; 1.-The variety of scenery, the
verdure of the meadows and trees,
the depth of the valleys and alti-
tude of the mountains, the clearness
and granduer of it's rivers and lakes
give Austria, I think, decided SUI
periority over Switzerland"
We we're supposed to reach a
town by the name of Villach for the
night but it was found impossible to
accommodate such crowd there, so
about hundred of us were put on
at a little mountain town about
forty-five minutes from Villach.
here we had supper and beautiful
rooms in a new hotel. The noun
tain air combined with some weari-
ness after travelling all day induced
us to seek our rest at an early hour
nut at $3.50 the following morning
we were up and out for stroll
about the town. This was a pretty
little town surrounded by green
covered mountains behind which
could be seen the white peaks of a
still more rugged range. We saw
some fine corn growing at the out
skirts of the town which reminded
us of old Iowa. Yes and it even