The Elbert County tribune., 1914-07-24

heights for a long time yet In a sense II never
leaves them. Even in August traces of 1t linger
sweetly against the edges OF the snow-fields and
along the eversparkling pastures where the tree
line stops. When nature has grown Snug and
lazy among the dust and heat below, one has only
to climb thousand feet two to recapture all
the lost brance Of May and early June. The
grass never seems to lose It's vivid freshness it's
emerald coloring; the arches still clap their lit.
tie hands. 80 brightly gloved: the pines seem to
have shaken off their only the day before
And water runs everywhere. pouring in countless
rivulets to feed the bigger torrents down below
Spring never leaves the higher Alpine valleys
her cave Is somewhere just above the tree-line
She sings and dances there eternally.
1t is the habit more and more to sneer l,tt,e
at Switzerland. She is pretty, bourgeois state
the people unpicturesque and rather sordid
mere nation of hotelkeepers who exist to pick the
tourists pockets She is played out vugarized
hupelessly commonplace Switzerland has no at.
mosphere. no shading, coloring but that Of
the chromograph order The tourist agents "run"
It. In this there lies certain truth Switzerland
is a playground. and need not pretend to he anv
thing else. There is little enough "atmosnbero.
for artistic effects, and the coloring is monotonous
repetition of brilliant green meadows blue forests
with white and black peaks that cut into azure
skies without soft shading in Scotland IreIard
and moster climates And the people are hour
geois, unpicturesque and unimaginative: thoupb
provided they keep good hotels at reasonahlo
prices. there Is not much fault to be found with
them on that score. The fortunate can aIwavs
go further afeld to Dalmata. Bosnia the Cauca enc
II they will The big world offers endless varie,v
still to those who have the time and purse 70
measure III; but for the majority stricter cond,.
tions govern the selection of travel routes and s
these Switzerland must hold first place for manv
generations to come. '
And there are few places where conditions are
as sweet and clean and wholesome as refresh
Ing stimulating and pure as a high Alpine vallsv
with its cozy. cheap hotels In the early sumner
months. Their contribution to the health of Fin.
rope is nc negligible quantity. even If thew CON.
tribute to the deathroll. too. Compared to many n
seaside resort. with its demorazlng Influences n,
gambling, over-dressing. artificial gaieties, to saw
nothing of other undesirable elements such paces
favor and attract these high Alpine valleys are in
every way superior. But 1t must be added thai
one finds in places usually what one brings to
them. holiday becomes the reflection of the
mind that seeks it, and ugliness and cheapness in
the heart find ugness and cheapness also in the
forests, mountains. flowers. and in the very at.
mosphere- Scenery is scenery. but the interpre-
tation is of the mind In the last generation the
world has grown immeasurably more vulgar Our
fathers were happy in Switzerland; children
vote IL dull perhaps played out.
Changes have certainly 1t these last
twenty years. The little inns. where pensions