The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-15

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 ture that appeal more h=-------xe strongly to the romance and lssxasAa} sentiment that dwell in tho human soul than a mountain pass There is a play of fancy evoked at the very mention of the name and it matters not whether 1t be the pass or Thermopylae, so dear to the heart of every schoolboy. the one trodden by that youth who at nightfall was found pushing on and bearing a banner with q strange device-excelsior-or the pass a description of which so charmed the childish mind n portraying the faith ful St. Bernard dogs with tiny cask of liquor strapped around the neck as he ploughed through the banks of snow in search of the overcome and half frozen traveller. Most passes lie in shadow and there is fascination in shadows; passes are the gateways lead ing from one area of civilization to another; they are often the only means of communication between two peoples The simple minded folk of old dreaded the mountains, they were deemed the homes and the haunts of gnomes, hobgoblins and uncanny spir- its; they constituted impossible bar riers between the imprisoned commun- ity and the outside world and when these simple people discovered a pass they felt as if they had achieved a great victory over the mountain; they had discovered a window. as 1t were, through which might stream the light of civilization and the discovery made them happy
 Switzerland is the land of mountain passes and consequently is the home of and marchens of our childhood, leg ends and marchens in which the peas antry of today believe as implicitly as did their ancestors many centuries I1r1t fF,. .fy1ya $.l.F Sxxrt passes are yearly becoming less fla miliar to the travelling world. The funfcular. the cong-and wheel, the rack-and -pinion railways and the tun- nels are diverting the tourist from the old route through the pass over which not many years ago the tourist jour neyed either in diligence or on foot.
 l have seen most of the passes of Switzerland and some of the Caucasus and Scandinavia, and wherever pos sible l have traversed them on wheel or afoot. One of the most charming days l ever spent was that engaged in tramp of IS miles over the Sim plon. It and the St. Bernard are the two great routes from Italy into the land of William Tell and both are par tially abandoned for travel through the great tunnels which lie beneath them.
 Stoddard goes into ecstacies over the
 
 mig pass and it Is beautiful; others again are fascinated with the Brenner which pierces the fabled rose garden country. but while I have more than once lost my heart to the glories of the Simmering pass l always return to my first love, the Simplon.
 It is 40 miles in length and 1t Is ad- Vantageous to approach 1t from the Italian side, where its 24 miles of com paratively gentle slopes are much cas- fer of ascent than the rugged 16 miles of declivity upon the Swiss side
 The start is made from Domod sler where after a hearty breakfast, taken with a keen relish that the sharp noun tain air always provides. the traveller Is advised to get ready by the notes of the coachman's horn.
 The vehicle used in the passage is called a diligence and is quite a com modious and comfortable affair Ii will seat from IS to 20 passengers and Is equipped with boot in the rear for lug gage, something after the style of the old post coaches of England or the Amer ican stages that used to ply the national pike in the days when Clay and Cal houn journeyed by vehicle from their homes to the capital at Washington. The diligence Is drawn by four horses and as the tourists parties are large in summer three and four dligences generally start up the mountain together Progress is necessarily slow and often the passengers do a great deal of walking. leaving the vehicle to lumber along in the rear, This not only affords better opportunity for drinking in the beauties of the panoramic scene that snvirons one, but puts him in