The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-03

w little is heard in the general turmoil, but which is playing an important role in the European tragedy, as it is surrounded by four great battling armies. The outflanking of their op- pOnent by means of a short cut across a, corner of Switzerland must have appeared a tempting prospect to one or other of the great armies at some time or other-and that is why the little Swiss army has been under arms since August 1914, facing defiantly in four directions. What a curious fact that the nation whose history is one long record of warfare-whose people sold their sword abroad when things were quiet at home-shouId now form the one peaceful oasis of central Europe; Switzerland, with it's three different nationalities living and working peacefully together among the warning nations is today the symbol of hope for Europe's to- morrow
 What is one to think of a. nation of four million inhabitants which can raise a well-trained army of 100000 men at the moment of need? Is it a hotbed of Tnilitarisn-or a hearth of independence and liberty? Switzer- land, true to it's traditions, is assured ly the latter. Despite the largeness of it's army in proportion to it's pop uIation, militarism has no place here. and 8 democratic spirit pervades it's ranks. There is no tso6ficer class''- the officer may in private life occupy a more humble situation than many of his men, and is prom eted for eff ciency alone.
 Mobilized with wonderful prompti- tude at the beginning of August 1914, the majority of Switzer1and'se 400, 900 soldiers have spent the long, weary months since then on the frontiers, not in inaction, but working hard to fInYo f-x- fI7A 1a-~- hat ai<-I7% come. On the slopes of the Jura hills, in the concreted trenches facing Germany and France, on the lofty passes of the high Alps looking down on the Italian plains, the Swiss soldier has watched and waited and. will con- dawns. And such waiting, often with in sight of the bursting shells and burning farms across the frontier, is no easy task.
 The mountaineer soldiers, although but a. comparatively small portion of the whole are undoubtedly the cream of the Swiss army--and probably the finest mountain troops in the world The mountain regiments are formed almost exclusively of men whose lives are passed in the shadow of the high Alps; the mountain herdsmen who pass their summers at an altitude of anything up to- ,O0O feet, the All pine peasants used to haynaking and similar occupations on precipitous slopes and the celebrated mountain and glacier guides themselves. Their officers, too, are for the most part professi ona1 men of the mountain dis tricts (schoolmasters hoteiers, etc. |, who have delighted in discovering new
 ways up rocky slopes since their youth, and whose leisure is devoted to mountaineering. chamois- hunting and kindred sports.
 Those who knew the Swiss tain troops in times of peace, had no doubt Of their ability to undergo pro Ionged hardships and exertions un- der war conditions. Only two years ago the writer witnessed the greatest feat ever attempted by mountain troops, namely, the march down the 1 6-ni1e long A1etsch Glacier-the longest in the, A1ps-carried out by geo men in snowstorm. The start was made from the icy height of level, at dawn on a bitterly cold au- tumn morning, with 9 blizzard blow ing and a thick mist plotting out all the neighboring peaks which should have served as landmarks. Nothing daunted, the leaders set off with only a, compass to guide them through the snowy wastes and the yawning crew asses. In full marching order, car rying rifle and alpenstock, and wear ing snowsh the heavily laden men left the shelter of the tiny rock-cave station of the Jungfrau Railway rop- ed togeth CT in groups of five, and were in a minute or two lost to view in the mist and falling snow. The march to tho farther end of the immense glacier was accomplished in twelve hours without a single man falling out, although the soldiers sank to their knees in snow at every step. About this time, too, a company of Alpine soldiers made history by crossings a smaller glacier with pack horses; the 1aborious nature of this feat may be gathered from the fact. that a wooden track had to be laid on the ice to enable the horses to gain a, foothoId, the boards being. taken up as soon as the animals had passed and transferred again to the front.
 In view of. such achievements, it is not astonishing to learn that these troops have accom- p1ished feats and undergone privations Of remark able nature since the outbreak of war-feats and privations unreport- ed by an army of special correspon-' dents One battalion, for instance, made a forced march from the Jura in the North to the Canton of Tessin in the South, crossing several ranges of mountains en route. One morning it set off early to traverse a high mountain pass upon which the snow already lay deep. But being firm and dry, no extraordinary difficulties were anticipated. Before the troops had reached the summit, however, a warm Alpine wind began to blow, and con verted the hard snow into s1ushy quagmire into which the soldiers sank to their knees and thighs. For hours they fIoundered through this morass, along precipftous path which often skirted the edge of a fearful chasm. To make matters worse, the pack horses with the provisions could not get through-two, in fact, lost their footing and were precipitated to the bottom of a deep ravine. The bread and cheese and cold tea carried by the soldiers themselves formed their only nourish ment during the eighteen hours which the terrible march lasted. There was likewise no possibility of obtaining athot meal at the mountain village where they arrived at 1 D. m.,