Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1915-07-16

LAKE OARDA. LOI
tCiinton Scollard. in the New York SUM-
- HOULD you ask what is the
charm of Riva and Lake Garda
l should answer that it is we'll
~ nigh impossible to put anything
so elusive into words. Perhaps
1t Is summed up in the endless
change of majestic and solemn noun
tains and the eternal variety of most
beautiful lake, and yet this does not
tell it all. But sitting amid the palms
and oleanders by the lake shore one
Is content with present loneliness and
has no desire to analyze. So 1t is, too,
If one strays about the narrow streets
of the old town, with its one medieval
gateway reminiscent of days when all
folk were wall dwellers, with its mod
ern yet moated barracks that stand
upon the site of ar ancient castle of
the Veronese Scaligers, and with Its
great baroque parish church, under
the shadow of which In the morning
GOODNESS the fruit sellers gather with
great hampers of figs, peaches, plums
and grapes.
You may climb. If you will, by lanes
and olive terraces to a circular bastion
erected upon the mountainside by the
Venetians, huge mass OF masonry
| dominating the town and harbor, and
get one of your first impressions of
the glory of Garda, and whether you
take this little excursion in the gold
OF early day or in the placid light OF
afternoon your recompense will be
equally great
Delights Eye of Visitor.
You will have outspread below you
something no less than magical In
shifting lights and shades upon water
and slopes and crests and red tiled
roofs. and each succeeding moment
will add to the marvel of the blended
whole We will then accept the charm
of Riva and of Garda, for 1t ia In
dubitable, nor does 1t lessen with a
succession of days or even weeks.
One afternoon when the sun had
dipped behind the crest of La Rochetta
as was lettering on the horse chestnut
shaded promenade by the harbor the
Ponale road drew me like a magnet
1t begins to rise in a gentle slope by
the public washhouses, where all Riva
seemingly has its laundering done.
At long tubs at least twenty women
were at work, scruBbing, pounding.
wringing and rinsing, and raising dur
ing the process an incessant chatter.
Without and within and upon the
raiI-guarded roof of small shedlike
structure hard at hand fully as many
young children we're wrestling, rolling,
tumbling and twisting, joining their
cries to those of their mothers, who
gave them not the slightest heed,
though hair was rent, scratches were
many and tears flowed in summer
showers down pain or rage-distorted
faces.
Road Hewn From the Rock.
Just beyond the Quai hotel, rising
from the lakes verge in five stories,
having its entrance, however. at the
topmost, were baths with huge staring
signs, but they were bare of bathers.
Going with me up the incline were
other pedestrians, some in Tyrolese
costume, Germans in "knickers" and
ponderous hobnailed shoes, women
with alpenstocks, who clearly (from
their high-heeled boots) had never
climbed a rod; leisurely Italians,
workmen and gentlefolk.
From almost the very outset the
road is hewn out of the limestone
mountainside. There are occasional
artificial buttresses to support it, but
for the greater part it has for Its foun-
dation the eternal rock. The angle at
which It ascends varies, but 1t is never
abrupt; consequently l encountered
single horses, oxen and mules drawing
loads with no inconsiderable weight.
paused at the first wide curve to
look back upon the town, and won
drous panorama the bay and buildings
and the distant rock of Arco and the
engirdling ranges made, for the i'm
mediate foreground was in shadow and
the remoter slopes and crests were
still flooded with the soft light OF the
declining sun. / had started with
the intention of turning back from
this point of vantage. but on descry-
ing, beyond two or three adjacent
turns, a tunnel through the jutting
cliff, allowed myself to be led on
as far as its mouth.
Thus was my fate sealed. With
each bend there was a new lure. Once
waving yielded I was henceforth cap