Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1919-12-30

| H7A Wv tll1t DtStlNc has SOluCt oWIc
I'M zerland is busiIy preparing to
i assume her old place as the
favOrite playground of the old
world The little Helvetian republic
of proverbial beauty. and far more
beautiful still in the eyes of many
for as an angel of mercy has she
shown her real worth in the worlds
tragedy-is fairly brimming over with
attractions sought by lovers of the
medieval and quaint and curious, and
will now more than ever become a
haven of blissful rest and healthful en-
joyment, writes Marie Widmer in the
New York Herald.
During the last FIVE winters, in spite
of the war, the numerous winter sport
resorts tucked away in all those lovely
spots over 5000 feet above sea level,
managed to have a season" on a linn
tied scale, and now that conditions are
once more becoming normal it is ex-
pected that the winter 19191920 will
see great many visitors flock to that
snowclad Alpine land, which, although
in the midst of that fierce turmoil, has
remained intact.
Switzerland in her winter garb To
the newcomer 1t means vision of
paradise-to the habitue coming
home to a beloved haunt. Once mas
ter study In artistic color combina-
tons, the country appears now as a
glorious symphony in white. Jack
Frost has imprinted silencing kiss
upon the babbhng lips of every tiny
brook and mountain stream and glis-
tenlng sheets of ice cover also the
limpid blue eyes of ponds and Alpine
lakes. Ice and snow everywhere and
above a glorious expanse Of deep blue
sky. The air itself seems to have gain
ed some new miraculous qualities and
faces which yesterday looked weary
and tired have a cheerful and ener-
getic expression today.
Land OF Winter Sports.
For the natives the time of pleasant
sociability has now come. Visits be-
tween friends and relatives are fire.
guently Interchange --by sleigh In the
case of the older set, and by ski In
the case of the younger generation.
Even some of the passes are quite an
mated, as winter is the time of the
great transport of merchandise over
mountains, such as the Veltiner wines
in the case of the Grisons. From the
high lying pastures they slide down to
the valley the hay which had been
stored in the picturesque huts. and
the woodcutters, in their turn, are
busy in the high forest. The proud
tree-trunks fall cracking before the
axe and Ratchet, and the logs dart like
arrows down snow-runs to the traffic
beaten roads below.
Nowhere on earth have the posi-
bilities of winter sport been more
keenIy realized than in Switzerland,
and that is why we find in this small
land such great choice of resorts
which possess scientifically laid out to.
boggan and bobsleigh runs. Ice Kinks,
thrilling ski-jump, etc.
Very soon we find everybody inter
ested and engaged in some form Of
winter sport. There is skating. Of
course, but many games compete now
with this oldest Of sports on the Ice
which has, however, been developed
into an art which charms the onlooker
by the gracefulness Of Its movements
now astonishes by the cool daring OF
It's swift rushes.
AS In summer over the lawn. so flies
the tennis ball over the Ice In the game
of hockey. Curriers', are frantically
sweeping their "stanes" toward the
coveted goal. and the unlimited diver
sity of gymkhana stunts offers con
slant amusement for the players as
well as for the onlookers.
The improved appliances for srort
requirements have nearly ousted the
old-fashioned herdsmen's sleds, which
are now only occasionally used BY
| timid beginners. The up-to-datt
vehicle Is the soscalled skeleton. low
yard-long toboggan, on which the rider
lies fat, steering the craft with hands
| and feet. ss
Like an arrow II darts up to thu
Iced walls Of the curves and as Thu
bewildered spectator fearfuily antici
pates an accident, the toboggan shoots
,iown into the furrow and around l
! beautifully shaped curve.