14
808 BURDETTE
Takes A Tr
Ho Discusses the Ancient Villages of Switzerland and
the Home Life of the Swiss
(Copyright, 1900, by Robert J. Burdette.]
HOW enduring are early impres
sions! (Original; copyright ap
plied for.)" Once upon a time 1 was
wandering through the museum of a
great university with a great and learned
professor whom 1 loved to follow around
because he was so learned and wise
that he could talk of deep and wonder
ful things that are hidden from all
people S'iive the scholars, so that even
the wayfaring man, such as 1 was, might
understand him. It is only the man
who half knows a thing, my boy. who
bewilders you when he tries to tell you
about it. And worse even than the
half-informed man is the fellow who
doesn't know anything about it, but
doesn't know that he doesn't know. A
dozen Italians on a talking match
couldn't talk faster nor say less. But
this man knew what h:>knew and could
afford to use the English language
gently and confine himself to mono
syllables. He pointed to a slab of some
thing—slate, 1 think it was and said:
"See there." It was a commonplace
looking' slab, hardly worth a glance,
with a few slanting streaks across it.
11_ interested me about as much as a
book printed in Chinese might have
done. I couldn't read a line of it, but
1 knew be could. So I asked him.'
"What does it say?"
"It say s." he replied, "that about
73.f1('0 years ago it rained all day."
"And somebody had lift that book
out of doors?" I asked.
"Yes." he said. "The maker of it
'•■ ft it out intentionaily; he wanted to
/ '/30j
x [ i \l — —
~<^v- .S- J,*?
THEY FiND OUPB AND MUGS,
write the weather record for that ria\
011 that page."
Aid 1 lien lie showed me where a
gn at bird stepped in t he mud one day—
J don't remember how many multi
plied thousand-, of years ago- when
the same author was taking photo
graphs to illustrate his work on "Pre
historic Bird Life on the Kartb." And
there the picture was in stone. There
is nothing like soft mud. my son, for
retaining enduring impressions and in
destructible records. It beats a copper
b'ix in a granite corner-stone by a
thousand ages. 1 know you get tired of
listening to sermons now. my son, and
I often hear you say they go in at one
ear and out at the other. Let me tell
you that 40 years from now you will
remember the sermons of to-day; and
the sermons to which you will then
listen with intellectual delight and
rapt attention you won't remember is
hours. Dollars to dough.nuts, aon I
And that's: long odds in my favor, too.
You don't think so now. but when the
time comes to pay the bet you'd give
SSO apiece for the doughnuts you eat
in these days, and SIOO a bite for the
appetite that goes with them. Don't
try to talk to me. boy. Because you
cau't. I've been in France and Italy
long enough to learn how to keep the
center of the conversational stage all
the time myself. I can now talk in niv
sleep faster than you can talk when
you're wide awake and hysterical with
excitement.
!§►--.
Ancient and lt»ek-It llilieri II.M n Joke.
Well, now, the Swiss people—we
were talking about their deep and
beautiful home love, you may remem
ber, when you interrupted me by
keeping silent inherit this love from
their fathers, who were getting into
ancient history when our fathers
were learning to paint Ifeniington
cayuses on the parchment side of buf
falo robes. The people of Switzerland
always had a home a>id it was always
just where it is now. On the shores
of Lake Constance, Geneva, Zurich,
Bienne, Neufchalel and of hen*, there
have been discovered more than 200
"lake villages," the homes of the pre
historic Switzers. For reasons suf
ficient to themselv2s, with the love
liest building sites all about them on
the shore, these people drove great
piles into the muddy bottom of the
lake and built their homes on t liese
piles. In some places the excavating'
investigators were disappointed when
they dug tip a lake village, "because,"
they said, "this is a baby: this town
isn't more than 2,800 years old." For
you know that with these men noth
ing is ancient that you don't have to
compute in national debt figures. So
they kept on digging, and, by and by,
just as they expected, they came upon
—or rather, down on—a second vil
lage. Rut they were yet a little dis
appointed because they said this one
couldn't be more than a thousand
years older than the baby. So they
went down a few feet furl her and hit
the patriarch. And one of the wise
men said: "This is 10,000 years old."
Mut another one said: "It is nearer
20,000." And a third said: "I move to
make her a million." And they all
saiift "(iood! Now we have some
thing we can dispute over for all eter
nity. This is something like a scien
tific discovery." So they were well
content with their find, and dug no
furt her.
I am not n scientist, and have no
right to enter into this quarrel. I
simply wish to place on file the be
lief of a layman that if they had kept
on digging they would have found
lake villages all the way down. They
find in the villages a'.ready discovered
ears of wheat and barley, seeds of
raspberries and strawberries, and
drird apples. Some of the latter, 1
iVar. still find their way into the mar
kets for consumption in summer
boarding-houses. They find handsome
weapons and knives, and beautiful
ornaments of bronze. And they find
tiny cups and mugs for the little
children, which were doubtless in
scribed: "For a Good Hoy," "For a
Good Ciirl" in characters that would
give an American boy or girl the
toothache to pronounce. And around
each house was woven a railing - of
wicker work to keep the children
from falling- overboard, as well as to
break (he wash of the waves against
the house. I suppose the children
could swim before they were weaned,
but al certain seasons of the year a
Swiss lake is not a comfortable thing
to fall into, even for a mermaid. The
boys made me -same thing, they
dared me togo in swimming with
them in Lake Lucerne in October. It'
I had refused they would have said
I didn't know ho«v to swim. So I
went. A notice on the door of the
bathhons" "verliot" any bather re
maining in the water longer than half
an hour under penalty of something
in six syllables I suppose it was
guillotining. When we stood out on
the balcony and caught the breeze
that swept down from Mount I'ilatus
we said to each other that 15 min
utes was long enough for any grown
man to remain in the water between
sunrise and sunset. And as we came
up from the first plunge and struck
out like three shivering maniacs for
ihe nearest landing ladder we chat
tered to each other that the last man
out should be made to "chaw beef,"
and 1 remember that the first man
up the ladder made a blind rush for
the nearest dressing-room and clad
himself in his son's apparel, saying
that clothes were made for the man,
and not the man for the clothes, and
if there had ever been a time in his
life when he wasn't particular whose
raiments he wrapped around his shiv
ering and frost-bitten hide, it was
about then. It was about 2,700 years
ago that the last of the lakemen be
to grow weary of living in ihe
lakes, and came ashore to i»tny. About
three minutes of it satisfied me.
So the y.vlw. grew up, generation
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1900.
after geueration. loving not only their
native land, but the water as well.
Celts. Germans. French, ISomans, otic
nation after another came into the
land, but they always found it and left
it Switzerland. On but one occasion
were these people seized with a resist
less desire to buy an all-round-every
thing Cook's excursion ticket and wan
der from home. About 60 years before
the Christian era the Helvetians de
cided to emigrate to Gatll. They were
not invited so to do by the inhabitants.
In fact, the Gauls, who were strongly
anti-foreign in their'temperament and
politics, made every preparation for
discouraging the tide of immigration
by massing large armies on their fron
tier. The Helvetians, however, after
two years of preparations, set fire to
their own towns and villages, so that
the faint-hearted emigrants, or those
who might not be able to get on the po
lice force when they reached the new
land, would have no inducement for re
turning home, and they set out with
the battle cry: "Gaul for the Helve
tians!" which has been characteristic
of a certain class of immigrants ever
since. But, on their way they were
halted by Julius Caesar, who. in his ef
forts to convince them that there was
no place like home, killed about a hun
dred thousand of tliein, meeting iti
them the bravest fighters that Itoman
discipline had yet confronted, for
these same Helvetians had already
made mincemeat of one Itoman army.
But after that, what with the unfriend
ly Gauls and Caesar's home missionary
preaching, the Helvetian survivors had
a "poor relation" kind of a time of it
among strangers, and returned home.
Here the Romans insisted on their be
ing friendly. "Hither you will love us,"
said Caesar, "or we'll have such another
mix-up as will be painful to yourheirs."
So the Helvetiens loved them, much as
a dog loves soap. Hut they never again
loved to wander from their own fire
side, and as there is no more beautiful
country on earth there is no reason
why they should.
A l'ol>Klot l.niiKuaKe.
It is a country without a language,
and yet it has a perfect polyglot of
them. At Geneva, for example, when
we asked to be driven to the railway
station they took us to the "Gare,"and
when we reached Lucerne the tram
ran into the "Bnhnoff," and when we
got to Bellinzona it stopped at the
"Stazionp." All in Switzerland and
all good Swiss, French, German and
Italian. Allee samee, like the "the
ater" in New York and the "opera
house"in Kaskaskia. 111. We break
fasted at the hotel in Geneva.lunched
at the Gasthaus in Lucerne and dined
at the Aibergo at the other end of the
tunnel. As I speak all these languages
with the phrase book grammar and a
strong United States accent, I drove
the waiters mad wherever 1 roamed,
ami you might trail me by wringing
hands and cries of distraction in many
tongues. I never before realized the
terrible scenes which must have en
sued at the Tower of Babel, when peo
ple first adopted the Ollendorf system
of misunderstanding each other. Of
cofcrse, we find everywhere people who
speak Knglish. just as throughout Eu
rope water is served on the tatiles In
hotel, pension and cafe just about as
commonly as it is in the I'nited States.
Hut as T am trying to 'improve myself
on this tour 1 do not permit people to
•peak English to me without getting
some of their own language in return.
The trouble is that while I remember
the phrases without looking at my
book. I forget what they mean. And
it naturally confuses a waiter when he
asks for my order to have me reply:
"Has your friend come to town?" or
say to him: "Had you not better put
on your overcoatV" Wherever I go the
natives, after hearing one or two
phrases in my patois, beg me to speak
English. But I have spoken English all
my life, and rather enjoy the new
game. 1 think that out of this seem
ing babei I will gradually develop a
language of my own, and then I can
express my opinion of other people
without hurting their feelings or get
ting my own head broken.
There is one thing in the composite
Swiss language, or rather in Swiss no
meiiclalore, that 1 will gratefully and
J1 | r KXOWEI) a man down Slab creek way—
/\f V\ ( Knowed more'n he c'd tell in a single day.
I'll matter what subject the talk run on,
W~\ I n He'd talk it out 'fore the crowd was gone,
fV// I/I Before you could get n sentence through
7 112 chopped your statement square in two,
An' his easy grip of the matter showed
yri 11 By his stoppin' you with his "Yes, he knowed."
/I A \ You'd tjiink that knowledge would give him power;
( But he got. into trouble hour by hour.
/ '[ C Be sold his wheat at sixty-eight,
) 1 - When we unloaded at ninety straight;
a n,i »n come along one day an' showed
bS—w , J Him a trick at playin' keerds that lie knowed
'Fore the feller was half through shovvin' him how—
/a \ n " cos< ' l ' m a pedigreed Jersey cow!
( He mortgaged his crop to pay his debts,
»(?cSX Then he' lost two mules on election bets;
'1,5 f hen, to get even an' some ahead,
H<r lit on a trick that lie "had on the dead;"
An' thin was his great financial plan
He bought a gold brick from a circus man!
112 I (i l f ' ie e " er had "smuggled it through, he sayed,
1 So the customs duties he never paid,
*/ v/ A > An' they'd jest divide what the government lost,
1 I vSIA ;^n " he'd let him have it at plum first cost!"'
JP\>\ An' so he did, an' he can't tell
What the first—an' last — #ost was, right well.
/ So all his life he lived this way,
(Juessin* an' losin' day by day;
I||L I You'd think lic'd learn with every fall—
But he couldn't learn —'cause he knowed it all!
ROBERT J. liURDETTE.
lovingly adore so long as memory hoHTa
her seat in my distracted notebook.
The railways in this land of liberty
climb over the crests of a great many
mountains they don't consider high
enough to entitle them to the expense
of a tunnel. And when the panting en
gine paused at the crest, before be
ginning the descent on the other side,
we all closed our eyes and waited with
the patience and resignation born of
many years of endurance to hear the
guard shout "Summit!" For we had
learned long ago that in the bright "ex
icon of railway nomenclature there is
no other name for the station at the
top of a mountain or the highest point
on a slight roll in the prairie. And
when the Switzer came along and gut
turaled instead:
"I'fTaffphensphroreliausenstelnhege
russichtengestock!"
we clapped our hands for joy and
looked at each other with tears in out
eyes. It was a hard word to remem
ber, and, as I quote it from memory, it
i* probable that 1 have dropped five or
six of the most important syllables
and there is also the dread possibility
thrtt the entire word may simply mean
"Summit" after all. and very likely It
does' —it is a railway station on top of a
grade. But. at any rate, he didn't say
"Summit," and for this relief much
thanks.
♦
Know and BIOHKOIU*.
I am afraid that we won't have time
to wait and see the w inter settle down
upon Switzerland this year. It has
been indefinitely postponed, perhaps
on account of this being the regular an
nual "exceptional year." The snow
line appears to be coming down a lit
tle lower on the mountains, but all the
lower meadows arc green as June, and
the bright autumn flowers gleam like
ground stars on the landscape. The
Switzer seems to need every inch of
land he can grow a blade of grass or a
head of cabbage on —1 think good farm
land must be sold by the square inch
over here —but he always finds a little
nook for the flowers, and he or prob
ably she—chooses the brightest colors.
They border the little quilt-square of
the vegetable garden; in every chalet
the window boxes shut out. the light
with a curtain of rainbow hues, which
serve to differentiate the end of the
house occupied by "the humans" from
the roomier quarters under the same
hospitable roof assigned to the cattle.
1 wonder now how I could ever have
been so hopelessly stupid as to associ
ate this beautiful land with winter,
and howling storms and rocky steril
ity. We laugh at the ridiculous ignor
ance of foreigners concerning Amer
ica. thinking that we know all about
the rest of the world. Well, maybe we
do. I know that some of us know every
thing. But all the same lam glad, the
greater part of the time, that I can't
understand the language of these
strange people. For now I don't know
how many times thry are laughing at
my American ignorance of the com
monest things. And. noi knowing that
I am laughed at. I don't care a cent.
For that matter, I wouldn't anyhow.
This home-love of the Swiss is very
contagious. The longer we stay here
the less inclined we are togo away.
Vou know that even in your own home
you sometimes have callers who never
know when to go.
ROBERT J. BI'RDETTE.
Bought » I'rl/.e Cheap.
At a recent sale of effects at Wisbech.
Cambridgeshire, England, a large oil
painting was bought by G. E. Stock
dale for S2O. The painting, which was
dirty and black, was sent away to be
restored and for the frame to be
gilded. After being cleaned it was
found to be a very valuable painting,
evidently of Norman execution. Mr.
Stoekdale has already been offered
$2,000 for it.
New Art Treasure fur Berlin.
Anthony lierger's celebrated oil
painting of Abraham Lincoln, which is
now exhibited at the Frankfort Art
gallery, is soon to have a place in the
United States consulate at Berlin. Mr.
Berger estimates the value of the pic
ture at SII,OOO. The artist was born in
Frankfort and studied in the city's art
Schools. He lived 40 years in the United
States.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE
BEAUTIFUL ISLE of PINES
THE Isle of Pines! What a de
liciously romantic sound the
name has! But what, is it; and
where is it? These are questions it
were well for us to know , for rumor has
it that the island may become a per
manent possession of the United States.
Secretary Boot's visit to this historical
bit of land has revealed its value as a
naval station, particularly in event of
the passage of the Xicaraguan Canal
bill.
The island in question is a small af
fair—its length variously estimated at
from 43 to fio miles and its' greatest
breadth at from 35 to 55 miles—but it
has had a substantial place in the his
tory of the new world Spanish posses
sions since its discovery by Columbus
in the year 1404. The island rises in
dignity from the ocean some 33 miles
off the southwest extremity of Cuba,
a monster column of finest marble—
valuable as the alabaster of Carrara.
But Columbus knew nothing of this;
he paid iit.tle attention to the moun
tains or their baldness, confining him
self mainly to the attempt to extricate
his ships from the labyrinth of bays
and keys which surrounds the island,
and into which he had unwittingly al
lowed his ships to push their noses.
The incident recalls a curious bit of
history connected with the second trip
of exploration made by Columbus. The
discoverer's fleet had been for many
days sailing along the southern const
of Cuba, Columbus being under the im
pression that the latter was the coast
of Asia. Hut the thorough old mariner,
though he had no doubt himself that a
party might by landing return toSpain
across country, lie could not rest with
the thought that a single member of
his company might question it. To
satisfy himself on this point he sent a
public notary to each ship to take the
depositions of the members of the
crews from cabin boy up. He sent with
him four witnesses. Every membrr of
the expedition swore he believed this
to lie the continent, of Asia—had they
not traveled 300 miles along the shore
T
LOADING BANANAS AT THE IBLE OF PINES FOR THE HAVANA MARKET.
without finding a break? Clearly it
could be not hing less tlia ti a con tine 111!
Howt ver, Columbus was still fearful
that some of the men 011 their return
might seek maliciously to damage t heir
leader's reputation by denying their
statements made under oath. He ac
cordingly decreed in writing that the
officer making such refutation shnu'd
he heavily fined and that a ship boy
guilty of this offense should have his
tongue cut out.
Having satisfied himself of the gen
uineness of his discovery Columbus
•'timed south with the idea of leaving
his quest in strange lands. He had pro
ceeded no great distance when he sight
ed land. Following the shore line for
a distance lie finally anchored and
landed for a supply of wood and water.
He named the place Evangelista. but
paused to make 110 explorations. He
hastened on with the hope of gaining
the open sea and of finding the course
homeward. Presently, however, he
found himself in a great bay or chan
nel and the crews began to despair of
finding their way back. After a con
sultation it was decided to double on
the trail, as it were. This they did.
sailing back along the coast of Cuba,
and the story of the trials and super
stitious happenings which were a part
of the return voyage is a matter erf his
tory.
It was later learned that the land
to which Columbus gave the name
Evangelista is the largest island im
mediately adjacent to Cuba. It became
known as tihe Isle of Pines, doubtless
because it has a more extensive
growth of pine timber, at a lower alti
tude. than exists anywhere else in the
tropics. The bay into which Columbus
sailed is that which is now known as
the Lagoon of Siguanca. This stretch
of water penetrates deep into the is
land. To all practical purposes there
are really two islands separated by la
goons and swamps, but in a measure
connected by the rocky ledges running
through the marsh.
There is more than an historical in
terest attached to the Isle of Pinjs. It
has a touch of romance, having been
once the home of pirate»! The bucca
neers who flaunted the black flavin the
Caribbean sea in the early clays car
ried their ill-gotten pains into the se
cret bayous of the Isle of Pines. The
notorious (iibbs is said to have had a
den somewhere among- the natural
strongholds of the island.
Politically, the island has for years
belonged to the province of Havana,
the judicial district, of Bejucal. In 18.">8
Capt. (Jen. O'Donnell. of Havana, con
ceived the idea of working the marble
quarries on the island- by the means
of convict labor. The place became a
convict colony, and even now the drill
marks by these men—criminals and
political offenders—are to be seen upon
the gray, and weather-beaten faces of
the mountains of marble in the Sardas
quarries. Within a distance of two
miles there are six peaks, each fully
1,000 feet high. Despite the fact that
marble of the finest grain and color is
to be found in these mountains, the
quarries have been little worked since
the days of the convict colony. The
pe-ople—there are about 2.01)0 on the
island—confine themselves- chiefly to
the growing of bananas, the raising
of cattle, the cultivation of a few agri
cultural products, the making of to
bacco poles and the burning of char
coal.
An American who has visited the Isle
of Pines reports that the six marble
mountains are enclosed by a barbed
wire fence and owned by an old mu
latto woman who lives in an adobe
house at the foot of one of her moun
tains. ■ The principal towns. Xueva
(ieronu and Santa l'V, are squalid and
unpretentious, though the latter is rec
ognized as a resort on account of its
mineral springs. There are few people
on t he island outside the villages. There
are few plantations and pineapples and
other products are not cultivated ex
tensively. though small quantities are
raised. Doubtless the reason forthisis
that the only available market is the
city of Havana and the transportation
is very poor.
Besides the pines, cedar, mahogany
and other valuable woods are found in
great abundance. It is reported that
sulphur, roek crystal, quicksilver, iron
and silver are to be found upon the is
| land, but they have never been mined.
J In a word, the island is potentially
i rich. In the eyes of the Cnittd States
I its great value lies in the deep inden
' tures of its coasts. Though Vivijavua
bay is the only practical harbor around
the island a four-fathom channel
stretches from Vivijavua bay westward
along the itirth shore and between Dios
and San Ft lipe keys to deep water. On
account of I lie natural protection it is
claimed ilie spot will make an ideal
place for a naval station.
MII.TON B. MARKS.
A Initial* Colony.
In some respects New Zealand is tht
most advanced of any British colony
Its climate is absolutely perfect, its
population hardy and devoted to the
land of their adoption and its resources
are most fruitful and already highly
developed. The workingman is su
preme there, and it is the boast oj
the islands they do not contain a mil
lionaire! To New Zealand belongs th«
credit of having established franchise
for its women and pensions for its old
people, and it has shown a genera
capacity for managing its own affairs
far in advance of any community of its
aije. The Maoris are decreasing in num
bers, and, although they have made an
effort to adopt- civilization, it is not
suited to their temperament.—Chicago
Chronicle.
About 'lll i !>♦* t.
Thibet is larger than France, Ger
many and Spain combined, and h:is a
population of 6,(100,000. It is ruled
over by Dalai Lama, who acknowl
edges only a nominal allegiance to
China. Be is the head of Lamaism
which is the oldest and strictest sect
of Buddhism. Nearly all Mongolia is
of the religion of the Dalai Lama oi
I.assa, and an ambitious man in the
place would make trouble for China,
—N. Y. Sun.