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 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.