WINTER ' ••
SWITZERLAND
St. Moritz in Winter.
N'JW that peace has come, Swit
zerland is busily preparing to
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 world’s
tragedy—is fairly brimming over wiHi
Attractions sought by lovers of the
medieval and quaint and curious, and
will now more thau ever become a
haven of blissful rest and healthful en
jo.ugient, writes Marie Widmer in the
New York Herald.
* \
During the last five winters, in spite
of the war, the numerous winter sport
resorts tucked aw^ay in all those lovely
spots over 3.000 feet above sea level,
managed to have a “season” on a lim
ited scale, and now that conditions are
once more becoming normal it is ex
pected that the winter 1919-1920 will
see a great many visitors flock to that
snowrclad Alpine land, which, although
In the midst of that fierce turmoil, has
remained intact.
Switzerland in her winter garb! To
the newTcomer it means a vision of
paradise—to the habitue a coming
home to a beloved haunt. Once a mas
ter study in artistic color combina
tions, the country appears now as a
glorious symphony in white. Jack
Frost has imprinted a silencing kiss
upon the babbling lips of every tiny
brook and mountain stream and glis
tening sheets of ice cover also the
limpid blue eyes of ponds and Alpine
lakes. Ice an^ snow everywhere and
above a glorious expanse of deep blue
sky. The air itself seems to have gain
ed some newr 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 fre
quently interchanged—by sleigh in the
case of the older set, and by ski in
the ca? of the younger generation.
Even some of the passes are quite an
imated, as winter is the time of the
great transport of merchandise over
mountains, such as the Veltiner wines
in the case of the Orisons. 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 hatchet, and the logs dart like
arrows down snow-runs to the traffic- i
beaten roads below.
Nowhere on earth have the possi
bilities of winter sport been more
keenly realized than in Switzerland,
and that is why we find in this small
land such a great choice of resorts
which possess scientifically laid out to
boggan and bobsleigh runs. Ice rinks,
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 whicli charms the onlooker
by the gracefulness of its movements,
* now astonishes by the cool daring of
its swift rushes.
As in summer over the lawn, so Hies
the tennis ball over the ice in the game
of hockey. Curlers are frantically
sweeping their “stanes” toward the
coveted goal, and the unlimited diver
sity of gymkhana stunts offers con
stant amusement for the players as
well as for the onlookers.
The improved appliances for sport
requirements have nearly ousted the
old-fashioned herdsmen’s sleds, which
are now only occasionally used by
timid beginners. The up-to-date
vehicle is the so-called skeleton, a low,
yard-long toboggan, on which the rider
lies flat, Steering the craft with hands
and feet.
Like an arrow it darts up to the
- iced walls of the curves, and as the
bewildered spectator fearfully antici
pates an accident, the toboggan shoots
down into the furrow and around a
beautifully shaped curve.
One of the most attractive, and
certainly a very social sport, is bob
sleighing. Long, low padded toboggans,
seating as many as six persons are
used, and under this heavy burden
the bobsleigh shoots down its course
with amazing speed. As the leader
sways, almost automatically the close
ly crowded team bendt themselves,
thus guiding the sleigh to the right
or left; they apply a brake by letting
themselves drop on the snow or drive'
to greater swiftness by bending for
ward like jockeys. Strong iron spikes,
which are driven by a lever into the
ice, enable the leader to stop the
vehicle almost instantly, but a sodden
application of these brakes whirls up
the ice and snow in clouds, shaking
and jolting the riders.
Ski-ing has taken root to an extra
ordinary extent in Switzerland. Even
the poorest youth does not want to do
without skis, though they might only
consist of a couple of crudely adjusted
barrel staves. Thanks to the ski the
boys and girls living on remotely sit
uated farms ar# now able to attend
school every day; their parents are
no longer isolated for the best part
of the long winter months, and thanks
also to these “wooden wings” the mail
and newspapers can be delivered reg
ularly.
Sport is furthermore made easier by
the different mountain railways, which
In winter run toboggan trains. Thus
one can travel a couple of stations up
ward and arrive at the starting point
of a mountain road without exertion
and waste of time. Then one can de
scend to the valley on toboggan, ski or
skates, or, vice-versa, go down first
and return by train to winter quarters.
Races, competitions, sleigh drives,
ice carnivals, ski excursions and an
equal variety of fascinating indoor en- ;
tertainments transplant the happy '
winter visitor into a totally different
world where sorrow and care seem to
be banished and where every human
being seems to realize that the best
life after all is found right next to >
Nature’s heart.
Had Long Experience.
Romance is very powerful, but some
things much more common are more ^
so. Take for instance hunger. The •;
other day a young bride and bride- J
groom came from a little country town !
to Indianapolis to buy furniture for 1
their new home. About 11:30 the ■■
bridegroom departed on an errand and
told his wife that he would meet her
at 12:30 at a certain restaurant.
He was detained until almost one
o’clock. Then hb rushed into the res
taurant and found his new bride very
calmly eating the lunch she had or
dered. Amazed, he rushed to her ta
ble. “Oh, I was so worried over being
late,” he began. “I was so afraid you
couldn’t eat vythout me.”
The bride looked up from her soup.
“Why, I did it for 23 years,” she re
turned, and turned to her roast pork
and apple sauce.—Indianapolis News.
America's First Newspaper.
The first real newspaper, continu
ously printed, in America was the Bos
ton News Letter, of which the initial
number was published 215 years ago.
A single number of a journal called
Publick Occurrences, Foreign and Do
mestick, had been printed a little more
than thirteen years before: but, like
many of its successors, its first number
was also its last. John Campbell was
the entire staff of the News Letter,
from managing editor to printer’s
“devil.” The publication lasted 72
years and its circulation remained
steady at about 300 copies weekly.
» -
Too Bad.
He was young and handsome.
She was younger and beautiful.
She seemed to hang over every word
he spoke.
Suddenly his handsome face dark
ened with repugnance. 0
“It’s too bad!” he exclaimed.
The beautiful girl paled.
Nevertheless, her sensitive nostrils
quivered. She knew he was right.
So she took the egg away and
brought him another. And she didn’t'
charge i: on the check!
_____ m _ I
<■
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y
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