Cloverdale Union High School - Spectator Yearbook (Cloverdale, CA)

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an, and in the west French. The country is divided into can¬ tons, similar to our counties. The capital of the confederation is situated at Berne where there are magnificent government buildinges. I spent the summer of 1908 in Switzerland. The first three months of it in the Jura Mountains, the western range. Be¬ tween it and the Alps lies a plain, the Swiss plateau. Here are the famous lakes, Neufchatel, Geneva, etc. Lovers of Switzer¬ land know the shapes of all her mountains, and the best places for making ascents. In fact many of them get to know the country like a book, for they form the habit of going year after year to spend their vacations there. We rented a chalet in Ballaigues, a tiny village hung on the side of a steep valley thro’ which trains rush back and forth. This valley was one of the famous old passes between Italy and Gaul, and in one part of it may be seen the remnants of an old Roman road—deep ruts worn in the solid rocky bottom by wheels of carts and chariots. We lived very sim¬ ply at Ballaigues, in the same style as one would in a cottage at a California seaside resort. The village ought to have been named Bellaigues for there is an eternal tinkling of cow-bells about it day and night. The Swiss cattle are a 19

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Impressions of Switzerland A little country set high up in the mountains, a play ground for all the world—that is Switzerland. Thither for recreation go people of all nationalities when worn out by the rush and fever of city life. There are no large cities in Switzerland. A sojourn there is like taking a walk through cool green woods when one is hot, tired and worried. It refreshens physically, mentally and morally. Life there is so simple, so close to a fresh clean nature—a nature of majestic, snowy mountains, ever calmly looking down on the valleys below, of clear skies, blue lakes, splendid rocks and tumbling rivers. The Swiss are a country people, but they are not merely a nation of cow-lierders and cheese-makers. They are astute, clear¬ sighted. Their fine railway system (which is owned by the government), their clean inns, and careful provision for the comfort of travelers—these draw thousands of tourists annual¬ ly to the country. The Swiss are often called a nation of hotel keepers; they are the finest hotel keepers in the world. Every¬ thing they have to do with is orderly and clean. They are an honest, thrifty people, tho’ not handsome, and like all mount¬ ain races, serious rather than gay. There are very few crimes among the Swiss; their chief vice is absinthe—drinking, and the government is stopping the sale of that drink in one canton after another. Absinthe, a pale green liquor made from Annis root, is very intoxicating. In Switzerland there are two seasons, winter and summer. Then there are a few rainy months in spring and a few months in the fall when the snow is mushy, and when hardly any tourists go to the country. But in summer and winter the land swarms with foreigners and on all sides sounds the jabbering of many languages. In winter the world goes there to skate, ski or toboggan—in summer to climb mountains and enjoy all sorts of expeditions in a land smiling in sunshine and full of the scent of wild flowers. Switzerland falls into three divisions; in the northeast Ger¬ man is spoken and German customs prevail, in the south Itali- 18

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gentle dun colored breed. During the summer, when the snows have melted, they are pastured with the goats high up on the mountains. At all hours of the day boys and men come long distances down the mountain paths carrying cans of milk on their backs. In the villages this milk is made into butter or cheese. Much of it is also used in the manufacture of milk- chocolate which has recently become one of the leading pro¬ ducts of the country. The first of August is the Fete Nationale of the Swiss. At eight in the evening bells are rung in all the villages. We were just finishing dinner that evening when they began to ring and we went out on our balcony to listen to them. They marked the opening of the celebration. A few mornings later we made the ascension of “La Dent de Vanlion,” one of the highest peaks in the Juras. It was a per¬ fect day, clear as a jewel. “La Bise, ,, the wind from the east always brought two or three days of perfect weather when the whole line of the Alps would shine out startingly clear and near at hand. The route up the mountain was marked by dabs of red paint on rocks and trees, just enough leaves had fallen on the paths to make them slippery. Half way up we came out on a tiny plateau, and sighted the “Lac de Joux,” a blue 20