Show IN switzerland it was my privilege before leav leaving switzerland to be present at a sunday school gathering in bern the children of the saints with their teachers hers and parents gathered at toe the office of the mission where all toe the meetings are held to celebrate christmas there was avery a very well arranged feast songs were sung by the choir speeches delivered recitations given by the children gifts abundantly dantly un distributed there were two wo grand features of the event a large christmas tree neatly adorned with ith ornaments in swiss style and the feast which ended with a grand display of comical views thrown on large white screen by the mystical RYs from a magic lantern bought for w the occasion by brother the he recitations given by the children in their somewhat odd dialect dytch 91 9 1 were very food good particularly noticeable w was as a ittle I 1 light haired girl about four years of age as she stood on a chair 8 ad smilingly recited a dozen lines phout the slightest hesitation ame oe teachers and parents may well bb oe proud of their work among the aldren ul dren the feast was indeed to me a tate taste of home where the children have flocked in thousands to 10 celebrate the now past holidays t was utah in miniature doubly appreciated by one who knows not when hen another similar opportunity may present itself frona from switzerland my way went to 10 genoa in italy I 1 left bern early y in the morning the last day of 1888 sst at the railway station I 1 said daood good bye to that kind and faithful in the vineyard brother J IOU bickl it was like p parting a arting from a O A known friend alt although hough our ac was only a few days old au traveling through switzerland baere nature had everywhere ex dim 8 her er most magnificent won dera and where art ar has done her Is best to make wonders still more wonderful it is no easy matter to decide what to take particular notice of from the entrance to switzerland on the french side at pontarlier Pont arlier to the exit on the italian side at luvino ones admiration is constantly held at its highest by the scenery which meets the eye everywhere picturesque villages verdant vineyards majestic woods bizarre s shaped d mountain forms broken ahr through hagg h by narrow valleys or canyons rushing rivers and rivulets splashing cata cataracts mets and above the whole the snowy alp tops the kings of the mountains to the luxury of which the rocky P mountains are by comparison poor as beggars all this must be tl blended bended together in an ever varying panorama in order to give an idea of a railway trip through switzerland but in going from lucerne to genoa you pass through the st gothard tunnel the longest tunnel on earth and this will no doubt be noted by every traveler as an event of his life we entered the tunnel at half past 1 and it took the train at its highest spew speed fully twenty minutes to rush through fancy a hole of that length bored by human hands through hard solid granite rock imagine yourself traveling with millions of tons of rock above your head this tunnel is indeed the triumph of engineering skill the work thereon was commenced at both sides of the mountain simultaneously and so accurate was avery calculation made that an the day predicted the two forces of workingmen could hear each other at work in the middle of the mountain while rushing through the st gothard tunnel I 1 had the pleasure of meeting on the train an aged gentleman who I 1 subsequently learned was professor gustaf well of edelberg Hi professor in oriental langua languages es JR he le Is now 81 years old but st still iggi gives ves lectures to numerous students at the university the professor ro fessor has spent 20 years of his fife life in the orient and notwithstanding ghis his advanced age is still kept at the university for the simple reason that it is not easy to find anyone to succeed him when the persian shah visited europe some years ago professor well was the only man in germany who was able to converse with the shah in the persian tongue ton ue and for this thi herr well weil received the sun orden of the shah in addition to numerous european orders which he already wears as a sign of the estimation ti of princes and potentates 1 for in europe learning is yet honored by all and although an orders s sign i agn be it a star or a ribbon is in itself nothing or next to nothing yet inasmuch as it is an expression of honor to those to whom honor is due the giver at least acquires credit to himself by showing his willingness to appreciate merit wherever found I 1 was told that professor well had more orders signs than he could conveniently carry on en his hie breast atone at one time the aged gentleman gendeman was on the way to ital italy Y one of the inconveniences of traveling is as everybody knows know the great variety of languages tm hat exists on this sinful earth with the rapidity of transmission now existing a poor mortal can be in london one day where of course E english is spoken and the next in P paris aels and be supposed to know F rench french the following day may find him in the heart of switzerland and he must know german and the fourth day he be may be in italy where it has been said everybody even ahe the children speaks italian now all this a consequence of the unhappy babylonian tower building may tax the ability of any person a trifle too much should he not hapken happen jo to be somewhat of a acquainted quain ted with more languages than common mortals know the names of I 1 learned however on my way what the iest best language in the world is A fellow traveler told me confidentially denti ally that he never cared to learn any foreign tongue cafor for Y 1 said he the only true language which Is i understood everywhere and which will recommend you anywhere a real is money that is the only universal language lan language guate ever invented sf you may be e right said 1 I but that is an expensive language ian aage not everybody can be a Chrysos tomus a gold mouth it was about twelve at night when I 1 arrived in genoa I 1 rose early next morning to view the city and it was with peculiar feelings I 1 reflected on the fact that I 1 had actually reached italy land of the classics of the beautiful arts artal land of papacy and of bigotry but also of garibaldi and li bertyl land with the azure blue sky and with women in whose eyes the beauty of heaven is reflected lond land whose wonderfully varying history to is lost in the de depths of antiquity it I 1 ge genoa noa anair is the birt birthplace place of co columbus urn t us it to is a city of inhabitants roman catholics there are no less than 85 churches and these are all pretty well attended the city itself presents a truly beautiful panorama when viewed from the seaside it is built on the terraces of the appen nines so that oi one ne building rises above another like an amphitheatre the streets are very narrow but clean they are crowded all ali day with busy throngs of Ta various carious rious nationalities promiscuous are the fat priests priests and also monks of various brotherhoods brothe to a traveler who is not accustomed to see priests in long garments it is a subject of wonder that both priests and monks here should dress themselves in that cumbersome dress one must also admire the taste of those people who must see their preachers dressed as women in order to be edified by their sermons ser MODS but everybody to his own liking and the catholics are not alone in this respect the protestants are as ridiculous as their catholic friends among the things well worth seeing in genoa are the monuments raised to christopher columbus chiesa chiem deu dell annunciata Annum nala chiesa S M di K carignano the two most important churches and also mabini and haeni san lorenzos cathedral and above all the cemetery kokni tero fero Monument ale one little incident although trivial in itself but I 1 am sorry to say an everyday occurrence I 1 cannot deny myself the plea pleasure ure of recording here As I 1 perambulated the streets of genoa one evening I 1 noticed a drunken fellow who seemed very anxious to get himself into a bad scrape by starting a quarrel with a policeman he would no doubt have succeeded very well or rather very badly had it not been for three young ladies of the e genuine italian t type tim who stepped in and saved him at the very last moment in my own mind I 1 put the ladies down as his wife and sister in law I 1 shall not easily forget their eager pleadings and anxious supplications ions and how they finally threw their arms arma around that young fellow and drew him away by gentle force nor the inexpressible joy that beamed upon their countenances when they finally succeeded in saving the wretch from trouble woman faithful woman who else can cling to a wretch of a man as if he were an angel and find satisfaction in the mere consciousness of having done a good deed no wonder that a double curse is the lot of those who crush hearts where such divine qualities dwell the drunken fellow just mentioned reminds me of the fact that the british medical association has latel lately proved sic that we must drini drink in order to live long the learned gentlemen belonging thereto have inquired into cities cases of death and found that habitually temperate drinkers reach an average age of 63 83 years decidedly eel e temperate in drinkers ave average e 53 59 and to total abo abstainers abstain ners ers only 5 51 y years A total abstainer consequently shortens his bis life twelve years yean by not drinking a little once in a while thus far we have now gone 0 temporal tem joral 0 mores moreal what cannot be proved by figures that learned association will have to show some better figures than these or it may considerably shorten its own longevity in my intercourse with various persons persona I 1 have when convenient tried to ascertain what the feelings among the people are in regard to the political status of europe the expression of a gentleman from baden may I 1 think be regarded as a true representation of the opinion loki in germany I 1 asked him if he be thought there was any immediate danger of a new con conflict filet between france and germany in our country I 1 added it is generally t thought bought that such a don conflict filet must take tak e place before long 1 I do not think hk so the gentleman etleman replied there is no doubt doubt that france would like to have re vanche at any time but she dare not try the experiment peri ment As long as the political parties are so disunited she can do nothing and the armies of germany are at present so well trained and equipped that no foreign power jare dare attack them this is no doubt true and yet a peace that rests on bayonets and cannon balls may easily tip over the immense sums spent in europe on standing armies must necessarily reduce the powers to bankruptcy and wars wan must be engaged in in order to refill the empty cashboxes cash boxes however there is one who rules supreme and it is to be hoped that the new year may bring blessings abundantly to mankind farewell J M S |