Show D description I 1 PT OF BERN I 1 have been roaming about abbout a good deal today in the streets of bern been the metropolis of the united states of switzerland and I 1 thought I 1 would finish lyday my day by sending you a few lines bern is quilean qu quite iteAn an an dent city and has hag now nearly 50 inhabitants the large sub looking buildings and nari nan row winding streets with covered si ie walks would appear very odd to some of our young friends in utah but the healthy looking and very polite inhabitants necessarily leave a good impression upon a strangers stranger I 1 have noticed that the city has a considerable number of places where bi bier ev and wein can be had and that these places are an well patronized but strange to say these drinking places have an air of respectability about them that I 1 never thought a saloon aswoon could possess and which certainly the saloons in america have not I 1 visited three or olour four of these places during the day but I 1 did not noli see one man drunk in anhof any of them I 1 did not mot hear bear one profane word and no swearing the men sat safe in parties of two or more smoking ing a pipe or a cigarette talking about tb the events of the day occasionally sio nally laughing at an innocent joke while girls with rosy cheeks and curly hair went round with jugs of beer or a piece of cheese and bread and sausages sau among the noteworthy sights to be seen seem in bern I 1 would like to mention the Kir kirchenfeld chenfeld bridged bridge which to is the highest bridge I 1 ever saw excepting that at brooklyn and it to is not a suspension bridge then following the south bank of the river which rushes on more than a hundred feet below the bank the visitor passed the munster minister church which like other ancient ecclesiastical building bui si seems to be ous maw of sculpture the day of judgment being prominently depre dented at the main entrance passing on a little gumther fum ther and occasionally casio nally looking into the abyss below attention is arrested by an inscription which informs us that a man once feu fell from a a house home and down into the depths below a distance of at least feet dept yet he was not killed the inscription reads thus der All macht und Vorse chung gottes zur ehr und der welt ged bombet dies diesen enstein stein albiar ate ale von dannen herr leobold wein wain cappeli den a may 1054 4 yon ei eiben aen montt gest bordea und bernach naoh demer 80 80 jahr A der kirchen zu Kerta Kert serB ate als A standen Ister er dep 25 noyem her 1694 in einem hoche atter after lich torben 11 As iper I 1 perused this inscription I 1 could not help 7 thinking that this miracle must have taken place at a time when the lord was more pleased with the priest thon than he is now for at present I 1 do not believe a priest could make such a jump without serious rious injury to his delicate neck there I 1 is also in bern one of these masterpieces of clockwork which were made at a uwe when a fortune was w as paid ft for a clock like the noted clock in lubeck this one in dorn biem shows not only the hours minutes and seconds but all the days months and year and when it strikes a whole museum of machinery is set in motion A procession 3 of wild animals and various fantastical figures indicate that the clock is about to strike A camel came figure rings a belly bell a rooster crew another figure turns a sandglass sand glass as the he clock strikes its solemn strokes but what is of more interest to me than all the grand se enery or the quaint productions of a bygone art is the work of god through his people in this beautiful country there are now about saints in 4 switzerland twenty three missionaries 4 labor in the various branches under the superintendence of president a brother who is well spoken of and highly esteemed and beloved by all the the organ of th the eSain sainta der stew is a well edited journal with about subscribers it is now edited by brother theo brandley from the fact that about swiss people have already taken up their homes in utah it may mayhe be inferred that the testimony has hag been very tery faithfully faitha a borne to the inhabitants of these valleys and yet there axe are vast districts where the as yet are am ignorant of the gospel of christ i but it seems that the work must now be carried on more by the distribution of from house to house honse and by private avate conversations than by public diw di 49 cour courses sip this would suggest the necessity of appointing to this abie mission those who are particularly ly fit for this kind of work too much bashfulness is decidedly a disadvantage vau when you are ara called upon to open everybody do door orand and distribute lF I 1 tracts tractor the authorities in the cantow canted bern seem to have now decided td t drive our ewers elders out in The scheme to is thiet when an 0 elder comes to bern in order to stay for folt some time he is iff asked for his if he has no passport he is told d ta x procure one the elder then naturally goes to the american america consul and this gentle MAU n refuses to issue one to a 0 mormon and if the elder has been thoughtful enough to procure a passport pa in washington or in london the authorities here will require him to procure the ww we of the consul which the consul stub refuses to give in either case the elder is unable to comply with the demand passport or no ino passport and an expulsion from the canton is the consequence brother has just today been notified that a if hei he cannot procure the required tim of the consul which the consul refuses to give and if he re aatos in bern tw till the of december he wi will be arrested and expelled from the canton this is a serious case came tor for if the authorities succeed in this scheme luthe in the leading canton of the confederation it is more than atole that theother other cantons ww will follow the tt example and a general expulsion of agthe authe all the elders from america VIR ial speedily take place brother however is a man who will do did what can be done to defeat this e scheme I 1 I 1 one reflection I 1 cannot withhold bips as if certain citizens of the h glorious re republic public of the US had na rights and no protection whatever hat at home hunted by deputies as s sheep by dogs and abroad spurned by y any puny little consul who fal W take a notion to do so 0 o 1006 W america want to retain her esteem in foreign countries if idab W h must certainly show that her citizens SD can not be outraged without iwase acae auae by the officers of a small nation ethis his and if the united states IR not or cannot protect her peace guld d citizens thins while tm traveling abroad in lawful avocations then lot let a mid hide the galaxy of stars in her fieo tc glor glorious lous flag and let every ien mourn at the degradation abad nd am of the f glant ghant of the west 1 I 1 J M S sei december esth 1888 |