| Show 0 4 ' t itt4t 'v I 1 1 s I IIVIII 7 ' v BINS iie $ r to the St Good-b- y BINS BINS By JHAN NS 01 - 1° d' - ornards Those legendary heroes of the Alps the St Bernard dogs are retiring from service A This Week reporting team writes them an affectionate farewell and answers the burning question: What do the St Bemards carry in their famous casks? 11 i he II SWITZERLAND - RnY11M-- 4 OYAVY'''YWn2-1Y-4Y- - PP7- 4 N(-- Awe What's really in thbge barrels the St Bernard dogs wear around their r necks? Is it brandy? Rum? coffee? Or black We stumbled on the answer not long ago We were on a writing assign ment in the Alps when we learned that the St Bernard Hospice lifetravsaving station for blizzard-swep- t elers for 1000 years was about to close The Swiss and Italian govern tunments are digging an nel under the mountain crest When it's completed the Hospice will be obsolete and the rescue services of its monks and dogs no Ilonger needed We had to act quickly or we might never learn the truth about those casks We sped toward the Great St Bernard Pass in a stubby yellow Jeep — up a road that ascends 6500 feet in continuous hairpin turns As we climbed the temperature dropped sharply Ahead a curtain of solid white showed us where the snow line began We stopped briefly at the entrance of the tunnel project to put on chains We told the tunnel workmen that we were on our way to be rescued by St Bernard dogs "You won't get up that far" one man assured us "You have to be in the Pass itself to qualify for the dogs Better turn back!" "Pooh!" we exclaimed grandly "For a little bit of snow like this? St Bermtrds or bust!" And we pressed on five-sta- - - ' - - '! '' c '! r- - '- - ' - -- ' - : A - - –- - ' 1 - q' I ' ' I ii 1 iI 1 - 1' ' - I: 4 –- ' I i II 4 I - : 1 ' 11 - - ‘ 1 IF r1 r ! ‘ r - - 1 0 - ' 4t ' 1 - - ) ) i it- ' i t f t 411Ln - n ' i iI ' Li Li - s- Stranded In the snow 1 I '''''" - 1 ) N' Our Jeep skidded and swerved bucking through drifts In the dense white gloom the road signs shook warning fingers at us At noon we came to a halt at the wooden gates that marked the Swiss border We knew that the Hospice was half a mile ahead on the still sharply rising road We slipped out of the Jeep and waded forward into waist-deesnow "Now for the dogs!" we said happily Wind shrieked through the Pass Sleet burned our faces Snow wet and heavy piled around us Clinging together we listened for barks We were Aired cold and hun p I - A Roared: Over the centuries St Bernazds saved 2000 travelers' lives '' ' 1 A He invited us to lunch Because of the rigorous climate the Augustinian monks who man the hospice are excused from the usual frugal monastic fare We ate soup bread stew salad and fruit pudding The Pass itself is one of the most unfriendly spots on the earth's surface It is snowed in often 30 feet deep 10 months of the year More than any other route across the Alps it is subject to sudden avalanches and snowstorms The side of the trail drops away steeply threatening disaster and death to all who misstep Yet for years shepherds pilgrims to Rome soldiers of fortune coffee and cigarette smugglers have braved the Pass counting on the St Bernard& The breed is the result of a deliberate cross between a bulldog a Pyrenees sheepdog and a large species of mastiff This elaborate produced a dog peculiarly adapted to its job It can smell out a lost traveler a mile and a half away or a victim buried beneath 10 feet of snow The dogs give warning of storm and avalanche by howling whining and restless prowling The monks promptly turn them loose singly and in teams to search for fallen travelers Dogs attached to the Hospice are credited with saving 2000 lives Once a group of monks and dogs guiding 20' men through the Pass WU trapped by a huge avalanche Two dogs on patrol smelled —them out Monks and dogs dug all night by torchlight and THIS WEEK Magazin i ' - g 4 111 Y i t i 4 I c ( 1 E i I hearty meal cross-breedin- - 1 gry We told each other that whatever was in those barrels would taste good We slogged up the road to meet them -lnd stumbled into the front yard of the Hospice without any help at all! A tall monk his cowl pulled forward against the biting wind came to meet us "Why didn't you send the dogs?" we panted reproachfully "You're off schedule" he explained "Most people get lost at night We send out the rescue patrols in the early morning" April 17 1960 1 I 1 ! |
