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Show ODD "SWISSCUSTOMS." Peculiarities That App:cl Wcs'ern Traveler Uncon scious Hiunof in tlic C lumns of a Ee-ne Newspaper H jw 7jywari Ci izens Art Punidicd. I (Snccljl Correspondent) The tireless tourist, whose aim It Is to cover as much of the ground of Switzerland In as relatively short a time as possible, darting from Geneva to the (Iherlard. or from Lucerne to the falls of the Ithlne and bark again, over one of tho Alpine passes, with pleasing Impnrtlnllly, cldom If ever sees or henra of tho thousand and one peculiarities and cdltles of customs cus-toms that aro la vogue In tho vnrlous towns and villages through which he tins made his gtiplng way. It Is only after long resldeiiro and a familiarity with tho languages that these aro brought to one's attention, while oven then many may be minted, for the tiwlss aro too phlegmatic a people to draw attention to their own little Idiosyncrasies. Idio-syncrasies. Take, for tnstnnce, tho custom of annexing the wlfe'a mnlden name to that of her husband by means of a hyphen. Then algns over the shops are generally lettered In that way, and one may read over the door of a confectioner, con-fectioner, "Arnold Wlosendanger-Nlevergelt." Wlosendanger-Nlevergelt." through which slgu the public Is Immediately Informed that Mr. Wlosendanger married Miss Nlevergelt, Nlev-ergelt, and that no error In the name of Mr. Wlesendanger'e mother-in-law need be made. Which la comforting, to say the least Tbe different districts bave an official offi-cial puollclty organ rkned the "An-tolger," "An-tolger," or, literally, "The Informer," which Is nothing more or less than the ancient town crier modomlzod for preaent usage and put on paper. - In Herns, thle "Advertiser for the City of Heme" Is published every morning and distributed gratia to each householder house-holder by women messengers, who carry the publication In market bae-kote bae-kote or push It In old perambulators. Unconscious humor frequently plnys a generous part In the columns of Iho "Anelgor," as tho request of a young man to learn billiards from an expeti-enced expeti-enced player In exchangu for gratis refreshments consumed by the leach-er leach-er during tho lessons or another, ply of forhMdlng then, to enter an Inn, placing 'lt sere s I., hi upon ronvl-vol ronvl-vol meet r ,r (,,r Mln . of time, r.urh rlMn ,n BwUpr. lard must ,r, , p SMfj ni)y f physics tn,ni,i. m ,f ,, . empt from service upon ground! of Rathhaus at Basal. non-cspatiUily, a tax must bo paid In Ita stead. It this tax remalna unpaid, tbe "vVMihausveihol." or, llternlly, "saloon l'B"!s the law Is designated, Is called Ifto force and the name ot tho dclin iunit Is puhllrhed In the official offi-cial p er mentioned ubove, while a penalty li Imposed ii;.. n an Innkeeper who wltt, only caters to such a person. The govi rtmi iit lieileves li nt If a man has money to spnd for beer and liquors, liq-uors, he must criuln!y lie In a position posi-tion to tidjtiit his sinull dues to the state, and In ronsenuenco of publicity this loss of the privilege of hobnobbing hobnob-bing with one's friends In a fnvorlto resort is felt greatly by tho erring ones, who rcsllze keenly the humiliation humilia-tion cniiktd by II prohibition, and pay at their earliest opportunity. Even thoiich surh a law ran bo but partially chirred, It appears to serve Its pgrpott, Another peculiar law In certain of the ttvt la that which compela a man Vole at local elections, whether he aulrslres or not A fine of a email ium I exacted from those who do not go to tbe polls, and Die only excuse li abs-nce, death In the family, or a eondim of health that renders It neceasry for tbe rltlrcn to remain at burnt Tills enforced voting may tend to bitng out a ruspectabb percentage of ekrtors, yot tile proverb, "You may lead I horse to water, hut you cannot male him drink," In this raso might well be varied so that one could say, "Yis may lead a voier to the polling poll-ing place, but you can no; prevent hi! rastbg a blank or mutilated ballot." The more money one deposits In a bank the less Interest Is paid. A largo sign posted next to the teller's window win-dow it) the Hwlss People's bank states the mount of Interest til bank pays ' ,. ,Y...,';'r V -iiij'.' 'V' V -: .,)'; t.rr --nv' ' -V. .: M; -'v'is.'.-i I f ,'"! ,..-.'. ' " ' 1 ' - SpJlcn Fountain. which read. "For sn'o Two ennnry birds and n small rook stove, chean." Whellier or not tho stove was Indispensable Indis-pensable In lis rotinectinn with the canary birds or wuettier the young man found a percon to p.irtul.o of ln gratis refreshments, the nature of which, by tho way, was not given, will have to be learned from private sources. In severnl of the cantons, notably Homo n:-1 Vand. and in a few sm:illi-ores, sm:illi-ores, a put li Im ei t li Inlllr tol upon wayward eulzenu. which cum-i-l aim-j i ui-'on rertnln sums. Amounts under ll.tiuo draw 4 per cert Interest per an- muni from II.OiiO to I3,0uo, l Is Pld, while If ono has an account of more than $1,000, be recelvea but 8V4 P"r cent. AlthoiiKh economlca explain this auimilug singularity, the statement state-ment causes momentary wondurmeuL |
