Ancient Ulm (population 55,000) situated on the Danube which separates it from Bavaria, we found to be in festival array and her hotels overcrowded, as on August 24th and 25th, the centenary of its joining Wurtemberg was to be celebrated. It is a German fortress, and a garrison of 7500 soldiers is stationed there. Ulm was a free imperial city in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Was there not a Napoleonic victory hereabouts — the battle of Ulm? At any rate, the city was well prepared for one. The inhabitants seemed very straightforward and unsophisticated. They crowded around the machine and naively asked questions and then told us how to reach Memmingen, our objective point for the night. We soon started and found the roads poor from the European standpoint. 214 MOTORING IN EUROPE Indeed, the worst roads ever encountered in our trip were in Wurtemberg. Many of them were very narrow, made merely of dirt and pretty well supplied with holes. It is fifty kilometres to Memmingen, said our friendly advisers. You go thus and so and then cross the bridge and are in Bavaria, etc. The clever-looking porter of the chief hotel told us the same. Ah! the good German beer! and festival times! We followed instructions. We boggled about long and pain- fully before we got out of town; then faithfully trying to go through one of the forts, were turned back, and when fairly off from Ulm we had to run, according to our speedometer, that had never taken a drink in its life, fifty miles. The Bayerisher Hof, Memmingen, which via Kempten we gladly reached at 9.30, is a mediseval, picturesquely situated town of 20,000 inhabitants and many quaint old houses. It afforded us a poor and plentiful supper in its only eating room, while some "clubbable" men combined card-playing and smoking there. Our rooms were simple and clean. From my window I looked up and down the opposite side of the street and slantingly across some squares at a remarkably varied and TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 215 very characteristic skyline of fronts, roofs, and chimneys, and I was impressed with the fine electric lighting of Memmingen. Early next morning, I was aroused by a noise of heavy scraping that arose from the road three storeys below my wide-open window. The noise came nearer and grew emphatically louder. It would not let me sleep. Finally, I got up and looked out upon a large group of men in military working costume with only the officer bearing arms. The noise came from their marching as one man, flat-footed over the even surface of the sandy pavement. Their greyish-brown khaki suits, and their grave and military bearing were very convincing of their being a definite part of a carefully built fighting-machine. All the young men in the company were well set up. Some of the older men were somewhat relaxed. Behind them came one solitary soldier. Pushing a wheel- barrow, he walked in precisely the same stiff- legged sliding manner as his company companions. After breakfast we viewed the town. Its faggot market was notable and everything about the nice old town had character. It was a city of the empire till 1802, and yet has some of its 21 6 MOTORING IN EUROPE ancient surrounding wall. Its fine old mediaeval town hall, church, meeting-hall, and numerous private residences make it thoroughly well worth visiting. One of these houses is the Fugger Haus, in which General Wallenstein received his dismissal. Was that house the headquarters of the great merchant princes of that name who, through many genera- tions, grew comparatively as wealthy as any of our American families of several generations of great inherited wealth? One of them, late in the seventeenth century, built at Augsburg a walled settlement of fifty-three houses for rental to poor Roman Catholic families at the annual price of one dollar. Then change of name overtook the clan of Fugger. To-day, they are betitled; but are imperishably associated with great capacity, wealth, splendid and beautiful establishments, generous living, and unbounded beneficence. No wonder that so much of solid power and worth should have prolonged the family. They did not grow foolhardy in finance. Without mobilized reserve power and character and trained intelli- gence no human understanding is soundly ensured. We left this town with great regret that we could 12.00 1.30 5-45 4-50 Lunch at Bayeris- cher Hof. Good. Dinner at Agence Lubin. Ordinary. TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 217 not see it all more thoroughly. But we were to leave early, that we might see King Ludwig II.'s older palace Schwangau, and perhaps his new one, and get to Ober-Ammergau that night. Tuesday Started From To Kilo- Arrived Running Meals and at metres at time Remarks Aug. 23, 1910 9.40 Memmingen Fussen 75 " 1. 1 5 Piissen Schwangau 36 " 3.30 Schwangau Ober-Ammer- 43 gau 154 Starting at 9.40 we came to Kempten again, and in its long broad, chief street, while stopping to buy "benzine," that is, gasoline, one of us photographed two jolly, sooty, chimney-sweeps who were precisely like their representatives on the stage; and we treated a large band of happy children to a generous supply of cakes purchased at a little shop that looked much like the humble corner grocery in America which was in existence when we were boys and girls. Then through wonderfully beautiful rolling country affording profile views of the Bavarian Alps, or their reflec- tions in numerous lakes, stopping to closely examine a lovely old church on a small lake's mar- gin, we came to the partially walled town of Fussen 2i8 MOTORING IN EUROPE (population, 4500). This was dominated by a fifteenth-century castle, erected by the Bishops of Augsburg, and restored by King Louis I. It is a suppressed Benedictine monastery (founded 629) with an old church below it. At twelve o'clock we swept on towards Hohen- schwangau, most of the way through a handsome park to the village, above which on a high hill is the yellow stone castle. It belonged originally to the Guelph family; but in 1191, it became the property of the Dukes of Swabia, and in 1597 passed to the Dulles of Bavaria. Sold by them in 1820, it was, in 1832, bought by King Maxi- milian II., then Crown Prince who, retaining and perfecting its fine old park, reconstructed the castle, and had its interior decorated with frescoes illustrating German history. The castle commands fine views of the plain, of Ludwig II.'s new Schwan- stein on an adjacent height, and of the swan lake to its rear. Throughout the castle are innumerable images of swans, big, little, and middle-sized, adapted to many purposes. They are reminders of the frequent residence here of the crazy Ludwig II., one of whose chief manias was his strange love of the mythical Lohengrin knight of the swan. Photo Franzl Mount Kofel and the Cross at Oberammergau TO AND FROM OBER-AM MERGAU 219 Beyond the little valley, Ludwig 11. began in 1869 the granite castle of new Schwanstein on the site of a very old castle. It is situated on the site of a precipitous rock. As automobiles were forbidden in the grounds, and as we could find no other conveyance, our ladies, fatigued by the five days' rush from Fontainebleau across France, Lorraine, Alsace, Baden, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria, decided to omit visiting the new castle and to proceed at once in the comfortable auto- mobile to Ober-Ammergau and rest, so as to be ready for the performance of the Passion Play on the morrow. "Very well, ladies, " my brother- in-law and I remarked. Motoring to the plain we enjoyed the fine mountain view back of the castles and at 3.30 left for Ober-Ammergau (population 1650). Passing over some very steep hills, both up and down, we soon came into the valley of the swift gliding Ammer River. Soon to our right, on the north base of Kofel Mountain at whose feet nestles Ober-Ammergau, we saw against the skylight the gigantic group of the Crucifixion presented by Ludwig II. in 1875; then to our left was a little white ancient church ; then we ran into 220 MOTORING IN EUROPE the crowded main street of the little town itself. "Yes," said Agence Lubin — through whose office in Fontainebleau we had bought rooms with comfortable sleeping quarters for the 23d and 24th of August and good seats for the performance of the 24th and meal tickets — "Yes, the accommo- dations are all ready for you. Your residence will be at 284 Dibler Strasse with Benedict Glochel, and you will lunch and dine at the restaurant in this building at such and such an hour and break- fast at your lodging." To all of which we agreed. As we walked to our lodging, we noted the moun- tains and valleys surrounding the town. The many shop windows were crowded with wood or wax carvings of the crucified Christ, of Christ in the manger, of the Virgin and Child, and with photographs of the various actors and scenes in the Passio?i Play, secular views of the village and the adjacent country, curios, Tyrolean caps, etc., all of which were being eagerly sought by the crowd of some five or six thousand visitors who had come, like ourselves, to see the performance by peasants of this greatest religious play. It is performed each ten years from about mid-May to the end of September, every Sunday, and on TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 221 some festivals, and from mid- July to mid-Septem- ber on Wednesdays, from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m., with an interval from twelve till two o'clock. If necessary to accommodate visitors, an extra performance is given on Thursdays. We found kindly and good Herr Glochel, a small, earnest, sallow, dark-haired man of about fifty-five, with a scant black beard, and his wife, at home in their square two-storey house. They took us to our rooms, beautifully clean, with polished floors, shell ornaments, and many pictures in colour or line or carving of Jesus Christ. The respectful intimacy of such use of His blessed personality was very sobering to me. Having shown us all the second storey of the house, upon noting our interest in their residence, they pointed out a broad space leading from a certain door to the lower storey of the rear of the house. ' ' There is the stable. In winter we leave the door open that the heat from the animals may warm this our bedroom." The bedroom was long and narrow and high pitched. "Yes, it is very cold here all winter. Generally, our house is surrounded by snow to the height of six feet. Yes Benedict is in the Passion Play. He was in it ten years ago. 222 MOTORING IN EUROPE He takes the part of James the Less, as did his father before him." So we were kindly made to feel at home. We began to dine at "Agence Lubin" at seven, precisely as had been decreed, and poorly enough we dined for our sins; but we did not think of complaining to "Agence Lubin." We ended on time, with all the pilgrims dining there, and then strolled through the streets, watched the restless crowd, and listened to a very poor band. They recalled to me a joke that an old college mate of mine would keep repeating whenever he was near a wandering brass band, just about to blow their first notes. "Gentlemen of the Band," he would say softly, so as to avoid getting into trouble with the bellows-cheeked performers, — "Gentlemen of the Band, prepare to blow out your brains." Soon we retired to our lodging. "No, thank you, Frau Glochel, do not call us for the early service" (at the near-by village church, where all the performers in the Passio7i Play commence), "but will you please call us at 6.30. Yes, we would like coffee and jam, and an ome- lette." Before retiring, we took one more look at the Bengal light illuminations which were TO AND FROM OBER-AM MERGAU 223 gleaming from many a point on Kofel Mountain, and which earher we had watched from the centre of the village, especially as it lit up the great Passion group on Kofel. Theatrical that last, and the first a poor substitute for the old- time bonfires of wood. These fires are "the fires of St. Louis," named after the fire of burning bitumen flung on his army by the Turks at the lost battle of Mansurah, in Egypt, 1249. August 24th. The clanging of harsh bells aroused us early next morning. From the belfry of the church they were calling the players. Now for those players to commune seemed to me in keeping with the long years of study and clean living required of them by the village authorities before they were eligible; but I shrank from attending simply to gaze at them, and I did not wish to commune, and much of the service in German would have been lost on me. The day was bright with clear mountain air and sunshine. We were thankful and descended to our "conti- nental breakfast," plus the omelette, so as to be fortified for a trying four-hour session. "The bread, the mountain honey, the coffee, were good, and so was the butter," said my wife; 224 A40T0RING IN EUROPE "but oh! that heavy, elastic omelette which had been fried on one side and then on the other in much fat and then powdered with sugar." What should we do in order not to hurt the feelings of our kind hosts! We would consume virtually all the rest of the breakfast, praise all of it as was its due, and under suggestion of repletion present the omelette with a few words as kind as cir- cumstances permitted to Benedict, relying on his presumably strong peasant constitution to save him from an illness. Perhaps we did wrong. Certainly his complexion looked as though he had eaten many such omelettes, and indicated a hard worked liver. But we were not sure that he would eat the omelette. It was a fine one to save for a person for whose life you felt no personal responsibility, A little later seeing Benedict tranquilly preparing to go to the village, we were satisfied he had omitted his omelette; but we feared for his wife who staid at home. The five-minute-to-eight gun summoned all to the theatre which had been built in 1900. The sun had warmed the air considerably by eight o'clock, when the 4200 spectators had climbed up the ten stairways, and were seated on the fairly TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 225 comfortable stationary chairs, in the large steep- pitched theatre whose front third, including the stage, was open to the sky. We were about to witness the greatest of the two survivals of the many miracle plays designed for religious instruc- tion and so popular in the Middle Ages. The second great survivor is at Brexlegg in the Austrian Tyrol. The origin of this Ober-Ammergau per- formance is said to be the successful service of a play setting forth the life, death, and mediation of Christ when offered as an exorcism of the plague which was devastating their village. The plague was thus stopped. Keeping the vow of their fore- fathers the villagers at first yearly, till 1634, then every ten years since with an extra performance in 1 8 15 to celebrate Napoleon's downfall, and in 1 87 1, in place of the performance of 1870, omitted because of the Franco-Prussian War, have rever- ently repeated the play. From 1740 it grew less of an event till 1800, when a most excellent version of the play was adopted and between 1840 and 1850 the present one was finally chosen. A permanent theatre, costumes made by great costumers of the cities, a very large, thoroughly drilled band; over-fiowing coffers, for seats sell IS 226 MOTORING IN EUROPE from $1 to $2.50 a piece; enormous patronage and the general disillusionments of this twentieth century are mighty influences against the char- acteristic naivete and reverence of the villagers; but to us they appeared devout. The spectators also were hushed and sober. It seemed to me that what I was about to see would necessarily be at variance with my conception of that greatest epic of the universe, wherein the blessed Creator of everything and all men sacrificed Himself for me and all my fellow-sinners. Through thought and meditation upon His tender and humble, yet unresistible life on earth, an unending series of pictures of Him had impressed themselves upon my consciousness (have they not in the mind of every Christian?), and the inexpressible glory of His perfect life and sacrifice had drawn out for me the grandest poem that my intellect could conceive. His own words had told to me the story of His perfect character and love and sacrifice, and the chosen comrades of his pilgrimage had added their recital of His walk on earth. Now I felt that I was about to have my reverential conception replaced by the interpretation of some six hundred peasants of the earth drama of His life. I feared TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 227 that the clear pictures set in my imagination would be tarnished as the lily or the rose is injured by the touch of the human hand. But the stage curtain is pulled aside. The great orchestra begins, eighteen of the strong, gown-clad chorus of thirty-seven, led by the pro- loguer, clad in long flowing gown, with crown and staff, march in from one wing, while the other nine- teen, led by the chief singer, similarly attired, march from the other wing. From right to left of the stage I see the house of Annas, the high priest; then a street in the middle of the stage, the site for the central tableau; then a street again; then the house of Pilate, all suitably indicated by accurate scenery. The great central tableaux following each other in rapid succession were described by the chorus ; and chief actors with their hundreds of assistants, sometimes five hundred or more, made successful representations of the very animated populace. During the eight hours' strain the complete story of the life of our Lord on earth was enacted. It never rose above reverent stage play to me; but that stage play was a devotional though always some- what clumsy touching of sacred things. For one 228 MOTORING IN EUROPE who has never loved Christ with his whole heart or who is very dull of imagination, or is largely ignorant of the surpassingly beautiful details of His sacrificial life on earth, it may be well to see this Passion Play; otherwise, one is happier to omit it. As to the skill of the actors: I find this in my note-book : Judas the best actor: mob the best playing. The Christus best when silent; sometimes very stagey in movement, and often in voice; of rather heavy German build and bearing and much stooped from his work as a potter; very reverent, but conscious of his prominence. Saw him talking with his guests at his door on the eve of the play and afterward watering his flowers on his porch. He regularly takes boarders. The play all well intended, but now very much modernized in manner, in costuming, theatre, etc. A wonderful performance for peasants and a source to them of great income (which nearly all goes to improve the town), and of spiritual standardizing. To me, it was stagey, not true; tragic in parts and a travesty, though an honest one, for the most part. It was a delight to me that the Christus lacked the tender spirituality of body and bearing and voice and manner of the dear Lord of life. Tired from the physical and mental tension of the day, we sat quietly in the village square that evening and again watched the crowds, the Bengal lights on Kofel, and the stars in the firmament of heaven. TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 229 Here is another statement of my view of the Passion Play: OBER-AMMERGAU All day as we approached the high and cleanly living town of Ober-Ammergau The white sunshine of August beat upon us — all day long- Till we drew nigh to cleanly living Ober-Ammergau Which was intent to give its piteous Passion Play next day : Then clouds that blent with all the sadness of that play obscured the sky. The morrow dawned, bells called the players to pray and to commune at Church; A cannon shot summoned a mighty audience to seats in the theatre Andthenbeganthe first four hour half of the dismal play. All honest in reverential meaning was it and soundly given But oh! the dulling substitute of all those presen- tations For the scenes each educated Christian heart and mind Had always pictured. For in place of the supremest poetry That earth affords, that clings about and clothes our God on earth, There was the bathos of some humdrum peasant in His place ; It pulled me down from radiant visions all lit by dreams of Him. 230 MOTORING IN EUROPE Thursday Started From To Kilo- Arrived Running Meals and at metres at time Remarks Aug. 25, 1910 9.4s Ober-Am- Sebaris- 125 1.20 Lunch at Se- mergau chofen barischer Hof. " 2.20 Sebaris- Neuhausen 120 8.45 Dinner at H6- chofen tel Bellevue at Neuhausen. 24s 10 Good enough. Leaving Ober-Ammergau at 945 we passed near Fussen, saw again Hohenschwangau and, being yet in the beautiful highlands of Bavaria, stopped at remotely situated Sebarischofen for lunch. Evidently this is an establishment of the govern- ment put here as a matter of convenience in army manoeuvres; for it is remote, large, and while available it is evidently seldom used. A rough lunch they gave us. As we waited for it we secured permission to play a large graphophone in the eating-smoking-drinking room. I thought the music very enjoyable to all parties; but what sound was that! One of the ladies of our party was sobbing out, "Oh! I can't bear it." We stopped the music and she sought the outdoor breezes. Later, she said her little boy played that air on his graphophone and — he was in America. Our party was beginning to have the "no-place-like-home" consciousness that is sure to come as you near the end of an outing. On then TO /IND FROM 0BER-AMh4ERGAU 231 towards the west we went with a vim. The Kingdom of Bavaria would be soon behind us. Following is a summary I compiled concerning it. Bavaria contains 30,346 square miles, of which about one half is under cultivation, one sixth under grass, and one third under forests. It has a population of nearly 7,000,000, and since the twelfth century it has been ruled over by the famous family of Wittlesbach, whose chief bore the title of Elector from the Thirty Years' War until 1805, when Napoleon created Bavaria a kingdom. The reigning King Ludwig III. is sole executive, but his Ministers are responsible for all his acts. The Legislature comprises the King and an Upper and Lower House of Parlia- ment. The Upper House — "Counsellors of the Realm" — now consists of sixteen royal princes, two crown dignitaries, the two archbishops, the heads of sixteen mediatized houses, and thirty hereditary noblemen, a Roman Catholic Bishop, the President of the Protestant Consistory, and life members appointed by the Crown in numbers not exceeding one third of the hereditary Counsel- lors. The Lower House — the Deputies — numbers 163, — one to about 38,000, inhabitants — and its 232 MOTORING IN EUROPE members are elected for six years. The suffrage is granted to every citizen of twenty-five or more years who has paid a direct tax for at least a year. Bavaria has her own army and contributes three army corps, designated separately as 1st, 2d, and 3d Bavarian Army Corps, to the German Army, and controls her fortresses in time of peace. Her soldiers enjoy a somewhat specialized uniform, and constitute an army of 72,000 men in time of peace. The upper half of the country, consisting of upper and lower Bavaria proper and the oft-desolated upper and lower Palatinate, is level and is drained chiefly by the Danube, while the lower half is drained chiefly by the Rhine. It consists of upper and lower Franconia and rises gradually to the highlands and northeast of them into Swabia and its Alps whence came the ancestral Hapsburg to the Austrian throne, and the ancestral Hohenzollern via the Burgrafship of ^Nuremburg to the Kingship of Prussia and the Emperorship of Modern Germany. When I enumerate the chief cities of Bavaria and their populations — Munich (596,000) ; Nuremberg (333,000) ; Augsburg (102,000) ; Wurz- burg (84,000); Ludwigshafen on the Rhine TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 233 (83,000); Furth (66,000); Kaiserlantern (54,000); Ratisbon (52,000); and Bamberg (48,000) — the steady importance of Bavaria in art, religion, warfare, and manufacturing, which last notably includes beers and wines, is clearly intimated. Of its inhabitants some five million are Roman Catholics, about two million Protestants, and 55,000 Jews. Strong is Bavaria. Though a loyal member of the Empire of Germany she yet retains her unPrussianized individuality. In a short time we were among hills on the gradually descending slope leading to the south- eastern end of Lake Constance which lies between Baden, Wurtemberg, Bavaria, Austria, and Switzerland. It is a fine body of water, fed chiefly by the Rhine, and is 40 miles long, 7^ miles broad; at the deepest point it is 826 feet, and it covers 208 square miles. To the south of it are wooded hills, and to the south-east snow- capped mountains can be seen in clear weather. Along its southern shore ran the great Roman way into middle Germany. Then its shores were wilder. To-day they are thickly populated and well subdued. Our first view of it was delightful. It literally flashed on us as we turned the bend 234 MOTORING IN EUROPE of a steep road. There were its bluish waters sparkHng in the sunshine and a town on an island 355 yards from shore. It was Lindau, for which we had been running. This is a town of 6700 inhabitants, once a free imperial town and fortress, now handsomely ornamented and used as a summer resort. We took a run around it and then continued on an excellent road which hugs the north-east side of the lake, via Meersburg. There we met a skittish horse driven by a badly scared man. The man descended to hold the horse's head. We stopped. The horse broke the carriage shaft. We offered assistance. We received no reply but a motion to move on with the machine, and we did so. That was the only horse frightened by our machine during the whole trip. At Oberlinden we had a splendid view of the lake from the foot of a monument surmounted by a bust of Emperor William I. Soon we left Wurtem- berg at Thaulangen to cut across a little piece of Switzerland. Pursuing my plan of making a summary of each country visited by us in the summer of 19 10, I here insert my summary of Switzerland. TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 235 Switzerland, beginning with August i, 1291, when the men of the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Lower Unterwalden, formed a defensive league against their overlord Austria, grew by 181 5, into her present 22 cantons comprising the Swiss Republic, with an area of 15,796 square miles and a population of about 3,750,000. Her perpetual neutrality and the inviolability of her territory are guaranteed by most of the great Powers of Europe. A general election occurs every three years, and every citizen who is twenty years old or more can vote, and any non-clerical citizen may be elected a deputy in the National Parliament. That Parliament consists of a State Council of forty-four members, two from each of the twenty-two cantons; or one from each half- canton, in the case of those cantons which are divided into two parts: Basle, divided into Stadt and Land; Appenzell, divided into Ausser Rhoden and Inner Rhoden, and Unterwald, divided into Obwald and Nidwald. Each canton pays its deputies as it pleases; the average is about four dollars a day; and elects them how it likes and for as long as it likes. The National Council consists of 167 Representatives of the 236 MOTORING IN EUROPE Swiss people chosen in direct election, one for every 20,000 souls. They are paid from Federal funds about four dollars per diem. Legislative action may be initiated popularly, and may be similarly vetoed. When a signed petition demanding revision or annulment of a measure is presented by 30,000 citizens, or is demanded by eight cantons, the law in question must be submitted to a national vote. A majority of both people and cantons are then requisite to decide. This referendum is often used. Na- tionally the initiative and referendum have been little overused in Switzerland, but according to a very competent Swiss professor of international authority with whom I discussed this subject, in some of the larger towns and in the more industrial cantons they have been too rashly availed of, so that there a large number of signatures should be demanded. The chief executive authority in Switzerland is lodged in a Federal Council of seven elected by the two Chambers, that is by the Federal Assembly from that Federal Assembly. Only this Council introduces legislative measures. They may debate them but do not vote. The President and TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 237 Vice-President of the Federal Council are the first Magistrates of the Confederation and are chosen by joint session of the Federal Assembly to serve for a year beginning January ist and then are ineligible for re-election for one year. Ordinarily the Vice-President is elected to the presidency. Each one of the Council is head of an administra- tive department, as Foreign Affairs, Interior, Justice and Police, Military, Finance and Cus- toms, Agriculture and Industry, and Ports and Railroads. The City of Berne is the seat of the Federal Council and of the central administrative authorities. The unmeasured water-power of Switzerland applied to manufacturing of staples and industrial commodities whose carriage is not too handicap- ping to such cheap power guarantees a fortune to any competent manufacturer. The local government of Switzerland is par- ticularly interesting. As Freeman points out in his English Constitution, here alone is preserved the ancient Anglo-Saxon lawmaking directly by an assembled people. This is yet the case in Appenzell, Glarus, Unterwald, and Uri; but in all the larger cantons an intermediate body chosen 238 MOTORING IN EUROPE by universal suffrage exercises all the powers of the electorate, but in all of them except Freiburg the referendum has place. Public office is a public trust in Switzerland, and small is the pay of the representative. German is spoken in fifteen of the cantons, French in six, Italian in two, and Roumansch and Italian together in one. Approximately the following numbers speak the respective languages : 2,600,000 German; 800,000 French; 300,000 Ital- ian; 40,000 Roumansch. Nearly 600,000 foreign- ers reside in Switzerland. There are many wonderful things in nature, government, etc., in Switzerland, but to me the most remarkable is that so few of the Switzers, thrifty, hardworking, practical, true- thinking, and money-loving, have availed themselves of their peculiarly favourable opportunities to manufac- ture. Water-power and long deliverance from field work should have induced more than the actual 325,000 of them to undertake manufacturing. All the products from silk seem to me most promising. The bulk of the raw and perfected silk is small so that the freight factor is brought to a minimum. TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 239 Religion is unconstrained in Switzerland except that no clergyman can become a lawmaker, nor can the Order of the Jesuits or any of its affiliated orders be received in Switzerland. Approximately these are the religious affiliations: Protestants, 2,100,000; Roman Catholics, 1,600,000; Jews, 20,000. There is a Protestant majority in twelve cantons and a Roman Catholic majority in ten. Education is compulsory and in the lower grades is free. In Protestant cantons the proportion of school-attending children to the whole popula- tion is as one to five; in half Protestant, half Roman Catholic one to seven, and in Roman Catholic one to nine. Switzerland has seven universities, all of which are modelled after the German form and are governed by a rector and a senate, and divided into four schools: theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, and medicine. The Swiss mind has, latterly, been most pre-emi- nent in jurisprudence, though markedly capable in medicine, and it is lacking in the fine arts. Swiss painting is pitiable; sculpture has truer aspirations, though little strength; and poetry and romantic prose are conspicuous by their absence, for there are but few writers and those 240 MOTORING IN EUROPE mostly near the German borderland. In dis- quisitions on government, law, science, and re- ligion, and in some few philosophical essays, a few biographies, and autobiographies are to be found the promise of that abundant Swiss litera- ture which is to be expected when the increasing spread of wealth shall work its usual charm by granting leisure and easy monetary rewards. Even then there will be lacking the glorious stimulus of splendid national expansion and triumph which are among the few fine fruits of the average war. The Swiss Social Insurance against illness and accident is notably successful, and is open to resident foreigners. Frugality marks the effect- ive national finances. The national militiamen guarding the few fortresses at St. Gothard Pass in the south, and at Martigny and St. Maurice in the Rhone Valley to the west, and knowing how to make effective the mountains and their passes are the country's efficient defenders. Each able-bodied Switzer is liable to service with the Colours from his seventeenth to his forty-eighth year ; but actual service begins with the twentieth year. In the Infantry the first twelve years are TO AND FROM OBER-AMM ER.GAU 241 spent in the first line of defence, the next eight in the second, the remaining eight in the third. The cavalry service requires eleven years in the first line of defence and twelve in the second. An unarmed third line comprises all other males between twenty and fifty years of age. The initial Swiss military training is through recruit schools lasting for the different divisions as follows: Infantry, engineers, and foot artillery, 65 days; field artillery, 75 days, and cavalry, 90 days. Subsequent trainings last for 11 days annually. Switzerland can mobilize 200,000 combatants, and 60,000 home guards. The soil is very equally divided among the population. There are some 300,000 peasant proprietors. Of the total area, some 28 per cent, is unproductive, 35 per cent, is in grass, 29 per cent, in forest, 19 per cent, in fruit, and 16 per cent, in crops and gardens. Having to buy most of their food-crops the Swiss are adding to their chiefly textile industrial exports, including salt and cement, by developing their great national and private forests which are principally coniferous. Railroads and other public facilities are owned by the State and are managed with crude efficiency. 16 242 MOTORING IN EUROPE This is a successful land of a people for the most part walled in to a life of simplicity among grand mountains, beautiful lakes, in a rigorous climate. At the border of Switzeriand we were required to deposit 260 francs in gold as security against any damage the machine might do in Switzeriand. Thus the Swiss drew interest on our money and could impound for any injuries laid to our doors. During that incident's negotiations we talked with some bright little Swiss children and gave them cakes. They waved us a jolly good-bye. Soon we came to Ludwigshafen and passed through Schaffhausen ; by 8.45 reached Neuhausen, and stopped at H6tel Bellevue and enjoyed a splendid view of its lovely falls from our room and its balcony on the third floor. The falls were elec- trically illuminated with 'blue, white, and red. The sign to turn on the electricity was the firing of a rocket from the Sweitzer House and an answering rocket, but all this followed the playing of a searchlight on the falls which are broad, and beautiful, and of greenish colour, but not very high. The country was open and sloping up to the northward where woods were to be seen. The successive lights of evening, of electricity, TO AND FROM ODER-AMMERGAU 243 and later of the half-moon were charming on the leaping, foaming water, the landscape to the north, and the old bridge near the falls. •Friday Started From To Kilo- Arrived Running Meals and Re- al metres at time marks Aug. 26, 1910 9-40 Neuhausen Bale 140 1.40 Lunch at H6tel 2.25 Bale Vesoul 124 8.4s de Bale, Bale. Dinner at H6- 264 10.20 tel Terminus et de I'Europe. At 9.40 we left for Bale (Basel) which we reached at 1.40, after running through very trim country. Here at the best hotel on the chief public square we lunched well. All the town was in festival to celebrate the anniversary of the battle of St. Jacque, near Bale, August 26, 1444, between the Swiss, and a French army commanded by the Dauphin Louis, afterwards Louis XL of France. School children were selling badges appropriate to the day and we secured some souvenirs. Here I recovered at the Custom House 285 marks that I had deposited at the German Custom House, when crossing into Germany. We came to the French border at Belfort which is so heavily for- tified that the town is very gloomy. Just before entering the town, we received back the 260 francs in gold which we had deposited at 244 MOTORING IN EUROPE Thaulangen ; we got our licence to pass into France duly O. K'd and helped a Boston maiden, travelling with her "Ma," get her automobile licence O. K'd too. Her chauffeur could not manage the necessary French. Belfort (population now 34,000, but in 1890, only 8400), is a first-class fortress, commanding the passage between the Jura and Vosges Moun- tains. It was founded in the eleventh century. Both in 1 8 14 and in 1870 Belfort successfully resisted sieges against it respectively by the allies and Germans. An imposing citadel rises above the town on the summit of a rock 220 feet high. In front of it is the Lion of Belfort, 36 feet high and 72 feet long, carved in red sandstone, to commemorate the defence of 1870. Thiers saved Belfort to France, by begging it from Bismarck as necessary to his (Thiers's) prestige if he, as leader, was to restore order in France. We concluded our day by a long run which took us to Vesoul (population 10,000), where we spent the night at Hotel de I'Europe. It is a dry, withered-up-looking town; but has some fine old buildings, a modern museum, a few modem monuments, and small pleasure grounds. Not TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 245 very long before entering Vesoul we passed a monument in the shape of a gigantic sabot carved from the rock of the country and standing alone on a high base. We have not been able to properly associate it. Evidently, it commemorates some triumph of a peasant party. Saturday Started Prom To Kilo. Arrivec at metres at Aug. 27, 1910 9-4S Vesoul Chaumont 113 LIS 2.IS Chaumont Bar-sur- Seine 40 7-30 8.4s Bar-sur- Seine Paris 230 12.15 Lunch at H6tel de France et des Postes. Very good. Dinner at 383 12. IS H6tel du Commerce. Indifferent. H 6 t e 1 France et Choiseul. Off at 9.45, via Langres (population 10,000), a fortress of the first class, which is picturesquely situated on a high plateau and possesses several ancient churches; then Chaumont (population 15,000) set high on a barren hill, and more old churches. This was the place where the allied sovereigns concluded a treaty in 18 14, reducing France to the limits of 78.900 square miles. It is in the Champagne district, so we had some wine at the very good lunch we had at the Hdtel de France et des Postes. Then on through the wine 246 MOTORING IN EUROPE country, with its sad-looking grape vines that year, through Bar-sur-Aube (population 4500) with its old twelfth to fourteenth century churches. Here the allies defeated the French in 18 14. Next we passed again through Troyes; then Nogent-sur- Seine (population 4000). Near Nogent was the abbey of Paraclet, founded in 1123 by Abelard, who was interred there with his Heloise. Then through a carefully cultivated country, noticeably less given over to the raising of grapes, we came at late dusk to Bar-sur-Seine, where we dined indifferently. Should we push on to Paris and the comfort of our rooms secured at H6tel France et Choiseul? Better that than trying our luck in a hotel, so near Paris, that served such a dinner. All we saw of Bar-sur-Seine, that once fortified and often sacked town, was its situation on a wooded hill; part of its old wall surmounted by a clock tower; the fine bridge over the Seine; and what looked to be an ancient church. We were fairly rested after our evening dinner; but, oh! the long, long turning here and there in search of smooth going over the roads to Paris. They had been worn down by heavy wagoning, TO AND FROM OBER-AMMERGAU 2^7 even where paved with Belgian blocks. However, perseverance won its reward and at 12.15, t>y the Bercy Gate, after a day's run of 226 miles, we entered Paris. Before very long we were luxuriat- ing in our rooms at the France et Choiseul, a good, quiet hotel, built round a central court- yard, on Rue St. Honor6, near Place Venddme. Our trunks, sent from Tours, letters, papers, baths, relaxation, and then Paris awaited us on the morrow. We were as happy as we were tired, and oh! the delightful rest and refreshment of that night begun at 1.45 a.m. CHAPTER VI Paris, London, and across tKe -A.tlantic, Home PARIS AND LONDON Like a clear flame of vast and lambent light and white hot heat That shows at once the way and yields the power to quickly traverse it Has splendid Paris always seemed to me. Clear is its range of thought, And boundless is its furious verve to wreak it in passionate acts. But London vaster, stronger, staider, cloudier thinking, And bending all she is to basic generalizing uncontrovertible, Like some all-bounteous mother of a teeming berserk breed, Does seem to me the urging parent of an all-conquering race. Not only arms prevail. Thought finding Truth shall conquer all. Though Paris and its France shall brightly shine with brilliant deeds. Yet shall her faulty generalizing hold her something back While London and England slow but sure to practise basic facts In trade, or arms, in all the varying phases of her life, Yet presses on to greater greatness grown from steadiness of aim. UNDAY, August 28, 1910. "Slept late," says my commonplace book. 