The Wilmingtonian, And Delaware Advertiser

SWISS SCENERY

Certainly going from France into Switzerland is like passing through purgatory to Paradise. And Switzerland is an earthly Paradise. The majestic trees, the verdant fields, the blooming enclosures, the deep blue waters of the wide expanded lake, its richly cultivated shores, with picturesque cottages, cheerful country houses, sweet villages and hamlets reposing on its banks; the woods, the rocks, the half-seen open valleys; the lofty mountains, the Alps in all the majesty of nature: the hoary summit of Mont Blanc, crowned with its eternal snows. No! vainly should I seek to give you an idea of this land of beauty! All that is lovely, romantic, glorious, and sublime in the works of nature, are combined in these scenes of various enchantment! Nothing can be more animated than the scenery of Switzerland. The whole country is overspread with rural habitations. Here you see the wealthy substantial farm-house, compactly built of wood, with its steep projecting roof, covered with wooden shingles, secured with poles and stones, unpainted, but well varnished with its own native brown coat of exuded rosin; perchance carved over with quaint texts of scripture, and always sheltered under venerable umbrageous walnut trees, from the fruits of which the peasant extract their oil. Turn aside, and there, in a deep pastoral valley, at the base of some beetling mountain, which seems to threaten its humble roof with the terrific avalanche, stands a sweet, lowly cottage, filled with busy inmates, and surrounded with every appearance of rural labor and contentment. High above, perched on some aerial summit, accessible only to the shepherd and the chamois, you behold the Alpine Chalet, or mountain dairy, tenanted only in summer, while the cows are grazing on the fields.