Perth Amboy Evening News

Quaint, Picturesque and Charming City - Older Part of Town Is On High, Rocky Promontory Surrounded On Three Sides By the Aare.

Swiss people are noticeably industrious, frugal and intelligent, methodical and sane. This is probably the reason why their government is the best in the world. There is apparently no graft, there are no scandals to unearth, no villainy to detect. Affairs march smoothly, the public gets the very best possible for its money. The towns, cities and villages are all in order, clean, sanitary, well-cared for and picturesque; the schools are the best in the world.

Foundation Of Berne

Berne dates from about 1191, when Duke Berchtold von Zaehringen chose this rocky height as a stronghold, capable of being fortified and held against the nobles who tried to wrest from his family their hereditary possessions. It had already been so used but not retained as a permanent settlement. The natural boundaries of the winding river which secured it on three sides and the fact that the other side was a high bluff made it an unusually safe and desirable residence in those warlike times. On the further side of the river was an extremely fertile plain which offered quick and easy harvests and grazing ground. It soon became the capital of the Canton. The place grew rapidly and charming houses with projecting roofs and arcades were built. A lift brought people up from the plain below and finally high bridges with immense arches crossed from the town to the rapidly growing suburbs on the other side of the river. These bridges are picturesque on account of their great height. The magnificent buildings of Parliament are impressive, situated as they are along one side of the rocky cliff, and the terraced gardens are very lovely and land rises at the lands. As Berne is now the capital of the whole of Switzerland the various imposing buildings for the different embassies are prominent architecturally.

Mascots Of The City

There is a legend that the founder of the city killed a bear one day, not knowing she had a numerous family. In pity his people adopted all her children and from that day to this there are pet bears in Berne which are the guests of the population and the pets of all. They are sumptuously lodged and have trees, slides, ladders, caves, tilts, and all manner of amusements, besides being the constant recipients of cakes and candies from old and young. The very first thing a stranger does is to take a car marked "Bear Pit," to go and make their acquaintance. One stays for hours, laughing at their antics. If the weather is warm most of their gambols take place in a large bathing tank and elicit shrieks of laughter from the children present. One of their favorite pranks is to slide down the chute into the water and never did humans get more fun out of the sport than these happy bears.

Its Schools The Very Best

Of course no description of any town in Switzerland is complete without mention of their splendid schools. They lead the world today. As one greatly interested in methods of education, I was amazed at some of the work I saw in the high schools of Switzerland. In the first place there is no question of order or discipline. All that takes care of itself in nearly every part of Europe because children are brought up to realize that every sacrifice is being made so that they may have the priceless boon of education. The children are quiet, attentive, eager to learn, grateful for all that is done for them. The atmosphere of the schoolroom is that of a salon where interested people discuss absorbingly interesting subjects. Of course French, German and Italian are more or less spoken by all Swiss; English is the most foreign of languages to the student. I went in high school classes in English in which children had studied at most for three years and they were discussing in English, with scarcely a mistake, the works of Stevenson, Hardy, James and other less known writers, giving outlines of their novels, with criticisms of their style. Imagine that in any high school course in America in any foreign language! I quoted something from Longfellow, from Dickens, Emerson, and every hand in the room went up to give the author. I spoke to the students and asked them questions and the answers were in all cases intelligently given in English. atmosphere of the schoolroom is that of a salon where interested people discuss absorbingly interesting subjects. JURPOUN found out over and over in northern France when we tried to rebuild with running water in the kitchens, for one of these old-fashioned people to give up this constant running to a well to talk with one's neighbors. Our convenience-loving Americans, over-anxious to modernize Europe, do not understand how tenaciously these people cling to what is their daily paper, for tens of thousands have no other.

Not A Manufacturing City

Berne is decidedly not a manufacturing city. Its people have been statesmen, warriors, farmers, but not manufacturers. There have been great scholars among them, scientists, inventors but their work has not been done so much at home as abroad. The city is far more literary than material. There are museums and collections of every kind, scientific and technical schools, as well as a widely known university. There are schools of music, of art, of carving, painting, and of elaborately beautiful needle-work, but one looks in vain for any indication of factories. It is an immense relief and one is rested and charmed by the air so free from smoke and the landscape from smoke-stacks. From the terraced garden restaurants on the side of the hill one gets superb views of the mountains and surrounding country. There are excursions of every sort to the beautiful outlying districts and a very extensive net work of street-car lines that will take one for a small sum to every point of interest. One must be sure to see the famous old clock tower, built in the fifteenth century. To see all the marvels of its workmanship one must be on hand at least five minutes before the hours strike. Cocks crow and processions pass in review, bells ring, drums are beaten and even the famous bear takes part. The clock tower was originally a gate of the town, part of the old fortifications. There is an interesting statue of the founder of the town with his historic bear standing on its hind legs just back of him. Indeed, on the high pedestal, they are back to back as equals stand against a common foe. The monument has two faces, the bear and man are fellow soldiers, reasons to defend the liberty for more than one.