"A LAND ABOUNDING IN RIVERS, BROOKS AND TORRENTS occasion, but that fact still fails to let the good General fall so low as has come to William Tell, for it now seems to be fully established that, like the famous Mrs. Harris created by the imagination of Dickens, there never was any such person. Schiller gave life to Tell by placing him in his tragedy which almost might have happened to Rolla Rolla the Peruvian, had the drama in which he figured become only a little more famous than it actually did. Byron, by his poem, has made the Castle of Chillon known to everybody. Rousseau was a Swiss by birth, so too were Madame de Stael, Zwingli, the Reformer, and our own Agassiz. It became the adopted home of John Calvin, of Voltaire and for a long time of Gibbon, the historian of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. New Hampshire has not produced many persons whose fame is world wide, and few of her own people know that Count Rumford, whose reputation in some respects stands side by side with Franklin's, although not a native of New Hampshire, resided there for some time, and when offered a patent of nobility by the ruler of Bavaria chose to be designated as Rumford, that being the name of the New Hampshire town where he had had a home, the same that is the capital of the State and now called Concord. The Swiss having shown a sturdy intention to govern themselves and manage their own affairs, and a capacity for doing so, and their country being one not to be easily overrun by hostile armies, it has been permitted to exist in a condition of neutrality and independence for the past seven hundred years. It seems to be a sort of neutral ground where the difficulties of other nations may be discussed and arranged. It was at Geneva that the high joint commission representing the governments of the United States and Great Britain met and arrived at the settlement of a threatening cause of war arising out of the depredations during our Civil War made by the British-built privateer Alabama, in consideration for which the British government paid over to us the very respectable sum of fifteen million dollars. It was in Switzerland that the arrangements by which the affairs of the International Postal Union were arrived at, and that matter is still presided over by an ex-President of the Swiss Republic. Of all the flags of all the nations there is not one more noticeable or of seemingly better chosen design than that of the Swiss. It was originally the Coat of Arms of one of the oldest Cantons and consists of a white cross of peculiar construction on a red background. Take one of Huyler's excellent caramels, lay it down squarely on a piece of paper, then add another to the top side, another at the bottom, another to the right and a fourth at the left and you have a tolerable representation, in bas relief, of the Swiss Cross. Some years ago when representatives of various nations agreed upon certain rules for the better care of the injured in the casualties of war, the emblem of the Society then formed was the Swiss Cross with colors reversed, a red cross on a white background, and as such is now well known to the people of all civilized nations. Many matters of international moment are adjusted in Switzerland and quite a number of societies or associations having such in charge maintain permanent offices at Berne, the Swiss capital. There are no orders of nobility in Switzerland and no flaunting of riches. Fashion fails to exert the influence it possesses elsewhere. There are families with pedigrees longer than those of many royal houses, and quite as respectable and their members are not unconscious of the fact but it does not weigh upon them and they are at no trouble to proclaim it. There is wealth, plenty of it, and it is made use of in every sensible way, but without any vaunting display or any I am better than you manner. If you see a woman with a hundred and fifty dollars of ostrich plumes on her hat, and a different one to match the color of every gown, or advertising a blighted affection by carrying a poodle dog about in her arms, she is not a Swiss. Maybe the tourist is the greatest source of the national prosperity to-day and as such his value is recognized, and he is cared for with every regard for his material well-being and convenience, but is not stared at or importuned or robbed or swindled. The excellence, the exquisite cleanliness and substantial elegance of the Swiss hotels is a matter that excites universal admiration. The Swiss excel as hotel keepers and as such are famous all the world over. There are different scales of prices for varying accommodations and a sliding scale for various seasons, consequently a certain amount of bargaining is requisite, but even without that the charges are certain to be no more than reasonable for the service given and the service is the best to be had anywhere. If you are away at mealtime that meal is not charged for in your bill; and although every servant who renders a service expects a tip when your stay is ended, he is content to await the time of your departure before receiving it and the amount required to satisfy the multitudinous demands of this sort are actually less than the visitor at a White Mountain resort will find it wise to dispense if he wish the employees to be alive to his needs. It is absolutely wonderful how full the country is of people. There are tourists everywhere and in crowds. They walk, they ride on bicycles, in automobiles, diligences, landaus, victorias. Go where you may you are never out of sight of them. This gives a sort of Coney Island or country fair character to it all. At the more popular hotels evening dress prevails. At one, on one occasion, I was to leave by an early train and being packed up to be in readiness, went to the dining-room wearing a sack coat and four-in-hand tie and became conscious that out of more than six dozen men in the room I was the only one not appearing in evening dress. This is by no means the case at all resorts but is sufficiently so to make it certain that those who wish to carry about with them wardrobes extensive and expensive will find opportunity to display their possessions, and doubtless to come in contact with others who have more and better. It must not be understood from this, however, that one may not go about with an extremely modest outfit whether man or woman, but in such cases maybe it would be pleasanter to seek accommodations at houses of not the most pretentious sort. There are a plenty of such and they are very good too. The supper ended and my father took My sister came; and her fair, girlish friend My dear sweet Alice of that schoolday time- I yearned-I spoke-I heard my mother's cry i dreamed of home last night! T SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE By JAMES E. TRACY HE publicity given in recent years to the experiments in plant breeding by the "Wizard" Luther Burbank and a few others has emphasized the importance of this branch of horticulture, but it has also cast in the shadow the labors of the pioneers in this fascinating realm of science. Men like Francis Parkman, Asa Gray, Kirtland, Hovey, Rogers and Pringle were better known to our grandfathers than to the younger generation, although to them and their contemporaries are due the painstaking research, the groping experiments and the indefatigable labor that made possible in a large measure the wonderful results which the newspapers and maga zines attribute to these latter-day scientists. The life of Mr. Pringle reads as interesting as a romance. He was born in Charlotte, Vt., in 1838. His grandfather had been a botanist of some note, and his father, George Pringle, was always interested in botany and horticulture. The Pringles ran a small farm and raised garden truck besides doing a little something in the line of propagating shrubs and nursery stock. Young Pringle thus early acquired a rudimentary knowledge of this sort of work and he loved to be employed among the plants, flowers and grains. At that time the possibilities of plant breeding were practically unknown-in this country, at least-and Mr. Pringle, in his early experiments, groped in darkness which PRINGLE'S DEFIANCE WHEAT Parkman and Gray and most of the others, except Pringle, are gone from among us. A quiet, unassuming man, with an indomitable will and great vigor of mind and body, Cyrus W. Pringle is, perhaps, the greatest living scientist in this sphere to-day. Mr. Pringle is seventy-one years old and yet his step is as light and his en was unlighted by rays of early achievement. His father died when he was but a youngster, and Cyrus worked during the day at his favorite occupation and read and studied at night. He mastered the rudiments of Greek and Latin while a mere boy and matriculated at the University of Vermont. The death of his brother at this time, however, interfered with his plans to go to college and imposed upon him the care of his mother and the responsibilities of the home farm. He manfully took up this work with all the enthusiasm of his nature and with the desires and tastes of a scholar, striving to realize high ideals in agriculture and horticulture. He began the study of plant breeding early in his career and conducted experiments in hybridizing along original lines with encouraging success. So enthusiastic was he that in order to be able to read French books on hybridizing plants he mastered the language and spent all his spare money in the purchase of such books as he could acquire. He also read everything he could lay his hands |