MONT BLANC AND THE VALLEY OF CHAMONIX FROM SALLANCHES.
THE SWISS SYSTEM OF BEGGING.
This is the especial part of Switzerland where beggary is reduced to a science. Your carriage is going at a very rapid rate, but in advance you notice one of those ugly Swiss cottages. The mother is in the door, holding well in hand four children, ranging in age from five to ten, boys and girls. As you get opposite the door, she looses her hold upon them, and then commences the chase. These children, trained as they are, can keep up with a carriage at a seven-mile an-hour pace, and, bare-headed and bare-footed, they do it, two on each side. They make no appeal; they say nothing, either by word or look; they simply run by the side of the carriage, as though it were a race intended as a test of the endurance of Swiss children against Swiss horses. After ten minutes of this, you begin to feel some concern for the children, and you ask the courier what they want.
“Vat dey vant? Oof you vants to kit rid mit dem, fling ’em some sous. Dey vill run into Zhenave oof you ton’t.”
And so, merely to get them out of your sight, knowing that they dare not go home to their mother without something, a shower of sous fall in the dust, which the children gather, and return to the cottage to wait for the next coach. Sometimes they catch one on the return trip, which is good luck.
It is the most systematic begging I have yet encountered. The strong point in it is the not asking. There is no professional whine, no story; nothing but a sturdy assault upon your sympathies. They make the legs take the place of the tongue. It is very well done, and, as carriages loaded with tourists pass every half hour, it must pay well. I presume the rent of these cottages is fixed with reference to their facilities for begging. An advertisement of one of them reads as follows, I suppose:
For Rent—An eligible begging station, on the route from Chamonix to Geneva. Regular diligence route, and the favorite route for carriages of rich English and Americans. There are no hills near, the course in each direction is level for miles, permitting children to run a long distance without exhaustion. Especially recommended for very young children. Half hour after dining station, which ensures good nature on the part of passengers. The most certain and profitable location on the route. Owner will take a percentage of the collections for rent, or will rent for a certainty.
The journey by cars from Geneva to Interlaken is delightful. The road follows the left bank of Lake Geneva until Lausanne is reached. Now and then a break in the woods gives a glimpse of the blue waters of the lake, with the mountains beyond, then a long, dark tunnel shuts off every view, but only for a few minutes. Then we enter a country that is magnificent in its quiet beauty. The hillsides are cultivated to the summit. Rich vineyards with their luscious grapes fast ripening in the sun, fine farms with the variegated fields hide from sight the cold gray stone that makes the Chamonix valley so desolate.