Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 109, October 19 1895Various
General
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 109, October 19 1895
Various
English wit and humor -- Periodicals
_On the way to Landquart._--Sudden alarm of my companion. He clutches my
arm, and points to the roof of railway carriage, saying, in an
awe-struck voice, "What does that mean; why do they put that word
there?" Following with my eyes the direction of his finger, I notice
white dial, with moveable hand, let into roof. Plainly painted in bold
letters on one side of the dial is the word "hell." On the other side,
however, I see the German word "dunkel," which, of course, makes things
clear. Quite natural, though, that apparatus for turning light up and
down should, at first sight, be mistaken for a Salvation Army warning.
_Landquart, 1.16 P.M._--Lunch. Here the toy railway to Davos begins. We
have still more than 3000 feet to climb before reaching our destination.
Obtain beautifully-coloured little pamphlet with map. Learn that we are
about to travel on "highest adhesion railway in Europe." Prepare
ourselves to be as adhesive as possible by taking in immense amount of
ballast in the shape of lunch. On consulting map, presumably drawn to
scale, find that Davos is at least five times the size of London, which
figures minutely in upper left-hand corner. This is delightful. Delight,
however, dashed by observing that the distance from Landquart to Davos
is nearly three times as great as from London to Bâle. Still, after the
shock of finding ourselves under Central European time, we are prepared
for most things. At last the little toy engine puffs violently,
metaphorically takes off its coat, and, like _Mr. Snodgrass_, announces
in a very loud tone that it is going to begin. We start! Hurrah, we
adhere!!
***
Up, up, and still up we climb, hanging on here and there by our eyebrows
to mountain precipices, and peering down into chasms on the other side.
Still we adhere and the gallant little engine puffs away like mad.
Amiable Swiss guard takes a paternal pride in it, in the train, in the
scenery, and (after usual transference of silver) in us. Have we ever
been at Davos before? No? In that case, it appears, we must prepare for
pleasures before which the overrated amusements of Paris and Vienna pale
and dwindle. Davos at last.
***
_Davos._--Wonderfully hearty reception at the Hôtel d'Angleterre. Mr.
DEMMER smiles, Mrs. DEMMER smiles, the boots, the waitress, the
housemaid all smile. We smile, too, and find everything prepared in
rooms of the most brilliant cleanness: dinner, and so to bed.
Conversation in Davos is of great simplicity. We are all either invalids
or the friends of invalids. At first hearing it would appear as if a
gigantic ball, at which nobody danced, was perpetually taking place.
"Have you been sitting out much to-day?" "Yes, I sat out nine hours."
"Ah, I only managed to get in seven," &c., &c. For the pure and perfect
air is the main element of the cure at Davos, and in nearly all weathers
the invalids are on the verandahs drawing in these draughts of new life
and vigour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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