BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 77 



from the summit. They were walking along what is called a 

 cornice, when it broke, and they were hurled to death. The 

 proprietor, though accustomed to mountaineering, said that 

 only the experienced and expert guides knew from certain 

 signs the conditions of the ice and snow, and no one should 

 ever undertake any excursion without a guide. These men 

 who tried the Jungfrau ascent refused to allow any guide to 

 accompany them, though several offered their services free. 

 They made the ascent by a new route, from the Lauterbrunnen 

 side called the Rotthal. . . . Miss Boss said they were quite 

 in pieces when found, and were brought down the mountain 

 in racks. Several other fatal accidents have occurred in the 

 same neighborhood. The proprietor said that nothing, how- 

 ever, deterred an Englishman from making the ascent, though 

 a hundred had been killed the same day. 



"A party of Americans were at 'The Bear' on my return. 

 Their vulgar talk and actions repelled me, and I gladly took 

 the carriage to return. . . . 



"It is advisable to travel out of the season, and the quiet- 

 ness of the surroundings with the magnificent scenery helped 

 to restore my head to a better state than when I left Zurich. 

 A life near these mountains would be the medicine for the 

 nerve wear and tear of city anxieties and worry. I thought 

 of a home near one of these lovely lakes where existence could 

 be made absolutely blissful. 



"At the return to the 'White Cross,' Interlaken, a supper 

 awaited me; then bed. From my window, the moon poured 

 a flood of light over the Jungfrau, and the snowy chain and a 

 few brilliant stars looked like lamps before some sacred 

 shrine." 



On her return to Berne, she had several hours to wait, and 

 spent them on the terrace by the old Cathedral where she 

 obtained another fine view of the snowy Alps. At a garden 

 dating from the fourteenth century, she bought a few flowers 

 of the old gardener, and gave them to the three pretty children 

 that were playing near the water's edge at the foot of the hill, 

 at the base of the terrace. They "smiled at me and reminded 

 me of the 'little maids from school.'" 



