jftjp 







O Paul Thompson 



improving muscles and maintaining morale among the men oe 

 Switzerland's national militia 



Service in the militia is compulsory and universal among the Swiss, with few exemptions, 

 except for physical disability. Those who are excused or are rejected pay additional taxes. 

 Liability for military service extends from the 20th through the 48th year. The men from 

 20 to 32 years comprise the Ausguz, or "Elite," corps of the militia. 



moat, destroying the ladders of the scal- 

 ing party, and the city was saved. 



The Duke of Savoy, who had been 

 given a premature report of the success 

 of this venture and had dispatched couri- 

 ers to various courts of Europe announc- 

 ing the gratifying results of his enter- 

 prise, upon receiving a true version of 

 his ignominious rout, shouted at d'Al- 

 bigni, "You blockhead, you have made a 

 pretty mess of things !" Then he put 

 spurs to his horse and rode for Turin, 

 without thought of the fate of his de- 

 feated army. 



To this day the Genevese gather at 

 their cathedral on every anniversary of 

 the Escalade, as this battle is called, and 

 sing the 124th Psalm, the one which the 

 venerable de Beze bade them sing on the 

 morning after the night of their deliver- 

 ance : "If it had not been the Lord who 

 was on our side, when men rose up 

 against us . . ." 



The story of Jean Jacques Rousseau, 

 who delighted to style himself "the citi- 

 zen of Geneva," although he did not take 

 up his residence in the city of his birth 

 until he was more than 40 years of age, 

 is too familiar to warrant recital here. 

 He is a careless tourist, however, who 

 fails to make a pilgrimage to the little 

 house at No. 40 Grand' Rue, where this 

 son of a watchmaker and dancing master 

 was born, or who does not linger over 

 the balustrade of the beautiful Pont du 

 Mont Blanc and look down upon Rous- 

 seau's Island and its Pradier bronze of 

 the famous philosopher and people's ad- 

 vocate. 



THE PARADOXICAL ROUSSEAU 



Perhaps even more paradoxical than 

 Bonivard's were the career and the char- 

 acter of this Genevan immortal. Mc- 

 Crackan has summed up his contradic- 

 tions thus : "Although by temperament 



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