The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 16, 1901, Page 6

Y CALL. . LUTHER'S: RooM 'THE MATTERHORN A3 SEEN FROM ZERMATT over a collection of photographs such as Dr. E. H. Mattner brought tome to San Francisco from his year sbroad. Go over them with him and hear his tales of adventures in their Jocelities; lct that jolly boy of his, Paul by name, bring out his diarie: to jog the paternal memory; and Eu- rope comes very near. The Matter- born rises in the vicinity of Tel2 graph Hill; the Grindenwald railway might be running on any of oun city tracks; you can hear St. Mark’s pigeons fluttering in City Hall square and you can sce Martin Luther’s devil crawling on the nearest wall. A number of photographs from this collection are reproduced on thess pazes. You can follow the Mattner party from north to south and with- out the cost of-transportation. q T brings Europe near to us to look ! I was between thunder storms that th made the Grindelwald trip on the highest mountain raiiway in the world. They started on the trip at Inter- lachen. From there the railroad ascends in a twisting course, making its wav by means of dodgings and twirls and lore and short spirals up the moun s ows steeper mile by mile. and the scenerv grows more mad and more keautiful, Precipices that make vour head im and!that fascinate you into the de- p adown them: mountains that hite-clipped edges against a d of blue sky; es, gulches, smooth snow and g nging panorama. that carrifes tourists for an um consi of one poorly ir and a clumsy little engine The car is an open one, ar- observation; touriets jam the win and crane their necks in their endeavor to see their money’s worth. Mest of the way a fussy stream follows heslde the track, growing rantankerous here and there where the rocks offer fight. It is a stream of so many names that the average tourist doesn’t pretend to call it nything: it is hike all of its kind, one rg to one peasant and another to an- r, and each man asked along the road 2 different name to call it by. In the end the read grows too steep for the engine’s asthmatic lungs and it comes It. At this.point the route is taken : when this gives out, the 1f he isn’t equal to the climb he misses the sight of the great glacier, the Grindelwald, which is what he came for. Besides the glacier itself Is to be seen an ice cave 200 feet long, dug out by man. “The queer t g about this is that it y't particularly cold. even after deep into it,” say the tourists. mouth you wish you had an umbrella and in default of one you make a break and run, for the dripping of melting ice is like avy rain.” tains. It g is be the blue light Inside the cave as wonderfully fine, being the re- flected effect of the sunlght. “In spite of :he hard climbing, the trip pa a thousand times over,” they say, “for the views can’t be surpassed.” The Matterhorn. “Papa wouldn't let me climb the Mat- terhorn,” says Paul. rou bet I wouldn't,” says papa. He wouldn’t climb it himself, either,” s the younger. You bet 1 wouldn’t,” affirms the elder. “I know I could have done it.” “All right. We took your word for it. No need to prove it. Perhaps that is how it happens that the Mattner returned from abroad. ce attempted the great of long years' Alpine ex- > been killed. urope thinks of laviting her visitors to T it is something I never could discover. With the good chances of death, it rikes me that it comes tco near suicide to be temptatious. We have sked any tourist to zhoot agara for pastime. We shouldn’t call it hospitable. But Switzerland says: “Come and try a hand at committing suicide. younger Of those climb, many perience h Just why We'll do our best to help you. And if vou succeed we'll be sure to save ail the souveni we can find of you—any belt Yuckle matches, hairpins, card cascs— les that vou may chance to spill any art by the way, and we'll put them on ex- hibition."” This is the way that Switzerland enter- balf the mountain is in Italy, but art that is climbed lies across the line. By virtue of a curve the en- tire summit is in the little country. This comes tha: Swiss laws govern the ethics of ascent. Paul related to me the details of prepar- ation. It is plain enough that he was men- tally equipped In case the parental ds. ion should “The outfit for the he id. nd what doe weaken ip costs 300 francs,” 'wo guides—one i ] follow the tourist (they have to be ally pald): 100 feet of hemp rope strongest kind an ice-pick, candles vislons for two days, heavy hobna shoes, mitts, a hood, a heavy t clothes. W the ck for “In making the ascent hole n the ice and spikes driven in t - ste when nature provides none nd this is most of the way.” It secems that the start is made from rmatt t conglomeration of neatness nd dirt is charac stic ¢f the Swids towns. Up a fairly e ype the trave'er nsceruls for a da the end of this time he is at the base of the Mat- terhorn @nd there he stops over night, camping in the empty house which exists for the purpose. At 3 in the morning he is roused by his zuidez uniesa the chimb is so thor- oughly on his nerves by this time that he hasn’t been asleep anyway. With the glimmer of daylight they off on the fearful asce It grows b are der and steeper from start to finish. 1 one has the genius of £ goat for cl othing but foolhardiness the attempt. and evesm then death is a big ehance. The exper- ienced guides can count on a fatal fall sooner or later A bit of a ledge m: step and a foot he s it when crash, ¢ offer 2 tempting ety upon ep gives away. A spike may be firmly driven in the ice when with a crunch and a crumble the supporting ice ralls. A distance may be well gained by means of natural steps and all look promising when suddenly there rises a wall of sheer stone without a ledge or a spot in which spike can be driven, and in vain scrambles to reach beyond, the foot may slip The ethics of the rope are governed by the law of the land. The traveler goes between the twd guides with a long teth- planted er of rope joining him to each. If a guide falls the travelcr may cut the rope and let him fall alone. gr: ing himself the chance of holding his own But if the traveler falls, the guides may not cut the rope to save themselves. They must hold on and attempt to save the stranger. Shootirg is a guide’s penalty for break- ing this law. However, it is a pretty hard law to en‘oree, for a man in falling is likely to swirg back and forth againsc sharp rock edges until the rope cuts it- self and it is never easy to prove whether this were the case or not. Both men and women have made climb, and others have attempted it. death of those who fall is remember. A peculiar pleasure |is the successful In viewin the The too horrible to relics of the unsuc sfu devoted to this purpose, left of their belonging: p These vary from overcoats to cigarettes. The garments used on the trip must be of the heaviest material to withstand the tearing of the rock: the gloves The cold is so Intense toward the summit that a hood wiih ear tabs must be worr “1 knew exactly how to fit myself out for the trip.” says Paul “And that's ali the good it plies his father. Wartburg Castle. Where Martin Luther thought and preached and wrote—the castle of Wart- So of aid you,” re- burg—is a treasured landmark now, and the hand of the pilfering tourist plucks plaster souvenirs from its wall Here is the castle above Eilsenach, where Martin Luther was carried at the command of Frederick, and where he lived Iimprisoned In the room pictured. Dressed as a knight, he was known as “Junker George” during his sojourn there. In this room he labored at his translation of the Bible. Day after he wrote at the great table, with age and sagged out of shape. Day after day he sat there in the stern un- cushioned chair and forgot its discom- fort in his labor of love. The pictures, the chest, the carved cabinets are the same that they were then The change is in the defaced wall. Hers the hand of the tourist is in evidence. It is the wall whereon his ink bottle struck. The devil, in the form of a fly. persisted in annoying the writer one das by walking over his laborlously writt page. As fast as the ink made tracks the Evil One h now w foliowed them making smudges and obliterating the let- ters. “Shoo!” said Martin Luther. Shooing didn't do any good because it was the devil that he was trying to shoo and the devil has stick-to-it-iveness. As fast as it was frightened away it came back and tormented him again. Luther’s patlence was at an end. In an explosion of righteous wrath he pick up the Ink bottle, and the devil, appar ently seeing its danger, buzzed excitedly away. It lighted on the wall shown in the photograph just as Luther threw and the bottle struck against the wall