Beautiful Switzerland [antikvár]

Switzerland, a little country in the centre of Europe, sur\ rounded by powerful neighbours, appears to the foreigner _like an island of peace in the midst of a troubled world. Chosen land of contrasts, opposites and differences, one may well wonder how a country composed of such heterogeneous elements not only exists, but possesses such a perfect unity. What is so surprising in Switzerland is the extreme diversity existing ín aii domains. Let us take in the first piacé the idioms. How can German-speaking people coliaborate with others speaking French or italian? Does not each ethnical group possess its own mentality and find itself irresistiblyattracted towardsthe large neighbouring country, the language and ideas of which it seemingly ought to share? Sometimes, the frontier of the national idioms passes right through the middle of a town, as is the case at Bienne, Fribourg, Morat, Sierre. Finally, in the Grisons, a population of 40,000 inhabitants speaks a fourth language, Romansch. But what matters? A language is merely a means of expression. It is what one says and not the way in which one says it which really counts! The same variety is to be found in the forms of religion. Catholic and protestant churches exist side by side all through the country, sometimes the same building serving in turn for both services. Fairly numerous English churches, Russian places of worship with gilt cupolas,