Beside Me, On The Road, Were Many Houses, Shaded By Great Trees, Built
Of Wood, And Standing Apart.
To each of them almost was a little
water-wheel, run by the spring which came down out of the ravine.
The
water-wheel in most cases worked a simple little machine for sawing
planks, but in other cases it seemed used for some purpose inside the
house, which I could not divine; perhaps for spinning.
All this place was full of working, and the men sang and spoke at
their work in German, which I could not understand. I did indeed find
one man, a young hay-making man carrying a scythe, who knew a little
French and was going my way. I asked him, therefore, to teach me
German, but he had not taught me much before we were at the gates of
the old town and then I left him. It is thus, you will see, that for
my next four days or five, which were passed among the German-speaking
Swiss, I was utterly alone.
This book must not go on for ever; therefore I cannot say very much
about Soleure, although there is a great deal to be said about it. It
is distinguished by an impression of unity, and of civic life, which I
had already discovered in all these Swiss towns; for though men talk
of finding the Middle Ages here or there, I for my part never find it,
save where there has been democracy to preserve it.
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