"You are from a land where any insolent that wants to is
privileged to profane and insult Nature, and, through her,
Nature's God, if by so doing he can put a sordid penny
in his pocket. But here the case is different. Because you
are a foreigner and ignorant, I will make your sentence light;
if you were a native I would deal strenuously with you.
Hear and obey: - You will immediately remove every trace
of your offensive work from the Schiller monument; you pay
a fine of ten thousand francs; you will suffer two years'
imprisonment at hard labor; you will then be horsewhipped,
tarred and feathered, deprived of your ears, ridden on a
rail to the confines of the canton, and banished forever.
The severest penalties are omitted in your case - not as
a grace to you, but to that great republic which had the
misfortune to give you birth."
The steamer's benches were ranged back to back across
the deck. My back hair was mingling innocently with
the back hair of a couple of ladies. Presently they
were addressed by some one and I overheard this conversation:
"You are Americans, I think? So'm I."
"Yes - we are Americans."
"I knew it - I can always tell them. What ship did you
come over in?"
"CITY OF CHESTER."
"Oh, yes - Inman line. We came in the BATAVIA - Cunard
you know. What kind of a passage did you have?"
"Pretty fair."
"That was luck. We had it awful rough. Captain said
he'd hardly seen it rougher. Where are you from?"
"New Jersey."
"So'm I. No - I didn't mean that; I'm from New England.
New Bloomfield's my place. These your children? - belong
to both of you?"
"Only to one of us; they are mine; my friend is not married."
"Single, I reckon? So'm I. Are you two ladies traveling alone?"
"No - my husband is with us."
"Our whole family's along. It's awful slow, going around
alone - don't you think so?"
"I suppose it must be."
"Hi, there's Mount Pilatus coming in sight again.
Named after Pontius Pilate, you know, that shot the apple
off of William Tell's head. Guide-book tells all about it,
they say. I didn't read it - an American told me. I don't
read when I'm knocking around like this, having a good time.
Did you ever see the chapel where William Tell used
to preach?"
"I did not know he ever preached there."
"Oh, yes, he did. That American told me so. He don't
ever shut up his guide-book. He knows more about this lake
than the fishes in it. Besides, they CALL it 'Tell's
Chapel' - you know that yourself. You ever been over here
before?"
"Yes."
"I haven't. It's my first trip. But we've been all around
- Paris and everywhere. I'm to enter Harvard next year.
Studying German all the time now.
