Our Little Swiss Cousin

"All the iron steamers of Switzerland are built here," he said, "besides others which are sent to Italy and Austria. Yes, it is a great and busy place."

"Our schoolmaster told us once that people call these lakes of ours 'the eyes of the earth.' Don't you think that is a pretty idea, father? They are very bright and clear, as they lie walled in between the mountains.

"And, father, he says that there were people living on these lakes ages and ages ago. It was before any history was written, even."

"Then how do they know that such people lived on the lakes?" asked Rudolf.

"Whole rows of piles have been discovered under the water. Many were found right here in Lake Zurich. They must once have reached up much higher, but have rotted away!"

"Is that the only proof that people built their houses out over the water, Carl?"

"O, no, the schoolmaster says that many tools have been found in the beds of earth between the piles. They were almost all of stone. Besides these, there were things to use in housekeeping, and nets for fishing, and cloth, and even embroidery."

"Dear me! I never happened to hear of these strange people before," exclaimed Rudolf. "What name did the master give them, Carl?"

"He called them Lake-dwellers, because they built their houses out over the water."

"Does he know any more about them and why they chose such queer places for their homes instead of the pretty valleys or mountainsides?"

"He said it must have been in a warlike time and probably these people felt safer to dwell in this way. You see they could easily defend themselves in such places. Yet they had some farms and gardens, so they did not stay there all the time.

"They had very queer homes. The floors were made of round sticks, laid side by side. The chinks were filled in with clay and rushes. The roofs were made of straw and rushes put on in layers."

"How strange this all is. I don't really see how so much could be discovered," said Rudolf, half to himself. Then he went on, "I suppose they had no cows or other domestic animals, of course."

"O, yes, they had, father." Carl was proud to think he could tell his father so many things about them. "They had cattle, and sheep, and goats, and pigs; and they kept them in stalls in these lake dwellings.

"Why, only think! though it was three thousand years ago, probably, these people not only fished and hunted, but they spun flax and wove cloth. They made bread of wheat and other grains to eat with the fish they caught and the deer they killed. They must have known quite a deal to do that, even if they didn't write books to tell about themselves. Don't you think so?"

"Yes, Carl, I certainly think so. But come, it is getting late and we must go back to your mother and our friends. To-morrow we shall leave them and turn our faces toward our own little home. Are you ready for the long tramp?"

"Yes, my feet are tough now, and I don't believe they will get so sore as they did in coming. What a lovely time I have had. You are such a good, kind father to bring me here, as well as to the chapel of the holy Meinrad."

Carl looked up at Rudolf with such a happy face that his father bent down and kissed him.

THE END