e whole town is like a story.
Not an elegant, high-toned story, to be sure, though a picturesque old
castle and church lifted themselves aristocratically above the more
humble town. The streets are narrow, and as picturesque as they are
dirty, with a sidewalk sometimes above the first, low, projecting story
of the houses.

It is a mile from the town to the lake of the same name. Close by the
steamer landing, where we were to embark for Newhaus, is the hotel
Bellevue. Within the garden enclosure were several little _chalets_; one
to serve as reading-room, another as _salle a manger_, while a third,
beyond the pond, where swan were sailing, displayed Swiss wares for
sale. Here we lunched and rested for an hour, before going up the lake.
It is a voyage of an hour and a half to its head, past beautiful villas
upon one side, and precipitous rocks upon the other. Once landed at
Newhaus,--where there was not a _new house_ that we could see, but only
a scanty collection of little huts,--we searched about, with the mud
ankle deep, among the crowd of waiting vehicles, for the omnibus which
was to bear us the two miles and a half to Interlaken and the hotel Jung
Frau. If you recall your geography lessons, you will perhaps know that
the two lakes, Thun and Brienz, are separated by a strip of land, upon
which is this village of Interlaken. It is hardly more than one long
street, with green fields and a row of trees upon one side, and a line
of houses standing back upon the other. In full view from the windows of
these summer hotels, when the sky is clear, rises the Jung Frau, between
two great mountain peaks. This is the only _sight_ in Interlaken, and
yet the town throngs with visitors. It must be intolerably hot here at
times, lying low among the mountains as does this valley. In the fields,
behind the grand hotels, is a long, low Kursaal, a rustic affair, with a
wide piazza. You may lunch, and read the newspapers; but government has
prohibited the gambling. There are delightful excursions to be made from
here, which accounts, perhaps, for the crowded hotels. And there are
several fine shops, where you may buy all or any of the curiosities for
which the country is well known.

A rainy day crowded these shops and the hotel parlors, and made a busy
scene the length of the street, which is very like a country road. But
the second morning after our arrival, we rose early, to prepare for an
excursion over the Wengern Alp. The Jung Fra