Tyrol and its People Part 27

"Maid" or no maid, however, Bregenz is delightful, and well deserves the t.i.tle of "pearl of the Vorarlberg" which has been bestowed upon it. In its quaint old streets, its Capuchin Convent, which is so prominent a feature, standing as it does upon a wooded knoll of the Gebhardsberg, and its fine church, to the south on another eminence, with an ancient and weather-worn tower, there is plenty of interest.

Picturesque the place most certainly is, and the effect is greatly heightened by the near presence of the lake, which stretches away in front of the town to fair Constance in the far distance.

[Sidenote: FAREWELL, TYROL]

In leaving Tyrol by way of beautiful Bregenz, washed as it is by the waters of one of the most delightful of Swiss lakes, one carries with one a last impression which is fragrant with the memories of a hospitable race, charming scenery, and innumerable things of historic, artistic, and antiquarian interest. There is, indeed, no other gate through which one would rather leave this "Land within the Mountains,"

which, as yet unspoiled by crowds of tourists and general sophistication and the deterioration which arises therefrom, lures one to return to it again and again.

FOOTNOTES:

[26] By a strange coincidence, whilst the following description of this interesting and charming village was actually being written, the news of its almost total destruction by fire reached the author, necessitating the omission of some details. Many of the houses, however, have been rebuilt, in much the same style as formerly.--C. H.

[27] Some authorities give the date as being several years earlier.--C. H.

[28] It is possible that Miss Proctor's poem ("A Legend of Bregenz") is founded upon the legendary story of Ehre Guta, who is reputed to have delivered the country-folk of the Bregenz district from an attack of the Appenzellers some time during the early part of the fifteenth century.--C. H.