My next point was Paris, the capital of the French Republic, and here I
saw many interesting objects. I first visited the church called the
Madeleine. I also walked along the famous street _Champs Elysees,_
visited the magnificent Arch of Triumph, erected to commemorate the
victories of Napoleon, and viewed the Eiffel Tower, which was completed
in 1889 at a cost of a million dollars. It contains about seven thousand
tons of metal, and the platform at the top is nine hundred and
eighty-five feet high. The Tomb of Napoleon is in the Church of the
Invalides, one of the finest places I had visited up to that time. The
spot where the Bastile stood is now marked by a lofty monument. The
garden of the Tuileries, Napoleon's palace, is one of the pretty places
in Paris. Leaving this city in the morning, I journeyed all day through
a beautiful farming country, and reached Pontarlier, in southern France,
for the night.

My travel in Switzerland, the oldest free state in the world, was very
enjoyable. As we were entering the little republic, in which I spent two
days, the train was running through a section of country that is not
very rough, when, all in a moment, it passed through a tunnel
overlooking a beautiful valley, bounded by mountains on the opposite
side and presenting a very pleasing view. There were many other
beautiful scenes as I journeyed along, sometimes climbing the rugged
mountain by a cog railway, and sometimes riding quietly over one of the
beautiful Swiss lakes. I spent a night at lovely Lucerne, on the Lake of
the Four Cantons, the body of water on which William Tell figured long
ago. Lucerne is kept very clean, and presents a pleasing appearance to
the tourist.

I could have gone to Fluelin by rail, but preferred to take a boat ride
down the lake, and it proved to be a pleasant and enjoyable trip. The