28 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
wrested from them, and they demurely marched out under the yoke.
Another exercise well represented the spirit of the occasion. First, three athletes appeared, and one on the shoulders of the other two held aloft a card having on one side in large characters the date, 1291, and on the other the word 4< Alliance." The three men were the orignal cantons of the confederation of 1291. Next appeared five other athletes, and the eight threw them- selves into a ladder displaying a new card with the same word and the date, 1352. Then five more men appeared and with the aid of parallel ropes the thirteen lifted a man toward the roof with the charmed word and the date, 1513. Then five more, and the eighteen lifted a man above the supporting cable with the card and the date 1798. Finally the whole twenty-two lifted a man to the apex of the roof waving aloft "Alliance" and the date 1813. Then was brought in on a platform borne by four of these same stalwarts a lady of Geneva who had consented to pose as Switzerland. The four tenderly bore her up, and the eighteen took their positions around her in the four historic and expressive groups. As these lifted their strong right arms in the attitude of defense the assembled thousands held their breath till "Switzerland" and her defenders passed from the arena, and then they broke forth in loud applause.
You should remember that Geneva only holds about 80,000 people, and while these thousands were paying their respects to Switzerland in the cold Circus many more thousands were assiduously doing their patriotism in the streets. The street performances are about the same during the three nights. When our Geneva friends learned that I intended to spend the second evening in the streets and take my wife and daughter with me, they felt it their duty to forewarn us. They had learned from past experience that English and Amer- ican ladies do not like to have masked strangers speak to them and greet them as dear and familiar friends ; they do not like to be enclosed in a circle of dancing peasants. Our friends gave us to understand that the Genevese do these things because
