Obermais! Obermais!.

Charming bit of Paradise, Where the palm and snow are blended, Where life's joys seem never ended, Where the purl of limpid streams Haunts the traveler's deepest dreams; Girt by miles of terraced vines, Birthplace of the purest wines, Sheltered by imposing mountains, Musical from countless fountains, Bathed in sunshine, bright with flowers, Studded with old Roman towers, Castles, convents, shrines and walls, Whose strange history enthralls, - Jewel of fair South Tyrol, Thou hast won my heart and soul !

Obermais, Looking Toward Italy.

The Obermais thus described is the favorite residential suburb of Meran, the former capital of the Tyrōl, that lovely trysting-place of North and South, where the keen Alpine air grows soft beneath the wooing of the Italian sun. The theme is a congenial one; for, on retiring from a life of travel far and wide through many a clime and kingdom of the civilized world, the author has selected for a home, in which to spend the Indian Summer of his life, this southward-sloping valley of the Tyrolese Alps, made beautiful by arbored vineyards, picturesque castles, and romantic ruins, protected from bleak northern storms by a precipitous range of mountains nine or ten thousand feet in height. So glorious are these mountains at all times and seasons, that it is difficult to say when they are most inspiring. But, marvelous as they look when the red torch of morning kindles on their stainless crests a line of crimson fires, or when the evening light begins to weave its golden threads across the valley, and to enfold their silvery summits in a purple veil, - they are to me most solemn and impressive when, on a winter night, I watch their undulating snow-fields gleaming in the moonlight, like foam-flecked billows in a stormy sea, running for miles along the sky.

Entrance To The Vintschgau Valley, Seen From Obermais.

These words are written in the author's high-walled garden, at a table canopied by rose-vines fifteen feet in height. His outstretched hand can touch a fig tree; a little farther rises, sentry-like, a palm; a score of long arcades within the adjoining vineyard offer parallel rows of cool, green vistas to his view; and near them clumps of bamboo rustle in the April breeze. Yet, if he lifts his eyes, he sees beyond these, and above a tinted cloud of apple, peach, and almond blossoms, a chain of ice-capped summits only a few miles away! The altitude of Meran is one thousand, that of Ober-mais from twelve hundred to sixteen hundred, feet above the level of the sea. Its winter climate corresponds to the summer climate of high mountain regions; that is to say, it is then warm in the sun, invariably cold at night, and crisp and frosty in the morning and evening, till the sun's rays begin to affect the pure, dry air. Snow always falls in abundance on the mountains; and once or twice at least it may be expected in Meran itself, though here it quickly disappears. Spring begins here some four weeks earlier than on the other side of the Alps, and winter is much shorter than in northern Germany. To claim that Meran has no bad weather would be untrue; but storms are rare, and it has come to be a proverb that what is bad in South Tyrol is much worse elsewhere. Fog is almost unknown. On the contrary, Meran is singularly free from dampness, and is often blessed for weeks at a time in winter with a succession of bright, exhilarating days, when the mere act of breathing is a pleasure, and living in the open air a positive delight; while every outlook toward the spotless mountains, crystalline in splendor, lifts the spirit toward its loftiest ideals of the beautiful and the sublime. The most remarkable climatic features of Meran during the winter months are windlessness and wealth of sunshine. In spring, strong winds occasionally sweep down through the valleys from the Alps to Italy; but, in the fall and winter, weeks frequently elapse when the trees are scarcely stirred by even the lightest breeze, although the air continues wonderfully pure and bracing. As for the sun, this sheltered mountain-nest is a veritable focus for the solar rays, whose concentration and unclouded lustre render nature glorious, and vivify all living creatures privileged to enjoy them.