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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15782-8.txt b/15782-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a567b0b --- /dev/null +++ b/15782-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2563 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Scenes in Switzerland, by American Tract Society + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Scenes in Switzerland + +Author: American Tract Society + +Release Date: May 7, 2005 [EBook #15782] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCENES IN SWITZERLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Christine D and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. (www.pgdp.net) + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + + +SCENES IN SWITZERLAND. + + +[Illustration] + + +PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by the + AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court + of the United States for the Southern District of New York. + + +Contents. + + +Gretchen PAGE 5 + +A Night in the Cathedral 28 + +The Glaciers of Savoy 45 + +The Bride of the Aar 63 + +A Sabbath in Lausanne 79 + +The Guide of Montanvert 96 + +Mont Blanc 127 + +From Berne to Basle 135 + + + +Scenes In Switzerland. + + + + +Gretchen. + + +Time flies swiftly when we are sightseeing; and it was late in the +autumn of 18-- when I reached Lindau. Lake Constance lay before me, a +pale, green sheet of water, hemmed in on the south by bold mountain +ranges, filling the interim between the Rhine valley and the long +undulating ridges of the Canton Thurgau. These heights, cleft at +intervals by green smiling valleys and deep ravines, are only the +front of table-land stretching away like an inclined plane, and dotted +with scattered houses and cloistering villages. The deep green of +forest and pasture land was beginning to show the touch of autumn's +pencil; the bright hues striking against gray, rocky walls; the +topmost edge of each successive elevation crowned with a sharp outline +of golden light, deepening the purple gloom of the shaded slopes. + +Behind and over this region towers the Sentis, its brow of snow +bristling with spear points. It was altogether too late to think of +the Baths, or even to look at the little lake of Wallenstatt; and +still, I was unwilling to return without a friendly shake of the hand +of my old friend Spruner, who had perched himself in one of the upper +cantons. "You should have been here earlier," said the landlord; "in +summer we have plenty of visitors." + +"I rather look upon the mountains in their parti-colored vests, than +when dressed in simple green," I replied. + +"If you can stand the weather;" and he thrust his pipe deeper into +his mouth, and twirled the button of his coat. + +Hastily making my adieus, the postillion cracked his whip, and we +started. "There is no danger of bad weather for a month," said the +driver, "and when we get up farther you will see what will pay you for +the trouble of coming:" a speech that promised well for the day, I +argued; and a certain share of respect leaped up for the man in his +laced coat and steeple-crowned hat. A good specimen of his class--and +once satisfied of this, I gave myself up to the present, without the +least foreboding with regard to the future. + +Over us hung masses of gray cloud, stretching across the valley like a +curtain, and falling in voluminous folds almost to the level of Lake +Constance. As we passed through this belt, and came out, with cloud +and mist below us, I listened as the postillion related the popular +legends handed down from one generation to another, for the last six +hundred years. Reaching the crest of the topmost height, he stopped +suddenly. + +"It is just the day to see the herdsmen;" and he threw down the reins, +and prepared to dismount. I stood up and looked around. + +"The battle you know between the herdsmen and the monks, with Austria +to help. It was a hard battle, and the knights were whipped; and ever +since, on certain days, the herdsmen are seen armed with bows and +pikes," he continued. By this time I had taken in his meaning, and +turning my attention to the misty curtain rolling up into clouds about +the sides of the mountain, I had no difficulty in picturing the +discomfited Austrians flying from the pursuit of the hardy +mountaineers. + +"It was a great battle, and they have never tried it since," and there +was a ring in the voice that sounded like the echo of Grütli. + +"No wonder, if your herdsmen are still ready to keep up the fight." + +"You do not see them," and he made a gesture in the direction where my +eye still lingered. + +"As plainly as any body can," and I tried hard not to smile. + +"It is quite true this;" and he gathered up the reins. + +"I do not doubt it." + +As we passed on, the clouds rounded into islands, touched with silver +on the upper edges. + +"This is the place for fine muslin and embroideries," said the +postillion in a changed tone. + +"Where are they made?" I asked. + +"Every house has a loom," he said. + +A small way to manufacture muslins; but when the density of the +population and the incessant labor is taken into consideration, it is +not so strange. With regard to the houses I was greatly disappointed. +Not only are they so near that neighbors can converse freely, but they +are large, and even luxurious, in comparison with the same class in +other parts of Europe. Many of these houses are four stories, with +large, square rooms at the base; the upper ones narrowed by the high +steeple roof which projects several feet, forming balconies, +beautifully carved and highly ornamented. The outer walls are covered +with shingles from two to three inches broad, overlapping each other, +and rounded at the ends; reminding one of old roofs seen in the French +quarter. The lowest story is of stone, plastered, and whitewashed. +Such a house is very warm, very durable; and painted by the successive +changes of winter and summer, the external appearance is altogether +pleasing. Our ascent was gradual; with stately houses one after +another, and fruit-trees on the sheltered side. In the balconies, pots +of bright-hued flowers, and sometimes a face to greet us. + +Towards sundown we halted at the little town where my friend had +deposited himself; and as my foot touched the wooden step of the +little hotel, whom should I meet but my old college chum; no longer +thin and pale as when I knew him, but round-faced as an alderman, and +merry as though his heart was full of new wine. + +"You are not to stop here," as the landlord came out to receive me: +"My house is not far off, and GRETCHEN, you remember her? will be +glad to see you." + +Of course I remembered Gretchen; but to meet her as my friend's wife +was quite another thing. A few steps brought us to the door of a +handsome establishment two centuries old, or more; the front frescoed, +and the interior neat and orderly as a New England housewife's. The +floor upon which we entered from the street was paved with a species +of marble, black and white, diamond shaped, but too suggestive of cold +to be altogether pleasing. A broad, wooden staircase of a peculiar +rich brown hue led to the parlor on the second floor. The windows +looking out into the mountain ranges were draped with ruby-colored +damask; the floor was covered with a richly tufted carpet bordered +with flowers, and sofas and easy chairs were temptingly arranged. On a +table in the centre of the room, and under an elaborately chased +lamp, were implements for letter-writing, magazines, and newspapers. +Through the folding-doors we caught a glimpse of well-filled +book-shelves, and a woman's voice came floating out to the rich, +mellow accompaniment of the piano. There was the rustle of a silk +dress. I turned my head. + +"This is my ambition," said my friend, while a look of pride blended +with the manly expression of his handsome face. + +There stood Gretchen--the Gretchen I had known ten years before; no +longer the slight blushing girl, but mature in her beauty, a happy +wife and mother; the same sweet smile on her lips, and her eye full of +gushing gladness as she welcomed me to her home. + +The fire was blazing cheerily, and we three talking of the old times, +with hardly a thought of the broken links between. + +"The college is still the same," said my friend, "with the high +cupola and long galleries. Gretchen and I visited it last summer; +there were few that we knew, and many of the professors have slipped +away. Gretchen's father was one of these. We missed him in his quiet +home, and above all, in the old church. A man with dark hair and black +flashing eyes stood in his place--a learned, man, but wanting in the +inward fire, the simple eloquence of the old man we used to love. +After service, I strolled past the college buildings, and tried to +trace the names we cut on the old beeches, but they were all +overgrown." + +"I know nothing that brings home to the heart so quickly the +consciousness of increasing years, as to find those whom we used to +look upon as children grown to maturity, taking upon themselves the +care and responsibility of life. Here is Gretchen; a deeper bloom +upon her cheek, and her eye sparkling with a higher pride." + +"Just as mid-day is brighter than the morning," said my friend. + +Down the hall came the pattering of little feet, and the nurse entered +with two stout boys and a lovely girl, a second Gretchen, the same +roguish blue eyes, and golden hair rippling away from her white +forehead: + +"These are my hopes," said the father, and a smile curled his lip, +amid, his eye filled with tenderness as he glanced at Gretchen's face. +Lingering over the tea-table where Gretchen presided with more than +youthful grace, we talked not only of the past, but of present work +and life. + +"One," I continued, taking up the thread, "I met in Southern Italy, +dreaming; as I was dreaming, by the dark grotto of Pausilippo. +Meeting upon classic ground, it seemed strange to talk of old times, +but we did. And sitting down upon the promontory of Baiæ, looking off +upon the blue sea, we told each other our respective stories; just as +ships will shift their course to come within speaking distance, +compare longitude, and exchange letters, and--part. I have not heard +from Eckerman since." + +My dreams were pleasant that night, and the next morning there was +another surprise for me. Gretchen's brother was the pastor of a little +church just above them; I must not go without seeing him, Gretchen +said. How could I? Euler was my classmate; together we labored for +knowledge, and our first manly sympathies run in the same channel. + +On Sabbath I saw my friend in the pulpit. "How like his father," I +whispered to Gretchen; the poetry in him warming his soul into a +burst of fervid eloquence, and his face glowing with the beautiful +truths he was unfolding to his hearers. An uncouth church of rough +stone, with quaint windows and curious carvings, the ceiling arched, +with a blue ground on which blazed innumerable stars. Strange and +novel as it was, my eye never wandered from the speaker; the voice and +expression so like the kind and generous man who had presided over the +college, and who carried with him the affections of each succeeding +class. This seems to me more of a triumph now, than it did then. A +cultivated mind may challenge respect, but there is need of a noble +one to win affection. + +It was a week before I could think of leaving, and then the clouds +twisted through and around the severed pyramids of the Alps, and the +rain began. In such weather the scenery is not only shrouded, but the +people are shut up in their homes. Pastor Euler had an ample study +however, and here we read and wrote, and talked; with his wife, a +pleasant-voiced woman, to enliven the pauses with music, and children +dashing into the study giving abrupt and sudden turnings to our +dreaming. Christmas was near, and I was easily persuaded to see more +of a people, shut in as they were from the noise and commotion of the +lower world, and still not so far as to be unknowing of all that was +taking place, whether in deliberative bodies, state policies, or the +lighter chit-chat of the day. + +"You will have an opportunity to see more of my parish than you can +possibly see on a Sabbath occasion. I visit them as often as I can, and +twice a year I receive them at my own house. The 'Weihnachtsgeschenk' +is looked forward to with great pleasure, and the meeting of the +Landsgemeinde in April is sure to bring my people together." + +Gretchen and her husband were clamorous for me to remain, and there +was no resisting the pleading tones of the children, their little +clinging fingers stronger than bands of iron. + +All night the rain beat against my chamber window, and in the morning +the lower slopes of the mountain were white with new snow. Dark clouds +lay heavily on the Alpine peaks, the air was raw and chilly--still it +was Christmas. I was aroused at daybreak by the chiming of village +bells, and then a procession of choral singers went through the +streets, pausing under the window of each house, and singing Christmas +hymns. As they passed on, the children caught up the refrain, and +joining hands made the halls resound with their gleeful voices. +Before breakfast a huge bowl was passed around with a foaming drink, +not unlike egg-nog in appearance, but differing in taste materially. +"May your Christmas be a merry one," as it passed from lip to lip; +"and a profitable one," was always responded. + +Church was open an hour earlier than on ordinary occasions, "so that +the people may have ample time for dinner," said the pastor. Religion +with these mountain worshippers was not a form. The birthday of the +blessed Redeemer was to them a reality. They believed that he was born +and that he died; and it was to commemorate his nativity that hymns +were sung and garlands wound. At an early hour they began to gather, +and before the time of service the house was closely packed. There +were no chains of evergreen, but small fir-trees were occasionally +placed. These were covered with garlands and crowns of bright-hued +flowers, giving a novel and striking appearance, as of some floral +temple or mosque, set in a great pavilion. The high pulpit was draped +in white, and a voluminous white curtain covered the background. The +effect was charming. + +And as the pastor began the service, the melody of his voice broke +away into tenderness as he touched upon the love of God in giving his +Son to be the propitiation for sin: holding up the picture so vividly, +and telling the simple story with a pathos and a power that little +children even could not fail to see and to appreciate. How much better +than studied and elaborate essays, diving into metaphysics and +technicalities so deeply that beauty is lost, and the mind diverted by +the difficulty of following the intricate windings. + +First did he impress his hearers with the fact that God loved the +world, and through the fulness of that love the Son came down to +suffer and to die: secondly, that the natural heart is at enmity with +God, not willing that God should rule. Thus a change must be effected; +a reconciliation made. This could only be wrought by sacrifice; and +Christ was offered once for all; his blood cleanseth from all sin. A +plain, simple statement, and it sunk into the hearts of his hearers +with a power sure to tell upon their future lives. + +After the blessing, each remained silently upon his knees for a few +moments. Then all was greeting and congratulation; all were friends; +the idea never entered their heads that a stranger could be among them +at that season. + +At dinner I was introduced to the landamman and two other members of +the council, and from them gathered brief notes with reference to the +little democracy won, and held intact for so many years. The dessert +was hardly removed before they began to come: first the old men in +black coats and high hats, and women with white, pointed caps and wide +ruffles; then the middle-aged, fathers and mothers, bringing little +children, all with the same conscientious expression on their faces, +the same "Happy Christmas," while the pastor's "God bless you," was a +benediction that carried happiness to the hearts of those who heard +it. + +Lastly came the youths; maidens with eyes full of a childlike +innocence, the quick color coming and going as they greeted the pastor +and his friends, and received his blessing in return. Gretchen and her +husband were with us, and Gretchen number two was my especial escort, +leading me through the rooms, and introducing me in her naive manner, +"Mamma's friend, and papa's, and uncle Euler's." + +Christmas festivities were kept up during the week; and before that +elapsed, I was won to add a month, and then another, it being quite +impossible to slip away from the kind friends with whom I had so much +in common; the fascination only the more potent as we listened to the +beating winds, and looked out into the slippery paths leading down +into the cantons beneath. + +Spring had come when it was "fit to travel," as Gretchen said. The +green of the landscape was brilliant and uniform; the turf sown with +primrose, violet, anemone, veronica, and buttercups. It was time for +me to leave; neither could I be persuaded to stay till the meeting of +the Landsgemeinde. It was sad to leave them, and the little Gretchen +was only pacified by my assurance that, if possible, I would return at +no distant day. My friend Spruner had business at Herisau, and +spending one more evening together, our prayers mingling for the last +time, we parted. + +Our way led through the valley of the Sitter, a stream fed by the +Sentis Alps, and spanned by a bridge hundreds of feet above the water. +The same smooth carpet of velvet green was spread everywhere. + +"There is no greener land," said Spruner; "the grass is so rich that +the inhabitants cannot even spare enough for vegetable gardens. Our +tables are supplied from the lower vallies." + +"In our country we should not dream of making hay in the month of +April," I remarked, seeing several stout men already in the field. + +"With suitable care they can mow the same field every six weeks," +responded my friend. "And it is no doubt this peculiar process that +gives such sweetness and splendor of color, seen nowhere else, not +even between the hedgerows of England." + +The day proved to be neither clear nor rainy: a steel blue sky brought +out the broken peaks of Kasten, while the white shoulders of the +Sentis were veiled with a thin, gray suit. + +"A month later and we should see the herdsmen," remarked Spruner. "The +leader of the herd marches in front with a large bell suspended from +his neck by a handsome leathern band; the others follow, some with +garlands of flowers and straps of embroidered leather, with milking +pails suspended between the horns." + +Before nightfall, occasional streaks of sunshine shot across the +mountain. It did not last, however, and when we reached our +stopping-place, it was raining below and snowing above us. + +The next morning our road dropped into a ravine, bringing something to +admire at every turn. Leaving our course, we visited the Cascade of +Horsfall, the beauty of which amply repaid us for the delay it cost. +That night we slept at Herisau, the largest town in the Canton, and +here I was to part with Spruner. There was no difficulty in reaching +the lower valley. With many shakes of the hand, and "May God's +blessing be upon you,'" we parted: one to take the railroad to Zurich, +the other back to his household charms, and the work he had chosen. + + + + +A Night In The Cathedral. + + +Franz Hoffner's father was kappelmeister; and the old cathedral with +its grained arches and cloistered aisles resounded with rare music, as +the organist took his seat, and run his fingers over the keys with the +careless ease of one who knows not only to control, but to infuse +something of his own spirit into the otherwise senseless machine +before him. Under his inspiration it became a living, breathing form; +lifting the hearts of worshippers, and giving them glimpses of what is +hereafter to be obtained. + +Herr Hoffner was a rare musician; but, alas, musicians are no +exception to the rule: the wheel is always turning; one goes up and +another goes down. A new star had risen. Court belles and beauties +grew enthusiastic. The elector's heart was touched; his influence was +asked. "Herr Hoffner has been here long enough," it was said. There +was a twinge of the electoral conscience. + +Herr Hoffner went to his house a ruined man; and the new favorite, +Carl Von Stein, played upon the keys so dear to the heart of the old +organist. + +Herr Hoffner had a wife and two lovely children; and one would suppose +that he could live in the beautiful cottage the elector had given him, +independent of the favorite. But no; deprived of his old instrument +all else was lost to him. For hours would he sit before his humble +door, heedless of his wife's entreaties or the childish prattle of +Franz and Nanette; his eye riveted on the old cathedral, and his hands +playing nervously, as though cheating himself with the idea he was +still at the organ. Then roused by a sudden inspiration, he would rush +to the piano and play till his hands dropped from mere exhaustion. + +Franz and Nanette loved music, and they could play skilfully, but they +were all too young to be of service; and thus they lived cut off from +all outward influences befitting their age; loving music above +everything else, and yearning for the time when they could go out and +win for their father, as he had once done for them. + +Years passed. Franz Hoffner was a tall, slight boy, and his father was +blind. Sitting at his cottage door he could no longer see the tall +towers of the old cathedral, but he could hear the chime of stately +bells--and his fingers played on: while Franz and Nanette not +unfrequently climbed up the winding stairs, just to beg Herr Von +Stein to let them touch the keys their father used to love. + +[Illustration] + +It happened one day the organist went out and left the key in the +lock. Franz entered with the evening worshippers. A nameless feeling +seized him. Urged on by the sudden impulse, he mounted the stairs. He +did not dream of playing, he only thought of the organ as his father's +friend; and to seat himself on the stool where his father had so often +sat was all he aimed to do. A moment, and he spied the key; would +there be any harm in raising the lid and playing himself? Herr Von +Stein had never denied him. He grew courageous. A few chords and Franz +forgot that his father would be expecting him; piece after piece was +played till his memory could serve him no longer, and then he began to +improvise. + +All at once heavy shadows were cast over the keys: he looked down +into the church, it was dark and still. A strange awe seized him, he +felt that it was night; and the great doors locked. Hastily as his +trembling limbs would allow, he crept down the stairs. Darkness +shrouded the aisles. He reached the doors, they were barred and +bolted. What would his father say? and Nanette, would she think where +he was, and rouse the old door-keeper? + +High up through the tower-window he caught sight of a star; and the +moon poured her silver radiance full on the face of the organ. +Creeping up the stairs, he once more opened the instrument. Surely +some one would hear him if he played, and Nanette he knew would not +leave him to stay in the old cathedral alone. + +Hours passed: the full moon cast her splendor on a sweet child-face +bent over the keys in the organ-loft of the old cathedral, a smile +still played about his lips, and his light brown hair lay in rings on +his broad, white forehead. Franz was asleep, and while asleep he +dreamed. + + * * * * * + +A beautiful lady, he thought, came to the cottage; she had a sweet, +lovely face, but so sad that Franz wondered what sorrow could have +come to one so rich and beautiful. The lady caught the expression of +his eye, and slipping her arm around him, drew him still nearer. + +"You think because I am rich that I must be happy. Learn then, my +child, that wealth does not bring happiness; neither does beauty win +lasting favor. To be good is to be rich, and it also makes us +beautiful. The power that we have in ourselves is far superior to the +outward circumstances that surround us." + +"My father had this power," replied Franz. "You see it did not profit +him; for when he thought himself secure as kappelmeister, the elector +gave his place to another, and now he is growing old and blind." + +"Is this so?" exclaimed the lady, a warm light flashing into her gray +eye. "Did the elector give his place to another?" + +"Indeed, he did; and it broke my father's heart," replied Franz. +"Since then, we have neither of us known pleasure; only when we go to +the cathedral, Nanette and me; and when we return, our father never +tires of asking questions." + +"This must not always be," replied the lady. "Will you come with me, +my child, and it is possible we can show you a way whereby you can do +something for a father whom you so much love." + +"I will go with you," replied Franz; "but I must not be gone long, +for my father will miss me when he wakes." + +Then Franz gave his hand to the beautiful lady, and she led him by a +smooth way through the most lovely wood; tall trees, filled with +singing birds, skirted the banks of clear, running streams, while +flowering shrubs and vines flung their perfume to the air. At length +she came to a gate so strong and high Franz thought it would be +impossible to open it. But as they approached, it seemed to swing back +noiselessly on its hinges. Franz saw there was a lodge there, with a +gray-haired man, and little children playing before the door, and as +the lady passed all bowed to her. + +Presently they came in sight of a magnificent castle, its walls white +and glistening; while the sunlight glinting against the deep windows, +flashed and scintillated like a bed of diamonds. As they came nearer, +the lady left the broad road, and wound along a narrow path, and came +to a little postern gate, and up a broad marble terrace, with +sparkling fountains, and with flowers brighter than he had seen +before, and birds of gay plumage flashing their beauty through the +tree-tops. At the top of the terrace she gave him into the care of an +elderly man, with a white flowing beard and eyes full of tenderness. A +few words were said, and the old man took Franz by the hand and led +him into a room, the floor of which was marble, smooth as glass, while +the walls were green and gold. In the centre was a marble basin or +pool, with steps leading down; the atmosphere was dim by reason of a +sweet and subtle perfume rising from the water. Franz was hardly +conscious till he came out of the bath; then his hair was carefully +dressed, and a new suit of clothes was brought him. + +He had only time to look at himself in the mirror, when the lady +returned. She was dressed in a rich white silk, covered with lace and +sprinkled with pearls and diamonds. On her head she wore a crown; +bright and sparkling as it was, it was not half so beautiful as the +sweet face that beamed below it. The deep traces of sorrow were gone, +she looked like one happy in the consciousness of a good deed done, +and a sweet smile was on her lip as she held out her hand to Franz. +Together they walked down the marble hall and up the broad staircase, +on through rows of stately ladies and martial-looking men, the crowd +opening and bowing as they passed. + +At length they came to a room larger, more magnificent than the rest. +Persian carpets covered the floor, and the windows were draped with +blue and gold. On a dais at the extremity of the room was an oaken +chair of quaint device, in which sat a proud-looking man, pale and +careworn as though weary of so much state and ceremony. + +"My child," said the prince, "Do you feel like playing for me? I am +too weak to go to the cathedral, and I fancy if I can hear you play I +shall feel better." + +Franz was a timid boy, but he loved to please. He was always ready to +play for his father. He glanced at the lady, there was a sweet smile +resting on her face. Dropping on his knee Franz kissed the hand of the +prince. "I will do my best, since you are so good as to ask me." + +Franz looked up, and saw what he had not seen before, an organ quite +like the one his father so loved. + +"Play just as you do in the old cathedral," whispered the lady, and +then she seated herself in a chair by the side of the prince. Franz +saw nothing but the keys, he heard nothing but the sweet soul harmony, +and this he must interpret to the beautiful lady and the sick prince +by means of his instrument. How long he played he never knew, but when +he ceased a slight hand lay on his shoulder, and a sweet face bent +above him. + +"To do good, Franz, is the secret of happiness. This power is yours, +and so long as you use it, so long you will be happy. The dear, +heavenly Father watches over and cares for those whose lives are given +for the good of others." Saying this she led him away to the prince. +But what was Franz's surprise! beside him on his right hand were +Franz's father and mother, no longer blind, but dressed in costly +robes, their faces radiant with happiness, while Nanette looked +charmingly, in a white gauze dress and silver slippers. Franz was +bewildered, not knowing whether to advance towards the prince, or to +run and embrace his parents. + +"This is the reward of obedience to your parents," said the lady, +kissing the boy's white forehead. + + * * * * * + +The light of day came streaming through the tower window--the child +awoke. It was cold. A chill ran through his frame. He had been in the +cathedral all night, and his parents--what anguish they must have +endured. Hastily as his numbed limbs would allow, he went down the +stairs. A few worshippers were bowing before the altar; Franz dropped +on his knees a moment, and then ran with all his speed out of the door +and down the street. + +Very glad were Franz's parents when he returned, and Nanette wept for +joy; but when at breakfast he related his dream, the face of the old +organist lit up with a great hope. + +"I know, my boy, it will all come true. So long as we love and trust +Him, the good Christ will not leave us to suffer." + +Christmas had come. There were no presents for Franz and Nanette. Only +one could they make, and this was a nice, warm dressing-gown for their +blind father. + +One day a beautiful lady took refuge in the cottage; her carriage had +broken down, and she must stop till the postilion could return to the +castle. At the cottage she heard Franz play and Nanette sing, and +listened to the blind organist, as the cathedral bells broke on the +evening air. + +"You must come with me," said the lady. "We have been planning +concerts at the castle, and you shall give them." + +"My children are not old enough to go by themselves, and I am blind," +replied the father. + +"I will not deprive you of your children," said the lady; "my father +has influence. And besides, he has near him an eminent physician; it +is possible something can be done to restore your sight." + +In three days the lady returned, and carried Herr Hoffner with his +wife and children to the castle. Charmed with the young musicians, the +elector repented of the thoughtless deed, in depriving the father of +his position as kappelmeister. Very tenderly did he treat him now, and +under the care of the skilful physician, it was soon announced there +was hope of his recovering his sight. This done, he was once more +offered the position; but Herr Hoffner was a just man; to do by +others as he would be done by was his motto. Herr Von Stein had filled +the post acceptably; it was no fault of his that the old organist had +lost his place. Herr Hoffner would not accept it, but only asked that +he might be allowed to give concerts with his children. Franz labored +diligently at his studies, and already was he beginning to surprise +his friends, not only with his playing, but with his composition. + +Years passed: there was a great gathering in that grand old capital. A +musical festival was in progress, and all the celebrities the world +over had congregated there. Franz Hoffner was in the zenith of his +glory. At the close of the performance, and while the entire audience +joined in acclamations of praise to the youthful leader, a rich medal +was presented. On one side the profile view of the elector and his +daughter, set round with diamonds; on the other, "Music is only +valuable as it lifts the heart and purifies our fallen nature." + +Franz Hoffner lived to be a great musician; but he never ceased to +think of his parents and Nanette. Honors were empty, and applause +vain, only so far as they contributed to the happiness of those he +loved. + + + + +The Glaciers Of Savoy + + +After a few weeks passed in Geneva, we determined to go on to +Chamouni, and for this purpose engaged a guide accustomed for years to +the mountain passes, and on whom we were told that we could rely +implicitly. + +This being arranged, we took a last drive around the environs of the +city; the views of the lake and of the mountains in every direction, +were enchanting and sublime. From the head of the lake, a greater +variety of interesting objects met the eye than can be seen perhaps +from any other spot in Europe. At your feet you behold a venerable and +populous city; while a vast and beautiful lake spreads its clear waves +beyond, amid a landscape rich in all the products a cultivated soil +can furnish; while vast and gloomy mountains stretch their giant forms +on high. In clear weather, Mont Blanc appears the venerable monarch of +the Alps. Below this, Saléve rises to upwards of three thousand feet, +with the uninterrupted length of the Jura on the left, whose highest +point is over four thousand. Proceeding along the banks of the Arve, +we at length alighted at the entrance of a thicket, through which we +made our way with difficulty, the path being hilly and very slippery, +to a place where we saw at our feet the celebrated junction of the +Arve and the Rhone. The Arve has a thick soapy appearance; the Rhone +is of a fine dark green, and seems for a while to spurn a connection +with its muddy visitor. For two or three miles the Rhone keeps up its +reserve, and the rivers roll side by side, without mingling their +waters. At length they meet and blend: the distinction is lost, the +polluted Arve is absorbed in the haughty and majestic Rhone. + +We were to leave Geneva the next morning. Before night our guide came: +he was ill, would we take his son? The proposition did not please us; +it was a dangerous journey, and many had been lost in the mountain +passes. + +"Erwald knows as much of the passes as I do," said the father, "and he +is anxious to go; his sister lives at Maglan, and she is down with the +fever." + +I saw how it was. Erwald was to go to Maglan to visit his sister; and +if the father could arrange for him to go with us, of course he +himself would be free to make another engagement. + +"Do you feel sure that you can guide us safely?" I asked of Erwald. + +"Certainly, monsieur; I have been over the way many times. If I was +not quite sure, I would not offer to go." + +"Not if you could gain a good many francs by going?" + +"It would not be right to say to you that I knew the way, if I did +not." + +The boy's face was attractive, his voice gentle, and his blue eyes +full of tenderness. His look and his answer delighted me. + +"No, it would not be right, Erwald; and because you love the right and +feel sure that you can serve us, I will take you in your father's +place." + +"I am glad, very glad; and now I must see my mother. Vesta is sick and +she will be glad to see any one from home." + +Erwald's face was glowing; I turned to the father. + +"Erwald is a good child," he said. "At first we felt vexed with him +and Vesta for leaving the church, and not a few times did we punish +them. But they were so good and patient that it troubled us; and now +their mother is a Protestant, and I never go to mass." + +It was explained, the serene calm of the earnest blue eyes: Erwald was +a Christian. + +Early in the morning our guide made his appearance. His countenance +sweet and pleasing as it was the night previous. He was accompanied by +a little woman in a black gown and bodice, with a high cap and the +whitest of kerchiefs--a mild sweet-faced woman, whom we knew at once +as his mother. + +"You'll tell Vesta mother thinks of her all the time, and prays the +Father every hour to make her well again." + +On my asking if she was not afraid to have her son go on so dangerous +a journey, she answered: + +"Our Father will take care of him and bring him back to us." + +The simple faith of the good woman struck me as greatly to be desired. +With all her simplicity she had the true Wisdom: and her good motherly +face went with me long after I left Erwald in Chamouni. + +A few miles from Geneva, we entered Savoy. Here the scenery of the +Alps began to open before us. On the right the Arve was seen winding +through a cultivated and luxuriant valley; on both sides, hills and +rooks rose to a considerable elevation, and behind, the mountains of +the Jura range closed in grandeur the delightful view. We passed +through a succession of peaceful villages, and at length reached by a +long avenue of elms the little town of Bonneville on the Arve. The +town is embosomed in the mountains, and watered by the river. It +has a fine old bridge over the river from which the country is viewed +to great, advantage. On the right the môle is elegantly formed, and +terminates in a peak, a complete contrast to Mont Brezon on the left, +wild and savage in its aspect, and little more than a bare and rugged +rock with occasional pitches of verdure. + +[Illustration] + +From Bonneville the road passes over the bridge to the foot of the +môle, and traverses a lovely valley, hemmed in by lofty mountains, and +rich in scenes of pastoral beauty. The road is lined on each side with +walnut-trees, which afford a grateful shade. Passing the village of +Sigony, Erwald pointed to the remains of an old convent far up the +mountain, whose inmates were wont to welcome the traveller, when these +valleys, destitute of good roads and inns, were explored with +difficulty and with danger. + +From this place the mountains closed upon us; rocks began to overhang +the road, and the Arve was rather heard than seen. At length we +crossed a romantic looking bridge and entered the little town of +Cluse, enclosed on both sides by rocky ramparts, and sheltered equally +from sunbeams and from storms. Following the various windings of the +valley, the Arve seemed to spread itself into a series of lakes, each +presenting its own peculiar loveliness and majesty. The sides of the +mountains were occasionally bare and rugged, but for the most part +they were clothed with forests of fir; while above, pointed summits +and fantastic crags everywhere met the eye, and filled the beholder +with admiration and awe. + +A few miles up the valley, Erwald called our attention to the entrance +of the cavern of Balme. It is a natural gallery in the rock and well +worth a visit. The valley now becomes more spacious; while its +boundaries increase in grandeur. The meadows, adorned with groves of +beech-trees, rise in gentle swells from the verge of the Arve, and +spread their green carpet, dotted with cottages and watered by +innumerable streams, to the base of the neighboring heights. At one of +these cottages we rested for the night. I never dreamed of a fairer +scene; it was too beautiful for sleep; the murmurings of the Arve were +the only sounds that broke upon the ear, while all around tremendous +precipices rose to heaven, shutting out from us the cares and tumults +of the busy world. To pay for my enthusiasm I arose with a headache +and a feeling of weariness that sensibly diminished the enjoyment of +the morning. + +Leaving this enchanted spot, we passed the waterfall D'Orli, and a +few miles beyond we paused to admire the cataract of Arpenas. Its +height is estimated at eight hundred feet. The water rushes with +considerable volume over a tremendous precipice of dark and fantastic +rocks. At first it divides into separate streams that in their fall +resemble descending rockets, till at length, caught by the rocks +beneath, they meet and mingle in one mass of foam. + +At the cataract we had an instance of that deception which is produced +to the eye by the magnitude of the objects which compose the scenery +of these Alpine regions. Viewed from the road the fall did not appear +by any means so considerable as it measurement determines; while at +its foot there was a little green hillock to the summit of which it +seemed a few steps would reach. To this hillock we determined to +proceed. But what was our astonishment when we found a mountain +before us, and when we reached its top, the cataract loomed up in +inconceivable vastness, rushing into a wild abyss beneath, that +deafened us with its uproar and bedewed us with its spray. + +We now approached the village of Maglan, where Vesta lived. As we drew +near, I observed Erwald's face flush and grow pale; that dear sister +he had not seen since his father drove her from the house because of +her apostasy. Now she was ill and had sent for him. How great the +change! His mother was a Christian and his father did not go to mass. +As we entered the village I was struck with the pleasing, intelligent +faces of all that we met. Leaving us at the door of the only +lodging-house in the place, Erwald went to visit his sister; but not +before I had asked that he would return for me provided that he found +her comfortable. In an hour or more, he returned, his countenance +sad, but still peaceful. Vesta was sicker than he had dreamed of; it +was feared that she would not recover. + +"Do you think it will not hurt her, for me to see her?" I asked. + +"Oh, no, she said that she would like to see you." + +During our short walk few words were said. As we reached the cottage a +young man came out to meet us, with a flaxen-haired, blue-eyed child +in his arms, and another clinging to his hand. It was Vesta's husband, +and these were her children. Following them into the cottage, I found +myself at once in the presence of the dying woman. The sight of a +strange face did not disturb her. With a look that seemed to +comprehend the Christian bond of union between us she held out her +hand. + +"I have come with Erwald," I said, "to see his sister. I am sorry to +find you so very ill." + +"Almost home," she gasped. + +"You do not feel that you are alone; there is One to walk with you?" + +"Jesus, my Redeemer, my Comforter." + +Erwald was kneeling by the bed, his eyes were full of tears, and his +hand trembled as he clasped the pale thin fingers. + +"You will get well, Vesta, you will come to the old home once again, +mother expects you, and father." The words were gone. Sobs echoed +through the cottage. + +"Tell mother, not an hour but I have thought of her. Tell her that I +am glad she loves Jesus; and father, ask him for my sake to read the +little Bible that I sent him. I would so like to see them, Erwald; +but it cannot be. For this, as well as for my husband and children, I +would live; but I go to Jesus. Live so as to meet me there." + +There was no excitement, only a weary look stole over the face. +Leaving Erwald, I walked back to the inn. Though far away from home, +and surrounded by strange scenery and strange people, it was +delightful to find the same faith here as in my own home, the same +heaven inspired confidence in the Redeemer. + +The next morning the sick woman was more comfortable. Erwald did not +say it, but I knew that he wanted to stay with her. + +"Go with us to Le Prieuré," I said to him, "and then you shall return. +In the valley of Chamouni I feel sure we can procure a guide." + +As we left Maglan, our road, or rather path, led up a deep and fertile +valley, watered by the Arve, rich in woods of fir, and bounded by +mountains of various forms and of tremendous altitudes; their rugged +peaks sometimes lost in the clouds; at others, their heads towered in +majesty above them. Bathed in the blue ether of the heavens they +looked as if themselves ethereal, oftentimes exhibiting a play of +colors, having the appearance of transparent matter, of the purest +elements and richest hues, and when seen in the light of the setting +sun they were only more glorious. At the upper end of the valley we +came upon the cataract of the Chede. It is elegant in form. The +scenery that surrounds it is sylvan and sequestered. The torrent that +feeds it rushes down a succession of precipices, hurrying dashing +along to meet the waters of the Arve. + +The path now became extremely difficult, and we continued to ascend, +till we reached the lake of Chede, whose water is famed as the purest +in the Alps. From this point we saw Mont Blanc--saw the clouds roll +off, and leave its rugged head white with the snows of ages--a +beautiful contrast with the deep azure of the sky it seemed almost to +touch. Looking, our eyes were dazzled by the vast and spotless object +before us; pure and fleecy as were the light clouds that lingered +round it, they were dark compared with its glittering brightness; +while the obscurity in which the lower scenes were wrapt gave it the +appearance of a crystal mountain in a sea of clouds. With Erwald +standing at my side, it seemed but a step from earth to heaven, +through those regions of the purest white, untrodden solitudes, meet +only for the visits of celestial beings. + +Thus far our way had been comparatively safe. Now, we had need of +caution at each step; scrambling along ledges of lofty rocks, with +deep ravines beneath; then crossing mountain torrents where a single +misstep would have been fatal. Before night we passed the remains of +an avalanche, an enormous mass of snow crushing as it fell everything +in its path. We were now in the valley of Chamouni. At the sight of +the first glacier I felt some little disappointment. It is not itself +a mountain of ice, but lies in a deep sloping ravine between two +mountains, filling it up, and differing in height according to the +base. There are five of these glaciers in the valley. They usually lie +in a direction north and south, and thus deeply imbedded in the clefts +of the valley the sun rarely visits them. + +From Savoy our numbers were greatly increased, and as the daylight +vanished we quickened our pace. Le Prieuré was before us. This was +the place where I had promised to part with Erwald. There were plenty +of guides; but none of them with the sweet calm look of the boy face +before me. + +"You will think of us sometimes," he said as I held his hand at +parting, "and when you pray to our heavenly Father, ask Him to look +upon us in mercy." + +"I will ask Him, Erwald; and I shall always remember the journey from +Geneva to Chamouni as the most varied and interesting of my life." + + + + +"The Bride Of The Aar." + + +It was the day after Christmas; a heavy fall of snow during the night, +the tiny flakes full of graceful motion till long past noon, had made +a gloomy day for the inmates of Myrtlebank. True, there was many a gay +trill and clear silvery laugh ringing through the old rooms. Alick was +spending his college vacation at home, and Frank and Carry were merry +as school-girls are wont to be, when books are flung aside, and fun +and frolic take the place of study and recitation. + +"What are you dreaming about, uncle Paul?" and Carry perched herself +on the arm of her uncle's chair, and patted his cheek with her little +dimpled hand. + +"I have been thinking, child"--and there was a choking sensation in +uncle Paul's throat, and a strange mist in his clear gray eyes. +Carry's sympathies were awakened. + +"Thinking about something long time ago, uncle Paul?" and the rosy +cheek was laid close to the thin, pallid one. + +"Tell us, uncle Paul; you know you promised us;" and Carry slid her +arms about her uncle's neck, and felt his great heart beat against her +own. + +"It was a long time ago," began uncle Paul. "I had just finished my +studies, and not being strong, the physician advised a year's travel +on the continent. My father was a merchant, and had friends in the +different European cities, and there was little danger that I should +lack for attention; and with a supply of letters, and one in +particular to a friend of my father's, a pastor among the mountains +of Switzerland, I started. I pass over the leave-taking; finding +myself alone on the sea; the nights of calm when leaning over the +ship's side, looking down into the dark depths, murmuring snatches of +home songs, bringing up vividly before me faces of those I loved; and +as the ocean swells came rocking under us, down we went into the +valleys and up over the hills of water. I felt as safe, rocked in the +great cradle of the deep, as when at home. His eye was upon me; His +arm encircled me. + +"But pleasant as the voyage and full of memories, I see that you are +impatient to pass over to the mountains of Switzerland. Words are weak +to describe the magnificence of the Juras: looking upon the rolling +heights shrouded with pine-trees, and down thousands of feet at the +very roadside, upon cottage roofs and emerald valleys, where the deer +herds were feeding quietly. All this I had seen, and then we came to a +little town called Bex; and here, from too much expenditure of +enthusiasm perhaps, I was confined for weeks with a raging fever. + +"One day, when the fever left me weak and feeble as a child, who +should enter but the good pastor Ortler. He had heard of my illness, +and leaving home, he had travelled over the hills to nurse me in my +weakness; and when I grew strong enough to bear it, he treated me to +short drives along Lake Leman, whence we could see the meadows that +skirt Geneva, the rough, shaggy mountains of Savoy, and far behind +them, so far that we could not distinguish between cap and cloud, Mont +Blanc and the needles of Chamouni. + +"The good pastor Ortler, with his fine voice and clear, earnest eyes, +was in possession at all times of a charm of manner that had for me +an irresistible fascination. But when he talked of God, his greatness +as seen in his works, the magnificent and matchless glory by which we +were surrounded: above all, when he spoke of His tenderness and love, +I realized as I had never done before the beauty of holiness, and the +happiness, in this life even, of a soul firmly anchored in the faith +of Christ. + +"Once, I remember, he steadied my feet to a rocky point overlooking +the little town of Ferney, and the deserted château of Voltaire. And +then followed a conversation, in which the tenderness of the good +pastor's heart was manifest as he spoke of the fine mind wrecked on +the sands of unbelief. 'And to think of this man's influence,' he +said, with sorrow in his tones, and regrets over a lost life and a +lost soul. + +"Upon the shores of the lake stood the old home of De Stael; and +nearly opposite, its white walls reflected upon the bosom of the water +the house where Byron lived and wrote. In the distance we could see +the gleaming roofs of Geneva, the dark cathedral, and the tall hotels. +As the weeks wore on I grew stronger. Winter was coming, and the good +pastor must go home. He would not hear of leaving me, and together we +went down into Savoy, and over the 'mer de glâce,' and trod on the +edge of frowning glaciers. + +"We were sufficiently near the monastery of the great St. Bernard to +take it in our path; toiling along where the ice cracked in the narrow +footway, and the moon glittered on the waste of snow and glinted +across the dark windows. Pastor Ortler was at home with the monks, and +hardly had we thawed ourselves before the ample fireplace, when a +supper was prepared, and over their well-spread tables the monks told +stories of travellers lost among the granite heights, with clefts and +ledges filled with ice. + +"Among the rest, friar Le-Bon gave a description of the 'Ice Maiden,' +or _'Bride of the Aar,'_ said to be seen often when the great glacier +of Aar sends out icy breezes, and the echoes ring from rock to rock, +as it were the audible voice of God. + +"'Years ago,' he said, 'a young Englishman and his wife were +travelling for scientific purposes; measuring heights, and sounding +depths. They were always accompanied by guides; but now, charmed by +the untold splendor, and urged by deep emotion, they climbed higher +and higher, regardless of danger. Twice had the guide called out to +them that the very beauty of the day, the sun obscured but not +darkened, the softened air, were all favorable to a snowslide or +avalanche. + +"'Full of life and vivacity, the young wife went on from one point to +another, higher and higher; her lithe figure brought out against the +sky, as occasionally she plunged her iron-pointed staff deep into the +snow, and turned to admire the vast panorama at her feet. Her husband +was making the ascent at a slower pace, looking up to admire the +boldness of the little woman, and then playfully scolding her as she +stood poised in mid-air so far above him. Aware of her danger, and +fearing to startle her, the guide had ascended, and now stood with the +husband on a little ledge quite underneath the cliff on which stood +the fearless bride. + +"'A moment--there was a low, murmuring sound, as when the autumn +leaves are swept by the evening breeze. The guide heard it, and his +cheek paled. At the same time a voice was heard above. + +"'"What is that, Walter, it seems as though the mountain was moving?" + +"'"For heaven's sake, jump! we will catch you," shouted the guide. + +"'"Quick, Gertrude!" A gleam of white shot over them, and a piercing +shriek mingled with one long resounding crash, and the glittering +crystal was plunged into the valley below, leaving nothing but bare +jagged rocks and stunted shrubs, where all was smooth and white but a +moment before. Months after, the bones of the fair English girl were +buried here,' continued friar Le-Bon. + +"'And her husband?' I asked. + +"'They brought him here, and it was terrible to see his agony. When he +grew stronger, we sent a novice with him to England; it would not do +to trust him by himself.' + +"'You do not mean to say that his reason was gone?' I asked. + +"'He was never rational after that morning,' replied the friar; +'muttering and moaning, and repeating the name of Gertrude constantly. +Carl left him with his friends, and we have never heard if he +recovered.' + +"'And the lady?' asked pastor Ortler. + +"'On calm, still days, and just before an avalanche,' said the kind +friar, 'her image is always seen standing upon the loftiest height, +beckoning with her white taper fingers to some one below.' + +"Entertained with so much hospitality, we were loath to leave the +friendly hospice, only for the pastor's anxiety to reach home. Down +into the sweet valley of the Megringen, and northward by Grindenwald +and Thun, and up the steep heights over which falls the white foam of +Reichenbach; and farther on towards the crystal Rosenlani, and the +tall, still Engel Horner, we came to a little village cradled in +security beneath the towering hills; the church-spire glancing in the +sunlight, and the simple cottagers jubilant in welcoming home their +beloved pastor. + +"At the door of the pastor's home we were met by a sweet-browed woman +with a lovely infant in her arms, crowing and laughing as the father +kissed it over and over again; while a boy of ten and a girl of six +summers, ran with open arms to greet him. + +"'You stayed so long, papa.' + +"'And we missed you so much,' after the first greeting. + +"'This young friend was very ill; you would not have had me leave +him?' + +"'Oh, no, papa, but'--when the little Griselda stopped suddenly, and +threw a half-defiant glance at my face, and Thorwald stood measuring +me with his great black eyes. + +"Hardly recovered from my illness, I stayed with the good pastor +Ortler through Christmas week, and a month afterwards. Never did I +pass pleasanter days. The wife Rosalind was as kind as a sister, and +her children grew soon to like me as an old friend. Very simple was +their manner of life, while the air they breathed was fragrant with +the love they bore to Him who made and redeemed them, and who had in +his good providence, set them in a pleasant place. + +"Christmas to them was not a week of jubilee alone. Busy hands +decorated the little church, and visits were made to the poor and +sick, and presents were given without the hope of reward. Sitting by +the parlor fire at night, the pastor told of the parishioners he had +seen, their wants and needs; while Rosalind knit stockings, and +fashioned garments. + +"'It would seem that one so well fitted for society would tire of this +narrow bound,' I once said. With an eye brimming over with tenderness, +the pastor replied: 'There are souls to save here quite as precious as +anywhere else.' I felt humbled before his quiet glance. This was the +work for him to do; this was the work he loved. What matter in what +part of the vineyard? wherever there was a soul. But this mountain +grandeur pleased him. These quiet solitudes led him upward. The +glorious diadem of the hills was always urging him onward. Hard and +self-denying as his life, he had ample recompense in daily, hourly +communion with the Father through the majesty of his works." + +"I should like to live where I could see all this," whispered Carry. + +"The heart that loves, finds beauty and grandeur everywhere," +responded uncle Paul; "not only the mountain passes, but the valleys +echo His praise, and there are few places so sterile but human lives +abound." + +"Griselda and Thorwald, have you seen them since?" asked Carry. + +"Ten years afterwards, I saw them. Griselda was a tall stately girl, +with blue laughing eyes, and curls of pale brown, and Thorwald was a +student at Geneva. Pastor Ortler was still the same, preaching to his +little flock, and giving freely of his means, his wife only slightly +older. Once more we wandered over the heights and in the valleys, the +spots where I lingered years before, plucking a flower and drinking +from the cold glacier water. Afterward, when it became necessary for +me to return, good pastor Ortler and his wife went with me, and +together we passed a winter in Milan." + +"And Griselda?" asked Carry. + +"Oh, uncle Paul, Griselda was"--and Carry glanced up at the portrait +of a young and beautiful woman hanging in a niche on the left-hand of +the fireplace. Uncle Paul's portrait occupied the other side. Silence +brooded over them; while to Carry it seemed the lady in the picture +looked as if with recognition in her eyes. How delicate, how aerial +she seemed! yet real, and true. Was it any wonder uncle Paul was so +good, having had the companionship of such a spirit so many years? And +as she looked, the stately frame seemed to open, and the lady to come +down from her place and seat herself on the other arm of uncle Paul's +chair, and to lay her head on his shoulder. + +"To do good was her aim, Carry; may it be yours," said uncle Paul, and +the spell was broken. + + + + +A Sabbath In Lausanne. + + +After a long journey we arrived at the head of the lake of Geneva, by +far the most interesting portion of this sheet of water. The mountains +on the left of the valley are extremely wild and majestic, and at +their feet, close on the borders of the lake, is the little village +where I had promised to spend the Sabbath with my old friend Wagner. +The sun had gone down, but a rosy flush tinged the clouds and lingered +about the tops of the mountains. + +The walk was not long to the parsonage, a low rambling cottage, with +deep windows and overhanging roof, embowered in trees and fragrant +with the breath of flowers. All this we took in at a look, and without +any break in the talk, taking us back as it did to the day when we +bade good-by to the college and its professors, and shook hands with +each other for the last time. Looking into Wagner's face it did not +seem so long ago; while I, floating round the world, had gathered +experience enough to make me feel, if not look, something older. At +the porch we were met by Maude, her slight girlish figure rounded into +the perfection of womanhood, the rich bloom of her cheek not quite as +deep perhaps; but the sweet blue eyes met mine with all the old +frankness, the charming naivete that had rendered her so much a +favorite when a child. + +Sitting there in the lessening light it all came back; the old +university at Basle, and above all, the old professor, Maude's father, +whom we all loved. + +"His place is well filled, and still we miss him," said Wagner. + +There were tears in the young wife's eyes, and rising hastily she +disappeared into the house. A few moments later she appeared, her face +smiling and glad, a very sweet-faced babe clasped in her arms, another +tugging at her gown. "Allow me to show my treasures," she said, as she +seated herself beside me. Hours passed as hours will when friends have +been separated for years. Then came a summons to tea; and after that +Maude put up her jewels, and the pastor introduced me to his study. +Summer though it was, a bright fire of sticks was burning on the +hearth; bright, but not too bright to exclude the outside view. Slowly +the purple curtain drooped over the mountains, falling lower and +lower, until the small village, the tiled roofs, and the wooden spire +were wrapped in a cloud of dusky haze. + +"You have wondered why I content myself here, when a professorship +was offered me at Basle," said Wagner at length. "It was a temptation, +I allow; and when I thought of Maude and the social position from +which I had taken her, I hesitated. She did not, however. 'These +people love you, and your preaching is blessed to them. I am afraid if +you leave, there will be no one else; and one soul saved outweighs all +their professorships.' It was sweetly said, and I knew by the look on +her face that her heart was in keeping with her words, and I answered +her accordingly." + +It was late, and the next day would be the Sabbath. Maude joined us, +when a hymn was sung and a prayer offered, and we slept. + +The sun was shining when I awoke, and opening my lattice I looked away +to, the mountains, their white heads mellowed with a glory that +inspired only thoughts of that God who made all things, and who holds +them by the power of his might. There was a stir in the village, just +enough to show the inhabitants were not sleeping away the precious +hours. A cheerful, calm reigned, in keeping with the hallowed day; the +very birds sang in a subdued and still triumphant tone, as if they +knew 'twas holy time; while the dumb cattle, feeding on the road, +cropped the brown grass noiselessly. Gliding down the broad stairway, +I opened the study door. The pastor was there, and I saw by the open +book, with the cushion before it still deeply indented, that he had +been kneeling. He advanced with his usual good-humored smile, while +his voice had the mellowed sweetness of one who had been on the mount +speaking face to face with the King of kings. + +"I question if the Sabbath is as beautiful in the larger towns," said +the pastor, leading me to the deep window. + +Below, the garden sloped away to a considerable distance, and the +flowers still sparkling with the dewdrops lifted their heads timidly. +"You see there is some compensation for our solitude; with less +temptations to draw away our thoughts, we are privileged to go up +through these temple gates from glory to glory. Did you ever see +anything more grand and inspiring?" and he stepped out on to the +balcony, and pointed me to a range of hills ascending gradually till +the top seemed to reach the clouds. + + "Here linger yet the showers of fire, + Deep in each fold, high on each spire + On yonder mountain proud." + +Up the walk came Maude, leading by the hand the little Lotchen, the +prattle of the child showing the lesson the mother had been +attempting to teach. Beautiful such a Sabbath! and my heart felt +refreshed as I stood upon the threshold and looked out into the new +day. + +"We used to work together in Basle," said the pastor as we seated +ourselves at the breakfast-table, "suppose we make the effort to-day." + +"That will depend upon the portion that falls to my share," I replied. + +"Give him the pulpit, Heinrich," said Maude naively. + +"I am not sure that I wish him to fill it," replied the pastor with a +smile. + +"I more than half wish I could," came to my lips unbidden, and I could +hardly keep the tears as I thought of the few months it had been mine +to labor in this manner, then of that fearful illness, the loss of +voice, and the journey to regain health and strength to be spent in +His service. + +"You remember the old Bible class," said Wagner; "I have one here, or +rather two, for we meet twice a day, some finding it more convenient +to come in the morning and others after service, so that my time is +pretty well filled." + +"And you would give me one of the classes," I said, as Maude filled my +coffee cup the second time. + +"This is what I propose to do." + +"And I accept most cheerfully." + +"We have but a little time; in an hour you will be ready," and the +pastor went to his study. + +An hour afterwards the street was full of eager faces, all going to +the house of God, quiet and calm, but still cheerful and happy, +stopping to interchange greetings with each other, above all glad of a +welcoming look and smile from the pastor. I soon saw wherein was the +charm; sympathizing and kindly affectioned toward his people the +pastor interested himself in the little history of each, neglecting no +one, and especially attentive to the poor and feeble aged ones of his +flock. All loved him as a pastor, and by reason of this he persuaded +them the more easily. + +The church was a quaint structure, half gothic, and half of a +nondescript architecture peculiar to itself. Leaving the vestibule we +entered at once the main audience-room, large, and sufficiently +commodious, but somewhat dark and gloomy. The pulpit was high, and +looked like an upright octagonal vase perched on a square pedestal. +This was unoccupied at present, the people taking their seats, and +forming as I saw at once into two distinct classes. In a few words the +pastor explained why it was thus, and then offering a prayer in which +all joined he proceeded to give me one of the classes, while he began +to question the others. + +It was a novel group, the women in black skirts, with square boddices, +surmounted by white kerchiefs, with long flowing sleeves of white. But +the head had the strangest appearance. The more elderly women wore a +black cap, from the edge of which depended a trimming rising +perpendicularly from the cap from four to eight inches and gave to the +head the appearance of wings. Strange as it at first seemed, I soon +forgot all but their eager, animated attention. The theme was the love +of God in giving his only Son to be the propitiation for our sins. +Very evidently, it was no stranger of whom we were speaking. Not +satisfied with a mere bearing of his name, they knew and loved him. +His divine arm had been reached down to them. Charmed with his sweet +countenance, and won by his gentle, loving words, "Come unto me," +they came with the trust and confidence of little children, +acknowledging their sin, but taking him at his word, "I, even I am he +that blotteth out thy transgressions, for my own sake, and will not +remember thy sins." It was sweet to talk of him, this Saviour, who had +done so much for them; and before I was aware the tears were running +down my own cheeks, and my words were broken and fragmentary. In the +meantime other worshippers came in. The hour for this kind of +instruction was over. The pastor availed himself of a moment's +respite, and the next was seen ascending the pulpit stairs. Maude was +seated among the singers, and the morning services commenced. + +I had never heard my friend deliver a formal discourse, but I knew it +mattered little to him whether his message was given to few or +many--love for Christ, and earnestness to save souls was the +all-absorbing passion of his heart. It was only a continuation of what +he had been saying, the sweetly touching story of Christ's love told +simply, and still with the earnest, truthful spirit of one who knew by +blessed experience the reality of what he was saying. Standing in his +place and holding up the cross, for the moment it seemed that we could +see Him, the Divine Son, hanging, bleeding, dying that sinners like us +might be redeemed, saved, reinstated. What love! What tenderness! Is +it any wonder that we wept? Not a dry eye was in the house. Those +hardy peasants, with little intellectual culture, had hearts to love, +hearts that could understand and appreciate in some feeble manner the +promise of pardon and peace through a crucified Redeemer. + +It was an hour well spent. Never have I felt nearer the divine +presence, nor more of the joy, the rest that springs from intimate +communion with the blessed Saviour. How strange the revulsion of +feeling in a few moments of time. I had looked with a little of +pleasantry upon the quaint figures and novel costumes of the +worshippers; now, I saw only the earnest attitude, the anxious gaze, +the loving look. Jesus was all in all, and their love for him +beautified their faces. + +As we went home many kindly words were interchanged, the pastor +seeking out the elderly feeble ones, and Maude speaking with the +mothers, and patting the heads of little children, while I found my +way to a group of youths, to deepen if possible the impression of the +morning. + +After dinner there was a repetition of the Bible-class, though now +they met at the pastor's house. As it was warm and pleasant we seated +ourselves in the garden, dividing into three groups. This class was +entirely different from the one of the morning, being made up of +those, many of them mothers, who could not leave their children to go +out earlier; and with some, this service was the principal one of the +day. The attention was quite as good, and the manner the same. It was +a pleasure to teach, and the sun was throwing his last red beams on +the hillside as the last one left the garden. It had been a long day, +but we felt repaid. + +"You have had a glimpse of our family and of our work," said the +pastor. "How do you like it?" + +"Is this a specimen of all your Sabbaths?" + +"Just the same, with the fluctuating difference of numbers; scattered +as our people are, many of them living halfway up the mountains, they +are not always able to be here." + +"I agree with Maude that your service is needed here." + +"I knew you would. There are souls to save here as well as in Basle, +and sometimes I think the love of these simple hearts is sweeter to +Jesus." + +Far away the mountains were lifting their heads, bathed in the golden +glory from the setting sun. Maude caught the direction of my eyes. + +"Perhaps I fear to much the effect upon my own soul; but these grand +temple-gates are always open, and from their entrance we seem to catch +glimpses of the celestial city beyond, inspiring only good and noble +thoughts, with an anxious, earnest endeavor to reach higher +resting-places." + +"And you fear this would be less in the noise and din of the city." + +"Not quite that, for the heart that loves Jesus can live and work for +him anywhere; but with a free choice I prefer this." + +I felt that she was right, it was the work God had given her to do, +and she was willing to do it; while the question returned to me with +tenfold force, Are you as willing to labor in the field that He has +given to you? The man with a vineyard places his laborers as he would +have them, giving each one according to his capacity, be it more or +less. Our Father has a vineyard; it is the world, and his children are +the laborers. "Go work in my vineyard," is the command. The choice is +His who placed us there; to work is ours. + +"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; +and lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." + +The next day I left Lausanne, the good pastor and his wife joining me +for a few miles on my way, and then we parted--to meet, teacher and +taught, in the city of our God. + + + + +The Guide Of Montanvert. + + +We were passing the summer at the Pays de Vaud; thence making +excursions, as suited our inclination, to different portions of the +country, always finding something new and striking--something out of +which we could draw profitable lessons for the future. + +On one of these occasions we made the ascent of Montanvert, and +visited the Mer de Glace. Montanvert rises abruptly from the vale of +Chamouni, and may not improperly be considered a portion of the base +of Mont Blanc. It is beautifully wooded to its summit, whence its name +of the Green Mountain. + +As we were standing in the court of the inn discussing the merits of a +guide, and anxious to find a trusty and intelligent person from whom +we could learn all that was to be learned, as well as feel secure in +his choice of the best paths, a boy and girl came up the hill, and +speaking hurriedly to the landlord, advanced confidently to the place +where we stood. Lifting his cap, while a shower of light soft curls +fell over his coarse blouse, he asked if we were in search of a guide, +and if we would take him. His manner was so respectful, and his face +and appearance so youthful, we were attracted, and still did not know +how to reply to him. + +"I was thinking of Franz," said the innkeeper; "you need not fear his +youth; he was born here, and his father has always been considered one +of the best guides in the country; Franz knows every path." + +"Let his father come with him," I suggested. I thought I caught a +tear in the boy's eye, and his lips trembled. + +"Father is old, and besides he is very ill to-day; if you will allow +me I will serve you faithfully." + +There was something so frank and truthful, and his words were so well +chosen and showed such cultivation, that even had I feared that he was +unequal to the task I should have taken him. + +At this moment his sister came out of the inn, the good woman +following her with a bottle of wine. + +"This is for your father, Annette; I hope he will be better +to-morrow." + +"I am going," I heard Franz whisper; and taking the wine-bottle, he +left Annette to carry the smaller packages, and turned to us as if +ready to set off. + +"You are not to take Annette, are you?" I asked. + +"We live halfway up the mountain, and shall pass near the house. We +shall not need our poles till we reach that point." + +We did not over-exert ourselves at the outset, casting our eyes over +the green valley, and then up the snowy mountains, sometimes +exchanging a word with Franz, but oftener listening, as he talked in a +low voice to Annette, of what she was to do during the day. + +"And if he dies, Franz!" + +"God grant that he may not." + +We had now reached the little cottage, and, laying down her packages, +Annette ran to a little shed and brought each of us a long pole +furnished with a spike at the end, for which we found abundant use +before we returned; she then brought a draught of clear, cold water, +gushing out of a rock near by, and, bidding us "God speed," entered +the hut. + +Franz was with us, but he had just stopped for a word with his +father, and there was a moisture in his eye that came very near +calling the tears to our own. We did not question him then, but going +on, we paused occasionally to observe the ruin which had been wrought +by many avalanches, while our ears mistook the sound of others for +thunder. Trees uprooted, withered branches and blasted trunks were +scattered in every direction, and sometimes a large space was +completely cleared by one of these tremendous agents of destruction. + +"You have seen the village of Chamouni," said Franz; "it is said to +have been built by a few peasants who escaped an avalanche that +occurred on the opposite side of the Arve." + +The higher we ascended the more steep and difficult it became, and +more than once did Franz have to turn and teach us how to use our +poles, resting the weight of the body upon them, but still inclining +the figure to the face of the mountain instead of the valley. Higher +up we came to shoots or rivers of frozen snow; the inclination of the +ice being extremely steep and the surface smooth, Franz crossed first, +making marks with his pole for our feet. He then directed us to look +neither above nor below us, but only to our feet, for should we fall +nothing could save us from sliding down the ice and being dashed +against the rocks or the stumps of trees beneath. Passing the first in +safety, we found the next less formidable, while the danger was +diminished in proportion to the experience we acquired. + +Once over, Franz told us how his father was accustomed to descend the +ice shoot; planting his heels firmly in the snow and placing his pole +under his right arm and leaning the entire weight of his body upon it +he came down with the swiftness of an arrow, his body almost in a +sitting posture, his heels and the spiked end of his pole alone +touching the ice and deeply indenting it. + +"It happened," said Franz, "that my father was showing a small company +of travellers to the summit, when a sudden fancy seized one of them to +make the descent in that way. My father expostulated, and told him +that it required practice and skill, that but few of the guides would +undertake it. He would not be deterred, feeling, as he said, sure that +he could do anything performed by another. Seeing that he was +determined, my father helped him to adjust his pole, and then shut his +eyes." + +"And what then?" I asked, as Franz stopped and looked in the direction +of the Mer de Glace. + +"There was no help for him," said Franz; "he was buried at the foot +of the mountain." + +Having reached the summit, the scene that burst upon us was sublime in +the highest degree; immediately beneath was the Mer de Glace, a broad +river of ice running nearly forty miles up into the Alps; to the north +the green valley of Chamouni, to the south the gigantic barriers that +separate Savoy from Piedmont, and around us inaccessible peaks and +mountains of eternal snow, finely contrasting with the deep blue of +the heavens; while the roar of cataracts and the thunder of avalanches +were the only sounds that broke upon the profound stillness of the +terrible solitude. + +On the summit of the mountain we found an inn or hospice. We entered +and warmed ourselves, neither did we refuse the black bread and glass +of sour wine that were presently brought to us. As we sat by the fire +a small table was brought near us, and on it lay the album in which we +were expected to enter our names. Many notable autographs we found +here, and despite the gladness we felt in adding ours to the number, +there was still a sad, desolate thought: those most distinguished had +all passed away. The mountains remained, their glory undiminished; but +the human beings climbing their heights, and exulting in the grandeur +of heaven and earth, had vanished like the mist wreath. Years would +pass and other feet would cross the slippery fields, other eyes look +out upon the work of God's hands, other names be traced, and we, like +the throng before us, be gone--no longer to look upon the created, but +the Creator. + +As soon as we were sufficiently rested, Franz summoned us to the Sea +of Ice, and we began to descend the steep and rugged face of the +mountain. As we approached the surface of the glacier, these +inequalities rose into considerable elevations, intermingled with +half-formed pyramids, bending walls and shapeless masses of ice; with +blocks of granite and frightful chasms at once savage and fantastic. +It puzzled me to know why it should have been called a sea, a rough +and stony one at that; but to me it looked like a river, walled in by +two enormous mountains, rising to the height of ten thousand feet, and +forming a ravine a mile and a half wide, that pursues a straight +course for several miles and divides at the upper end into two glens, +like deep gashes, that run up to the highest elevation of the Alps, +terminating at the lower extremity in an icy precipice of two thousand +feet, whose base is in a still deeper valley. It was as if there had +been innumerable torrents dashing down the precipice into the +valley--arrested by a mighty hurricane as they hurried along, and +wrought into the wildest forms by the fury of the tempest, and then +suddenly congealed, leaving a sea or river of ice, framed in with +lofty peaks and snowy summits, cataracts and avalanches, clouds and +storms, a wonderful combination of the grand, the terrible, and the +sublime. + +Franz understood his business of guide too well to let me loiter as I +wished. "These fissures are the chief danger," he said; and, holding +out his small hand, he grasped mine with the tenacity of one not +accustomed to let anything slip through his fingers. A girdle of +imperfectly frozen snow borders this sea; and Franz never planted his +feet till he had first ascertained the nature of the surface with his +pole. Some of these fissures are of an amazing depth, and, taking out +my watch, I tried to fathom one of them by dropping large fragments of +granite; and calculating by the time that elapsed before reaching the +bottom, we judged it to be over five hundred feet. + +Franz had hurried us; now, he stopped, and bade us look above us. We +did so, and were amply repaid for all our toil. To try to describe it +would be in vain; and still the distinct outline is indelibly +impressed upon my mind, and I am confident will never be effaced. We +were standing in the midst of the rough waves and yawning abysses of +this frozen sea; while almost perpendicularly from its brink the +mountains rose, clothed with scanty herbage, and adorned with the tiny +crimson blossoms of the rhododendron that bloomed upon their sides. + +As the eye looked up the valley, every trace of vegetation died away; +and the snowy mountains appeared to meet and mingle with each other. + +We left the glacier, and ascending again to the hospice of Montanvert, +I sat down by the side of Franz upon a block of granite, and looked +again upon a scene the equal of which I never expect to see again. +There was a far away look in Franz's eyes. Was he thinking of the +little cottage far up the mountain, and of Annette watching by the +bedside of his sick father? Perhaps so; in any case I was glad that we +had taken him. His could not be an everyday story, there must be some +particular motive why he should want so earnestly to come. I would not +question him then; but I determined to stop at the little cottage and +learn for myself. + +With all the untold glory above and beneath me, I felt oppressed with +the littleness, as well as the greatness of my nature. How +insignificant I appeared amid these gigantic forms; and still I +exulted in the consciousness that "My Father made them all, that +Father with whom I could commune, and whose Son I was privileged to +love." + +"And this God is our God," I was constrained to say aloud. Franz +turned his speaking eye upon me. + +"If it was not for this, how could we endure it?" he said, while there +was a grave, calm look on his face, so little to be expected in a +guide. + +"How could we endure this grandeur, or our own littleness?" I asked. + +"To know that God rules, giving each his place, to the mountains +theirs, and to us ours. Insignificant we may be, and still we are each +of us of more value than all the mountains in the universe. Jesus +created mountains; but he died for us." + +"Where did you learn this, Franz?" + +"From the Bible, sir." + +I saw it all; the Bible was the textbook he had studied. It was this +which had given him that rare expression of face, and the words so far +above the condition of life indicated by the little hamlet where he +lived. + +There was no more time, for the sun was going down, and we must go +with it; and rising, we began to make the descent. + +The moon was full orbed before we reached the cottage. I was weary +beyond the power of utterance. + +"If you would prefer to stop here, we can give you a comfortable bed," +said Franz, "and Annette will have something to eat. I told her that +there was a possibility that you would like to remain." + +It was the very thing I wanted, and placing my pole by the side of +Franz's in the little shed from which Annette had brought it in the +morning, I entered the cottage. + +All was still and quiet. It seemed Annette had not heard us; for as +the door was opened, she rose from the bedside, where she had been +kneeling, and springing lightly to Franz hid her little tear-wet face +in his bosom. She did not perceive me, and for a moment there was +nothing to be heard but the heavy breathing of the sick man. + +"How has he been, Annette?" and Franz unclasped his sister's arm. + +"He did not say much till the sun was nearly down, then he began to +ask for you, and at last I read him to sleep." + +"Can you give us something to eat, Annette? you see I have brought the +stranger with me." + +She turned with such an air of modesty, dropping a courtesy so very +humbly, and yet with a blending of maidenly dignity, that I felt +instinctively to bow to the womanhood before me, quaint and +picturesque as it was in its black dress, white sleeves, and +wooden-heeled shoes. + +Giving one glance at the sleeper, Annette slipped out at a side-door; +while Franz rising from his straight-backed chair, and dropping on his +knees beside the bed, pressed his lips to the furrowed brow. The +action seemed to recall the sick man, his breathing was not so heavy +and his eyes partly opened. + +"Father, you are not sleeping easily; let me turn you on your pillow." +The voice was low and tender, and the action gentle as a woman's. +"Franz!" and the withered hand stroked his light curls. "Franz!" there +was nothing more; but oh, what a world of love, of restored +confidence! the stiffening tongue lingered fondly on each letter. + +The room was large, and there was a general air of neatness; but +there was a lack of comforts such as we are accustomed to see at home. +There was no lamp in the room; only on the hearth a pine-knot nearly +spent, sending out now a bright light, then wavering, bringing out +shadows on the wall, and permitting us to catch glimpses of the +outdoor radiance, the silvery effulgence of the rocks and hills. + +The sick man slept, and now his breathing was as sweet as an infant's. +I rose to look at him, his bronzed face bleached to a deathly pallor, +his high brow seamed with furrows, and his hair like a network of +silver falling over the coarse white pillow. + +"Has he been long ill?" I asked. + +"It is about three months now," and Franz drew up a little stand, and +lifted the Bible that had been lying open on the bed to the table. + +"Annette spoke of reading him to sleep; was this the book?" I +questioned. + +"Father has come to like this since he was sick; he don't care for any +other." + +"Then he has not always liked it?" + +"No, sir." + +"May I know, Franz, when you first learned to love this book?" + +He looked up with such a shy, timid look, and still with the same +frankness that had characterized him during the day. Just then Annette +entered, whispered to Franz, and both went out. In a moment Franz +returned. + +"Annette was afraid it would not do; it is the best we have, and I +know you must be hungry." + +White bread, and strawberries, and goat's milk; while the bottle of +sour wine I had seen in the morning graced the table. I had not +expected such a tempting meal, and I was hungry, as Franz said. Taking +his seat Franz raised his eyes to mine. There was no mistaking its +upward, grateful glance. Bowing our heads, we asked a blessing, and +then picking up the broken thread, Franz went on to tell me of +himself. + + +Franz's Story. + +"It is nearly four years since an English gentleman and his daughter +visited Chamouni, and my father was their guide. Mr. Wyndham was a +gentleman of refined manners; a Christian man, loving God, and +speaking of that love with the earnestness of one who wishes others to +love Him also. His daughter Alice, a frail, gentle girl, was one of +those beings that seem lent, not given; the last of a large family, +and herself not strong. Her father brought her to Lausanne, hoping +that pure air and change of scene would restore and invigorate her. I +hardly know why, but certain it is that my father was never so much +interested in travellers before; while from the first it seemed to me +that I could never do enough for the gentle girl, who never failed to +inspire me with the love of something beyond what I knew. It was not a +tangible idea, and when I tried to reach it I could not. Often in +going up the mountain we would stop and rest on some shelf of the +rock, while Alice would take her Bible from her pocket, and read the +beautiful descriptions of the majesty and glory of the mountain +heights, their grandeur and splendor, and then of the great God, +creator and ruler of the universe, and kneeling in the cleft of the +rock, she would commit herself to him with such a sweet, childlike +confidence, I used to weep without knowing what I was weeping for, +wishing and longing that I could understand for myself. Whenever she +read, and especially when she prayed, my father would listen +attentively, taking care when we went home to say nothing about it. + +[Illustration] + +"I remember one day we had been to 'Le Jardin,' a little spot of green +at the foot of the grand Jarasse, framed in with eternal snows, but +itself covered with Alpine plants and flowers, and yielding herbage +sufficient to tempt the herdsmen to drive their cattle across the Mer +de Glace. Her father and mine had gone a little out of the path, +leaving me in charge and Alice to rest. Seeing some bright flowers of +a peculiar species I stopped to gather them, and when I returned Alice +was reading. It was not of Christ's power, glory and majesty, but of +his love, the tenderness he felt for us, of his life, and last of all, +of his death. I had never heard the story before, and it took entire +possession of my spirit. Going down the mountain I was continually +asking myself, 'What shall I render to him for all he has suffered on +my account? and what for the blessings he has given me?' Thinking of +his buffetings, scoffs and scourging, I could hardly keep the tears. +My father observing this, and supposing that I was weary or had hurt +myself, was kinder than usual; but when I told him of the little book +and what Alice had told me of the love of Jesus, he grew angry and +said that the next time they needed a guide I should stay at home. 'I +have listened once or twice,' he said, 'because my living depends upon +my politeness to strangers; but when it comes to turning the heads of +my children it is quite another thing.' + +"A few weeks after this Mr. Wyndham left Chamouni for Lausanne. + +"'We shall miss you,' said Alice; for my father let me go to bid them +good-by; 'and that you may have something to remember me by, I am +going to give you this little Bible. You will see that I have marked +the passages I want you to study; and you must try to read it every +day.' + +"It was the very thing that I had wanted, but I could hardly tell her +so. Tears were running over my face, and I had barely time to slip the +little book into my pocket when my father came up. After that I was +happier. I could read for myself, and it was sweet to know that God +cared for me. Many a pleasant hour did I enjoy in the mountain passes, +and in telling Annette of the treasure I had found in the Bible. + +"My father may have suspected this. I hardly know; but one day the +priest came to talk to me upbraiding me not a little with reading a +book that could do me no good, and demanding that I should give it to +him. This I refused to do. He appealed to my father; invectives and +blows followed, and at last my father told me that I should either +give up the book or never see him or Annette any more. It was a +struggle, and I came near giving it up. + +"When Annette suggested that I should go to Lausanne and see Mr. +Wyndham and Alice, I had not thought that I could do this, and without +delay started. I was received very kindly by Mr. Wyndham. Alice had +grown very weak; could not walk, and seldom could ride. I can not tell +you how the days passed, neither of the exertion she made to teach me +out of my little book. Then came a day when her voice was still, and +the next the sweet face was hidden from my sight for ever. + +"Soon after this Mr. Wyndham left for England, but before he left he +had a long talk with me, and of my plans and hopes for the future. The +result was that I was placed in school, of which there are several, in +Lausanne, and began to study with reference to being myself a teacher +of his blessed word. My little Bible I sent to Annette; but my father +would not let me come home. For the last year he has been failing; +three months since he took to his bed, and then Annette prevailed upon +him to let me come and wait upon him. I found him greatly changed. +From the first he let me read the Book, as he calls it, and of late I +feel that he loves Jesus, and trusts him for the future. Living upon +his labor, it troubles him that he can do nothing; and this was why I +was so anxious to go with you yesterday; he likes to think of me as a +guide." + +"And I trust you will be a guide," I said, as we left the table and +entered the sick-room, "a guide to lead souls to Christ. What a +blessed privilege!" + +"If I can only do it," and his eyes were full of a holy light. + +Annette sat by the bedside; the face of the sick man was as pale as +marble, and but for the gentle breathing, we should have thought him +already departed. Franz put on a fresh knot, and the red flame sent a +rosy tinge over the apartment. Sitting before the fire we watched him +as he slept, knowing, feeling that it could not be long. Then a +chapter was read, and a prayer went up for strength and guidance. + +Franz would not let me watch with him; and leading me into a small +room with a clean but somewhat hard bed, left me to myself. Weary as I +was, I could not sleep. The glory of the day; the sad, sweet history +just related; the sick man, with the messenger waiting at the humble +door, thrilled me with a feeling that would not rest. Opening my +window, I enjoyed the stillness, the solitude, and the grandeur of the +scene: the glittering dome of Mont Blanc, and all the surrounding and +inferior domes and spires and pyramids that cluster in this wondrous +region, which fancy might conceive the edifices of some great city, or +the towers and dome of some vast minster. Far above the mountain-tops +the moon was shining; while her retinue of stars, seen through the +cool crisp air, seemed larger and more beautiful than I had ever +before seen them. + +It would be impossible to detail all the thoughts that passed, and the +emotions that were excited in my mind. Every object around, beneath, +above me seemed in silent but impressive eloquence to celebrate God's +praise; from the moon that led the starry train, from the patriarch of +his kindred hills and nearest to the heavenly sanctuary, down to the +frozen glaciers and the roaring torrents of the lower valleys, all +seemed endowed with a peculiar language--a voice to touch the heart of +man, and to enter into the ear of God. + +At length sleep overpowered me, and when I awoke the sun was shining. +Stepping into the outer room I was met by Franz, looking as fresh as +though sleep had not been denied him. Leading me to the bedside, he +spoke a few words to his father, while the trembling hand met mine, +weak and worn. I saw that his course was nearly run; but there was a +light in his eye that spoke of peace. Words were of little use. + +After breakfast, which Annette insisted that I should take, I walked +down to the inn, and there learned more of Franz than he had been +willing to tell me. Not only had he been the means of leading his +father to the Saviour, but it was his habit to gather the people +together and read to them out of his Bible, telling them of Jesus and +of his pure and spotless life, then of his agony and death, picturing +his love and his infinite tenderness. + +I was not restricted to a set number of days, and for three days I +vibrated between the inn and the small cottage on the mountain. On the +fourth it was over; the messenger had done his bidding. Franz and +Annette were not the only mourners, not a villager but joined them; +and when they turned from the grave to the silence of their humble +room, I went with them. + +Not many days after that the door of the cottage was shut; and when I +sailed for my western home, Franz Muller was prosecuting his studies +at Basle. + +"He is to be a minister," said Annette, as she followed me to the +door, "and he says that wherever his work is, I may share it with +him." + +Her face was lit up with a smile almost as bright as I had seen on +Franz's face. Surely the angels know nothing of the rapture of such a +work. + + + + +Mont Blanc. + + +After making the ascent of Montanvert, and learning something of the +wonders of the Mer de Glace, we again sallied forth upon a tour of +discovery in the immediate neighborhood of La Prieuré. + +With Mont Blanc before me and hardly conscious that I was alone, I +pursued my walk, continuing to ascend till my path was obstructed by a +mass of fallen snow. Fascinated with the idea of a better view, I +determined to find a way around it, I climbed higher and higher, now +stopping to admire the interior domes and spires and pyramids that +cluster in this wondrous region, then fancying myself in a vast +cathedral more grand and magnificent than I had ever before seen. The +summit of Mont Blanc seemed to have greatly increased since I began to +ascend, and this, and not looking behind me, rendered me wholly +unconscious of the progress I made. + +At length, from the slippery condition of the path and the frequent +use that I was obliged to make of the pole with which I had been +furnished, I became conscious that I had advanced far beyond what I +had at first purposed. Looking back, I could see nothing of the +valley; night was coming on, and the winds sweeping over the snowy +heights made me shiver; at the same time they threatened to hurl me +over the precipice. Go on I could not; to retrace my steps seemed +equally impossible; planting my pole with its long spike deep in the +ice, I attempted to keep my footing. Sending my eyes in every +direction, and hoping that the guides had missed me and followed in +the track, I perceived an immense mass of ice, one of the very turrets +that I had so greatly admired, trembling and just ready to fall. +Before I had time to think, it slipped and fell with a thundering +sound, rolling and dashing like a huge cataract of liquid silver, +glittering in the sunbeams, and spent itself on the surface below over +which it spread. Its roar, like that of thunder, reverberated from +peak to peak, and many seconds elapsed before it completely died away. + +My situation was perilous. Of the extent of the glacier I could not +determine. In following after me, my companions might have been buried +underneath its fall; or the guides might think that there was no +possibility of my escape, and thus give up the attempt to rescue me. +All this and more passed through my mind. What if I should never +reach my home, should never look into the faces of those I love! One +quiet look upward, and peace filled my heart. God was above me, and +around me; this terrible solitude spoke of his majesty, his might, his +power. These mountains were in my Redeemer's hands. His eye was upon +me, and I was safe. + +The sun fell behind the western mountains, but his splendors deepening +as they died away, were succeeded by the softer beams of the moon that +rose full orbed above the lofty horizon. At first their mild +effulgence was only seen on the hoary head of the monarch of the Alps: +but as I gazed, summit after summit caught the silvery lustre, till +all above and below me was enveloped in the same glorious light. + +Chateaubriand says that mountain elevations are no place for +contemplation; and certainly, surrounded by great dangers, it may +seem incredible that I indulged in it. Still, I cannot but attribute +my safety to this very state of mind--looking away from myself, +holding fast to my pike-staff, and rising spontaneously to the +adoration of that Being who commanded these mighty masses to take +their form and place. Every object seemed in silent but impressive +eloquence to celebrate His praise. The moon, with her attendant stars, +the spotless dome of Mont Blanc, the glittering glaciers and the +roaring torrents all seemed endowed with a voice to touch the heart of +man, and to assure him of a hearing from God. + +The moon was rising higher: forced to keep one position, I was growing +stiff and weary, the wind chilled me, and there were ringing noises in +my ears: the enthusiasm that had sustained me grew less. Would they +ever find me? Glancing downward, I tried to discover lights. In +listening I grew numb, the mountains began to reel around me, the moon +and the stars danced before me, my senses began to wander. Should I +attempt to go forward? Would it not be better to throw myself down? +Once more I looked over the precipice, and just then a horn rang out +far below; then a voice apparently nearer. I tried to answer, but no +sound came; I tried to move, but was fast. The next I remember, a +guide was rubbing my breast with his rough hands; while another forced +open my mouth and poured something from a flask. How we got down, I +never knew. But the next day as Dr. Kemper told me of the excitement +of the guides as soon as my absence became known to them, and the fall +of the glacier, of the fear that I was buried beneath it, and of my +state when found, I could only adore still more His goodness that had +preserved me, while a still firmer purpose thrilled my being to live +for Him. + +A prisoner in my room, Dr. Kemper told me the manner in which Saussure +made the ascent. A party of guides going up from Chamouni, one of them +by some means was far ahead of the others, when suddenly darkness +enveloped him. Cut off from his companions, he was obliged to pass the +night at the immense elevation of twelve thousand feet above the level +of the sea. Chilled, but not overcome, he had strength sufficient in +the morning to reconnoitre, and thereby found an access to the +mountain-top comparatively easy. On reaching Chamouni, he was seized +with severe illness, and in return for the kind care of his physician, +he told the doctor of the path he had discovered, and that if he felt +a desire to be the first man to stand upon the summit of Mont Blanc, +he would lead him to it. The doctor readily accepted, and on the +seventh of August, 1786, they began the ascent. Twice the physician, +overcome by fatigue and cold, turned his back upon the goal; but the +guide, more accustomed to hardships, urged him on, and at length he +was privileged to set his foot upon the loftiest elevation in Europe, +a triumph never before enjoyed by man. + + + + +From Berne To Basle. + + +Before leaving Lausanne I received an invitation from a friend in the +university at Basle to visit that city. To do this, we had to pass +Berne. The approach to this place is very pleasing: the country is +beautifully undulating, and in the highest state of cultivation. The +neighborhood indicated by its noise and bustle that we were +approaching a capital, and as we entered the city we found the streets +crowded with people in their gayest attire, and filled with corn and +cattle, and almost every article of commerce, it being market day. It +is a magnificent city. The houses are all built of stone, with arcades +in the principal streets, and rows of well-furnished shops. Fountains +are numerous, and streams of water flow through the centre of the +spacious streets, in deep and broad channels cut for their reception. +The city had a very gay appearance. The costume, the expression, the +language--all were new. I was greatly interested in my excursions +round the walls. The cathedral is a magnificent pile of gothic +architecture, occupying a bold elevation above the Aar. We found here +a remarkably fine organ, of great size, stretching across nearly the +whole breadth of the church. + +Climbing up to the loft, we were told the story of a former organist, +a famous musician, somewhat independent, and yet sensitive and quick +to feel. Under the papal power Louis Steinway incurred the displeasure +of one of the dignitaries of the church, and his position as organist +was taken from him. Overcome with sorrow he at once proceeded to the +house of the bishop to make an explanation. Trembling with excitement +he so poorly explained the misunderstanding, as to give the prelate +even a worse idea of it than he had at first: the consequence was that +hard words were added to the burden already laid upon him. The poor +organist went home and was immediately taken down with severe illness, +and a few days afterward eluded his attendants and flew along the +streets to the cathedral, from which the people soon heard tones of +the organ issuing majestic and ravishing but unspeakably sad. As soon +as the wife knew of her husband's absence, she went to the cathedral. +Her husband was in his old place, his hands upon the keys, as if in +the act of playing, his head bent forward and drooping. He was dead! + +From Berne the road climbs a hill immediately on leaving the gates of +the city, and passes between rows of trees, with a gentle slope on +either hand, covered with a soft fresh green and smooth as the finest +lawn. The glimpses of the city through the trees, with the windings of +the Aar, were extremely interesting. But a far nobler scene was +unfolded to the south, where an immense chain of Alps appeared like +the boundaries of some new world, to which their fearful precipices, +glittering peaks, and summits of untrodden snow for ever barred the +approach of man. The purity of the atmosphere gave them peculiar +distinctness of outline, while the beams of the setting sun gilded +their lofty brightness, that seemed to have more of heaven in it than +earth. Oh! if natural scenes can appear so lovely, what must that +purity and lustre be of which they are only the shadowy emblems? + +We slept, and set out again at an early hour. Our route lay through +the finest portion of Switzerland. The land is chiefly pasturage, and +the meadows are extremely rich. Traversing a rocky pass, we came to +the castle of Kluss. Issuing from the pass we entered a smiling +valley, the hills gently rising to the right, clothed with forests of +fir; while on the left, rocks towered to an amazing altitude. On the +summit of what seemed to be an inaccessible crag, perched the ruins of +Falkenstein, and a few miles on, those of Wallenberg. + +Soon after stopping to lunch, we came in sight of the Rhine, with the +dark woods of the Black Forest forming a background, and also the +frontier of the Austrian territory. Weary and still delighted with the +day, I was glad to hear the guides exclaim that Basle was before us. +The Rhine divides the city into two parts. Crossing the bridge, we +proceeded at once to the University. Bonnevard was there, and in the +society of my friend I forgot for the time every other consideration. + +It was two weeks before I left, and in that time I had learned many +things, attending lectures with my friend, and enjoying the society of +some of the most illustrious names in literature and science. + +After the lectures, Bonnevard was to go to Fribourg; and it was with a +view to accompanying him that I remained in Basle. Passing over the +bridge and through the little city, we left the canton, and entered +Germany by the territories of the grand duke of Baden. The Rhine was +on our left, the Black Forest, covering a series of rugged hills, at +some distance on our right; and we found a rich and beautiful +landscape at every step. Climbing the brow of a hill about twelve +miles from Basle, we obtained a charming view of the windings of the +river--the broad valley through which it passes, the dark undulations +of the forest, the towers and spires of the distant city, and the long +line of Alps in the background, rising in inexpressible grandeur and +glittering in the beams of the morning sun. + +This was our last of the Rhine; our road taking the direction of the +Black Forest, and skirting it all the way to Fribourg. On the way, +Bonnevard gave me many sketches of real life, one of which, from +having seen the person in Basle, interested me deeply. The Black +Forest was formerly, and is now at certain seasons, greatly infested +by wolves. It so happened that a government officer, passing to +Vienna, was pursued by a ravenous pack of these animals; the +postilion spurred his horses until they began to flag, and the wolves +were gaining upon them. The officer feeling assured that all was lost, +was about giving himself up to be devoured, when a woodcutter and his +son emerged from the forest, armed only with knives or short daggers. +The hungry pack were diverted, and in the struggle that followed, the +postilion whipped up his horses and escaped. On reaching Vienna, the +officer sent back to see what had been the fate of the woodcutter. A +desperate battle had been fought; the father killed five of the +largest wolves, and then, seeing that escape was impossible, implored +the boy to fly, saving the life of his son by the sacrifice of his +own. In admiration for this deed, the people placed the family of the +woodcutter beyond want; and the lad showing a rare aptitude to learn, +and expressing only a wish to study, was sent to Basle, where he soon +distinguished himself as a scholar, and bids fair to become a man of +mark. + +Fribourg is a fine old town, famous for its minster, and its +university. The minster is of gothic architecture, magnificently +carved, and of fine proportions. It is after the model of that at +Strasbourg, and is said to be one of the finest edifices in Germany. + +Early in the morning, we took occasion to visit the cathedral. The +gates were open, and early as we considered it, many were kneeling +before the different altars. The interior of the church is grand and +magnificent, and abounds with sculptures and paintings of the most +costly description. In a small chapel in one of the aisles of the +church, we found an ordinary table covered with white linen, with +images of the Saviour and the twelve apostles seated around it, +figures of marble, as large as life. The expression of each face is +admirably given, especially those of John, who leans upon Jesus' +bosom, and of Judas, seated the last in the group, and grasping the +bag in his hand. It was so real and lifelike, that I could with +difficulty understand that the genius of man had fashioned it out of +cold and senseless stone. + +From the cathedral we visited the library. It is a rare and valuable +collection, and belongs to the university. Here Bonnevard met with +many of his associates, and soon after we parted from him, with +regret. How pleasant it is to meet and talk with those we love; but +the parting makes it sweet to think of that world where there will be +no need of adieus. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Scenes in Switzerland, by American Tract Society + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCENES IN SWITZERLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 15782-8.txt or 15782-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/7/8/15782/ + +Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Christine D and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. (www.pgdp.net) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Scenes in Switzerland + +Author: American Tract Society + +Release Date: May 7, 2005 [EBook #15782] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCENES IN SWITZERLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Christine D and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. (www.pgdp.net) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/image1-tb.png" alt="Scenes in Switzerland" title="Scenes In Switzerland" /> +</div> + +<h1>SCENES</h1> +<h3>IN</h3> +<h1>SWITZERLAND.</h1> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/imagea-tb.png" alt="crest with anchor" title="crest with anchor" /> +</div> + +<h5>PUBLISHED BY THE</h5> +<h5>AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,</h5> +<h5>150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK.</h5> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868. by the +<span class="smcap">American Tract Society</span>, in the Clerk's Office of the +District Court of the United States for the Southern District of +New York.</p></div> + +<h2>Contents.</h2> +<p> +Gretchen <a href="#Gretchen">5</a><br /> +<br /> +A Night in the Cathedral <a href="#A_Night_In_The_Cathedral">28</a><br /> +<br /> +The Glaciers of Savoy <a href="#The_Glaciers_Of_Savoy">45</a><br /> +<br /> +The Bride of the Aar <a href="#The_Bride_Of_The_Aar">63</a><br /> +<br /> +A Sabbath in Lausanne <a href="#A_Sabbath_In_Lausanne">79</a><br /> +<br /> +The Guide of Montanvert <a href="#The_Guide_Of_Montanvert">96</a><br /> +<br /> +Mont Blanc <a href="#Mont_Blanc">127</a><br /> +<br /> +From Berne to Basle <a href="#From_Berne_To_Basle">135</a><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>Scenes In Switzerland.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Gretchen" id="Gretchen"></a>Gretchen.</h2> + + +<p>Time flies swiftly when we are sightseeing; and it was late in the +autumn of 18— when I reached Lindau. Lake Constance lay before me, a +pale, green sheet of water, hemmed in on the south by bold mountain +ranges, filling the interim between the Rhine valley and the long +undulating ridges of the Canton Thurgau. These heights, cleft at +intervals by green smiling valleys and deep ravines, are only the +front of table-land stretching away like an inclined plane, and dotted +with scattered houses and cloistering villages. The deep green of +forest and pasture land was beginning to show the touch of autumn's +pencil; the bright hues striking against gray, rocky walls; the +topmost edge of each successive elevation crowned with a sharp outline +of golden light, deepening the purple gloom of the shaded slopes.</p> + +<p>Behind and over this region towers the Sentis, its brow of snow +bristling with spear points. It was altogether too late to think of +the Baths, or even to look at the little lake of Wallenstatt; and +still, I was unwilling to return without a friendly shake of the hand +of my old friend Spruner, who had perched himself in one of the upper +cantons. "You should have been here earlier," said the landlord; "in +summer we have plenty of visitors."</p> + +<p>"I rather look upon the mountains in their parti-colored vests, than +when dressed in simple green," I replied.</p> + +<p>"If you can stand the weather;" and he thrust his pipe deeper into +his mouth, and twirled the button of his coat.</p> + +<p>Hastily making my adieus, the postillion cracked his whip, and we +started. "There is no danger of bad weather for a month," said the +driver, "and when we get up farther you will see what will pay you for +the trouble of coming:" a speech that promised well for the day, I +argued; and a certain share of respect leaped up for the man in his +laced coat and steeple-crowned hat. A good specimen of his class—and +once satisfied of this, I gave myself up to the present, without the +least foreboding with regard to the future.</p> + +<p>Over us hung masses of gray cloud, stretching across the valley like a +curtain, and falling in voluminous folds almost to the level of Lake +Constance. As we passed through this belt, and came out, with cloud +and mist below us, I listened as the postillion related the popular +legends handed down from one generation to another, for the last six +hundred years. Reaching the crest of the topmost height, he stopped +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"It is just the day to see the herdsmen;" and he threw down the reins, +and prepared to dismount. I stood up and looked around.</p> + +<p>"The battle you know between the herdsmen and the monks, with Austria +to help. It was a hard battle, and the knights were whipped; and ever +since, on certain days, the herdsmen are seen armed with bows and +pikes," he continued. By this time I had taken in his meaning, and +turning my attention to the misty curtain rolling up into clouds about +the sides of the mountain, I had no difficulty in picturing the +discomfited Austrians flying from the pursuit of the hardy +mountaineers.</p> + +<p>"It was a great battle, and they have never tried it since," and there +was a ring in the voice that sounded like the echo of Grütli.</p> + +<p>"No wonder, if your herdsmen are still ready to keep up the fight."</p> + +<p>"You do not see them," and he made a gesture in the direction where my +eye still lingered.</p> + +<p>"As plainly as any body can," and I tried hard not to smile.</p> + +<p>"It is quite true this;" and he gathered up the reins.</p> + +<p>"I do not doubt it."</p> + +<p>As we passed on, the clouds rounded into islands, touched with silver +on the upper edges.</p> + +<p>"This is the place for fine muslin and embroideries," said the +postillion in a changed tone.</p> + +<p>"Where are they made?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Every house has a loom," he said.</p> + +<p>A small way to manufacture muslins; but when the density of the +population and the incessant labor is taken into consideration, it is +not so strange. With regard to the houses I was greatly disappointed. +Not only are they so near that neighbors can converse freely, but they +are large, and even luxurious, in comparison with the same class in +other parts of Europe. Many of these houses are four stories, with +large, square rooms at the base; the upper ones narrowed by the high +steeple roof which projects several feet, forming balconies, +beautifully carved and highly ornamented. The outer walls are covered +with shingles from two to three inches broad, overlapping each other, +and rounded at the ends; reminding one of old roofs seen in the French +quarter. The lowest story is of stone, plastered, and whitewashed. +Such a house is very warm, very durable; and painted by the successive +changes of winter and summer, the external appearance is altogether +pleasing. Our ascent was gradual; with stately houses one after +another, and fruit-trees on the sheltered side. In the balconies, pots +of bright-hued flowers, and sometimes a face to greet us.</p> + +<p>Towards sundown we halted at the little town where my friend had +deposited himself; and as my foot touched the wooden step of the +little hotel, whom should I meet but my old college chum; no longer +thin and pale as when I knew him, but round-faced as an alderman, and +merry as though his heart was full of new wine.</p> + +<p>"You are not to stop here," as the landlord came out to receive me: +"My house is not far off, and <span class="smcap">Gretchen</span>, you remember her? +will be glad to see you."</p> + +<p>Of course I remembered Gretchen; but to meet her as my friend's wife +was quite another thing. A few steps brought us to the door of a +handsome establishment two centuries old, or more; the front frescoed, +and the interior neat and orderly as a New England housewife's. The +floor upon which we entered from the street was paved with a species +of marble, black and white, diamond shaped, but too suggestive of cold +to be altogether pleasing. A broad, wooden staircase of a peculiar +rich brown hue led to the parlor on the second floor. The windows +looking out into the mountain ranges were draped with ruby-colored +damask; the floor was covered with a richly tufted carpet bordered +with flowers, and sofas and easy chairs were temptingly arranged. On a +table in the centre of the room, and under an elaborately chased +lamp, were implements for letter-writing, magazines, and newspapers. +Through the folding-doors we caught a glimpse of well-filled +book-shelves, and a woman's voice came floating out to the rich, +mellow accompaniment of the piano. There was the rustle of a silk +dress. I turned my head.</p> + +<p>"This is my ambition," said my friend, while a look of pride blended +with the manly expression of his handsome face.</p> + +<p>There stood Gretchen—the Gretchen I had known ten years before; no +longer the slight blushing girl, but mature in her beauty, a happy +wife and mother; the same sweet smile on her lips, and her eye full of +gushing gladness as she welcomed me to her home.</p> + +<p>The fire was blazing cheerily, and we three talking of the old times, +with hardly a thought of the broken links between.</p> + +<p>"The college is still the same," said my friend, "with the high +cupola and long galleries. Gretchen and I visited it last summer; +there were few that we knew, and many of the professors have slipped +away. Gretchen's father was one of these. We missed him in his quiet +home, and above all, in the old church. A man with dark hair and black +flashing eyes stood in his place—a learned, man, but wanting in the +inward fire, the simple eloquence of the old man we used to love. +After service, I strolled past the college buildings, and tried to +trace the names we cut on the old beeches, but they were all +overgrown."</p> + +<p>"I know nothing that brings home to the heart so quickly the +consciousness of increasing years, as to find those whom we used to +look upon as children grown to maturity, taking upon themselves the +care and responsibility of life. Here is Gretchen; a deeper bloom +upon her cheek, and her eye sparkling with a higher pride."</p> + +<p>"Just as mid-day is brighter than the morning," said my friend.</p> + +<p>Down the hall came the pattering of little feet, and the nurse entered +with two stout boys and a lovely girl, a second Gretchen, the same +roguish blue eyes, and golden hair rippling away from her white +forehead:</p> + +<p>"These are my hopes," said the father, and a smile curled his lip, +amid, his eye filled with tenderness as he glanced at Gretchen's face. +Lingering over the tea-table where Gretchen presided with more than +youthful grace, we talked not only of the past, but of present work +and life.</p> + +<p>"One," I continued, taking up the thread, "I met in Southern Italy, +dreaming; as I was dreaming, by the dark grotto of Pausilippo. +Meeting upon classic ground, it seemed strange to talk of old times, +but we did. And sitting down upon the promontory of Baiæ, looking off +upon the blue sea, we told each other our respective stories; just as +ships will shift their course to come within speaking distance, +compare longitude, and exchange letters, and—part. I have not heard +from Eckerman since."</p> + +<p>My dreams were pleasant that night, and the next morning there was +another surprise for me. Gretchen's brother was the pastor of a little +church just above them; I must not go without seeing him, Gretchen +said. How could I? Euler was my classmate; together we labored for +knowledge, and our first manly sympathies run in the same channel.</p> + +<p>On Sabbath I saw my friend in the pulpit. "How like his father," I +whispered to Gretchen; the poetry in him warming his soul into a +burst of fervid eloquence, and his face glowing with the beautiful +truths he was unfolding to his hearers. An uncouth church of rough +stone, with quaint windows and curious carvings, the ceiling arched, +with a blue ground on which blazed innumerable stars. Strange and +novel as it was, my eye never wandered from the speaker; the voice and +expression so like the kind and generous man who had presided over the +college, and who carried with him the affections of each succeeding +class. This seems to me more of a triumph now, than it did then. A +cultivated mind may challenge respect, but there is need of a noble +one to win affection.</p> + +<p>It was a week before I could think of leaving, and then the clouds +twisted through and around the severed pyramids of the Alps, and the +rain began. In such weather the scenery is not only shrouded, but the +people are shut up in their homes. Pastor Euler had an ample study +however, and here we read and wrote, and talked; with his wife, a +pleasant-voiced woman, to enliven the pauses with music, and children +dashing into the study giving abrupt and sudden turnings to our +dreaming. Christmas was near, and I was easily persuaded to see more +of a people, shut in as they were from the noise and commotion of the +lower world, and still not so far as to be unknowing of all that was +taking place, whether in deliberative bodies, state policies, or the +lighter chit-chat of the day.</p> + +<p>"You will have an opportunity to see more of my parish than you can +possibly see on a Sabbath occasion. I visit them as often as I can, +and twice a year I receive them at my own house. The +'Weihnachtsgeschenk' is looked forward to with great pleasure, and +the meeting of the Landsgemeinde in April is sure to bring my people +together."</p> + +<p>Gretchen and her husband were clamorous for me to remain, and there +was no resisting the pleading tones of the children, their little +clinging fingers stronger than bands of iron.</p> + +<p>All night the rain beat against my chamber window, and in the morning +the lower slopes of the mountain were white with new snow. Dark clouds +lay heavily on the Alpine peaks, the air was raw and chilly—still it +was Christmas. I was aroused at daybreak by the chiming of village +bells, and then a procession of choral singers went through the +streets, pausing under the window of each house, and singing Christmas +hymns. As they passed on, the children caught up the refrain, and +joining hands made the halls resound with their gleeful voices. +Before breakfast a huge bowl was passed around with a foaming drink, +not unlike egg-nog in appearance, but differing in taste materially. +"May your Christmas be a merry one," as it passed from lip to lip; +"and a profitable one," was always responded.</p> + +<p>Church was open an hour earlier than on ordinary occasions, "so that +the people may have ample time for dinner," said the pastor. Religion +with these mountain worshippers was not a form. The birthday of the +blessed Redeemer was to them a reality. They believed that he was born +and that he died; and it was to commemorate his nativity that hymns +were sung and garlands wound. At an early hour they began to gather, +and before the time of service the house was closely packed. There +were no chains of evergreen, but small fir-trees were occasionally +placed. These were covered with garlands and crowns of bright-hued +flowers, giving a novel and striking appearance, as of some floral +temple or mosque, set in a great pavilion. The high pulpit was draped +in white, and a voluminous white curtain covered the background. The +effect was charming.</p> + +<p>And as the pastor began the service, the melody of his voice broke +away into tenderness as he touched upon the love of God in giving his +Son to be the propitiation for sin: holding up the picture so vividly, +and telling the simple story with a pathos and a power that little +children even could not fail to see and to appreciate. How much better +than studied and elaborate essays, diving into metaphysics and +technicalities so deeply that beauty is lost, and the mind diverted by +the difficulty of following the intricate windings.</p> + +<p>First did he impress his hearers with the fact that God loved the +world, and through the fulness of that love the Son came down to +suffer and to die: secondly, that the natural heart is at enmity with +God, not willing that God should rule. Thus a change must be effected; +a reconciliation made. This could only be wrought by sacrifice; and +Christ was offered once for all; his blood cleanseth from all sin. A +plain, simple statement, and it sunk into the hearts of his hearers +with a power sure to tell upon their future lives.</p> + +<p>After the blessing, each remained silently upon his knees for a few +moments. Then all was greeting and congratulation; all were friends; +the idea never entered their heads that a stranger could be among them +at that season.</p> + +<p>At dinner I was introduced to the landamman and two other members of +the council, and from them gathered brief notes with reference to the +little democracy won, and held intact for so many years. The dessert +was hardly removed before they began to come: first the old men in +black coats and high hats, and women with white, pointed caps and wide +ruffles; then the middle-aged, fathers and mothers, bringing little +children, all with the same conscientious expression on their faces, +the same "Happy Christmas," while the pastor's "God bless you," was a +benediction that carried happiness to the hearts of those who heard +it.</p> + +<p>Lastly came the youths; maidens with eyes full of a childlike +innocence, the quick color coming and going as they greeted the pastor +and his friends, and received his blessing in return. Gretchen and her +husband were with us, and Gretchen number two was my especial escort, +leading me through the rooms, and introducing me in her naive manner, +"Mamma's friend, and papa's, and uncle Euler's."</p> + +<p>Christmas festivities were kept up during the week; and before that +elapsed, I was won to add a month, and then another, it being quite +impossible to slip away from the kind friends with whom I had so much +in common; the fascination only the more potent as we listened to the +beating winds, and looked out into the slippery paths leading down +into the cantons beneath.</p> + +<p>Spring had come when it was "fit to travel," as Gretchen said. The +green of the landscape was brilliant and uniform; the turf sown with +primrose, violet, anemone, veronica, and buttercups. It was time for +me to leave; neither could I be persuaded to stay till the meeting of +the Landsgemeinde. It was sad to leave them, and the little Gretchen +was only pacified by my assurance that, if possible, I would return at +no distant day. My friend Spruner had business at Herisau, and +spending one more evening together, our prayers mingling for the last +time, we parted.</p> + +<p>Our way led through the valley of the Sitter, a stream fed by the +Sentis Alps, and spanned by a bridge hundreds of feet above the water. +The same smooth carpet of velvet green was spread everywhere.</p> + +<p>"There is no greener land," said Spruner; "the grass is so rich that +the inhabitants cannot even spare enough for vegetable gardens. Our +tables are supplied from the lower vallies."</p> + +<p>"In our country we should not dream of making hay in the month of +April," I remarked, seeing several stout men already in the field.</p> + +<p>"With suitable care they can mow the same field every six weeks," +responded my friend. "And it is no doubt this peculiar process that +gives such sweetness and splendor of color, seen nowhere else, not +even between the hedgerows of England."</p> + +<p>The day proved to be neither clear nor rainy: a steel blue sky brought +out the broken peaks of Kasten, while the white shoulders of the +Sentis were veiled with a thin, gray suit.</p> + +<p>"A month later and we should see the herdsmen," remarked Spruner. "The +leader of the herd marches in front with a large bell suspended from +his neck by a handsome leathern band; the others follow, some with +garlands of flowers and straps of embroidered leather, with milking +pails suspended between the horns."</p> + +<p>Before nightfall, occasional streaks of sunshine shot across the +mountain. It did not last, however, and when we reached our +stopping-place, it was raining below and snowing above us.</p> + +<p>The next morning our road dropped into a ravine, bringing something to +admire at every turn. Leaving our course, we visited the Cascade of +Horsfall, the beauty of which amply repaid us for the delay it cost. +That night we slept at Herisau, the largest town in the Canton, and +here I was to part with Spruner. There was no difficulty in reaching +the lower valley. With many shakes of the hand, and "May God's +blessing be upon you,'" we parted: one to take the railroad to Zurich, +the other back to his household charms, and the work he had chosen.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_Night_In_The_Cathedral" id="A_Night_In_The_Cathedral"></a>A Night In The Cathedral.</h2> + + +<p>Franz Hoffner's father was kappelmeister; and the old cathedral with +its grained arches and cloistered aisles resounded with rare music, as +the organist took his seat, and run his fingers over the keys with the +careless ease of one who knows not only to control, but to infuse +something of his own spirit into the otherwise senseless machine +before him. Under his inspiration it became a living, breathing form; +lifting the hearts of worshippers, and giving them glimpses of what is +hereafter to be obtained.</p> + +<p>Herr Hoffner was a rare musician; but, alas, musicians are no +exception to the rule: the wheel is always turning; one goes up and +another goes down. A new star had risen. Court belles and beauties +grew enthusiastic. The elector's heart was touched; his influence was +asked. "Herr Hoffner has been here long enough," it was said. There +was a twinge of the electoral conscience.</p> + +<p>Herr Hoffner went to his house a ruined man; and the new favorite, +Carl Von Stein, played upon the keys so dear to the heart of the old +organist.</p> + +<p>Herr Hoffner had a wife and two lovely children; and one would suppose +that he could live in the beautiful cottage the elector had given him, +independent of the favorite. But no; deprived of his old instrument +all else was lost to him. For hours would he sit before his humble +door, heedless of his wife's entreaties or the childish prattle of +Franz and Nanette; his eye riveted on the old cathedral, and his hands +playing nervously, as though cheating himself with the idea he was +still at the organ. Then roused by a sudden inspiration, he would rush +to the piano and play till his hands dropped from mere exhaustion.</p> + +<p>Franz and Nanette loved music, and they could play skilfully, but they +were all too young to be of service; and thus they lived cut off from +all outward influences befitting their age; loving music above +everything else, and yearning for the time when they could go out and +win for their father, as he had once done for them.</p> + +<p>Years passed. Franz Hoffner was a tall, slight boy, and his father was +blind. Sitting at his cottage door he could no longer see the tall +towers of the old cathedral, but he could hear the chime of stately +bells—and his fingers played on: while Franz and Nanette not +unfrequently climbed up the winding stairs, just to beg Herr Von +Stein to let them touch the keys their father used to love.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/image2-tb.png" alt="A Night In The Cathedral." title="A Night In The Cathedral." /> +</div> + +<p>It happened one day the organist went out and left the key in the +lock. Franz entered with the evening worshippers. A nameless feeling +seized him. Urged on by the sudden impulse, he mounted the stairs. He +did not dream of playing, he only thought of the organ as his father's +friend; and to seat himself on the stool where his father had so often +sat was all he aimed to do. A moment, and he spied the key; would +there be any harm in raising the lid and playing himself? Herr Von +Stein had never denied him. He grew courageous. A few chords and Franz +forgot that his father would be expecting him; piece after piece was +played till his memory could serve him no longer, and then he began to +improvise.</p> + +<p>All at once heavy shadows were cast over the keys: he looked down +into the church, it was dark and still. A strange awe seized him, he +felt that it was night; and the great doors locked. Hastily as his +trembling limbs would allow, he crept down the stairs. Darkness +shrouded the aisles. He reached the doors, they were barred and +bolted. What would his father say? and Nanette, would she think where +he was, and rouse the old door-keeper?</p> + +<p>High up through the tower-window he caught sight of a star; and the +moon poured her silver radiance full on the face of the organ. +Creeping up the stairs, he once more opened the instrument. Surely +some one would hear him if he played, and Nanette he knew would not +leave him to stay in the old cathedral alone.</p> + +<p>Hours passed: the full moon cast her splendor on a sweet child-face +bent over the keys in the organ-loft of the old cathedral, a smile +still played about his lips, and his light brown hair lay in rings on +his broad, white forehead. Franz was asleep, and while asleep he +dreamed.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A beautiful lady, he thought, came to the cottage; she had a sweet, +lovely face, but so sad that Franz wondered what sorrow could have +come to one so rich and beautiful. The lady caught the expression of +his eye, and slipping her arm around him, drew him still nearer.</p> + +<p>"You think because I am rich that I must be happy. Learn then, my +child, that wealth does not bring happiness; neither does beauty win +lasting favor. To be good is to be rich, and it also makes us +beautiful. The power that we have in ourselves is far superior to the +outward circumstances that surround us."</p> + +<p>"My father had this power," replied Franz. "You see it did not profit +him; for when he thought himself secure as kappelmeister, the elector +gave his place to another, and now he is growing old and blind."</p> + +<p>"Is this so?" exclaimed the lady, a warm light flashing into her gray +eye. "Did the elector give his place to another?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, he did; and it broke my father's heart," replied Franz. +"Since then, we have neither of us known pleasure; only when we go to +the cathedral, Nanette and me; and when we return, our father never +tires of asking questions."</p> + +<p>"This must not always be," replied the lady. "Will you come with me, +my child, and it is possible we can show you a way whereby you can do +something for a father whom you so much love."</p> + +<p>"I will go with you," replied Franz; "but I must not be gone long, +for my father will miss me when he wakes."</p> + +<p>Then Franz gave his hand to the beautiful lady, and she led him by a +smooth way through the most lovely wood; tall trees, filled with +singing birds, skirted the banks of clear, running streams, while +flowering shrubs and vines flung their perfume to the air. At length +she came to a gate so strong and high Franz thought it would be +impossible to open it. But as they approached, it seemed to swing back +noiselessly on its hinges. Franz saw there was a lodge there, with a +gray-haired man, and little children playing before the door, and as +the lady passed all bowed to her.</p> + +<p>Presently they came in sight of a magnificent castle, its walls white +and glistening; while the sunlight glinting against the deep windows, +flashed and scintillated like a bed of diamonds. As they came nearer, +the lady left the broad road, and wound along a narrow path, and came +to a little postern gate, and up a broad marble terrace, with +sparkling fountains, and with flowers brighter than he had seen +before, and birds of gay plumage flashing their beauty through the +tree-tops. At the top of the terrace she gave him into the care of an +elderly man, with a white flowing beard and eyes full of tenderness. A +few words were said, and the old man took Franz by the hand and led +him into a room, the floor of which was marble, smooth as glass, while +the walls were green and gold. In the centre was a marble basin or +pool, with steps leading down; the atmosphere was dim by reason of a +sweet and subtle perfume rising from the water. Franz was hardly +conscious till he came out of the bath; then his hair was carefully +dressed, and a new suit of clothes was brought him.</p> + +<p>He had only time to look at himself in the mirror, when the lady +returned. She was dressed in a rich white silk, covered with lace and +sprinkled with pearls and diamonds. On her head she wore a crown; +bright and sparkling as it was, it was not half so beautiful as the +sweet face that beamed below it. The deep traces of sorrow were gone, +she looked like one happy in the consciousness of a good deed done, +and a sweet smile was on her lip as she held out her hand to Franz. +Together they walked down the marble hall and up the broad staircase, +on through rows of stately ladies and martial-looking men, the crowd +opening and bowing as they passed.</p> + +<p>At length they came to a room larger, more magnificent than the rest. +Persian carpets covered the floor, and the windows were draped with +blue and gold. On a dais at the extremity of the room was an oaken +chair of quaint device, in which sat a proud-looking man, pale and +careworn as though weary of so much state and ceremony.</p> + +<p>"My child," said the prince, "Do you feel like playing for me? I am +too weak to go to the cathedral, and I fancy if I can hear you play I +shall feel better."</p> + +<p>Franz was a timid boy, but he loved to please. He was always ready to +play for his father. He glanced at the lady, there was a sweet smile +resting on her face. Dropping on his knee Franz kissed the hand of the +prince. "I will do my best, since you are so good as to ask me."</p> + +<p>Franz looked up, and saw what he had not seen before, an organ quite +like the one his father so loved.</p> + +<p>"Play just as you do in the old cathedral," whispered the lady, and +then she seated herself in a chair by the side of the prince. Franz +saw nothing but the keys, he heard nothing but the sweet soul harmony, +and this he must interpret to the beautiful lady and the sick prince +by means of his instrument. How long he played he never knew, but when +he ceased a slight hand lay on his shoulder, and a sweet face bent +above him.</p> + +<p>"To do good, Franz, is the secret of happiness. This power is yours, +and so long as you use it, so long you will be happy. The dear, +heavenly Father watches over and cares for those whose lives are given +for the good of others." Saying this she led him away to the prince. +But what was Franz's surprise! beside him on his right hand were +Franz's father and mother, no longer blind, but dressed in costly +robes, their faces radiant with happiness, while Nanette looked +charmingly, in a white gauze dress and silver slippers. Franz was +bewildered, not knowing whether to advance towards the prince, or to +run and embrace his parents.</p> + +<p>"This is the reward of obedience to your parents," said the lady, +kissing the boy's white forehead.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The light of day came streaming through the tower window—the child +awoke. It was cold. A chill ran through his frame. He had been in the +cathedral all night, and his parents—what anguish they must have +endured. Hastily as his numbed limbs would allow, he went down the +stairs. A few worshippers were bowing before the altar; Franz dropped +on his knees a moment, and then ran with all his speed out of the door +and down the street.</p> + +<p>Very glad were Franz's parents when he returned, and Nanette wept for +joy; but when at breakfast he related his dream, the face of the old +organist lit up with a great hope.</p> + +<p>"I know, my boy, it will all come true. So long as we love and trust +Him, the good Christ will not leave us to suffer."</p> + +<p>Christmas had come. There were no presents for Franz and Nanette. Only +one could they make, and this was a nice, warm dressing-gown for their +blind father.</p> + +<p>One day a beautiful lady took refuge in the cottage; her carriage had +broken down, and she must stop till the postilion could return to the +castle. At the cottage she heard Franz play and Nanette sing, and +listened to the blind organist, as the cathedral bells broke on the +evening air.</p> + +<p>"You must come with me," said the lady. "We have been planning +concerts at the castle, and you shall give them."</p> + +<p>"My children are not old enough to go by themselves, and I am blind," +replied the father.</p> + +<p>"I will not deprive you of your children," said the lady; "my father +has influence. And besides, he has near him an eminent physician; it +is possible something can be done to restore your sight."</p> + +<p>In three days the lady returned, and carried Herr Hoffner with his +wife and children to the castle. Charmed with the young musicians, the +elector repented of the thoughtless deed, in depriving the father of +his position as kappelmeister. Very tenderly did he treat him now, and +under the care of the skilful physician, it was soon announced there +was hope of his recovering his sight. This done, he was once more +offered the position; but Herr Hoffner was a just man; to do by +others as he would be done by was his motto. Herr Von Stein had filled +the post acceptably; it was no fault of his that the old organist had +lost his place. Herr Hoffner would not accept it, but only asked that +he might be allowed to give concerts with his children. Franz labored +diligently at his studies, and already was he beginning to surprise +his friends, not only with his playing, but with his composition.</p> + +<p>Years passed: there was a great gathering in that grand old capital. A +musical festival was in progress, and all the celebrities the world +over had congregated there. Franz Hoffner was in the zenith of his +glory. At the close of the performance, and while the entire audience +joined in acclamations of praise to the youthful leader, a rich medal +was presented. On one side the profile view of the elector and his +daughter, set round with diamonds; on the other, "Music is only +valuable as it lifts the heart and purifies our fallen nature."</p> + +<p>Franz Hoffner lived to be a great musician; but he never ceased to +think of his parents and Nanette. Honors were empty, and applause +vain, only so far as they contributed to the happiness of those he +loved.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Glaciers_Of_Savoy" id="The_Glaciers_Of_Savoy"></a>The Glaciers Of Savoy</h2> + + +<p>After a few weeks passed in Geneva, we determined to go on to +Chamouni, and for this purpose engaged a guide accustomed for years to +the mountain passes, and on whom we were told that we could rely +implicitly.</p> + +<p>This being arranged, we took a last drive around the environs of the +city; the views of the lake and of the mountains in every direction, +were enchanting and sublime. From the head of the lake, a greater +variety of interesting objects met the eye than can be seen perhaps +from any other spot in Europe. At your feet you behold a venerable and +populous city; while a vast and beautiful lake spreads its clear waves +beyond, amid a landscape rich in all the products a cultivated soil +can furnish; while vast and gloomy mountains stretch their giant forms +on high. In clear weather, Mont Blanc appears the venerable monarch of +the Alps. Below this, Saléve rises to upwards of three thousand feet, +with the uninterrupted length of the Jura on the left, whose highest +point is over four thousand. Proceeding along the banks of the Arve, +we at length alighted at the entrance of a thicket, through which we +made our way with difficulty, the path being hilly and very slippery, +to a place where we saw at our feet the celebrated junction of the +Arve and the Rhone. The Arve has a thick soapy appearance; the Rhone +is of a fine dark green, and seems for a while to spurn a connection +with its muddy visitor. For two or three miles the Rhone keeps up its +reserve, and the rivers roll side by side, without mingling their +waters. At length they meet and blend: the distinction is lost, the +polluted Arve is absorbed in the haughty and majestic Rhone.</p> + +<p>We were to leave Geneva the next morning. Before night our guide came: +he was ill, would we take his son? The proposition did not please us; +it was a dangerous journey, and many had been lost in the mountain +passes.</p> + +<p>"Erwald knows as much of the passes as I do," said the father, "and he +is anxious to go; his sister lives at Maglan, and she is down with the +fever."</p> + +<p>I saw how it was. Erwald was to go to Maglan to visit his sister; and +if the father could arrange for him to go with us, of course he +himself would be free to make another engagement.</p> + +<p>"Do you feel sure that you can guide us safely?" I asked of Erwald.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, monsieur; I have been over the way many times. If I was +not quite sure, I would not offer to go."</p> + +<p>"Not if you could gain a good many francs by going?"</p> + +<p>"It would not be right to say to you that I knew the way, if I did +not."</p> + +<p>The boy's face was attractive, his voice gentle, and his blue eyes +full of tenderness. His look and his answer delighted me.</p> + +<p>"No, it would not be right, Erwald; and because you love the right and +feel sure that you can serve us, I will take you in your father's +place."</p> + +<p>"I am glad, very glad; and now I must see my mother. Vesta is sick and +she will be glad to see any one from home."</p> + +<p>Erwald's face was glowing; I turned to the father.</p> + +<p>"Erwald is a good child," he said. "At first we felt vexed with him +and Vesta for leaving the church, and not a few times did we punish +them. But they were so good and patient that it troubled us; and now +their mother is a Protestant, and I never go to mass."</p> + +<p>It was explained, the serene calm of the earnest blue eyes: Erwald was +a Christian.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning our guide made his appearance. His countenance +sweet and pleasing as it was the night previous. He was accompanied by +a little woman in a black gown and bodice, with a high cap and the +whitest of kerchiefs—a mild sweet-faced woman, whom we knew at once +as his mother.</p> + +<p>"You'll tell Vesta mother thinks of her all the time, and prays the +Father every hour to make her well again."</p> + +<p>On my asking if she was not afraid to have her son go on so dangerous +a journey, she answered:</p> + +<p>"Our Father will take care of him and bring him back to us."</p> + +<p>The simple faith of the good woman struck me as greatly to be desired. +With all her simplicity she had the true Wisdom: and her good motherly +face went with me long after I left Erwald in Chamouni.</p> + +<p>A few miles from Geneva, we entered Savoy. Here the scenery of the +Alps began to open before us. On the right the Arve was seen winding +through a cultivated and luxuriant valley; on both sides, hills and +rooks rose to a considerable elevation, and behind, the mountains of +the Jura range closed in grandeur the delightful view. We passed +through a succession of peaceful villages, and at length reached by a +long avenue of elms the little town of Bonneville on the Arve. The +town is embosomed in the mountains, and watered by the river. It +has a fine old bridge over the river from which the country is viewed +to great, advantage. On the right the môle is elegantly formed, and +terminates in a peak, a complete contrast to Mont Brezon on the left, +wild and savage in its aspect, and little more than a bare and rugged +rock with occasional pitches of verdure.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/image3-tb.png" alt="The Glaciers Of Savoy" title="The Glaciers Of Savoy" /> +</div> + +<p>From Bonneville the road passes over the bridge to the foot of the +môle, and traverses a lovely valley, hemmed in by lofty mountains, and +rich in scenes of pastoral beauty. The road is lined on each side with +walnut-trees, which afford a grateful shade. Passing the village of +Sigony, Erwald pointed to the remains of an old convent far up the +mountain, whose inmates were wont to welcome the traveller, when these +valleys, destitute of good roads and inns, were explored with +difficulty and with danger.</p> + +<p>From this place the mountains closed upon us; rocks began to overhang +the road, and the Arve was rather heard than seen. At length we +crossed a romantic looking bridge and entered the little town of +Cluse, enclosed on both sides by rocky ramparts, and sheltered equally +from sunbeams and from storms. Following the various windings of the +valley, the Arve seemed to spread itself into a series of lakes, each +presenting its own peculiar loveliness and majesty. The sides of the +mountains were occasionally bare and rugged, but for the most part +they were clothed with forests of fir; while above, pointed summits +and fantastic crags everywhere met the eye, and filled the beholder +with admiration and awe.</p> + +<p>A few miles up the valley, Erwald called our attention to the entrance +of the cavern of Balme. It is a natural gallery in the rock and well +worth a visit. The valley now becomes more spacious; while its +boundaries increase in grandeur. The meadows, adorned with groves of +beech-trees, rise in gentle swells from the verge of the Arve, and +spread their green carpet, dotted with cottages and watered by +innumerable streams, to the base of the neighboring heights. At one of +these cottages we rested for the night. I never dreamed of a fairer +scene; it was too beautiful for sleep; the murmurings of the Arve were +the only sounds that broke upon the ear, while all around tremendous +precipices rose to heaven, shutting out from us the cares and tumults +of the busy world. To pay for my enthusiasm I arose with a headache +and a feeling of weariness that sensibly diminished the enjoyment of +the morning.</p> + +<p>Leaving this enchanted spot, we passed the waterfall D'Orli, and a +few miles beyond we paused to admire the cataract of Arpenas. Its +height is estimated at eight hundred feet. The water rushes with +considerable volume over a tremendous precipice of dark and fantastic +rocks. At first it divides into separate streams that in their fall +resemble descending rockets, till at length, caught by the rocks +beneath, they meet and mingle in one mass of foam.</p> + +<p>At the cataract we had an instance of that deception which is produced +to the eye by the magnitude of the objects which compose the scenery +of these Alpine regions. Viewed from the road the fall did not appear +by any means so considerable as it measurement determines; while at +its foot there was a little green hillock to the summit of which it +seemed a few steps would reach. To this hillock we determined to +proceed. But what was our astonishment when we found a mountain +before us, and when we reached its top, the cataract loomed up in +inconceivable vastness, rushing into a wild abyss beneath, that +deafened us with its uproar and bedewed us with its spray.</p> + +<p>We now approached the village of Maglan, where Vesta lived. As we drew +near, I observed Erwald's face flush and grow pale; that dear sister +he had not seen since his father drove her from the house because of +her apostasy. Now she was ill and had sent for him. How great the +change! His mother was a Christian and his father did not go to mass. +As we entered the village I was struck with the pleasing, intelligent +faces of all that we met. Leaving us at the door of the only +lodging-house in the place, Erwald went to visit his sister; but not +before I had asked that he would return for me provided that he found +her comfortable. In an hour or more, he returned, his countenance +sad, but still peaceful. Vesta was sicker than he had dreamed of; it +was feared that she would not recover.</p> + +<p>"Do you think it will not hurt her, for me to see her?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, she said that she would like to see you."</p> + +<p>During our short walk few words were said. As we reached the cottage a +young man came out to meet us, with a flaxen-haired, blue-eyed child +in his arms, and another clinging to his hand. It was Vesta's husband, +and these were her children. Following them into the cottage, I found +myself at once in the presence of the dying woman. The sight of a +strange face did not disturb her. With a look that seemed to +comprehend the Christian bond of union between us she held out her +hand.</p> + +<p>"I have come with Erwald," I said, "to see his sister. I am sorry to +find you so very ill."</p> + +<p>"Almost home," she gasped.</p> + +<p>"You do not feel that you are alone; there is One to walk with you?"</p> + +<p>"Jesus, my Redeemer, my Comforter."</p> + +<p>Erwald was kneeling by the bed, his eyes were full of tears, and his +hand trembled as he clasped the pale thin fingers.</p> + +<p>"You will get well, Vesta, you will come to the old home once again, +mother expects you, and father." The words were gone. Sobs echoed +through the cottage.</p> + +<p>"Tell mother, not an hour but I have thought of her. Tell her that I +am glad she loves Jesus; and father, ask him for my sake to read the +little Bible that I sent him. I would so like to see them, Erwald; +but it cannot be. For this, as well as for my husband and children, I +would live; but I go to Jesus. Live so as to meet me there."</p> + +<p>There was no excitement, only a weary look stole over the face. +Leaving Erwald, I walked back to the inn. Though far away from home, +and surrounded by strange scenery and strange people, it was +delightful to find the same faith here as in my own home, the same +heaven inspired confidence in the Redeemer.</p> + +<p>The next morning the sick woman was more comfortable. Erwald did not +say it, but I knew that he wanted to stay with her.</p> + +<p>"Go with us to Le Prieuré," I said to him, "and then you shall return. +In the valley of Chamouni I feel sure we can procure a guide."</p> + +<p>As we left Maglan, our road, or rather path, led up a deep and fertile +valley, watered by the Arve, rich in woods of fir, and bounded by +mountains of various forms and of tremendous altitudes; their rugged +peaks sometimes lost in the clouds; at others, their heads towered in +majesty above them. Bathed in the blue ether of the heavens they +looked as if themselves ethereal, oftentimes exhibiting a play of +colors, having the appearance of transparent matter, of the purest +elements and richest hues, and when seen in the light of the setting +sun they were only more glorious. At the upper end of the valley we +came upon the cataract of the Chede. It is elegant in form. The +scenery that surrounds it is sylvan and sequestered. The torrent that +feeds it rushes down a succession of precipices, hurrying dashing +along to meet the waters of the Arve.</p> + +<p>The path now became extremely difficult, and we continued to ascend, +till we reached the lake of Chede, whose water is famed as the purest +in the Alps. From this point we saw Mont Blanc—saw the clouds roll +off, and leave its rugged head white with the snows of ages—a +beautiful contrast with the deep azure of the sky it seemed almost to +touch. Looking, our eyes were dazzled by the vast and spotless object +before us; pure and fleecy as were the light clouds that lingered +round it, they were dark compared with its glittering brightness; +while the obscurity in which the lower scenes were wrapt gave it the +appearance of a crystal mountain in a sea of clouds. With Erwald +standing at my side, it seemed but a step from earth to heaven, +through those regions of the purest white, untrodden solitudes, meet +only for the visits of celestial beings.</p> + +<p>Thus far our way had been comparatively safe. Now, we had need of +caution at each step; scrambling along ledges of lofty rocks, with +deep ravines beneath; then crossing mountain torrents where a single +misstep would have been fatal. Before night we passed the remains of +an avalanche, an enormous mass of snow crushing as it fell everything +in its path. We were now in the valley of Chamouni. At the sight of +the first glacier I felt some little disappointment. It is not itself +a mountain of ice, but lies in a deep sloping ravine between two +mountains, filling it up, and differing in height according to the +base. There are five of these glaciers in the valley. They usually lie +in a direction north and south, and thus deeply imbedded in the clefts +of the valley the sun rarely visits them.</p> + +<p>From Savoy our numbers were greatly increased, and as the daylight +vanished we quickened our pace. Le Prieuré was before us. This was +the place where I had promised to part with Erwald. There were plenty +of guides; but none of them with the sweet calm look of the boy face +before me.</p> + +<p>"You will think of us sometimes," he said as I held his hand at +parting, "and when you pray to our heavenly Father, ask Him to look +upon us in mercy."</p> + +<p>"I will ask Him, Erwald; and I shall always remember the journey from +Geneva to Chamouni as the most varied and interesting of my life."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Bride_Of_The_Aar" id="The_Bride_Of_The_Aar"></a>"The Bride Of The Aar."</h2> + + +<p>It was the day after Christmas; a heavy fall of snow during the night, +the tiny flakes full of graceful motion till long past noon, had made +a gloomy day for the inmates of Myrtlebank. True, there was many a gay +trill and clear silvery laugh ringing through the old rooms. Alick was +spending his college vacation at home, and Frank and Carry were merry +as school-girls are wont to be, when books are flung aside, and fun +and frolic take the place of study and recitation.</p> + +<p>"What are you dreaming about, uncle Paul?" and Carry perched herself +on the arm of her uncle's chair, and patted his cheek with her little +dimpled hand.</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking, child"—and there was a choking sensation in +uncle Paul's throat, and a strange mist in his clear gray eyes. +Carry's sympathies were awakened.</p> + +<p>"Thinking about something long time ago, uncle Paul?" and the rosy +cheek was laid close to the thin, pallid one.</p> + +<p>"Tell us, uncle Paul; you know you promised us;" and Carry slid her +arms about her uncle's neck, and felt his great heart beat against her +own.</p> + +<p>"It was a long time ago," began uncle Paul. "I had just finished my +studies, and not being strong, the physician advised a year's travel +on the continent. My father was a merchant, and had friends in the +different European cities, and there was little danger that I should +lack for attention; and with a supply of letters, and one in +particular to a friend of my father's, a pastor among the mountains +of Switzerland, I started. I pass over the leave-taking; finding +myself alone on the sea; the nights of calm when leaning over the +ship's side, looking down into the dark depths, murmuring snatches of +home songs, bringing up vividly before me faces of those I loved; and +as the ocean swells came rocking under us, down we went into the +valleys and up over the hills of water. I felt as safe, rocked in the +great cradle of the deep, as when at home. His eye was upon me; His +arm encircled me.</p> + +<p>"But pleasant as the voyage and full of memories, I see that you are +impatient to pass over to the mountains of Switzerland. Words are weak +to describe the magnificence of the Juras: looking upon the rolling +heights shrouded with pine-trees, and down thousands of feet at the +very roadside, upon cottage roofs and emerald valleys, where the deer +herds were feeding quietly. All this I had seen, and then we came to a +little town called Bex; and here, from too much expenditure of +enthusiasm perhaps, I was confined for weeks with a raging fever.</p> + +<p>"One day, when the fever left me weak and feeble as a child, who +should enter but the good pastor Ortler. He had heard of my illness, +and leaving home, he had travelled over the hills to nurse me in my +weakness; and when I grew strong enough to bear it, he treated me to +short drives along Lake Leman, whence we could see the meadows that +skirt Geneva, the rough, shaggy mountains of Savoy, and far behind +them, so far that we could not distinguish between cap and cloud, Mont +Blanc and the needles of Chamouni.</p> + +<p>"The good pastor Ortler, with his fine voice and clear, earnest eyes, +was in possession at all times of a charm of manner that had for me +an irresistible fascination. But when he talked of God, his greatness +as seen in his works, the magnificent and matchless glory by which we +were surrounded: above all, when he spoke of His tenderness and love, +I realized as I had never done before the beauty of holiness, and the +happiness, in this life even, of a soul firmly anchored in the faith +of Christ.</p> + +<p>"Once, I remember, he steadied my feet to a rocky point overlooking +the little town of Ferney, and the deserted château of Voltaire. And +then followed a conversation, in which the tenderness of the good +pastor's heart was manifest as he spoke of the fine mind wrecked on +the sands of unbelief. 'And to think of this man's influence,' he +said, with sorrow in his tones, and regrets over a lost life and a +lost soul.</p> + +<p>"Upon the shores of the lake stood the old home of De Stael; and +nearly opposite, its white walls reflected upon the bosom of the water +the house where Byron lived and wrote. In the distance we could see +the gleaming roofs of Geneva, the dark cathedral, and the tall hotels. +As the weeks wore on I grew stronger. Winter was coming, and the good +pastor must go home. He would not hear of leaving me, and together we +went down into Savoy, and over the 'mer de glâce,' and trod on the +edge of frowning glaciers.</p> + +<p>We were sufficiently near the monastery of the great St. Bernard to +take it in our path; toiling along where the ice cracked in the narrow +footway, and the moon glittered on the waste of snow and glinted +across the dark windows. Pastor Ortler was at home with the monks, and +hardly had we thawed ourselves before the ample fireplace, when a +supper was prepared, and over their well-spread tables the monks told +stories of travellers lost among the granite heights, with clefts and +ledges filled with ice.</p> + +<p>"Among the rest, friar Le-Bon gave a description of the 'Ice Maiden,' +or <i>'Bride of the Aar,'</i> said to be seen often when the great glacier +of Aar sends out icy breezes, and the echoes ring from rock to rock, +as it were the audible voice of God.</p> + +<p>"'Years ago,' he said, 'a young Englishman and his wife were +travelling for scientific purposes; measuring heights, and sounding +depths. They were always accompanied by guides; but now, charmed by +the untold splendor, and urged by deep emotion, they climbed higher +and higher, regardless of danger. Twice had the guide called out to +them that the very beauty of the day, the sun obscured but not +darkened, the softened air, were all favorable to a snowslide or +avalanche.</p> + +<p>"'Full of life and vivacity, the young wife went on from one point to +another, higher and higher; her lithe figure brought out against the +sky, as occasionally she plunged her iron-pointed staff deep into the +snow, and turned to admire the vast panorama at her feet. Her husband +was making the ascent at a slower pace, looking up to admire the +boldness of the little woman, and then playfully scolding her as she +stood poised in mid-air so far above him. Aware of her danger, and +fearing to startle her, the guide had ascended, and now stood with the +husband on a little ledge quite underneath the cliff on which stood +the fearless bride.</p> + +<p>"'A moment—there was a low, murmuring sound, as when the autumn +leaves are swept by the evening breeze. The guide heard it, and his +cheek paled. At the same time a voice was heard above.</p> + +<p>"'"What is that, Walter, it seems as though the mountain was moving?"</p> + +<p>"'"For heaven's sake, jump! we will catch you," shouted the guide.</p> + +<p>"'"Quick, Gertrude!" A gleam of white shot over them, and a piercing +shriek mingled with one long resounding crash, and the glittering +crystal was plunged into the valley below, leaving nothing but bare +jagged rocks and stunted shrubs, where all was smooth and white but a +moment before. Months after, the bones of the fair English girl were +buried here,' continued friar Le-Bon.</p> + +<p>"'And her husband?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'They brought him here, and it was terrible to see his agony. When he +grew stronger, we sent a novice with him to England; it would not do +to trust him by himself.'</p> + +<p>"'You do not mean to say that his reason was gone?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'He was never rational after that morning,' replied the friar; +'muttering and moaning, and repeating the name of Gertrude constantly. +Carl left him with his friends, and we have never heard if he +recovered.'</p> + +<p>"'And the lady?' asked pastor Ortler.</p> + +<p>"'On calm, still days, and just before an avalanche,' said the kind +friar, 'her image is always seen standing upon the loftiest height, +beckoning with her white taper fingers to some one below.'</p> + +<p>"Entertained with so much hospitality, we were loath to leave the +friendly hospice, only for the pastor's anxiety to reach home. Down +into the sweet valley of the Megringen, and northward by Grindenwald +and Thun, and up the steep heights over which falls the white foam of +Reichenbach; and farther on towards the crystal Rosenlani, and the +tall, still Engel Horner, we came to a little village cradled in +security beneath the towering hills; the church-spire glancing in the +sunlight, and the simple cottagers jubilant in welcoming home their +beloved pastor.</p> + +<p>"At the door of the pastor's home we were met by a sweet-browed woman +with a lovely infant in her arms, crowing and laughing as the father +kissed it over and over again; while a boy of ten and a girl of six +summers, ran with open arms to greet him.</p> + +<p>"'You stayed so long, papa.'</p> + +<p>"'And we missed you so much,' after the first greeting.</p> + +<p>"'This young friend was very ill; you would not have had me leave +him?'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, no, papa, but'—when the little Griselda stopped suddenly, and +threw a half-defiant glance at my face, and Thorwald stood measuring +me with his great black eyes.</p> + +<p>"Hardly recovered from my illness, I stayed with the good pastor +Ortler through Christmas week, and a month afterwards. Never did I +pass pleasanter days. The wife Rosalind was as kind as a sister, and +her children grew soon to like me as an old friend. Very simple was +their manner of life, while the air they breathed was fragrant with +the love they bore to Him who made and redeemed them, and who had in +his good providence, set them in a pleasant place.</p> + +<p>"Christmas to them was not a week of jubilee alone. Busy hands +decorated the little church, and visits were made to the poor and +sick, and presents were given without the hope of reward. Sitting by +the parlor fire at night, the pastor told of the parishioners he had +seen, their wants and needs; while Rosalind knit stockings, and +fashioned garments.</p> + +<p>"'It would seem that one so well fitted for society would tire of this +narrow bound,' I once said. With an eye brimming over with tenderness, +the pastor replied: 'There are souls to save here quite as precious as +anywhere else.' I felt humbled before his quiet glance. This was the +work for him to do; this was the work he loved. What matter in what +part of the vineyard? wherever there was a soul. But this mountain +grandeur pleased him. These quiet solitudes led him upward. The +glorious diadem of the hills was always urging him onward. Hard and +self-denying as his life, he had ample recompense in daily, hourly +communion with the Father through the majesty of his works."</p> + +<p>"I should like to live where I could see all this," whispered Carry.</p> + +<p>"The heart that loves, finds beauty and grandeur everywhere." +responded uncle Paul; "not only the mountain passes, but the valleys +echo His praise, and there are few places so sterile but human lives +abound."</p> + +<p>"Griselda and Thorwald, have you seen them since?" asked Carry.</p> + +<p>"Ten years afterwards, I saw them. Griselda was a tall stately girl, +with blue laughing eyes, and curls of pale brown, and Thorwald was a +student at Geneva. Pastor Ortler was still the same, preaching to his +little flock, and giving freely of his means, his wife only slightly +older. Once more we wandered over the heights and in the valleys, the +spots where I lingered years before, plucking a flower and drinking +from the cold glacier water. Afterward, when it became necessary for +me to return, good pastor Ortler and his wife went with me, and +together we passed a winter in Milan."</p> + +<p>"And Griselda?" asked Carry.</p> + +<p>"Oh, uncle Paul, Griselda was"—and Carry glanced up at the portrait +of a young and beautiful woman hanging in a niche on the left-hand of +the fireplace. Uncle Paul's portrait occupied the other side. Silence +brooded over them; while to Carry it seemed the lady in the picture +looked as if with recognition in her eyes. How delicate, how aerial +she seemed! yet real, and true. Was it any wonder uncle Paul was so +good, having had the companionship of such a spirit so many years? And +as she looked, the stately frame seemed to open, and the lady to come +down from her place and seat herself on the other arm of uncle Paul's +chair, and to lay her head on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"To do good was her aim, Carry; may it be yours," said uncle Paul, and +the spell was broken.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_Sabbath_In_Lausanne" id="A_Sabbath_In_Lausanne"></a>A Sabbath In Lausanne.</h2> + + +<p>After a long journey we arrived at the head of the lake of Geneva, by +far the most interesting portion of this sheet of water. The mountains +on the left of the valley are extremely wild and majestic, and at +their feet, close on the borders of the lake, is the little village +where I had promised to spend the Sabbath with my old friend Wagner. +The sun had gone down, but a rosy flush tinged the clouds and lingered +about the tops of the mountains.</p> + +<p>The walk was not long to the parsonage, a low rambling cottage, with +deep windows and overhanging roof, embowered in trees and fragrant +with the breath of flowers. All this we took in at a look, and without +any break in the talk, taking us back as it did to the day when we +bade good-by to the college and its professors, and shook hands with +each other for the last time. Looking into Wagner's face it did not +seem so long ago; while I, floating round the world, had gathered +experience enough to make me feel, if not look, something older. At +the porch we were met by Maude, her slight girlish figure rounded into +the perfection of womanhood, the rich bloom of her cheek not quite as +deep perhaps; but the sweet blue eyes met mine with all the old +frankness, the charming naivete that had rendered her so much a +favorite when a child.</p> + +<p>Sitting there in the lessening light it all came back; the old +university at Basle, and above all, the old professor, Maude's father, +whom we all loved.</p> + +<p>"His place is well filled, and still we miss him," said Wagner.</p> + +<p>There were tears in the young wife's eyes, and rising hastily she +disappeared into the house. A few moments later she appeared, her face +smiling and glad, a very sweet-faced babe clasped in her arms, another +tugging at her gown. "Allow me to show my treasures," she said, as she +seated herself beside me. Hours passed as hours will when friends have +been separated for years. Then came a summons to tea; and after that +Maude put up her jewels, and the pastor introduced me to his study. +Summer though it was, a bright fire of sticks was burning on the +hearth; bright, but not too bright to exclude the outside view. Slowly +the purple curtain drooped over the mountains, falling lower and +lower, until the small village, the tiled roofs, and the wooden spire +were wrapped in a cloud of dusky haze.</p> + +<p>"You have wondered why I content myself here, when a professorship +was offered me at Basle," said Wagner at length. "It was a temptation, +I allow; and when I thought of Maude and the social position from +which I had taken her, I hesitated. She did not, however. 'These +people love you, and your preaching is blessed to them. I am afraid if +you leave, there will be no one else; and one soul saved outweighs all +their professorships.' It was sweetly said, and I knew by the look on +her face that her heart was in keeping with her words, and I answered +her accordingly."</p> + +<p>It was late, and the next day would be the Sabbath. Maude joined us, +when a hymn was sung and a prayer offered, and we slept.</p> + +<p>The sun was shining when I awoke, and opening my lattice I looked away +to, the mountains, their white heads mellowed with a glory that +inspired only thoughts of that God who made all things, and who holds +them by the power of his might. There was a stir in the village, just +enough to show the inhabitants were not sleeping away the precious +hours. A cheerful, calm reigned, in keeping with the hallowed day; the +very birds sang in a subdued and still triumphant tone, as if they +knew 'twas holy time; while the dumb cattle, feeding on the road, +cropped the brown grass noiselessly. Gliding down the broad stairway, +I opened the study door. The pastor was there, and I saw by the open +book, with the cushion before it still deeply indented, that he had +been kneeling. He advanced with his usual good-humored smile, while +his voice had the mellowed sweetness of one who had been on the mount +speaking face to face with the King of kings.</p> + +<p>"I question if the Sabbath is as beautiful in the larger towns," said +the pastor, leading me to the deep window.</p> + +<p>Below, the garden sloped away to a considerable distance, and the +flowers still sparkling with the dewdrops lifted their heads timidly. +"You see there is some compensation for our solitude; with less +temptations to draw away our thoughts, we are privileged to go up +through these temple gates from glory to glory. Did you ever see +anything more grand and inspiring?" and he stepped out on to the +balcony, and pointed me to a range of hills ascending gradually till +the top seemed to reach the clouds.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Here linger yet the showers of fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deep in each fold, high on each spire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On yonder mountain proud."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Up the walk came Maude, leading by the hand the little Lotchen, the +prattle of the child showing the lesson the mother had been +attempting to teach. Beautiful such a Sabbath! and my heart felt +refreshed as I stood upon the threshold and looked out into the new +day.</p> + +<p>"We used to work together in Basle," said the pastor as we seated +ourselves at the breakfast-table, "suppose we make the effort to-day."</p> + +<p>"That will depend upon the portion that falls to my share," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Give him the pulpit, Heinrich," said Maude naively.</p> + +<p>"I am not sure that I wish him to fill it," replied the pastor with a +smile.</p> + +<p>"I more than half wish I could," came to my lips unbidden, and I could +hardly keep the tears as I thought of the few months it had been mine +to labor in this manner, then of that fearful illness, the loss of +voice, and the journey to regain health and strength to be spent in +His service.</p> + +<p>"You remember the old Bible class," said Wagner; "I have one here, or +rather two, for we meet twice a day, some finding it more convenient +to come in the morning and others after service, so that my time is +pretty well filled."</p> + +<p>"And you would give me one of the classes," I said, as Maude filled my +coffee cup the second time.</p> + +<p>"This is what I propose to do."</p> + +<p>"And I accept most cheerfully."</p> + +<p>"We have but a little time; in an hour you will be ready," and the +pastor went to his study.</p> + +<p>An hour afterwards the street was full of eager faces, all going to +the house of God, quiet and calm, but still cheerful and happy, +stopping to interchange greetings with each other, above all glad of a +welcoming look and smile from the pastor. I soon saw wherein was the +charm; sympathizing and kindly affectioned toward his people the +pastor interested himself in the little history of each, neglecting no +one, and especially attentive to the poor and feeble aged ones of his +flock. All loved him as a pastor, and by reason of this he persuaded +them the more easily.</p> + +<p>The church was a quaint structure, half gothic, and half of a +nondescript architecture peculiar to itself. Leaving the vestibule we +entered at once the main audience-room, large, and sufficiently +commodious, but somewhat dark and gloomy. The pulpit was high, and +looked like an upright octagonal vase perched on a square pedestal. +This was unoccupied at present, the people taking their seats, and +forming as I saw at once into two distinct classes. In a few words the +pastor explained why it was thus, and then offering a prayer in which +all joined he proceeded to give me one of the classes, while he began +to question the others.</p> + +<p>It was a novel group, the women in black skirts, with square boddices, +surmounted by white kerchiefs, with long flowing sleeves of white. But +the head had the strangest appearance. The more elderly women wore a +black cap, from the edge of which depended a trimming rising +perpendicularly from the cap from four to eight inches and gave to the +head the appearance of wings. Strange as it at first seemed, I soon +forgot all but their eager, animated attention. The theme was the love +of God in giving his only Son to be the propitiation for our sins. +Very evidently, it was no stranger of whom we were speaking. Not +satisfied with a mere bearing of his name, they knew and loved him. +His divine arm had been reached down to them. Charmed with his sweet +countenance, and won by his gentle, loving words, "Come unto me," +they came with the trust and confidence of little children, +acknowledging their sin, but taking him at his word, "I, even I am he +that blotteth out thy transgressions, for my own sake, and will not +remember thy sins." It was sweet to talk of him, this Saviour, who had +done so much for them; and before I was aware the tears were running +down my own cheeks, and my words were broken and fragmentary. In the +meantime other worshippers came in. The hour for this kind of +instruction was over. The pastor availed himself of a moment's +respite, and the next was seen ascending the pulpit stairs. Maude was +seated among the singers, and the morning services commenced.</p> + +<p>I had never heard my friend deliver a formal discourse, but I knew it +mattered little to him whether his message was given to few or +many—love for Christ, and earnestness to save souls was the +all-absorbing passion of his heart. It was only a continuation of what +he had been saying, the sweetly touching story of Christ's love told +simply, and still with the earnest, truthful spirit of one who knew by +blessed experience the reality of what he was saying. Standing in his +place and holding up the cross, for the moment it seemed that we could +see Him, the Divine Son, hanging, bleeding, dying that sinners like us +might be redeemed, saved, reinstated. What love! What tenderness! Is +it any wonder that we wept? Not a dry eye was in the house. Those +hardy peasants, with little intellectual culture, had hearts to love, +hearts that could understand and appreciate in some feeble manner the +promise of pardon and peace through a crucified Redeemer.</p> + +<p>It was an hour well spent. Never have I felt nearer the divine +presence, nor more of the joy, the rest that springs from intimate +communion with the blessed Saviour. How strange the revulsion of +feeling in a few moments of time. I had looked with a little of +pleasantry upon the quaint figures and novel costumes of the +worshippers; now, I saw only the earnest attitude, the anxious gaze, +the loving look. Jesus was all in all, and their love for him +beautified their faces.</p> + +<p>As we went home many kindly words were interchanged, the pastor +seeking out the elderly feeble ones, and Maude speaking with the +mothers, and patting the heads of little children, while I found my +way to a group of youths, to deepen if possible the impression of the +morning.</p> + +<p>After dinner there was a repetition of the Bible-class, though now +they met at the pastor's house. As it was warm and pleasant we seated +ourselves in the garden, dividing into three groups. This class was +entirely different from the one of the morning, being made up of +those, many of them mothers, who could not leave their children to go +out earlier; and with some, this service was the principal one of the +day. The attention was quite as good, and the manner the same. It was +a pleasure to teach, and the sun was throwing his last red beams on +the hillside as the last one left the garden. It had been a long day, +but we felt repaid.</p> + +<p>"You have had a glimpse of our family and of our work," said the +pastor. "How do you like it?"</p> + +<p>"Is this a specimen of all your Sabbaths?"</p> + +<p>"Just the same, with the fluctuating difference of numbers; scattered +as our people are, many of them living halfway up the mountains, they +are not always able to be here."</p> + +<p>"I agree with Maude that your service is needed here."</p> + +<p>"I knew you would. There are souls to save here as well as in Basle, +and sometimes I think the love of these simple hearts is sweeter to +Jesus."</p> + +<p>Far away the mountains were lifting their heads, bathed in the golden +glory from the setting sun. Maude caught the direction of my eyes.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I fear to much the effect upon my own soul; but these grand +temple-gates are always open, and from their entrance we seem to catch +glimpses of the celestial city beyond, inspiring only good and noble +thoughts, with an anxious, earnest endeavor to reach higher +resting-places."</p> + +<p>"And you fear this would be less in the noise and din of the city."</p> + +<p>"Not quite that, for the heart that loves Jesus can live and work for +him anywhere; but with a free choice I prefer this."</p> + +<p>I felt that she was right, it was the work God had given her to do, +and she was willing to do it; while the question returned to me with +tenfold force, Are you as willing to labor in the field that He has +given to you? The man with a vineyard places his laborers as he would +have them, giving each one according to his capacity, be it more or +less. Our Father has a vineyard; it is the world, and his children are +the laborers. "Go work in my vineyard," is the command. The choice is +His who placed us there; to work is ours.</p> + +<p>"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; +and lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."</p> + +<p>The next day I left Lausanne, the good pastor and his wife joining me +for a few miles on my way, and then we parted—to meet, teacher and +taught, in the city of our God.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Guide_Of_Montanvert" id="The_Guide_Of_Montanvert"></a>The Guide Of Montanvert.</h2> + + +<p>We were passing the summer at the Pays de Vaud; thence making +excursions, as suited our inclination, to different portions of the +country, always finding something new and striking—something out of +which we could draw profitable lessons for the future.</p> + +<p>On one of these occasions we made the ascent of Montanvert, and +visited the Mer de Glace. Montanvert rises abruptly from the vale of +Chamouni, and may not improperly be considered a portion of the base +of Mont Blanc. It is beautifully wooded to its summit, whence its name +of the Green Mountain.</p> + +<p>As we were standing in the court of the inn discussing the merits of a +guide, and anxious to find a trusty and intelligent person from whom +we could learn all that was to be learned, as well as feel secure in +his choice of the best paths, a boy and girl came up the hill, and +speaking hurriedly to the landlord, advanced confidently to the place +where we stood. Lifting his cap, while a shower of light soft curls +fell over his coarse blouse, he asked if we were in search of a guide, +and if we would take him. His manner was so respectful, and his face +and appearance so youthful, we were attracted, and still did not know +how to reply to him.</p> + +<p>"I was thinking of Franz," said the innkeeper; "you need not fear his +youth; he was born here, and his father has always been considered one +of the best guides in the country; Franz knows every path."</p> + +<p>"Let his father come with him," I suggested. I thought I caught a +tear in the boy's eye, and his lips trembled.</p> + +<p>"Father is old, and besides he is very ill to-day; if you will allow +me I will serve you faithfully."</p> + +<p>There was something so frank and truthful, and his words were so well +chosen and showed such cultivation, that even had I feared that he was +unequal to the task I should have taken him.</p> + +<p>At this moment his sister came out of the inn, the good woman +following her with a bottle of wine.</p> + +<p>"This is for your father, Annette; I hope he will be better +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"I am going," I heard Franz whisper; and taking the wine-bottle, he +left Annette to carry the smaller packages, and turned to us as if +ready to set off.</p> + +<p>"You are not to take Annette, are you?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"We live halfway up the mountain, and shall pass near the house. We +shall not need our poles till we reach that point."</p> + +<p>We did not over-exert ourselves at the outset, casting our eyes over +the green valley, and then up the snowy mountains, sometimes +exchanging a word with Franz, but oftener listening, as he talked in a +low voice to Annette, of what she was to do during the day.</p> + +<p>"And if he dies, Franz!"</p> + +<p>"God grant that he may not."</p> + +<p>We had now reached the little cottage, and, laying down her packages, +Annette ran to a little shed and brought each of us a long pole +furnished with a spike at the end, for which we found abundant use +before we returned; she then brought a draught of clear, cold water, +gushing out of a rock near by, and, bidding us "God speed," entered +the hut.</p> + +<p>Franz was with us, but he had just stopped for a word with his +father, and there was a moisture in his eye that came very near +calling the tears to our own. We did not question him then, but going +on, we paused occasionally to observe the ruin which had been wrought +by many avalanches, while our ears mistook the sound of others for +thunder. Trees uprooted, withered branches and blasted trunks were +scattered in every direction, and sometimes a large space was +completely cleared by one of these tremendous agents of destruction.</p> + +<p>"You have seen the village of Chamouni," said Franz; "it is said to +have been built by a few peasants who escaped an avalanche that +occurred on the opposite side of the Arve."</p> + +<p>The higher we ascended the more steep and difficult it became, and +more than once did Franz have to turn and teach us how to use our +poles, resting the weight of the body upon them, but still inclining +the figure to the face of the mountain instead of the valley. Higher +up we came to shoots or rivers of frozen snow; the inclination of the +ice being extremely steep and the surface smooth, Franz crossed first, +making marks with his pole for our feet. He then directed us to look +neither above nor below us, but only to our feet, for should we fall +nothing could save us from sliding down the ice and being dashed +against the rocks or the stumps of trees beneath. Passing the first in +safety, we found the next less formidable, while the danger was +diminished in proportion to the experience we acquired.</p> + +<p>Once over, Franz told us how his father was accustomed to descend the +ice shoot; planting his heels firmly in the snow and placing his pole +under his right arm and leaning the entire weight of his body upon it +he came down with the swiftness of an arrow, his body almost in a +sitting posture, his heels and the spiked end of his pole alone +touching the ice and deeply indenting it.</p> + +<p>"It happened," said Franz, "that my father was showing a small company +of travellers to the summit, when a sudden fancy seized one of them to +make the descent in that way. My father expostulated, and told him +that it required practice and skill, that but few of the guides would +undertake it. He would not be deterred, feeling, as he said, sure that +he could do anything performed by another. Seeing that he was +determined, my father helped him to adjust his pole, and then shut his +eyes."</p> + +<p>"And what then?" I asked, as Franz stopped and looked in the direction +of the Mer de Glace.</p> + +<p>"There was no help for him," said Franz; "he was buried at the foot +of the mountain."</p> + +<p>Having reached the summit, the scene that burst upon us was sublime in +the highest degree; immediately beneath was the Mer de Glace, a broad +river of ice running nearly forty miles up into the Alps; to the north +the green valley of Chamouni, to the south the gigantic barriers that +separate Savoy from Piedmont, and around us inaccessible peaks and +mountains of eternal snow, finely contrasting with the deep blue of +the heavens; while the roar of cataracts and the thunder of avalanches +were the only sounds that broke upon the profound stillness of the +terrible solitude.</p> + +<p>On the summit of the mountain we found an inn or hospice. We entered +and warmed ourselves, neither did we refuse the black bread and glass +of sour wine that were presently brought to us. As we sat by the fire +a small table was brought near us, and on it lay the album in which we +were expected to enter our names. Many notable autographs we found +here, and despite the gladness we felt in adding ours to the number, +there was still a sad, desolate thought: those most distinguished had +all passed away. The mountains remained, their glory undiminished; but +the human beings climbing their heights, and exulting in the grandeur +of heaven and earth, had vanished like the mist wreath. Years would +pass and other feet would cross the slippery fields, other eyes look +out upon the work of God's hands, other names be traced, and we, like +the throng before us, be gone—no longer to look upon the created, but +the Creator.</p> + +<p>As soon as we were sufficiently rested, Franz summoned us to the Sea +of Ice, and we began to descend the steep and rugged face of the +mountain. As we approached the surface of the glacier, these +inequalities rose into considerable elevations, intermingled with +half-formed pyramids, bending walls and shapeless masses of ice; with +blocks of granite and frightful chasms at once savage and fantastic. +It puzzled me to know why it should have been called a sea, a rough +and stony one at that; but to me it looked like a river, walled in by +two enormous mountains, rising to the height of ten thousand feet, and +forming a ravine a mile and a half wide, that pursues a straight +course for several miles and divides at the upper end into two glens, +like deep gashes, that run up to the highest elevation of the Alps, +terminating at the lower extremity in an icy precipice of two thousand +feet, whose base is in a still deeper valley. It was as if there had +been innumerable torrents dashing down the precipice into the +valley—arrested by a mighty hurricane as they hurried along, and +wrought into the wildest forms by the fury of the tempest, and then +suddenly congealed, leaving a sea or river of ice, framed in with +lofty peaks and snowy summits, cataracts and avalanches, clouds and +storms, a wonderful combination of the grand, the terrible, and the +sublime.</p> + +<p>Franz understood his business of guide too well to let me loiter as I +wished. "These fissures are the chief danger," he said; and, holding +out his small hand, he grasped mine with the tenacity of one not +accustomed to let anything slip through his fingers. A girdle of +imperfectly frozen snow borders this sea; and Franz never planted his +feet till he had first ascertained the nature of the surface with his +pole. Some of these fissures are of an amazing depth, and, taking out +my watch, I tried to fathom one of them by dropping large fragments of +granite; and calculating by the time that elapsed before reaching the +bottom, we judged it to be over five hundred feet.</p> + +<p>Franz had hurried us; now, he stopped, and bade us look above us. We +did so, and were amply repaid for all our toil. To try to describe it +would be in vain; and still the distinct outline is indelibly +impressed upon my mind, and I am confident will never be effaced. We +were standing in the midst of the rough waves and yawning abysses of +this frozen sea; while almost perpendicularly from its brink the +mountains rose, clothed with scanty herbage, and adorned with the tiny +crimson blossoms of the rhododendron that bloomed upon their sides.</p> + +<p>As the eye looked up the valley, every trace of vegetation died away; +and the snowy mountains appeared to meet and mingle with each other.</p> + +<p>We left the glacier, and ascending again to the hospice of Montanvert, +I sat down by the side of Franz upon a block of granite, and looked +again upon a scene the equal of which I never expect to see again. +There was a far away look in Franz's eyes. Was he thinking of the +little cottage far up the mountain, and of Annette watching by the +bedside of his sick father? Perhaps so; in any case I was glad that we +had taken him. His could not be an everyday story, there must be some +particular motive why he should want so earnestly to come. I would not +question him then; but I determined to stop at the little cottage and +learn for myself.</p> + +<p>With all the untold glory above and beneath me, I felt oppressed with +the littleness, as well as the greatness of my nature. How +insignificant I appeared amid these gigantic forms; and still I +exulted in the consciousness that "My Father made them all, that +Father with whom I could commune, and whose Son I was privileged to +love."</p> + +<p>"And this God is our God," I was constrained to say aloud. Franz +turned his speaking eye upon me.</p> + +<p>"If it was not for this, how could we endure it?" he said, while there +was a grave, calm look on his face, so little to be expected in a +guide.</p> + +<p>"How could we endure this grandeur, or our own littleness?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"To know that God rules, giving each his place, to the mountains +theirs, and to us ours. Insignificant we may be, and still we are each +of us of more value than all the mountains in the universe. Jesus +created mountains; but he died for us."</p> + +<p>"Where did you learn this, Franz?"</p> + +<p>"From the Bible, sir."</p> + +<p>I saw it all; the Bible was the textbook he had studied. It was this +which had given him that rare expression of face, and the words so far +above the condition of life indicated by the little hamlet where he +lived.</p> + +<p>There was no more time, for the sun was going down, and we must go +with it; and rising, we began to make the descent.</p> + +<p>The moon was full orbed before we reached the cottage. I was weary +beyond the power of utterance.</p> + +<p>"If you would prefer to stop here, we can give you a comfortable bed," +said Franz, "and Annette will have something to eat. I told her that +there was a possibility that you would like to remain."</p> + +<p>It was the very thing I wanted, and placing my pole by the side of +Franz's in the little shed from which Annette had brought it in the +morning, I entered the cottage.</p> + +<p>All was still and quiet. It seemed Annette had not heard us; for as +the door was opened, she rose from the bedside, where she had been +kneeling, and springing lightly to Franz hid her little tear-wet face +in his bosom. She did not perceive me, and for a moment there was +nothing to be heard but the heavy breathing of the sick man.</p> + +<p>"How has he been, Annette?" and Franz unclasped his sister's arm.</p> + +<p>"He did not say much till the sun was nearly down, then he began to +ask for you, and at last I read him to sleep."</p> + +<p>"Can you give us something to eat, Annette? you see I have brought the +stranger with me."</p> + +<p>She turned with such an air of modesty, dropping a courtesy so very +humbly, and yet with a blending of maidenly dignity, that I felt +instinctively to bow to the womanhood before me, quaint and +picturesque as it was in its black dress, white sleeves, and +wooden-heeled shoes.</p> + +<p>Giving one glance at the sleeper, Annette slipped out at a side-door; +while Franz rising from his straight-backed chair, and dropping on his +knees beside the bed, pressed his lips to the furrowed brow. The +action seemed to recall the sick man, his breathing was not so heavy +and his eyes partly opened.</p> + +<p>"Father, you are not sleeping easily; let me turn you on your pillow." +The voice was low and tender, and the action gentle as a woman's. +"Franz!" and the withered hand stroked his light curls. "Franz!" there +was nothing more; but oh, what a world of love, of restored +confidence! the stiffening tongue lingered fondly on each letter.</p> + +<p>The room was large, and there was a general air of neatness; but +there was a lack of comforts such as we are accustomed to see at home. +There was no lamp in the room; only on the hearth a pine-knot nearly +spent, sending out now a bright light, then wavering, bringing out +shadows on the wall, and permitting us to catch glimpses of the +outdoor radiance, the silvery effulgence of the rocks and hills.</p> + +<p>The sick man slept, and now his breathing was as sweet as an infant's. +I rose to look at him, his bronzed face bleached to a deathly pallor, +his high brow seamed with furrows, and his hair like a network of +silver falling over the coarse white pillow.</p> + +<p>"Has he been long ill?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"It is about three months now," and Franz drew up a little stand, and +lifted the Bible that had been lying open on the bed to the table.</p> + +<p>"Annette spoke of reading him to sleep; was this the book?" I +questioned.</p> + +<p>"Father has come to like this since he was sick; he don't care for any +other."</p> + +<p>"Then he has not always liked it?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"May I know, Franz, when you first learned to love this book?"</p> + +<p>He looked up with such a shy, timid look, and still with the same +frankness that had characterized him during the day. Just then Annette +entered, whispered to Franz, and both went out. In a moment Franz +returned.</p> + +<p>"Annette was afraid it would not do; it is the best we have, and I +know you must be hungry."</p> + +<p>White bread, and strawberries, and goat's milk; while the bottle of +sour wine I had seen in the morning graced the table. I had not +expected such a tempting meal, and I was hungry, as Franz said. Taking +his seat Franz raised his eyes to mine. There was no mistaking its +upward, grateful glance. Bowing our heads, we asked a blessing, and +then picking up the broken thread, Franz went on to tell me of +himself.</p> + + +<p>Franz's Story.</p> + +<p>"It is nearly four years since an English gentleman and his daughter +visited Chamouni, and my father was their guide. Mr. Wyndham was a +gentleman of refined manners; a Christian man, loving God, and +speaking of that love with the earnestness of one who wishes others to +love Him also. His daughter Alice, a frail, gentle girl, was one of +those beings that seem lent, not given; the last of a large family, +and herself not strong. Her father brought her to Lausanne, hoping +that pure air and change of scene would restore and invigorate her. I +hardly know why, but certain it is that my father was never so much +interested in travellers before; while from the first it seemed to me +that I could never do enough for the gentle girl, who never failed to +inspire me with the love of something beyond what I knew. It was not a +tangible idea, and when I tried to reach it I could not. Often in +going up the mountain we would stop and rest on some shelf of the +rock, while Alice would take her Bible from her pocket, and read the +beautiful descriptions of the majesty and glory of the mountain +heights, their grandeur and splendor, and then of the great God, +creator and ruler of the universe, and kneeling in the cleft of the +rock, she would commit herself to him with such a sweet, childlike +confidence, I used to weep without knowing what I was weeping for, +wishing and longing that I could understand for myself. Whenever she +read, and especially when she prayed, my father would listen +attentively, taking care when we went home to say nothing about it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/image4-tb.png" alt="The Guide Of Montanvert." title="The Guide Of Montanvert." /> +</div> + +<p>"I remember one day we had been to 'Le Jardin,' a little spot of green +at the foot of the grand Jarasse, framed in with eternal snows, but +itself covered with Alpine plants and flowers, and yielding herbage +sufficient to tempt the herdsmen to drive their cattle across the Mer +de Glace. Her father and mine had gone a little out of the path, +leaving me in charge and Alice to rest. Seeing some bright flowers of +a peculiar species I stopped to gather them, and when I returned Alice +was reading. It was not of Christ's power, glory and majesty, but of +his love, the tenderness he felt for us, of his life, and last of all, +of his death. I had never heard the story before, and it took entire +possession of my spirit. Going down the mountain I was continually +asking myself, 'What shall I render to him for all he has suffered on +my account? and what for the blessings he has given me?' Thinking of +his buffetings, scoffs and scourging, I could hardly keep the tears. +My father observing this, and supposing that I was weary or had hurt +myself, was kinder than usual; but when I told him of the little book +and what Alice had told me of the love of Jesus, he grew angry and +said that the next time they needed a guide I should stay at home. 'I +have listened once or twice,' he said, 'because my living depends upon +my politeness to strangers; but when it comes to turning the heads of +my children it is quite another thing.'</p> + +<p>"A few weeks after this Mr. Wyndham left Chamouni for Lausanne.</p> + +<p>"'We shall miss you,' said Alice; for my father let me go to bid them +good-by; 'and that you may have something to remember me by, I am +going to give you this little Bible. You will see that I have marked +the passages I want you to study; and you must try to read it every +day.'</p> + +<p>"It was the very thing that I had wanted, but I could hardly tell her +so. Tears were running over my face, and I had barely time to slip the +little book into my pocket when my father came up. After that I was +happier. I could read for myself, and it was sweet to know that God +cared for me. Many a pleasant hour did I enjoy in the mountain passes, +and in telling Annette of the treasure I had found in the Bible.</p> + +<p>"My father may have suspected this. I hardly know; but one day the +priest came to talk to me upbraiding me not a little with reading a +book that could do me no good, and demanding that I should give it to +him. This I refused to do. He appealed to my father; invectives and +blows followed, and at last my father told me that I should either +give up the book or never see him or Annette any more. It was a +struggle, and I came near giving it up.</p> + +<p>"When Annette suggested that I should go to Lausanne and see Mr. +Wyndham and Alice, I had not thought that I could do this, and without +delay started. I was received very kindly by Mr. Wyndham. Alice had +grown very weak; could not walk, and seldom could ride. I can not tell +you how the days passed, neither of the exertion she made to teach me +out of my little book. Then came a day when her voice was still, and +the next the sweet face was hidden from my sight for ever.</p> + +<p>"Soon after this Mr. Wyndham left for England, but before he left he +had a long talk with me, and of my plans and hopes for the future. The +result was that I was placed in school, of which there are several, in +Lausanne, and began to study with reference to being myself a teacher +of his blessed word. My little Bible I sent to Annette; but my father +would not let me come home. For the last year he has been failing; +three months since he took to his bed, and then Annette prevailed upon +him to let me come and wait upon him. I found him greatly changed. +From the first he let me read the Book, as he calls it, and of late I +feel that he loves Jesus, and trusts him for the future. Living upon +his labor, it troubles him that he can do nothing; and this was why I +was so anxious to go with you yesterday; he likes to think of me as a +guide."</p> + +<p>"And I trust you will be a guide," I said, as we left the table and +entered the sick-room, "a guide to lead souls to Christ. What a +blessed privilege!"</p> + +<p>"If I can only do it," and his eyes were full of a holy light.</p> + +<p>Annette sat by the bedside; the face of the sick man was as pale as +marble, and but for the gentle breathing, we should have thought him +already departed. Franz put on a fresh knot, and the red flame sent a +rosy tinge over the apartment. Sitting before the fire we watched him +as he slept, knowing, feeling that it could not be long. Then a +chapter was read, and a prayer went up for strength and guidance.</p> + +<p>Franz would not let me watch with him; and leading me into a small +room with a clean but somewhat hard bed, left me to myself. Weary as I +was, I could not sleep. The glory of the day; the sad, sweet history +just related; the sick man, with the messenger waiting at the humble +door, thrilled me with a feeling that would not rest. Opening my +window, I enjoyed the stillness, the solitude, and the grandeur of the +scene: the glittering dome of Mont Blanc, and all the surrounding and +inferior domes and spires and pyramids that cluster in this wondrous +region, which fancy might conceive the edifices of some great city, or +the towers and dome of some vast minster. Far above the mountain-tops +the moon was shining; while her retinue of stars, seen through the +cool crisp air, seemed larger and more beautiful than I had ever +before seen them.</p> + +<p>It would be impossible to detail all the thoughts that passed, and the +emotions that were excited in my mind. Every object around, beneath, +above me seemed in silent but impressive eloquence to celebrate God's +praise; from the moon that led the starry train, from the patriarch of +his kindred hills and nearest to the heavenly sanctuary, down to the +frozen glaciers and the roaring torrents of the lower valleys, all +seemed endowed with a peculiar language—a voice to touch the heart of +man, and to enter into the ear of God.</p> + +<p>At length sleep overpowered me, and when I awoke the sun was shining. +Stepping into the outer room I was met by Franz, looking as fresh as +though sleep had not been denied him. Leading me to the bedside, he +spoke a few words to his father, while the trembling hand met mine, +weak and worn. I saw that his course was nearly run; but there was a +light in his eye that spoke of peace. Words were of little use.</p> + +<p>After breakfast, which Annette insisted that I should take, I walked +down to the inn, and there learned more of Franz than he had been +willing to tell me. Not only had he been the means of leading his +father to the Saviour, but it was his habit to gather the people +together and read to them out of his Bible, telling them of Jesus and +of his pure and spotless life, then of his agony and death, picturing +his love and his infinite tenderness.</p> + +<p>I was not restricted to a set number of days, and for three days I +vibrated between the inn and the small cottage on the mountain. On the +fourth it was over; the messenger had done his bidding. Franz and +Annette were not the only mourners, not a villager but joined them; +and when they turned from the grave to the silence of their humble +room, I went with them.</p> + +<p>Not many days after that the door of the cottage was shut; and when I +sailed for my western home, Franz Muller was prosecuting his studies +at Basle.</p> + +<p>"He is to be a minister," said Annette, as she followed me to the +door, "and he says that wherever his work is, I may share it with +him."</p> + +<p>Her face was lit up with a smile almost as bright as I had seen on +Franz's face. Surely the angels know nothing of the rapture of such a +work.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Mont_Blanc" id="Mont_Blanc"></a>Mont Blanc.</h2> + + +<p>After making the ascent of Montanvert, and learning something of the +wonders of the Mer de Glace, we again sallied forth upon a tour of +discovery in the immediate neighborhood of La Prieuré.</p> + +<p>With Mont Blanc before me and hardly conscious that I was alone, I +pursued my walk, continuing to ascend till my path was obstructed by a +mass of fallen snow. Fascinated with the idea of a better view, I +determined to find a way around it, I climbed higher and higher, now +stopping to admire the interior domes and spires and pyramids that +cluster in this wondrous region, then fancying myself in a vast +cathedral more grand and magnificent than I had ever before seen. The +summit of Mont Blanc seemed to have greatly increased since I began to +ascend, and this, and not looking behind me, rendered me wholly +unconscious of the progress I made.</p> + +<p>At length, from the slippery condition of the path and the frequent +use that I was obliged to make of the pole with which I had been +furnished, I became conscious that I had advanced far beyond what I +had at first purposed. Looking back, I could see nothing of the +valley; night was coming on, and the winds sweeping over the snowy +heights made me shiver; at the same time they threatened to hurl me +over the precipice. Go on I could not; to retrace my steps seemed +equally impossible; planting my pole with its long spike deep in the +ice, I attempted to keep my footing. Sending my eyes in every +direction, and hoping that the guides had missed me and followed in +the track, I perceived an immense mass of ice, one of the very turrets +that I had so greatly admired, trembling and just ready to fall. +Before I had time to think, it slipped and fell with a thundering +sound, rolling and dashing like a huge cataract of liquid silver, +glittering in the sunbeams, and spent itself on the surface below over +which it spread. Its roar, like that of thunder, reverberated from +peak to peak, and many seconds elapsed before it completely died away.</p> + +<p>My situation was perilous. Of the extent of the glacier I could not +determine. In following after me, my companions might have been buried +underneath its fall; or the guides might think that there was no +possibility of my escape, and thus give up the attempt to rescue me. +All this and more passed through my mind. What if I should never +reach my home, should never look into the faces of those I love! One +quiet look upward, and peace filled my heart. God was above me, and +around me; this terrible solitude spoke of his majesty, his might, his +power. These mountains were in my Redeemer's hands. His eye was upon +me, and I was safe.</p> + +<p>The sun fell behind the western mountains, but his splendors deepening +as they died away, were succeeded by the softer beams of the moon that +rose full orbed above the lofty horizon. At first their mild +effulgence was only seen on the hoary head of the monarch of the Alps: +but as I gazed, summit after summit caught the silvery lustre, till +all above and below me was enveloped in the same glorious light.</p> + +<p>Chateaubriand says that mountain elevations are no place for +contemplation; and certainly, surrounded by great dangers, it may +seem incredible that I indulged in it. Still, I cannot but attribute +my safety to this very state of mind—looking away from myself, +holding fast to my pike-staff, and rising spontaneously to the +adoration of that Being who commanded these mighty masses to take +their form and place. Every object seemed in silent but impressive +eloquence to celebrate His praise. The moon, with her attendant stars, +the spotless dome of Mont Blanc, the glittering glaciers and the +roaring torrents all seemed endowed with a voice to touch the heart of +man, and to assure him of a hearing from God.</p> + +<p>The moon was rising higher: forced to keep one position, I was growing +stiff and weary, the wind chilled me, and there were ringing noises in +my ears: the enthusiasm that had sustained me grew less. Would they +ever find me? Glancing downward, I tried to discover lights. In +listening I grew numb, the mountains began to reel around me, the moon +and the stars danced before me, my senses began to wander. Should I +attempt to go forward? Would it not be better to throw myself down? +Once more I looked over the precipice, and just then a horn rang out +far below; then a voice apparently nearer. I tried to answer, but no +sound came; I tried to move, but was fast. The next I remember, a +guide was rubbing my breast with his rough hands; while another forced +open my mouth and poured something from a flask. How we got down, I +never knew. But the next day as Dr. Kemper told me of the excitement +of the guides as soon as my absence became known to them, and the fall +of the glacier, of the fear that I was buried beneath it, and of my +state when found, I could only adore still more His goodness that had +preserved me, while a still firmer purpose thrilled my being to live +for Him.</p> + +<p>A prisoner in my room, Dr. Kemper told me the manner in which Saussure +made the ascent. A party of guides going up from Chamouni, one of them +by some means was far ahead of the others, when suddenly darkness +enveloped him. Cut off from his companions, he was obliged to pass the +night at the immense elevation of twelve thousand feet above the level +of the sea. Chilled, but not overcome, he had strength sufficient in +the morning to reconnoitre, and thereby found an access to the +mountain-top comparatively easy. On reaching Chamouni, he was seized +with severe illness, and in return for the kind care of his physician, +he told the doctor of the path he had discovered, and that if he felt +a desire to be the first man to stand upon the summit of Mont Blanc, +he would lead him to it. The doctor readily accepted, and on the +seventh of August, 1786, they began the ascent. Twice the physician, +overcome by fatigue and cold, turned his back upon the goal; but the +guide, more accustomed to hardships, urged him on, and at length he +was privileged to set his foot upon the loftiest elevation in Europe, +a triumph never before enjoyed by man.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="From_Berne_To_Basle" id="From_Berne_To_Basle"></a>From Berne To Basle.</h2> + + +<p>Before leaving Lausanne I received an invitation from a friend in the +university at Basle to visit that city. To do this, we had to pass +Berne. The approach to this place is very pleasing: the country is +beautifully undulating, and in the highest state of cultivation. The +neighborhood indicated by its noise and bustle that we were +approaching a capital, and as we entered the city we found the streets +crowded with people in their gayest attire, and filled with corn and +cattle, and almost every article of commerce, it being market day. It +is a magnificent city. The houses are all built of stone, with arcades +in the principal streets, and rows of well-furnished shops. Fountains +are numerous, and streams of water flow through the centre of the +spacious streets, in deep and broad channels cut for their reception. +The city had a very gay appearance. The costume, the expression, the +language—all were new. I was greatly interested in my excursions +round the walls. The cathedral is a magnificent pile of gothic +architecture, occupying a bold elevation above the Aar. We found here +a remarkably fine organ, of great size, stretching across nearly the +whole breadth of the church.</p> + +<p>Climbing up to the loft, we were told the story of a former organist, +a famous musician, somewhat independent, and yet sensitive and quick +to feel. Under the papal power Louis Steinway incurred the displeasure +of one of the dignitaries of the church, and his position as organist +was taken from him. Overcome with sorrow he at once proceeded to the +house of the bishop to make an explanation. Trembling with excitement +he so poorly explained the misunderstanding, as to give the prelate +even a worse idea of it than he had at first: the consequence was that +hard words were added to the burden already laid upon him. The poor +organist went home and was immediately taken down with severe illness, +and a few days afterward eluded his attendants and flew along the +streets to the cathedral, from which the people soon heard tones of +the organ issuing majestic and ravishing but unspeakably sad. As soon +as the wife knew of her husband's absence, she went to the cathedral. +Her husband was in his old place, his hands upon the keys, as if in +the act of playing, his head bent forward and drooping. He was dead!</p> + +<p>From Berne the road climbs a hill immediately on leaving the gates of +the city, and passes between rows of trees, with a gentle slope on +either hand, covered with a soft fresh green and smooth as the finest +lawn. The glimpses of the city through the trees, with the windings of +the Aar, were extremely interesting. But a far nobler scene was +unfolded to the south, where an immense chain of Alps appeared like +the boundaries of some new world, to which their fearful precipices, +glittering peaks, and summits of untrodden snow for ever barred the +approach of man. The purity of the atmosphere gave them peculiar +distinctness of outline, while the beams of the setting sun gilded +their lofty brightness, that seemed to have more of heaven in it than +earth. Oh! if natural scenes can appear so lovely, what must that +purity and lustre be of which they are only the shadowy emblems?</p> + +<p>We slept, and set out again at an early hour. Our route lay through +the finest portion of Switzerland. The land is chiefly pasturage, and +the meadows are extremely rich. Traversing a rocky pass, we came to +the castle of Kluss. Issuing from the pass we entered a smiling +valley, the hills gently rising to the right, clothed with forests of +fir; while on the left, rocks towered to an amazing altitude. On the +summit of what seemed to be an inaccessible crag, perched the ruins of +Falkenstein, and a few miles on, those of Wallenberg.</p> + +<p>Soon after stopping to lunch, we came in sight of the Rhine, with the +dark woods of the Black Forest forming a background, and also the +frontier of the Austrian territory. Weary and still delighted with the +day, I was glad to hear the guides exclaim that Basle was before us. +The Rhine divides the city into two parts. Crossing the bridge, we +proceeded at once to the University. Bonnevard was there, and in the +society of my friend I forgot for the time every other consideration.</p> + +<p>It was two weeks before I left, and in that time I had learned many +things, attending lectures with my friend, and enjoying the society of +some of the most illustrious names in literature and science.</p> + +<p>After the lectures, Bonnevard was to go to Fribourg; and it was with a +view to accompanying him that I remained in Basle. Passing over the +bridge and through the little city, we left the canton, and entered +Germany by the territories of the grand duke of Baden. The Rhine was +on our left, the Black Forest, covering a series of rugged hills, at +some distance on our right; and we found a rich and beautiful +landscape at every step. Climbing the brow of a hill about twelve +miles from Basle, we obtained a charming view of the windings of the +river—the broad valley through which it passes, the dark undulations +of the forest, the towers and spires of the distant city, and the long +line of Alps in the background, rising in inexpressible grandeur and +glittering in the beams of the morning sun.</p> + +<p>This was our last of the Rhine; our road taking the direction of the +Black Forest, and skirting it all the way to Fribourg. On the way, +Bonnevard gave me many sketches of real life, one of which, from +having seen the person in Basle, interested me deeply. The Black +Forest was formerly, and is now at certain seasons, greatly infested +by wolves. It so happened that a government officer, passing to +Vienna, was pursued by a ravenous pack of these animals; the +postilion spurred his horses until they began to flag, and the wolves +were gaining upon them. The officer feeling assured that all was lost, +was about giving himself up to be devoured, when a woodcutter and his +son emerged from the forest, armed only with knives or short daggers. +The hungry pack were diverted, and in the struggle that followed, the +postilion whipped up his horses and escaped. On reaching Vienna, the +officer sent back to see what had been the fate of the woodcutter. A +desperate battle had been fought; the father killed five of the +largest wolves, and then, seeing that escape was impossible, implored +the boy to fly, saving the life of his son by the sacrifice of his +own. In admiration for this deed, the people placed the family of the +woodcutter beyond want; and the lad showing a rare aptitude to learn, +and expressing only a wish to study, was sent to Basle, where he soon +distinguished himself as a scholar, and bids fair to become a man of +mark.</p> + +<p>Fribourg is a fine old town, famous for its minster, and its +university. The minster is of gothic architecture, magnificently +carved, and of fine proportions. It is after the model of that at +Strasbourg, and is said to be one of the finest edifices in Germany.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning, we took occasion to visit the cathedral. The +gates were open, and early as we considered it, many were kneeling +before the different altars. The interior of the church is grand and +magnificent, and abounds with sculptures and paintings of the most +costly description. In a small chapel in one of the aisles of the +church, we found an ordinary table covered with white linen, with +images of the Saviour and the twelve apostles seated around it, +figures of marble, as large as life. The expression of each face is +admirably given, especially those of John, who leans upon Jesus' +bosom, and of Judas, seated the last in the group, and grasping the +bag in his hand. It was so real and lifelike, that I could with +difficulty understand that the genius of man had fashioned it out of +cold and senseless stone.</p> + +<p>From the cathedral we visited the library. It is a rare and valuable +collection, and belongs to the university. Here Bonnevard met with +many of his associates, and soon after we parted from him, with +regret. How pleasant it is to meet and talk with those we love; but +the parting makes it sweet to think of that world where there will be +no need of adieus.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Scenes in Switzerland, by American Tract Society + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCENES IN SWITZERLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 15782-h.htm or 15782-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/7/8/15782/ + +Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Christine D and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Scenes in Switzerland + +Author: American Tract Society + +Release Date: May 7, 2005 [EBook #15782] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCENES IN SWITZERLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Christine D and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. (www.pgdp.net) + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + + +SCENES IN SWITZERLAND. + + +[Illustration] + + +PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by the + AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court + of the United States for the Southern District of New York. + + +Contents. + + +Gretchen PAGE 5 + +A Night in the Cathedral 28 + +The Glaciers of Savoy 45 + +The Bride of the Aar 63 + +A Sabbath in Lausanne 79 + +The Guide of Montanvert 96 + +Mont Blanc 127 + +From Berne to Basle 135 + + + +Scenes In Switzerland. + + + + +Gretchen. + + +Time flies swiftly when we are sightseeing; and it was late in the +autumn of 18-- when I reached Lindau. Lake Constance lay before me, a +pale, green sheet of water, hemmed in on the south by bold mountain +ranges, filling the interim between the Rhine valley and the long +undulating ridges of the Canton Thurgau. These heights, cleft at +intervals by green smiling valleys and deep ravines, are only the +front of table-land stretching away like an inclined plane, and dotted +with scattered houses and cloistering villages. The deep green of +forest and pasture land was beginning to show the touch of autumn's +pencil; the bright hues striking against gray, rocky walls; the +topmost edge of each successive elevation crowned with a sharp outline +of golden light, deepening the purple gloom of the shaded slopes. + +Behind and over this region towers the Sentis, its brow of snow +bristling with spear points. It was altogether too late to think of +the Baths, or even to look at the little lake of Wallenstatt; and +still, I was unwilling to return without a friendly shake of the hand +of my old friend Spruner, who had perched himself in one of the upper +cantons. "You should have been here earlier," said the landlord; "in +summer we have plenty of visitors." + +"I rather look upon the mountains in their parti-colored vests, than +when dressed in simple green," I replied. + +"If you can stand the weather;" and he thrust his pipe deeper into +his mouth, and twirled the button of his coat. + +Hastily making my adieus, the postillion cracked his whip, and we +started. "There is no danger of bad weather for a month," said the +driver, "and when we get up farther you will see what will pay you for +the trouble of coming:" a speech that promised well for the day, I +argued; and a certain share of respect leaped up for the man in his +laced coat and steeple-crowned hat. A good specimen of his class--and +once satisfied of this, I gave myself up to the present, without the +least foreboding with regard to the future. + +Over us hung masses of gray cloud, stretching across the valley like a +curtain, and falling in voluminous folds almost to the level of Lake +Constance. As we passed through this belt, and came out, with cloud +and mist below us, I listened as the postillion related the popular +legends handed down from one generation to another, for the last six +hundred years. Reaching the crest of the topmost height, he stopped +suddenly. + +"It is just the day to see the herdsmen;" and he threw down the reins, +and prepared to dismount. I stood up and looked around. + +"The battle you know between the herdsmen and the monks, with Austria +to help. It was a hard battle, and the knights were whipped; and ever +since, on certain days, the herdsmen are seen armed with bows and +pikes," he continued. By this time I had taken in his meaning, and +turning my attention to the misty curtain rolling up into clouds about +the sides of the mountain, I had no difficulty in picturing the +discomfited Austrians flying from the pursuit of the hardy +mountaineers. + +"It was a great battle, and they have never tried it since," and there +was a ring in the voice that sounded like the echo of Gruetli. + +"No wonder, if your herdsmen are still ready to keep up the fight." + +"You do not see them," and he made a gesture in the direction where my +eye still lingered. + +"As plainly as any body can," and I tried hard not to smile. + +"It is quite true this;" and he gathered up the reins. + +"I do not doubt it." + +As we passed on, the clouds rounded into islands, touched with silver +on the upper edges. + +"This is the place for fine muslin and embroideries," said the +postillion in a changed tone. + +"Where are they made?" I asked. + +"Every house has a loom," he said. + +A small way to manufacture muslins; but when the density of the +population and the incessant labor is taken into consideration, it is +not so strange. With regard to the houses I was greatly disappointed. +Not only are they so near that neighbors can converse freely, but they +are large, and even luxurious, in comparison with the same class in +other parts of Europe. Many of these houses are four stories, with +large, square rooms at the base; the upper ones narrowed by the high +steeple roof which projects several feet, forming balconies, +beautifully carved and highly ornamented. The outer walls are covered +with shingles from two to three inches broad, overlapping each other, +and rounded at the ends; reminding one of old roofs seen in the French +quarter. The lowest story is of stone, plastered, and whitewashed. +Such a house is very warm, very durable; and painted by the successive +changes of winter and summer, the external appearance is altogether +pleasing. Our ascent was gradual; with stately houses one after +another, and fruit-trees on the sheltered side. In the balconies, pots +of bright-hued flowers, and sometimes a face to greet us. + +Towards sundown we halted at the little town where my friend had +deposited himself; and as my foot touched the wooden step of the +little hotel, whom should I meet but my old college chum; no longer +thin and pale as when I knew him, but round-faced as an alderman, and +merry as though his heart was full of new wine. + +"You are not to stop here," as the landlord came out to receive me: +"My house is not far off, and GRETCHEN, you remember her? will be +glad to see you." + +Of course I remembered Gretchen; but to meet her as my friend's wife +was quite another thing. A few steps brought us to the door of a +handsome establishment two centuries old, or more; the front frescoed, +and the interior neat and orderly as a New England housewife's. The +floor upon which we entered from the street was paved with a species +of marble, black and white, diamond shaped, but too suggestive of cold +to be altogether pleasing. A broad, wooden staircase of a peculiar +rich brown hue led to the parlor on the second floor. The windows +looking out into the mountain ranges were draped with ruby-colored +damask; the floor was covered with a richly tufted carpet bordered +with flowers, and sofas and easy chairs were temptingly arranged. On a +table in the centre of the room, and under an elaborately chased +lamp, were implements for letter-writing, magazines, and newspapers. +Through the folding-doors we caught a glimpse of well-filled +book-shelves, and a woman's voice came floating out to the rich, +mellow accompaniment of the piano. There was the rustle of a silk +dress. I turned my head. + +"This is my ambition," said my friend, while a look of pride blended +with the manly expression of his handsome face. + +There stood Gretchen--the Gretchen I had known ten years before; no +longer the slight blushing girl, but mature in her beauty, a happy +wife and mother; the same sweet smile on her lips, and her eye full of +gushing gladness as she welcomed me to her home. + +The fire was blazing cheerily, and we three talking of the old times, +with hardly a thought of the broken links between. + +"The college is still the same," said my friend, "with the high +cupola and long galleries. Gretchen and I visited it last summer; +there were few that we knew, and many of the professors have slipped +away. Gretchen's father was one of these. We missed him in his quiet +home, and above all, in the old church. A man with dark hair and black +flashing eyes stood in his place--a learned, man, but wanting in the +inward fire, the simple eloquence of the old man we used to love. +After service, I strolled past the college buildings, and tried to +trace the names we cut on the old beeches, but they were all +overgrown." + +"I know nothing that brings home to the heart so quickly the +consciousness of increasing years, as to find those whom we used to +look upon as children grown to maturity, taking upon themselves the +care and responsibility of life. Here is Gretchen; a deeper bloom +upon her cheek, and her eye sparkling with a higher pride." + +"Just as mid-day is brighter than the morning," said my friend. + +Down the hall came the pattering of little feet, and the nurse entered +with two stout boys and a lovely girl, a second Gretchen, the same +roguish blue eyes, and golden hair rippling away from her white +forehead: + +"These are my hopes," said the father, and a smile curled his lip, +amid, his eye filled with tenderness as he glanced at Gretchen's face. +Lingering over the tea-table where Gretchen presided with more than +youthful grace, we talked not only of the past, but of present work +and life. + +"One," I continued, taking up the thread, "I met in Southern Italy, +dreaming; as I was dreaming, by the dark grotto of Pausilippo. +Meeting upon classic ground, it seemed strange to talk of old times, +but we did. And sitting down upon the promontory of Baiae, looking off +upon the blue sea, we told each other our respective stories; just as +ships will shift their course to come within speaking distance, +compare longitude, and exchange letters, and--part. I have not heard +from Eckerman since." + +My dreams were pleasant that night, and the next morning there was +another surprise for me. Gretchen's brother was the pastor of a little +church just above them; I must not go without seeing him, Gretchen +said. How could I? Euler was my classmate; together we labored for +knowledge, and our first manly sympathies run in the same channel. + +On Sabbath I saw my friend in the pulpit. "How like his father," I +whispered to Gretchen; the poetry in him warming his soul into a +burst of fervid eloquence, and his face glowing with the beautiful +truths he was unfolding to his hearers. An uncouth church of rough +stone, with quaint windows and curious carvings, the ceiling arched, +with a blue ground on which blazed innumerable stars. Strange and +novel as it was, my eye never wandered from the speaker; the voice and +expression so like the kind and generous man who had presided over the +college, and who carried with him the affections of each succeeding +class. This seems to me more of a triumph now, than it did then. A +cultivated mind may challenge respect, but there is need of a noble +one to win affection. + +It was a week before I could think of leaving, and then the clouds +twisted through and around the severed pyramids of the Alps, and the +rain began. In such weather the scenery is not only shrouded, but the +people are shut up in their homes. Pastor Euler had an ample study +however, and here we read and wrote, and talked; with his wife, a +pleasant-voiced woman, to enliven the pauses with music, and children +dashing into the study giving abrupt and sudden turnings to our +dreaming. Christmas was near, and I was easily persuaded to see more +of a people, shut in as they were from the noise and commotion of the +lower world, and still not so far as to be unknowing of all that was +taking place, whether in deliberative bodies, state policies, or the +lighter chit-chat of the day. + +"You will have an opportunity to see more of my parish than you can +possibly see on a Sabbath occasion. I visit them as often as I can, and +twice a year I receive them at my own house. The 'Weihnachtsgeschenk' +is looked forward to with great pleasure, and the meeting of the +Landsgemeinde in April is sure to bring my people together." + +Gretchen and her husband were clamorous for me to remain, and there +was no resisting the pleading tones of the children, their little +clinging fingers stronger than bands of iron. + +All night the rain beat against my chamber window, and in the morning +the lower slopes of the mountain were white with new snow. Dark clouds +lay heavily on the Alpine peaks, the air was raw and chilly--still it +was Christmas. I was aroused at daybreak by the chiming of village +bells, and then a procession of choral singers went through the +streets, pausing under the window of each house, and singing Christmas +hymns. As they passed on, the children caught up the refrain, and +joining hands made the halls resound with their gleeful voices. +Before breakfast a huge bowl was passed around with a foaming drink, +not unlike egg-nog in appearance, but differing in taste materially. +"May your Christmas be a merry one," as it passed from lip to lip; +"and a profitable one," was always responded. + +Church was open an hour earlier than on ordinary occasions, "so that +the people may have ample time for dinner," said the pastor. Religion +with these mountain worshippers was not a form. The birthday of the +blessed Redeemer was to them a reality. They believed that he was born +and that he died; and it was to commemorate his nativity that hymns +were sung and garlands wound. At an early hour they began to gather, +and before the time of service the house was closely packed. There +were no chains of evergreen, but small fir-trees were occasionally +placed. These were covered with garlands and crowns of bright-hued +flowers, giving a novel and striking appearance, as of some floral +temple or mosque, set in a great pavilion. The high pulpit was draped +in white, and a voluminous white curtain covered the background. The +effect was charming. + +And as the pastor began the service, the melody of his voice broke +away into tenderness as he touched upon the love of God in giving his +Son to be the propitiation for sin: holding up the picture so vividly, +and telling the simple story with a pathos and a power that little +children even could not fail to see and to appreciate. How much better +than studied and elaborate essays, diving into metaphysics and +technicalities so deeply that beauty is lost, and the mind diverted by +the difficulty of following the intricate windings. + +First did he impress his hearers with the fact that God loved the +world, and through the fulness of that love the Son came down to +suffer and to die: secondly, that the natural heart is at enmity with +God, not willing that God should rule. Thus a change must be effected; +a reconciliation made. This could only be wrought by sacrifice; and +Christ was offered once for all; his blood cleanseth from all sin. A +plain, simple statement, and it sunk into the hearts of his hearers +with a power sure to tell upon their future lives. + +After the blessing, each remained silently upon his knees for a few +moments. Then all was greeting and congratulation; all were friends; +the idea never entered their heads that a stranger could be among them +at that season. + +At dinner I was introduced to the landamman and two other members of +the council, and from them gathered brief notes with reference to the +little democracy won, and held intact for so many years. The dessert +was hardly removed before they began to come: first the old men in +black coats and high hats, and women with white, pointed caps and wide +ruffles; then the middle-aged, fathers and mothers, bringing little +children, all with the same conscientious expression on their faces, +the same "Happy Christmas," while the pastor's "God bless you," was a +benediction that carried happiness to the hearts of those who heard +it. + +Lastly came the youths; maidens with eyes full of a childlike +innocence, the quick color coming and going as they greeted the pastor +and his friends, and received his blessing in return. Gretchen and her +husband were with us, and Gretchen number two was my especial escort, +leading me through the rooms, and introducing me in her naive manner, +"Mamma's friend, and papa's, and uncle Euler's." + +Christmas festivities were kept up during the week; and before that +elapsed, I was won to add a month, and then another, it being quite +impossible to slip away from the kind friends with whom I had so much +in common; the fascination only the more potent as we listened to the +beating winds, and looked out into the slippery paths leading down +into the cantons beneath. + +Spring had come when it was "fit to travel," as Gretchen said. The +green of the landscape was brilliant and uniform; the turf sown with +primrose, violet, anemone, veronica, and buttercups. It was time for +me to leave; neither could I be persuaded to stay till the meeting of +the Landsgemeinde. It was sad to leave them, and the little Gretchen +was only pacified by my assurance that, if possible, I would return at +no distant day. My friend Spruner had business at Herisau, and +spending one more evening together, our prayers mingling for the last +time, we parted. + +Our way led through the valley of the Sitter, a stream fed by the +Sentis Alps, and spanned by a bridge hundreds of feet above the water. +The same smooth carpet of velvet green was spread everywhere. + +"There is no greener land," said Spruner; "the grass is so rich that +the inhabitants cannot even spare enough for vegetable gardens. Our +tables are supplied from the lower vallies." + +"In our country we should not dream of making hay in the month of +April," I remarked, seeing several stout men already in the field. + +"With suitable care they can mow the same field every six weeks," +responded my friend. "And it is no doubt this peculiar process that +gives such sweetness and splendor of color, seen nowhere else, not +even between the hedgerows of England." + +The day proved to be neither clear nor rainy: a steel blue sky brought +out the broken peaks of Kasten, while the white shoulders of the +Sentis were veiled with a thin, gray suit. + +"A month later and we should see the herdsmen," remarked Spruner. "The +leader of the herd marches in front with a large bell suspended from +his neck by a handsome leathern band; the others follow, some with +garlands of flowers and straps of embroidered leather, with milking +pails suspended between the horns." + +Before nightfall, occasional streaks of sunshine shot across the +mountain. It did not last, however, and when we reached our +stopping-place, it was raining below and snowing above us. + +The next morning our road dropped into a ravine, bringing something to +admire at every turn. Leaving our course, we visited the Cascade of +Horsfall, the beauty of which amply repaid us for the delay it cost. +That night we slept at Herisau, the largest town in the Canton, and +here I was to part with Spruner. There was no difficulty in reaching +the lower valley. With many shakes of the hand, and "May God's +blessing be upon you,'" we parted: one to take the railroad to Zurich, +the other back to his household charms, and the work he had chosen. + + + + +A Night In The Cathedral. + + +Franz Hoffner's father was kappelmeister; and the old cathedral with +its grained arches and cloistered aisles resounded with rare music, as +the organist took his seat, and run his fingers over the keys with the +careless ease of one who knows not only to control, but to infuse +something of his own spirit into the otherwise senseless machine +before him. Under his inspiration it became a living, breathing form; +lifting the hearts of worshippers, and giving them glimpses of what is +hereafter to be obtained. + +Herr Hoffner was a rare musician; but, alas, musicians are no +exception to the rule: the wheel is always turning; one goes up and +another goes down. A new star had risen. Court belles and beauties +grew enthusiastic. The elector's heart was touched; his influence was +asked. "Herr Hoffner has been here long enough," it was said. There +was a twinge of the electoral conscience. + +Herr Hoffner went to his house a ruined man; and the new favorite, +Carl Von Stein, played upon the keys so dear to the heart of the old +organist. + +Herr Hoffner had a wife and two lovely children; and one would suppose +that he could live in the beautiful cottage the elector had given him, +independent of the favorite. But no; deprived of his old instrument +all else was lost to him. For hours would he sit before his humble +door, heedless of his wife's entreaties or the childish prattle of +Franz and Nanette; his eye riveted on the old cathedral, and his hands +playing nervously, as though cheating himself with the idea he was +still at the organ. Then roused by a sudden inspiration, he would rush +to the piano and play till his hands dropped from mere exhaustion. + +Franz and Nanette loved music, and they could play skilfully, but they +were all too young to be of service; and thus they lived cut off from +all outward influences befitting their age; loving music above +everything else, and yearning for the time when they could go out and +win for their father, as he had once done for them. + +Years passed. Franz Hoffner was a tall, slight boy, and his father was +blind. Sitting at his cottage door he could no longer see the tall +towers of the old cathedral, but he could hear the chime of stately +bells--and his fingers played on: while Franz and Nanette not +unfrequently climbed up the winding stairs, just to beg Herr Von +Stein to let them touch the keys their father used to love. + +[Illustration] + +It happened one day the organist went out and left the key in the +lock. Franz entered with the evening worshippers. A nameless feeling +seized him. Urged on by the sudden impulse, he mounted the stairs. He +did not dream of playing, he only thought of the organ as his father's +friend; and to seat himself on the stool where his father had so often +sat was all he aimed to do. A moment, and he spied the key; would +there be any harm in raising the lid and playing himself? Herr Von +Stein had never denied him. He grew courageous. A few chords and Franz +forgot that his father would be expecting him; piece after piece was +played till his memory could serve him no longer, and then he began to +improvise. + +All at once heavy shadows were cast over the keys: he looked down +into the church, it was dark and still. A strange awe seized him, he +felt that it was night; and the great doors locked. Hastily as his +trembling limbs would allow, he crept down the stairs. Darkness +shrouded the aisles. He reached the doors, they were barred and +bolted. What would his father say? and Nanette, would she think where +he was, and rouse the old door-keeper? + +High up through the tower-window he caught sight of a star; and the +moon poured her silver radiance full on the face of the organ. +Creeping up the stairs, he once more opened the instrument. Surely +some one would hear him if he played, and Nanette he knew would not +leave him to stay in the old cathedral alone. + +Hours passed: the full moon cast her splendor on a sweet child-face +bent over the keys in the organ-loft of the old cathedral, a smile +still played about his lips, and his light brown hair lay in rings on +his broad, white forehead. Franz was asleep, and while asleep he +dreamed. + + * * * * * + +A beautiful lady, he thought, came to the cottage; she had a sweet, +lovely face, but so sad that Franz wondered what sorrow could have +come to one so rich and beautiful. The lady caught the expression of +his eye, and slipping her arm around him, drew him still nearer. + +"You think because I am rich that I must be happy. Learn then, my +child, that wealth does not bring happiness; neither does beauty win +lasting favor. To be good is to be rich, and it also makes us +beautiful. The power that we have in ourselves is far superior to the +outward circumstances that surround us." + +"My father had this power," replied Franz. "You see it did not profit +him; for when he thought himself secure as kappelmeister, the elector +gave his place to another, and now he is growing old and blind." + +"Is this so?" exclaimed the lady, a warm light flashing into her gray +eye. "Did the elector give his place to another?" + +"Indeed, he did; and it broke my father's heart," replied Franz. +"Since then, we have neither of us known pleasure; only when we go to +the cathedral, Nanette and me; and when we return, our father never +tires of asking questions." + +"This must not always be," replied the lady. "Will you come with me, +my child, and it is possible we can show you a way whereby you can do +something for a father whom you so much love." + +"I will go with you," replied Franz; "but I must not be gone long, +for my father will miss me when he wakes." + +Then Franz gave his hand to the beautiful lady, and she led him by a +smooth way through the most lovely wood; tall trees, filled with +singing birds, skirted the banks of clear, running streams, while +flowering shrubs and vines flung their perfume to the air. At length +she came to a gate so strong and high Franz thought it would be +impossible to open it. But as they approached, it seemed to swing back +noiselessly on its hinges. Franz saw there was a lodge there, with a +gray-haired man, and little children playing before the door, and as +the lady passed all bowed to her. + +Presently they came in sight of a magnificent castle, its walls white +and glistening; while the sunlight glinting against the deep windows, +flashed and scintillated like a bed of diamonds. As they came nearer, +the lady left the broad road, and wound along a narrow path, and came +to a little postern gate, and up a broad marble terrace, with +sparkling fountains, and with flowers brighter than he had seen +before, and birds of gay plumage flashing their beauty through the +tree-tops. At the top of the terrace she gave him into the care of an +elderly man, with a white flowing beard and eyes full of tenderness. A +few words were said, and the old man took Franz by the hand and led +him into a room, the floor of which was marble, smooth as glass, while +the walls were green and gold. In the centre was a marble basin or +pool, with steps leading down; the atmosphere was dim by reason of a +sweet and subtle perfume rising from the water. Franz was hardly +conscious till he came out of the bath; then his hair was carefully +dressed, and a new suit of clothes was brought him. + +He had only time to look at himself in the mirror, when the lady +returned. She was dressed in a rich white silk, covered with lace and +sprinkled with pearls and diamonds. On her head she wore a crown; +bright and sparkling as it was, it was not half so beautiful as the +sweet face that beamed below it. The deep traces of sorrow were gone, +she looked like one happy in the consciousness of a good deed done, +and a sweet smile was on her lip as she held out her hand to Franz. +Together they walked down the marble hall and up the broad staircase, +on through rows of stately ladies and martial-looking men, the crowd +opening and bowing as they passed. + +At length they came to a room larger, more magnificent than the rest. +Persian carpets covered the floor, and the windows were draped with +blue and gold. On a dais at the extremity of the room was an oaken +chair of quaint device, in which sat a proud-looking man, pale and +careworn as though weary of so much state and ceremony. + +"My child," said the prince, "Do you feel like playing for me? I am +too weak to go to the cathedral, and I fancy if I can hear you play I +shall feel better." + +Franz was a timid boy, but he loved to please. He was always ready to +play for his father. He glanced at the lady, there was a sweet smile +resting on her face. Dropping on his knee Franz kissed the hand of the +prince. "I will do my best, since you are so good as to ask me." + +Franz looked up, and saw what he had not seen before, an organ quite +like the one his father so loved. + +"Play just as you do in the old cathedral," whispered the lady, and +then she seated herself in a chair by the side of the prince. Franz +saw nothing but the keys, he heard nothing but the sweet soul harmony, +and this he must interpret to the beautiful lady and the sick prince +by means of his instrument. How long he played he never knew, but when +he ceased a slight hand lay on his shoulder, and a sweet face bent +above him. + +"To do good, Franz, is the secret of happiness. This power is yours, +and so long as you use it, so long you will be happy. The dear, +heavenly Father watches over and cares for those whose lives are given +for the good of others." Saying this she led him away to the prince. +But what was Franz's surprise! beside him on his right hand were +Franz's father and mother, no longer blind, but dressed in costly +robes, their faces radiant with happiness, while Nanette looked +charmingly, in a white gauze dress and silver slippers. Franz was +bewildered, not knowing whether to advance towards the prince, or to +run and embrace his parents. + +"This is the reward of obedience to your parents," said the lady, +kissing the boy's white forehead. + + * * * * * + +The light of day came streaming through the tower window--the child +awoke. It was cold. A chill ran through his frame. He had been in the +cathedral all night, and his parents--what anguish they must have +endured. Hastily as his numbed limbs would allow, he went down the +stairs. A few worshippers were bowing before the altar; Franz dropped +on his knees a moment, and then ran with all his speed out of the door +and down the street. + +Very glad were Franz's parents when he returned, and Nanette wept for +joy; but when at breakfast he related his dream, the face of the old +organist lit up with a great hope. + +"I know, my boy, it will all come true. So long as we love and trust +Him, the good Christ will not leave us to suffer." + +Christmas had come. There were no presents for Franz and Nanette. Only +one could they make, and this was a nice, warm dressing-gown for their +blind father. + +One day a beautiful lady took refuge in the cottage; her carriage had +broken down, and she must stop till the postilion could return to the +castle. At the cottage she heard Franz play and Nanette sing, and +listened to the blind organist, as the cathedral bells broke on the +evening air. + +"You must come with me," said the lady. "We have been planning +concerts at the castle, and you shall give them." + +"My children are not old enough to go by themselves, and I am blind," +replied the father. + +"I will not deprive you of your children," said the lady; "my father +has influence. And besides, he has near him an eminent physician; it +is possible something can be done to restore your sight." + +In three days the lady returned, and carried Herr Hoffner with his +wife and children to the castle. Charmed with the young musicians, the +elector repented of the thoughtless deed, in depriving the father of +his position as kappelmeister. Very tenderly did he treat him now, and +under the care of the skilful physician, it was soon announced there +was hope of his recovering his sight. This done, he was once more +offered the position; but Herr Hoffner was a just man; to do by +others as he would be done by was his motto. Herr Von Stein had filled +the post acceptably; it was no fault of his that the old organist had +lost his place. Herr Hoffner would not accept it, but only asked that +he might be allowed to give concerts with his children. Franz labored +diligently at his studies, and already was he beginning to surprise +his friends, not only with his playing, but with his composition. + +Years passed: there was a great gathering in that grand old capital. A +musical festival was in progress, and all the celebrities the world +over had congregated there. Franz Hoffner was in the zenith of his +glory. At the close of the performance, and while the entire audience +joined in acclamations of praise to the youthful leader, a rich medal +was presented. On one side the profile view of the elector and his +daughter, set round with diamonds; on the other, "Music is only +valuable as it lifts the heart and purifies our fallen nature." + +Franz Hoffner lived to be a great musician; but he never ceased to +think of his parents and Nanette. Honors were empty, and applause +vain, only so far as they contributed to the happiness of those he +loved. + + + + +The Glaciers Of Savoy + + +After a few weeks passed in Geneva, we determined to go on to +Chamouni, and for this purpose engaged a guide accustomed for years to +the mountain passes, and on whom we were told that we could rely +implicitly. + +This being arranged, we took a last drive around the environs of the +city; the views of the lake and of the mountains in every direction, +were enchanting and sublime. From the head of the lake, a greater +variety of interesting objects met the eye than can be seen perhaps +from any other spot in Europe. At your feet you behold a venerable and +populous city; while a vast and beautiful lake spreads its clear waves +beyond, amid a landscape rich in all the products a cultivated soil +can furnish; while vast and gloomy mountains stretch their giant forms +on high. In clear weather, Mont Blanc appears the venerable monarch of +the Alps. Below this, Saleve rises to upwards of three thousand feet, +with the uninterrupted length of the Jura on the left, whose highest +point is over four thousand. Proceeding along the banks of the Arve, +we at length alighted at the entrance of a thicket, through which we +made our way with difficulty, the path being hilly and very slippery, +to a place where we saw at our feet the celebrated junction of the +Arve and the Rhone. The Arve has a thick soapy appearance; the Rhone +is of a fine dark green, and seems for a while to spurn a connection +with its muddy visitor. For two or three miles the Rhone keeps up its +reserve, and the rivers roll side by side, without mingling their +waters. At length they meet and blend: the distinction is lost, the +polluted Arve is absorbed in the haughty and majestic Rhone. + +We were to leave Geneva the next morning. Before night our guide came: +he was ill, would we take his son? The proposition did not please us; +it was a dangerous journey, and many had been lost in the mountain +passes. + +"Erwald knows as much of the passes as I do," said the father, "and he +is anxious to go; his sister lives at Maglan, and she is down with the +fever." + +I saw how it was. Erwald was to go to Maglan to visit his sister; and +if the father could arrange for him to go with us, of course he +himself would be free to make another engagement. + +"Do you feel sure that you can guide us safely?" I asked of Erwald. + +"Certainly, monsieur; I have been over the way many times. If I was +not quite sure, I would not offer to go." + +"Not if you could gain a good many francs by going?" + +"It would not be right to say to you that I knew the way, if I did +not." + +The boy's face was attractive, his voice gentle, and his blue eyes +full of tenderness. His look and his answer delighted me. + +"No, it would not be right, Erwald; and because you love the right and +feel sure that you can serve us, I will take you in your father's +place." + +"I am glad, very glad; and now I must see my mother. Vesta is sick and +she will be glad to see any one from home." + +Erwald's face was glowing; I turned to the father. + +"Erwald is a good child," he said. "At first we felt vexed with him +and Vesta for leaving the church, and not a few times did we punish +them. But they were so good and patient that it troubled us; and now +their mother is a Protestant, and I never go to mass." + +It was explained, the serene calm of the earnest blue eyes: Erwald was +a Christian. + +Early in the morning our guide made his appearance. His countenance +sweet and pleasing as it was the night previous. He was accompanied by +a little woman in a black gown and bodice, with a high cap and the +whitest of kerchiefs--a mild sweet-faced woman, whom we knew at once +as his mother. + +"You'll tell Vesta mother thinks of her all the time, and prays the +Father every hour to make her well again." + +On my asking if she was not afraid to have her son go on so dangerous +a journey, she answered: + +"Our Father will take care of him and bring him back to us." + +The simple faith of the good woman struck me as greatly to be desired. +With all her simplicity she had the true Wisdom: and her good motherly +face went with me long after I left Erwald in Chamouni. + +A few miles from Geneva, we entered Savoy. Here the scenery of the +Alps began to open before us. On the right the Arve was seen winding +through a cultivated and luxuriant valley; on both sides, hills and +rooks rose to a considerable elevation, and behind, the mountains of +the Jura range closed in grandeur the delightful view. We passed +through a succession of peaceful villages, and at length reached by a +long avenue of elms the little town of Bonneville on the Arve. The +town is embosomed in the mountains, and watered by the river. It +has a fine old bridge over the river from which the country is viewed +to great, advantage. On the right the mole is elegantly formed, and +terminates in a peak, a complete contrast to Mont Brezon on the left, +wild and savage in its aspect, and little more than a bare and rugged +rock with occasional pitches of verdure. + +[Illustration] + +From Bonneville the road passes over the bridge to the foot of the +mole, and traverses a lovely valley, hemmed in by lofty mountains, and +rich in scenes of pastoral beauty. The road is lined on each side with +walnut-trees, which afford a grateful shade. Passing the village of +Sigony, Erwald pointed to the remains of an old convent far up the +mountain, whose inmates were wont to welcome the traveller, when these +valleys, destitute of good roads and inns, were explored with +difficulty and with danger. + +From this place the mountains closed upon us; rocks began to overhang +the road, and the Arve was rather heard than seen. At length we +crossed a romantic looking bridge and entered the little town of +Cluse, enclosed on both sides by rocky ramparts, and sheltered equally +from sunbeams and from storms. Following the various windings of the +valley, the Arve seemed to spread itself into a series of lakes, each +presenting its own peculiar loveliness and majesty. The sides of the +mountains were occasionally bare and rugged, but for the most part +they were clothed with forests of fir; while above, pointed summits +and fantastic crags everywhere met the eye, and filled the beholder +with admiration and awe. + +A few miles up the valley, Erwald called our attention to the entrance +of the cavern of Balme. It is a natural gallery in the rock and well +worth a visit. The valley now becomes more spacious; while its +boundaries increase in grandeur. The meadows, adorned with groves of +beech-trees, rise in gentle swells from the verge of the Arve, and +spread their green carpet, dotted with cottages and watered by +innumerable streams, to the base of the neighboring heights. At one of +these cottages we rested for the night. I never dreamed of a fairer +scene; it was too beautiful for sleep; the murmurings of the Arve were +the only sounds that broke upon the ear, while all around tremendous +precipices rose to heaven, shutting out from us the cares and tumults +of the busy world. To pay for my enthusiasm I arose with a headache +and a feeling of weariness that sensibly diminished the enjoyment of +the morning. + +Leaving this enchanted spot, we passed the waterfall D'Orli, and a +few miles beyond we paused to admire the cataract of Arpenas. Its +height is estimated at eight hundred feet. The water rushes with +considerable volume over a tremendous precipice of dark and fantastic +rocks. At first it divides into separate streams that in their fall +resemble descending rockets, till at length, caught by the rocks +beneath, they meet and mingle in one mass of foam. + +At the cataract we had an instance of that deception which is produced +to the eye by the magnitude of the objects which compose the scenery +of these Alpine regions. Viewed from the road the fall did not appear +by any means so considerable as it measurement determines; while at +its foot there was a little green hillock to the summit of which it +seemed a few steps would reach. To this hillock we determined to +proceed. But what was our astonishment when we found a mountain +before us, and when we reached its top, the cataract loomed up in +inconceivable vastness, rushing into a wild abyss beneath, that +deafened us with its uproar and bedewed us with its spray. + +We now approached the village of Maglan, where Vesta lived. As we drew +near, I observed Erwald's face flush and grow pale; that dear sister +he had not seen since his father drove her from the house because of +her apostasy. Now she was ill and had sent for him. How great the +change! His mother was a Christian and his father did not go to mass. +As we entered the village I was struck with the pleasing, intelligent +faces of all that we met. Leaving us at the door of the only +lodging-house in the place, Erwald went to visit his sister; but not +before I had asked that he would return for me provided that he found +her comfortable. In an hour or more, he returned, his countenance +sad, but still peaceful. Vesta was sicker than he had dreamed of; it +was feared that she would not recover. + +"Do you think it will not hurt her, for me to see her?" I asked. + +"Oh, no, she said that she would like to see you." + +During our short walk few words were said. As we reached the cottage a +young man came out to meet us, with a flaxen-haired, blue-eyed child +in his arms, and another clinging to his hand. It was Vesta's husband, +and these were her children. Following them into the cottage, I found +myself at once in the presence of the dying woman. The sight of a +strange face did not disturb her. With a look that seemed to +comprehend the Christian bond of union between us she held out her +hand. + +"I have come with Erwald," I said, "to see his sister. I am sorry to +find you so very ill." + +"Almost home," she gasped. + +"You do not feel that you are alone; there is One to walk with you?" + +"Jesus, my Redeemer, my Comforter." + +Erwald was kneeling by the bed, his eyes were full of tears, and his +hand trembled as he clasped the pale thin fingers. + +"You will get well, Vesta, you will come to the old home once again, +mother expects you, and father." The words were gone. Sobs echoed +through the cottage. + +"Tell mother, not an hour but I have thought of her. Tell her that I +am glad she loves Jesus; and father, ask him for my sake to read the +little Bible that I sent him. I would so like to see them, Erwald; +but it cannot be. For this, as well as for my husband and children, I +would live; but I go to Jesus. Live so as to meet me there." + +There was no excitement, only a weary look stole over the face. +Leaving Erwald, I walked back to the inn. Though far away from home, +and surrounded by strange scenery and strange people, it was +delightful to find the same faith here as in my own home, the same +heaven inspired confidence in the Redeemer. + +The next morning the sick woman was more comfortable. Erwald did not +say it, but I knew that he wanted to stay with her. + +"Go with us to Le Prieure," I said to him, "and then you shall return. +In the valley of Chamouni I feel sure we can procure a guide." + +As we left Maglan, our road, or rather path, led up a deep and fertile +valley, watered by the Arve, rich in woods of fir, and bounded by +mountains of various forms and of tremendous altitudes; their rugged +peaks sometimes lost in the clouds; at others, their heads towered in +majesty above them. Bathed in the blue ether of the heavens they +looked as if themselves ethereal, oftentimes exhibiting a play of +colors, having the appearance of transparent matter, of the purest +elements and richest hues, and when seen in the light of the setting +sun they were only more glorious. At the upper end of the valley we +came upon the cataract of the Chede. It is elegant in form. The +scenery that surrounds it is sylvan and sequestered. The torrent that +feeds it rushes down a succession of precipices, hurrying dashing +along to meet the waters of the Arve. + +The path now became extremely difficult, and we continued to ascend, +till we reached the lake of Chede, whose water is famed as the purest +in the Alps. From this point we saw Mont Blanc--saw the clouds roll +off, and leave its rugged head white with the snows of ages--a +beautiful contrast with the deep azure of the sky it seemed almost to +touch. Looking, our eyes were dazzled by the vast and spotless object +before us; pure and fleecy as were the light clouds that lingered +round it, they were dark compared with its glittering brightness; +while the obscurity in which the lower scenes were wrapt gave it the +appearance of a crystal mountain in a sea of clouds. With Erwald +standing at my side, it seemed but a step from earth to heaven, +through those regions of the purest white, untrodden solitudes, meet +only for the visits of celestial beings. + +Thus far our way had been comparatively safe. Now, we had need of +caution at each step; scrambling along ledges of lofty rocks, with +deep ravines beneath; then crossing mountain torrents where a single +misstep would have been fatal. Before night we passed the remains of +an avalanche, an enormous mass of snow crushing as it fell everything +in its path. We were now in the valley of Chamouni. At the sight of +the first glacier I felt some little disappointment. It is not itself +a mountain of ice, but lies in a deep sloping ravine between two +mountains, filling it up, and differing in height according to the +base. There are five of these glaciers in the valley. They usually lie +in a direction north and south, and thus deeply imbedded in the clefts +of the valley the sun rarely visits them. + +From Savoy our numbers were greatly increased, and as the daylight +vanished we quickened our pace. Le Prieure was before us. This was +the place where I had promised to part with Erwald. There were plenty +of guides; but none of them with the sweet calm look of the boy face +before me. + +"You will think of us sometimes," he said as I held his hand at +parting, "and when you pray to our heavenly Father, ask Him to look +upon us in mercy." + +"I will ask Him, Erwald; and I shall always remember the journey from +Geneva to Chamouni as the most varied and interesting of my life." + + + + +"The Bride Of The Aar." + + +It was the day after Christmas; a heavy fall of snow during the night, +the tiny flakes full of graceful motion till long past noon, had made +a gloomy day for the inmates of Myrtlebank. True, there was many a gay +trill and clear silvery laugh ringing through the old rooms. Alick was +spending his college vacation at home, and Frank and Carry were merry +as school-girls are wont to be, when books are flung aside, and fun +and frolic take the place of study and recitation. + +"What are you dreaming about, uncle Paul?" and Carry perched herself +on the arm of her uncle's chair, and patted his cheek with her little +dimpled hand. + +"I have been thinking, child"--and there was a choking sensation in +uncle Paul's throat, and a strange mist in his clear gray eyes. +Carry's sympathies were awakened. + +"Thinking about something long time ago, uncle Paul?" and the rosy +cheek was laid close to the thin, pallid one. + +"Tell us, uncle Paul; you know you promised us;" and Carry slid her +arms about her uncle's neck, and felt his great heart beat against her +own. + +"It was a long time ago," began uncle Paul. "I had just finished my +studies, and not being strong, the physician advised a year's travel +on the continent. My father was a merchant, and had friends in the +different European cities, and there was little danger that I should +lack for attention; and with a supply of letters, and one in +particular to a friend of my father's, a pastor among the mountains +of Switzerland, I started. I pass over the leave-taking; finding +myself alone on the sea; the nights of calm when leaning over the +ship's side, looking down into the dark depths, murmuring snatches of +home songs, bringing up vividly before me faces of those I loved; and +as the ocean swells came rocking under us, down we went into the +valleys and up over the hills of water. I felt as safe, rocked in the +great cradle of the deep, as when at home. His eye was upon me; His +arm encircled me. + +"But pleasant as the voyage and full of memories, I see that you are +impatient to pass over to the mountains of Switzerland. Words are weak +to describe the magnificence of the Juras: looking upon the rolling +heights shrouded with pine-trees, and down thousands of feet at the +very roadside, upon cottage roofs and emerald valleys, where the deer +herds were feeding quietly. All this I had seen, and then we came to a +little town called Bex; and here, from too much expenditure of +enthusiasm perhaps, I was confined for weeks with a raging fever. + +"One day, when the fever left me weak and feeble as a child, who +should enter but the good pastor Ortler. He had heard of my illness, +and leaving home, he had travelled over the hills to nurse me in my +weakness; and when I grew strong enough to bear it, he treated me to +short drives along Lake Leman, whence we could see the meadows that +skirt Geneva, the rough, shaggy mountains of Savoy, and far behind +them, so far that we could not distinguish between cap and cloud, Mont +Blanc and the needles of Chamouni. + +"The good pastor Ortler, with his fine voice and clear, earnest eyes, +was in possession at all times of a charm of manner that had for me +an irresistible fascination. But when he talked of God, his greatness +as seen in his works, the magnificent and matchless glory by which we +were surrounded: above all, when he spoke of His tenderness and love, +I realized as I had never done before the beauty of holiness, and the +happiness, in this life even, of a soul firmly anchored in the faith +of Christ. + +"Once, I remember, he steadied my feet to a rocky point overlooking +the little town of Ferney, and the deserted chateau of Voltaire. And +then followed a conversation, in which the tenderness of the good +pastor's heart was manifest as he spoke of the fine mind wrecked on +the sands of unbelief. 'And to think of this man's influence,' he +said, with sorrow in his tones, and regrets over a lost life and a +lost soul. + +"Upon the shores of the lake stood the old home of De Stael; and +nearly opposite, its white walls reflected upon the bosom of the water +the house where Byron lived and wrote. In the distance we could see +the gleaming roofs of Geneva, the dark cathedral, and the tall hotels. +As the weeks wore on I grew stronger. Winter was coming, and the good +pastor must go home. He would not hear of leaving me, and together we +went down into Savoy, and over the 'mer de glace,' and trod on the +edge of frowning glaciers. + +"We were sufficiently near the monastery of the great St. Bernard to +take it in our path; toiling along where the ice cracked in the narrow +footway, and the moon glittered on the waste of snow and glinted +across the dark windows. Pastor Ortler was at home with the monks, and +hardly had we thawed ourselves before the ample fireplace, when a +supper was prepared, and over their well-spread tables the monks told +stories of travellers lost among the granite heights, with clefts and +ledges filled with ice. + +"Among the rest, friar Le-Bon gave a description of the 'Ice Maiden,' +or _'Bride of the Aar,'_ said to be seen often when the great glacier +of Aar sends out icy breezes, and the echoes ring from rock to rock, +as it were the audible voice of God. + +"'Years ago,' he said, 'a young Englishman and his wife were +travelling for scientific purposes; measuring heights, and sounding +depths. They were always accompanied by guides; but now, charmed by +the untold splendor, and urged by deep emotion, they climbed higher +and higher, regardless of danger. Twice had the guide called out to +them that the very beauty of the day, the sun obscured but not +darkened, the softened air, were all favorable to a snowslide or +avalanche. + +"'Full of life and vivacity, the young wife went on from one point to +another, higher and higher; her lithe figure brought out against the +sky, as occasionally she plunged her iron-pointed staff deep into the +snow, and turned to admire the vast panorama at her feet. Her husband +was making the ascent at a slower pace, looking up to admire the +boldness of the little woman, and then playfully scolding her as she +stood poised in mid-air so far above him. Aware of her danger, and +fearing to startle her, the guide had ascended, and now stood with the +husband on a little ledge quite underneath the cliff on which stood +the fearless bride. + +"'A moment--there was a low, murmuring sound, as when the autumn +leaves are swept by the evening breeze. The guide heard it, and his +cheek paled. At the same time a voice was heard above. + +"'"What is that, Walter, it seems as though the mountain was moving?" + +"'"For heaven's sake, jump! we will catch you," shouted the guide. + +"'"Quick, Gertrude!" A gleam of white shot over them, and a piercing +shriek mingled with one long resounding crash, and the glittering +crystal was plunged into the valley below, leaving nothing but bare +jagged rocks and stunted shrubs, where all was smooth and white but a +moment before. Months after, the bones of the fair English girl were +buried here,' continued friar Le-Bon. + +"'And her husband?' I asked. + +"'They brought him here, and it was terrible to see his agony. When he +grew stronger, we sent a novice with him to England; it would not do +to trust him by himself.' + +"'You do not mean to say that his reason was gone?' I asked. + +"'He was never rational after that morning,' replied the friar; +'muttering and moaning, and repeating the name of Gertrude constantly. +Carl left him with his friends, and we have never heard if he +recovered.' + +"'And the lady?' asked pastor Ortler. + +"'On calm, still days, and just before an avalanche,' said the kind +friar, 'her image is always seen standing upon the loftiest height, +beckoning with her white taper fingers to some one below.' + +"Entertained with so much hospitality, we were loath to leave the +friendly hospice, only for the pastor's anxiety to reach home. Down +into the sweet valley of the Megringen, and northward by Grindenwald +and Thun, and up the steep heights over which falls the white foam of +Reichenbach; and farther on towards the crystal Rosenlani, and the +tall, still Engel Horner, we came to a little village cradled in +security beneath the towering hills; the church-spire glancing in the +sunlight, and the simple cottagers jubilant in welcoming home their +beloved pastor. + +"At the door of the pastor's home we were met by a sweet-browed woman +with a lovely infant in her arms, crowing and laughing as the father +kissed it over and over again; while a boy of ten and a girl of six +summers, ran with open arms to greet him. + +"'You stayed so long, papa.' + +"'And we missed you so much,' after the first greeting. + +"'This young friend was very ill; you would not have had me leave +him?' + +"'Oh, no, papa, but'--when the little Griselda stopped suddenly, and +threw a half-defiant glance at my face, and Thorwald stood measuring +me with his great black eyes. + +"Hardly recovered from my illness, I stayed with the good pastor +Ortler through Christmas week, and a month afterwards. Never did I +pass pleasanter days. The wife Rosalind was as kind as a sister, and +her children grew soon to like me as an old friend. Very simple was +their manner of life, while the air they breathed was fragrant with +the love they bore to Him who made and redeemed them, and who had in +his good providence, set them in a pleasant place. + +"Christmas to them was not a week of jubilee alone. Busy hands +decorated the little church, and visits were made to the poor and +sick, and presents were given without the hope of reward. Sitting by +the parlor fire at night, the pastor told of the parishioners he had +seen, their wants and needs; while Rosalind knit stockings, and +fashioned garments. + +"'It would seem that one so well fitted for society would tire of this +narrow bound,' I once said. With an eye brimming over with tenderness, +the pastor replied: 'There are souls to save here quite as precious as +anywhere else.' I felt humbled before his quiet glance. This was the +work for him to do; this was the work he loved. What matter in what +part of the vineyard? wherever there was a soul. But this mountain +grandeur pleased him. These quiet solitudes led him upward. The +glorious diadem of the hills was always urging him onward. Hard and +self-denying as his life, he had ample recompense in daily, hourly +communion with the Father through the majesty of his works." + +"I should like to live where I could see all this," whispered Carry. + +"The heart that loves, finds beauty and grandeur everywhere," +responded uncle Paul; "not only the mountain passes, but the valleys +echo His praise, and there are few places so sterile but human lives +abound." + +"Griselda and Thorwald, have you seen them since?" asked Carry. + +"Ten years afterwards, I saw them. Griselda was a tall stately girl, +with blue laughing eyes, and curls of pale brown, and Thorwald was a +student at Geneva. Pastor Ortler was still the same, preaching to his +little flock, and giving freely of his means, his wife only slightly +older. Once more we wandered over the heights and in the valleys, the +spots where I lingered years before, plucking a flower and drinking +from the cold glacier water. Afterward, when it became necessary for +me to return, good pastor Ortler and his wife went with me, and +together we passed a winter in Milan." + +"And Griselda?" asked Carry. + +"Oh, uncle Paul, Griselda was"--and Carry glanced up at the portrait +of a young and beautiful woman hanging in a niche on the left-hand of +the fireplace. Uncle Paul's portrait occupied the other side. Silence +brooded over them; while to Carry it seemed the lady in the picture +looked as if with recognition in her eyes. How delicate, how aerial +she seemed! yet real, and true. Was it any wonder uncle Paul was so +good, having had the companionship of such a spirit so many years? And +as she looked, the stately frame seemed to open, and the lady to come +down from her place and seat herself on the other arm of uncle Paul's +chair, and to lay her head on his shoulder. + +"To do good was her aim, Carry; may it be yours," said uncle Paul, and +the spell was broken. + + + + +A Sabbath In Lausanne. + + +After a long journey we arrived at the head of the lake of Geneva, by +far the most interesting portion of this sheet of water. The mountains +on the left of the valley are extremely wild and majestic, and at +their feet, close on the borders of the lake, is the little village +where I had promised to spend the Sabbath with my old friend Wagner. +The sun had gone down, but a rosy flush tinged the clouds and lingered +about the tops of the mountains. + +The walk was not long to the parsonage, a low rambling cottage, with +deep windows and overhanging roof, embowered in trees and fragrant +with the breath of flowers. All this we took in at a look, and without +any break in the talk, taking us back as it did to the day when we +bade good-by to the college and its professors, and shook hands with +each other for the last time. Looking into Wagner's face it did not +seem so long ago; while I, floating round the world, had gathered +experience enough to make me feel, if not look, something older. At +the porch we were met by Maude, her slight girlish figure rounded into +the perfection of womanhood, the rich bloom of her cheek not quite as +deep perhaps; but the sweet blue eyes met mine with all the old +frankness, the charming naivete that had rendered her so much a +favorite when a child. + +Sitting there in the lessening light it all came back; the old +university at Basle, and above all, the old professor, Maude's father, +whom we all loved. + +"His place is well filled, and still we miss him," said Wagner. + +There were tears in the young wife's eyes, and rising hastily she +disappeared into the house. A few moments later she appeared, her face +smiling and glad, a very sweet-faced babe clasped in her arms, another +tugging at her gown. "Allow me to show my treasures," she said, as she +seated herself beside me. Hours passed as hours will when friends have +been separated for years. Then came a summons to tea; and after that +Maude put up her jewels, and the pastor introduced me to his study. +Summer though it was, a bright fire of sticks was burning on the +hearth; bright, but not too bright to exclude the outside view. Slowly +the purple curtain drooped over the mountains, falling lower and +lower, until the small village, the tiled roofs, and the wooden spire +were wrapped in a cloud of dusky haze. + +"You have wondered why I content myself here, when a professorship +was offered me at Basle," said Wagner at length. "It was a temptation, +I allow; and when I thought of Maude and the social position from +which I had taken her, I hesitated. She did not, however. 'These +people love you, and your preaching is blessed to them. I am afraid if +you leave, there will be no one else; and one soul saved outweighs all +their professorships.' It was sweetly said, and I knew by the look on +her face that her heart was in keeping with her words, and I answered +her accordingly." + +It was late, and the next day would be the Sabbath. Maude joined us, +when a hymn was sung and a prayer offered, and we slept. + +The sun was shining when I awoke, and opening my lattice I looked away +to, the mountains, their white heads mellowed with a glory that +inspired only thoughts of that God who made all things, and who holds +them by the power of his might. There was a stir in the village, just +enough to show the inhabitants were not sleeping away the precious +hours. A cheerful, calm reigned, in keeping with the hallowed day; the +very birds sang in a subdued and still triumphant tone, as if they +knew 'twas holy time; while the dumb cattle, feeding on the road, +cropped the brown grass noiselessly. Gliding down the broad stairway, +I opened the study door. The pastor was there, and I saw by the open +book, with the cushion before it still deeply indented, that he had +been kneeling. He advanced with his usual good-humored smile, while +his voice had the mellowed sweetness of one who had been on the mount +speaking face to face with the King of kings. + +"I question if the Sabbath is as beautiful in the larger towns," said +the pastor, leading me to the deep window. + +Below, the garden sloped away to a considerable distance, and the +flowers still sparkling with the dewdrops lifted their heads timidly. +"You see there is some compensation for our solitude; with less +temptations to draw away our thoughts, we are privileged to go up +through these temple gates from glory to glory. Did you ever see +anything more grand and inspiring?" and he stepped out on to the +balcony, and pointed me to a range of hills ascending gradually till +the top seemed to reach the clouds. + + "Here linger yet the showers of fire, + Deep in each fold, high on each spire + On yonder mountain proud." + +Up the walk came Maude, leading by the hand the little Lotchen, the +prattle of the child showing the lesson the mother had been +attempting to teach. Beautiful such a Sabbath! and my heart felt +refreshed as I stood upon the threshold and looked out into the new +day. + +"We used to work together in Basle," said the pastor as we seated +ourselves at the breakfast-table, "suppose we make the effort to-day." + +"That will depend upon the portion that falls to my share," I replied. + +"Give him the pulpit, Heinrich," said Maude naively. + +"I am not sure that I wish him to fill it," replied the pastor with a +smile. + +"I more than half wish I could," came to my lips unbidden, and I could +hardly keep the tears as I thought of the few months it had been mine +to labor in this manner, then of that fearful illness, the loss of +voice, and the journey to regain health and strength to be spent in +His service. + +"You remember the old Bible class," said Wagner; "I have one here, or +rather two, for we meet twice a day, some finding it more convenient +to come in the morning and others after service, so that my time is +pretty well filled." + +"And you would give me one of the classes," I said, as Maude filled my +coffee cup the second time. + +"This is what I propose to do." + +"And I accept most cheerfully." + +"We have but a little time; in an hour you will be ready," and the +pastor went to his study. + +An hour afterwards the street was full of eager faces, all going to +the house of God, quiet and calm, but still cheerful and happy, +stopping to interchange greetings with each other, above all glad of a +welcoming look and smile from the pastor. I soon saw wherein was the +charm; sympathizing and kindly affectioned toward his people the +pastor interested himself in the little history of each, neglecting no +one, and especially attentive to the poor and feeble aged ones of his +flock. All loved him as a pastor, and by reason of this he persuaded +them the more easily. + +The church was a quaint structure, half gothic, and half of a +nondescript architecture peculiar to itself. Leaving the vestibule we +entered at once the main audience-room, large, and sufficiently +commodious, but somewhat dark and gloomy. The pulpit was high, and +looked like an upright octagonal vase perched on a square pedestal. +This was unoccupied at present, the people taking their seats, and +forming as I saw at once into two distinct classes. In a few words the +pastor explained why it was thus, and then offering a prayer in which +all joined he proceeded to give me one of the classes, while he began +to question the others. + +It was a novel group, the women in black skirts, with square boddices, +surmounted by white kerchiefs, with long flowing sleeves of white. But +the head had the strangest appearance. The more elderly women wore a +black cap, from the edge of which depended a trimming rising +perpendicularly from the cap from four to eight inches and gave to the +head the appearance of wings. Strange as it at first seemed, I soon +forgot all but their eager, animated attention. The theme was the love +of God in giving his only Son to be the propitiation for our sins. +Very evidently, it was no stranger of whom we were speaking. Not +satisfied with a mere bearing of his name, they knew and loved him. +His divine arm had been reached down to them. Charmed with his sweet +countenance, and won by his gentle, loving words, "Come unto me," +they came with the trust and confidence of little children, +acknowledging their sin, but taking him at his word, "I, even I am he +that blotteth out thy transgressions, for my own sake, and will not +remember thy sins." It was sweet to talk of him, this Saviour, who had +done so much for them; and before I was aware the tears were running +down my own cheeks, and my words were broken and fragmentary. In the +meantime other worshippers came in. The hour for this kind of +instruction was over. The pastor availed himself of a moment's +respite, and the next was seen ascending the pulpit stairs. Maude was +seated among the singers, and the morning services commenced. + +I had never heard my friend deliver a formal discourse, but I knew it +mattered little to him whether his message was given to few or +many--love for Christ, and earnestness to save souls was the +all-absorbing passion of his heart. It was only a continuation of what +he had been saying, the sweetly touching story of Christ's love told +simply, and still with the earnest, truthful spirit of one who knew by +blessed experience the reality of what he was saying. Standing in his +place and holding up the cross, for the moment it seemed that we could +see Him, the Divine Son, hanging, bleeding, dying that sinners like us +might be redeemed, saved, reinstated. What love! What tenderness! Is +it any wonder that we wept? Not a dry eye was in the house. Those +hardy peasants, with little intellectual culture, had hearts to love, +hearts that could understand and appreciate in some feeble manner the +promise of pardon and peace through a crucified Redeemer. + +It was an hour well spent. Never have I felt nearer the divine +presence, nor more of the joy, the rest that springs from intimate +communion with the blessed Saviour. How strange the revulsion of +feeling in a few moments of time. I had looked with a little of +pleasantry upon the quaint figures and novel costumes of the +worshippers; now, I saw only the earnest attitude, the anxious gaze, +the loving look. Jesus was all in all, and their love for him +beautified their faces. + +As we went home many kindly words were interchanged, the pastor +seeking out the elderly feeble ones, and Maude speaking with the +mothers, and patting the heads of little children, while I found my +way to a group of youths, to deepen if possible the impression of the +morning. + +After dinner there was a repetition of the Bible-class, though now +they met at the pastor's house. As it was warm and pleasant we seated +ourselves in the garden, dividing into three groups. This class was +entirely different from the one of the morning, being made up of +those, many of them mothers, who could not leave their children to go +out earlier; and with some, this service was the principal one of the +day. The attention was quite as good, and the manner the same. It was +a pleasure to teach, and the sun was throwing his last red beams on +the hillside as the last one left the garden. It had been a long day, +but we felt repaid. + +"You have had a glimpse of our family and of our work," said the +pastor. "How do you like it?" + +"Is this a specimen of all your Sabbaths?" + +"Just the same, with the fluctuating difference of numbers; scattered +as our people are, many of them living halfway up the mountains, they +are not always able to be here." + +"I agree with Maude that your service is needed here." + +"I knew you would. There are souls to save here as well as in Basle, +and sometimes I think the love of these simple hearts is sweeter to +Jesus." + +Far away the mountains were lifting their heads, bathed in the golden +glory from the setting sun. Maude caught the direction of my eyes. + +"Perhaps I fear to much the effect upon my own soul; but these grand +temple-gates are always open, and from their entrance we seem to catch +glimpses of the celestial city beyond, inspiring only good and noble +thoughts, with an anxious, earnest endeavor to reach higher +resting-places." + +"And you fear this would be less in the noise and din of the city." + +"Not quite that, for the heart that loves Jesus can live and work for +him anywhere; but with a free choice I prefer this." + +I felt that she was right, it was the work God had given her to do, +and she was willing to do it; while the question returned to me with +tenfold force, Are you as willing to labor in the field that He has +given to you? The man with a vineyard places his laborers as he would +have them, giving each one according to his capacity, be it more or +less. Our Father has a vineyard; it is the world, and his children are +the laborers. "Go work in my vineyard," is the command. The choice is +His who placed us there; to work is ours. + +"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; +and lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." + +The next day I left Lausanne, the good pastor and his wife joining me +for a few miles on my way, and then we parted--to meet, teacher and +taught, in the city of our God. + + + + +The Guide Of Montanvert. + + +We were passing the summer at the Pays de Vaud; thence making +excursions, as suited our inclination, to different portions of the +country, always finding something new and striking--something out of +which we could draw profitable lessons for the future. + +On one of these occasions we made the ascent of Montanvert, and +visited the Mer de Glace. Montanvert rises abruptly from the vale of +Chamouni, and may not improperly be considered a portion of the base +of Mont Blanc. It is beautifully wooded to its summit, whence its name +of the Green Mountain. + +As we were standing in the court of the inn discussing the merits of a +guide, and anxious to find a trusty and intelligent person from whom +we could learn all that was to be learned, as well as feel secure in +his choice of the best paths, a boy and girl came up the hill, and +speaking hurriedly to the landlord, advanced confidently to the place +where we stood. Lifting his cap, while a shower of light soft curls +fell over his coarse blouse, he asked if we were in search of a guide, +and if we would take him. His manner was so respectful, and his face +and appearance so youthful, we were attracted, and still did not know +how to reply to him. + +"I was thinking of Franz," said the innkeeper; "you need not fear his +youth; he was born here, and his father has always been considered one +of the best guides in the country; Franz knows every path." + +"Let his father come with him," I suggested. I thought I caught a +tear in the boy's eye, and his lips trembled. + +"Father is old, and besides he is very ill to-day; if you will allow +me I will serve you faithfully." + +There was something so frank and truthful, and his words were so well +chosen and showed such cultivation, that even had I feared that he was +unequal to the task I should have taken him. + +At this moment his sister came out of the inn, the good woman +following her with a bottle of wine. + +"This is for your father, Annette; I hope he will be better +to-morrow." + +"I am going," I heard Franz whisper; and taking the wine-bottle, he +left Annette to carry the smaller packages, and turned to us as if +ready to set off. + +"You are not to take Annette, are you?" I asked. + +"We live halfway up the mountain, and shall pass near the house. We +shall not need our poles till we reach that point." + +We did not over-exert ourselves at the outset, casting our eyes over +the green valley, and then up the snowy mountains, sometimes +exchanging a word with Franz, but oftener listening, as he talked in a +low voice to Annette, of what she was to do during the day. + +"And if he dies, Franz!" + +"God grant that he may not." + +We had now reached the little cottage, and, laying down her packages, +Annette ran to a little shed and brought each of us a long pole +furnished with a spike at the end, for which we found abundant use +before we returned; she then brought a draught of clear, cold water, +gushing out of a rock near by, and, bidding us "God speed," entered +the hut. + +Franz was with us, but he had just stopped for a word with his +father, and there was a moisture in his eye that came very near +calling the tears to our own. We did not question him then, but going +on, we paused occasionally to observe the ruin which had been wrought +by many avalanches, while our ears mistook the sound of others for +thunder. Trees uprooted, withered branches and blasted trunks were +scattered in every direction, and sometimes a large space was +completely cleared by one of these tremendous agents of destruction. + +"You have seen the village of Chamouni," said Franz; "it is said to +have been built by a few peasants who escaped an avalanche that +occurred on the opposite side of the Arve." + +The higher we ascended the more steep and difficult it became, and +more than once did Franz have to turn and teach us how to use our +poles, resting the weight of the body upon them, but still inclining +the figure to the face of the mountain instead of the valley. Higher +up we came to shoots or rivers of frozen snow; the inclination of the +ice being extremely steep and the surface smooth, Franz crossed first, +making marks with his pole for our feet. He then directed us to look +neither above nor below us, but only to our feet, for should we fall +nothing could save us from sliding down the ice and being dashed +against the rocks or the stumps of trees beneath. Passing the first in +safety, we found the next less formidable, while the danger was +diminished in proportion to the experience we acquired. + +Once over, Franz told us how his father was accustomed to descend the +ice shoot; planting his heels firmly in the snow and placing his pole +under his right arm and leaning the entire weight of his body upon it +he came down with the swiftness of an arrow, his body almost in a +sitting posture, his heels and the spiked end of his pole alone +touching the ice and deeply indenting it. + +"It happened," said Franz, "that my father was showing a small company +of travellers to the summit, when a sudden fancy seized one of them to +make the descent in that way. My father expostulated, and told him +that it required practice and skill, that but few of the guides would +undertake it. He would not be deterred, feeling, as he said, sure that +he could do anything performed by another. Seeing that he was +determined, my father helped him to adjust his pole, and then shut his +eyes." + +"And what then?" I asked, as Franz stopped and looked in the direction +of the Mer de Glace. + +"There was no help for him," said Franz; "he was buried at the foot +of the mountain." + +Having reached the summit, the scene that burst upon us was sublime in +the highest degree; immediately beneath was the Mer de Glace, a broad +river of ice running nearly forty miles up into the Alps; to the north +the green valley of Chamouni, to the south the gigantic barriers that +separate Savoy from Piedmont, and around us inaccessible peaks and +mountains of eternal snow, finely contrasting with the deep blue of +the heavens; while the roar of cataracts and the thunder of avalanches +were the only sounds that broke upon the profound stillness of the +terrible solitude. + +On the summit of the mountain we found an inn or hospice. We entered +and warmed ourselves, neither did we refuse the black bread and glass +of sour wine that were presently brought to us. As we sat by the fire +a small table was brought near us, and on it lay the album in which we +were expected to enter our names. Many notable autographs we found +here, and despite the gladness we felt in adding ours to the number, +there was still a sad, desolate thought: those most distinguished had +all passed away. The mountains remained, their glory undiminished; but +the human beings climbing their heights, and exulting in the grandeur +of heaven and earth, had vanished like the mist wreath. Years would +pass and other feet would cross the slippery fields, other eyes look +out upon the work of God's hands, other names be traced, and we, like +the throng before us, be gone--no longer to look upon the created, but +the Creator. + +As soon as we were sufficiently rested, Franz summoned us to the Sea +of Ice, and we began to descend the steep and rugged face of the +mountain. As we approached the surface of the glacier, these +inequalities rose into considerable elevations, intermingled with +half-formed pyramids, bending walls and shapeless masses of ice; with +blocks of granite and frightful chasms at once savage and fantastic. +It puzzled me to know why it should have been called a sea, a rough +and stony one at that; but to me it looked like a river, walled in by +two enormous mountains, rising to the height of ten thousand feet, and +forming a ravine a mile and a half wide, that pursues a straight +course for several miles and divides at the upper end into two glens, +like deep gashes, that run up to the highest elevation of the Alps, +terminating at the lower extremity in an icy precipice of two thousand +feet, whose base is in a still deeper valley. It was as if there had +been innumerable torrents dashing down the precipice into the +valley--arrested by a mighty hurricane as they hurried along, and +wrought into the wildest forms by the fury of the tempest, and then +suddenly congealed, leaving a sea or river of ice, framed in with +lofty peaks and snowy summits, cataracts and avalanches, clouds and +storms, a wonderful combination of the grand, the terrible, and the +sublime. + +Franz understood his business of guide too well to let me loiter as I +wished. "These fissures are the chief danger," he said; and, holding +out his small hand, he grasped mine with the tenacity of one not +accustomed to let anything slip through his fingers. A girdle of +imperfectly frozen snow borders this sea; and Franz never planted his +feet till he had first ascertained the nature of the surface with his +pole. Some of these fissures are of an amazing depth, and, taking out +my watch, I tried to fathom one of them by dropping large fragments of +granite; and calculating by the time that elapsed before reaching the +bottom, we judged it to be over five hundred feet. + +Franz had hurried us; now, he stopped, and bade us look above us. We +did so, and were amply repaid for all our toil. To try to describe it +would be in vain; and still the distinct outline is indelibly +impressed upon my mind, and I am confident will never be effaced. We +were standing in the midst of the rough waves and yawning abysses of +this frozen sea; while almost perpendicularly from its brink the +mountains rose, clothed with scanty herbage, and adorned with the tiny +crimson blossoms of the rhododendron that bloomed upon their sides. + +As the eye looked up the valley, every trace of vegetation died away; +and the snowy mountains appeared to meet and mingle with each other. + +We left the glacier, and ascending again to the hospice of Montanvert, +I sat down by the side of Franz upon a block of granite, and looked +again upon a scene the equal of which I never expect to see again. +There was a far away look in Franz's eyes. Was he thinking of the +little cottage far up the mountain, and of Annette watching by the +bedside of his sick father? Perhaps so; in any case I was glad that we +had taken him. His could not be an everyday story, there must be some +particular motive why he should want so earnestly to come. I would not +question him then; but I determined to stop at the little cottage and +learn for myself. + +With all the untold glory above and beneath me, I felt oppressed with +the littleness, as well as the greatness of my nature. How +insignificant I appeared amid these gigantic forms; and still I +exulted in the consciousness that "My Father made them all, that +Father with whom I could commune, and whose Son I was privileged to +love." + +"And this God is our God," I was constrained to say aloud. Franz +turned his speaking eye upon me. + +"If it was not for this, how could we endure it?" he said, while there +was a grave, calm look on his face, so little to be expected in a +guide. + +"How could we endure this grandeur, or our own littleness?" I asked. + +"To know that God rules, giving each his place, to the mountains +theirs, and to us ours. Insignificant we may be, and still we are each +of us of more value than all the mountains in the universe. Jesus +created mountains; but he died for us." + +"Where did you learn this, Franz?" + +"From the Bible, sir." + +I saw it all; the Bible was the textbook he had studied. It was this +which had given him that rare expression of face, and the words so far +above the condition of life indicated by the little hamlet where he +lived. + +There was no more time, for the sun was going down, and we must go +with it; and rising, we began to make the descent. + +The moon was full orbed before we reached the cottage. I was weary +beyond the power of utterance. + +"If you would prefer to stop here, we can give you a comfortable bed," +said Franz, "and Annette will have something to eat. I told her that +there was a possibility that you would like to remain." + +It was the very thing I wanted, and placing my pole by the side of +Franz's in the little shed from which Annette had brought it in the +morning, I entered the cottage. + +All was still and quiet. It seemed Annette had not heard us; for as +the door was opened, she rose from the bedside, where she had been +kneeling, and springing lightly to Franz hid her little tear-wet face +in his bosom. She did not perceive me, and for a moment there was +nothing to be heard but the heavy breathing of the sick man. + +"How has he been, Annette?" and Franz unclasped his sister's arm. + +"He did not say much till the sun was nearly down, then he began to +ask for you, and at last I read him to sleep." + +"Can you give us something to eat, Annette? you see I have brought the +stranger with me." + +She turned with such an air of modesty, dropping a courtesy so very +humbly, and yet with a blending of maidenly dignity, that I felt +instinctively to bow to the womanhood before me, quaint and +picturesque as it was in its black dress, white sleeves, and +wooden-heeled shoes. + +Giving one glance at the sleeper, Annette slipped out at a side-door; +while Franz rising from his straight-backed chair, and dropping on his +knees beside the bed, pressed his lips to the furrowed brow. The +action seemed to recall the sick man, his breathing was not so heavy +and his eyes partly opened. + +"Father, you are not sleeping easily; let me turn you on your pillow." +The voice was low and tender, and the action gentle as a woman's. +"Franz!" and the withered hand stroked his light curls. "Franz!" there +was nothing more; but oh, what a world of love, of restored +confidence! the stiffening tongue lingered fondly on each letter. + +The room was large, and there was a general air of neatness; but +there was a lack of comforts such as we are accustomed to see at home. +There was no lamp in the room; only on the hearth a pine-knot nearly +spent, sending out now a bright light, then wavering, bringing out +shadows on the wall, and permitting us to catch glimpses of the +outdoor radiance, the silvery effulgence of the rocks and hills. + +The sick man slept, and now his breathing was as sweet as an infant's. +I rose to look at him, his bronzed face bleached to a deathly pallor, +his high brow seamed with furrows, and his hair like a network of +silver falling over the coarse white pillow. + +"Has he been long ill?" I asked. + +"It is about three months now," and Franz drew up a little stand, and +lifted the Bible that had been lying open on the bed to the table. + +"Annette spoke of reading him to sleep; was this the book?" I +questioned. + +"Father has come to like this since he was sick; he don't care for any +other." + +"Then he has not always liked it?" + +"No, sir." + +"May I know, Franz, when you first learned to love this book?" + +He looked up with such a shy, timid look, and still with the same +frankness that had characterized him during the day. Just then Annette +entered, whispered to Franz, and both went out. In a moment Franz +returned. + +"Annette was afraid it would not do; it is the best we have, and I +know you must be hungry." + +White bread, and strawberries, and goat's milk; while the bottle of +sour wine I had seen in the morning graced the table. I had not +expected such a tempting meal, and I was hungry, as Franz said. Taking +his seat Franz raised his eyes to mine. There was no mistaking its +upward, grateful glance. Bowing our heads, we asked a blessing, and +then picking up the broken thread, Franz went on to tell me of +himself. + + +Franz's Story. + +"It is nearly four years since an English gentleman and his daughter +visited Chamouni, and my father was their guide. Mr. Wyndham was a +gentleman of refined manners; a Christian man, loving God, and +speaking of that love with the earnestness of one who wishes others to +love Him also. His daughter Alice, a frail, gentle girl, was one of +those beings that seem lent, not given; the last of a large family, +and herself not strong. Her father brought her to Lausanne, hoping +that pure air and change of scene would restore and invigorate her. I +hardly know why, but certain it is that my father was never so much +interested in travellers before; while from the first it seemed to me +that I could never do enough for the gentle girl, who never failed to +inspire me with the love of something beyond what I knew. It was not a +tangible idea, and when I tried to reach it I could not. Often in +going up the mountain we would stop and rest on some shelf of the +rock, while Alice would take her Bible from her pocket, and read the +beautiful descriptions of the majesty and glory of the mountain +heights, their grandeur and splendor, and then of the great God, +creator and ruler of the universe, and kneeling in the cleft of the +rock, she would commit herself to him with such a sweet, childlike +confidence, I used to weep without knowing what I was weeping for, +wishing and longing that I could understand for myself. Whenever she +read, and especially when she prayed, my father would listen +attentively, taking care when we went home to say nothing about it. + +[Illustration] + +"I remember one day we had been to 'Le Jardin,' a little spot of green +at the foot of the grand Jarasse, framed in with eternal snows, but +itself covered with Alpine plants and flowers, and yielding herbage +sufficient to tempt the herdsmen to drive their cattle across the Mer +de Glace. Her father and mine had gone a little out of the path, +leaving me in charge and Alice to rest. Seeing some bright flowers of +a peculiar species I stopped to gather them, and when I returned Alice +was reading. It was not of Christ's power, glory and majesty, but of +his love, the tenderness he felt for us, of his life, and last of all, +of his death. I had never heard the story before, and it took entire +possession of my spirit. Going down the mountain I was continually +asking myself, 'What shall I render to him for all he has suffered on +my account? and what for the blessings he has given me?' Thinking of +his buffetings, scoffs and scourging, I could hardly keep the tears. +My father observing this, and supposing that I was weary or had hurt +myself, was kinder than usual; but when I told him of the little book +and what Alice had told me of the love of Jesus, he grew angry and +said that the next time they needed a guide I should stay at home. 'I +have listened once or twice,' he said, 'because my living depends upon +my politeness to strangers; but when it comes to turning the heads of +my children it is quite another thing.' + +"A few weeks after this Mr. Wyndham left Chamouni for Lausanne. + +"'We shall miss you,' said Alice; for my father let me go to bid them +good-by; 'and that you may have something to remember me by, I am +going to give you this little Bible. You will see that I have marked +the passages I want you to study; and you must try to read it every +day.' + +"It was the very thing that I had wanted, but I could hardly tell her +so. Tears were running over my face, and I had barely time to slip the +little book into my pocket when my father came up. After that I was +happier. I could read for myself, and it was sweet to know that God +cared for me. Many a pleasant hour did I enjoy in the mountain passes, +and in telling Annette of the treasure I had found in the Bible. + +"My father may have suspected this. I hardly know; but one day the +priest came to talk to me upbraiding me not a little with reading a +book that could do me no good, and demanding that I should give it to +him. This I refused to do. He appealed to my father; invectives and +blows followed, and at last my father told me that I should either +give up the book or never see him or Annette any more. It was a +struggle, and I came near giving it up. + +"When Annette suggested that I should go to Lausanne and see Mr. +Wyndham and Alice, I had not thought that I could do this, and without +delay started. I was received very kindly by Mr. Wyndham. Alice had +grown very weak; could not walk, and seldom could ride. I can not tell +you how the days passed, neither of the exertion she made to teach me +out of my little book. Then came a day when her voice was still, and +the next the sweet face was hidden from my sight for ever. + +"Soon after this Mr. Wyndham left for England, but before he left he +had a long talk with me, and of my plans and hopes for the future. The +result was that I was placed in school, of which there are several, in +Lausanne, and began to study with reference to being myself a teacher +of his blessed word. My little Bible I sent to Annette; but my father +would not let me come home. For the last year he has been failing; +three months since he took to his bed, and then Annette prevailed upon +him to let me come and wait upon him. I found him greatly changed. +From the first he let me read the Book, as he calls it, and of late I +feel that he loves Jesus, and trusts him for the future. Living upon +his labor, it troubles him that he can do nothing; and this was why I +was so anxious to go with you yesterday; he likes to think of me as a +guide." + +"And I trust you will be a guide," I said, as we left the table and +entered the sick-room, "a guide to lead souls to Christ. What a +blessed privilege!" + +"If I can only do it," and his eyes were full of a holy light. + +Annette sat by the bedside; the face of the sick man was as pale as +marble, and but for the gentle breathing, we should have thought him +already departed. Franz put on a fresh knot, and the red flame sent a +rosy tinge over the apartment. Sitting before the fire we watched him +as he slept, knowing, feeling that it could not be long. Then a +chapter was read, and a prayer went up for strength and guidance. + +Franz would not let me watch with him; and leading me into a small +room with a clean but somewhat hard bed, left me to myself. Weary as I +was, I could not sleep. The glory of the day; the sad, sweet history +just related; the sick man, with the messenger waiting at the humble +door, thrilled me with a feeling that would not rest. Opening my +window, I enjoyed the stillness, the solitude, and the grandeur of the +scene: the glittering dome of Mont Blanc, and all the surrounding and +inferior domes and spires and pyramids that cluster in this wondrous +region, which fancy might conceive the edifices of some great city, or +the towers and dome of some vast minster. Far above the mountain-tops +the moon was shining; while her retinue of stars, seen through the +cool crisp air, seemed larger and more beautiful than I had ever +before seen them. + +It would be impossible to detail all the thoughts that passed, and the +emotions that were excited in my mind. Every object around, beneath, +above me seemed in silent but impressive eloquence to celebrate God's +praise; from the moon that led the starry train, from the patriarch of +his kindred hills and nearest to the heavenly sanctuary, down to the +frozen glaciers and the roaring torrents of the lower valleys, all +seemed endowed with a peculiar language--a voice to touch the heart of +man, and to enter into the ear of God. + +At length sleep overpowered me, and when I awoke the sun was shining. +Stepping into the outer room I was met by Franz, looking as fresh as +though sleep had not been denied him. Leading me to the bedside, he +spoke a few words to his father, while the trembling hand met mine, +weak and worn. I saw that his course was nearly run; but there was a +light in his eye that spoke of peace. Words were of little use. + +After breakfast, which Annette insisted that I should take, I walked +down to the inn, and there learned more of Franz than he had been +willing to tell me. Not only had he been the means of leading his +father to the Saviour, but it was his habit to gather the people +together and read to them out of his Bible, telling them of Jesus and +of his pure and spotless life, then of his agony and death, picturing +his love and his infinite tenderness. + +I was not restricted to a set number of days, and for three days I +vibrated between the inn and the small cottage on the mountain. On the +fourth it was over; the messenger had done his bidding. Franz and +Annette were not the only mourners, not a villager but joined them; +and when they turned from the grave to the silence of their humble +room, I went with them. + +Not many days after that the door of the cottage was shut; and when I +sailed for my western home, Franz Muller was prosecuting his studies +at Basle. + +"He is to be a minister," said Annette, as she followed me to the +door, "and he says that wherever his work is, I may share it with +him." + +Her face was lit up with a smile almost as bright as I had seen on +Franz's face. Surely the angels know nothing of the rapture of such a +work. + + + + +Mont Blanc. + + +After making the ascent of Montanvert, and learning something of the +wonders of the Mer de Glace, we again sallied forth upon a tour of +discovery in the immediate neighborhood of La Prieure. + +With Mont Blanc before me and hardly conscious that I was alone, I +pursued my walk, continuing to ascend till my path was obstructed by a +mass of fallen snow. Fascinated with the idea of a better view, I +determined to find a way around it, I climbed higher and higher, now +stopping to admire the interior domes and spires and pyramids that +cluster in this wondrous region, then fancying myself in a vast +cathedral more grand and magnificent than I had ever before seen. The +summit of Mont Blanc seemed to have greatly increased since I began to +ascend, and this, and not looking behind me, rendered me wholly +unconscious of the progress I made. + +At length, from the slippery condition of the path and the frequent +use that I was obliged to make of the pole with which I had been +furnished, I became conscious that I had advanced far beyond what I +had at first purposed. Looking back, I could see nothing of the +valley; night was coming on, and the winds sweeping over the snowy +heights made me shiver; at the same time they threatened to hurl me +over the precipice. Go on I could not; to retrace my steps seemed +equally impossible; planting my pole with its long spike deep in the +ice, I attempted to keep my footing. Sending my eyes in every +direction, and hoping that the guides had missed me and followed in +the track, I perceived an immense mass of ice, one of the very turrets +that I had so greatly admired, trembling and just ready to fall. +Before I had time to think, it slipped and fell with a thundering +sound, rolling and dashing like a huge cataract of liquid silver, +glittering in the sunbeams, and spent itself on the surface below over +which it spread. Its roar, like that of thunder, reverberated from +peak to peak, and many seconds elapsed before it completely died away. + +My situation was perilous. Of the extent of the glacier I could not +determine. In following after me, my companions might have been buried +underneath its fall; or the guides might think that there was no +possibility of my escape, and thus give up the attempt to rescue me. +All this and more passed through my mind. What if I should never +reach my home, should never look into the faces of those I love! One +quiet look upward, and peace filled my heart. God was above me, and +around me; this terrible solitude spoke of his majesty, his might, his +power. These mountains were in my Redeemer's hands. His eye was upon +me, and I was safe. + +The sun fell behind the western mountains, but his splendors deepening +as they died away, were succeeded by the softer beams of the moon that +rose full orbed above the lofty horizon. At first their mild +effulgence was only seen on the hoary head of the monarch of the Alps: +but as I gazed, summit after summit caught the silvery lustre, till +all above and below me was enveloped in the same glorious light. + +Chateaubriand says that mountain elevations are no place for +contemplation; and certainly, surrounded by great dangers, it may +seem incredible that I indulged in it. Still, I cannot but attribute +my safety to this very state of mind--looking away from myself, +holding fast to my pike-staff, and rising spontaneously to the +adoration of that Being who commanded these mighty masses to take +their form and place. Every object seemed in silent but impressive +eloquence to celebrate His praise. The moon, with her attendant stars, +the spotless dome of Mont Blanc, the glittering glaciers and the +roaring torrents all seemed endowed with a voice to touch the heart of +man, and to assure him of a hearing from God. + +The moon was rising higher: forced to keep one position, I was growing +stiff and weary, the wind chilled me, and there were ringing noises in +my ears: the enthusiasm that had sustained me grew less. Would they +ever find me? Glancing downward, I tried to discover lights. In +listening I grew numb, the mountains began to reel around me, the moon +and the stars danced before me, my senses began to wander. Should I +attempt to go forward? Would it not be better to throw myself down? +Once more I looked over the precipice, and just then a horn rang out +far below; then a voice apparently nearer. I tried to answer, but no +sound came; I tried to move, but was fast. The next I remember, a +guide was rubbing my breast with his rough hands; while another forced +open my mouth and poured something from a flask. How we got down, I +never knew. But the next day as Dr. Kemper told me of the excitement +of the guides as soon as my absence became known to them, and the fall +of the glacier, of the fear that I was buried beneath it, and of my +state when found, I could only adore still more His goodness that had +preserved me, while a still firmer purpose thrilled my being to live +for Him. + +A prisoner in my room, Dr. Kemper told me the manner in which Saussure +made the ascent. A party of guides going up from Chamouni, one of them +by some means was far ahead of the others, when suddenly darkness +enveloped him. Cut off from his companions, he was obliged to pass the +night at the immense elevation of twelve thousand feet above the level +of the sea. Chilled, but not overcome, he had strength sufficient in +the morning to reconnoitre, and thereby found an access to the +mountain-top comparatively easy. On reaching Chamouni, he was seized +with severe illness, and in return for the kind care of his physician, +he told the doctor of the path he had discovered, and that if he felt +a desire to be the first man to stand upon the summit of Mont Blanc, +he would lead him to it. The doctor readily accepted, and on the +seventh of August, 1786, they began the ascent. Twice the physician, +overcome by fatigue and cold, turned his back upon the goal; but the +guide, more accustomed to hardships, urged him on, and at length he +was privileged to set his foot upon the loftiest elevation in Europe, +a triumph never before enjoyed by man. + + + + +From Berne To Basle. + + +Before leaving Lausanne I received an invitation from a friend in the +university at Basle to visit that city. To do this, we had to pass +Berne. The approach to this place is very pleasing: the country is +beautifully undulating, and in the highest state of cultivation. The +neighborhood indicated by its noise and bustle that we were +approaching a capital, and as we entered the city we found the streets +crowded with people in their gayest attire, and filled with corn and +cattle, and almost every article of commerce, it being market day. It +is a magnificent city. The houses are all built of stone, with arcades +in the principal streets, and rows of well-furnished shops. Fountains +are numerous, and streams of water flow through the centre of the +spacious streets, in deep and broad channels cut for their reception. +The city had a very gay appearance. The costume, the expression, the +language--all were new. I was greatly interested in my excursions +round the walls. The cathedral is a magnificent pile of gothic +architecture, occupying a bold elevation above the Aar. We found here +a remarkably fine organ, of great size, stretching across nearly the +whole breadth of the church. + +Climbing up to the loft, we were told the story of a former organist, +a famous musician, somewhat independent, and yet sensitive and quick +to feel. Under the papal power Louis Steinway incurred the displeasure +of one of the dignitaries of the church, and his position as organist +was taken from him. Overcome with sorrow he at once proceeded to the +house of the bishop to make an explanation. Trembling with excitement +he so poorly explained the misunderstanding, as to give the prelate +even a worse idea of it than he had at first: the consequence was that +hard words were added to the burden already laid upon him. The poor +organist went home and was immediately taken down with severe illness, +and a few days afterward eluded his attendants and flew along the +streets to the cathedral, from which the people soon heard tones of +the organ issuing majestic and ravishing but unspeakably sad. As soon +as the wife knew of her husband's absence, she went to the cathedral. +Her husband was in his old place, his hands upon the keys, as if in +the act of playing, his head bent forward and drooping. He was dead! + +From Berne the road climbs a hill immediately on leaving the gates of +the city, and passes between rows of trees, with a gentle slope on +either hand, covered with a soft fresh green and smooth as the finest +lawn. The glimpses of the city through the trees, with the windings of +the Aar, were extremely interesting. But a far nobler scene was +unfolded to the south, where an immense chain of Alps appeared like +the boundaries of some new world, to which their fearful precipices, +glittering peaks, and summits of untrodden snow for ever barred the +approach of man. The purity of the atmosphere gave them peculiar +distinctness of outline, while the beams of the setting sun gilded +their lofty brightness, that seemed to have more of heaven in it than +earth. Oh! if natural scenes can appear so lovely, what must that +purity and lustre be of which they are only the shadowy emblems? + +We slept, and set out again at an early hour. Our route lay through +the finest portion of Switzerland. The land is chiefly pasturage, and +the meadows are extremely rich. Traversing a rocky pass, we came to +the castle of Kluss. Issuing from the pass we entered a smiling +valley, the hills gently rising to the right, clothed with forests of +fir; while on the left, rocks towered to an amazing altitude. On the +summit of what seemed to be an inaccessible crag, perched the ruins of +Falkenstein, and a few miles on, those of Wallenberg. + +Soon after stopping to lunch, we came in sight of the Rhine, with the +dark woods of the Black Forest forming a background, and also the +frontier of the Austrian territory. Weary and still delighted with the +day, I was glad to hear the guides exclaim that Basle was before us. +The Rhine divides the city into two parts. Crossing the bridge, we +proceeded at once to the University. Bonnevard was there, and in the +society of my friend I forgot for the time every other consideration. + +It was two weeks before I left, and in that time I had learned many +things, attending lectures with my friend, and enjoying the society of +some of the most illustrious names in literature and science. + +After the lectures, Bonnevard was to go to Fribourg; and it was with a +view to accompanying him that I remained in Basle. Passing over the +bridge and through the little city, we left the canton, and entered +Germany by the territories of the grand duke of Baden. The Rhine was +on our left, the Black Forest, covering a series of rugged hills, at +some distance on our right; and we found a rich and beautiful +landscape at every step. Climbing the brow of a hill about twelve +miles from Basle, we obtained a charming view of the windings of the +river--the broad valley through which it passes, the dark undulations +of the forest, the towers and spires of the distant city, and the long +line of Alps in the background, rising in inexpressible grandeur and +glittering in the beams of the morning sun. + +This was our last of the Rhine; our road taking the direction of the +Black Forest, and skirting it all the way to Fribourg. On the way, +Bonnevard gave me many sketches of real life, one of which, from +having seen the person in Basle, interested me deeply. The Black +Forest was formerly, and is now at certain seasons, greatly infested +by wolves. It so happened that a government officer, passing to +Vienna, was pursued by a ravenous pack of these animals; the +postilion spurred his horses until they began to flag, and the wolves +were gaining upon them. The officer feeling assured that all was lost, +was about giving himself up to be devoured, when a woodcutter and his +son emerged from the forest, armed only with knives or short daggers. +The hungry pack were diverted, and in the struggle that followed, the +postilion whipped up his horses and escaped. On reaching Vienna, the +officer sent back to see what had been the fate of the woodcutter. A +desperate battle had been fought; the father killed five of the +largest wolves, and then, seeing that escape was impossible, implored +the boy to fly, saving the life of his son by the sacrifice of his +own. In admiration for this deed, the people placed the family of the +woodcutter beyond want; and the lad showing a rare aptitude to learn, +and expressing only a wish to study, was sent to Basle, where he soon +distinguished himself as a scholar, and bids fair to become a man of +mark. + +Fribourg is a fine old town, famous for its minster, and its +university. The minster is of gothic architecture, magnificently +carved, and of fine proportions. It is after the model of that at +Strasbourg, and is said to be one of the finest edifices in Germany. + +Early in the morning, we took occasion to visit the cathedral. The +gates were open, and early as we considered it, many were kneeling +before the different altars. The interior of the church is grand and +magnificent, and abounds with sculptures and paintings of the most +costly description. In a small chapel in one of the aisles of the +church, we found an ordinary table covered with white linen, with +images of the Saviour and the twelve apostles seated around it, +figures of marble, as large as life. The expression of each face is +admirably given, especially those of John, who leans upon Jesus' +bosom, and of Judas, seated the last in the group, and grasping the +bag in his hand. It was so real and lifelike, that I could with +difficulty understand that the genius of man had fashioned it out of +cold and senseless stone. + +From the cathedral we visited the library. It is a rare and valuable +collection, and belongs to the university. Here Bonnevard met with +many of his associates, and soon after we parted from him, with +regret. How pleasant it is to meet and talk with those we love; but +the parting makes it sweet to think of that world where there will be +no need of adieus. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Scenes in Switzerland, by American Tract Society + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCENES IN SWITZERLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 15782.txt or 15782.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/7/8/15782/ + +Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Christine D and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. (www.pgdp.net) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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