260 MOUNTAINS. 



be said of any remarkable prospect from our doors and 

 windows, if placed conspicuously before us. "We gradu- 

 ally lose our power of enjoying this and similar views. 

 Hence our daily and familiar prospects should not be of 

 a stimulating character; for everything that exhilarates, 

 when habitually used, deadens the sensibility. The ter- 

 restrial views about our home should be quiet and inter- 

 esting, but not extraordinary, to preserve a healthy tone 

 of the mind, as our daily food should be plain and sim- 

 ple to preserve the health of the body. 



The same remarks do not apply to celestial views. The 

 sky, during a great part of the day, is a mere canopy 

 of light. Its exciting effects are felt only on extraor- 

 dinary occasions, which are transient. It is beautiful 

 when the sun rises and when it sets, enveloped in highly 

 refractive vapors, and sublime when curtained by illu- 

 minated masses of finely organized Clouds. But these 

 spectacles are not liable to tire us by their frequency or 

 duration. Give me, therefore, a clear and unobstructed 

 view of the heavens, from my place of constant resi- 

 dence, that I may witness those momentary spectacles of 

 beauty that occur in the morning and evening. 



It is a popular error to suppose that the inhabitants of 

 mountains acquire from their habitual prospects a lively 

 imagination and an expanded mind. The influence of 

 the scenes around them would be quite the contrary, if it 

 were felt at all, since they are mostly confined in valleys, 

 and shut out from the world. Yet it is not their limited 

 view of the heavens and the earth that would narrow 

 their minds, but their want of intercourse with men ; 

 for mountaineers are seldom engaged in commerce, the 

 grand enlightener of nations. They are herdsmen and 

 tillers of the soil, and by living apart from other men 

 they acquire a clannish spirit and become addicted to 

 superstition and fanaticism. It is also believed that the 



