ON THE HEIGHTS. 81 



rising here and there from clustered homes ; to the 

 south, a vast stretch of fertile fields, rolling like a 

 fruitful sea to the horizon ; within the mighty 

 circle, groups of lower hills, wooded valleys shad 

 owy and mysterious in the distance, villages and 

 scattered homes. 



It was a deep saying of Goethe s that &quot; on every 

 height there lies repose.&quot;^ A Sabbath stillness and 

 solemnity reign in this upper sphere, where the 

 sound of human toil never comes and the cry of 

 humanity never penetrates. The boundaries that 

 confine and baffle the vision along the walks of 

 ordinary life have all faded out ; great States lie 

 together in this outlook without visible lines of 

 division or separation. The obstacles to sight 

 which hourly baffle and confuse are gone ; from 

 horizon to horizon all things are clear and visible, 

 and the world is vast and beautiful to its remotest 

 boundaries/- The repose which lies on the heights 

 of life is born of the vast and unclouded vision 

 which looks down upon all obstacles, over all bar 

 riers, and takes in at a glance the mighty scope of 

 human activity and the unbroken sky which over 

 hangs it continually like a visible infinity. On 

 such heights it is the blessed reward of a few elect 

 souls to live ; but the paths thither are open to 

 every traveler. 



