ON PLAIN AND PEAK 



breeches, and heavy iron-shod boots. The third 

 keeper was smaller, and there was a merry twinkle 

 in his bright eye that made it impossible to look 

 into his jolly face without smiling. 



In summer the men leave their knees bare ; but 

 in winter, though they still have the short breeches, 

 they wear warm under-garments that cover the 

 knee. 



The cold is intense in the winter, and the dwel- 

 lers in huts high up the mountains are frequently 

 snowed up for months together. Even should a 

 death occur, it is impossible to take the corpse down 

 to the valley for burial till the spring. There is a 

 somewhat gruesome story told in this connection, 

 which has too its comic side. 



In a lonely hut far up the mountain side there 

 once lived a father with his sons. At the beginning 

 of a severe winter the old man died. When the 

 warmer weather came, the sons carried the frozen 

 corpse down to the valley. 



" But," said the priest, "what are all these holes 

 in your father ? " 



" Well ! you see poor old father died," replied one 

 of the sons, " and we put him up in the roof and he 

 got frozen. So we used to take him out on moon- 

 light nights as a bait, and shoot foxes ! " 



The poor old man was riddled with small shot ! 



" Breakfast at half-past six to-morrow," said our 



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