THE VALLEY OF ETERNAL SLEEP 



around us, intensifying the gloom and desolation ; 

 only on the summit of that lofty peak a ray from 

 the setting sun lingered and changed its snowy 

 mantle into pink. We stood and watched the 

 shadow creep up and up the snow, as the sun sank, 

 creeping upwards, slowly but surely, until at last 

 the sunlight had gone, and the whole was shadow. 



It was like the last ray of hope slipping out of 

 one's life that sunbeam on the mountain top, slip- 

 ping gradually away, and leaving only the grey, 

 hard barrenness, the stern reality of life ! 



We turned and walked homeward through the 

 gloaming. 



"The moon is up, and yet it is not night." 



The western sky was still golden, though the 

 stars twinkled in the pale blue vault overhead. 

 Over mountain and valley alike lay the calm of the 

 evening hour, when day and night merge into 

 one. 



And as we came in sight of our little hut, with its 

 lighted windows gleaming bright and ruddy through 

 the gloom, we looked back and saw the mountain, 

 that had been so grey and cheerless, once more 

 flooded with rosy light, blushing in the last faint 

 pink of the after-glow, against the starry sky. 



And so we left the lonely valley. 



"It may be desolate and deserted now," said the 



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