Chapter XII 



BESIDE THE RIVER 



,L day long the river 

 has moved through my 

 thought as it rolls through 

 the landscape spread out 

 at my feet. There it 

 lies, winding for many a mile within the 

 boundaries of this noble outlook ; by day 

 flecked with sails approaching and reced- 

 ing, and at night shining under the 

 full moon like a girdle of silver, clasping 

 mountains and broad meadow lands in a 

 varied but harmonious landscape. From 

 the point at which I look out upon its long 

 course, the stream has a setting worthy of 

 its volume and its history. In the distant 

 background a mountain range, of noble 

 altitude and outline, has to-day an ethereal 

 strength and splendour; a slight haze has 

 obliterated all details, and left the great 

 hills soft and dreamlike in the September 

 sunshine ; at first sight one waits to see 

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