532 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



still, and the mysterious silence that reigns is never 

 broken, save by the war of elements or the rum- 

 bling of avalanches. I love to gaze upon those 

 icy solitudes, the sanctuaries of Nature, and ponder 

 on the future. 



There is something invigorating in the pure 

 bracing air of the higher altitudes that appears to 

 revive the spirits after a lengthened sojourn amongst 

 the dwellers of cities, and the change has a bene- 

 ficial effect on the body as well as upon the mind. 

 Here one appears to inhale health at every respira- 

 tion; the appetite improves, digestion becomes 

 easy, physical force and elasticity of limb ^increases, 

 and fatted degeneration changes to firm muscle, 

 whilst a sense of exultation thrills through the 

 whole frame, melancholy gives place to cheerful- 

 ness, and the mind feels relieved from all depres- 

 sing influence of care and anxiety for the future. 

 A life amid civilised society may seem to run 

 smoothly, but " there is a skeleton in every house," 

 and beneath are ever hidden strange things that 

 occasion heart-aches, although they may never rise 

 to the surface. The wildness of a comparatively 



