ASCENT OF MONT BLANC. 



rr^HE ascent of Mont Blanc is an achievement which 

 -*- constitutes an epoch in a human life. It is one of 

 the most glorious and memorable experiences which it 

 is possible to gain. The conditions of this consummation 

 are fatigue and danger; but these are also the condi- 

 tions of that inspiration which scorns obstacles and is 

 blind to everything but its object. 



I cannot assert that, to all who make the ascent, a 

 love of nature's sublimities is the source of this inspi- 

 ration. Some scale the glaciers and the snows of the 

 mountain because it has become somewhat of a fashion; 

 and to follow the fashion there is no extreme of discom- 

 fort or fatigue they will not endure. Some make the 

 journey because, wearied with the common-places of 

 travel, there is no other place to go, Mont Blanc is 

 their refuge from ennui. Such persons climb over eter- 

 nal snows, to the voiceless solitudes of mountain sum- 

 mits, in the spirit of the teamster, who undertakes to 

 haul you a hundred perch of quarry-stone. It is a job 

 which must be accomplished, that is all. 



For us, the inspiration which we feel proceeds from 

 a kindled imagination, inflamed by the pleasing but ter- 

 rible majesty of the forms of Nature which surround 

 us, and which seem scarcely to veil the personal maj- 

 esty of the Supreme Creator himself. It is not so much 

 in the view from the summit of the mountain; for this 



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