Reminiscent and Personal 31 



flew from a port in the gable as we en- 

 tered. Inside it was drearier than without. 

 Near a rusted stove was a table with drugs 

 upon it, and a few rickety chairs. To right 

 and left were narrow rooms with beds, the 

 mattresses tumbled, straw bursting from 

 their seams, cups and bottles on the floor, 

 cobwebs in the door-way : a strange place. 

 Why, in its abandoned state, had it not 

 been stripped of its furniture ? It came to 

 us pleasantly that this was a pest-house. 

 It was. That night my relative, in a con- 

 siderable fright, informed me that he was 

 beginning to have small-pox, and he was 

 vaccinated next day, but I was not, and 

 no harm came to either of us from the 

 visit. Youth would be tame if it did not 

 take risks. 



There is a symbolism in the ascent of 

 mountains that makes it an alluring per- 

 formance for civilized mankind. It typifies 

 our ambitions and aspirations ; to gain the 

 top is a reward of endeavor, and the longer 

 and harder the struggle the better the 

 view ; the climb is an assertion of man's 

 intended rule over the world, or a declara- 



