Autumn Sights and Musings 193 



Alp, now vulgarized by a railroad, you lost 

 the whole Bernese Oberland under a fall 

 of cloud that steamed from the snow-fields 

 in a noon sun ; then, looking up to get the 

 bearings, you knew an instant of frank ter- 

 ror, for, falling out of the sky, a mile over- 

 head, was a mass of rock as big as St. 

 Paul's, only, it did not fall : it was a reve- 

 lation of the top of the Eiger, reeling 

 through a cloud-gap. You heard the roar 

 of an avalanche, turned away, and the 

 Eiger was gone again. 



Mountains with narrow tops, like Camel's 

 Hump, in Vermont, are especially majestic 

 in a winter wind, for the dry snow whirls up 

 the windward face, then pours off into the 

 air in long, straight lines. The banner of 

 the gale is flung abroad, and the farmer, 

 looking up at it, thinks what a rush and 

 whistle it must make and hugs his fire. 

 But stranger still it is to stand under the 

 lee of a mountain of round summit and 

 see a cloud heaped up from the farther 

 side, everywhere moulding itself to the 

 mountain shape, though it is fifty to a hun- 

 dred feet thick. When sunshine strikes 

 13 



