VVc respect hills, mountains, forests, waterfalls, and the 

 ocean. There is not only an inspiration in these, the 

 grandest works of nature, but there is a religion in thenti 

 also. The dweller among mountains, the wanderer in 

 the forest, or upon the shore of the ocean, is a continual 

 worshiper. God has made him so. Nature is not the 

 same everywhere, and what nature is, man, to a great 

 extent, is also. Indeed, without seeking for the reason 

 or principle of the law, we expect the mountaineer to 

 be vigorous in body, and strong, though perhaps uncul- 

 tivated, in intellect. 



We associate physical indolence with great fertility 

 of soil, and positive inability to labor with uninterrupted 

 salubrity of climate. Switzerland is a small country, 

 but her mountains are indicative of the greatness of her 

 people, who, for ten centuries, by their comparative 

 social purity and political freedom, have attracted the 

 attention of the world far more than the populous states 

 and principalities of Germany. Germany has, to be 

 sure, a high rank tor learning, but it is associated with 

 a sluggish civilization, which might, under adverse cir- 

 cumstances, be easily exchanged for an efleminate 

 barbarism. And the millions of the great Russian 

 plains, if unsupported by mental or physical force from 

 without, will too readily accept the conqueror's yoke, 

 while the Swiss on the one hand and the Caucasian 

 races on the other, would resist to the last extremity. 

 x\ race of mountaineers may remain isolated for centu- 

 ries without loss of spirit or character, though the 

 graces of civilization might be totally effaced. But 

 this cannot with truth be said of the inhabitants of flat 

 countries. And we may, perchance, get a glimpse of 

 the philosophy of this fact. Mountains are not usually 



