CHAPTER XXX 



A MOUNTAIN PARADISE 



AND now we must leave this Alpine oasis. Fare- 

 well, ye flowers ! 



The trees keep us company for quite a long 

 time they all seem anxious to come with us, from 

 the tenderest sapling to the thousand-year-old 

 patriarchs. 



They are still unacquainted with man and his 

 little ways they do not yet look upon him as Fate 

 a cruel Fate that pulls them up by the roots or 

 fells them at a stroke. So far they have only had 

 to wrestle with time, snow, and gales. Many a one 

 lies on the ground covered with leaves and trailing 

 plants. New generations rise up in their place, and 

 everywhere they stand, side by side, in various 

 degrees either of development or decay : childhood, 

 youth, prime, infirmity, old age. But the Song of 

 Eternity resounds through all their branches, and 

 with silent salutations old and young take leave 

 of us. 



The scenery now begins to change with kaleido- 



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