AT VIGO DI FASSA : DOLOMIT^N STRASSE 



Most of the inhabitants in summer are busy with the seed-time and harvest, women, 

 both old and young, working with the men in the fields, often miles away from the village. 

 All the day long it is practically a deserted village ; a few attendants at the poor, plain inn, 

 a priest, and a score of merry children, too tiny to labor, are all its population from dawn 

 until dusk. 



in its flowery forest, that one feels him- 

 self in some great, high- vaulted cathedral, 

 before some lofty shrine, and fears to 

 break the stillness by a word. 



On we go and upward, coming into the 

 shadow of Monte Cristallo. "Jorg, have 

 you ever climbed that?" I ask, nodding 

 toward the jagged summit, 10,495 ^^^t in 

 the air." "Ja wohl, gracious lady, and 

 many others ; but not now ; I must work 

 now." "Is it vcr\ difficult?" re^ardins: 

 Its rocky steepness from a comfortable 

 cushion. "Oh no, gracious lady ; not at 

 all; it's just walking." Oh ye Hoch- 

 touristen all ! Lower )^our haughty heads ; 

 no more do ye triumph over me ! There 

 is no merit, no glory in 3^our achieve- 

 ment : it is "just walking !" And Jorg just 

 walks all the long day and every day, and 

 as he walks, reins in hand, he talks, 

 laughs, sings ; occasionally makes a wild 



leap to some high rock for a flower that 

 he brings to my ever-greedy hands. The 

 horses get hot and breathless ; a gradient 

 of 28 per cent or 32 per cent is hard upon 

 them, Jorg admits, and they must be 

 rested ; but he is busiest then, rubbing 

 and brushing, feeding and watering, and 

 has no rest at all, all the long summer 

 day. 



01^ SUCH STUFF ARF MOUNTAIN SOLDIFRS 

 MAD 15 



It is from men like this that the Kaiser- 

 jager are recruited. Jorg had already 

 served his term of enlistment. The offi- 

 cers may be older men, but the rank and 

 file are young — very young — and Jorg's 

 "dienst" was over before he was 22. Un- 

 doubtedly he has gone back now to serv- 

 ice with the reserves, he and many an- 

 other sturdy, grave-eyed young fellow 



340 



