Pakt I. 



A LITTLE TOUR IN THE ALPS. 



93 





\ -Hl^ 



in the simple course and simple possessions of daily life. The 

 other cottage, in the midst of an inconceivable, inexpressible 

 beauty, set on some sloping bank of golden sward, with clear 

 fountains flowing beside it, and wild flowers, and noble trees, 

 and goodly rocks gathered round into a perfection as of Para- 

 dise, is itself a dark and plague-like stain in the midst of the 

 gentle landscape. Within a certain distance of its threshold 

 the ground is foul and cattle- 

 trampled ; its timbers are 

 black with smoke, its garden 

 choked with weeds and name- 

 less refuse, its chambers empty 

 and joyless, the light and wind 

 gleaming and filtering thfough 

 the crannies of their stones. 

 All testifies that, to its inha- 

 bitant, the world is labour 

 and vanity ; that for him 

 neither flowers bloom, nor 

 birds sing, nor fountains glis - 

 ten ; and that his soul hardly 

 differs from the grey cloud 

 that coils and dies upon his 

 hills, except in having no fold 

 .of it touched by the sun- 

 beams." 



An hour brought us to a 

 chilet, where we discussed the 

 advisability of remaining all 

 night, as the rain had begun 

 to come down in torrents ; 

 howevei;, I decided to go on, 

 as I . wished to overtake a 

 friend who, I expected, would 

 be at the head of the valley on that day, and off we again 

 started in the drenching rain. 



The water soon began to trickle across our path in tiny 

 streamlets, hinting the desirability of getting on as quickly 

 as possible, and the crosses still followed us with their doleful 

 associations. Presently, on coming to an immense scarp of wet 



Fig. 62. — An alpine waterfall. 



rusty mountain-side, from which many masses had been detached 



