24G 
RURAL HOURS. 
were doubtless crops of seed grass, timothy and clover, and not 
hay for fodder. The glowing August sunshine was just the light 
for such a scene, gilding the hanging wood, and filling the valleys 
with warmth, while a soft haze gave distance and importance to 
every height. 
From the most elevated point crossed hy the road we looked 
over two different valleys, with their several groups of broad hills, 
and many a swelling knoll. Looking down from a commanding 
position upon a mountainous country, or looking upward at the 
same objects, leave very different impressions on the mind. From 
below we see a group of moimtains as pictures in one aspect only, 
but looking abroad over their massive forms from an adjoining 
height, we comprehend them much more justly ; we feel more 
readily how much they add to the grandeur of the earth we live 
on, how much they increase her extent, how greatly they vary her 
character, climates, and productions. Perhaps the noble calm of 
these mountain piles will be more impressive from below; but 
when we behold them from a higher point, blended with this ma- 
jestic quiet, traces of past action and movement are observ'ed, and 
what we now behold seems the repose of power and strength after 
a great conflict. The most lifeless and sterile moimtain on earth, 
with the unbroken sleep of ages brooding over its solitudes, still 
bears on its silent head the emotion of a mighty passion. It is 
upon the brow of man that are stamped the lines worn by the 
care and sorrow of a lifetime ; and we behold upon the ancient 
mountains, with a feeling of awe, the record of earth’s stoimy 
history. There are scars and furrows upon the giant Alps unsoft- 
ened by the beaming sunlight of five thousand summers, over 
which the heavens have wept in vain for ages, which are unefiFa- 
