Crossing The Alps

LaCSAXNE, SvriTZKRLAND, ) Oct. 27 th, 1ÍSG3. 5 Ho ! for tho mouutains. Why continually dweil amid this lower atmosphere, when tho purer breath of heaven is williug to fan your cheek ! Why tasto forever the air of the world and minglo aruid littlo things, when power is giveu you to stand above men, iu places where " littleness is not ; " whcre " the least of things seems Infiiuite!" Wc entered Chamouni by the valley of the Arvo ; we left it by a path over tho mouLtains. To go from Chamouni to Martigny, thirty miles distant, is uot the samo thing as going the thirty miles betweeu Ann Arbor and Detroit. In the latter case you juinp aboard tho cars and in an hour you are there. But here no cars are ready to transport you ; no stage, no oárrisgé, not even a horsc awaits you, but you must ontrust yourself to tho tender merciea of a mulé I Our party wcre astir bright and carly the morning we left, Tho mules and the guïdea stood awaitiog our appoarancebeforo the hotel. Breakfsst over and bilis paid, our party of nitie aallied fortb.- Tho ladies, ainid much merrimunt, aïe assisted to mouut, the luggage is affixed behjnd tho rider, the men spring int? tho saddle, the guides cry out out " whec I" to tho mules, and the sleepy lookiug animáis prick up their ears, and start, off leisurely, guglc fil(?) eaeb one couteuted to follow the one before. What does a umie know about emulation ! I verily bolieve tho spirit of anibitiou ever enters bis heart ! I endeavored to infuse au enthusiastic feeling into the " long ears " whieh carried me, I " wheed to hini terrifically, I whirled my ban nicnaeingly above his head, I jerkcd th bridle, and codeavored to make him fee my boot hcels - but all in vain ! Th only impression whieh I could seo in th teasing aine, was au insulting twiteh o; his great, long ears. Bruto that he was, lic insisted upon keeping his place at tlie very rear of tho cavalcade, nothwithstanding a cruel Wisconsin girl upon the mule just before toe, waslaughing honrtil.T at my futi'e exertions, and was putting on an exeeedingly " you can't come it ', air, when I eudeavored to pass her. Cüuld anything be more provoking ? How I lamented my fato and Tailed at ths unconcerned buudlo of obstiuaoy boneath me ! Once, however, during the day, after long and useless efforts, I suddenly found my lessons taking effect upon his dignity. It was after we had halted an hour for dinner, and he had iu the mean time disposed of a fu!l share o: provender. We had once more startec - I q tha rear. A littlo switch, which a guide had given me, I was using to enforce my feelings of emulation upon the animal, when suddenly he seemed to catch my spint, started off upon a borrid trot, sent me bobbing up and dowu, at a furious rate, passed the girl before me, left behiud a Milwaukee bauker, paid no respect to the President of Madison University, but bore me triumphantly to the head of the column ! Wbat a victory was that! All honor to Jack now. I patted him on tho head, I endeavored to express to him my ihanks in words, 1 called him my noble fellow, my floet courser, my Ion chval, and I straightway feit more respect for his fleet qualities. Our path lay along tho valley of Chamouni for an hour. Tho Arce thundering aloug the valloy, reeeiving the torrents from the mouutains, and dancing gaily on o'er rocks and falls, " Till mingling ivitli the mighty Rhone'; It rests beneath Geneva's walis," was long our couipaoion. The Glacier de Bois, the ico pinoacled sun resisting out-let of the Mer de Glaco, bold'y veuturing away dowu the mountain side, and reaching into the valley itsclf, as if to taste of the vegetation and the warm air of a lower sphere, was passed ; the Glacicr Argentionegracefully lymg.botweon mountains, wa.s seen ; tho path leading to the Col de Balm was left boliind, and we corcnienced to ascend abrupfly the stoep ascent. Aud now we t;ike our last view of the vale of Qha mouni. Oureyes hasicn Irom ono little villago to another ; the fertilo fielde, the cots of llie husbandmen, tho mountain Btreams, tho Arve, all pass before us.- , Now we are gaziug upon the three glaoiers, uow upou tho pines which cover the mountain sido, and uow upon tho rocks and precipices of tho JJrevent Range. Acd lastly aud lougest our ejes rest upon the cold, whito summit of M ont Blanc, monument of the power of Jehováh, and orator upon the nothingness of man 1 VVhat a man of the mountains ia he 1 His locks are whitened with the anows of 4000 winters, and yct he is as strong to-day as ever. The tempesta and the wiods for ages have liowled about him, and yet bis ivrmklcs do uot increase. Farewell to Chamouni- farewoll to the glaciers- farowell to Mout Blanc !- Long m ay they gladden the heart of man and toach him lessons on the greatness of God 1 Aud now up, up we go. Presently we enter a wild, uarrow valley, where the mountains frown threateningly above us. Now we pass a villago, wondoring what can induce men to live herc. Now the valley grows narrower and beoomes a mere gorgo ; wo pass tho arch which marke the frontier of Savoy, and we i tor Switacrland onco more. Now thc road which had been liugging the clifí1, as i if fcaring the aü;ep ravine upon the left, i i'uns through a tunnel out from the liv ing rock, and alinost over the precipice whieh yawns beneath "a rocky hammock swung in air." Now we enter the dark foresta of the Triend, and we hear the musie of its waters as it hastens towarda thu llhone ; uow the Tete Noir is passed, wo toil slowly up the Forclaz, by a zig-zag patb, wc feel the breath of a colder atmosphero, and wc muffle our coats tighter about us, as wo approaeh the end. At length the summit of the pass has been reaclied, and wo turn our faces downwards. Down, down wo go, winding here and winding there, passing the rudo chalet of the mountaineer, and leaving behind ever and anon the fertile pasture and cultivated ficlds. ïhat uight the hotel at Martigny received as woai-y n company of voyageura as often cross the mountains. Wo had climbed tho pass of the Tete Noir, we had breathed the cool air, 8000 feet above the sea, we had passed from Savoy tu Switzerland, from the Arve to the Rhone, and now we bade the world good night at the old Koman town of tiguy.