The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-04-11
S elect Miseellanp.
A N D r VI:
Or, the Idiot of the .4EpS.
BY W. o. EATON.

Far up among the frozen heights of the
Alps, their homeward pathway lit up by the
declining sun, band OF hunters were making
their perilous descent; now threading, with
practiced step, the precipitous defiles which
would have bewidered and appalled, an unac.
custoined traveller, and now leaping with pre-
else and energetic bounds, enormous gorges
which yearned between the mountain sides
and where one careless step might have sent
them instantly to the deep doom below. Yet
familiar with these passes from boyhood, and
with eyes and limbs as expert as the chamois
which they chased, the hardy peasants made
the echoes merry with their laughter; and ev-
er and anon wound their horns, till the music
was reveberated from thousand peaks, and
piercing to the valleys below, gave pleasing
| signals to their expectant families that they
| were coming
AS thus in single file they proceeded, and
! just they achieved long and steep descent,
shout of surprise from the foremost assembled
his Ct ctmpanions at his side, when they beheld
deeply embedded in huge snow-drift, the
dark figure of richly y-dress stranger-evi-
IDENTITY not a native of those hills.
"He has fallen from some height above u.s."
exclaimed one, "the least of them, not less
than two hundred feet and If he is not life
less, even from the swiftness of such deep
fall, it is miracle"
Cautiously venturing from their path across
the snow, to the place where lay the body, two
of the hunters knelt down, and after brief
examination, pronounced the man still alive
but insensible-the soft snow, upon which he
had providentially fallen, having saved his
body from being dashed to pieces.
'He has dug his own grave, but did not
choose to die in il" said one of the hunters
s'Let us see what little EN- He uie will do
for him p and withdrawing flask fr> m his
breast he applied it to the lips of the stranger,
while others now rubbed his wrists and tenn
plies.
The man soon opened his eyes, and became
strong enough to stand but his glance was a
vacant and unmeaning enc. To all questions
he simply uttered the word, "Andravia," and
pointed, with tremulous finger, to the dread
height from which he had fallen.
''He is either mute, lunatic, or simple
ton," was the conclusion of his preservers.-
"Perchance the fall has unsettled his reason,
and no Eonder. But let us away, or we may
need aid ourselves for the sun is down"
Lifting the stranger along over their irregu-
lar and still dangerous road, they left the spot.
and ere long arrived at the nearest home among
the mountains, where the stranger was provi-
drd with refreshments and couch by the nos
pitaiity of the humble occupants; and the 9TH
ers separated for their respective dwellings.
for such was his name, but whether his infrm-
ity of mind was NATURAL or the result of his
fall, the shock and the fright-certain it was
that but few words could be elected from
him, and those were not coherent. His mind
was wandering and i1cbecle; and as he could
not give any Indication as to where his home
was, or had been, and was now comparatively
helpless, he was suffered to remain among
those mountain homes, to do what he could
learn to do. in return for the affection afforded
him; and he soon became widely known among
the m9untaineers, by the undignifed soubr- |
quet of 'sLe Fou, or, The Idiot"
Yet Andrayi was treated by all with GER
tain respect, growing out of the surnise that
the rich dress in which he had been found in
dicated that he must have been person of
some rank or riches in his own country; and |
then misfortune, when undeserved, always ap- |
peals to the human sympathy. And more /
than all this, Andravi, finally becoming famil-
lar with the mountain paths aad evincing the
possession of remarkable strength, daring and |
agility, after having abided for year in those
lofty fastnesses of snow and ice, learned suffi-
ciently to become professional guide to trav-
elers ; and whenever any journey of that kind.
requiring especial skill and fortitude to be
it was sure to be intrusted to the
hardy frame and practiced indistinct of the in
trepid, though generally mute and otherwise
idiotic Andravi.
His quie g 10 his usefulness in his adopted
calling. and has childiike devotion to those who
had been thus kind to him, made the Idiot of
the Alps universally regarded, and many
prayer went up, from rude but honest hearts,
among those frozen regions, that the All-See-
ng Eye might watch over and protect. ard
,one day restore him to his reason and home
But still for years he dwelt there, and none
Knew who he was and whence lie came. Yet
IS year after year rolled by, men learned 20
ook upon him with a sort of awe, as one espe-
sally guarded by Providence since he under
vent such risks in the most furious Alpine
storms, in the deepest darkness, reckless of the