Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1860-05-10
Snterestine Storp.
A " ID IL A v Il;
OR THE
I lot OF THE ALPS
by W. o. EATON.


Far up among the frozen heights O
the Alps, their homeward pathway, lii
up by the declining sun, band ofhunter.
were making their perlous descent; now
threading, with practised step, the pre-
cipitous defiles, which would have bewil
dered and appalled, an unaccustomed
traveller, and now leaping with precise 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 ex-
pert as the chamois which they chased
with hardy peasants made the echoes mer
ry with their laughter; and ever and amor
wound their horns, till the music was re-
verberated from thousand peaks, and
piercing to the valley below, gave pleas
ing signal to their expectant families that
they were coming.
AS thus in single file they proceeded
and just as they achieved long and
steep descent, shout of surprise from
the foremost assembled his companions
at his side, when they beheld, deeply EN-
bedded in huge snow drift, the dark fig
ure of richly dressed evident
ly not 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 it is not lifeless, even from the swift
ness of such deep fall, it is a 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 it," said one of the
hunters.
"Let us see what little eau de vie will
do for HIM" and Withdrawing flask
from his breast, he applied it to the lips
OF the stranger, while others now rubbed
his wrists and temples.
The man soon opened his eyes, and be-
came strong enough to stand but his
glance was vacant and unmeaning one.
10 all questions he simply muttered the
word "Andravi," and pointed, with trem-
ulous finger, to the dread height from
which he had fallen.
"He is either mute, lunatic or simple
ton," was the conclusion of his preserv-
ers. "Perchance the fall has unsettled
his reason, and no wonder. But let us
away, or we may need aid ourselves for
the sun is down.
Lifting the stranger along over their ir-
regular and still dangerous road, they
left the spot, and ere long arrived at the
nearest home among the mountains,
where the stranger was provided with re-
freshments on couch by the hospitality
Of the humble occupants; and the others
separated for their respective dwellings.
Sleep and kind care soon restored An
draw, for such was his name, but wheth-
er his infirmity 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 imbecile; and as he could
not give any indication as to where his
home was, or had been, and was now COM
paratively helpless, he was suffered to re-
main 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 noun
taineers by the undignifed soubriquet of
ale Fon, or, The Idiot"
Yet Andravi was treated by all with a
certain respect growing out of the surmise
that the rich dress in which he had been
found indicated that he must have been a
person OF some rank or riches in his own
country; and then misfortune, when unde-
served, always appeals to the human SYM
pathy. And more than all this, Andra-
vi finally becoming familiar with the
mountain paths and evincing the posses
sion of remarkable strength, daring and
agility, after having abided for year in
those lofty Businesses of snow and ice
learned sufficiently to become a profess
sional guide to travellers; and whenever
any journey of that kind, requiring es-
pecial skill and fortitude was to be under
taken, it was sure to be intrusted to the
hardy frame and practice distinct of the
interpie, though generally mute and 9TH
erwise idiotic Andravi.
His luietude, his usefulness in his
adopted calling, and his childlike devo-
tion to those who had been thus kind to
him, made the Idiot of the Alps univer-
sally regarded, and many prayer went
up, from rude but honest hearts, among
those frozen regions, that the All-Seeing
Eye might watch over and protect, and
some day restore him to his reason and
home.