Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-03-22
Gales ano Skettbes.
AyALPINE HONEYMOON.
Continued from Yesterday.

Then he thought of his own ascent OF
the .Gungfrau. and of many another proud
peak. and a he recalled those precipice-
surrounded, heaven-soaring SUBMITS. he
murmured. half aloud:
- al lie lieu trop haut pour dun morrel-''
And vet he. a very mortal. had often stood
upon those terrific eminence-- Leaving
pine woods and green Alps, they got up
On snow slopes, not very steep or difficult.
though soft. and saw above them pile OF
large rocks. Somewhere among his
stone shelter they were to bivouac for the
night. and they reached their perch at 6
or $50.
The guides looked ont for 4 tolerably
level piece Of floor. which was found be-
Meath the shelter OF some giant rock boul-
der.. near which little spring trickled
forth.
Then fire was made. a casserole was
slung above 1t, and the provisions were
unpacked.
Some hay had been brought up from the
barns on the green Alps, in order tn make
"A kind Of bed on the bare. hard rock floor
ing; and guides and porter were soon
busy round the cracking flames. Walter
stood apart. and tried if he could see the
hotel He could not make it out. but Hans
said that when it should grow dark Il @
people ut the JodelhOrn would see their
fire. Walter strained his eyes. and his
heart. after Elsie: who was sitting silent
at the noisy table d hote, and answering,
almost mechanically. some low, gentle,
absent word to the questions or remarks
of her near neiehbors. The Oberkelner
told her-ind she liked him for it-that
when night came she would be able to see
the fire at her husbands bivOuac. Pres
emily the mountaine er's u per was e dy
and Walter turned to it with the old zest.
He had always loved night bivouac in
the mountains, and from their resting
place on the Hochnadelhorn he had a SUI
perbly arctic Alpine view. The merry.
rude meal over. darkness began gently to
descend upon and around them pipes
were lit, and the guides, a usual began
their songs. Walter leaned upon his ell
bow. looked and listened; and, though he
heard all the singing, he drank in the
overpowering wonder and glory of the
place and time.
Would it have been possible to bring
Elsie ny there? He thought thar when he
got back he would try if she could be
brought rs flr a. that site of his romantic
hivouac.
1t was night of hat-moon. aud pre-
srutly the wan argent OF her pure
and lovely light began to pale upon the
wide. white glacier. deep below, Eacn
height and hummock was shining and
blanched, while the shadow of each ifs
sure and crevasse was softly dark H. if
shaded in India ink. The sense of soli-
tude-although four men We're there to-
gether-became intense in that wild. wide
scene. The sOmbre rock masses around
the bivouac gli>tened in the cold light.
Above them rose heights-which they
hoped to scale on the morrow-and which
stretched high to the top of the liochuadel-
horn. Around them was the huge void
at AIR between their perch and the lonV
range of mighty hills which rose crested
with most irregular and picturesque
sky line, far away across glacier, rock and
moraiuc. The stiffness. the sense of i'm
nen>c loneliness. was oppressive. Man
seemed so small i'm lhe >ublimitv of that
stern. auSterc grandeur. which clevatcS.
while il deprcsseS the soul; the place at
which they We're resting for brief, fever
ed night. WAS one that could only be
reached by the hoof of the agile channels.
.
The trance of night fell more and more
deeply upon the desolaton of the cruel.
icy glacier: and the shroud of moonlight.
and OF moonlit darkness. covered up that
wild waste OF nature. All around them
was deathlv. and was silent; silent with
a tingling silence that could almost he
felt
Custom cannot stale the infinite wonder
and trrnDlnt,r ,f slfh =
time. Walter had often before bivouackcd
upon the wild, high mountain side; hut,
never. rs he thought. had he realized 50
fully the wierd terror and majesty OF
such night. spent under a rock. and in
the open air. Strange .ecrie fancie- crowd.
ed upon his mind vet. through all his
thought constantly turned with unwonted
tenderness to Elsie. He gazed lony upon
that vast, rigid glacicr-that glacier riv.
en- and CONCEALED bV winter >cnrched and
melted by summer; which has in every
day and every night Il summer and win
ter. IL the day releases that which the
night binds He felt the full significance
of the sterile ice. on which blade of gra>.
never grew. on which no flower ever
blcomed of that hard white mask. which
/ skylark never warbled Ser: of these ghost.
/ " hollows which never held the echoes Of
/ birds song of gladnesS. In that barren
I ghOstiy eNpanse. Sottencd by the sun
hardened by the frost, he felt that Nature
the manv-sided. the mystic. has her waste.
of terror as we'll "a her wealth of beauty
that she can be auStere as well as lovely
Perhaps because he had no friend with
him. Walter was less gay and talkative
than usual on such occasions. Perhaps
too. the image of the dear Young wife
was so blended with the lofty. awe-lnspir-
ipg majesty of the scene around him, that
Nature penetrated more deeply than she
had ever done before into his conscious.
mes, of beauty and of sublmitv. He was
quiet and very silent. But tor the knowl-
edge of hard work To be done on the COM
ing day. men could not easily tear them
selves from such sights rs those seen from
moonlit mountain bivouac. But guides
want rest, and lierren must seek it with
them. Walter looked his last upon those
| glorious surroundings. knocked ont the
ashes from his pipe, and gave himself
over to the guides to be slowed away on
hav-smoothed rock and wrapped in Il wei
! come plaid.
Hans. before he turned in, looked. a.