Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-06-08
EDEIWEISS.
Il was born in my little shrouds,
All woolly, warm and white;
l live in the mist aid the cloud,

81 was born in my little shrouds,
| All wOOlly, warm and white;
| l live in the mist aid the cloud,
live for for my own delight.
81 see far beneath me crowd
The Alpine roses red,
And the gentian blue sun-fed,
That makes the valley bright.
81 bloom for the eagles eye,
bloom for the daring hand;
live unto God, and l die
Unto Him ana at His command"
Do you know the Edelweiss, the rare
and beautiful flower of the Alps? Its
home is on the steepest and most mac
cessible cliffs, and the daring mountain
eer who risks his life to procure it calls
it rightly the ''royal white" of the noun
| tains.
In one part of the great chain of the
Tyrolese Alps single peak rises, con,
spicuously above its neighbors-a giant
among its brothers. A snowy hood en-
velops his mighty head, and a heavy
growth of fir and spruce forms shaggy
beard below which green robe of beau
tiful pasture land sweeps down to the
valley at his feet,where a rushing noun
tain stream leaps and tdmbles like a
child at play.
Under the shelter of the groves of fir
and spruce stand a few rudely-built
chalets whose roofs are dotted with great
stones overgrown with moss. Connect
ed with the chalets are sheds and &C
commodations for cattle, for this is
where the shepherds of the valieg past
ure their focks and garner hay and feed
for winter use.
A middle-aged man, in the picturesque
costume of the Alpine peasant is busy
before one of the sheds, and young girl,
also in peasant garb, stands before the
door of the adjoining chalet,and shading
her eyes with her hand gazes intently
down the path leading to the valley.
"Well, Gretel," says the man, approach
ing her, and speaking in the gutteral
but not unpleasant German of the Tyrol.
what dost thou sesk?'
The girl started. 81 cannot think
why Hans is so late tonight, father"
"Never fear for Hans, my girl. He is
as fure-footed as the chamois, and knows
every pass Of the mountain blindfold.
But thou art pale, child. Thy mother
must see roster cheeks when we go down
to the valley or she will never trust thee
to my care again"
He was interrupted by loud, clear
jodel re-echoiDg from cliff to cliff thro'
the quit mountain air. The girl sprang
lightly down the path, the elder man
following at more leisurely gait. At
the first turn she met the delinquent, a
tall and sturdy young peasant, who bent
to kiss her after their custom first on
one cheek and then on the other.
He was handsome fellow, this Hans,
with his loose green jacket and his black
leathern breechss, which are shortenough
to show the bare knee, tanned and ruddy
from exposure. He carried an alpen-
stock in his hand, and CLASSY cocks
plume noddiug at the back of his point
ed hat.
Welcome, Hans" said his sister, but
she started back in surprise when she
saw that he was not alone, but followed
by young man of foreign dress and air,
who paused painting and flushed from
the unusual exertion Of the steep as
cent.
Explain it to them, comrade,' he said,
in the broken and hesitating accent Of a
foreigner.
Thus appealed to, Hans related simply
how he had gone into T. town of X, TO-