Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1882-08-10

ural, nc WhUcueu UTStcl mUFiuS Will
light step about her little kingdom, lend
inc to each OF her household duties an
unconscious dignity. The clouds that
often Law beneath them, hiding the val
lev from sight, seemed-and he felt it
almost with alarm-to be blotting out
his old life with its achievements and
interests, till they grew faint as half
remembered dream. He thought ofthis
mountain life as of a picture done with
simple, mastery strokes and rich, pure
coloring, and of his own, in comparison,
as piece of delicate genre painting, ex-
ecuted with feverish and morbid atten-
ton to detail and finish. And he strove
to attain to the strength and serenity of
those who had lived habitually on tho
heights.
Yet Gretel was human and compan-
ionable too. One day-a month must
have passed since his arrival-she said
to him with gentle solicitude, II fear
YOU willnot have many sketches to show
when you return to your country, my
friend. This is fine, clear day. Let
me fetch your pencils and paper andyou
can get rare outline of old Dreizacken
opposite"
s.But, Gretel, what a beautiful day to
gather flowers, and you need the air. Let
us climb to the point where the Edel-
weiss grows"
So her mild reproof was as usual una
vailing. fT
"You see am gathering inspiration,
though my pencil and brush are idle"
he explained to her as they swung them
selves mp to q bold promentory where
rec and pink rhododendrons blossomed
in brilliant profusion. Gretel, always
fieeter and surer than her companion,
climbed rapidly to . still higher ledge
and brought back in triumph a beautiful
specimen Of the pure and starlike Edel-
weiss with its strange woolly covering.
Her face was flushed with exertion. Or
dinarily it was so pale and transparent
that he had sometimes compared her to
the Edelweiss, though he had never told
her so. Sometimes also, though not
habitually, he had seen q sunrise in the
Alps and his artist soul had thrilled, as
even an inartistic soul must, at sight Of
that marvellous rose tint which touches
and glorifies the cold, snowy peaks until
they seem to glow with life. OF such a
sunrise he thought now rs he looked at
the flush on Greters cheek. He was
right. His artistic sense was by no
means lying as dormant as she had fam
cied.
What beautiful world this is up
herer' she said.
'.If only it might remain SO! But soon
the winter viii come and this happy sum-
mer be over, and there will be change
and parting, Gretel." & saGi'
''Yes,n she said quietly.
The air, the place, the girl and the
flowers wrought sudden mood in him,
a mood both daring and impractical. -
.Is she formed of the white Of the glaci-
ersp'' he thought; 'can nothing thaw
her frigid heart?" Then aloud, "But
need there be parting, Gretel? When
the cruel winter reigns here its ice
and snow, there is another land Mh,re
a happy home and a bright hearth, and
love and good cheer await our COM
ing" III
All, the sunrise glow was in her face
again! He saw it and triumphed.
Then she turned her full gaze upon
him without trace of self-consciousness
or dissimulation in it.
Look at this Edelweiss, the child of
the mountains placed here by God to
bloom for Him. Do you not know how,
when the coyetous tourist has torn 1t
FROM its native soil and transplanted it
to his own, in spite of all the care and
tenderness bestowed upon it, it droops
and. dies in the uncongenial.soilp Shall
we be deaf to the lesson it teaches Ms,
my friend? No, I must live and die here
In my mountains. 1t would wrong us
both to do otherwise. Let us 60 down.
for I hear already the tinkle of the cow
bells.''
..Neighbor Bachmann has moved to-
day to the chalet on the Dreizacken,"
said Reinhold that evening. ..It is most
unwise. Why, Herr Georgp Because it
lies in an unprotected spot, and an ava
lanche might atany momentsweep down
upon it. It has not happened for many
years, but the snow is treacherous under
this warm sun, and I would not trust
my life there.'
The next morning the artist sat ON the
bench before the chalet sketching more
busily than he had done before since his
arrival. .5a 8
Gretel came out with small basket
on her arm. II am going to carry some
curds to Frau Bachmann and will return
by noon, she said.
He followed her with his eyes till she
disappeared over the meadow. An hour
must have passed and still lie sat mus
ing. The morning was still calm and
clear and only the distant tinkling OF the
cow-bells fell upon his ear. Suddenly,
he was startled by q dull rnmbling. It
could not be thunder, for the sky above
him was cloudless. IT grew louder and
clearer. Crest G0dr' be cried aloud.
"the avalanche! And, 2 as old Reinhold's d
warning flashed upon him with horrible