The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-05-27
EDELWEISS.

s'Iwas born in my little shrouds,
All woolly, warm and white;
live in the mist and the cloud,
l live for my own delight
VI see far beneath me crowd
The Alpine roses red,
And the gentian blue, sun-fed
That makes the valley bright.
al bloom for the eagles eye.
bloom for the daring hand;
live unto God. and die
Unto Him and ut His command"
Do you know the Edelweiss, the rare
and beautiful flower of the AlpsP 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
mountains.
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 heavy
growth of fir and spruce forms shaggy
beard below which a green robe of beauti-
full pasture land sweeps down to the val
ley at his feet, where rushing mountain
stream leaps and tumbles like child at
play.
Under the shelter of the groves of fir
and spruce stand 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 valley past
ure their fiocks 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, APP
preaching her and speaking in the gut
tcral but not unpleasant German of the
Tyrol. "What dost thou seekP''
The girl started. ~ cannot think
why Hans is so late tonight, father.n
"Never fear for Hans, my girl. He
is as sure-footed as the channels, and
knows every pass of the mountain blind
fold. 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-echoing from cliff to cliff through
the quiet 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,
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 breeches, which were short
enough to show the bare knee, tanned
and ruddy from exposure. He carried
an alpenstock in his hand, and glossy
cock's-plume nodding at the back of his
pointed 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
ascent.
Explain it to them, comrade,. he
said, in the broken and hesitating &C.
cent of q foreigner.
Thus appealed to. Hans related simply
how he had gone into the town of x. to
sell his lunches of rare flowers, and had
been stopped before the Gasthaus by
group of English tourists. The ladies
had bought his flowers at high price,
and with the Unsuitable curiosity of trav-
elers in foreign parts, as well as to his
embarrassment, had besieged him with
many eager queries as to his home and
manner of life. Finally this young man
had touched him on the shoulder and
said Take me back with you to your
mountain, friend. Let me stay through
The summer in your chalet and you shall
not lose by it.
. l smiled at the good JEST went on
the honest Hans, land told him our fare
was coarse and our shelter comfortless
Tor one of his kind. But he would not
take no, He loves. our mountains he