Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-02-06

On Mountain Heights.


The air was clear, the sky blue, the
snow brilliant. As one breathed a sense
Of freshness, Of purity and of life thrilled
through ones whole being and tingled to
the finger tips.
On the height Of Dent jaime a gun
sounded, a signal enthusiastically echoed
in the villages below. Dent jaime is
rarely attempted. The ascent is most
perilous. The fraying, deceitful rock
crumbles under the climbers feet and
breaks away from his bleeding fingers.
1t has only been scaled four times within
record. But Saxon Harvard had now
done it, succeeding in the first effort that
had been made this season. The eyes Of
those who were early astir were centered
upon the stern and jagged summit where
the hero and his two guides now stood,
visible only, however, to those below
through a powerful glass.
High up in the heavens the early sun
lit the tips of the bare rock. Not ever a
patch of yellow lichen nor spot of moss
could live on the barren crags, but their
feldspar formation impaired to them a
marvellous brilliance, and their detritus
and gravel shimmered and glittered as
though they had been sprinkled with the
dust of diamonds. A sense Of gayety
and pride, the satisfaction that accom-
panies a great success, possessed the
youthful climber. lie looked around at
the infinite wealth of view, at the innu-
merable peaks white with eternal snow,
at the thousand SUBMITS Of Switzerland,
which appeared to arise out Of a sea Of
cloud, flushing in their awakening and
glorifed by the first shafts of morning.
Since Saxon Harvard left school climb
ing had been his sport. He had scaled
the Jungfrau, the Matterhorn, Mont
Blanc and a dozen others of less renown,
but this ascent Of the Dent jaime gave
him a keener pleasure. The feat was a
rarer one, the risk Of life was greater,
and, though the peak was not of great
height, it's ascent was most difficult.
Then he had luck in the weather. He
had never seen the world before under
the influence Of such a glamour.
Below all was yet lost and dim; the
lower world was in mist and drapery of
cloud, but as he looked this planet earth
seemed gradually to become born into
being under his eyes. The clouds melt
ed, Day, moment by moment, stole low
er down the heights. The mountain
peaks, snow clad, appeared to grow up
out Of the gloom and mystery of the
neither world. 'The cathedral" emerged
in silent majesty out Of a disappearing
cloud. Dent Noire doomed like a gaunt
specter in the dawn. The Dent du
Midi, crisp and white, stood out in the
blue. Above him, beyond, afar, the mul.
~titudinous peaks of snow white noun.
tains; Immediately about him the naked
rocks with their marvellous morning
hues and everywhere the scintillation
and glitter Of the feldspar. Every. cloud
now vanished. The visible earth was
green in the valley; the hundred chalets
of the villages, the winding roads, the
somber gorge, the cascades foaming from
the mountain sides and falling by many
a cataract into the yet lingering gloom
in the valley, where the main torrent
pursued its turbulent course, became con
~tinually more and more distinct-a vast
landscape spread beneath his vision.
From Bonaveaux a party was ascend
ing to meet him. He discerned then
ascending like a little stream OF ants
Taking his ak, he Clipped upon a smooth
surface of the summit one name-Eva.
Then he descended.
Some of his relatives then visiting
Switzerland, his father, his sisters, legit
imately proud of his feat, were labor
ously climbing the zigzag mountain pau
above Bonaveaux. With them wert
porters carrying luncheon baskets ant
some people from his h~otel-people whom
he had never seen before and never de
sired to see again. They had organized
a picnic in his honor. He was to b.
lionized.
As modest as he was plucky, nothing
could be more disagreeable to him ina
to be feted. He decided to avol thl
party who had organized u mountain
breakfast in his honor, and, instructlni
his two guides to continue their descent
he struck a path which led him a littl'
way I'M again toward the glacier.
Skipping along as nimbly as a chamois
he ~trayersed a narrow path until he ap
preached the Caverne Verte.
From it's depths reverberated a song
The voice was unmistakable. 1t wa
: Eva's. Rounding the crag which forme'
one Of the sides of the cavern, he saw ne
as she sang. She was alone, as sh'
thought, in the stiffness.
Eva, always beautiful, was yet NOR
lovely when she Then her Who'll
soul was made visible upon her face
Her eyes put on the splendor Of genius
her complexion became transparent, an
her spirit was made luminous upon hel
She looked like a nymph Of the noun
tains in that green and lofty solitude
He was awed by this apparition OF beau
ty. Should he speak or pass!
He listened. The melody ceased, an
he entered the cavern, each to welcom
the other with a juvenile shout of joy.
They talked at once and together in tn
glory of the morning, of the attitudes, 0
all that was high and noble and exalted
of the aspirations Of life, Of its opportuni
ties for duty. She, of his heroism, OF nc
bility, Of bravery and Of the grandeur o
a courageous life; he, Of her beauty, 0
the loneliness of art and Of the sweetnes
of song, Of the uninterrupted heights /
the domain Of thought, of ambitions tina
enter only the dreamland Of youth.
Eva fixed upon him her great, arden
eyes. He was the hero of all her reveries
and she said simply, Everything is poi
sible to a man who has climbed the Den
Jaune."
eyes, Eva" he REPEATED as he took he
hand and held it %throbbing in his ow
SCARED and swollen palm, Everything
but there is a height higher than any
have attempted yet, the highest, the nc
liest altitude of all. We will climb ha
pinnacle together"
"What do you speak of? asked Ev
softly, struck by the seriousness of hl
tone.
"Of love, Eva" he replied. "Of tn
highest altitude. The height Of all
ve."-Illustrated London News.
Thought She Could Do II.
eyes" she said after giving the matte
oaxof,l daliberatinn II helipYa can n