As We Leisurely Jogged Along We Discussed This, And
Endeavored To Arrive At Some Rule Of Conduct For The Journey.
The
Professor expressed at once a feeling about mountain-climbing that
amounted to hostility, - he would go nowhere that he could not ride.
Climbing was the most unsatisfactory use to which a mountain could be
put.
As to White-Top, it was a small mountain, and not worth
ascending. The Friend of Humanity, who believes in mountain-climbing
as a theory, and for other people, and knows the value of being able
to say, without detection, that he has ascended any high mountain
about which he is questioned, - since this question is the first one
asked about an exploration in a new country, - saw that he should have
to use a good deal of diplomacy to get the Professor over any
considerable elevation on the trip. And he had to confess also that
a view from a mountain is never so satisfactory as a view of a
mountain, from a moderate height. The Professor, however, did not
argue the matter on any such reasonable ground, but took his stand on
his right as a man not to ascend a mountain. With this appeal to
first principles, - a position that could not be confuted on account
of its vagueness (although it might probably be demonstrated that in
society man has no such right), there was no way of agreement except
by a compromise. It was accordingly agreed that no mountain under
six thousand feet is worth ascending; that disposed of White-Top.
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