'That,' he said, 'is called the hill over above Rupt.'
'Yes, of course,' I said, 'but what is its name?'
'That is its name,' he answered.
And he was quite right, for when I looked at my map, there it was
printed, 'Hill above Rupt'. I thought how wearisome it would be if
this became a common way of doing things, and if one should call the
Thames 'the River of London', and Essex 'the North side', and Kent
'the South side'; but considering that this fantastic method was only
indulged in by one wretched village, I released myself from fear,
relegated such horrors to the colonies, and took the road again.
All this upper corner of the valley is a garden. It is bound in on
every side from the winds, it is closed at the end by the great mass
of the Ballon d'Alsace, its floor is smooth and level, its richness is
used to feed grass and pasturage, and knots of trees grow about it as
though they had been planted to please the eye.
Nothing can take from the sources of rivers their character of
isolation and repose.
