It
rolled and eddied, boiling beneath us. Through its mysterious pall we
saw now a skeleton pine stretch out its dark pointing hand - now a
rock, shapeless and uncouth, far below, like a behemoth petrified in
mid ocean. Then an eddy would sweep a space for the sun to pour a
flood of gold on this field far down at our feet, on that village, on
this mountain side with its rosy vapor-wreaths, upon yon distant lake,
making it a crater of blinding brightness. On we went wrapped in
mantles, mist, and mystery, trembling with chilliness and enthusiasm.
We reached the summit just as the sunset-gazing crowd were dispersing.
And this is Righi Kulm!
Wednesday, 27. At half past three in the morning we were aroused by
the Alpine horn. We sprang up, groping and dressing in the dark, and
went out in the frosty air. Ascending the ridge we looked off upon a
sleeping world. Mists lay beneath like waves, clouds, like a sea. On
one side the Oberland Alps stretched along the horizon their pale,
blue-white peaks. Other mountains, indistinct in color and outline,
chained round the whole horizon. Yes, "the sleeping rocks did dream"
all over the wide expanse, as they slumbered on their cloudy pillow,
and their dream was of the coming dawn. Twelve lakes, leaden pale or
steel blue, dreamed also under canopies of cloud, and the solid land
dreamed, and all her wilds and forests. And in the silence of the
dream already the tinge of clairvoyance lit the gray east; a dim,
diffuse aurora, while yet the long, low clouds hung lustreless above;
nor could the eye prophesy where should open the door in heaven. At
length, a flush, as of shame or joy, presaged the pathway. Tongues of
many-colored light vibrated beneath the strata of clouds, now dappled,
mottled, streaked with fire; those on either hand of a light, flaky,
salmon tint, those in the path and portal of the dawn of a gorgeous
blending and blazoning of golden glories. The mists all abroad stirred
uneasily. Tufts of feathery down came up out of the mass. Soft,
floating films lifted from the surface and streamed away dissolving.
Strange hues came out on lake and shore, far, far below. The air, the
very air became conscious of a coming change, and the pale tops of
distant Alps sparkled like diamonds. It was night in the valleys. And
we heard the cocks crowing below, and the uneasy stir of a world
preparing to awake. So Isaiah foresaw a slumbering world, while
Messiah's coming glanced upon the heights of Zion, and cried, -
"Behold, darkness shall cover the earth
And gross darkness the people;
But the Lord shall rise upon THEE,
And his glory shall be seen upon thee!"
Hushed the immense crowd of spectators waited; then he came. On the
gray edge of the horizon, under the emblazoned strata, came a sudden
coal of fire, as shot from the altar of Heaven. It dazzled, it
wavered, it consumed. Its lambent lines lengthened sidelong. At
length, not a coal, but a shield, as the shield of Jehovah, stood
above the east, and it was day. The vapor sea heaved, and broke, and
rolled up the mountain sides. The lakes flashed back the conquering
splendor. The wide panorama, asleep no more, was astir with teeming
life.
Tuesday, July 28. One of the greatest curiosities in Lucerne is the
monument to those brave Swiss guards who were slain for their unshaken
fidelity to the unhappy Louis XVI. In a sequestered spot the rocky
hill side is cut away, and in the living strata is sculptured the
colossal figure of a dying lion. A spear is broken off in his side,
but in his last struggle he still defends a shield, marked with the
_fleur de lis_ of France. Below are inscribed in red letters, as
if charactered in blood, the names of the brave officers of that
devoted band. From many a crevice in the rock drip down trickling
springs, forming a pellucid basin below, whose dark, glossy surface,
encircled with trees and shrubs, reflects the image. The design of the
monument is by Thorwaldsen, and the whole effect of it has an
inexpressible pathos.
[Illustration: _of the memorial. Above the grotto reads:_
HELVETIORUM FIDEI AC VIRTUTI
_On the monument's plinth can be read the following:_
DIE X AUGUSTI II ET III SEPTEMBRIS MDCCXCII
HAEC SUNT NOMINA EORUM OUTNE SACRA
(illegible) (illegible)
DUES XXVI DUCES
]
Rode in our private _voiture_ to Basle, and rested our weary
limbs at the Three Kings.
Friday, 29. Visited the celebrities of Basle, and took the cars for
Strasbourg, where we arrived in time to visit the minster.
Saturday, 30. Left Strasbourg by the Rhine morning boat; a long, low,
slender affair. The scenery exceedingly tame, like portions of the
Lower Mississippi. Disembarked at Manheim, and drove over to
Heidelberg, through a continual garden. French is useless here. All
our negotiations are in German, with W., S., and G. as a committee on
gutturals.
LETTER XXXIX.
STRASBOURG.
MY DEAR: -
We arrived here this evening. I left the cars with my head full of the
cathedral. The first thing I saw, on lifting my eyes, was a brown
spire. Said I, -
"C., do you think that can be the cathedral spire?"
"Yes, that must be it."
"I am afraid it is," said I, doubtfully, as I felt, within, that
dissolving of airy visions which I have generally found the first
sensation on visiting any celebrated object.
The thing looked entirely too low and too broad for what I had heard
of its marvellous grace and lightness; nay, some mischievous elf even
whispered the word "dumpy" hi my ear. But being informed, in time,
that this was the spire, I resisted the temptation, and determined to
make the best of it.
