wer hills; at turns in the path, where it crosses
some rocky declivity, one looks out upon a landscape into which some
new feature enters with every new outlook; one range of hills after
another sinks below the level of vision, and discloses another strip of
undiscovered country beyond; and so one climbs, step by step, into the
glory of a new world. The solitude, the silence, the radiant beauty of
the morning, the expanding sweep of hills and valleys at one's feet,
fill one with eager longing for the unbroken circle of sky at the
summit, and prepare one for the thrill of joy with which the soul
answers the outspread vision.

At last only a few rocks interpose between the summit and the last
resting-place. I wait a moment longer than I need, as one pushes back
for an instant the cup from which he has long desired to drink. I even
shun the noble vistas that open on either side, postponing to the
moment of perfect achievement the partial successes already won. But
the rocks are soon climbed, the summit is reached! The world is at my
feet--the mountain ranges like great billows, and the valleys, deep,
far, and shadowy, between; and overhead the unbroken arch of sky
melting into illimitable space through infinite gradations of blue.
The vision which has haunted me so long with illusive hints of range
and splendour is mine at last, and I have no greeting for it but the
breathless eagerness with which I turn from point to point, as if to
drink all in with one compelling glance. But the landscape does not
yield its infinite variety to the first nor to the second glance; the
agitation of the first outlook gives place to a deep, calm joy; the
eager desire to possess on the instant what has been won by long toil
and patience is followed by a quiet mood which banishes all thought of
self, and waits upon the hour and the scene for the revelation they
will make in their own good time. Slowly the noble landscape reveals
itself to me in its vast range and its marvellous variety. The sombre
groups of mountains to the west become distinct and majestic as I look
into their deep recesses; far off to the north the massive bulk and
impressive outlines of a solitary peak grow upon me until it seems to
dominate the whole country-side. A kingly mountain truly, of whose
"night of pines" our saintly poet has sung; from this distance a vast
and softened shadow against the stainless sky. To the east one sees
the long uplands, with slender