d away to their rest
long before the seed which they planted grew up and ripened to
perfection. Work on then in patience and hope, and be assured that God
will at length help you."

Mr. Milsom's address was followed by another from the pastor, and then
by a final prayer and hymn, after which the service was concluded, and
the villagers dispersed to their respective homes a little after ten
o'clock. The snow had ceased falling, but the sky was still overcast,
and the night felt cold and raw, like February rather than July.

The wonder is, that this community of Dormilhouse should cling to
their mountain eyrie so long after the necessity for their living
above the clouds has ceased; but it is their home, and they have come
to love it, and are satisfied to live and die there. Rather than live
elsewhere, they will walk, as some of them do, twelve miles in the
early morning, to their work down in the valley of the Durance, and
twelve miles home again, in the evenings, to their perch on the rocks
at Dormilhouse.

They are even proud of their mountain home, and would not change it
for the most smiling vineyard of the plains. They are like a little
mountain clan--all Baridons, or Michels, or Orcieres, or Bertholons,
or Arnouds--proud of their descent from the ancient Vaudois. It is
their boast that a Roman Catholic does not live among them. Once, when
a young shepherd came up from the valley to pasture his flock in the
mountains, he fell in love with a maiden of the village, and proposed
to marry her. "Yes," was the answer, with this condition, that he
joined the Vaudois Church. And he assented, married the girl, and
settled for life at Dormilhouse.[105]

[Footnote 105: Since the date of our visit, we learn that a
sad accident--strikingly illustrative of the perils of
village life at Dormilhouse--has befallen this young
shepherd, by name Jean Joseph Lagier. One day in October,
1869, while engaged in gathering wood near the brink of the
precipice overhanging Minsals, he accidently fell over and
was killed on the spot, leaving behind him a widow and a
large family. He was a person of such excellent character and
conduct, that he had been selected as colporteur for the
neighbourhood.]

* * * * *

The next morning broke clear and bright overhead. The sun shone along
the rugged face of the Gramusac right o