ving that very morning, and by
so doing found Bad Scharst not only endurable, but really, in a very
rough and ready way, enjoyable. The remembrance of the wild,
riotous night even became enveloped with a certain interest when we
recollected that this grim attempt at pleasure was in sober reality
one of those Tyrolese peasant balls which are represented in such fair
and attractive colors on the stage, in pictures or in novels. It was
well to be undeceived, and to see the deep shadows as well as the
bright side of Tyrolese life.

And what matter if for one night we had lost our sleep, whilst we
breathed exhilarating ozone and drank water which, to quote Joergel,
was truly an elixir of life? For all our temporary and trifling
inconveniences we found rich compensation when after an easy ascent
of two hours we reached the topmost platform of the mountain, the
Kronplatz. To the north, reaching from east to west, a long, unbroken
chain of glaciers, from the Furtschlaeg to the Gross Venediger Spitze
with its untrodden snows. Below us, at some four thousand feet, the
broad, rich Pusterthal, with its comfortable villages and its pastoral
tributary valleys. To the south, the stern limestone peaks of the
dolomite region; the Vedretta Marmolata, with its breastplate of ice,
king of these barbaric giants, the splintered pinnacles of the Drei
Zinnen, the pyramidal Antalao, and many another jagged, appalling
mountain, stern as the bewildering doctrines of election and
reprobation, whilst the pure glistening snow, green meadows and
pleasant woods opposite seemed to breathe forth the gentle, winning
truths of the glad tidings of peace.

It was delicious to lie on the short turf in an ethereal region with a
perception of the burden and heat of the day in the valley below; yet
the fresh breeze of the mountain drove us with a sense of hunger back
to the baths.

Having spoken of the scenery, let us now speak of the guests.
There were not many. Frau T----, ourselves and a young woman, a
sewing-machinist, occupied the available chambers of the chalet.
The rest were used as receptacles for hay and milk: the ground floor
contained the _stube_, the kitchen, the pigstye, or rather the room
set apart for the pig, and the cow-house. Several poor guests, men and
woman, hovered about the door of the barn. They slept in the various
lofts, divided into rooms, and cooked for themselves in a common
kitchen adjoining the bath-rooms. These were two long