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Page 23
At length sleep overpowered me, and when I awoke the sun was shining.
Stepping into the outer room I was met by Franz, looking as fresh as
though sleep had not been denied him. Leading me to the bedside, he
spoke a few words to his father, while the trembling hand met mine,
weak and worn. I saw that his course was nearly run; but there was a
light in his eye that spoke of peace. Words were of little use.
After breakfast, which Annette insisted that I should take, I walked
down to the inn, and there learned more of Franz than he had been
willing to tell me. Not only had he been the means of leading his
father to the Saviour, but it was his habit to gather the people
together and read to them out of his Bible, telling them of Jesus and
of his pure and spotless life, then of his agony and death, picturing
his love and his infinite tenderness.
I was not restricted to a set number of days, and for three days I
vibrated between the inn and the small cottage on the mountain. On the
fourth it was over; the messenger had done his bidding. Franz and
Annette were not the only mourners, not a villager but joined them;
and when they turned from the grave to the silence of their humble
room, I went with them.
Not many days after that the door of the cottage was shut; and when I
sailed for my western home, Franz Muller was prosecuting his studies
at Basle.
"He is to be a minister," said Annette, as she followed me to the
door, "and he says that wherever his work is, I may share it with
him."
Her face was lit up with a smile almost as bright as I had seen on
Franz's face. Surely the angels know nothing of the rapture of such a
work.
Mont Blanc.
After making the ascent of Montanvert, and learning something of the
wonders of the Mer de Glace, we again sallied forth upon a tour of
discovery in the immediate neighborhood of La Prieur�.
With Mont Blanc before me and hardly conscious that I was alone, I
pursued my walk, continuing to ascend till my path was obstructed by a
mass of fallen snow. Fascinated with the idea of a better view, I
determined to find a way around it, I climbed higher and higher, now
stopping to admire the interior domes and spires and pyramids that
cluster in this wondrous region, then fancying myself in a vast
cathedral more grand and magnificent than I had ever before seen. The
summit of Mont Blanc seemed to have greatly increased since I began to
ascend, and this, and not looking behind me, rendered me wholly
unconscious of the progress I made.
At length, from the slippery condition of the path and the frequent
use that I was obliged to make of the pole with which I had been
furnished, I became conscious that I had advanced far beyond what I
had at first purposed. Looking back, I could see nothing of the
valley; night was coming on, and the winds sweeping over the snowy
heights made me shiver; at the same time they threatened to hurl me
over the precipice. Go on I could not; to retrace my steps seemed
equally impossible; planting my pole with its long spike deep in the
ice, I attempted to keep my footing. Sending my eyes in every
direction, and hoping that the guides had missed me and followed in
the track, I perceived an immense mass of ice, one of the very turrets
that I had so greatly admired, trembling and just ready to fall.
Before I had time to think, it slipped and fell with a thundering
sound, rolling and dashing like a huge cataract of liquid silver,
glittering in the sunbeams, and spent itself on the surface below over
which it spread. Its roar, like that of thunder, reverberated from
peak to peak, and many seconds elapsed before it completely died away.
My situation was perilous. Of the extent of the glacier I could not
determine. In following after me, my companions might have been buried
underneath its fall; or the guides might think that there was no
possibility of my escape, and thus give up the attempt to rescue me.
All this and more passed through my mind. What if I should never
reach my home, should never look into the faces of those I love! One
quiet look upward, and peace filled my heart. God was above me, and
around me; this terrible solitude spoke of his majesty, his might, his
power. These mountains were in my Redeemer's hands. His eye was upon
me, and I was safe.
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