Scenes in Switzerland | Page 3

as mid-day is brighter than the morning," said my friend.
Down the hall came the pattering of little feet, and the nurse entered
with two stout boys and a lovely girl, a second Gretchen, the same
roguish blue eyes, and golden hair rippling away from her white
forehead:
"These are my hopes," said the father, and a smile curled his lip, amid,
his eye filled with tenderness as he glanced at Gretchen's face.
Lingering over the tea-table where Gretchen presided with more than
youthful grace, we talked not only of the past, but of present work and
life.

"One," I continued, taking up the thread, "I met in Southern Italy,
dreaming; as I was dreaming, by the dark grotto of Pausilippo. Meeting
upon classic ground, it seemed strange to talk of old times, but we did.
And sitting down upon the promontory of Baiæ, looking off upon the
blue sea, we told each other our respective stories; just as ships will
shift their course to come within speaking distance, compare longitude,
and exchange letters, and--part. I have not heard from Eckerman since."
My dreams were pleasant that night, and the next morning there was
another surprise for me. Gretchen's brother was the pastor of a little
church just above them; I must not go without seeing him, Gretchen
said. How could I? Euler was my classmate; together we labored for
knowledge, and our first manly sympathies run in the same channel.
On Sabbath I saw my friend in the pulpit. "How like his father," I
whispered to Gretchen; the poetry in him warming his soul into a burst
of fervid eloquence, and his face glowing with the beautiful truths he
was unfolding to his hearers. An uncouth church of rough stone, with
quaint windows and curious carvings, the ceiling arched, with a blue
ground on which blazed innumerable stars. Strange and novel as it was,
my eye never wandered from the speaker; the voice and expression so
like the kind and generous man who had presided over the college, and
who carried with him the affections of each succeeding class. This
seems to me more of a triumph now, than it did then. A cultivated mind
may challenge respect, but there is need of a noble one to win affection.
It was a week before I could think of leaving, and then the clouds
twisted through and around the severed pyramids of the Alps, and the
rain began. In such weather the scenery is not only shrouded, but the
people are shut up in their homes. Pastor Euler had an ample study
however, and here we read and wrote, and talked; with his wife, a
pleasant-voiced woman, to enliven the pauses with music, and children
dashing into the study giving abrupt and sudden turnings to our
dreaming. Christmas was near, and I was easily persuaded to see more
of a people, shut in as they were from the noise and commotion of the
lower world, and still not so far as to be unknowing of all that was
taking place, whether in deliberative bodies, state policies, or the
lighter chit-chat of the day.
"You will have an opportunity to see more of my parish than you can
possibly see on a Sabbath occasion. I visit them as often as I can, and

twice a year I receive them at my own house. The
'Weihnachtsgeschenk' is looked forward to with great pleasure, and the
meeting of the Landsgemeinde in April is sure to bring my people
together."
Gretchen and her husband were clamorous for me to remain, and there
was no resisting the pleading tones of the children, their little clinging
fingers stronger than bands of iron.
All night the rain beat against my chamber window, and in the morning
the lower slopes of the mountain were white with new snow. Dark
clouds lay heavily on the Alpine peaks, the air was raw and chilly--still
it was Christmas. I was aroused at daybreak by the chiming of village
bells, and then a procession of choral singers went through the streets,
pausing under the window of each house, and singing Christmas hymns.
As they passed on, the children caught up the refrain, and joining hands
made the halls resound with their gleeful voices. Before breakfast a
huge bowl was passed around with a foaming drink, not unlike egg-nog
in appearance, but differing in taste materially. "May your Christmas be
a merry one," as it passed from lip to lip; "and a profitable one," was
always responded.
Church was open an hour earlier than on ordinary occasions, "so that
the people may have ample time for dinner," said the pastor. Religion
with these mountain worshippers was not a form. The birthday of the
blessed Redeemer was to them a reality. They believed that he was