place. The story may be true. Stranger things have happened.

Those who have studied geography do not need to be informed that there
is a chain of high mountains running through Switzerland, called the
Alps. The tops of some of these mountains are covered with snow nearly
all the year. In the winter it is very difficult and dangerous traveling
over the Alps; for the snow frequently rolls down the sides of the
mountain, in a great mass, called an _avalanche_, and buries the
traveler beneath it. On one of these mountains there is the convent of
St. Bernard. It is situated ten thousand feet above the base of the
mountain, and is on one of the most dangerous passes between Switzerland
and Savoy. It is said to be the highest inhabited spot in the old world.
It is tenanted by a race of monks, who are very kind to travelers. Among
other good services they render to the strangers who pass near their
convent, they search for unhappy persons who have been overtaken by
sudden storms, and who are liable to perish.

These monks have a peculiar variety of the dog, called the dog of St.
Bernard, or the Alpine Spaniel, which they train to hunt for travelers
who are overtaken by a storm, and who are in danger of perishing. The
dog of St. Bernard is one of the most sagacious of his species. He is
covered with thick, curly hair, which is frequently of great service in
warming the traveler, when he is almost dead with cold.

One of these dogs, named Barry, had, it was reckoned, in twelve years
saved the lives of forty individuals. Whenever the mountain was
enveloped in fogs and snow, away scoured Barry, barking and searching
all about for any person who might have fallen a victim to the storm.
When he was successful in finding any one, if his own strength was
insufficient to rescue him, he would run back to the convent in search