Neulfchatel: so did I see it when I descended the Jura for the list
time. It was in August. The trees, with their autumnal foliage,
stood yellow and red between the dark firs; barberries and hips
grew among the tall fern. The Alps lay in such a beautiful light,
their feet blue as heaven, their peaks snow-white in the clear
sunshine. I was in a sorrowful mood; I was leaving my mountains!
Then I wrote in my book--O, I remember it so well!--The high Alps
appear to me the folded wings of the earth: how if she should raise
them! how if the immense wings should unfold, with their gay images
of dark woods, glaciers, and clouds! What a picture! At the Last
Judgment will the earth doubtless unfold these pinions, soar up to
God, and in the rays of His sunlight disappear! I also have been
young, Otto," pursued she, with a melancholy smile. "Thou wouldst
have felt still more deeply at the sight of this splendor of
nature. The lake at the foot of the mountains was smooth as a
mirror; a little boat with white sails swam, like a swan, upon its
expanse. On the road along which we drove were the peasants beating
down chestnuts; the grapes hung in large black bunches. How an
impression such as this can root itself in the memory! It is five
and thirty years since, and yet I still see that boat with the
white sail, the high Alps, and the black grapes."

"Thou shalt see thy Switzerland again, Rosalie," exclaimed Otto;
"again hear the bells of the cows upon the green pastures! Thou
shalt go once more to the chapel in Franche Compte, shalt visit
thy friends at Le Locle, see the subterranean mill, and the Doub
fall."

"The mill wheel yet goes round, the water dashes down as in my
youth; but the friends are gone, my relatives dispersed! I should