the monarch was visible. A provoking band of clouds clung about his white head like a turban; and all that the biting wind could do was to shift its folds, and try it on in a thousand fantastic shapes, with our eyes for mirrors. One glimpse we had and one only-but the "Aiguille qui n'a pas de nom," or Nameless Needle,—and the Dome de Gouté, which looks from below almost as high as Mont Blanc-were in full sight nearly all the time. All the other needles on that side, and the Mer de Glâce, and the lovely valley, and the Bossons glacier-were "thrown in;" it was not these we climbed the Flégère to see; but indeed I did not care so very much more for seeing Mont Blanc, which does not, after all, seem so much higher than the other mountains. The last few thousand feet of a high mountain do not show for what they are, because they are so far off; so that ten thousand feet high is practically as high for the ordinary spectator as fourteen thousand. This sounds stupid, but it is true.

We accomplished the trip between nine and three, and after dinner were not too weary to have a delicious one, with the same guides and mules, to the Cascade des Pélérins, about three or four miles from Chamouni. This is curious from the rebound which it makes against the horizontal slab of rock, which turns it into a jet d' eau, sending it high into the air, to fall again in the most beautiful feathery curves. The guides say it makes a still more beautiful arch when there is but little water. At present the stream is very full, and the spray is dashed and broken, so that after looking at it awhile you can fancy it a violent snow storm. It has tunneled itself an opening in the solid rock, which is worn as smooth as glass by its

action. After the rebound and the return, the stream rushes furiously down its channel below, making a loud roaring over the fragments of rock of which its bed is full. It is a most romantic and beautiful spot, and the whole excursion is charming. A little pretty girl climbed the rocks above the cascade and threw in pieces of stone, that we might see them rebound with the water. She was a picture, herself, with her rosy cheeks and modest eyes.

We rode slowly home just as the herdsmen were bringing in their charge for the milking; and the soft tinkling of the bells, with the rich light, the wonders of nature all around-the setting sun and the rising moon-Mont Blanc perfectly clear and defined against the blue-the pinnacles of the Glacier des Bossons glittering amid the shadows of the mountain-made perfect harmony, with which all our hearts were filled. That evening ride earned for me the most delicious Swiss picture that I have yet acquired for my memory-gallery.

Another night to be passed within sound of that rushing deathly river, which I shall never think of without a shudder, and then we are off for Geneva.

SALLENCHE, THURSDAY, 10TH.-We left Chamouni at seven, in a racketty char-à-banc, after an early breakfast; and came, by a road much broken by torrents, to this town which is comparatively new, having been destroyed by fire not many years ago. As we drove up to the Hotel we heard music, and following it to the salle à manger, found two Vallaisan damsels in towering hats, placed side by side on a sofa, as bolt upright as if these hats had been so heavy as to require poising; while before them, in a most troubadour-like attitude, sat a Spaniard, with

a bushy, black beard, playing the guitar and singing. The music was excellent, and the scene most rich. The damsels, who were good, sensible, modest girls from Martigny, thought an excessive demureness the proper thing; and when the free and easy minstrel would stop, once in a while, and, looking sweet upon them, ask in French how they liked his romances, they replied mincingly "Fort bien, monsieur;" at which he would bow, lay his hand on his heart, and begin something else. We joined ourselves to the audience and added our suffrage, and so got some excellent songs, and some curious Basque music which he had learned in the district near the Pyrennees. This poor fellow, who had been obliged to fly from Spain for political causes, had been giving concerts in the neighborhood, but gaining far more applause than money among the poor Swiss. I told him his voice and his guitar would command a better living in New York, where money is more abundant and good music in demand.

We had an excellent view of Mont Blanc from Sallenche. I could not resist the opportunity of ascertaining what was the fabric of those curious Vallaisan hats, and found they were universally of straw, made to differ simply by the trimming. The black, rolled rim, which is alike in all, is covered with ribbon curiously plaited. This, the young ladies told me, is called the falbala. One of these hats had the huge loops above worked with silver, and I have seen many others like it, and still more wrought in gold.

Coupé to Geneva-fine road-excellent horses. We dined at Bonneville, where among other travellers was a young man fresh from Milan, who ridiculed the Italians;—

said they talked loud-cultivated appalling moustaches— wore tri-colored crosses at the button-hole-shouted Vivas for Pio Nono-and carried great sabres to the cafés-but --would not fight! The Austrians were expected there daily.

An English clergyman from Mayence was travelling with some young men, English pupils of his-as rough boys as one would wish to see. Their chief interest seemed to be in petting some St. Bernard pups which they had bought and were carrying home in a basket. I could not but notice the difference between these boys and those of the same age with us. There was a bluffness about them—an unfinished, growing look—something as a fine promising colt will appear, after he has passed his little prettyhood, and has become knobby and shabby in the course of his development. Our young men of that age-from fourteen to eighteen-have a more pinched and dainty air; they have been more indulged— fed more luxuriously-kept without rough exercise and manly sports. They are prettier, so to speak. I would not have a boy a bully, but I would have his proportions developed by a natural process. I would balance his study-hours with ample and satisfying play, that the physique may have its chance as well as the intellect. The dwarfing and spindling process is so established in our cities, that it is sometimes observed that but for reinforcements from the country, the race would dwindle into pigmy size and shape. It is hard to find, among the sons of the rich, in our country, an instance of fine, robust, manly development, whose thews and sinews shall balance the care-labored brain.

These things are far better cared for among the wealthy classes in England; and we might learn something of this very journey, which the master and his pupils were making, mostly on foot. Such things are common in Germany and Switzerland-very uncommon in the United States.

GENEVA.

THE Rhone is a stream of sapphire through this quaint old town, and constitutes its greatest beauty, to my eye. Perhaps this was the result of first impressions; as the Hotel des Bergues stands directly on its bank, commanding a full of view of the lake on one hand, the city on the other, and Mont Blanc in the distance-more satisfactorily visible than from some nearer points. From this hotel then, which boasts an observatory, one obtains a charming view; and for this cause I think of it with some complacency, although it is one of those overgrown caravanserais whose labyrinthine passages cut off all hope of escape in case of a fire in the night.

Our appreciation of the poetry-haunted Leman did not in the least hinder our desire to go shopping, and we explored the great jewelry establishments, cheapening watches and every sort of bedizenment; and providing for the due setting of all the cameos, mosaics, lavas, and pierreries we had picked up on our route.

We staid scarcely long enough in Geneva, to make its general character familiar to us. To me the pleasantest incidents connected with it were a lovely afternoon