ment they were each between two guides, and their little crampons gave them additional confidence in treading. They reached the chalet about seven, and after having refreshed themselves there with some wild strawberries and cream, continued their descent, though in the dark, till they arrived in safety at Chamouni, in the valley below. The melancholy intelligence they brought with them was soon circulated through the village. Grief and consternation sat on every countenance. The next morning they sent for the relations of the deceased, and endeavoured to console them by participating in their sorrow, and rendering them pecuniary help; as the families of the three unfortunate guides had not only lost their husbands and their brothers, but, with them, the only means of their subsistence. A subscription was soon afterwards opened for them at Geneva; but a long time must elapse before the pain attendant on so unexpected and ́melancholy a catastrophe can be obliterated, or the sorrow which it occa'sioned be erased. 163 CHAP. VI. Account of the Vaudois of the Valleys of Piedmont. A little flock through quiet valleys led, MONTGOMERY. CAROLINE. I think I shall do I AM going to copy one of the lithographic pictures, which papa brought from London the other day, for you, mamma. the little church of La Torre, at the foot of its high mountains; or else the village of Pomaretto, scattered amongst its tall elms. Which should you like. MRS. A. I like the church of La Torre as a picture, my love; but I should prefer Pomaretto, on account of the associations connected with it. CAROLINE. Then I will draw Pomaretto. But perhaps you will have the kindness to tell me, mamma, what associations you allude to. there, has he? Papa has never been MRS. A. No, my dear. He regretted that he did not visit the picturesque valleys, of Piedmont, in which both Pomaretto and La Torre are situated, when he was on the continent last summer; but he was hastened home, you know, on account of little Emily's illness. CAROLINE. The inhabitants of the valleys of Piedmont are called the Vaudois, are they not? I wish you would give me some account of them, and of the country in which they live. MRS. A. At the extremity of the plain of Piedmont, in the north of Italy, immediately under the Alps, there are several secluded and romantic valleys, inhabited by a peaceable, amiable, and exemplary people, who are called Vaudois, and who have adhered to the pure truths of Christianity from the earliest ages, although surrounded by Roman Catholics, who have persecuted them on account of their re |