LESSON LI. Spell and Define. 1. Gla'ciers, immense masses of ice. 2. Crystal-iz-ed, formed into crystals. 8. Cham'ois, a kind of wild goat. 9. Fun'gus, an order of plants, compre hending mushrooms, &c. 9. Germ'in-ates, sprouts, grows. 13. Av-a-lanche', a mountain-slide of ice or snow. 14. Mount-ain-eers', inhabitants of a mountain. 16. Lam'mer-geir, a kind of vulture. ERRORS.1. Glaz'yers for gla'ciers; 1. drap'er-y for dra'per-y; 2. deb'ris for de-bris'; 3. al-peen' for al'pine; 4. for-rards for foreheads; 6. pe-des'tals for ped'. es-tals; 8. drifs for drifts; 15. blat'ing for bleating; 16. pes'ant for pheasant. GLACIERS OF THE ALPS. J. T. HEADLEY. 1. GLACIERS are the everlasting drapery of the Alps, clothing them in summer and winter with their robes of ice. They are formed, by the successive thawing and freezing of the loose snow, in the spring and summer. 2. Melting in the day time, and freezing at night, the whole mass at length becomes crystalized; and as the lower extremities melt in summer, they gradually move down the mountain, carrying with them debris of rocks and stone, making a perfect geological cabinet of the hill it throws up. 3. Glaciers begin at an elevation of about eight thousand feet, or a little less; above this are eternal snow fields. These glaciers constitute one of the most striking features of Alpine scenery. 4. Whether they are looked upon with the eye of a geologist, and the slow and mighty process of renovation and destruction is contemplated, working on from the birth to the death of time; or whether they are regarded with the eye of a landscape painter, as they now clasp the breast of a bold peak in their shining embrace, and now stretch their icy arms NOTE.& Alps; the chain of mountains lying between Italy and Switzerland, 700 miles long, and 3 miles high. far away into the mountains, and now plunge their glittering foreheads into the green valley, they are the same objects of intense interest and ever fresh wonder. 5. As they push down the declivities, the obstructions they meet with, and the broken surface over which they pass, throw them into every variety of shape. Towers are suddenly squeezed up forty or fifty feet high, and precipices thrown out, which topple over with the roar of thunder. 6. Rocks and bowlders, that have been carried away, from their resting-places, on the bosom of the glacier, protect the ice under them by their shadow, while the surrounding mass gradually melts away, leaving them standing on stately pedestals, huge black obelisks, slowly traveling toward the valley. 7. Whenever these descending masses enter a gorge in the mountains, they spread out into it, partially filling it up, and are called ice-seas. These large collections of ice are traversed by immense crevices, reaching hundreds of feet down, and revealing that beautiful ultramarine color, which the Rhone" has, as it leaves lake Geneva." 8. Through these fissures, streams flow in every direction, and collecting at the lower extremity of the glacier, under the roof of a huge cavern of their own making, flow off, a turbid torrent, into the valley. Into these crevices the snow frequently drifts, choking up the portion near the surface, thus making concealed pit-falls for the traveler, and sometimes even for the wary, bold chamois hunter. 9. Above the glaciers near the summit, one frequently meets with red snow. I have seen it myself, and noticed it when I was not looking for it. The color is said to be produced by a species of fungus, which makes the snow its soil, NOTES. - a Rhone (rone); a large river rising in Switzerland, and flowing into the gulf of Lyons, in the south of France. b Lake Gene'va; a beautiful lake in the western part of Switzerland, forty-seven miles long. In the polar regions snow has been seen of a red, orange, and salmon color; and the snow-storms of those places sometimes present a luminous appearance, covering objects, as it were, with a sheet of fire. and germinates and grows in imperceptible branches, over the surface. 10. The invisible threads, reaching out in every direction, give to the snow a deep crimson blush, which, as the plant dies, changes into a dirty black. 11. The number of glaciers in the Alps has been estimated at about four hundred; but one might as well attempt to estimate the number and weight of all the avalanches that fall; for these glaciers are of all sizes, from a few rods to miles, and in every variety of shape and position. 12. Scientific men differ much as to the relative thickness of glaciers, though they average, probably, not more than seventy or eighty feet thick. Some of them are of a pure white, and shine in the noonday sun with dazzling splendor; but the greater part of them is covered with the debris of the mountains, giving them a dirty hue, wholly unlike the appearance, one imagines they present, who has never seen them. 13. The impression they make on the mind of the beholder, however, can never be effaced. The marks of power, of the terrific struggles, they carry about them, fill the mind with emotions of grandeur, almost equal to the solitary avalanche and its lonely voice of thunder. 14. They have a voice of their own, too, called by the mountaineers, brullen," or growlings, caused by the rending of the solid mass, when the south-east wind breathes upon it. The lower portion of the Alps is full of sound and motion. 15. Even after you leave the tinkling of bells, the music of the horn, and the bleating of goats, there is the roar of the torrent, the shock of the avalanche, and the grinding, crushing sound of the mighty glacier. But when you ascend above the base, all is still and silent as the sepulcher. 16. Eternal Sabbath' reigns around the peaks, and solitude, deeper than the heart of the forest, embraces the subaued and NOTES. -a Brullen (brool'len); a German word, signifying as defined in the text or piece. b See Sabbath, page 134, note a. humbled adventurer; while the sudden flight of a pheasant from amid the snow, or the slow and lordly sweep of the lammergeir, in circles upward, startles the feelings into greater intensity. QUESTIONS. 1. What are the Alps? 1. How are glaciers formed? 3. At what elevation do they commence? 5. What are the shapes they assume as they slide down? 7. What are ice-seas? 7. What is the depth of some of the crevices in the ice? 7. What is the Rhone? 7. What is lake Geneva? 9. What colored snow is sometimes met with on the Alps? 9. Of what colors has snow been seen in the polar regions? 9. What is supposed to be the cause of the color of the snow upon the Alps? 12. What is the average thickness of the glaciers? 14. What do the mountaineers call the sound of the glaciers, and what does the word mean? ERRORS.-2. Sheth for sheath; 3. shon for shōne; 4. tem'pes for tem'pest; 7. houn for hound; 7. strange for stränge. EXCELSIOR. H. W. LONGFELLOW. [In the following piece, ambition is beautifully represented under the figure of a noble youth, climbing the lofty Alps at the close of day.] 1. THE shades of night were falling fast, 2. His brow was sad; his eye beneath, The accents of that unknown tongue, 3. In happy homes, he saw the light, Of household fires, gleam warm and bright; And from his lips escaped a groan, 4. " Try not the Pass!" the old man said; The roaring torrent is deep and wide!" 5. "O, stay," the maiden said, "and rest Excelsior! 6. "Beware the pine tree's withered branch! This was the peasant's last good-night; 7. A traveler, by the faithful hound, 8. There, in the twilight cold and gray, And from the sky, serene and far, A voice fell, like a falling star, Excelsior! QUESTIONS. How is ambition represented in this piece? 1. What was the device on the banner of the youth? 1. What does it mean? 2. How did the youth ap. pear? 4. What did the old man say to him? 4. What did he reply? 5. What did the maiden say? 5. How did it affect him? 7. Where was he found? What induced him to leave his friends and thus lose his life? Ambition. |