FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1946   1947   1948   1949   1950   1951   1952   1953   1954   1955   1956   1957   1958   1959   1960   1961   1962   1963   1964   1965   1966   1967   1968   1969   1970  
1971   1972   1973   1974   1975   1976   1977   1978   1979   1980   1981   1982   1983   1984   1985   1986   1987   1988   1989   1990   1991   1992   1993   1994   1995   >>   >|  
times is a thing they don't fish for at all--the recent dog and the translated cat. CHAPTER XXVII [I Spare an Awful Bore] Close by the Lion of Lucerne is what they call the "Glacier Garden"--and it is the only one in the world. It is on high ground. Four or five years ago, some workmen who were digging foundations for a house came upon this interesting relic of a long-departed age. Scientific men perceived in it a confirmation of their theories concerning the glacial period; so through their persuasions the little tract of ground was bought and permanently protected against being built upon. The soil was removed, and there lay the rasped and guttered track which the ancient glacier had made as it moved along upon its slow and tedious journey. This track was perforated by huge pot-shaped holes in the bed-rock, formed by the furious washing-around in them of boulders by the turbulent torrent which flows beneath all glaciers. These huge round boulders still remain in the holes; they and the walls of the holes are worn smooth by the long-continued chafing which they gave each other in those old days. It took a mighty force to churn these big lumps of stone around in that vigorous way. The neighboring country had a very different shape, at that time--the valleys have risen up and become hills, since, and the hills have become valleys. The boulders discovered in the pots had traveled a great distance, for there is no rock like them nearer than the distant Rhone Glacier. For some days we were content to enjoy looking at the blue lake Lucerne and at the piled-up masses of snow-mountains that border it all around--an enticing spectacle, this last, for there is a strange and fascinating beauty and charm about a majestic snow-peak with the sun blazing upon it or the moonlight softly enriching it--but finally we concluded to try a bit of excursioning around on a steamboat, and a dash on foot at the Rigi. Very well, we had a delightful trip to Fluelen, on a breezy, sunny day. Everybody sat on the upper deck, on benches, under an awning; everybody talked, laughed, and exclaimed at the wonder scenery; in truth, a trip on that lake is almost the perfection of pleasuring. The mountains were a never-ceasing marvel. Sometimes they rose straight up out of the lake, and towered aloft and overshadowed our pygmy steamer with their prodigious bulk in the most impressive way. Not snow-clad mountains, these, yet they cl
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1946   1947   1948   1949   1950   1951   1952   1953   1954   1955   1956   1957   1958   1959   1960   1961   1962   1963   1964   1965   1966   1967   1968   1969   1970  
1971   1972   1973   1974   1975   1976   1977   1978   1979   1980   1981   1982   1983   1984   1985   1986   1987   1988   1989   1990   1991   1992   1993   1994   1995   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

boulders

 

mountains

 
Lucerne
 

Glacier

 

valleys

 

ground

 

spectacle

 

enticing

 

border

 

fascinating


country

 

neighboring

 

majestic

 

beauty

 

strange

 

masses

 
content
 

distant

 

distance

 

nearer


discovered

 

traveled

 

ceasing

 

marvel

 
Sometimes
 

straight

 

pleasuring

 
perfection
 

exclaimed

 
scenery

towered
 
impressive
 

prodigious

 

overshadowed

 

steamer

 

laughed

 

talked

 
excursioning
 
steamboat
 

concluded


finally

 
moonlight
 
blazing
 

softly

 

enriching

 

benches

 
awning
 

Everybody

 

Fluelen

 

delightful