§ 26. Finally, there are two lessons to be gathered from the opposite conditions of mountain decay, represented in these designs, of perhaps a wider range of meaning than any which were suggested even by the states of mountain strength. In the first, we find the unyielding rock, undergoing no sudden danger, and capable of no total fall, yet, in its hardness of heart, worn away by perpetual trampling of torrent waves, and stress of wandering storm. Its fragments, fruitless and restless, are tossed into ever-changing heaps: no labor of man can subdue them to his service, nor can his utmost patience secure any dwelling-place among them. In this they are the type of all that humanity which, suffering under no sudden punishment or sorrow, remains "stony ground," afflicted, indeed, continually by minor and vexing cares, but only broken by them into fruitless ruin of fatigued life. Of this ground not "corn-giving,"—this "rough valley, neither eared nor sown,"[99] of the common world, it is said, to those who have set up their idols in the wreck of it—

"Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion. They, they are thy lot."[100]

But, as we pass beneath the hills which have been shaken by earthquake and torn by convulsion, we find that periods of perfect repose succeeded those of destruction. The pools of calm water lie clear beneath their fallen rocks, the water-lilies gleam, and the reeds whisper among their shadows; the village rises again over the forgotten graves, and its church-tower, white through the storm-twilight, proclaims a renewed appeal to His protection in whose hand "are all the corners of the earth, and the strength of the hills is His also." There is no loveliness of Alpine valley that does not teach the same lesson. It is just where "the mountain falling cometh to naught, and the rock is removed out of his place," that, in process of years, the fairest meadows bloom between the fragments, the clearest rivulets murmur from their crevices among the flowers, and the clustered cottages, each sheltered beneath some strength of mossy stone, now to be removed no more, and with their pastured flocks around them, safe from the eagle's stoop and the wolf's ravin, have written upon their fronts, in simple words, the mountaineer's faith in the ancient promise—

"Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh;

"For thou shalt be in league with the Stones of the Field; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee."

[98]

°
Small fragments of limestone, five or six inches across, and flattish, sharp, angular on edges, and quite loose; slope near fountain of Maglans. 31½
Somewhat larger stones, nearer Maglans; quite loose 31¾
Similar débris, slightly touched with vegetation 35
Débris on southern side of Maglans 33½
Slope of Montagne de la Côte, at the bottom, as seen from the village of Chamouni 40¾
Average slope of Montagne de Taconay, seen from Chamouni 38
Maximum slope of side of Breven 41
Slope of débris from ravine of Breven down to the village of Chamouni 14
Slopes of débris set with pines under Aiguille Verte, seen from Argentière 36
General slope of Tapia, from Argentière 34
Slopes of La Côte and Taconay, from Argentière 27¾
Profile of Breven, from near the Chapeau (a point commanding the valley of Chamouni in its truest longitude) 32½
Average slope of Montanvert, from same point 39½
Slope of La Côte, same point 36½
Eastern slope of Pain de Sucre, seen from Vevay 33
Western """ 36½
Slope of foot of Dent de Morcles, seen from Vevay 38½
"" Midi, ""40

[99] Deut. xxi. 4. So Amos, vi. 12: "Shall horses run upon the rock; will one plow here with oxen?"

[100] Is. lvii. 5, 6.