CHAPTER X.
Veldenz.
A little below Piesport the course of our river is obstructed by a huge mass of nearly perpendicular rock, descending so abruptly into the water, that no path can be made round its base. From the top of this tremendous rock the best view on the whole river is obtained. From there the eye can follow the windings of the stream as it serpentines through the hills, for many miles.
Unable to force her way through, the river bends off to the right, and wins by concession what she cannot gain by force, affording a lesson to her sex; teaching them to encircle by affection, instead of battling against the rock. By the latter course she may at length succeed in her desires, but not without fretting and chafing the hard rock, causing many a line upon its once smooth brow; and, finally, when the way is worn, the passage forced, will not the sullen rock for ever hang, darkening with its shadow the stream conqueror, and threatening to fall and overwhelm the persevering brawler? while, by the course here taken, the glad wave circles with her bright arms the lordly rock, and the sunlight on his face is reflected in her bosom; while the light from her gay, happy breast, is thrown back upon his manly front.
At this corner, too, the tree-groups teach us the same lesson; repeated and beautified by the tender water hues, they, in lending beauty to the stream, enhance their own, and give another of the innumerable instances in which by nature we are shown how all things are adapted and suited to their several stations; and, by aiding and assisting one another, increase their own beauty or usefulness: thus should it be in life.
REFLECTIONS.
The dark shades quiver
Where the tree-tops bend