Imagine then the elation when bursting at length from the depression of the Forest of Gloom the traveller sees before him that transcendently beautiful mountain, Mount Hope. Well may he hold his breath and gaze in rapture, for before him rises the most beautiful mountain in all the world and will ever be as long as life lasts. With its velvety slopes and shaded dells, its little silver rills tinkling down the mountain side, sounding like fairy laughter through the trees, the gently stirring air freighted with the perfume of myriads of fragrant blossoms, and over all a tender rose-colored glow reflected from the soft pinky clouds that forever tenderly rest upon the mountain’s top, it is indeed the most beautiful of nature’s jewels. So it seems, with Hope so long deferred, to that tired-eyed struggler upon Love’s Highway, often heartsick and oppressed by the vicissitudes of the way, for here he may rest and, gazing again out over the dear Valley of Dreams, rejuvenate the Yearning, the Ambition, and the Determination that have brought him through so much.
To these he may now add Hope, and so equipped and refreshed he dashes a second time through the Forest of Gloom, and though confronted by the most stubborn and rocky section (known as the Parent Peak) in the entire range of the Mountains of Opposition, his past experience and his added strength carry him over with little effort, and, coming down the last steep slope, his heart gives a bound as his eye follows the smooth roadway stretching invitingly across a nearly level expanse of well-cultivated country thickly dotted with the happy homes of those who had once been travellers like himself. If he be not short-sighted, he is able to see even as far ahead as to where the road and his lonely journey end in heavenly Mount Heart’s Desire. As he passes along many a cheerful face smiles out at him from the doorways, and many a cheerful word of welcome and greeting encourages him to hasten. The smiles of the rosy-cheeked children seem especially sweet to him.
The journey’s end! The goal is reached! Naught remains further for the traveller now except the Oath of Allegiance which is performed with considerable ceremony in the little church just around the corner to the left.
Note:—Mount Heart’s Desire is of an attractive shape and thickly surrounded by orange blossoms. No two travellers agree as to its height, but we are of the opinion that it must be about five feet, three or four inches. Within it is a little shrine called Trust, which it is the duty of every worshipper to protect.
[Note Y.] It seems more than mere coincidence that the Path of Least Resistance should run up Mount Curiosity on the side nearest to the borders of the State of Indifference, and there is a very ancient tradition that the first person to make the ascent came from that easy-going country.
We believe this tradition to be another version of the Adam and Eve story, and feel that it conclusively proves us right in our calculations as to the exact location of the Garden of Eden. We claim it was situated in that part of the State of Indifference near to and in full view of Mount Curiosity, and that Adam was the first man to make the climb. We also believe that Adam became lost on the mountainside and never returned to Eden, and that the Path of True Love gives a pretty good idea of his subsequent wanderings, of which so little heretofore has been known.
At any rate, vast numbers from the State of Indifference make the ascent of Mount Curiosity every year, and many of our best citizens have come from that state.
[Note 23.] At this point, after the more or less extended journey through the unhealthy Forest of Misunderstanding, the traveller must have a care, especially if he be of a sensitive nature, for the shock of the first plunge through Bicker Brook will often throw one into a distemper or fever. Some, going absolutely out of their heads, wander far afield. Herein lies a grave danger because of the nearness of the road at this point to the boundaries of Misanthropia, which state is little more than a barren waste. The peculiar mental attitude of its inhabitants gives strength to the theory advanced in Amoria that its population is made up of those poor fever-ridden souls who have wandered from the Path of True Love and gone quite mad.
[Note 13.] The higher one climbs the duller the thud. So with the traveller who has been dreaming across sweet meadow land and balmy wastes when suddenly confronted by a renewal of obstacles which his optimism had made him believe passed forever, and it is in a nervous and uncertain state of mind we find him groping his way through the mists that always fill Blue Valley. Here is a great danger, for with the steep mountains on three sides the traveller, if he once stumble from the road, is apt to follow the depression of the valley until morbid and benumbed he wander into the State of Indifference.
The same danger, in a lesser degree, is lurking in the Forest of Gloom.