Chapter IV: Snow-Peaks

"WELL, Willie," said Mr. Gray the next morning, which was Sunday, "what do you think of Switzerland now?"

"Nurse says it is going to be a fine day, Papa."

"Have you seen the mountains yet?"

"No, Papa. There's only a wall, and a tree, to be seen from my room."

"Come here and look out."

There was not much to be seen here either, except the little yard with its mulberry tree. But, by standing close to the window, Willie could catch a glimpse of a clear white patch high up against the blue sky.

"Do you know what that is, Willie?"

"Isn't it a cloud, Papa?"

"That is the snowy summit of a mountain—the Dent du Midi, as it is called. It is a long way off from here, and it has seven peaks rising up, all in a row, but you cannot see them all from this window."

"It looks very high up," said Willie, slowly. "But I did not think mountains were like that, Papa. It seems more like a cloud."

"You will see the whole mountain more plainly by-and-by. There are mists below, hiding the sides. It is a grand sight, Willie."

"Please let me see too," said Lucy.

But when she had looked, she thought even less of it than Willie did, and the two children ate their breakfast with rather sober faces.

They did not look sober though, or think little of the mountains, after breakfast, when they started to go to church. It was a bright clear day, and the lake sparkled in the sunshine as if it were made of diamonds, and the mighty mountains rose all round, one behind another, till Willie thought there seemed no end to their number. He liked to see the great forests of pine trees too, which grew upon the sides of the mountains, and the vineyards down below, reaching almost to the shores of the lake.

He liked to see the Swiss people also, and to notice how unlike they were to English people. No one passed without saying "Bon jour," which Mrs. Gray told Willie was the French for "Good day." Mr. and Mrs. Gray always said "Bon jour" back again. Willie wanted to do it too, but he felt sure he should laugh if he tried, and he thought that would not seem polite. There were nice old women in black silk and lace caps, and other women in wide straw hats, with a little round knob at the top.

"Well, Willie," said his Papa, when they had all come back from church, "what do you think of the great mountains now?"

"Oh Papa, I think they are just as splendid as can be," said Willie. "I should like to go right up to the top of them."

"You could not go to the tops of the higher ones, for you are too small. But some of the lower mountains you shall try, Willie."

"I should like to live always by the mountains," said Willie. "Papa, the old gentleman in the steamer told me—"

"Told you what, Willie'?" asked his Papa, as Willie stopped.

"Lucy, you say it," said Willie, hanging his head. "I told you."

But Lucy only put down her head on her Mamma's dress, and Willie had to go on.

"He told me, Papa—he said—he said it was very good of God to make the mountains and the sea so lovely."

"And so indeed it is, Willie. Think how much pleasure God gives to us all by the beauty of the earth."

"Papa, is there anything about mountains in the Bible?" asked Willie.

"A good many things," said Mr. Gray. "See if you and Lucy can't tell me some."

"I know one," said Willie. "It was on a mountain that the Lord Jesus changed so bright, and His raiment was white, so that it couldn't be made any whiter."

"Quite true, Willie."

"And I know," said Lucy shyly. "It was on a mountain that the ark stopped."

"Yes, dear; the ark rested on Mount Ararat, when the flood began to pass away."

"And it was on Mount Sinai where Moses stayed up forty days," said Willie. "And wasn't it on a mountain, too, that God spoke to Elijah? And it was on a mountain that the Lord Jesus said those texts, 'Blessed are the pure in heart,' and 'Blessed are the meek,' and the others. And I know He used often to go and pray in a mountain at night. What numbers of mountains there are spoken about in the Bible!"

"I wonder if you can tell me some verses of a Psalm which you have often heard," said Mr. Gray. "Something about the sea and the hills."

Willie could not say what it was, so his father said the words for him.

"'The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are all the corners of the earth; the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it, and His hands prepared the dry land. O come let us worship and fall down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."

"What does the strength of the hills mean, Papa?"

"Do you not see, Willie, what strong mighty hills they are—how nothing can overthrow them! Nothing that men could do, I mean. Only God who made them could destroy them. But to us they are indeed strong. Did you ever hear that verse:

"'Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God'?"

"I don't know," said Willie, slowly. "Isn't there a little bit of a hymn that we sing which is like that rather, Mamma?"

"Yes, dear. You mean this:

"'Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.'"

"Yes, I meant that," said Willie. "I like that hymn."

"See if you can find one more verse about mountains—in the sixty-fifth psalm, Willie," said Mr. Gray.

Willie pored over his Bible for a minute or two, and then said:—

"Is it not this:

"'Which by His strength setteth fast the mountains, being girded with
power'?"

"That is it, dear. So in one verse we read of the strength of the hills, and in a second verse of the strength of God who gave to the hills their strength. It is good to think of our God as so strong, Willie, when we know that we ourselves are so weak. It is good, because He is just as loving as He is strong, and likes nothing better than that we should go to Him for help in our weakness."