At last the elect morning arrives, the early dawn--a few lights conspicuous in the heaven, as of a world just created and still becoming--and in its wide leisure we dare open that book.

There are days when the great are near us, when there is no frown on their brow, no condescension even; when they take us by the hand, and we share their thought." When such a morning dawns, one demands, by right of his own nature, the pilotage of great thoughts to some height whence the whole world will lie before him; one knows by unclouded insight that life is greater than all his dreams, and that he is heir, not only of the centuries, but of eternity.
Such days belong to the mountains; and when I opened my window on this morning, I was in no doubt as to the invitation held forth by earth and sky.

There was exhilaration in the very thought of the long climb, and at an early hour I was fast leaving the village behind me.

The road skirted the base of the mountain, and struck at once into the heart of the wilderness, which the clustering peaks have preserved from any but the most fleeting associations with the peopled world around.

A barrier of ancient silence and solitude soon separated me even in thought from the familiar scenes I had left.