Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/314

330 demeanor, and which gives even to plain countenances a ray of beauty.

Prefarges is an institution for the insane, which is rendered by its beautiful situation and fine air, together with the affectionate zeal of its superintendents, a Bethesda for many of these unfortunates. The greater number of the female cases of mental suffering here, were, I was told, derived from the class of governesses! A fact well worthy of consideration in a country where so many young girls devote themselves to the vocation of teachers, without being led to do so by the highest motives, or by any decided capability for it.

Accompanied by Charles Secretan, and his wife—one of the noblest and most amiable women with whom I became acquainted in Switzerland—I set off to Chaux de Fonds. The road thither, was one continual wearisome ascent, but the grand views which it presented of Alpine scenery, made it a continual source of interest. Thus we ascended to La Fête de Rang, into the region of the pine and the north-wind, and beheld from its summit, the wooded district of Lorraine, on the soil of France, with the mountain-chain of the Vosges, in the blue distance. The early morning walk, on the day following, across the flowery, dewy meadows, amongst mountain lakes, and wooded hills, amongst herds of well-fed cattle, whose bells rang in a melodious chorus, whilst the larks sang their jubilant songs in the sunny air, and those Alpine views around us which ever increased in grandeur as we ascended—I cannot describe how