Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/89

Rh What a living answer is a man of this kind, to the assertion of the Romish church, that people of the uneducated class cannot understand the Scriptures, nor guide themselves by their light.

The valleys of Les Ormondes, the upper and lower, are said to be the most beautiful of the high valleys of the Vaud, and they are so from the number of grassy hills and fresh mountain streams; from the numerous verdant terraces and extent of pasturage. The people are handsome and more cheerful than in any other of the valleys. They are celebrated for their lively wit, and their disposition to look at life, and every thing, from its most amusing side. But here more than in any other valley, you find the want of many of the conveniences of life, not to say its necessaries. Bread (if not of the very coarsest kind) and meat, etc., must be fetched from a distance of two hours. Under these circumstances one could not but be astonished at the manner in which our table was furnished, as well as at our living here, which cost only three francs a day.

I spent three days here, one evening of which I passed with the ideally happy, and amiable young couple in the new parsonage. Interesting traits from the innermost of human life, furnished topics of conversation, with the sun, the Alps and the careering clouds before our gaze, one of those glorious spectacles which man sometimes will purchase at almost any price, and which nature exhibits here gratis every evening.

On the morning of the fourth day, Père Ansermey set off before dawn with his cow up into the mountains, and before the sun had illumined the spires of Les