Page:Selected letters of Mendelssohn 1894.djvu/81

Rh that was “Adieu, Pierrot.” All the time there went on a jovial mocking echo, that sent back all the shoutings and laughter and jodeling. About midday we got to Allières. After a little rest, I took my bundle again on my own shoulders, for I didn’t take to a certain sturdy old porter who wanted to carry it for me, and shaking hands with Pauline took leave of her and descended through the Alpine meadow. If the peasant girl fails to please you, or, indeed, has bored you, I cannot help it, you must put the blame on my description, for in reality she was delightful, and so was my journey on. I came on a group of people eating fruit under a cherry tree, lay down with them in the grass, and ate fruit, too, for a while. Then I took a midday rest at La Tine in a cleanly house all built of wood. The carpenter, who had built it for himself, gave me his company to a dish of roast lamb, and proudly pointed out to me the tables, chairs, and cupboards.

And to conclude, I reached here this evening through dazzling green meadows, where the houses stand all about between pine trees and waterfalls. The church here stands on a knoll, all one mass of green. Far away the houses are dotted about, and beyond them are huts among the crags, while in a gorge above the meadows a little snow is still lying. It is an idyllic place, like the one we saw together in Wattwyl, only the village is smaller and the mountains broader and greener. But to-day I must close with a pæan in honour of the Canton de Vaud. Of all the countries that I know it is the most beautiful,