river rushes. In the glacier of the Rhone you thus find the source of the river Rhone. But again we have not yet reached the real beginning of the river. You soon convince yourself that this earliest water of the Rhone is produced by the melting of the ice. You get upon the glacier and walk upwards along it. After a time the ice disappears and you come upon snow. If you are a competent mountaineer you may go to the very top of this great snow-field, and if you cross the top and descend at the other side, you finally quit the snow, and get upon another glacier called the Trift, from the end of which rushes a river smaller than the Rhone. You soon learn that the mountain snow feeds the glacier. By some means or other the snow is converted into ice. But whence comes the snow? Like the rain, it comes from the clouds, which, as before, can be traced to vapor raised by the sun. Without solar fire we could have no atmospheric vapor, without vapor no clouds, without clouds no snow, and without snow no glaciers. Curious, then, as the conclusion may be, the cold ice of the Alps has its origin in the heat of the sun. JOHN TYNDALL in Forms of Water expansion source glacier mountaineer AFTON WATER Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes, Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise; My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream — Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream. Thou stock-dove, whose echo resounds thro' the glen, How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighboring hills, How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below, Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides, NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Nathaniel Hawthorne was born at Salem, Massachusetts, July 4, 1804. His father died when Nathaniel was very young, and his mother made a home for the family in the woods of Maine. In this secluded spot, devoting all his time to books and nature, the future author passed his boyhood. When he entered Bowdoin College he met as fellow-students Henry W. Longfellow, the poet, and Franklin Pierce, afterwards President of the United States. The latter remained to the end one of Hawthorne's closest friends, and at the height of his power showed his friendship for the writer in many ways. During the twelve years following his graduation from ollege Hawthorne resided at Salem, and was busily ngaged with his literary work. Then he held a public ffice for two years in Boston. At the expiration of is term of office he returned to his native town, and, fter his marriage in 1842, moved to Concord, where he ccupied an old mansion which stands to this day, and vhich is visited every year by thousands who have enjoyed is writings. As with many of the great writers of the world, Hawthorne's first efforts brought him slight recogaition. Most of the sketches written. during his long period of seclusion at Salem never attained popularity, and the author was compelled to write unceasingly for newspapers and magazines in order to support himself. About 1837 a selected number of his sketches were published under the title Twice-Told Tales. These tales were reviewed by his old classmate Longfellow, and the high praise which the popular poet awarded to the book meant much for the struggling author. This was the beginning of Hawthorne's success as a writer, and when he settled at Concord, his fame was well established. The life of the writer during his residence in Concord was quiet and secluded. He was a dreamer in the peaceful New England town, and the little world about him was well suited to the tastes of the student and observer. His Mosses from an Old Manse has made famous the old mansion which he occupied. |