Geneva.
As the wearied stag that has eluded the chasing dogs rests in safety
in the covert of its native mountains, our fugitives at length breathed
freely in the beautiful city of Geneva. Wild and grand as had been
the scenery they passed through, the excitement of the flight and the
fear of seizure had, to them, robbed nature of her charms. Ever and
anon, indeed, they had looked around with searching eyes, but not to
gaze in rapture on the snow-capped mountains, the green valleys, and
crystal streams; it was rather to peer along the road they had passed,
to see if any speck on the horizon would indicate the pursuing horses
of the gendarmes. But now for the first time the magnificence of the
Alpine scenery and the charm of the lovely queen of the Swiss valleys
burst on their view. Mont Blanc, already seen from the north, seemed
to lift its snowy drapery higher into the blue sky, and stood out more
majestic in its crystallized peaks when seen from the bridges of the
Rhone. Another firmament was seen through the clear azure water of
the beautiful lake; and although the air was cold and fresh in the icy
chill of the mountains, and nature stripped of her green, yet our
young heroines were charmed with their first view of the city, and
rejoiced in the prospect of a long sojourn.
There are few spots in the world where the lovers of the sublimities
of nature can drink in such visual feasts as at Geneva. Since railways
have shortened distance and cut through mountains, there is no more
fashionable rendezvous for the world of art than the suburbs of the
Swiss capital. During the summer months every little nook on the
surrounding mountain-sides is occupied by artists of every sex and of
every nation. What juvenile album is complete without a sketch of
Mont Blanc? The old mountain stands out in its eternal majesty as a
vision of awful beauty for old and young; and many a noble soul has
been borne from the contemplation of the grandeur of nature to study
in awe the greatness of Him "who makes mountains his footstools." The
artificial beauties of the modern Geneva far surpass the old; yet those
mountains, those peaks and snows and lakes, were always there. It was
known to Constantine, and crept into importance and worth in proportion
as science and art were developed in the civilization of Europe.
At the time we write the beautiful Swiss capital was one of the
principal seats of learning in Europe. But, alas! its literature was
blasted by the false principles of the Reformation. Like marble
cenotaphs that have corruption within, Geneva, clothed with all the
beauties of nature and art, was rotten to the core in her moral and
religious character. She became the mother of heresiarchs, the theatre
of infidelity, and by her press and preaching scattered far and wide
the wildest theories of deism and unbelief. All the secret societies
of the world were represented in her lodges, and within her walls,
were gathered men of desparate and socialistic politics who had sworn
to overturn as far as they could the authority of society, to despise
the rights of property, and to trample on the laws of order. There
was no city in the world guilty of more blasphemy than this beautiful
Geneva; and even to this day, as the sins of fathers descend to their
children, the teachings of Calvin, of Bayle, and of Servetus hang like
a chronic curse over the city to warp every noble feeling of Christian
virtue.
Amongst the leaders of the secret societies, amongst the socialists
who plot the ruin of their fellow-citizens, and amongst the infidels
who blasphemously ridicule the mysteries of Christianity, we must now
seek the unfortunate Cassier, who has arrived in Geneva.