experience, and the view from the top a vision to dream about, and tell about, and recall with exultation all the days of his life.
While I do not advise such a person to attempt the ascent, I do not advise him against it. But if he elects to attempt it, let him be warily careful of two things: choose a calm clear day; and do not pay the telescope man in advance. There are dark stories of his getting advance-payers on the summit and then leaving them there to rot.
A frightful tragedy was once witnessed through the Chamonix telescopes. Think of questions and answers like these, on an inquest:
Coroner. You saw deceased lose his life?
Witness. I did.
C. Where was he, at the time?
W. Close to the summit of Mont Blanc.
C. Where were you?
W. In the main street of Chamonix.
C. What was the distance between you?
W. A little over five miles, as the bird flies.
This accident occurred in 1866, a year and a month after the disaster on the Matterhorn. Three adventurous English gentlemen,[1] of great experience in mountain climbing, made up their minds to ascend Mont Blanc without guides or porters. All endeavors to dissuade them from their project failed. Powerful telescopes are numerous in Chamonix. These huge brass tubes, mounted on their scaffoldings and pointing skyward from every choice vantage-ground, have the formidable look of artillery, and give the town the general aspect of getting ready to repel a charge of angels. The reader may easily believe that the telescopes had plenty of custom on that August morning in 1866, for everybody knew of the dangerous undertaking which was on foot, and all had fears that misfortune would result. All the morning the tubes
- ↑ Sir George Young and his brothers James and Albert.
