Stories of persons and places in Europe . ff,until they were piled up to a vastheight, and completely choked up thenarrow outlet for the water thatmelted from them. The people knewthat when summer came there wouldbe a fearful flood, and some left theirhomes to escape the danger. One hotday, the icy dam gave way, and thelake which had formed above it burstout over the valley carrying deathand destruction all along its way toLake Geneva. Many lives were lostand much property destroyed. Gateways of the Alps.—WhenHannibal led his army over the Alps,more than sixteen hundred years ago,the people th
Stories of persons and places in Europe . ff,until they were piled up to a vastheight, and completely choked up thenarrow outlet for the water thatmelted from them. The people knewthat when summer came there wouldbe a fearful flood, and some left theirhomes to escape the danger. One hotday, the icy dam gave way, and thelake which had formed above it burstout over the valley carrying deathand destruction all along its way toLake Geneva. Many lives were lostand much property destroyed. Gateways of the Alps.—WhenHannibal led his army over the Alps,more than sixteen hundred years ago,the people thought it a greater featthan any he had accomplished in bat-tle. They considered the Alps impas-sable : they did not know of thegrand gateways that Nature had cutfor them in the mountain walls. Thereare several of these passes, and onsome of them there are now goodcarriage roads. The most noted ofthese is the pass of St. Bernard,wherestands the famous life saving stationof the Alps, with its devoted monksand noble dogs. This hospice was. A MOUNTAIN ASCENT. 282 Persons and Places in Europe. built nearly a thousand years ago by the good old St. Bernard ofMenthon, for the relief of travelers. No one is ever refused admittancehere, even thongh the guests number six or seven hundred, as they dosometimes in summer ; and many a traveler has been saved from a deathin the snow by the heroic inmates. Every morning, after a violent storm,the dogs are sent out, each with warm clothing, a bottle of wine, and somefood fastened to his body. The monks follow, and when they hear thedeep bay of a dog, they know that some lost one has been found, and thattheir help is needed. An instance of the wonderful intelligence of these dogs, is the story ofthe famous Barry. He found a child asleep in the snow one day, awoke it,persuaded it to get upon his back, and carried it safely to the picture, with the child clinging to his neck, approaching the conventgate is a familiar one, and his stuf
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