Excerpt from Claudine, or Humility, the Basis of All the Virtures: A Swiss Tale The size and strength of the enormous icy barrier may be imagined, when the vast mass of water it sustained is considered. The inhabit ants of the valley, aware of the calamity that must ensue if the summer's sun should dissolve the mighty dam and give liberty to the im prisoned mass of waters, fled with rapidity to the adjacent mountains. The course of such a stream, rapid and powerful, could not fail to carry desolation whithersoever it rushed. Time and habit, however, reconcile man to many things, which on the first glance appear terrible and insupportable. The peasants be held the mighty mass sustain the pressing waters for so long a period, that they deemed it could sustain them for ever, and by degrees returned to their deserted cottages. They saw that the summer's sun had not injured the icy barrier, and, forgetful that other seasons might produce other effects, they concluded that all was safe, and resumed their former habits of life. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.