In all ages of the world man has been a lover of mountains. Ruskin says, "Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery," hence it is natural that man should love them and that they should exercise great and potent influence upon him.

Carmel, Ararat, Hor, Horeb, Nebo, Sinai, Olivet, Hermon, Calvary, and others have left—through the literature of the Bible—ineffaceable impressions upon the highest civilizations of the world. All oriental literature abounds in references to mountains, and men were incited to lives of majesty, power, and purity by contemplation of them.

Every student of Japanese literature knows the influence Fuji Yama has had upon the destinies of that thoughtful nation. Life in the mountains of Afghanistan, Beloochistan and Northern India transformed the calm, meditative, pastoral Hindoos into active, impulsive, warlike peoples, whose movements resemble somewhat the fierce storms that play upon their mountain summits or the wild winds that whirl down their canyons.

The mountain traditions of Europe would fill many large volumes, and the folk-lore of the peasantry, as to how they came by their names, makes most fascinating reading.

Who is there that cannot discern—what Sir Walter Scott so forcibly presents—the influence upon the national character of the Scots and the Swiss exercised by the rugged, bold and snow-crowned mountains of their native lands? And the proverbial philosophy of both these peoples contains many coins with a mountain superscription.

There is scarcely a poet of any age or clime whose soul since Homer made Olympus the home of the gods and Parnassus the seat of poesy, has not thankfully accepted the uplift of mountain influence.

Of nearly all the true, pure, heroic souls of history one could exclaim: "He made him friends of mountains," and we read with thrilling delight the thoughts inspired by mountains in Homer, Virgil, Dante, Goethe, Schiller, Moliere, Fenelon, Bourdaloue, Massillon, Wordsworth, Browning, Agassiz, Winchell, Clarence King, LeConte and others.

On Sinai's rugged brow it was, amid heaven's awful thunders, God showed Himself to Moses, and, through him to mankind, in the two tables of the law. On Hor's solitary peak He condescended to place the priestly Aaron in his tomb. On Carmel, His servant, the dauntless Elijah called for fire, and God responded with the devouring element from heaven. On Ararat, above the drowned world, the family that was to re-people the earth, started after their long confinement in their floating home. On Pisgah, Moses stood to survey the promised land. On Hermon Christ's transfiguration took place. On Hattin He proclaimed the beatitudes. On Calvary He was crucified, and on Olivet He ascended.

While the exigencies of business and commerce have made it necessary for the large majority of people to dwell on level plains or on the shores of the ocean, the greatest peoples and the nations which have longest maintained their independence have been those which inhabited mountainous sections, and breathed the pure air of the higher altitudes. The purest patriotism, the highest intellectual attainments, the greatest love of family, and the most perfect physical development have been found among people who were inspired by the grandeur of mountain scenery. The clinging faith and stern patriotism of the Hebrews were the result of their love of the mountains of Palestine; the love of the Greeks for the mountains on which they lived gave them the intellectual and physical vigor which enabled them to roll back the Persian hosts; the sunny mountains of Italy were an inspiration to the Romans which enabled them to rule the world, and the heroism of the Swiss in preserving their national autonomy in spite of all Europe, is the most illustrious example of what has been the history of all mountaineers. Mountains are the barriers which have preserved nations from destruction, and national borders generally run parallel with mountain ranges.