Page:Diary of a Pilgrimage (1891).pdf/97

its bitter contest with form and colour, has recoiled, defeated for the present from the mountain fastnesses of Bavaria. Still, as Sunday or gala-day comes round, the broad-shouldered, sunburnt shepherd of the Oberland dons his gay green-embroidered jacket over his snowy shirt, fastens his short knee-breeches with a girdle round his waist, claps his high, feather-crowned hat upon his waving curls, and, with bare legs, shod in mighty boots, strides over the hill-sides to his Gretchen's door.

She is waiting for him, you may be sure, ready dressed;