The Argosy — page 243: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

At Gastein. 227 assumed, the weird-like aspect they at times threw over the landscape. Then, when the sun burst forth from behind the grey clouds, how quickly they: would hurry away, as if afraid of being pursued and over- come by so powerful an enemy ! It was a rare thing in these walks to meet any one beyond the pea- santry ; and they perhaps were the pleasantest people to encounter : as a race of peasints, the handsomest I had ever seen, and the most in- a j a co i | GASTEIN PEASANT. nately courteous ; the tall, strong, athletic forms of the men well set off by the picturesque costume of the country. The women in youth are many of them beautiful, but they quickly grow old and ugly. I have never seen faces so hard and wrinkled as those of the aged women, many of their forms bowed and bent and shrunken, almost, as it seemed, to a state of collapse. They are subject to two sad scourges: the loss of their teeth while young, and a malady called goitre-throats. The dress of the women was also very picturesque, and some of them wore showy jewellery round their necks that would have driven many a stern Calvinist to serious discourse upon the pomps and vanities of the world. COMI1CEOOOKS.COR