These disadvantages, instead of daunting the young pastor, seemed only
to stimulate his ardor. "I am always dreaming of the High Alps," he had
written in 1823, after visiting them for the first time. "I had rather
be stationed there than in places which are under the beautiful sky of
Languedoc. The country bears a strong resemblance to the Alps of
Switzerland. It has their advantages, and even their beauties. It has,
above all, an energetic race of people--intelligent, active, hardy and
patient under fatigue--who offer a better soil for the gospel than the
wealthy and corrupt inhabitants of the plains of the South." The
illusions that mingled with these early impressions were doubtless soon
dispelled. He shows later a perfectly clear perception of the degenerate
condition of his parishioners, but his eagerness to serve them waxes
with his sense of their need. Neff was in modern times their first
regularly-appointed pastor. A son of Oberlin, whose short but devoted
life shows him to have inherited his father's spirit, had once
undertaken the provisional charge of the parish, but only for a few
months. In general, it had had no ministry beyond occasional visits from
the pastor of Orpierre, the other section of the department.
The valley of Fressiniere at once attracted Neff's peculiar regard. It
was the part of his parish most difficult of access and most cut off
from any chance of material prosperity. The climate is such that in
unfavorable seasons even rye will not ripen, and the patches of potatoes
straggling forlornly among the rocks often fail to reach maturity.
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