BESIDE THE RIVER. 67 



that cover the broad sweep from the river s edge to 

 their own bases. Below me the quiet current enters 

 the heart of another group of mountains, flowing 

 silently between the precipitous and rocky heights 

 that lift themselves on either hand, indifferent 

 alike to the frowning summits when the sun warms 

 them with smiles, and to the black and portentous 

 shadows which they often cast across the channel 

 at their feet. The solitude and awe which belong 

 to mountain passes through which great rivers flow 

 clothe this place with solemnity and majesty as with 

 a visible garment, and fill one with a sense of inde 

 scribable awe. 



The river which lies before me moves through a 

 mist of legend and tradition as well as through a 

 landscape of substantial history. It has been called 

 an epical river because of the varied and sustained 

 beauty through which it sweeps from its mountain 

 sources to the sea ; but as I turn from it, and the 

 visible loveliness of its banks fades from sight, I 

 recall that other landscape of history and legend 

 through which it rolls, and that, for the moment, is 

 the reality, and the other the shadow. A web of 

 human associations spreads itself over this long 

 valley like a richer atmosphere ; the fields are ripe 

 with action and achievement ; every projecting 

 point has its story, every gentle curve and quiet 

 inlet its memory ; for many and many a decade of 

 years life has touched this silent stream and human 

 ized its power and beauty until it has become part 



