326 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



thoughts, while the train sped along through the narrow 

 valley of the Delaware, which at times may be called a 

 hollow way among rocky mountains, mostly very steep 

 and bedecked with firs and ferns of the most magnificent 

 kinds and sizes. Here and there a romantic village<-sta- 

 tion and now and then a wood-chopper's abode, which 

 left me wondering whether America's greatest son, the 

 lamented wood chopper and rail-splitting President was 

 ever as happy in later life as when he shared the bread 

 and bed of nature's sons of the forest. At Susquehanna 

 we enjoyed a twenty minutes' stopover for refreshments. 

 Soon after we entered the valley of the Oswego, which is 

 wider but not much different from that of the Delaware, 

 both being very picturesque. Another stop was at eight 

 in the evening for supper. In another four hours we 

 reached Buffalo, after a trip of four hundred and eighty- 

 three miles in sixteen hours, or about thirty miles an 

 hour. The City Hotel is my temporary resting-place. 



Wednesday, the thirteenth. 



" Weather and women," some say, ''are changeable. " 

 To the former I certainly can testify, as this downpour 

 of rain could surely not have been foreseen yesterday, 

 when Flora appeared in her ever-beautiful spring- garb. 

 But I had to go now or not-at-all, if I wanted to see the 

 Niagara Falls before leaving for Europe. It is twenty- 

 two miles from Buffalo, and if you feel drowsy take a nap, 

 for you certainly will not lose anything for the time be- 

 ing. It seemed to me as if Mother Nature intended to 

 gather for rest her own and her visitors ' strength in order 

 to fit them for the coming spectacle. I reached the station 

 at ten o'clock and registered at the "Niagara Hotel." It 

 actually rained in torrents nearly all day. 



After seven o'clock it began to clear up slightly, where- 

 fore I ventured out and following the sound of the falling 

 waters I soon reached a spot— fancy my surprise— about 

 two steps from the world-renowned Falls. The path had 

 hidden it from me by the thick bushes which grow on 

 either side. But as it grew darker and my safety de- 



