« Falls of the Niagara. 



silently. The truth is, that pompous phrases cannot describe 

 these Falls. Calm and deeply meaning words should alone be 

 used in speaking of them. Any thing lil<e hyperbole would de- 

 grade them, if" they could be degraded. But they cannot be. 

 Neither the words nor the deeds of man degrade or disturb 

 them. — There they pour over, in their collected might and 

 dignified flowing, steadily, constantly, as they always have 

 been pouring since they came from the hollow of his hand, 

 and you can add nothing to them, nor can you take any thing 

 from them. 



As I rose, on the morning following my arrival, and went to 

 the window for an early view, a singular fear came over me" 

 that the Falls might have passed away, though their sound 

 was in my ears. It was, to be sure, rather the shadow of a 

 fear than a fear, and reason dissipated it as soon as it was 

 formed. But the bright things of earth are so apt to be fleet- 

 ing, and we are so liable to lose what is valued as soon as it 

 is bestowed, that I believed it was a perfectly natural feeling 

 which suggested to me for an instant, that I had enjoyed quite 

 as much of such a glorious exhibition as I deserved, and that 

 I had no right to expect that it would continue as long as I 

 might be pleased to behold. But the Falls were there, with 

 their full, regular and beautiful flowing. The clouds of spray 

 and mist w^ere now dense and high, and completely conceal- 

 ed the opposite shores ; but as the day advanced, and the beams 

 of the sun increased in power, they were thin and contracted. 

 Presently a thunder shower rose up from the west, and passed 

 directly over us; and soon another came, still heavier than 

 the preceding. And now I was more impressed than ever 

 with the peculiar motion of the Fall; not, however, because 

 it experienced a change, but because it did not. The light- 

 ning gleamed, the thunder pealed, the rain fell in torrents; 

 the storms were grand ; but the Fall, if I may give its expres- 

 sion a language, did not heed them at all ; the rapids above 

 raged no more and no less than before, and the Fall poured 

 on with the same quiet solemnity, with the same equitable 

 intentness, undisturbed by the lightning and rain, and listen- 

 ing not to the loud thunder. 



About half a mile below the Horseshoe Fall, a commodious 

 road has lately been cut in a slanting direction, down the side 

 of the perpendicular cliff, and through the solid rock, to the 

 river. Here we find a regular ferry, and are conveyed in a small 

 boat across the stream, which is now narrowed to a breadth of 

 about twelve hundred feet, to the American side. The passage 

 is perfectly safe, and, though short, delightful, as it afTords a 



