Niagara Falls 



1886 the victim over the cataract; but the calm was very grateful to 

 Warner ^ s t unne d and buffeted visitors; upon their jarred nerves it was 



like the peace of God. 



The relief from the dread of Niagara felt at this point of 

 peace was only temporary. The dread returned when the party 

 approached again the turmoil of the American Fall, and fell 

 again under the influence of the merciless haste of the flood. And 

 there every islet, every rock, every point, has its legend of terror ; 

 here a boat lodged with a man in it, and after a day and night 

 of vain attempts to rescue him, thousands of people saw him take 

 the frightful leap, throwing up his arms as he went over ; here a 

 young woman slipped, and was instantly whirled away out of 

 life; and from that point more than one dazed or frantic visitor 

 had taken the suicidal, leap. Death was so near here and so 

 easy! 



One seems in less personal peril on the Canadian side, and has 

 more the feeling of a spectator, and less that of a participant in 

 the wild uproar. Perhaps there is more sense of force, but the 

 majesty of the scene is relieved by a hundred shifting effects of 

 light and color. In the afternoon, under a broken sky, the rapids 

 above the Horseshoe reminded one of the seashore on a very 

 stormy day. Impeded by the rocks, the flood hesitated and even 

 ran back, as if reluctant to take the final plunge! The sienna 

 color of the water on the table contrasted sharply with the emerald 

 at the break of the fall. A rainbow springing out of the centre 

 of the caldron arched clear over the American cataract, and was 

 one moment bright and the next dimly seen through the mist, 

 which boiled up out of the foam of waters and swayed in the 

 wind. Through this veil darted adventurous birds, flashing their 

 wings in the prismatic colors, and circling about as if fascinated 

 by the awful rush and thunder. With the shifting wind and the 

 passing clouds the scene was in perpetual change; now the 

 American Fall was creamy white, and the mist below dark, and 

 again the heavy mass was gray and sullen, and the mist like 



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