Maps and Pictures 



showers. In its snow-like drifts of foam below, beauty writhes in 1831 

 torment. Iris, at the presence of the sun, at the meek presence of 

 the moon, wreathes its feet with brighter glories than she hangs 

 around the temples of the cloud. Yet all is limited. It cannot 

 bear comparison with that which haunts the upper abysses of the 

 air. There is infinity in the cloud-scenery of a sunset. Men see 

 it, though, so commonly, that it ceases to make an impression upon 

 them. Niagara they see but once or so, and then only for a little 

 while; hence the power it exerts over their minds. Were there 

 Niagaras around us daily, they would not only cease in most 

 cases to be objects of pleasure, but would, very likely, become 

 sources of annoyance. But great, glorious, and sublime Niagara 

 — wonder to the eye of man — I do not wish to disparage thee. 

 Thou hast a power to stir the deep soul. Thy mighty and 

 majestic cadence echoes in my heart, and moves my spirit to many 

 thoughts and feelings. Thy bright misty towers, meeting the 

 vault on high, and based upon the shooting spray beneath, are 

 images of purity. Thy voice — deep calling unto deep, with a 

 might that makes thy hoary cliffs to tremble, leads back the soul 

 to Him, speaking upon Sinai's smoking summit. Thy steep-down 

 craggy precipices are the triumphal gate through which, in grand 

 procession, pass the royal lakes and captive rivers. The soul is 

 full of thee. Favoured is the man who treads thy brink. Thank- 

 ful should he be to God for the display of one of His most won- 

 derful works. But they are blessed who see thee not, if they 

 will accept the gift which God vouchsafes to all men, — which, 

 in beauty and sublimity, does far surpass Niagara — the sky. 

 O that men would turn from their sordid pursuits, and lift their 

 eyes with reverential wonder there. 



(The) Falls of Niagara. (View.) 3'/2x4' / 4. (In The lumiere, 1831 

 containing a variety of topographical views in Europe and America. 

 N. Y.: H. R. Piercy & Co. 1831. P. 52. 



A view of the Falls from the Canadian side and a description written by 

 some one who had been there in 1 797 and again after the Goat Island 

 bridge was built. The writer saw the Falls in summer and winter, and 

 tells of the ' myriads of wild ducks " in winter. 



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