Niagara Falls 



1847 ment, and, at last, almost confusion, came upon me; sight and 

 War urton sounc l seemed to have joined their strength and merged into a 

 vague impression — vague, but of mighty force. A passing 

 stranger addressed some question to me, which aroused me; I 

 found that, unconscious of the lapse of time, I had been for 

 hours staring at the great wonder. 



I got up reluctantly, and proceeded to the nuisance of sight- 

 seeing, but looked back every now and then as though fearing 

 that I should lose the rest of the grand spectacle ; for I could not 

 but fancy that it was some strange and transient phenomenon, or 

 a display got up by some enormous effort for the moment. When 

 night came, it seemed reckless waste to keep it going still, while 

 its glorious beauty was hidden from mortal view. 



It was not till increasing distance freed me from its influence, 

 and when thought returned, that I knew it had been going on 

 yesterday, last year, for a century, for tens of centuries — back 

 to that deep abyss of the past, on which sceptic science — pre- 

 sumptuous though feeble — has dared to shed a dim and sinister 

 light, of only sufficient strength to show, that the depths must 

 remain forever — inscrutable as profound. 



Now, the neighborhood of this great wonder is overrun with 

 every species of abominable fungus — the growth of rank bad 

 taste: with equal luxuriance on the English and American sides, 

 Chinese pagoda, menagerie, camera obscura, museum, watch- 

 tower, wooden monument, tea-gardens, " old curiosity shops." A 

 boy handed me a slip of paper on which were printed some 

 stanzas of astounding magnificence, signed "Almira," much in 

 the favorite style of the poet laureate to " Moses and Son." I 

 cannot refrain from giving a short quotation: 



" Would ye fain steal a glance o'er life's dark sea, 

 And gaze though trembling on eternity? 

 Would ye look 0U U l°°k down, where God hath set 

 His mighty signet? Come — come higher yet, 

 To the Pagoda's utmost height ascend, 

 And see earth, air, and sky in one alembic blend! " 



1074 



