Niagara Falls 



1834 All that night, as there has been and will be for ages past 



awt ome anc j j. Q come> a rus hi n g sound was heard, as if a great tempest 

 were sweeping through the air. It mingled with my dreams, and 

 made them full of storm and whirlwind. Whenever I awoke, 

 and heard this dread sound in the air, and the windows rattling 

 as with a mighty blast, I could not rest again, till looking forth, 

 I saw how bright the stars were, and that every leaf in the 

 garden was motionless. Never was a summer night more calm 

 to the eye, nor a gale of autumn louder to the ear. The rushing 

 sound proceeds from the rapids, and the rattling of the case- 

 ments is but an effect of the vibration of the whole house, shaken 

 by the jar of the cataract. The noise of the rapids draws the 

 attention from the true voice of Niagara, which is a dull, muffled 

 thunder, resounding between the cliffs. I spent a wakeful hour 

 at midnight, in distinguishing its reverberations, and rejoiced to 

 find that my former awe and enthusiasm were reviving. 



Gradually, and after much contemplation, I came to know, 

 by my own feelings, that Niagara is indeed a wonder of the 

 world, and not the less wonderful, because time and thought 

 must be employed in comprehending it. Casting aside all pre- 

 conceived notions, and preparations to be dire-struck or 

 delighted, the beholder must stand beside it in the simplicity 

 of his heart, suffering the mighty scene to work its own impres- 

 sion. Night after night, I dreamed of it, and was gladdened 

 every morning by the consciousness of a growing capacity to 

 enjoy it. Yet I will not pretend to the all-absorbing enthusiasm 

 of some more fortunate spectators, nor deny that very trifling 

 causes would draw my eyes and thoughts from the cataract. 



The last day that I was to spend at Niagara, before my 

 departure for the Far West, I sat upon the Table Rock. This 

 celebrated station did not now, as of old, project fifty feet 

 beyond the line of the precipice, but was shattered by the fall 

 of an immense fragment, which lay distant on the shore below. 

 Still, on the utmost verge of the rock, with my feet hanging 

 over it, I felt as if suspended in the open air. Never before 



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