Niagara Falls 



1836 upward. In these two views, from above and below, one has 

 an idea of the power of the cataract. . . . 



Two of us only remained at Table Rock at twilight. There 

 was a fearful beauty in the growing darkness and loneliness of 

 the scene. I lay down on the rock, with my head over the vast 

 abyss. It was an hour of deep and mighty feelings — none but 

 moral struggles can rival them in my soul. It is now midnight; 

 the roar of the waters agitates me. I have just raised the window, 

 and the white foam looks like a troubled spirit in the darkness. 

 I cannot soothe down my heart — it is kindled by deep workings 

 of the Invisible. 



Cataract House — American side. 



My dreams are very wild here. I am not calm. A great 

 voice seems calling on me, which I am too feeble to answer. 



I left the Falls, for a few hours, with regret, as a matter of 

 duty, to visit Brock's Monument. . . . The English houses 

 on the way are neat, and somewhat tasteful. More pains are 

 taken by the inhabitants than by persons in a corresponding class 

 on the other side of the river, to hide the unseemly, and cultivate 

 the agreeable. At Bridgewater, or Lundy's Lane, we stopped 

 to see the battle ground of July 25th, 1814. . . . If men 

 must fight, there can be no fitter place than in the neighborhood 

 of Niagara. Strength to do and dare may well be caught from 

 this spectacle. I think I could pull a woman's cap to tatters, 

 who should offend me there. 



. . . It was a wild, cloudy day, and the scene seemed 

 closely bounded. It is impossible, in the necessary direction 

 given to the boat to stem the current, not to believe, as it leaps 

 over the rapids, that it is hurrying to the foot of the Falls. The 

 rushing of the cataract, and its roar, which has seemed to me 

 increasing rather than diminishing ever since I came, are brought 

 fearfully near. I closed my eyes an instant, as we approached 

 the Fall, but one cannot afford to lose such moments. I opened 



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