Niagara Falls 



1843 sunset, and looking, too, a moment, he said approvingly " that 

 sun looks well enough; " a speech worthy of Shakespeare's 

 Cloten, or the infant Mercury, up to everything from the cradle, 

 as you please to take it. 



Even such a familiarity, worthy of Jonathan, our national 

 hero, in a prince's palace, or " stumping " as he boasts to have 

 done, " up the Vatican stairs, into the Pope's presence, in my 

 old boots," I felt here; it looks really well enough, I felt, and 

 was inclined, as you suggested, to give my approbation as to the 

 one object in the world that would not disappoint. 



But all great expression, which, on a superficial survey, seems 

 so easy as well as so simple, furnishes, after a while, to the 

 faithful observer its own standard by which to appreciate it. 

 Daily these proportions widened and towered more and more 

 upon my sight, and I got, at last, a proper foreground for these 

 sublime distances. Before coming away, I think I really saw 

 the full wonder of the scene. After a while it so drew me into 

 itself as to inspire an undefined dread, such as I never knew 

 before, such as may be felt when death is about to usher us 

 into a new existence. The perpetual trampling of the waters 

 seized my senses. I felt that no other sound, however near, 

 could be heard, and would start and look behind me for a foe. 

 I realized the identity of that mood of nature in which these 

 waters were poured down with such absorbing force, with that 

 in which the Indian was shaped on the same soil. For continu- 

 ally upon my mind came, unsought and unwelcome, images, such 

 as never haunted it before, of naked savages stealing behind 

 me with uplifted tomahawks; again and again this illusion 

 recurred, and even after I had thought it over, and tried to shake 

 it off, I could not help starting and looking behind me. 



As picture, the Falls can only be seen from the British side. 

 There they are seen in their veils, and at sufficient distance to 

 appreciate the magical effects of these, and the light and shade. 

 From the boat, as you cross, the effects and contrasts are more 

 melodramatic. On the road back from the whirlpool, we saw 



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