II 



"These are thy glorious works, Parent of good ; 



Almighty. Thine this universal frame, 

 Thus wondrous fair— Thyself how wondrous then 



Unspeakable, who sittest above these heavens, 

 To us invisible, or dimly seen, 



In these thy lowest works ; yet these declare 

 Thy goodness beyond thought and power divine." 



Happily here we may combine both of our inclinations in one, 

 and ascend Black Rock by way of the Cascades. Our path 

 winds along the base of Black Rock and through Pierrepoints 

 Grove, the old camping ground of the Spiritualists. 



Remembering this, as we get well into the woods, a weird 

 influence comes over us. We feel the presence of other forms 

 than our own. The realistic spirit of the age has sought in vain 

 to banish from the woodlands all the old mythology with its 

 rural deities, and they seem to rise up and surround us as we 

 invade their domain. 



As we go on higher up and come under the shadows of the 

 great ledges, another influence comes over us, inspiring feelings 

 of awe, and deeper thoughts. 



Here was formerly one of Nature's flower gardens, and might 

 be again if the Fells could be preserved and Nature encouraged 

 to re-assert herself. 



It was here that I first saw the blue-eyed hepatica and felt 

 something of the rapture which filled the soul of the great Lin- 

 naeus, when, on beholding this beautiful flower for the first time, 

 he fell on his knees and thanked God for so much loveliness. 



There were flowers and ferns, ferns and flowers in abundance 

 on every side. The learned naturalist who thought that the 

 brake and the sweet fern were the only two ferns in the known 

 world, might have gathered here twenty species within the 

 radius of a stone's throw. 



But now the melody of falling water salutes us and as we 

 turn a bend in our path, we come into full view of the Cascades. 



The principal fall here has a perpendicular desent of about 

 thirty feet. Above this fall the ledge over which it is precipi- 

 tated recedes several feet forming a broad flat flooring from which 

 rises a succession of rocky steps down which the water from 

 above comes bounding at times with great force and beauty. 



Above these steps there is a long rise to another series of 

 smaller falls, the extreme altitude of which is 200 feet, aneroid 

 measurement. 



