But Now We Must Make Haste Back Before The Fog Disperses To The
Blithe Merrimack Water.
Since that first "Away!
Away!"
Many a lengthy reach we've rowed,
Still the sparrow on the spray
Hastes to usher in the day
With her simple stanza'd ode.
We passed a canal-boat before sunrise, groping its way to the
seaboard, and, though we could not see it on account of the fog,
the few dull, thumping, stertorous sounds which we heard,
impressed us with a sense of weight and irresistible motion. One
little rill of commerce already awake on this distant New
Hampshire river. The fog, as it required more skill in the
steering, enhanced the interest of our early voyage, and made the
river seem indefinitely broad. A slight mist, through which
objects are faintly visible, has the effect of expanding even
ordinary streams, by a singular mirage, into arms of the sea or
inland lakes. In the present instance it was even fragrant and
invigorating, and we enjoyed it as a sort of earlier sunshine, or
dewy and embryo light.
Low-anchored cloud,
Newfoundland air,
Fountain-head and source of rivers,
Dew-cloth, dream drapery,
And napkin spread by fays;
Drifting meadow of the air,
Where bloom the daisied banks and violets,
And in whose fenny labyrinth
The bittern booms and heron wades;
Spirit of lakes and seas and rivers,
Bear only perfumes and the scent
Of healing herbs to just men's fields!
The same pleasant and observant historian whom we quoted above
says, that, "In the mountainous parts of the country, the ascent
of vapors, and their formation into clouds, is a curious and
entertaining object. The vapors are seen rising in small columns
like smoke from many chimneys. When risen to a certain height,
they spread, meet, condense, and are attracted to the mountains,
where they either distil in gentle dews, and replenish the
springs, or descend in showers, accompanied with thunder. After
short intermissions, the process is repeated many times in the
course of a summer day, affording to travellers a lively
illustration of what is observed in the Book of Job, `They are
wet with the showers of the mountains.'"
Fogs and clouds which conceal the overshadowing mountains lend
the breadth of the plains to mountain vales. Even a
small-featured country acquires some grandeur in stormy weather
when clouds are seen drifting between the beholder and the
neighboring hills. When, in travelling toward Haverhill through
Hampstead in this State, on the height of land between the
Merrimack and the Piscataqua or the sea, you commence the descent
eastward, the view toward the coast is so distant and unexpected,
though the sea is invisible, that you at first suppose the
unobstructed atmosphere to be a fog in the lowlands concealing
hills of corresponding elevation to that you are upon; but it is
the mist of prejudice alone, which the winds will not disperse.
The most stupendous scenery ceases to be sublime when it becomes
distinct, or in other words limited, and the imagination is no
longer encouraged to exaggerate it.
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