The More That I See
Of The Beauty Of Scenery, And The More I Consider Its Elements, The
Stronger Becomes My Conviction That Size Has But Little To Do With
It, And Rather Detracts From It Than Adds To It.
Distance gives
one of its greatest charms, but it does so by concealing rather
than displaying an expanse of surface.
The beauty of distance
arises from the romance, the feeling of mystery which it creates.
It is like the beauty of woman, which allures the more the more
that it is vailed. But open, uncovered land and water, mountains
which simply rise to great heights, with long, unbroken slopes,
wide expanses of lake, and forests which are monotonous in their
continued thickness, are never lovely to me. A landscape should
always be partly vailed, and display only half its charms.
To my taste the finest stretch of the river was that immediately
above Lake Pepin; but then, at this point, we had all the glory of
the setting sun. It was like fairy-land, so bright were the golden
hues, so fantastic were the shapes of the hills, so broken and
twisted the course of the waters! But the noisy steamer went
groaning up the narrow passages with almost unabated speed, and
left the fairy land behind all too quickly. Then the bell would
ring for tea, and the children with the beef-steaks, the pickled
onions, and the light fixings would all come over again. The care-
laden mothers would tuck the bibs under the chins of their tyrant
children, and some embryo senator of four years old would listen
with concentrated attention while the negro servant recapitulated
to him the delicacies of the supper-table, in order that he might
make his choice with due consideration.
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