I Will Venture Then To Suggest A King For This New Nation; And,
Seeing That We Are Rich In Princes, There Need Be No Difficulty In
The Selection.
Would it not be beautiful to see a new nation
established under such auspices, and to establish a people to whom
their independence had been given, to whom it had been freely
surrendered as soon as they were capable of holding the position
assigned to them!
CHAPTER VII.
NIAGARA.
Of all the sights on this earth of ours which tourists travel to
see - at least of all those which I have seen - I am inclined to give
the palm to the Falls of Niagara. In the catalogue of such sights
I intend to include all buildings, pictures, statues, and wonders
of art made by men's hands, and also all beauties of nature
prepared by the Creator for the delight of his creatures. This is
a long word; but, as far as my taste and judgment go, it is
justified. I know no other one thing so beautiful, so glorious,
and so powerful. I would not by this be understood as saying that
a traveler wishing to do the best with his time should first of all
places seek Niagara. In visiting Florence he may learn almost all
that modern art can teach. At Rome he will be brought to
understand the cold hearts, correct eyes, and cruel ambition of the
old Latin race. In Switzerland he will surround himself with a
flood of grandeur and loveliness, and fill himself, if he be
capable of such filling, with a flood of romance. The tropics will
unfold to him all that vegetation in its greatest richness can
produce. In Paris he will find the supreme of polish, the ne plus
ultra of varnish according to the world's capability of varnishing.
And in London he will find the supreme of power, the ne plus ultra
of work according to the world's capability of working. Any one of
such journeys may be more valuable to a man - nay, any one such
journey must be more valuable to a man - than a visit to Niagara.
At Niagara there is that fall of waters alone. But that fall is
more graceful than Giotto's tower, more noble than the Apollo. The
peaks of the Alps are not so astounding in their solitude. The
valleys of the Blue Mountains in Jamaica are less green. The
finished glaze of life in Paris is less invariable; and the full
tide of trade round the Bank of England is not so inexorably
powerful.
I came across an artist at Niagara who was attempting to draw the
spray of the waters. "You have a difficult subject," said I. "All
subjects are difficult," he replied, "to a man who desires to do
well." "But yours, I fear is impossible," I said. "You have no
right to say so till I have finished my picture," he replied. I
acknowledged the justice of his rebuke, regretted that I could not
remain till the completion of his work should enable me to revoke
my words, and passed on. Then I began to reflect whether I did not
intend to try a task as difficult in describing the falls, and
whether I felt any of that proud self-confidence which kept him
happy at any rate while his task was in hand. I will not say that
it is as difficult to describe aright that rush of waters as it is
to paint it well. But I doubt whether it is not quite as difficult
to write a description that shall interest the reader as it is to
paint a picture of them that shall be pleasant to the beholder. My
friend the artist was at any rate not afraid to make the attempt,
and I also will try my hand.
That the waters of Lake Erie have come down in their courses from
the broad basins of Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and Lake Huron;
that these waters fall into Lake Ontario by the short and rapid
river of Niagara; and that the falls of Niagara are made by a
sudden break in the level of this rapid river, is probably known to
all who will read this book. All the waters of these huge northern
inland seas run over that breach in the rocky bottom of the stream;
and thence it comes that the flow is unceasing in its grandeur, and
that no eye can perceive a difference in the weight, or sound, or
violence of the fall whether it be visited in the drought of
autumn, amid the storms of winter, or after the melting of the
upper worlds of ice in the days of the early summer. How many
cataracts does the habitual tourist visit at which the waters fail
him! But at Niagara the waters never fail. There it thunders over
its ledge in a volume that never ceases and is never diminished - as
it has done from times previous to the life of man, and as it will
do till tens of thousands of years shall see the rocky bed of the
river worn away back to the upper lake.
This stream divides Canada from the States - the western or
farthermost bank belonging to the British Crown, and the eastern or
nearer bank being in the State of New York. In visiting Niagara,
it always becomes a question on which side the visitor shall take
up his quarters. On the Canada side there is no town; but there is
a large hotel beautifully placed immediately opposite to the falls
and this is generally thought to be the best locality for tourists.
In the State of New York is the town called Niagara Falls; and here
there are two large hotels, which, as to their immediate site, are
not so well placed as that in Canada. I first visited Niagara some
three years since. I stayed then at the Clifton House, on the
Canada side, and have since sworn by that position.
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