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.
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