The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1875-06-10
Niagara's Temptations.

Niagara's Temptations.
Tho Influence of the Great Waterfall
Over the Female Mind-NOtabIe Sui
cides AT the Falls.
The sombre aspects of the Niagara
charm all young and sentimental
hearts, tender and romantic melan-
choly being the chosen property of
youth. Niagara is the pilgrimage of
love, as Stratford- Avon is the pill
grimage of genius, Mount Vernon the
pilgrimage Of patriotism, and Santiago
the pilgrimage of superstition.
At Niagara the happy lovers breathe
their VOWS and pledge their troth, in
voking the lonely woods, the lashing
water and rising clouds OF spray, as
witnesses of their burning love and
steadfast truth. At Niagara hapless
swains and maidens, crossed in their
affections, blighted in their prospects,
wander by the isles and banks for one
last half hour of bliss, and then, with
arms entwined and hearts inseparable
go headlong over.
DISAPPOINTMENT IN LOVE.
Not long ago young man came
across from the American side accom-
panied by pretty girl, and by little
child. He hired boat not far above
the rapids, put the lady and the child
into the stern, and throwing his oars
into the boat, pushed off into the
stream. Au old boatman warned him
to beware of going out too far. The
u,niInl onI nnllnI lint
pushed out into the flood. At once the
boatman saw that he lost control of his
little craft, and shouted to him to edge
about, as he was i'll the rush. The
rover raised an oar in answer to his
cries the shaft was snapped across but
whether done by accident or design,
the old man could not say.
"God help you " sighed the boat.
man in a few more moments they were
gone. When friends came to see the
bodies it WAS found to be case of pas
sion ana despair. Loving each other
madly, they had fled from home and
parents who opposed their union they
had sought Niagara, the cure of disap-
pointed love and in these waters they
had found their everlasting rest.
WIFE THAT WAS NEVER FOUND.
From Table Rock towards Lake On
talio sweeps chasm for many miles
through which the rapids race with
velocity to make the eddies of the
Danube at the Iron Gates seem tame,
the whirlpools of the Neva round the
rock of Schlussel commonplace. This
cbasm is the favorite grave of hapless
lovers and despairing maids. The
mighty fissure has eaten it out, the
teeth gnawinR deeper in the rock from
age to age. No man has yet surveyed
this bed and told us how far down into
the earth these volumes of descending
water plunge. You dare not push your
boat into the foam. But on the outer
edge of these great circles you may
drop your line, hundred feet two
hundred feet and find no bottom.
Many persons drive into the deep, but
never rise again to tell the tale. Their
dive is taken once for all. The bodies
are rarely found. Some months ago a
lady came alone to hotel on the Amer
ican side-a pretty woman, young and
well attired, who gave her name us the
wife of Chicago merchant.
For day or two she roamed about
the falls, the cataracts and the river
banks. No one noticed her, for pretty
women are seen at every turn, and at
Niagara every one roams about the
falls, the cataracts, and the river. In
the evening of the third day she was
missing at her hotel. A guide had seen
woman fling herself from the bridge
on one of the sister isles, but whether
she was drowned or not he could not
say. A telegram was sent to Chicago (;
and by noon on the second Cay man
arrived who said he was the lady's hus-
band. The guide could not a. sure him
that the lady missing from the hotel
was the woman seen spring from the
bridge. He had never noticed her be-
fore The lady from Chicago might
have crossed the brige. When high
rewards were offered for her body,
men who knew every stone and gully IN
the ravine az they knew the logs and
ladders of their own shantles, searched
every crevice in the rocks, but not a
trace of her could be found, and the
disconsolate widower had to leave Nj
agara without securing legal evidence
that his wife was dead.
For some time she was speechless,
but, on coming to her senses she told
her mother that her husband had been
CROSS with her that morning, wanting
her to take holiday when she had no
mind for it that she was little fidgety;
and that on seeing the water flow
smoothly down, and looking 80 lovely,
she saw pleasant way to end all hel
worries. The water tempted her. Bu'
she was glad they caught her in th'
rapids. For, from the moment she be
gan to glide a helpless waif, the water
lost their power, the romance OF he
life fla ,hed upon her brain-her hus
bands trust, her happy home, he
parents dotipg and her children's love
The heart cried out for life-for on
more trial of her duty. She was saved
Next year she came to Clifton with he
child to look at the ledge from whic
she had sprung, and thank the guide
once more for having saved her life
She never spoke Of the affair again
but every summer she returns to Nisga
ra, and those who know her notice tina
she fingers for q moment lat the ledge