Thomas County cat., 1886-11-04
PILGRIMS Al NIAGARA.


As they walked slowly on, past the
now abandoned paper-mills and the
other human impertinences, the ele-
mental turmoil increased, and they
seemed entering world the founda-
tions of which were broken up. This
must have been GOOD deal of matter
of impression for other parties of sight
seers we're coming and going. appar-
emily unawed. and intent simply on
| visiting every point spoken of in the
guide-book. and probably unconscious
of the all-pervading terror. Standing
upon the platform at the top, the spec
tator realizes for the first time the inn
mense might of the down-pOur of the
American fall. and notes the pale green
/ color, with here anu there aviOlet tone,
and the white cloud mass squirting Cut
from the solid color. On the foam.
| crested river lay a rainbow forming
nearly a complete circle. The little
| steamer Maid of the Mist was coming
up. riding the waves, dashed here and
there by conflicting currents, but resO-
lutely steaming On-such IS the audacity
of man-and poking her venturesome
nose into the boiling foam under the
Horseshoe. On the deck are pigmy
passengers in Oil-skin suits, clumsy
| figures, like Arctic explorers. The
boat tosses about like chip, it hes;
tates and quivers, and then SLOWLY
swinging, darts away down the cur
| rent, fleeing from the wrath of the
waters. and pursued by the angry roar.
Surely it is an island of magic, un-
substantial. liable to go adrift and
| plunge into the canyon. Even i'll tine
forest path, where the great tree trunks
assure one of stability and long imnu-
nifty, this feeling can not be shaken OFT.
Our party descended the winding stair
case in the tower, and walked ON the
shelf under the mighty ledge to the
| entrance of the Cave of the winds.
The curtain of water covering this en-
trance was blown back and forth by
the wind, now leaving the platform
dry and now deluging it. From this
platform one looks down the narrow
slippery stains that are lost in the DOLL
ing mist, and wonders at the daring
that built these steps down into that
hell, and carried the frail walks OF
planks over the powders outside the
fall. A party in oil-skins making their
way there. looked like lost men and
women in Dante Inferno. The tur-
bulent waters dashed all about them;
the mist occasionally wrapped them
from sight: they clung to the rails; they
tried to speak to each other; their
gestures seemed motions of despair.
Could that be Eurydice whom the
rough guide was tenderly dragging
out of the hell of waters. up the stony
path. that singular figure in oil-skin
trousers, who disclosed a pretty face
inside her hood as she emerged? One
might venture into the internal re-
giOns to rescue such woman; but
why take her there? The group of ad
venturers stopped a moment on tho
platform, with tine opening into the
misty cavern for background, and
the artist said that the picture was,
beyond all power of pencil. strange
and fantastic. There is nothing, after
all, that the human race will not dare
for new sensation.
The walk around Goat Island is prob
ably unsurpassed in the world fOrwOn
der and beauty The Americans have
every reason to be satisfied with their
share of the fall: they get nowhere one
single grand view like that from the
Canada side, but infinitely the deepest
impression of ma jesty and power is OBJ
tatOr is in the midst of the war of
nature. From the point over the
Horseshoe Fall our friends. speak ng
not much, but more and more deeply
moved. strolled along in the lovely for
est. in a rural solemnlty, in a local
calm, almost a seclusiOn, except for
the ever-present shuddering roar in the
air. On the shore above the HorseshOs
they first cOmprelended the breadth.
the great sweep of the rapids. The
white crests of the waves in the west
were coming out from under a black.
lowering sky; all the foreground was
in bright sunlight, dancing. sparkling.
leaping, hurrying OH, cOnverging to
the angle where the water becomes a
deep emerald at the break and plunge.
The rapids above are series of shelves,
bristling with jutting rocks and lodged
trunks of trees, and the wildness of the
scene is intensified by tine ragged fringe
of eyergreens on the opposite shore.
Over the whole island the mist, ris-
ing from the caldrOn, drifts in spray
when the wind is favorable; but ON this
day the forest was bright and cheerful,
and as the strollers went farther away
from the Great Fall. the beauty of the
scene began to steal away its terror.
The roar was still dominant, but far
off and sOftened, and did not crush the
ear. The triple islands the Three Sis
tiers in their picturesque wildness APP
peared like playful freaks of nature in
a momentary relaxation of the savage
mood. Here is the finest view of the
river; to one standing on the outer
most island the great flood seems
out of the sky. They con-
tinued along the bank of the river.
The shallow stream races by headlong,
but close 10 the edge are numerous ed
dies. and places where one mig ght step
in and not be swept away. At length
they reached the point where the river
divides. and the water stands for an
instant almost still. hesitating whether
to take the Canadian or the American
plunge. Out little way from the
shore the waves leap and tumble, and
the two currents are like race-horses
parted on two ways to the goal. just
Il, ~v~,A II