Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-08-17
Going Down the CALIFORNIAN Canal.

pOiHs uoN IL tiC NdUNi,
August Atlantic.
At last, as day began to wane, We pass
ed through Loeb Aber and the Corran
Narrows into Loeb Linnhe. And here
the mighty spirit of the lakes and
mountains took possession of rs all, and
held shat boat-load OF merry people
silent and spellbound, 1t was as if we
were being borne onward, swiftly and
noiselessly. into the inmost holy of holies
Even the Cal plain and the very deckhands
stood like men entranced, overwhelmed
by the surprising splendor. Anything
80 grand so welred, so mag ical, can hard
ly be imagined, much less described.
The rain of two hours before had left the
air heavy with vapor, through which the
sun now shown gloriously, producing the
most marvellous effects. You might
make this trip hundred times, LADIES"
said the captain, as he stood uncovered,
land not get the half of what you are
getting to day,-no, nor the tenth of
| quote this, lest some of our dear
wandering kln5fOlA, who have been
down the Caledonia Canal on some
dull, gray day, when the Scotch mists
hemmed them In on all sides, aud they
could scarcely see beyond the decks,
should cry out, How that woman exag-
gerates!" But we have all seen trans
formation scenes on the stage, where the
effect of light and color, of rapidly dis
solving views, and of seemingly super
natural revelations filed US with wordless
awe. now make the stage one vast
/ anorama of shining, sparkling water, as
stu as sheet of silver. Dot the surface
with islands, dark masses of verdure
rising ont of the depths, and often pic
turesquely beautiful with ivy-Qrogn
mouldering toweys, broken arches, and
here aud there a stately monument. Let
the nearer hills, sloping upwards from
the shores, be cultivated and clothed with
living green more than halfway I'D;
make them gentle and homelike by
building stately mansions on the broad
terraces, and letting small gray cottages,
like birds'-nests, porch on the slightly
cliffs; then, stretching far above these
human habitations, let the purple of the
wild heather, blending with the soft olives
o. ferns and moses, climb to their very
tops. Beyond them, tier on tier, not in
regular ranges, but jutting out edgevise,
and crosswlse, and advise, let the might
Ter hills stretch upwards, and EDWARDS, ap-
pearing and disappearing; now looming
up Out VI bue NdpOr IN COlQ, DIQe Splen-
dor, then suddenly vanishing like pallid
ghosts; changing every moment; pre-
sentlpg constantly new Wis a., new cloud
marveIs, and new openings into far, radi-
ant reaches, through which you seem to
see heaven itself. Throw over all this
light wells of mist, that soften rather
than obscure-pale gray, dazzling silver,
soft rose, translucent amber, purple
am sthyst,- that float, and lift, and
waver with every breath and with every
motion OF the boat, and you will have
some faint idea of what our eyes beheld
that August evening as we crossed Lorch
Linnhe and passed into Torch Levsn,
pausing for q few moments at Bailachu-
llsh, and then, turning into Linnhe agsin,
swept on our downward way toward Oben.
But you must do still more. You must
imagine ell this magnifceIce of cloud
and mountain and island go perfectly
nirrored in the clsar, still waters of the
lake that even the changing splendor of
color vas duplicated, and heaven was be-
low as well as above US
1t grew dark aud chill at last. The
overpowering glory died and earth was
earth once more, but the effect remained.
Young men and naidens, old men and
children, we're content to sit in silence,
or to speak in subdued whispers, as we
watched for the first CLEAN of the semi
circular Gordon OF lights that guard the
bay OF Oben.