Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-12
A POET ON NIAGARA.
ssNot Terrible, but Divinely and Deli
ciously Graceful. Glad and Loyely.o

Edwin Arnold in the London Telegraph
Before the balcony in which this is written
the great cataract Of America is laundering
smoking, glttering with green and white roll.
ers and rapids, hurting the waters of a whole
continent In splendor and speed over the
sharp lodges Of the long brown rock by which
Erie 1.-THE broad" steps proudly down to On.
tario 1.-The beautiful" Close at hand on on,
left-not indeed, farther removed than 600 o,
700 yards-the smaller but very imposing
American fall speaks with the louder voice OF
the two, because its coiling spirals of twisted
and furious flood crash in full impulse Of de.
scent upon the talus of massive boulders
heaped up at its foot The resounding impact
OF water on rock. the clouds of water-smoke
which rise high in air while the river below il
cnurned into whlrllny cream OF eddy and
surge and backwater unite in a composite
effect, at once magnificent and bewildering
But II you listen attentively you will always
near the profound diapason of the great fall
that surnamed the Horseshoe-sounding
superbly amid the loudest clamor and tumult
OF its sister, deeper and grander note; and
whenever for time the gaze rests with mex
haustible wonder upon that fierce and tumultu.
airy American fall, this mightier and still more
marvellous Horseshoe steals it away again with
irresistible fascination.
spectacle at this instant. Its solemn voice-an
octave lower than the excited, leaping, almost
angry cry of fervid life from the lesser cata-
ract-resounds through the golden summer
morning air like the distant roar from streets
of fifty Londons, all in full activity Far away,
between the dark-gray trees of Goat Island and
the firewoods of the Canadian shore the Mag
ara river is seen widening eagerly to its prodig-
ious leap. You can discern, even from this
balcony, the line of the first breakers, where
fIn Tz,l 1Al
the Hateful draw of the cataracts, where its cur
rent seems suddenly to leap forward, stimulated
by mad desire, hidden spell, dreadful and
irresistible DOOM You can note far back along
the gilded surface of the upper stream how
these lines of dancing, tossing, eager, anxious
and fate-lmpelled breakers and pillows multi
ply their white ranks and spread and close
together their leaping ridges into wild chaos
OF racing waves as the brink is approached.
And then at the brink there is curious pause
the momentary peace OF the irrevocable. Those
mad upper understanding the great leap
are suddenly all quiet and CLASSY and rounded
and green as the border Of field of rye, while
they turn the angle of the dreadful ledge and
hurl themselves into the snow-white gulf of
noise and mist and mystery underneath.
There Is nothing more translucently green,
not more perennially still and lovely than
Niagara the greater. At this her awful brink
the whole architrave of the main abyss CLEANS
like fixed and glorious work wrought in pol
ished aquamarine or emerald. This exquis-
ltely colOred cornice of the enormous water
fall-this brim of bright tranquility be-
tween fervor of rush and fury of plunge-is its
principal feature, and stamps it as far more
beautiful than terrible. Indeed, the whole
spectacle of the famous cataracts is one of de-
hight and OF deepest charm, not by any means
OF horror or OF awe; since nowhere are the
measureless forces of nature more tenderly re-
vealed. more softly and splendidly clad, moro
demurely constrained and docile between
Its steep confines. Even the heart of the
abyss, i'll the recess of the Horseshoe, where
the waters of Erie and Superior clash to-
gether In tremendous conflict. the inner
madness and miracle of which no eye can see
or ever will see, by reason of the wells of milky
spray and of the rolling clouds of water-drift
which forever hide it-even this central solem-
nifty and shudder-fraught miracle of the mon
strous uproar and glory is rendered exquisite,
reposeful and soothing by the lovely ra;nbows
hanging over the turmoil and clamor. From
its crest of chrysoprase and silver, indeed, to
its broad foot of milky foam of white stunned
waves, too broken and too dazed to begin at
first to float away Niagara appears not terrible,
but divinely and deliciously graceful, glad and
lovely-a specimen of the splendor of water at
its hnest-a sight to dwell and linger in the
mind with ineffaceable images of happy and
grateful thought, by no means to affect it
either in act of seeing or to haunt 1t in future
days OF memory with any wild Renaissance of
terror or of gloom