The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1909-04-16

4
The statement in Mondays papers
chat on the day previous Niagara was
mute for the second time within the
memory OF ma" brings to mind the
fact that the original nature faker was
not the author Of The Pacing Mus
tang, nor the gentleman who recently
found himself SO painfully at variance
with a certain great faunal naturalist as
70 the depth Of clear meat everything the
heart Of caribou. The unenyiable dis
tinction belongs without question to the
man who started on its mendacious way
the legend Of the stupendous, sense-op-
pressing roar Of the cataract Of Niagara.
In the old days of the reconstruction
policy and the crinoline the trip to Nj
agara Falls was as inevitable sequence
Of d well-ordered st. Louis wedding as
the Congratulations, and second only in
significance to the strange Joy OF the
new companionship was the wonder
with which bride and groom looked for
ward to the hearing of the voice of the
falls. Nor is this to be wondered at.
From their earliest childhood the roar
of Niagara" has been the fortissimo
which crowned the crescendo of every
oratorical climax involving reference to
the sense Of hearing. At Cleveland the
bridegroom got out and purchased cot
ton wool for the ears of the bride; at
Erie he reflected that he would, for the
next few days, be able to communicate
with her only at the top Of his voice,
and he gently murmured assurances on
which her spirit might feed during the
days of partial interruption of commu-
nication. At Buffalo a silence fell be-
tween the twain, as they waited and lis
tened eagerly, but in vain. Soon
vague sense Of doubt beganto insinuate
itself between the strata of happiness in
the bridegroom S soul; they were surely
within the fifteen-mile zone, and every
schoolboy in Missouri knew that the
falls could be heard for fifteen miles.
At last Niagara is called, and they pass,
as in daze, out of the yard of COM
monplace railroad station and down the
street of struggling, nondescript viii
lage, They are able to hear each 9th
er's ightest football. 1t must be the
wind. They had read that in times OF
heavy gales the roar was sometimes in
audible within hundred yards of the
river, on the windward side. Alas! the
white plume on the brides hat is not
even ruffled by the gentle breeze.
Now they see the green margin of
park, and board beside path bearing
The legend, This way to the falls. y
They thread its winding way, and soon
there comes to their ears gentle, rus
fling sound, like ten old ladies in black
silk, or a breeze in row of poplar
trees. This deepens as they 60 on, un-
til it brings to the bridegroom the mem
DRY of the old mill dam in the high wa
ter OF spring at his uncle's home on the
Usage They turn curve of the path,
and loi the falls.
The appeal to the eye is beyond their
widest dreams hurrying rapids,
the ineffable purity of the crystal white
and deep, translucent green, the mys-
terry of the eddying pool at their feet,
the rocky majesty Of the gorge, and
greatest of all, the fall itself
Forever shattered. and the same forever
But Niagara roars them as any suck
ing dove, as any nightingale. They |
stand in wonder at the scene for a brief |
moment-and then another couple-a
newly married couple from Schenecta-
dy--moves up beside them, and the St. |
Louis girl notes the nodishness of the
travelling suit and the perfect fit of boot
and glove. A fear seizes her heart She
turns to the bridegroom and inquiries,
Darling, is my hat on straight"
1t is the first word she has spoken
since they left Buffalo. The BRIDE
groom gathers himself together and an
sNers as becomes a man. And the
roar of Niagara" plays gentle and
well-modulated accompaniment to his
words. --St. Louis Republic.