Omaha daily bee., 1910-08-02
SCENERY OF NORTH AMERICA
Grandeur and Majesty supreme in
the Rockies North and
south.

NuN Nockteh NORM ana
south.
There are three ways In which scenery
may arouse pleasurable emotion. one is
where grandeur or beauty Of form. or
beauty of color appeals directly to an
eve capable OF appreciating these things.
Another is where there is no grandeur aud
no striking beauty; the landscape gives
pleasure because It speaks to us Of human
life and work, and awakens associations
by which nature is connected with man, 90
to speak, touched and tlnged by mans ex-
perlence And there Is also a third kind
OF scenery which has nothing human about
1t and which may not have much nobility
OF FORM, perhaps not even much richness
OF color, but which appeals almost wholly
to the imagination, and to the ina gination
only, because II presents nature In all her
stern and contained simplicity.
The best example Of this kind is to be
found in the wilderness and on the sea
coasts, but to 1t shall return when l
come to speak of those deserts which ara
so striking a feature OF the western part
OF America. They are almost absent in
Europe, and the most remarkable contrast
between European scenery and American
Is that on this side of the Atlantic there
are immense tracts OF country in which the
beauty of silent and solemn nature, UNI
touched by the hand Of man. impresses the
imagination, while in the Inhabited parts
there is much less than there is In the cor
responding parts Of Europe OF that beauty
and charm which consists in the presence
of the human element.
An Illustration may explain what 1 tnean.
In such a country as Italy, which has been
for Thousands Ofy =
man, we see everywhere marks Of mans
life and labor which carry us back a long
way, sometimes for many centuries. There
are ancient cities and villages with old
houses old churches ruins of old castles,
the very names OF some OF which call up
events in far-off history. The scattered
houses, the fields and woods have a look
Of having been for a. great while either
the homes or the neighbors OF man. All
that he has done seems to have become a
part OF nature, and in every Landscape
where natural beauty is present It is so
intermingled with mans work that the two
seem inseparable. Thus every spot has its
associations. Even where the traveller can
recall no incident connected with the place.
he feels that It must have been the stage
on which many dramas OF human life have
been enacted So even where the land
scape has no marked beauty of its own.
as is the case in parts of eastern and south
eastern Italy, still 1t seems to be diRnifled.
Now. over wide regions OF North America
this sense OF a past and these countless
traces of the past which one finds 81
Europe are wanting. There has not been
time to make them. Outside the thirteen
original states of the union and a few
places along the st. Lawrence river, little
is to be seen which is more than q GEN.
fury old. The wars of the Indians among
themselves are unrecorded, and the strife
OF the Indians among the frontiersmen Is
almost as little known. Neither have left
any visible trace. The cities, the villages
the farm houses, are all new and all like
one another. There is scarce anything for
imagination to lay hold on 49,
Without disparaging either the White
mountains or the noble gorge of tls Hud-
son river, just above and for some miles
below West Point, or the many lovely bits
In the Allegheny mountains, as for instance
at Cumberland Gap, along the banks of
French Broad, and at Chattanooga, where
history adds it's interest to the splendid
prospect from the top of Lookout mountain.
still 1t is the far west, In Rocky countains
and even more upon the shores of the Pa
cific that the finery of the continent ia 10
be sought.
some likeness of course there Is. The
Canadian Rockies are more like the Aims
than are any other North American noun
tains, for they have plenty OF snow fields
Feeding along glaciers But their forests
are far grander, filled on the west side
with huge trees. The Bay of San Frano,aeo
suggests some bays in the Mediterranean
yet 1t has quality OF its own, especially in
the first verdure OF the glorious California
spring; and no place in Europe, EXCEPT 9Th.
raltar, sees an opening to the ocean conn
parable to the Golden Gate.
IL Is folly to try to compare different
Kinds OF scenery and place one above an
other' All that need be said is that the
fosemite has character altogether liz
own and, In its own peculiar way. I'M
sufpassapie' 1t supplies a type OF beauty
scarcely known In Europe.
One other spot, however. "a NOT o,t,,
natural curiosity but also one of the most
Impressive sights on which human ave has
leSteu' 1 mean the Grand Canyon OF the
colorado river. In IT the wealth and variety
or color in the rocks and the poh,I,.,, 80,
variety OF form in the crags and towars sn,1
spiny pinnicles that stand IN along ~ 800
are combined with power OF touchIng IL
deco or filling and dominating the irna.,ra
ton which II is hard to conway IN ,,,ona.
fou cannot describe It, YOU capno, .aII,
ABOUT H. You can only stand silent IN ave-
ana WONDER IL there is any other yisvv thu.
hiaAeS similar impression of the vet
suNiiinly OF nature, II is q view I'm .ha
1liihaiHyas where the eye, ranging ov.r
ieaily wv miles from east to west discern.
lo,V nine peaks exceeding 10000 feat a,
Bryce In Youth,s O.
panlon. CON-