This eBook was produced by David Widger                 THE DOLIVER ROMANCE AND OTHER PIECES                         TALES AND SKETCHES                       By Nathaniel Hawthorne                      OTHER TALES AND SKETCHESCONTENTS     My Visit To Niagara      The Antique Ring      Graves And GoblinsMY VISIT TO NIAGARANever did a pilgrim approach Niagara with deeper enthusiasm than mineI had lingered away from it and wandered to other scenes because mytreasury of anticipated enjoyments comprising all the wonders of theworld had nothing else so magnificent and I was loath to exchange thepleasures of hope for those of memory so soon  At length the day cameThe stagecoach with a Frenchman and myself on the back seat hadalready left Lewiston and in less than an hour would set us down inManchester  I began to listen for the roar of the cataract andtrembled with a sensation like dread as the moment drew nigh when itsvoice of ages must roll for the first time on my ear  The Frenchgentleman stretched himself from the window and expressed loudadmiration while by a sudden impulse I threw myself back and closedmy eyes  When the scene shut in I was glad to think that for me thewhole burst of Niagara was yet in futurity  We rolled on and enteredthe village of Manchester bordering on the fallsI am quite ashamed of myself here  Not that I ran like a madman to thefalls and plunged into the thickest of the spraynever stopping tobreathe till breathing was impossible not that I committed this orany other suitable extravagance  On the contrary I alighted withperfect decency and composure gave my cloak to the black waiterpointed out my baggage and inquired not the nearest way to thecataract but about the dinnerhour  The interval was spent inarranging my dress  Within the last fifteen minutes my mind had grownstrangely benumbed and my spirits apathetic with a slight depressionnot decided enough to be termed sadness  My enthusiasm was in adeathlike slumber  Without aspiring to immortality as he did I couldhave imitated that English traveller who turned back from the pointwhere he first heard the thunder of Niagara after crossing the ocean tobehold it  Many a Western trader by the by has performed a similaract of heroism with more heroic simplicity deeming it no such wonderfulfeat to dine at the hotel and resume his route to Buffalo or Lewistonwhile the cataract was roaring unseenSuch has often been my apathy when objects long sought and earnestlydesired were placed within my reach  After dinnerat which anunwonted and perverse epicurism detained me longer than usualI lighteda cigar and paced the piazza minutely attentive to the aspect andbusiness of a very ordinary village  Finally with reluctant step andthe feeling of an intruder I walked towards Goat Island  At thetollhouse there were further excuses for delaying the inevitablemoment  My signature was required in a huge ledger containing similarrecords innumerable many of which I read  The skin of a greatsturgeon and other fishes beasts and reptiles a collection ofminerals such as lie in heaps near the falls some Indian moccasinsand other trifles made of deerskin and embroidered with beads severalnewspapers from Montreal New York and Bostonall attracted me inturn  Out of a number of twisted sticks the manufacture of a TuscaroraIndian I selected one of curled maple curiously convoluted andadorned with the carved images of a snake and a fish  Using this as mypilgrims staff I crossed the bridge  Above and below me were therapids a river of impetuous snow with here and there a dark rock amidits whiteness resisting all the physical fury as any cold spirit didthe moral influences of the scene  On reaching Goat Island whichseparates the two great segments of the falls I chose the righthandpath and followed it to the edge of the American cascade  There whilethe falling sheet was yet invisible I saw the vapor that nevervanishes and the Eternal Rainbow of NiagaraIt was an afternoon of glorious sunshine without a cloud save those ofthe cataracts  I gained an insulated rock and beheld a broad sheet ofbrilliant and unbroken foam not shooting in a curved line from the topof the precipice but falling headlong down from height to depth  Anarrow stream diverged from the main branch and hurried over the cragby a channel of its own leaving a little pineclad island and a streakof precipice between itself and the larger sheet  Below arose themist on which was painted a dazzling sunbow with two concentricshadowsone almost as perfect as the original brightness and theother drawn faintly round the broken edge of the cloudStill I  had not half seen Niagara  Following the verge of the islandthe path led me to the Horseshoe where the real broad St Lawrencerushing along on a level with its banks pours its whole breadth over aconcave line of precipice and thence pursues its course between loftycrags towards Ontario  A sort of bridge two or three feet widestretches out along the edge of the descending sheet and hangs upon therising mist as if that were the foundation of the frail structureHere I stationed myself in the blast of wind which the rushing riverbore along with it  The bridge was tremulous beneath me and marked thetremor of the solid earth  I looked along the whitening rapids andendeavored to distinguish a mass of water far above the falls to followit to their verge and