Page:Scenes in my Native Land.pdf/24

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
20
INFLUENCES OF NIAGARA.

who were forced to cut away with their axes branches intercepting the passage of the rocky roads. Those whose hearts respond to whatever is beautiful and sublime in creation, should pay their homage to this mighty cataract. No other scenery so powerfully combines these elements.

Let the gay go thither to be made thoughtful, and the religious to become more spiritually-minded. Yet let not the determined trifler linger here to pursue his revels. Frivolity seems an insult to the majesty that presides here. Folly and dissipation are surely out of place. The thunder-hymn of the mighty flood reproves them. Day and night it seems to repeat and enforce the words of inspiration: "The Lord is in holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him."