and ink
sketch_," excavated from the ruins of my childhood recollections of as
exquisitely beautiful and picturesque a spot as ever riveted the human
gaze.

Imagine, for a moment, that we are standing upon a ledge of moss-grown
rocks, projecting from a red hill-side, and whose verge beetles over a
foaming river, which swirls and rages amongst the uplifting crags,
flashing with diamonds in its rush and impetuosity, and then, placid
and almost waveless, creeping on through the gnarled old forest with a
faint murmur, seeming like a huge serpent of silver asleep in the
gushing sunshine.

We are leaning against a rugged mass of the gray ledge--your head is
resting upon your right hand, and you are gazing intently down at the
circle and whirl of the romping waters. Only a few yards above, a cool
spring gushes up, quick and bright, dimpling and laughing in the
arrowy sunshine, then flashing and foaming over the dark rocks, and
twisting in and out among the bare roots of the majestic oak that
cools us with its shadows, falls in a golden shower to the mossy basin
at your feet, and leaping over the steep precipice, mingles in foam
with the seething river below. We are turned toward the west, and as
you raise your eyes to a level with the horizon, one of the most
stupendous views of the Blue Mountains that ever caused man to stop in
breathless awe, now presents itself to your astonished gaze. Mountain
towers behind mountain, and peak behind peak in wild sublimity, like
giant waves heaved along the blue sky, almost seeming as if they were
the ramparts of the world. Their sloping sides are dark with forests,
save here and there, where the axe has penetrated their recesses, and
blocked out spaces which, having been touched with the magic of the
plough, now smile with fertility. And yonder, a little to your right,
lifting his narrow pinnance above all the rest, stands time-honored
Currahee, with his red cap on--for thus we are accustomed to designate
the barren soil which crowns his lofty summit.

Now, for a moment, permit me to call your attention farther up the
river. Did you ever see a more entrancing and exquisitely beautiful
cascade, steeped as it is in the softness, and glowing with the
brightness of a cloudless spring morning? See how the wreathes of foam
come bounding along, like a pack of ravenous wolves chasing each
other, and stop suddenly in their mad career, for an instant
equipoising upon the very brink, as if they h