rture, and to look up while he lights the Bengal light; you obey, and
look up upon columns of fluted, snowy whiteness; he tells you to look
down, and you follow the same pillars down--up to heights which the
light cannot climb, down to depths on which it cannot fall.
"You shudder as you look up, and you shudder as you look down. Indeed,
the march of the cave is a series of shudders. Geologists may enjoy it,
a large party may be merry in it; but if the 'underground railroad' of
the slaves is of that kind, I should rather remain a slave than
undertake a runaway trip!
"May 18. To-day we retraced our steps from Nashville to Chattanooga. It
had been raining nearly all night, and we found, when not far from the
latter place, that the streams were pouring down from the high lands
upon the car-track, so that we came through rivers. When we dashed into
the dark tunnel it was darker than ever from the darkness of the day,
and it seemed to me that the darkness pressed upon me. I am sure I
should keep my senses a very little while if I were confined in a dark
place.
"As we came out of the tunnel, the water from the hill above dashed upon
the cars; and although it did not break the panes of glass, it forced
its way through and sprinkled us.
"The route, with all its terrors, is beautiful, and the trees are now
much finer than they were ten days ago.
"May 27. There is this great difference between Niagara and other
wonders of the world: that of it you get no idea from descriptions, or
even from paintings. Of the 'Mammoth Cave' you have a conception from
what you are told; of the Natural Bridge you get a really truthful
impression from a picture. But cave and bridge are in still life.
Niagara is all activity and change. No picture gives you the varying
form of the water or the change of color; no description conveys to your
mind the ceaseless roar. So, too, the ocean must be unrepresentable to
those who have not looked upon it.
"The Natural Bridge stands out bold and high, just as you expect to see
it. You are agreeably disappointed, however, on finding that you can go
under the arch and be completely in the coolness of its shade while you
look up for two hundred feet to the rocky black and white ceiling above.
"One of the prettiest peculiarities is the fringing above of the trees
which hang over the edge, and looking out past the arch the wooded banks
of the ravine are very pleasant. From above, one has the pain always
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