Life in the Clearings versus the BushMoodie, Susanna
History
Life in the Clearings versus the Bush
Moodie, Susanna
Frontier and pioneer life -- Ontario; Moodie, Susannah, 1803-1885; Ontario -- Description and travel
Here you enjoy a splendid view of the Rapids. Raising your eyes from
the green, glassy edge of the Falls, you see the mad hubbub of boiling
waves rushing with headlong fury down the watery steep, to take their
final plunge into the mist-covered abyss below. On, on they come--that
white-crested phalanx of waves pouring and crowding upon each other in
frantic chase!
"Things of life, and light, and motion,
Spirits of the unfathom'd ocean,
Hurrying on with curbless force,
Like some rash unbridled horse;
High in air their white crests flinging,
And madly to destruction springing."
These boiling breakers seem to shout and revel in a wild ecstasy of
freedom and power; and you feel inclined to echo their shout, and
rejoice with them. Yet it is curious to mark how they slacken their
mad speed when they reach the ledge of the fall, and melt into the icy
smoothness of its polished brow, as if conscious of the superior force
that is destined to annihilate their identity, and dash them into mist
and spray. In like manner the waves of life are hurried into the abyss
of death, and absorbed in the vast ocean of eternity.
Niagara would be shorn of half its wonders divested of these
glorious Rapids, which form one of the grandest features in the
magnificent scene.
We returned to our inn, the Clifton House, just in time to save our
dinner: having taken breakfast in Toronto at half-past six, we were
quite ready to obey the noisy summons of the bell, and follow our sable
guide into the eating room.
The Clifton House is a large, handsome building, directly fronting the
Falls. It is fitted up in a very superior style, and contains ample
accommodations for a great number of visitors. It had been very full
during the summer months, but a great many persons had left during the
preceding week, which I considered a very fortunate circumstance for
those who, like myself, came to see instead of to be seen.
The charges for a Canadian hotel are high; but of course you are
expected to pay something extra at a place of such general resort, and
for the grand view of the Falls, which can be enjoyed at any moment
by stepping into the handsome balcony into which the saloon opens,
and which runs the whole length of the side and front of the house.
The former commands a full view of the American, the latter of the
Horse-shoe Fall; and the high French windows of this elegantly
furnished apartment give you the opportunity of enjoying both.
You pay four dollars a-day for your board and bed; this does not include
wine, and every little extra is an additional charge. Children and
servants are rated at half-price, and a baby is charged a dollar a-day.
This item in the family programme is something new in the bill of
charges at an hotel in this country; for these small gentry, though
they give a great deal of trouble to their lawful owners, are always
entertained gratis at inns and on board steamboats.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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