What Norman Saw in the WestOlin, Julia M. (Julia Matilda)
General
What Norman Saw in the West
Olin, Julia M. (Julia Matilda)
Christian life -- Juvenile fiction; United States -- Description and travel -- Juvenile fiction
In the afternoon they accompanied Mrs. Bushnell and her nephew to the
British side of the river. They crossed the Suspension Bridge, about two
miles below the falls. It is a miracle of art, a beautiful work of man,
in harmonious contrast with the stupendous works of God. Norman, who had
been studying his guide book, told them that there were more than
eighteen million feet of wire, and that the aggregate length of wire was
more than four thousand miles.
They rode over the lower carriage way of the bridge, which is a single
span, eight hundred feet in length between the massive towers by which
it is supported. In crossing they had a fine distant view of the two
falls, and of the fearful chasm beneath, with its solemn deep waters,
quiet as if exhausted by their recent plunge.
The afternoon was decidedly stormy, the rain fell fast, dimming the
glass of the carriage, and driving in upon them, when the window was
open. The spray hung before the falls as a dense cloud, obscuring more
than half of them from view.
On their return Mr. White, Mrs. Bushnell’s nephew, took Norman by the
hand, and walked over the railroad bridge, while the carriage passed
beneath. Norman looked with wonder at those mighty cables, twisted with
so many wires, and supporting with their interlacing ropes that great
structure weighing eight hundred tons. It seemed so solid and
substantial, that Norman did not think of any danger in crossing it, air
hung as it is over the great abyss.
Another cloudy day, but it was a happy day to Norman and his mother. As
they loitered at Point View and on Goat Island, Norman took three or
four pencil sketches, to be copied and filled up at his leisure. He
gathered some pretty white and blue flowers on Goat Island, and arranged
them fancifully in an Indian birch-bark canoe which he had just
purchased.
“Mother,” said he, holding it up to her, “this canoe looks just like one
of which I have seen a picture. It illustrates an Indian legend of the
paradise of flowers. They are represented as still retaining their
flowerlike forms, leisurely reclining in canoes, floating gently in the
placid streams of the spirit land.”
“How pretty it looks,” said his mother, “with those pendant white
blossoms; I shall always associate this flowery canoe and its graceful
legend with this turn in the path on Goat Island.”
“Are we not having a delightful afternoon, mother? the air is so
pleasant, and there are patches of blue sky, and it is nice not to carry
an umbrella,” said Norman.
“We should not have thought of that element of satisfaction, but for the
experience of these two days; as it is, we are prepared fully to
appreciate it.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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