592 HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. September 9th. In the morning of time, before man was yet created, Nature was alone with her Creator. The warmth of His love, the light of His eye awoke her to the consciousness of life; her heart throbbed with love for Him of whose life of love she had partaken, and she longed to present Him with an offering, to pour out her feeling, her life, for Him who gave it. She was young and warm, with the fullness of primeval life; but she felt, nevertheless, her weakness in comparison with His power. What could she give to Him from whom she received every thing? Her heart swelled with love and pain, with infinite longing, with the fullness of infinite life, swelled and swelled till it overflowed in-Niagara. And the spirit of thanksgiving arose as the smoke of an eternal sacrifice from the depth of the water toward heaven. The Lord of heaven saw it, and His spirit embraced the spirit of Nature with rainbows of light, with kisses of brilliant fire in an eternal betrothal. Thus was it in the morning of the earth's life. Thus we behold it to this day. Still, we behold to-day the spirit of nature ascend from Niagara toward heaven with the offering of its life, as an unspoken yearning and song of praise; and still, to-day it is embraced by the light and the flames of heaven, as by divine love. Niagara is the betrothal of earth's life With the heavenly life. That has Niagara told me to-day. And now can I leave Niagara. She has September 10th, in the morning. To-day we shall proceed on our journey. I am satisfied that it should be so, for I have a little headache, and the unceasing thunder of the fall, the continual restless rushing of the torrent past my window is fatiguing to the nerves. Besides, one gets accustomed to every thing, even to the great; and when by the side of this great fall we begin to hear and to be occupied merely with our own little thoughts about everyday things, then we may go away. I have not told you about the different scenes of life at Niagara, of the steam-boat, the "Maid of the Mist," which advances up to the very fall till it is wetted with its spray, and then only turns back; nor of my botanical rambles around Iris island; nor of the Indians whom one yet meets roaming about here; nor of the great iron bridge which, strong and light at the same time, has been thrown across the stream a little below the fall; nor of many other remarkable things here; but all these are petty in comparison with that great waterfall, and that has been to me the essential thing. The Indians who live around Niagara belong to the Seneca tribe. As this is the season when the men are all out on their hunting grounds, I saw merely some squaws, who offered their work for sale. This consists of embroidery done by hand, of flowers and animals, drawn and finished in a childish manner, but yet well done with dyed fibre of porcupine quills, small mats, baskets, moccasins, and children's rattles, made of a fragrant kind of grass. There are many shops around here full of their work, which is sold at a high price. Two years ago Marcus and Rebecca S. were present at a great solemnity which took place among an Indian tribe. here the election of a new chief. They assembled in the depths of the forest. The finest incident, however, on this remarkable occasion was, that the young chief knelt down before his old mother, who laid her hands, with a benediction, upon his head. Woman, who is treated in a general way so horribly by the Indians, obtains, nevertheless, respect from them when she is the mother of a distinguished warrior; sometimes also, as among all savage people, from her mystical, witch-like attributes, when she is possessed of a powerful character. This, however, can only very seldom be the case, considering the heavy yoke which, from her very childhood, is laid upon her both spiritually and physically. I long to see and hear more of these, the New World's aborigines, and hope to have opportunity of doing so during my journey in the West. It has now become clear and certain to my mind, though I do not know myself rightly how or when, that I shall proceed up the Mississippi as far as St. Anthony's Fall, that is to say, as far as the river is navigable, into Minnesota, a young territory, not yet a state, which, for the most part, is a wilderness, and the home of the wild. Indian tribes, and afterward down the Mississippi to New Orleans. Why I should go to New Orleans I do not know; but one thing I know-I must go there. Something within me tells me so-something which I must call the inward light, the inward voice, and which guides me here like a mysterious but absolute power. I do not hesitate a moment in following its guidance, for it speaks so decidedly and clearly that I feel glad to obey. I know that to me it is a Star of Bethlehem. From this place I go to Chicago, and thence to the Swedish and Norwegian settlements in the States of Illinois and Wisconsin. Among the memories of Niagara are some of a most sorrowful character. One of these occurred this last summer, when a young man and his sweet-heart, and her sister, a little girl, visited the fall. As they stood beside it, the young man took the little girl in his arms, and threatened playfully to throw her into it. The child gave a sudden start of terror, which threw her out of his arms and into that foaming abyss. He sprang in after her. Both vanished, and were only again seen as corpses. "Oniaagarah," or "Ochniagarah," was the original name of Niagara, and it is still called so by the Indians. The word signifies "the thunder of the waters." It has been shortened by the Europeans into Niagara. I have now taken my farewell look of the great scene and sight. The green color of the water, its inexpressibly delightful, living odor, charms me as much as ever. I shall always, in recalling it, think of the fountains of eter nal youth. I am satisfied to leave it, but would wish to come once more to see the fall in its winter magnificence, when it crowns itself with flowers, and fruits, and a thousand fantastic adornments of ice; when the full moon shines and spans it with the lunar bow. We shall see! But I am, nevertheless, infinitely thankful to have seen Niagara. Its quiet grandeur and power, its color, its spray, the rainbow's sport in that white, cloudy figure— all this is and will remain a clear, living image in my soul. And that eternal fullness of Nature's heart hereah! that the human heart might resemble it, perpetually filled anew, perpetually flowing, never weary, never scanty, never dried up! My young friends, James and Maria-it grieved me to part from them; my amiable, lovely, charming Maria looked at me with mournful glances, and-but now we must be off! My young friends accompany me to Buffalo. A kiss, my beloved, from Niagara; the next letter from Chicago. LETTER XXIV. Chicago, Illinois, Sept. 15th. HERE, upon the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, sits your sister, my little Agatha, not, however, upon the sandy shore, but in a pretty villa, built in the Italian style, with Corinthian pillars, surrounded by beautifultrees and flowers. It was in the market of Buffalo, amid horses and carriages, and throngs of people buying and selling, passing hither and thither, amid chests and all sorts of baggage, amid crowds and bustle, that I parted from my young friends, who had become dear to me almost as brother and sister. There was neither time nor space to say many words in, the smoking iron-horse which was to speed them away along the iron-road stood ready; iron-road, ironhorse, iron-necessity, all were there; the warm heart had neither time nor language; thus we kissed in silence from our inmost hearts, and parted-perhaps forever! The Lowells intend to make a journey to Italy next year. I saw them no longer, and was conducted out of the throng in the market to an hotel by a respectable old gentleman, Judge B., under whose care I am to continue my journey. He had presented himself to me at Niagara with a letter of introduction from Mr. E. This excellent, vigorous old gentleman, yet quite youthful in spirit, one of the oldest pioneers of the West, and who had taken part in the founding or laying out of many of its most flourishing cities, as Rochester, Lockport, and many others, was quite at home in all the districts through which we were to travel, as far even as Lake Michigan, and for that reason, and also because he was evidently a good and cordial man, I was well satisfied to have him for my companion. At the hotel at Buffalo I was again tormented by some new acquaintance with the old, tiresome questions, “How do you like America?" "How do you like the States?” "Does Buffalo look according to your expectations?" To which latter question I replied that I had not expected any thing from Buffalo; but yet, that I must say it struck me as being one of the least excellent cities which I had seen in America. Business! business! appeared to me to be the principal life and character there. But the truth is, that I did not see much of Buffalo. Toward evening I went on board "The Ocean," a magnificent three-decked steam-boat, which conveyed me across Lake Erie, frequently a very stormy and dangerous lake; its billows, however, now resembled naiads sporting in the sunshine. "Erie," says M. Bouchette, a French writer, describing this part of the country, "may be regarded as the great |