. Detroit, "The city of the strait"; historical, descriptive, illustrated . in theirillimitable rapture. No other sensation wholly physical in itsorigin can be at once as overpowering and as enchanting asthis one. And although we know that its origin is physical,is terrestrial, we can not grasp the fact; the beauty that we arefeeling is too different from any that we have ever felt is a transfiguring of the familiar things of earth into theimagined things of heaven. To the eye it is a revelation ofthe divine possibilities of light and color, form, movement, andsound; and to the mind
. Detroit, "The city of the strait"; historical, descriptive, illustrated . in theirillimitable rapture. No other sensation wholly physical in itsorigin can be at once as overpowering and as enchanting asthis one. And although we know that its origin is physical,is terrestrial, we can not grasp the fact; the beauty that we arefeeling is too different from any that we have ever felt is a transfiguring of the familiar things of earth into theimagined things of heaven. To the eye it is a revelation ofthe divine possibilities of light and color, form, movement, andsound; and to the mind it is an allegory cf power and purityin their supreme and perfect essence. If there are w^alls to thecity celestial, built of opal, emerald, and some vast auroralwhiteness for which we have no mortal term, and bridged for the feet of angels witharches of the sevenpure colors, the gate-way through themmust look like theheart of Niagara. Itcan not be more im-mense, more mystical,more sacredly re-splendent. It can notbe more aerial or moreeverlasting. Under the Search-light. VIII. At Niagara the existence of the Great Lakes benefits theeye as well as the imagination. If the falls were fed by rivers,their volume, which now varies very little, would conspicuouslywax and wane with the changing seasons. Again, new-bornriver-waters would be thickened and discolored with sedimentand sand. Niagaras are strained to an exquisite purity bytheir sojourn in the Western reservoirs, and to this purity theyowe their exquisite variety of color. To find their blues we must look, of course, above GoatIsland, where the sky is reflected in smooth if quickly flowing
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookiddetroittheci, bookyear1901
