Two of these,--the Eagle's Nest, and
the Deer's Walk, still the resort of the grand and beautiful creature
from which they are named,--were the scene of some of the happiest
hours of my life. I had no idea, from verbal description, of the
beauty of these bluffs, nor can I hope to give any to others. They lie
so magnificently bathed in sunlight, they touch the heavens with so
sharp and fair a line. This is one of the finest parts of the river;
but it seems beautiful enough to fill any heart and eye all along its
course, nowhere broken or injured by the hand of man. And there, I
thought, if we two could live, and you could have a farm which would
not cost a twentieth part the labor of a New England farm, and would
pay twenty times as much for the labor, and have our books and, our
pens and a little boat on the river, how happy we might be for four or
five years,--at least, _as_ happy as Fate permits mortals to be.
For we, I think, are congenial, and if I could hope permanent peace on
the earth, I might hope it with you.
You will be glad to hear that I feel overpaid for coming here. Much is
my life enriched by the images of the great Niagara, of the vast
lakes, of the heavenly sweetness of the prairie scenes, and, above
all, by the heavenly region where I would so gladly have lived.
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