THE GREATER RHINE.
THE RETURN HOMEWARD.--ON THE TERRACE,--QUEBEC.
The Class made their return voyage by the way of Liverpool to Quebec,
one of the shortest of the ocean ferries, and one of the most
delightful in midsummer and early autumn, when the Atlantic is usually
calm, and the icebergs have melted away.
As the steamer was passing down the Mersey, and Liverpool with her
thousands of ships, and Birkenhead with its airy cottages, were
disappearing from view, Mr. Beal remarked to the boys,--
"We shall return through the Straits, and so shall be probably only
four and a half days out of sight of land."
"I did not suppose it was possible to cross the Atlantic from land to
land in four days and a half," said Charlie Leland.
"We shall stop to-morrow at Moville, the port of Londonderry," said
Mr. Beal. "A few hours after we leave we shall sink the Irish coast.
Make notes of the time you lose sight of the light-houses of Ireland,
and of the time when you first see Labrador, and compare the dates
towards the end of the voyage," said Mr. Beal.
Past the green hills of Ireland the steamer glided along, among ships
so numerous that the sea seemed a moving city, or the suburbs of a
moving city; for Liverpool itself, with her seven miles of wonderful
docks, is a city of the sea.
The Giant's Causeway, the sunny port of Moville, the rocky islands
with their white light-houses, were passed, and at one o'clock on
Monday morning the last light dropped into the calm sea, fading like a
star.
The Atlantic was perfectly calm--as "calm as a mill-pond" as the
expression is, during the tranquillity of the ocean that follows the
settled summer weather. The steamer was heavily loaded, and had little
apparent motion; bright days and bright nights succeeded each other. A
flock of gulls followed the steamer far out to sea. For three days no
object of interest was seen on the level ocean except the occasional
spouting of a whale.
The sky was a glory in the long twilights. The sun when half set made
the distant ocean seem like an island of fire, and the light clouds
after sunset like hazes drifting away from a Paradisic sphere.
On Thursday morning the shadowy coast of Labrador appeared. The voyage
seemed now virtually ended after four days from land to land. There
were three days more, but the steamer would be in calm water, with
land constantly in view.
The Straits of Belle Isle, some six miles wide, were as calm as had
been the ocean. The Gulf of St. Lawrence--the fishing field of the
world--was like a surface of glass. The sunrise and moonrise were now
magnificent; the sunsets brought scenes to view as wonderful as the
skies of Italy; gigantic mountains rose; clustering sails broke the
monotonous expanse of the glassy sea, and now and then appeared an
Indian canoe such as Jacques Cartier and the early explorers saw
nearly three centuries ago.
The wild shores of Anticosti rose and sunk.
"We are now in the Greater Rhine," said Mr. Beal to the boys,--"the
Rhine of the West."
"How is that?" asked Charlie Leland. "Is not the Hudson the American
Rhine?"
[Illustration: NIAGARA FALLS.]
"It is the New York Rhine," said Mr. Beal, smiling. "The river St.
Lawrence is, by right of analogy, the American Rhine, and so deserves
to be called."
"Which is the larger river?" asked Charlie.
"The larger?"
"Yes, the longer?"
"It does not seem possible that an American schoolboy could seriously
ask such a question! I am sometimes astonished, however, at the
ignorance that older people of intelligence show in regard to our
river of which all Americans should be proud.
"Ours is the Greater Rhine. The German Rhine is less than a thousand
miles long; our Rhine is nearly twenty-five hundred miles long: the
German Rhine can at almost any point be easily spanned with bridges;
our Rhine defies bridges, except in its narrowest boundaries. The
great inland seas of Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Erie
require a width of miles for their pathway to the ocean. The Rhine
falls cannot be compared with Niagara, nor the scattered islands of
the old river with the Lake of a Thousand Islands of the new. Quebec
is as beautiful as Coblentz, and Montreal is in its situation one of
the loveliest cities of the world.
"The tributaries of the old Rhine are small; those of the new are
almost as large as the old Rhine itself,--the gloomy Saguenay, and the
sparkling Ottawa.
"Think of its lakes! Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Europe, contains
only 6,330 square miles. Lake Superior has 32,000 square miles, and
Michigan 22,000 square miles.
"You will soon have a view of the mountain scenery of the lower St.
Lawrence. The pine-covered walls along which trail the clouds of the
sky are almost continuous to Montreal."
"But why," asked Charlie Leland, "is the German Rhine so famous, and
ours so little celebrated?"
"The German Rhine gathers around it the history of two thousand years;
ours, two hundred years. What will our Rhine be two thousand years
from to-day?"
He added:--
"I look upon New England as one of the best products of civilization
thus far. But there is rising a new New England in the West, a vast
empire in the States of the Northwest and in Canada, to which New
England is as a province,--an empire that in one hundred years will
lead the thought, the invention, and the statesmanship of the world.
Every prairie schooner that goes that way is like a sail of the
'Mayflower.'
"In yonder steerage are a thousand emigrants. The easy-going,
purse-proud cabin passengers do not know it; they do not visit them or
give much thought to them: but there are the men and women whose
children will one day sway the empire that will wear the crown of the
world.
"The castles are fading from view on the hills of the old Rhine; towns
and cities are leaping into life on the new. The procession of cities,
like a triumphal march, will go on, on, on. The Canadian Empire will
probably one day lock hands with the imperial States of the Northwest;
Mexico, perhaps, will join the Confederacy, and Western America will
doubtless vie with Eastern Russia in power, in progress, and in the
glories of the achievements of the arts and sciences. Our Rhine has
the future: let the old Rhine have the past."
The Class approached Quebec at night. The scene was beautiful: like a
city glimmering against the sky, the lights of the lower town, of the
upper town, and of the Castle standing on the heights, shone brightly
against the hills; and the firing of guns and the striking of bells
were echoed from the opposite hills of the calm and majestic river.
The Class spent a day at Quebec, chiefly on the Terrace,--one of the
most beautiful promenades in the world. From the Terrace the boys saw
the making up of the emigrant trains on the opposite side of the
river, where the steamer had landed, and saw them disappear along the
winding river, going to the great province of Ontario, the lone woods
of Muskoka, and the far shores of the Georgian Bay.
[Illustration: A NEW ENGLAND IN THE WEST.]
[Illustration: NEAR QUEBEC.]
"I wish we might make a Zigzag journey on the St. Lawrence," said
Charlie Leland.
"And collect the old legends, stories, and histories of the Indian
tribes, and the early explorers and French settlers," added Mr. Beal.
"Perhaps some day we may be able to do so. I am in haste to return to
the States, but I regret to leave a place so perfectly beautiful as
the Terrace of Quebec. It is delightful to sit here and see the
steamers go and come; to watch the bright, happy faces pass, and to
recall the fact that the river below is doubtless to be the water-path
of the nations that will most greatly influence future times. But our
journey is ended: let us go."
ON THE TERRACE,--QUEBEC.
Alone, beside these peaceful guns
I walk,--the eve is calm and fair;
Below, the broad St. Lawrence runs,
Above, the castle shines in air,
And o'er the breathless sea and land
Night stretches forth her jewelled hand.
Amid the crowds that hurry past--
Bright faces like a sunlit tide--
Some eyes the gifts of friendship cast
Upon me, as I walk aside,
Kind, wordless welcomes understood,
The Spirit's touch of brotherhood.
Below, the sea; above, the sky,
Smile each to each, a vision fair;
So like Faith's zones of light on high,
A sphere seraphic seems the air,
And loving thoughts there seem to meet,
And come and go with golden feet.
Below me lies the old French town,
With narrow rues and churches quaint,
And tiled roofs and gables brown,
And signs with names of many a saint.
And there in all I see appears
The heart of twice an hundred years.
Beyond, by inky steamers mailed,
Point Levi's painted roofs arise,
Where emigration long has hailed
The empires of the western skies;
And lightly wave the red flags there,
Like roses of the damask air.
Peace o'er yon garden spreads her palm,
Where heroes fought in other days;
And Honor speaks of brave Montcalm
On Wolfe's immortal shaft of praise.
What lessons that I used to learn
In schoolboy days to me return!
Fair terrace of the Western Rhine,
I leave thee with unwilling feet,
I long shall see thy castle shine
As bright as now, in memories sweet;
And cheerful thank the kindly eyes
That lent to me their sympathies.
Go, friendly hearts, that met by chance
A stranger for a little while;
Friendship itself is but a glance,
And love is but a passing smile.
I am a pilgrim,--all I meet
Are glancing eyes and hurrying feet.
Farewell; in dreams I see again
The northern river of the vine,
While crowns the sun with golden grain
The hillsides of the greater Rhine.
And here shall grow as years increase
The empires of the Rhine of Peace.
University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.
Transcriber's Note
This book contains some archaic spelling, which has been preserved as
printed. Minor punctuation errors have been repaired.
There is some variable spelling, particularly of place names; this has
been repaired where there was a definite prevalence of one form over
the other, but is otherwise left as printed.
Page 12--"Castle at" amended to "Bell Tower of"--"Bell Tower of
Heidelberg 229"
There are two references on page 57 to "Crofe Castle" in Dorsetshire,
which appear to be an author error for "Corfe Castle". These have
been preserved as printed.
Character dialogue sometimes transitions into tales, which do not use
continuing quote marks. As a result, some closing quotes are omitted,
and this has been preserved as printed.
The frontispiece illustration and advertising material have been moved
to follow the title page. Other illustrations have been moved where
necessary so that they are not in the middle of a paragraph.
The list of illustrations included some captions which were not included
with their corresponding image in the main text. These have been added.
A pointing hand symbol is indicated with -->.