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VIII
The fear of the dead level
it is noticeable that foreign observers, who were always a little anxious about the possible monotony of our society, have grown a little more so since they have ventured west of
the Alleghanies and crossed the long plain to be traversed before reaching the
Rocky Mountains.
In the days when an American trip culminated at
Niagara, and even
Trenton Falls was considered a sight so remarkable that
Charles Sumner wrote from
England to caution a traveller by no means to quit the country without seeing it, there was no complaint that our scenery was monotonous.
The continent was supposed to have done all, in that line, which could fairly be asked of it. Since then, the criticism has grown with the railway journey, and people fear that the horizontal line of the prairies must more than counterbalance the vertical line of
Niagara, in moulding the
American mind.
Then these very travellers are justly
