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Show 1836- 1837! Fogg's F* r West 221 which not the most careless or casual observer of its operations can fail to have remarked, that the contemplation of all grand and immeasurable objects has a tendency to enlarge and elevate the understanding, lend a loftier tone to the feelings, and, agreeable to the moral constitution of man, carry up his thoughts and his emotions directly to their Author, " from Nature up to Nature's God." The savage son of the wilderness, as he roams through his grand and gloomy forests, which for centuries have veiled the soil at their base from the sunlight, perceives a solemn awe stealing over him as he listens to the suiges of the winds rolling among the heavy branches; and in Nature's simplicity, untaught but by her untutored promptings, he believes that " the Great Spirit is whispering in [ 202] the tree tops." He stands by the side of Niagara. With subdued emotions he gazes upon the majestic world of floods as they hurry on. They reach the barrier! they leap its precipice! they are lost in thunder and in foam! And, as the raging waters disappear in the black abyss; as the bow of the covenant, " like hope upon a deathbed," flings its irised arch in horrible beauty athwart the hell of elements, the bewildered child of nature feels his soul swell within his bosom; the thought rises solemnly upon him, " the Great Spirit is here;" and with timid solicitude he peers through the forest shades around him for some palpable demonstration of His presence. And such is the effect of all the grand scenes of nature upon the mind of the savage: they lead it up to the " Great Spirit." Upon this principle is the fact alone to be accounted for, that no race of beings has yet been discovered destitute of ail idea of a Supreme Intelligence to whom is due homage and obedience. It is His voice they hear in the deep hour of midnight, when the red lightning quivers along the bosom of the cloud, and the thunder- peal rattles |