Freeze into stark reality, defying
The force and will of man. These forms I see,
They may go with me through eternity,
And bless or curse with ceaseless company,
While yonder man, that I met yesternight,
Where is he now? He passed before my eyes,
He is gone, but these stay with me ever.

That night the young man rested with the old,
And, grave or gay, in laughter or in tears,
They wore the night in converse. Morning came,
The dreamer took his solitary way;
And, as he pressed the old man's hand, he sighed,
Must this too be a dream?

Afterwards, of the rolling prairie. "There was one of twenty miles in
extent, not flat, but high and rolling, so that when you arrived at a
high part, by gentle ascents, the view was beyond measure grand; as far
as the eye could reach, nothing but the green, rolling plain, and at a
vast distance, groves, all looking gentle and cultivated, yet all
uninhabited. I think it would impress you, as it does me, that these
scenes are truly sublime. I have a sensation of vastness which I have
sought in vain among high mountains. Mountains crowd one sensation on
another, till all is excitement, all is surprise, wonder, enchantment.
Here is neither enchantment or disappointment, but expectation fully
realized. I have always had an attachment for a plain. The Roman
Campagna is a prairie. Peoria is in a most lovely situation. In fact I
am so delighted that I am as full of superlatives as the Italian
language. I could, however, find fault enough, if you ask what I
dislike."