near bank of the river with the eternal roar of its waters pouring into
my ears, cross over Suspension Bridge, spanning the rushing tides below
still tossing and foaming as though an ocean had broken from its prison,
and then pass up the other bank, in full view of the cataract, and not
look upon it until my feet were planted on Table Rock. But from that
hour to the present, I have never regretted the effort, for therein I
learned the importance of position, when face to face with any great
question. The position gained, I raised my eyes upon Niagara Falls. I
need not say my whole being was thrilled. There lay the great "horse
shoe" full before me, and I seemed to stand upon its outer crest and
look down into its deep chasm, where the angry waters wrestled with each
other in their wildest frenzy. Then the floods from either side, that
had seemed to sweep around the chasm and hug the shore, as if in mortal
terror, despairing of escape, rushed upon each other like two storm
fiends. The war of waters was most terrific. The very earth shook.
Locked in deadly embrace, and writhing as if in direst agony, the mighty
floods plunged the abyss, while far above floated the white plume of the
presiding genius of old Niagara. The impression upon me was
overwhelming. I saw Niagara Falls from the right stand-point. Whether I
was equally fortunate in my early views of the Itinerancy is a question
that will find solution in the following pages.

I decided, however, to go West. My father and the balance of his family
had been looking enquiringly in that direction for several months, and I
now agreed to accompany them.

It was our purpose to make Dubuque, Iowa, the point of destination, as
the founders of that city, who were relatives, had visited us in the
East and had given us glowing accounts of the city and the adjacent
portions of the State. With this purpose in view we landed at Racine.