|
|
I still kept in mind a certain wonderful sunset which I witnessed when steamboating
was new to me. A broad expanse of the river was turned to blood; in the middle
distance the red hue brightened into gold, through which a solitary log came
floating, black and conspicuous; in one place a long, slanting mark lay sparkling
upon the water; in another the surface was broken by boiling, tumbling rings,
that were as many-tinted as an opal; where the ruddy flush was faintest, was
a smooth spot that was covered with graceful circles and radiating lines, ever
so delicately traced; the shore on our left was densely wooded, and the somber
shadow that fell from this forest was broken in one place by a long, ruffled
trail that shone like silver; and high above the forest wall a clean-stemmed
dead tree waved a single leafy bough that glowed like a flame in the unobstructed
splendor that was flowing from the sun. There were graceful curves, reflected
images, woody heights, soft distances; and over the whole scene, far and near,
the dissolving lights drifted steadily, enriching it every passing moment with
new marvels of coloring.
- Life on the Mississippi
To say that De Soto, the first white man who ever saw the Mississippi River,
saw it in 1542, is a remark which states a fact without interpreting it: it
is something like giving the dimensions of a sunset by astronomical measurements,
and cataloguing the colors by their scientific names--as a result, you get the
bald fact of the sunset, but you don't see the sunset. It would have been better
to paint a picture of it.
- Life on the Mississippi
We had one fine sunset--a rich carmine flush that suffused the western sky
and cast a ruddy glow far over the sea. Fine sunsets seem to be rare in this
part of the world--or at least, striking ones. They are soft, sensuous, lovely
--they are exquisite, refined, effeminate, but we have seen no sunsets here
yet like the gorgeous conflagrations that flame in the track of the sinking
sun in our high northern latitudes.
- The Innocents Abroad
Quotations | Newspaper Articles | Special Features | Links | Search
