"Failing here to make an advancing stand against the Americans they fell back, formed an entrenched camp and planted their batteries along the heights of old Saratoga. In this camp they still hoped to hold out until relief came up the Hudson from New York. Here the pathos of the campaign culminated. The sick and wounded took up refuge in cellars. Burgoyne was entrenched on the hills with the river below, yet had no water to drink except a cupful brought now and then by the British women. The gallant Americans would not fire upon them. Burgoyne sent in the terms of surrender near the site of the old Schuyler mansion so recently burned. Here he laid down his arms and surrendered to General Gates. Along the road just across the Fishkill the disarmed prisoners were marched to the tune of 'Yankee Doodle,' played first as a national air.
"When the last cannon was heard to die among to hills it was as if the expiring note of British domination in America was sounded. This victory decided the fate of that mighty empire. It will stand unrivaled and alone, deriving lustre and perpetuity in its singleness."
There was soon to he peace throughout the land and independence. Again the golden grain would wave and the Hudson would be white with the sails of ships from many seas.
We left Schuylerville under a gloomy sky that foreboded rain. The clouds gathered thicker and thicker, and soon the rain was descending in torrents. We took refuge in a kind of barn erected for the purpose of sheltering horses during church services. We did not know the denomination of the church that stood near this shelter. We believed more strongly in a religion that is kind to dumb animals and does not have them standing for hours in a cruel storm while they shout "Glory to God." After the storm had abated we started onward once more.
CHAPTER XV
NIAGARA
"Flow on forever in thy glorious robe
Of terror and of beauty; * * * God hath set
His rainbow on thy forehead; and the cloud
Mantles around thy feet."
—Mrs. Sigourney.
Niagara! What a wealth of memories come thronging to you as you repeat the name! Some with visions of an emerald sea, filled with the eternal roar and grandeur of many waters; others with haunting melodies, quiet and tender as an Aeolian harp thrummed by an unseen hand. What a poem of blended power and beauty was here unfolded by Nature through countless centuries! Geological grandeur such as one seldom sees elsewhere awaits you here; splendor inconceivable is here wrought in ever varied and powerful forms of beauty, giving rise to a sublimity of thought and exuberance of feeling too powerful for words.
The awe felt in looking at this wild mass of raging water humbles and overwhelms you; you feel the presence of a majesty and grandeur in its onward sweep before unknown to you. When it is dashed to gauzy, irised spray it seems as gentle as the pearly mists of dawn, but its deep thunder-like detonations tell of a mighty power. Beauty blended with the most awe-inspiring sublimity is the order of passionate, impetuous Niagara.