Louis Legrand Noble （b. 1813,d. 1882） was horn in OtsetgCounty,New York. When twelve years of age,he removed with his family tthe wilds of Michigan,but after the death of his father he returned tNew York tstudy for the ministry,which he entered in 1840. About this time he published his first productions,twIndian romances in the form of poems,entitled "Pewatem" and "Nimahmin." Mr. Noble lived for a time in North Carolina,and later at Catskill on the Hudson,where he became a warm friend of the artist Cole. After the latter's death he wrote a memorial of him. Other works of this author are "The Hours,and other Poems," and "After Icebergs with a Painter," from which this selection is taken.
1.We have just passed a fragment of some one of the surrounding icebergs that had amused us. It bore the resemblance of a huge polar bear,reposing upon the base of an inverted cone1,with a twist of a seashell,and whirling slowly round and round. The ever-attending green water,with its aerial clearness,enabled us tsee its spiral folds and horns as they hung suspended in the deep.
2.The bear,a ten-foot mass in tolerable proportion,seemed tbe regularly beset by a pack of hungry little swells2. First,one would take him on the haunch,then whip back intthe sea over his tail and between his legs. Presently a bolder swell would rise and pitch inthis back with a ferocity that threatened instant destruction. It only washed his satin fleece the whiter.
3.While Bruin was turning tlook the daring assailant in the face,the rogue had pitched himself back inthis cave. Nsooner1Cone,a solid body having a circular base,from which it tapers gradually ta point. 2Swells,waves.that,than a very bulldog of a billow would attack him in the face. The serenity1 with which the impertinent assault was borne was complete. It was but a puff of silvery dust,powdering his mane with fresher brightness. Nothing would be left of bull but a little froth of all the foam displayed in the fierce onset. He towould turn and scud inthis hiding place.
4.Persistent little waves! After a dash,singly,all around,upon the common enemy,as if by some silent agreement underwater,they would all rush on at once,with their loudest roar and shaggiest foam,and overwhelm poor bear scompletely that nothing less might be expected than tbehold him broken in four quarters,and floating helplessly asunder. Mistaken spectators! Although,by his momentary rolling and plunging,he was evidently aroused,yet neither Bruin nor his burrow was at all the worse for all the wear and washing.
5.The deep fluting,the wrinkled folds,and cavities,over and through which the green and silvery water rushed back intthe sea,rivaled the most exquisite2 sculpture3. And nature not only gives her marbles,with the finest lines,the most perfect lights and shades,she colors them also. She is nmonochromist4,but polychroic5,imparting such touches of dove tints,emerald,and azure as she bestows upon her gems and skies.
6.We are bearing up under the big berg as closely as we dare. Tour delight,what we have been wishing and watching for is actually taking place: loud explosions,with heavy falls of ice,followed by the cataract-like roar,and the high,thin seas,wheeling away beautifully crested with sparkling foam. If it is possible,imagine the effect upon the beholder: this precipice of ice,with tremendous cracking,is falling toward us with a majestic and awful motion.1Serenity,quietness,calmness.2Exquisite,exceedingly nice,giving rare satisfaction. 3 Sculpture,carved work.4Monochromist,one whpaints in a single color. 5Polychroic,given tthe use of many colors.
7.Down sinks the long water line intthe black deep;down gthe porcelain crags and galleries of glassy sculpture-a speechless and awful baptism. Now it pauses,and returns: up rise sculptures and crags streaming with the shining white brine;up comes the great encircling line,followed by things new and strange-crags,niches,balconies,and caves;up,up,it rises,higher and higher still,crossing the very breast of the grand ice,and all bathed with rivulets of gleaming foam. Over goes the summit,ridge,pinnacles1,and all,standing off obliquely2 in the opposite air. Now it pauses in its upward roll: back it comes again,cracking,cracking,cracking,"groaning out harsh thunder" as it comes,and threatening tburst,like a mighty bomb,intmillions of glittering fragments. The spectacle is terrific and magnificent. Emotion is irrepressible3,and peals of wild hurrah burst forth from all.1Pinnacles,high,spirelike points. 2 Obliquely,slantingly.3 Irrepressible,not tbe restrained.
