midnight
At one moment it merely glimmered up through the mist from the bed of the river , a little broken space of the arch , and the colors dim and indistinct ; anon the sky grew brighter and the column of mist rose higher ; and now it formed more than the half circle , the top a little above the level of the Fall , -- and the blue , and gold , and green , and orange , and purple , painted so brightly on the retina of the eye that they seemed to be a part of the very air the observer was inhaling . How near he stood , impressible Tom , at that moment , to the eternal mystery ! -- how near to the workshop in which seem to be flashed out from eternal forges the beauties of the sunshine and the storm ! Climbing down from the bridge to the end of the rock , leaning tremblingly over and looking down into the misty gulf below with that Jacob 's Ladder of faith set therein -- it is not strange that the journalist for one moment wished for a line and plummet to drop into that reservoir of golden glory and bring up some memento of what seemed so near to the celestial ; -- just as one wishes , sometimes when the midnight heaven is darkest and the stars are burning most purely there , to be able to stretch forth a hand among the stellar lights and bring it back bathed with that radiance which is so fearfully beautiful . Leslie had no intention of ascending the tower that day -- other days would be his at Niagara , and something must be saved for each . Besides , he had breakfasted lightly and an unromantic call for lunch was being made on faculties quite as delicate as his mental perceptions . He had accordingly just turned again and ascended the stairs to the bank in front of the Pavilion , when the fates -LRB- ever kind to him in this regard , as to every other true lover of nature -RRB- vouchsafed him one moment 's glimpse of a spectacle often wished for and seen but seldom .