midnight
Here is the highest part of the Blue Ridge , and from the gentle summit of Mount Jefferson the spectator has in view a hundred miles of this remarkable range , this ribbed mountain structure , which always wears a mantle of beauty , changeable purple and violet . After supper there was an illumination of the cascade , and the ancient gnarled arbor-vita : trees that lean over it-perhaps the largest known specimens of this species-of the gorge and the Bridge . Nature is apt to be belittled by this sort of display , but the noble dignity of the vast arch of stone was superior to this trifling , and even had a sort of mystery added to its imposing grandeur . It is true that the flaming bonfires and the colored lights and the tiny figures of men and women standing in the gorge within the depth of the arch made the scene theatrical , but it was strange and weird and awful , like the fantasy of a Walpurgis ' Night or a midnight revel in Faust . The presence of the colored brother in force distinguished this from provincial resorts at the North , even those that employ this color as servants . The flavor of Old Virginia is unmistakable , and life drops into an easy-going pace under this influence . What fine manners , to be sure !