The many views of Niagara Falls – inspirating wood-cut illustration…

September 26, 2025 by  
Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

Decades ago, when my husband and I called Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, our home, we were immersed in a world where the Amish community was a constant presence – their simple way of life woven into the fabric of our daily existence. For fourteen years, we lived among the rolling farmlands, the clip-clop of horse-drawn buggies, and the quiet resilience of a people who shunned modern conveniences. Yet, despite this proximity, we rarely partook in the activities that drew countless visitors to Lancaster County’s doorstep. We never sat at an Amish family’s kitchen table, savoring a meal steeped in tradition. We never climbed aboard a buggy for a leisurely ride through the countryside, nor did we ever step foot in Dutch Wonderland – that colorful amusement park that beckons tourists with its promise of family-friendly thrills.

It’s a curious thing. How we can live so close to something extraordinary and yet overlook it entirely. I’ve heard echoes of this sentiment from others, like New Yorkers who sheepishly admit, “I’ve never set foot on Liberty Island – the home of the  Statue of Liberty,” or Parisians who’ve never ascended the Eiffel Tower.

 

It seems to be a universal truth: we often bypass the wonders in our own backyards, taking them for granted as we chase the rhythm of our routines. Today, as I stumbled upon a delicate print in an August 9, 1873 Harper’s Weekly, I was gently nudged to pause, reflect, and to truly “see” the world around me. The print, accompanied by a poem, captured a fleeting moment of beauty—a scene so vivid yet open to interpretation that it stirred something deep within me. It wasn’t just the image itself, but the way it invited a multitude of perspectives, each lens revealing a new layer of meaning. The print reminded me to stop and inhale the fragrance of wild roses blooming along a forgotten path or to listen to the rhythmic rush of a nearby stream as it carves its way through the earth. What struck me most was the idea that a single moment, a single image, could evoke such a vast array of emotions and insights.
If we could train ourselves to view our surroundings through multiple sets of eyes—through the curious gaze of a child, the weathered perspective of an elder, or the fresh wonder of a newcomer—what richness we might uncover. Imagine the billions of impressions we could gather, each one a thread in the tapestry of our experience, pulling us toward the next moment with a heightened sense of anticipation and urgency. To live this way, with eyes wide open to the infinite possibilities around us, would be to embrace a life brimming with discovery, where every step forward is an invitation to marvel at the world anew.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Filed under: Harper's Weekly, Illustrated Newspapers, The Collectible Community
Tagged: ,

Comments

Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!