The things we do!

The storms of nature and the jealousies in human
breasts thwarted La Salle's immediate ambitions, but what has come into
that northern valley has followed closely in the path of his purposes, the
path traced by his ship built of the trees of Niagara and furnished by the
chandleries of Paris.
The mystery of the vanishing of this pioneer vessel only enhances the
glory of its venture and service--as its loss but gave new foil to the
hardihood of La Salle and Tonty. We can imagine the golden-brown skins
scattered over the blue waters as the bits of the body of the son of the
king of Colchis strewn by Medea to detain the pursuers of the Argonauts.
It was the first sacrifice to the valley for the fleece. In the depths of
these Lakes or on their shores were buried the bones of these French
mariners who, first of Europeans, trusted themselves to sails and west
winds on those uncharted seas.
But this is not the all of the tragic story. The _Griffin_ carried in her
the prophecies of other than lake vessels.


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