"
Such is the description of Cleveland's Avenue, as given by this
clerical gentleman. It is perfectly graphic, and corresponds with all
the glowing accounts I have read of this famous place. Exquisitely
beautiful and rare as are the formations in this avenue, it will soon
be, I fear, like the Grotto of Pensico--shorn of its beauties. Many a
little Miss, to decorate her centre table or boudoir, and many a
thoughtless dandy to present a specimen to his lady fair, have broken
from the walls (regardless of the published rules prohibiting it,)
those lovely productions of the Almighty, which required ages to
perfect; thus destroying in a moment the work of centuries. These
beautiful and gorgeous formations were encrusted on the walls by the
hands of our Maker, and who so impious as to desecrate them--to tear
them from their place? there they are, all lovely and beautiful, and
there they ought to remain, _untouched_ by the hands of man, for the
admiration and wonder of all future ages. If the comparatively small
cave of Adelburg which belongs to the Emperor of Austria, be placed
for the preservation of its formations under the protecting care of
the government [Transcriber's note: sic] (as is the case,) what ought
not to be done to preserve the mineralogical treasures, in this great
Cave of America, and especially in Cleveland's Cabinet, which are
worth more than all the caves in Europe, indeed of the world, so far
as our knowledge of caverns extends.
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