"All nature smiles, and teems with health and brightness and fragrance, where you are, but over the valley before you rests an awful, impenetrable, dark, black cloud, . . . approximating to a realization of your ideal of the 'dark valley of the shadow of death.' . . . You walk down the hillside, and, as you enter the thick, dark cloud, . . . you feel no more the invigorating influences [of the sun], . . . a sense of oppressiveness falls upon you, and you realize, to your unmistakable discomfort, that the darkness around [you] can not only be seen, but felt and tasted. Suddenly, to your great astonishment, you discover that this dreary spot is inhabited by human beings!"