Page:Scenes in my Native Land.pdf/128

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124
ROCHESTER AND AUBURN.

into the cars, stretching out her arms to reclaim her treasure.

Rochester is a pleasant city of rapid growth and extensive resources. Its churches are fine, and it has many handsome private residences. The Falls of the Genesee River are here well worth visiting. The waters are precipitated from a height of nearly one hundred feet, in a volume of much grace and majesty.

Auburn stands on the outlet of the Owasco Lake, a stream of considerable size and power. The Lake itself, a few miles from the village, like the numerous similar bodies of water that diversify the surrounding region, is quite picturesque. The most imposing edifice here, is the castellated pile of the State prison, which induced some sad reflections on the mass of human misery which had been, and still is concentrated within its walls. It is built of granite, occupies more than sixteen acres, and is surrounded by a solid wall of stone, forty feet in height. The front of the principal building is two hundred and seventy-six feet, and the extent of the wings more than four hundred. In the latter are work-shops for various trades; in the cupola, an alarm bell; and on the walls, armed sentinels stationed night and day, to shoot down any who might attempt escape. Within these precincts, between seven and eight hundred convicts are receiving the punishment of their offences.

How many of these were swept away by sudden