Nor are we limited to sight alone, for our impressions may be made stronger by the aid of the other senses.  Sound and smell and taste may supplement the sight, and though they add little to the clearness, yet they add much to the impression which we get.

Within the cabin, through which Basil and Isabel now slowly moved, there were numbers of people lounging about on the sofas, in various attitudes of talk or vacancy; and at the tables there were others reading Lothair, a new book in the remote epoch of which I write, and a very fashionable book indeed.  There was in the air that odor of paint and carpet which prevails on steamboats; the glass drops of the chandeliers ticked softly against each other, as the vessel shook with her respiration, like a comfortable sleeper, and imparted a delicious feeling of coziness and security to our travelers.

—­Howells:  Their Wedding Journey.

+138.  Impression Limited to Experience.+—­If we attempt to write a description for the sake of giving an impression, it must be an impression that we have ourselves experienced.  If the sight of the gorge of Niagara has filled us with a feeling of sublimity and awe, we shall find it hard to write a humorous account of it.  If we see the humorous elements of a situation, we cannot easily make our description give the impression of grief.  Neither can we successfully imitate the impressions of others.  No two persons are affected in the same way by the same thing.  Our age, our temperament, our emotional attitude, and all of our past experiences affect our way of looking at things and modify the impressions which we get.  The successful presentation of our impression will depend largely upon the definite perception of our feelings.

+139.  Impression Affected by Mood.+—­Not only is our impression affected by details in the scene observed, but it is even more largely influenced by our mood at the time of the observation.  The same landscape may cheer at one time and dishearten at another.  To-day we see the ridiculous; to-morrow, the sad and sorrowful.  A thousand things may change our mood, but under certain general conditions, certain impressions are likely to arise.  There is something in the air of spring, or the heat of summer, which affects us all.  The weather, too, has its effect.  Sunshine and shadow find answering attitudes in our feelings, and the skillful writer takes advantage of these emotional tendencies.

Not far we fared—­
The river left behind—­when, looking back,
I saw the mountain in the searching light
Of the low sun.  Surcharged with youthful pride
In my adventure, I can ne’er forget
The disappointment and chagrin which fell
Upon me; for a change had passed.  The steep
Which in the morning sprang to kiss the sun,
Had left the scene; and in its place I saw
A shrunken pile, whose paths my steps had climbed,
Whose proudest height my humble feet had trod. 
Its grand impossibilities and all
Its store of marvels and of mysteries
Were flown away, and would not be recalled.