The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-08 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

FOREST Llb'E. By the Author of a " A New Home.'
Landon, Longman, 2 Vols.

The writer of these volumes has aimed at giving
some amusing and instructive pictures of life in Mi-
chigan, on the borders of the wilderness. She says
nothing of Indians, nothing of the very first pioneers
of the wilderness ; she takes us into one of those dis-
tricts in which villages have arisen, in which some
society has been formed, and some conveniences are
attainable. A Doctor is within a few miles • it is
visited by a pedlar: carpenters can be hired, and
will stay when they are not wanted at home ;
and schools, according to the law of the United
States, have been formed, though the distant coin-
munity still . trusts to itinerant schoolmasters.
" The public square, though intended to become in
time the glory of the village, is still in a state of
nature ;" the inhabitants " are still lulled to sleep by
the plaintive iteration of the Whip-poor-Will ;"
" they still occasionally catch the wild note of the
owl, as he chides the moon ;" and " they hear, with
ever new delight, the sweet welcome with which the
thousand songsters of the morning hail the appear-
ance of the sun." They might have good gardens,
but they have too much else to do. " Lilacs and lilies,
and even cauliflowers and celery are mere super-
fluities. The tomata has hitherto been consi-
dered heathenish and abominable ; asparagus use-
ful only to put above the looking-glass, as
a fly-trap." By no other author are we in-
troduced into the domestic life of these settlers,
and made acquainted with the dangers, particu-
larly of disease, which they encounter, and the petty
and annoying difficulties they have to overcome. We
see, indeed, in a great multitude of books, a rough
outline of savage wildness, yielding in places to a
rampant civilization ; we see utter destitution gra-
dually becoming great abundance, first of food, and
after wards of comfort we see the beginning of a rude
log-house and we see afterwards a flourishing city; but
this authoress takes us into the log-house and into the
improved dwelling which afterwards arises in its neigh-
bourhood, and shows us the minute and daily cares and
troubles which fill up the settler's life in the early stages
of the transition. This minute information is conveyed
in a pleasant, agreeable manner, very often assuming
the form of a tale ; is mingled with much philosophy,
and enlightened throughout by quiet, steady, kindly
feeling. The book is occasionally made a little tedi-
ous by over many remarks. We do not like the
Sibthorp correspondence, but, on the whole, it is
much to our taste, and will bestow on unsophisticated
minds considerable pleasure, mingled with much
information. We have no doubt whatever
that the book is written by one who has sojourned for
a considerable period, and is probably now a so-
journer, in the regions she describes. If they be
peopled by many more such accomplished and gentle
persons—and she records numerous traits of ster-
ling virtue—they must speedily become conspicuous
for refinement, as they now are for offering a com-
fortable home to all those who can reach them, en-
dowed with health, strength, and the knowledge of
some useful art.