The Portland gazette. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1818-1824, 1823-03-04


and sustain attention, and upon which tic Incl
dent OF the tale might naturally depend, giving
variety TO the scenes and at the same time ad-
vancing the main story.
The work opens by description Of valley,
which Is made the chief scene of action, in the
state OF New York, near one of the sources of
the Susquehanna. Judge Temple, tue owner of
" PATENT a large tract of land in which the
valley and village of Tenpleton is situated, is
returning on bleak day of the winter Of 1898,
with his daughter, an only child, from boarding
school, to make her the mistress Of his family in
TINS village. She is represented to be lovely and
beautiful, and is duly initiated as the heroine.
The road passes through wood, as might be
expected In new country, over which as they
are Jourpeying, they are startled by the sound of
ci1ace and soon deer dashes in sight the
Judge shoots at him without effect, and soon two
hunters appear who discharge their pieces and
the deer falls. One of the hunters is a young
man OF noble countenance, of naughty and re-
served, but polished manners, though in a coarse
and rustic dress he happens to have been wound
ed by the shot from the Judges gun, which leads
to particular notice of him by the Judge and
OF course our introdu ction to him he becomes
the hero of the story; though it would be difficult
to conjecture this fact early in the work, were it
son in the whole tale, who seems to be intended
or calculated to move in the auimating and busy
character Of a lover or hero of romance.
The other prominent characters are NIohegan
an Indian, the last Of his interesting race, who
hunted the deer in those forests, and who had
been destroyed by the progress of civilization;
Natty, otherwise called Nathaniel Bumppo,
singular compound, half-ciyilized and halfsav-
age and Miss Louisa Grant, girl Of great del
icacy and tinidity, who seems TO have been in
troduced merely as a companion to the heroine,
and who found no place in the authors plan at
the conclusion his story: But the most offcious
and tircsorne sort of bedy of the whole is Squire
Richard, a cousin Of Judge Temple, and Who is
set up for an original, without any very extra
ordinary success he is at first a steward for
Judge Temple and afterwards sheriff of the
county. The Indian, who is striking anj in
teresting character, well sustained and Nattv.
who Sy forty years residence in the woods, had
incorporated upon his own, the Indian habits and
manners, are continually and naturally enough
recurring TO the times when they could roam
like the game upon which they sHbssted, freely
through the forests, UNINTERRUPTED by the alarm
ing increase Of settle Eeuts an! civilization.
We have not space for any extracts. Some
passages, which we should be happy TO present
our readers have a deep interest, aud do credit
To the. author. The shooting match, on Christ
mas morn;ng, in the first vs!ume. is quite well
described; the attack upon the deer, il the lake,
the fishing operation, the panther scene, and the
burning on Mount Vision, are happily wrought,
and are Of lively interest. Billy Kirby, the wood
chopper, ought not be forgotten, who maintains
throughout character OF independence, honesty,
courage and richness, which is not uncommon
among the " r'armounterS,'' from whom he emf
grated.
Edwards the young hunter and the hero be-
fore mentioned, after passing through both vol
umes 10 a cloud Of mystery, sometimes an inmate
Of the family Of Judge Temple, where being
principal beau, he appears, very naturally, 70
have engaged the affections Of both the damsels,
and sometimes wandering over the hills with
Natty and the Enthusiastically turns out to be
the son of Efingham, an early friend and part
ner Of Temple, before the revolutionary war,
J and part Of whose property remained in the
hands OF the latter. Edwards had great suspi-
cions of the honesty Of Judge Temple, and hay-
ing lost bis flther, had taken this disguise in or
der TO ascertain the Judges views in relation
to his family. These views appear TO have been
highly honoral q. The important discovery con-
sequent!y unrayes all the mystery which hung
| over Edwards conduct-all tongues are now an
mated with the singular events which had trans
pired, and the conclusion, Of course, is a mar
riage with the heroine and heiress, Miss Temple,
! although Miss Grant seems to be the one, who,
| from her afectionate regard for him when poor
and unknown, was most deserving Of his remem-
brancc n his good fortune.
| We cannot close this very brief notice of the
Pioneers, without regretting that the author has
seen proper TO leave so poor an impression upon
| his readers, of the back woodsmen, and the en-
igrants from New England. We believe he
might have selected characters of an higher
stamp, even in the interior Of Ncw-York, and
while, being true to nature, given to strangers
| to our characters and manners abroad better
opinion of them than they can possibly have
after reading his book We have been calum-
| mated abroad for the coarseness of the ma
terials of which our population is composed it
| surely was not necessary for an American in
work which will certainly be read on the other
side of the water, to give strength to such an
impression.
If we in this country, knowing the compost
ton Of society il the newly settled territories
of the west, feel disgust of its coarse features
as they are represented in this book, how ynuch
will the friends of the Quarterly Review tri-
umph in being so well supported in some of their
assertions by one of our own oountrymen.
Federal Republican, Convention.
The FEEDER AL REPUBLICANS of Cum
berland Congressional District are notified that
Convention will be held at MTrcHELL's HOTEL,
in Portland on TUESDAY, the 10Th instant at