Iowa news. [volume] (Dubuque, Upper Mississippi Lead Mines, Wisconsin Territory) 1837-1841, 1837-07-29
From, the Missouri Republican.
SKETCHES OF A TRAVELLERS.

From the Missouri Republican.
SKETCHES OF a TRAVELLER.
s.rhe day is lowering-still blackly
Sleeps The grim waste, wnile heayens rack,
Dispersed and wild, 'twixt earth and sky
Hungs like shattered canopy"
Fire WorsIip.
ssThe bleak winds
Do sorcly suhle; for many miles about
There IS scarce bush.'-Lear, .4ct 2.
Merrily.-merrily did the wild night-wind
howl and whistle, and rave around the little
low cabin, beneath whose humble roof-tree the
traveller had lain himself TO rest. Now, it
would roar and rumble down the huge wood
en- chimney, and anon sigh along the tall grass
tops, and through the crannies, like the wall
Of some lost one ofthe waste. The moonbeams,
at intervals, darkened by the drifting clouds
and again pouring gloriously forth, streamed
in long threads OF silver through the shattered
walls; whilst the shaggy forest in the back
ground tossing its heavy branches agains; the
troubled sky, roared forth deep chorus to the
storm. 1t was wild night, and so complete
was the ilusion,that in the fitfuI lullings ofthe
tempest, one almost imagined himself on the
ocean beach listening to the confused weller
ing of the surge. There were much of high
srblimity in this, and hours passed away be-
fore the traveller, weary as he was, could quiz
ct his mind to slumber. There are seasons
when every chord, and nerve, and sinew, of
the system seems wound up to its severest ten
sion, and morbid, unnatural excitement broods
over the mind, forbidding all approach to Gul-
etude. Every one has experienced this under
peculiar circumstances, but none can describe
lit.
The night wore tcliously away, and at the
dawn the traveller was again in the saddle,
pushing forth like ''plgrim BARK upon the
swelling ocean waste sweeping even TO the
broad curve Of undulating horizon. There is
always something singularly unpleasant In the
idea of going out upon one OF these vast prai-
ries alone; and such the sense of utter lonell-
ness, that the solitary traveller never fails to
cast back a lingering gaze upon the last low
tenement he is leaving. The winds were st!ll
up. and the rack and clouds were scuddlng III
wild confusion along the sky.
ssHerc, flying loosely as the name
OF a young war horse in the blast;
There rold in masses dark and swelling,
As proud to be the thundcrs dwelling"
From time to time a heavy blast would
come careering with ,esistless fury along the
heaving plain, almost tearing the rider from
his horse. The celebated s'Grand" Prairie
upon which was nov entering stretched IT.
self away to the south thirty miles---a vast,
unbroken meadow. and one may conceive, not
describe. the terrible fury OF a storm---wlnd
sweepinp over a surface like this. AS the NOR
ming advances, the violence ofthe tempest lull-
ed into fitfal gusts; and, as the centre OF the
vast amphitheatre was obtained, scene OF
grandeur and magnifcence opened to my eye,
such az never before had been its lot to look
upon. Elevated upon full roll ofpralrle, the
glance ranged over a scene ofseemingly limit
less sxtcnt; for upon every side, for the first
time, the deep blue line of the horizon, and
the darker hue of the waving verdure, blended
melting into one.
The touching, delicate, loneliness of the
lesser praires---so Respondent in brllliancy OF
hue and beauty of outline, have often dwet
upon with delight. The graceful unduation
Of slope and swell---the exquisite richness OF
verdue, flashing in native magnidcence---the
gorgeous dyes ofthe matchless and many colo
red flowers, dallying with the winds---the
beautiful woodland points. and promontories
shooting forth into the mimic sea 1.-The far re-
treating shadowy coves, running back In long
vistas into the green wood---the curved profile
of the dim distant horizon, caught atintervals
through the openings of the forest---and the
whole gloriously lighted up by the early radi-
ance of morning, as with rosy footsteps she
came dancing over the dew gemmed landscape
---all these constituted a scene in which beauty
unravalled was the sole Ingredient. And then
those bright enamelled clumps of living emer-
aids, sleeping upon the wavy surface, like the
golden Hesperides of classic fiction, or, like
another cluster Of Fortunate isles in the dark
blue waters, breathing fragrancy as from ORR
entail bowers---the wild deer bounding in start
led beauty from his bed, and the merry note Of
the sky lark whistling with speckled vest and
dow wet wing upon the rosin weed, lent the
last touching to natures chef d'oeuvre.
1 Oh beautiful-still beautiful;
! Tho long and lone the way
/ There's grandeur IN the loneliness
1 Aud my thoughts arc led away.
/ But the scene amid which was now stand.
mo could boast an effect like this. Here, In
deed, were the rare and delicate flowers, and
life in all its new and beautiful forms was leap
ing forth in wild and sportive luxuriance al
INV feet. But all vast vast---immeasurably
ITitantic--and the loveliness Of the picture was
lost in its grandeur. Here was no magnlficence
/ Of beauty-..no gorgeousness of vegetatlon---nc
splendor Of the Wilderness
screen isles and circling meier blended there
avid feality.''
All was bold and impressive, reposlng in
the stern, majestic, solitude ofnature:, on ev'
cry side, the earth heaved and rolled ike the
swell Of the troubled waters: now sweeping
away in the long heavy wave Of corn, and
now rocking and curling like the abrupt, bro
ken, bay billow, tumbling around the crag
Between the Heightened parable! ridges stretch
the ravines by which the prairie is drained.
and, owing to the depth and tenaclty OF the
soil, they are sometimes almost impassiaaDie
Ascending from these, the elevation swells SC
4 0radu allv "a IN In almost impeTCeDtlble to the