Iowa news. [volume] (Dubuque, Upper Mississippi Lead Mines, Wisconsin Territory) 1837-1841, 1837-08-26
SKETCH.

There have been several sketches Of the Amer y
can House Of Representatives, but none more ,ru- !
" graphic than the following from the New York
Knickerbocker Magazine. The reflections to !
which il gives rise, are enough to make an Amsri-
can prouder of his native country:
ssWhat mass of representatives. are there here
What singular samples of our vast country! Here /
sits a Tennesseean, and there Missourian, edu- |
Gated among buffaloes, and nurtured in the forest
las intimate with the passes of the Rocky Noun
tains,as the citizen with Broadway--w where
hunters and trappers have vexed every Hill, and
who cares no more for a Pawnec than professed
beau for a brign, plumed belle. Here is a man
from the praities-and there another from the
swamps and morasses, whose blood the musketoes
have utterly stolen away. There is sallow face
grounds, and here the flushed cheek from the noun
tains-and by his side man from the pine grounds
LAND Of tar and turpentins. What people we
are. What country is this of ours! How wide
in exteBt--fow rich in production--how various in
beauty! Ihaye asked in my travels, for the West,
in the streets of the Queen OF the West--a fairy
city, which but yesterday was wilderness.
They smiled at my inquiry, and said it was among
tbs shoosiara, of Indiana, the suckers of Ii-
nois. Then / journeyed along. l crossed great
rivers and broad prairies, and again asked for the
West. They said il was in Missouri. arrived
e. the capital Play complained that trey were
'too far down eas,.o ssBat go,'' they, said. s.ii
you would sac the West, days and days, aud hun
drads and hundreds of miles up the Missouri-far-
ther than from 70 New Englaal, and beyond the
Rocky Mountains, and amoAg the Snake Indians
OF the Oregon. and you may find it.' 1twas mo
work OF dozen years 10 fad the Wsslaia saT'-
cd about in despair. Indeed, tAvs found 70
bounds to nv co,,,rv. have slarched for them
for months, in almost every cthe-uhdef the TOR
rid sun of Louisiana, the lid of the orange and
the olive, and beneath tsSS cold SKY Of Maine.
hare seen the rice-pl>ft@f gathering rich treasures
- =
from beautiful sots and the Fisherman aaehorins
his it:is barql-sn the iocky island, dropping his
hook as careSy as if the ocean were full Of pearls
and no, oszMackerei.
haze s:sn the Hiil-man saving wood in all
rarS<f Of forms, or the larthest soil of New Eng
fsaa-,ad hare behe!d s,,s samc wood floating
down the Savannah, Or the beautiful Alabama. in
the strangess ns,arurphosis: IL .nay be, in a
eacs, regularly ticking of the time. or in pail
pefcaanee in a oastoa-and, for aUght know, in a
tas,sless ham, 0. an unfras grant nuinieg! l have
never been OF the soil OF mi owa country; and
yet hare seen the sun gofown ball of fire. with
ou'a moments noiice or twilight. anginz over rich,
aiIuTIal Iaada--blooming with rnagnoIias aad or
ange tfess--a robe of gold; and again have stood
oa the bare rocks OF colder chimes, and when the
trees were pinched by the early frost, / have
marked the same vanishing rays reflected from the
ieaves as if thousand birds of Paradise were
resting in its branches; and when the clouds
streaming with red. and purple, and blue--tinged
ana uppSd ~ the pencil OF beauty--weYe floating
a'af, like rainoows in motion, as if broken from
aheis eonhnement-now minging and interlacing
their dyes and giittering arches, and aaon Spin.
kied over. and meilowing the whole heagens-
then have fancied that was indeed in fair,
land, where the very forests danced 10 golden robe
-esponding 10 the setting sun, as the statue @
tabled Memuon gaye forth its weIc orling notes a
.ne rays OF the morning played upon its summit
have been where the dog-star RACES, scatterin,
pestilence in its train: where the long moss hang
from the the trees:--Theii pale faces and TAD
coIntenancss give admoni,ion that this is region
OF death. haze Stood by the wide prairie, and
oeheid the green pillows rise and fall. undulations
checquered with Aun-lite and shadow chasing one
after the other, afar oyer the wide sxpanse. And
ha1a gone amid Inc storms of winter, over thc
high hill. upoa the loud cracking cruat, amid tls
music OF the merry sleish-bs!!s.
And hare a:e the Representatives from all thes,
res'ons-here in one grand council! all speakin.
ore langnage-all impelIed By one law. Oh, m,
Country! my Country! If our destiny be alway
linked in one--if tins sams flag, with its gloriou
stars and stripes always the flag of our UsIos-
never unfurlsd or defended but by FnEgMEs--
then Poetry and Prophecy stretching to their u,
most, cannot pre-announce that dcstiny.n
YoUR CHu.DRYs---Sit dnwn ,,,ono ,,o,,