The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1842-01-29


nahs. will sometimes be startled by a
sound, as of hounds on the hurt, and a
non, noble ..buck of ten tines" will
leap past him, followed by pack of hun
cry wolves, yelping as they run in hot
pursuit; but he will look in vain for the
sportsmen of the field, he can but fancy
that invisible hunters
"Horsed on the viewless couriers air"
are tracking their game, and urging the
wild chase.
Some theorists. believe the Prairies to
have been, very ancieutly, the beds Of the
/ lakes or of the sea; this opinion finds ar
puments in the aIluvious character of their
soil, and in the marine shells, that are in
variabv found, imbedded in the limestone
of adjacent bluffs.
When the grass is thoroughly ripe, in
the fall, towards the close of November,
most of the prairies are burned. The
fires sometimes, originate by accldent,but
more often from the design of the hun
tiers, to facilitate them in the destruction
of game. The dry grass, which then is
Often as high as the head OF man on
| horseback, burns with fierce and terri
BILE rapidity, and extends the flames for
miles in few minutes, lmpresslng the be-
| holder with the idea of general conlla-
grafton. If The wind chances to be high,
tufts of the burning materials dart like
| flaming meteors through the ar, and lar
as thr eye can reach, pail of black smoke
stretches to the horizon and overhangs
the scene, while all below is lighted up.
and blazing with iurions intensity, and
ever and non, flaming wlsps OF grass flash
up, revolving and circling in the glowing
atmosphere, and lending to the lmagna-
ton il sembage of convIct-spirits tossing
in lake of fire. The birds startled and
bcwildered, scream wildly, and tumble
and roll about above the flames, the al-
lrighted deer leaps from its covert and
COURSES madly away, and the terrified
wolf forgetful of the chase runs bowling
in AN adverse direction.
When an experienced hunter finds him
self upon prize, to which fire has been
applied, he Immediately kindIes fire
near him, las did the cd lrapper in Coop
er's novel of the s.Prairie," ~ and the wind
bears the flames onward, burning a path
before him, which he follows to place
of safety, aud thus, escapes horrld fate,
that but for his sagacty, would have
been inevitable. A prairie OH fire can
sometimes be seen at distance of fifty
miles The fire continues until the grass
is all consumed. and, not unfrequently, ii
is carried by the wind into the adjacent
forest, which it blasts and devaslates, I'M
til checked byla water course. Early in the
spring, the pralries renew their verdanl
clothing, and long before their next au-
Iumnal burning, all vesligcs of the pre-
ceeding conllagrations are gone, unless,
perhaps, some worm-eaten and sapless
tree, in one of the island like clusters,
may show, by its bIackened trunk and
leailess branches, that the flames have
been there.
in no possible condition can the prair-
les be seen without exciting feelings OF
peculiar and lively interest. They are
sloriously beautiful or awfully terrible,
according to the times and seasons in
which they are beheld. When viewed inthe
broad glare of cay, they seem like large
lakes, gently undulaling in the breeze and
| the variegaled flowers flash in the sun,
like phosphorescent sparkles on the sur
face of the waters. Seen by moonlight,
they appear calm and placid as the Iagunes
of Venice, and the beholder almost Won
ders, why they do not reflect back the
starry glores of the sky above them. In
storms, the clouds that hang over them
'sTo come more near the earth than is their won't
in other places, and the lightning sweeps
closely to their surface, as if to NOW
them with fiery scythe, while, as the
blast blows through them, the tall grass
bends and surges before it, and gives forth
shrill whsling sound, as if every fibre
were harpstring of Eolus. In the
spring, they put forth they rich verdure
emb osscd with the early wild flowers of
many hues, spreading a gorgeous carpet
ing, which no Turkish fabric can equal.
Al this season, in the early dawn, while
the mists hang upon their borders-cur-
ling in folds like curtains through which
the morning sheds a sollened light, shalt
concealed" by the vapory shadows that
float ftfully over the ne-they appear
now light, now shaded, and present pa
norama ever varying, Frightening and
darkening, until the mlsts rol! up, and the
| uncurtained sun reveals himself IN his full
rising.-ln summer, the long grass
stoops and swells with every breath Of
the breeze like the waves of the heaving
ocean, and the bright blossoms seem to
dance and laugh in the sunshine, as they
toss their gaudy heads to the rustling
music of the passing wind. The prairies
are, however, most beautiful, when the
first tints of autumn are upon them; when
their lovely flowers, in ten thousand va
rieties. are decked in their gorgeous foil