The Yazoo Whig and political register. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1840-1842, 1842-05-13

all in common The same sun whose Hucs
tifying rays now enliven and invigorate the |
fields Of anoihei race, was then curtained
out from the huntng-grOunds, except here
and there. where his rays penetrated the
creVices Of the forest, rendering the shade OF
the grove below more visible and lnVltln
The same moon which now looks down uP-
on a congregation oftoWns and cities, having I
half of the hours of her solitude disturbed BY L
the busy strife Of new pursuits, then dimpled
the CLASSY surface of the half shaded river,
roamed in undisturbed silence over the forest
scene, and looking through the opening /
boughs Of the woodland, lit up the pathway 4
of the young Indian as he wooed his dusky |
mate. The wild grass of the plain, where
the elk grazed at twilight and the tim deer
at early dawn hurried the lark from her nest,
has been tanned by strange hands, and is now
called a meadow. The VOLTS wild how
from the rocky cliff, and the panther-scream
from the vale below, echoed unheeded thro'
the forest, or was. Knocked by the hoOting |
owl as he sat above them.
And where now are these scenes? Where
are the interrupted days Of the red mani
Alas! he has been driven, too rudely driven,
before the van Of civilization, as 1t is called,
until the remains of a once noble and digni-
lied race-drjeeted and degenerate-the lit
erature of his tradition lost-his arts and his
sciences forgotten-his council fires gone
out and his bow dry and stifened. he can
scarce remember what people he is of, or tell
you the story of his fathers last pursuit of
1.-The Mastodom beyond the rivers of the West.
A few years ago, lone North Carolinian.*
hundreds of miles from the habitation Of man,
lsave the bark-covered hut of the wild forest
or, stood upon the shore of the Ohio, and ga
Izing in earnest contemplation upon its glaasy
bosom, exclaimed to himself, What a beau
tifaI river! The gentle gliding OF the light
canoe, the playful futter of the wild fowl,
and the ripple of the rustling breeze then a.
T lone disturbed the placid surface of the beau
} llifuI stream. But time flies on apace.-LOok
again and you will see the long stately barge,
or the more tractable keeI-bOGt. The rude
boat song has music in its uncOuth discOrd-
lance. The rough joke passes round, while
1.-THE hardy 'boatsmGn' pulls at the cordeH or
bushDhGcks his way against the steady cur
trent. One hundred and twenty days he
breasts the stream and forces his way from
New Orleans to Pittsburg. He now leaps
! upon the shore in triumph, and shouting a.
! loud, proclaims himself circumnavigator Of
the World!-Another period passes.-Now
the transPortable commerce Of an empire Hits
{ laway at an hours notice, and in a week tra-
: rooms in splendid hotel to-day, tomorrow
YoA are in some other State, and before the
week closes you dine in an Atlantic city.
writer of history now is painter of ro-
i nance. The dreams Of fancy and the poets
I vision are dull and sluggish, and NOPE lazily
d behind the times. The spirit Of enterprise
:, loutwings the spirit OF imagery, and facts and
history seem to fit away from under the very
y pen that would delineate their features. Il
= this fiction or s it reality? Where is the
!. fancy, or where is the evidence of the fancy
which, on the wildness of her unnamed pin
l. ions, twenty years ago, set out with 'th'
e. march of improvement in the West, ane
q kept pace with the stubborn realities OF the
times? That truth is stranger than fiction
! lie in evidence before us, az least any fctior
= THAT poets or the dreaming of romance have
: painted for our amusement.
te Sir, if had the gift Of painting as havt
D the sense of seeing, | would lead you alon)
le the shores of the rivers of the West. From
fl the rich fields and meadows, amongst TIT
grazing herds and yellow harvesls we woulC
ID pass to the city full. And if l could max
Y YOU feel the force Of the truth, would tel
E you that here Ten, or twenty years ago, tn
!, wild Indian jerked his venison or sat arount
= Ibis council. FIRE. | would tell you that thi
:! lspot. here amidst the blaze of the teemi
n PRESS, where the hammer and the rattlinI
D. machinery deafen the ear, and the bus
he crowd hurries about in apparent confusion
3 ashing up the lazy steeds of commerce,
ne but the scene Of hasty transformation OF th
= abode Of bufaloes; where the panther pHrre
Z. his mate to silence, while the strutting kin
q. of the wild roOst, walking forth in the slatel
ri. pride of the forest, struck up the revelie {
ng the morning.
y And now, sir, is this an enigma which re
.. quires a solution, or is it mere cold nara
Ne ton of what we have seen How and VIII
nd were these cities thus hurried into being e
a. Were they built as the imperial city of th
i'm Russian empire was buih Z No, sir. s.
Petersburgh grew up like unto the cities
ry 1.-THE West, in point Of time, it is true; but
up grew by the command Of a tyrant. And Il
si- ghosts Of the Wondering thousands who:
re- bones form a Golgolha beneath beneath j
he maenifcence, shall tell in a coming da
EN- thai the mandates of k;ngly power over
St nation Of slaves hewed her granite and bui
lg. her palaces; whilst our cities grew up by Il
ms unsWayed and self-moving hand Of natil
ted Industry and enterprise; Liberty, the kin
Iou Of monarchs and companion Of freemen, z