Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1846-12-09
An Hour with Nature and the
Naiiers.

Extract from a letter from Mr. Burritt--the
learned Blacksmith, so called-now in Eng
land:
TUESDAY, July 2l.-After quiet easy
breakfast served up for myself alone, / sat down
to test IKE practicability of the plan had form
ed at home for my pergrinations in this coun-
try viz: to write until one p, NJ, then to take
my staff and travel ON, eight or ten miles, to
another convenient stopping place for the night
AS much depended on the success of the exper-
iment, was determined to carry the point a
gainst the predictions of my friends. SO at it
Invent, con Gmore. The house was as quiet
as if profound Sabbath were resting upon it.
and the windows of my airy chamber looked
looked through the foliage of grave elms down
upon green valley. | got on swimmingly;
and after frugal dinner at the little round table
buckled on my knapsack with a feeling of
self-gratulation in view ofthe literary part of
my days work. Having paid my bill and given
the landlady copy of my corn meal receipts
resumed my walk towards Worcester.
The summit of the first hill assembled OPEN
ed to the view splendid ampithcatre, emboso-
ming the large village of Broonsgroye. As tbs
was the most extensive and variegated land
scapeI had as yet seen arriving in England,
| stopped few moments to notice the features
that distinguished it from American landscapes
of the same physical contour. They may, per
haps,be summoned up in these characteristics.
In the first place, land that rents from s312 to
$25 per acre, for their sheer capacity of pro-
duction, must necessarily be kept in high state
OF cultivation. Of course, no lean, dry pasture
or Doggy morass, or bald sand hill breaks the
vista Of universal fertility. Then the trees are
all planted, from the oak Of monstrous grth,to
the smallest hawthorn in the earned hedge:
and either from this circumstance, or the fer
tlity of the soil, their foliage seems to rival in
luxury the ranlpvegetation of annual plants
The meadow grasses are of q thicker and finer
growth than in America. Herdsgrass and clo-
yer are not SO common. The atmosphere is
more humid and there is55a sprightly,vivid green
ness and velvet softness about a newly
shorn meadow, which strikes an American at
the view of summer lanscape in this country.
But the most distinguished and Interesting fea-
ture of all is the evergreen hedge.
L was suddenly diverted from my contempla-
ton of this magnificent scenery by fall of heav-
rain drops, as prelude of an impending
shower. Seeing gate open, and hearing ia
mlliar clicking behind hedge,I stepped through
into little blacksmith's shop about as large as
an American smokehouse for curing beacon
The first object that my eyes rested upon, was
rs ildil, lliic years Vi dSc,lIlu ilcdI
three feet high, percbed upen stone of half
that height to raise his breast to the level of his
fathers anvil, at which he was at work, with
all the vigor of his little short arms ,making nails
say fott-gro,cn man, for fear he can never
grow any larger physically or mentally. AS
put my hand on his shoulder in a familiar way
to make myself at home with him, and to re-
move the timdity with which my sudden ap-
pearance seemed to inspire him by a pleasant
word or two of greeting, his flesh felt case har-
dened into all the induration of tolling manhood
and as unacceptable of growth as his anvil
block. Fixed manhood had set upon him in
the greenness of his youth, and there he was by
his fathers side, tinted, premature man /;
with his childhood cut off; with no space to
grow in between the cradle and the anvil block
chased as soon as he could stand on his little
legs, from the hearth-stone to the forge-stone,
by iron necessity, that would not let him stop
long enough to pick up a letter Of the English
alphabet OH the Wo