The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-01-23

same thing to the inmates. Lift aside the elena
tbs that has tspestried the entrance with its ex-
quisitc tasses--the spontaneous unframed gift Of
Nature to these children of hers-and pass
through the low doorway. The four corners Of
the house are likewise the four corners of-csll il
the bedroom, kitchen, parlor, rs you please 1t
will answer to each and every one of these names
into which you find yourself ushered. Over
blazing brush fire, between the chimney jambs
the guide wife," with face that has caught its
blaze, is bending to inspect her dinner kettle
One broad, low window lights the room. and two
beds garnish the farthest corners Poles and
ropes describe lines Of latitude aud longitude
against the dimness above you hung with braces of
prairie chickens, dried venison strings of onions
ragged jackets, and so on, indefinitely. One man
is lazily putting his pipe, with what there is of
brim to his hat dropped to shade his eyes from
the cooking fire. Another is stretched at full
length on the wooden bench upon the hearth,
shiyering. qusking, and chattering, as though he
had just dropped from the North Pole
"Why don't you attend to your sick man ~
you would involuntarily exclaim to the Indifferent
woman at his side.
"Oh, it's nothin', only the shakes,n she would
answer you carelessly. "The 0gm takes us by
turns you see. T'other week twas on us all TO-
gether, and pretty fix we were in--couldn't
cry one on as stand straight enough 10 fetch a
drop O. water A body must tough it out ~
And tough il out " the poor fellow does, shak-
ing and grooming most industriously, while half a
dozen children romp unconcerned around and
over him and you wonder more and more where
in the house all this living cargo fads storage.
There hangs lsdjer behind you, leading to a
"loft" between the eayes--a dark and fearful
place to look into-lighted only by the fre-beams
through the chinks of its floor, and the moonbeams
through the chinks Of its roof Here the children
are slowed away by hight, and the superfuous
"plunder" Of all kinds by day.
While you have been accommodating, the one
table has been spread with a white cloth, in hon
or OF the visiter, snd heaped with the treasures
disgorged by that marvellous dinner.pot; a va
riety Of steaming morsels among which dish Of
pork and cabbage figures most prominently
.SES->--, NOV ~ ssfr,ser, aha' make yourself 10
home ~ invites your hospitsble hostess for, in
consideration of your tastes in general, have Ia
ken you TO YANKEE emigrants table, instead of
Norwegian, WEIGH, Irish, or even Scotch
mans.
What is your surprise TO see the ague-shaken
invalid rear up his now fever-Hushed vissge oppo-
site you, and make successful dive into the plat,
ter of pork!
ooh p explains his I" help-meet" once more in
reply TO your glance of surprise, eve never mind
the Jsver-n'dgw Folks must eat to live shake OF
no shake! reckon he'll be out to reap and bind
in an hour, likelyp
The fever and aguen is the thorn of this
ower-prarie, as of all others in it's vicinity Itis
q singular disease Of which those who have seen
its operation NJ cd no description, and those who
have not can form little conception from words
80 | will spare them II hangs over the damp
decaying vegetation that rises in too rank luxu-
rance under the foot of Spring Ii breathes in
the summer gales, and poisons the arrowy sun
beams. Ii haunts the rivcr-sides and the stream.
lets, and turns the water of life into laid that
courses, burning, through the veins Of its victims
But chiefly
1.-THE fever demon strews
Poison with the falling dewsw
At the hour sweetest on the hills Of New Eng.
land when the day star has left his throne to the
suns that sparkle from the heights Of the mi.
verse-snd our nearer, brighter sister orb y
temps the romantic foot to step out from it's con.
fined abode beneath the blue sapphire-sct roof
Of the night at that hour the miasma
flies on its bat,like wing, dmly bodied forth in
| the nauseous fogs that warn the senses Of sight
| and smell, fixing it's "mark on the forehead Of
| all indiscreet devotees of romance. You may ven
ture TO the confines of the grove, to hear the OWL
sobbing boot, and the whippoorwilps wild, dolefi
! ciIatter- -: IT,. 80. the penalty in ach
r" --i;.nhs ,il,er acnga, ~r1i f-sa.~~As La brej,
which will very probably burn up all liDgrr.n
seeds OF moonlight romance scattered in its dream
chamber!
With the hope that, by walking in the path o
discretion, you may escape the clutches Of thi
worse than Giant Despair" leave you to i'm
leisure.
|