New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-10-25

Mr.. Weber has already acquired an hon
arabic position in American literature py MS con-
,r;sutious to various periodicals., and his graphic
.,.,;ves of frontier life. In odd Hicks the
(;u,de i" "Gold Mines Of the ella and other
productions Of his pen, all OF which possess
strong individuality, and could have proceeuen
from no other source than genuine personal OK
nerience. The author is most at home In the
heart of the forest HIS native love OF adven'
turc urges him TO intimacy with the widest nav
ur,l scenes. With the Imagination OF poet the
eve Of an artist and the skill in wood-crait oil an
Indian. he has traversed the most romantic pas
ssges Of the mountain and PRAIRIE storing MS
memory with incidents OF peril, ana returning
enriched with the treasures OF the wilderness.
In his hands these materials are invaluable
He has wrought them into the texture OF MS
book with something more than artistic dexter
ity His pictures seem not only hfe-iike' o"t
alive This constitutes the great charm oil MS
descriptions Instead Of bringing the scene be-
fore YOU in your usual environment, leaving you
TO contemplate 1t at your leisure, he rather
transports you bodily among his wild beasts and
Indians. making you share the fierce delight OF
the chase or the combat bringing you III at the
death OF many noble quarry, and leading you
on many breathless trail through the savage
woods Combined with his uncommon power OF
narrative, Mr.. Weber exhibits a turn for SUB
tie and often pathetic reflection, which is not
usually connected with passion for outdoor
life He delights 10 trace the secret analogcs
and correspondence by which the heart of man
ards
WORKMAN, finding IN the depths of the forest, sug
gestiOns for thoughts which Z" lie too deep Tor
tears" Here certainly are the elements for a
unique composition. The author has done JUS
tlcc to them in the present volume. II is adapt
ed to be read with equal qualification by the
sportsman, the naturalist, the poet, and the lover
Of desperate adventures. We have onH one
fault to find with Mr. Weber, and that Is the
profusion with which he quotes from other wri-
tiers. Even the charming extracts from Audubon
are carried to excess They swell the volume
to an inconvenient size, and deprive US o, the
original descriptions which we had right to ex-
pect from the author himself His own writing
IN this volume would form a most attractive
work, and exciting as are the scenes which he
gladly dispense with them in the present shape
But we will not delay to give our readers a spe-
cimeu OF the metaphysical backwoodsman, nitro.
ducing our selections with passage which may
be deemed Swedenborglan rhapsody on the re-
lations Of
BIRD, BEAST AND HUNTER.
The air is filed with birds that fly, and
pursued by bird and beast; The earth with
beasts that run, and pursued by beast and bird
whilc man, in a world OF pursuers and pursued, is
chief hunter OF them all
Whatever may have been the case an primeval
times, n certainly seems very natural now that our
relations to the living creatures by which we are
surrounded should be mainly those Of hunter and
the hunted and that these relations should be most
immediate TO bird and beast seems equally Of course
snce they more nearly approach US on the ascend
mg scale OF being. But most intimate relations
10 the life below us express far more than is convey
cd IN mere consequently for they are each separate
and living types Of our compounded selves.
Thus NC ace IN the bird the type OF our intellect
OF the soul We feel that they address the magma
toa, appeal to what IL exuliing and exalting IN us
to "thc aspiration IN our hcels,N
The beast, ON the other hand Is the type of our
sensC0vs hie-t appeals 10 our material AMI lower
smpulSes. IL prehgures and embodics individually
those purely physical attributes which we ind ex-
pressed IN mar the MIcrocoSm. In a word, quad
rupeds sie the ndices OF our passions which belong
to and birds, Of our passions which belong 10
soul. TIE bird has wings, and ike thought, tiumphs
all IT'S modes and associations apparently those
Vi the souls life
"Asb birds within the Wind
AS 6sh wilNin the wave
"A the thoulh of ,asOs Own mind
Fl,es th,o0sh all aeose the grave,
Even tho impulses Of the brId are TIL of cold
and clear inieliceuon' When" s,rkes II Kills the
quick, hercc promg!ud> of appct,ie knows no pause
IL never dallies IN the prev 10 cioat upon us ago.
nv a. hunger on The struggles OF tear IN
sh cue to escape, DO the telines aud many 9th.
Of the quadrupeds. With 1t 10 feel Is 10 90, and
co do quickly vtni r3di III! Is The accepted motto
Of fiery, keen victorious thought They are the vi
cious and Ienohe sluggars OF action thai creep 10
conquer The beast crushed bN It's groSsneSS, and
in It's highest MOODS crawer With It's belly in the
dust. Even IN the eXul,Hgs OF lis passion. in The
murdetous bound upon It's prey, II must shake the
earth from is claws II Is indeed "of the earth,
esrhy," and associated with the baseness and low
haess OF filth and dirt However nice il may be,
however intact of the eabtUa soil 1t may keep It's
pelage yet It's appet,es thirsty for blood like the
absorbing earth ITS passions lungerng, deadly, but
sure as the revolving seasons BIRDS do not linser
When they stuke, II Is for the death aud ,hen,
With no pause between they swallow. Sometimes.
with many OF the nshcrs, they DO not even 'arry
that they may tear then prey, but cegutste alive.
AS with the higher inteilecton ahmenta,ion seems
with the bird rather means than an end. lite has
higher bhsses for them, and they eat 10 live while
the ANIMAL but lives &c eat. The JOY OF wings, Of
sunshine and Of singing, of battle with the wind and
storms of rocking On the wave o! forestiops, or
swinging with the soanG Of waters Is with the bud
The noOicf purpose NhNe OtaSl must ncA us
thsty chops foreN cr and With baletul eye glare al
WAYS the insaiate tuSi Of savll through The smiles
O. peaceful nature
With all this We have &c confess that as vet The
beast more CLOSELY GfpTCximates on. sympathleS, aN
meals 70 us through TaCye numerous TRAITS Of con
sangu.nisy than the bird. THIS though honest, and
sufficiently honorable 70 Us IS nevertheless mos. hU
initiating to . transcendental price.
But there is real HI, and no mistake IA the FOL-
lowing description Of
DEER HUNT on rHE PRAIRIEs.
The deer of the Praiiles l. very owIit
var,eiy with smaller RlLets than the ccmIaoa buck
OF our forests bears. We stationed ourselves some
half rnIe distant IN the prairie on feet horses,
some who were most skilled with the common las
50" OF the country and others With our holster ps-
tolls as m my Own ease negro driver" as he Is
called was then sent m With cogs on the opposite
side OF the wood 10 dave the deer out upon the plan
L. n a OF the common deer this