The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-11-01

was the first hotel the one-story frame; the two
story frame; the one, two, and three-story brick.
These are variously scattered and grouped,
with but little care for mathematical precision
and fine effect. We have, moreover, IA court
| house, for | would have you know this is the
shire town. built Of brick, and with windows
so small that they resemble those Of Jail, or
the eyes of an elephant. IL seems admirably
adapted for defence and if our Know Nothing
| brethren should find their fears realized, the
myrmidoBs of his Holiness might meet with
warm reception. We are favored with two
churches-one Evangelical, and one Catholic.
The Catholic church bears cross, but the
spire of the other, which should point heaven
ward, ike those of our own loved New Eng
land, remains incomplete, and is but a mere
skeleton.
We are upon a through stage-rOute, connect
ing Burlington and Council Bluffs and each
night two or three coaches pass each way,
rouSing me from pleasant dreams with their
unpleasant thunder Staging is my adherence,
and prolonged stage riding, ike that on this
route, is too much for poor human nature. The
roads, too, are not The eveneSt, anl the drivers
are none too careful, and none too temperate,
if report lie not.
Last night was a most lovely night, and |
went up on the bluff for a moonlight view. Il
was beautiful, assure you. How the moon
hight sottenS everything, smoothing acute an
giles, hiding every imperfectiOn. and only reveal
ing Just what you want to see ; and so mellow,
too, without the least reflection or glare which
can mar the pleasure of gazing. AZ my feet,
saw the sverhowing Des Moines; beyond the
beautiful bottom prairie, dotted with houses and
| farms; and three miles in the distance, the dark
wood that skirts the prairie, and is to it as a
frame 10 a landscape painting. And / thought
. tnat Htfpr Office hpurc ~ r,ftrbt b..
home IN all that solemn beauty, now in glim-
mer and now in gloom" some Of the time in
full moonlight, and some Of the time in elm
shade, past that church in your way which Laws
the shadow Of its stately spire in the silent
street, and on past places ia the day bare of
beauty, but which on such night are poetry.
and so home, to sleep, and dreams And |
wondered if you remembered cur trip to Chelsea
Beach, not year gone, and how We watched
the ocean draw backward from the land his
"mOOn-led waters white and then roll them
in again even TO our feet. How we sat until
night, and quoted AL the poetry cf the sea
which memory could recall, and when the shad-
ows fell around US too closely, we wendell back
our weary way to the ceaseesS turmoil of that
city which Is New EnQland's heart And that
other trip &c Nahant, ~ the late Indian Sum
| lner. How we clambered over the rocks and
into the caves vet with spray, in our vain Of.
forts to find out the "secret Of the sea- But
alas who is it that says it may be known only
to those who "brave its dangers" Then. az
we paced back on the sand of that narrow neck
which binds Nahant to Lynn, we compared the
beach TO the sands of Dee, and repeated again
and again those lines of Charles Kingsleys. So
sweetly sad, and so sadly beautiful, which haunt
me forever like the music Of a pine forest. Let
me recall them to your memory; and if my
own prove treacherous, forgive me-:
q. Mary. go and call the care home,
Aud call tbs cattle home
And call the caue home
Across The sands q Dee
The western wind was wild ana dark WI roaui
Aud ali alone went she.
The creeping tide came in along the SuuJ
And DER ana O'c ne nj
And round and round the sand
As far eye could see
The binding mist came down and l..d ne land.
And never home came sf-
O. sit weed or fish, or Goa,.l.l harr.
a resS o golden l,ar.
Qd,owned rlaitep's hair
vo,psv.r snI, me-, i; &, a. sen
Among the stakes uu Dee
They royvcd her IN The hungry t,utn.
The cruel hungry fuan,
The cruel crawl ing foam.
TO her grave beside he sea
But still the boancn hear her call the caule horac
Across the sands o. Dee
But now, for the mere sake of the memory OF
a pleasant trip to Nahant, have gone on in q
diversion far from the point under discussion
But no matter. Thus do we forever exalt the
dead past over the living present, and long
again for the good old times of our ancestors.
But, alas! whom we scrutinize closely, we find
that our forelathers were not all saint, moro
than ourselves are all sinner. The world does
not advance in morals and general intellect by
huge leaps, like a winter lake made by dam
of snow among the Alps, but is more in its pro
gressions like the sea encroaching on the shore,
or the shore upon the sea. What says Tenny-
son?
H L,. se as that hat daily gam apon the shors
And slow and sure comes un he golden year.
Yes, slow and sure" This golden year"
is far down the future but this poor, guilt-srrick
en-, querulOus, belligerent world is slowly tend
ing toward it.
But have, as yet, told You nothing oC our
population. 1t is motley in reality, as the
village in appearance. 1t is rs it were, patch
work, made up Of shreds from every national
ity. 1t comes from every State in our Union.
and from half the countries of Europe. The
crout-loving German, and the polato-lovinr
lrishman, settle down side by side. The latter
expects little else than to dig and delve, and 10
be q servant of servants, in the great works Of
internal improvement now going on. The for
mer mingles more generally in the various
trades and occupations Of life and becomes q
useful accession to society. Here comes, too,
the business man, who has had little success in
places farther east, TO retrieve his shattered
fortunes, lie makes a small beginning, but,
with the gradual and continual extension of his
increasing facilities, he becomes q man Of some
property and good standing. And here are
mechanics, either crowded out by the Overplus
IN Eastern cities and towns, or else leaving
good homes, in tho vain hope of finding an FL
Dorado in this land OF prairies. Then here
flock the quacks ard third-rate lawyers, who
have been weighed in the balances, and found
wanting, in places which pretend to greater cul-
tivation and refinement. And here is the New
England clergyman, who has lived and labored
and spent his hOalth for his people many years,
and 1t IS 10 be hoped not in vain The farm
ing population iii the vicinity is from varions
States, and is of various degrees of intelligence.
Some OF them are well-iniormed, some are ~
norant, some are radical, and some are the
verlest old foges between the two oceans. EN-.
lgratlon naturally extends west along the par.
allels OF latitude. There are exceptions of
course, but they only prove the rule. Sc each
OF the Atlantic States has extended a mighty
influence, under various notifications, over the
AHeghany Mountains, and across the Missis
Slppl Valley, As each State east of the noun
lalns has embodied good or evil in its polity. 80
has It's MISUNDERSTANDING influence been benefi-
cent or malefcent. The prevailing opinions
to-day IN southern Iowa must be fathered BY
the OId Dominion. To her IS this State in.
ae6ted for its Black Laws, which are only less
infamous than those of Illinois and Indiana.
but Tor the sUbyersion Of such laws and such
we must look farther north AL
ready see the dawn.
l did not intend, j. to write a Dolitical dis