The Winchester appeal. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn.) 1856-1856, 1856-04-19
Character of the Mississippi.

1t has been the fashion with travel
lers to talk Of the scenery Of the Mis-
sissippi as wanting grandeur andbeau-
ty. Most certainly it has neither, but
there is no scenery on earth more
striking The dreary and pcstilential
solici,udcs, untrodden save by the foot
OF the Indian; the absence Of all living
objects. save the huge al|igators which
float past apparently asleep, and an
occasional vulture, attracted by its i'm
pure prey on the surface oflhe waters;
the trees, with n long and hidcous dra-
perry ofpendent moss. Auttering in the
wind; and the giant river. rolling on
ward the vast volume Of its dark and
turbid waters through the wilderness
from the landscapes on which the eye
of man ever rested. ltany one thinks
proper 10 believe that such objects are
not in themselves sufficient, beg to
say differ with him in point of taste.
Rocks and mountains are fine things
undoubtedly, but they could add moth
ing OF sublilnity to the Mississippi
Pela might be piled on Ossa, Alps on
Andes. and Still, TO the heart and per-
ceptions ofthe spectator,the Mississjp-
pi would be alone. 1t can brook no
rival, and it finds none. No river in
the world drains so large portion Of
the earth's surface. 1t is the traveller
Of the earth FIVE thousand miles: more
than two-thirds the diameter Of the
globe. The imagination asks whence
come its waters, and whittier tend
they? They come from the distant
regions Of vast continent, where the
foot of civilized man has never yet
been planted. They flow into an
ocean yet vaster, the whole bed Of
which acknowledges their influence.
Through what varieties Of climate
have they passed! OH what scenes
of noble and sublime magnitude have
they passed! Have they not penetra-
ted
The hoary forests, still the bison's screen,
Where sialked the mammoth 10 his shaggy
Through paths and valleys, rooted with SOM
bre green,
Thousands of years before the silent air
Was pierced by whzzing shafts of hunters
keen!
In short, when the traveller has ask
ed and answered these questions, and
thousand others. it will be time
enough to consider how lar the scene
~ would be improved by rocks and
mountains. lie may then be led to
doubt whether any great effort can be
produced by a combination OF objects
ofdiscordant character, however grand
in themselves. The imagination is
perhaps susceptible but Of q single
powerful impression at time. Sub
Unity is uniformly connected with the
unity of object. Beauty may be pro-
duced by the happy adaptation of a
multitude Of harmonious details, but
the highest sublimity Of effect can pro-
ceed but from the glorious and para
mount object which impresses its own
character on everything around. The
prevailing character Of the Mississip-
pi is that of solemn gloom. | have
troIdcn the passes Of Alps and Appe-
mines, vet never felt how awful a thing
is nature until | was horne on its wa
ters through regions desolate and un-
inhabited. Day after day, night after
night, we continueddriving downward
to the South, our vessel, like some
huge demon of the wilderness bearing
fire in her bosom, and canopylng the
eternal forest with the smoke of her
nostriIs. How looked the hoary river
god | know not, nor what thought the
!, aligators when awakened from their
slumbcrs by vision so astounding
? But the effect on my spirits We're such
as | Lave never experienced before OIL
since. Conversation became odiOuS
and passed my time in a sort OF fdrea'
my contemplation. At night as
cendcd to the highest deck, and lay lol
hours, gazing listlcssIy on the sky, the
forest and the waters. and silence on
" broken by the clanking of the en-
ginc. All this was very pleasant; yet
, till had reached New Orleans coult
scarcely have smiled at the best .iokC
in the world; and as for raising {
laugh, it would have been quite as ea
sy TO quadrate the circIe.-Homiltm'
lien and Manners IN America.