Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-08-28
For the Nashville Patriot.
SUMMER SCENES, NO vi.



Wheel how insufferaby hot it is! How nice it
would be now to lie under the broad shadow of
yonder ''beechen tree" with huge slice Of rich,
rosy melon in ones fingers, or minus ones hose
and slippers go "wadin' in de branch" In pas
SAINT, dear, great, big "Patriot," do you ever try
''wadin' in de branch?" No? why Of course not,
how could we dare suspect you of SO undigniGed
proceeding! Excuse US then, but one thing is GER
tain-you know absolutely nothing of what We call
the 'Fuxures of ife." Allow us as experienced
individuals, to assure you Of the fact.
But that's neither here nor there now, for you
are Sat the Springs" If you could but listen to
the lamentations of the parboied bellies and beaux,
which those six by seven apartments" containl
As for US, the ineognito, we can do as we please
| Let US off for a rambe in the woods. There we
may sit in "digni6ed comfort and poetic ease"
under the shadow of our own vine," and any ge-
| nus Of tree we may happen to come across. No
| one can modest us with q morning call, nobody
make US afraid" by DINING into he"fearful hollow
of our ear" the dinnerbell of Tyree, Montvae, or
the Catoosa Obi the triple horrors of full dress,
noisy crowd, and a fashionable dinner! Or! the
| Eysium, thricesbessed of spring. bath, closed
| curtains, and "6Lolsse-volantcr' Great invention
this last mentioned and sensible people the French
! who invented it. Why don't you adopt the cos
! tune, and make Yourself comfortable Why don't
! somebody immortaize themselves by issuing an
! "orthodox three volume" romance describing the
! worse than inquisitorial tOrtures, the rack and
torments Of some poor devoted belle or beau,
| condemned for life to "stay dressed up? Believe
NH II il N a hhl0us OlaDt ~
that one is at all able to appreciate the "dolce far
! niente"
But Iisten,-
"FIoateh upon senses the melody OF BROOKS
And the drip Of fragrant waters tar in solitary nooks
we are out in the grand old woods. Look at the
lofty mountain tops rising like huge green affairs
| all around US, each would be fitting shrine upon
which to offer the worship of free people, and in
spre with patriotic enthusiasm our champions who
fight 10 the vanguard of Liberty. To the eagles
| eye as he hangs poised upon the verge of some
| high sailing cloud, how the intervening distance
blends into one common mass the earth and all her
myriads! and even here on such a hei. hit as this
how the Municipalities of life lost in the genery
al prospect In proportion as We remove from earth,
how does it dwndle into nohnguess, lis it with
the dying? or do they forget to look back upon the
world they are leaving, and only fix their unwaver
ing gaze upon the glories of that to which they
ascending?
The Summer is the type of what Emerson calls
''the Now" In Spring your pleasure is that OF an
ticipation, it is in the Future;-in Autumn your
deep joy is in remembrance, it comes from the
Past;-but now, in this perfect season you cease to
hope, or to remember, and your soul reVels in a
halcyon and glorious Present. You do not now as
in early Sprng-tme listen earnestly for the first
twtter of the blue bird or the murmur OF the bee;
or peep slyly under the hedgerOse to spy out the
first violet; bark to the ice breaking up, and the
more rapid and sullen flow Of the little river. Nor
do you, as 10 the gorgeous "Indan Summer" de-
sire to sit down close beside the you love best
on EARTH away on some beetling cliff of the "sky-
kissing mountain" and gazing far over wood and
valley, dmmed aud yet Illuminated by the mellow,
golden haze dream such day dreams of love and
"witching melancholy" as leave other Paradise
to which you would aspire. Nay, but if ever, it is
nOp that you wander out into the dim old woods,
with their Titanic columns, and resOundng aisles,
and seem to place yourself directly under the teach
ings Of that Spirit of beauty and wisdom which per.
vades the Universe.
Come, here is ledge Of old, gray rocks jutting
from the hillside, aud overhung with cedar bOughs,
and fragrant branches Of the tasselled pine. Here
one may SIT hour after hour, uumindful that there
is to be Future, forgetful that there has been
Past. Ills not an Elysium but Lethe to the soul,
s-rest-an obiviOn;-and for hour you may
emulate the Lotos-eaters, and be even more bleSt
than they. The wind comes down, murmurng
softly through the thick and glossy foliage the
forest grass baies CLINT in the peering sunshine =
the old pine-cones sleep amid the delicate heritage;
and the pale wild flower shoots its slender stem
through the last years already Wondering leaves.
You glance down through the cedar thicket, and
far below you the river comes gushing, with sound
like shout of Joy, along the base Of the rocky
hils,-yOu look out through the tall old trees, and
far away on the Southern horizon lie the dark
mountain ridges, covered by the distance with
VEIL till they loom up to your eye like the
chanted regions of fary-land Up in the blue
zenith directly over your head, hovers a fsh-hawk,
steady on his broad pinons though sleeping
in mid air. and the edge of the forest is vocal with
the carols OF the robin, and the redabird How all
these things seem to iIVe to yOu,-they have be-
ing in common with you, presence like your own,
and while you live and love them they seem to
say they live and love you, tool Each has pleas
ant utterance of kindness and the sweet voices go
home to your heart OF hearts. The tall trees nod
their graceful good-morrow (no belle of the saloon
could do it better and stretch abroad their
if to welcome you; the moss -clump, at the foot Of
that decaying oak, smiles you in turn; the rough
old rock, & ay aud grim as it is invites you to a
seat upon its broad surface; and the wild blossom,
swaying round the breeze bows its delicate head
sends upon the air its tiny offering of odorous
breath. Oh! it is good to be alone with the $50.
called) inanimate childreG of Nature, and thine
own heart must tell thee II thou hast Sorrows
as what child of earth has noty give them voice IN
the presence of these, thy symDathizing, and un~
Gliding friends. And should this world be bright
and beautiful to thee and love, and health and JOY
be thine,-then bow thy soul amid these shadows
OF the grand old woods, and before these living
witnesses" pour forth thy rapturous gratitude TO
HIM, who has least thy lines in pleasant places"
and given thee the 'goodly heritage" OF happiness
You feel while wandering through the green
labyriLths of the forest that at every step breath
ing intelligence accompanies yOu,-that you live
and move amid the radiant realities ola spirit~word.
You 90 forth into its living solitude in the deep
midnight, the hour OF passion and of mystery, Of
power aud Of prayer,-wheu the night winds sigh
around YOU and the blue eye OF Heaven is reflected
into your souls full fountains and you feel that you
stand in the presence of God. The silvery stars
grow pale with watching,-the night itself seems
sinking YEARLY under the contemplation OF its
mysteries, and the stiffness becomes SC profound as
to be almost insupportabe, you bow your heart,
and worship God. Looking upward, your finite
vision strives to pierce that soft which spreads
aud deepens as you gaze, far far away into dis
lance uniathomable the Eternity it so beauti,
fully symbOizes You may essay TO measure it,
taking step by step the towering hill-tops the wand
ering night cloud. the bright cear-shinng planet,
ard the faint, dim twinkfng star,-but here the
plummet hne OF thouSnt VIII Iai, ana the soul gro"
dumb, and trembe in the presence OF the Infinite.
The fat thus far shalt thou CO." is set upon the
tar-reachng intellect, and "heTe must its proud
waves be stayed" But becoming as little child
ren," may look up with perfect and child.Ike
conf dence, TO that calm, ethereal canopy deemiGg
it committing more beyond" unshadowed and uu-
chsngeable; and SO we may pass the cloudy
shadows and starry lights OF this life and shape
course, from the heights Of mind to that Heaven
~, a.. saT hall o
FoREsr HoME, SO. L. V. 7.