The weekly Columbian. [volume] (Columbia, Tuolumne Co., Cal.) 1856-1???, 1856-06-28

Ny FRIEND :


lonely here. | miss ''Ihe friends left behind
me"-But it is pleasant to think, though sepe-
rated by long distance, we may often be HOOK
| ing at the same time, on the same sun. spirit
may hold communion with spirit, though be-
tween our local habtations mighty rivers may
flow, and grand mountains rise, and great lakes
extend their watery domain.
| Now let US hold converse together, for short
time, though I have no story to tell Of impor-
lance, or great question to discuss, no argument
to make, and no staid advice to give. That
which would present to you, is description Of
scenes, relations of incidents. and such desulto-
| ry reflections as occasional circumstances may
suggest Well here I am in the mountains,
and from the hills, hanging over the green val
| ley where snugly nestled the little homesteads,
l can look on a long range of blue mountains
| that rise. some two miles or more distant in
the northeast, and wonder what fair land might
repose in summer sunlight beyond that misty
| boundary of the horizon. am told that in
| summer, and in winter, in spring and in au-
tuEn, at morning, at noon and at night q soft
and mellow atmosphere seems resting over that
distant land.-Does summer there perpetually
bloom? Are the skies always cloudless, the
breezes ever gentle. and the sunshine always
pleasant? Is that the happy land, Swallowed
glmpses of whose unearthly scenes so often, ia
sleeping dreams and waking reveires, fitted
over my soul?
Might the lovers of nature there End the
idea Of their inaginings, for which their heart
has long pinned? would there find the fairy
land: such as l used to picture to myself when
a child? Would there the stories of the Arabi-
an-nights be realized? might the love-sick
swain there meet some angelic being, for whose
congcnial sympathy his soul has so long yearn-
ed? Might he there find some fair and gentle
one, who could read The invisible record of ex-
perience and Of anxiety in heart. whose deep
emotions none had sounded. and with whose
agitation Of hope and of dependency no other
heart had ever vibrated in harmony? Dearly
would love to explore thee fair land; TO tell Of
| thy Deauties would love much to raInble
over thy fields, through thy woods and in thy
green pasture; but must be content without
for while. After leaving you We journey for
two days over rough and wild scene! There
was nothing through the journey to break the
| spell Of romantic interest thrown around US.
Nature alone reigned with unqaestionable sway
over al. Grand old trees threw their shade
over the landscape. On the rocky hight stood,
tall trees, with their fall, spreading tops; and
on the plain rose. the lire-oak and pine, their
green tassels signing in the wind. After leav-
! ing the river, re journeyed over tremendous
mountains, tie gentlemen were oblige to leave
the coach ind walk. and l cnvied them that
which was denied, for the road appeared very
| dangerous. Up the hill it wound in many q
serpentine curve-But from the summit of the
mountain appeared prospect beautiful and
! bounded by the horizon In the valley below
flowed the river with its muddy waters which
proved that the industrious miners were busy.
Our junrney was downhill and uphill, over
plains and valleys, across winding streams.
above the level of the sea, higher mountains
still were above us, that doomed up to a mystic
rious hight. Their summit seemed Greatly Gle
waited, and their sides were marked by bold
the teany camps of the miners and now and
then those Of the Indians (By the way, / had
almost forgotten to tell you,) as our diver rein
en- his 'amblyng pad pony at a Hotel in the
vicinity of one of the mining towns, an Indian
Chiefstood on the Porch. He took me for one
OF his tribe and was much smtten, $50 a certain
Judge who journeyed with US said) was litter
ally covered with dust which together with
exposure to the sun, gave me more the appear
ance of one of the, "lost Tribes of Israer'-than
''some pumpkins he as I said was for making
love, and by-way of progress presented me,
with two beautiful little quails But the "hest
OF friends must part" and l was obliged to
leave my swarthy adniirer, and press onward
my way; and in Imagination l see to-day far
behind me. the grand and gloomy mountains,
which yesterday threatened an obstacle in our
pau ~" an DIT my journeys end look and
wonder how we assembled those terrible steps
with so much ease.--We are told it is often so
in the journey of human life, our way seems i'm
passably barred, our progress inevitably arrest
ed, and ourselves lost in threadless labyrinth
We become disheartened and Responding. But
go on, is the word. There is way, (which the
| Vultures eye hath not seen, nor the Lions
whelps trod" There is > path which no fowl
knoweth-Ths unerring finger Of Providence