The southern enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1854-1870, 1857-01-15


terizes the mountain regions Of the Sunny
South" The rough Irregularities Of the
county were softencd hy the distance into
graceful undulations. The deep blue of the
heavens impaired To the scene something of
It's own celestial hue, and us we yazed upon
1t long and steadily, tho whole landscape
seemed gradually transformed, and instead
of quiet fields, fertile wales and bouudlcss
forests, the vast cXpanSc of ocean rolled be.
low us, while the maiZc. covered plantations,
dot'Ing Its hliowy surface, appeared like
peaceful Islands repo$ing upon the bosom of
the deep.
The view to the north is more broken and
less extensive, but abounls in wild ami pic.
tureSque scenes which would well repay the
traveller for the labor of visiting them. 4
little farther to the right the Imperial Caesar
raises his bald head and generous front to
view. We tUrned friendly glance of re-
cognition towards him. and he, in return,
looked hnrd at lis, but with puzzled air as
though our countcnanCcs were familiar but
he could not tell when or where he had seen
us. His majesty is evidently growing for
gctful in his old age.
In the course of our ramhlcs we came to
:he famous Cedar tee, which no traveller
fails to visit. 1t stands there alone, a mel
ancholy relic of former times and, as
Ga2ed upon its scathed and wasting trunk,
the memory Of the Past came over me, and
| thought of the gentle Minattcr and the
hapless race who once frequented these wild
retreats. The baving of hounds awokc the
stiffness of the distant forcst-the sharp re-
t,,f, S,.I 4
"palc face " pursue the exciting sports it,
which the untaught red man once rcioccd,
nor thinks of the lfa,ed Indian who then
roamed these fair hunting grounds rs proud
and free rs himself.
But this was not the time nor place fol
gloomy reflections. | soon baniShcd them,
and turned from the mourntul memories OF
the Fast ~ the bright realities of the Pre-.
sent. y beautiful valley lav far below us,
presenting one of those charming rural
scenes, of which Nature seems so chary that
she would fain enjoy them all bv herself.
| concealnT them in the most inaccessible
glcns and tarthcSt from the haunts of civli-
zation. Here was, indeed, one of the love,
Hest of her chosen retreats-the very home
of IranquIity-a Paradise of peaceful EN-.
joyment. y quie: stream murmured gently
through its fresh and vcrclant fields, while
huge mountains, rising on every side, COM
plctely walled it in from the great, cold
world without. No wonder that our theme
was " love in cottage" or that we coniured
up bright visions Of domestic bliss. rs we
gazed upon those lowly dwellings, which re-
! posed there SO still and quiet in the noiSrlcss
| valley We each chose the cottage which,
| in after times, we agreed 20 make our home
and there, when the humble chromiclcr o.
! these lines, wcaricd with the strife and tur
moiI of n heartlcsS world, shall have betakcr
himself, he will be happy to entertain aII hi,
| friends who may honor his simple story will
perusal. Before leaving the old Cedar
| Cora and Susie accomplished the bold feat
of walking around it, and then having con
| signed our names 20 It's keeping. we turned
away and slowly rctlaced our steps to the
foot of the mountain. Here we turned aside
for awhile, TO take an upward view of the
scenes we had just left. y huge, perocudi.
cuiar wall of rock rose, grand and ma>>v.
hundreds of feet above our heads, an eternal
monument of sub!imity and power with
which the Infinite seeks to awe and humble
INV i'''O w l'SSu'bI I'Ahouo il'ilHI>. lie
warning of elements, the assaults of time,
it has alike encountered, but there il stands,
and will stand, unchanged, unclranging."
till the elements shall melt with fcrvcnt
heat" and ",imc shall | @ no longer"
There is but a step, It's said, from the sub.
lime TO the Ridiculous, and so avaiiing our.
selves Of IN authors privilege, we proceedc
deliberately to take it.
Neither the grandeur nor sublimitv Of
the scene before us had at all affected the
lively flow of Davis feelings. While the
rest of us were satisfied with looking at the
mountain nothing would do for him but to
climb it. He had discovered dizzy path
which led to notch in the precipicc some
hundred feet above, and though a glance at
it would have frightened less daring ad-
vcnturer, lie at once prepared to take posses
sion of it. The first indication we had of
his absence was crashing, laundering noise.
as though half the mountain was tumbling
down about our heads, and we had Just
time to gain the shelter of Il projecting C! lf,
when huge rock rolled over our heads,
while n shower of fragments, which it had
dislodged in its crazy fall was scattered all
around us. Five minutes atter, Davis ap.
peared looking as innocent as though he
had had no designs upon our lives.
His next adventure liked to have proved
more disastrous. lie had ascended the
slippery rock, some six or eight feet In quest