The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1858-07-29
A Preparation for Foreign TraSei-Ths
Avenues 20 Minnesota.

II VIZ suOuiu lueSt upVu VIC Vi OuI MIS-
sissippi steamboats, travelling correspond.
ent Of the Journal du Pays, who had never
been upon the Rhine, who knew nothing Of
Strasburg or the Mer de Glaze, we should
think the Pays poorly of for contributors
and yet by far the most part Of the pert
Paris go.sippers Of our Eastern newspapers
of those by whom the Alps groan with
the travail Of endless new books-veritable
,dieuL, mmes of mountain parturition-of
of the professional tourists who deluge the
world with their paraphrases of Murray's
Guide Book, could give German enquirer
no account OF the st. Lawrence, the Great
Lakes, or the Mississippi, and must draw
upon their imaginations to appease the curl.
osity OF their inevitable English friends with
apocryphal sketches of Indians, buialces
and rattlesnakes, which they never saw out
side of Barnums Museum.
Now, man is no more fit fora European
tour before he has assembled the Mississippi,
than he is fit to be put upon Homer or the
Talmud before he has acquired the language
of his native country. To see Rome and
Venice and Jerusalem before one has seen
St. Paul, to hunt channels at Chamouni be.
fore one has hunted deer on the st. Croix,
is precisely the same inversion OF the process
of education as to study Latin and German
and Hebrew, before one has learned the ele-
ments OF English Grammar.
The Thames the Tiber--the Nile are
very memorable, and for that reason very
respectable rivers indeed--but we visit them
not for what they are, but for what they
have been, for the wrecks Of empires, aud
the tombs of Kings upon their banks. The
rivers OF Europe are "reminiscences those
Of America are prophecies. The one I'M
folds the legends of the long past-the other
enrolls the mystic scroll of the future. The
one contains history--the other destiny
The ST. Lawrence with its magnificent
lake expansions, the Mississippi with its
hundred arms, are both the offspring OF
Minnesota both commence their navigable
career upon her shores.
Twenty States containing twenty millions
of people are washed by their waters A
hundred cities on their banks just displacing
the gloom of the primeval forest, light the
travellers way to Minnesota, which is the
conclusion Of the whole matter.
The State which gives birth TO two such
giants, giants before they leave her bosom,
giants even while they leap in her lap, has
poetical as well as geographical signiti-
canoe, which would have made it holy
ground to a Greek. The birthplace Of
rivers has always been held sacred, and al
ways an object of curious regard. Travel
lers have toiled in search of the source Of
the Nile, ever since the days of HERoDorUs.
We claim, then, some veneraton for Mime
sofa on account Of its natural productions,
these two grand water courses, which, like
mighty trees twining their deep roots around
her heart, support State on every ranch
blossoming white with innumerable cities.
The primary purpose Of either of these
rivers was, Individually, to cleave path to
Minnesota. They answer a subordinate
purpose, it is true, for the intermediate
States. But if we attribute an intelligent
design TO the arrangements Of nature. it is
impossible not to see in the coincidence OF
the termini Of these two great channels up
on our State-the ultimate object OF their
creation. And the traveller who embarks
On the st. Lawrence or the Mississippi,
without following those geographical propo-
sitions to their logical conclusion in Mime
sofa is like a fellow who should undertake
to read the Iliad and stop at the first book.
The Mississippi can no more be compre-
hended by q voyage from New Orleans to
Memphis or st. Louis, than the last
proposition Of Euclid can he understood
without having demonstrated the first
The Delta or Niagara Falls, are only
striking passages Of the grand epics in which
they occur, and which have TO be followed
in their whole development, to be ineligible
or interesting. Those accustomed 70 the
monotonous banks OF the Lower Mississippi
have no idea Of the romantic beauty Of its
shores as it cuts its deep way through the
calcareous stepps Of the North. lts OPP
posite banks-often miles apart--here rise
to the proportions. while they take the shape
of mountain chains-wbile its current winds
through bewilderiDg labyrinth Of low
wooded islands. The traveller gazes with
admiration on the bold bluff cones, hundreds