, 1859-03-11
A WANDERING DEsPERADo

At different periods the most distinguished
phrcnologists Of America have Travelled over the
wild region Of the southwestern frontier, in or
der to discover illustrations, proof and new data
connected with the foundation and progress Of
their science. The true reason Of these occa-
siOnal explorations was stated to the writer Of
this sketch with perfect clcarness by DR.. Buchan-
an, Of Cincinnati, while making q mental and
craniOlogical survey Of Missouri and Arkansas
That eminent psychologist remarked that In eour-
tries long settled, and therefore subjected to the
restraints and trammels Of civilization, al the or
gans arc more equally developed than in less
favored regions, where the inhabitants arc COM
paratively free from the Intangible letters of law
and civil order, and from the still more powerful
tyranny and CALLING control Of public opinion !;
and, as an eXemplificAtion, he instanced the sin.
gular fact, that along the line Of the Union,
which is forever moving with such rapidity to-
wards the setting sun as II destined to follow II
around the world, there might be found greater
number Of heads with sharp, unequal angles and
jutting protubCrances, than in all the other states
besides II Is such subjects as thcsc-men Of
strongly defined character, amounting very often
to eccentricity-thIt the disciples Of Gall delight
to study, and point out triumphantly as living
demonstrations Of their doctrine.
Indeed, the remote semi.wilderncss Of the west
might be termed literally the land Of originals as
almost every person Of note is distinguished by
the excessive predominance Of some one peculiar
faculty or passion, which sooner or later becomes
dcspotic, and effcctually masters the mind nearly
or quite to the exclusion Of all feebler motives
and frequently the ruling habit Of thought and
feeling thus originated runs into q sort Of mono
mania that lasts with life itself Il is true that
many Of these individuals are not natives Of the
soil where they abound. They come from all
countries and climates, from every latitude and
longitude Of America and Europe. They belong
to all trades and professions, and many Of them
have shifted their calling and mode Of life as
oitcn as they have changed their habitation.
They arc attracted TO the frontier, not so much
by any innate prediction for vice, as by their
instructive and unconqucrablc love Of freedom.
They have grown weary with unceasing work
In the everlasting treadmil Of society. Their
souls have sickened with the superficial claims
and courtesies which are exacted and paid by mu-
tual hypocrisies in that world, known under the
name Of Fashion, and which Is In such self-evi'
dent OPT osition 10 the world that God made
They have inherited or contracted an infinite
lOathing for cant. They abhor the emporiums
where man sells his bravery and woman heI
beauty as mere things Of commerce, and where
as some assert, even the turppikes Of the great
highway to all the heavens can only be opened
with golden keys. And they fly away from these
chains, from this falsehood, from all this prosti
tuition Of the head and heart, into the iar-of for
ests, where the flowers bloom and the bright
birds sing, and liberty lives forever among hci
green leaves; for they have realized the truth
| which poets only sing as fiction, that humanity
lean never bo as free in the market place as OF