Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-12-13
For the journal
TEE HILLS OF WILMINGTON.
BY NIONONIA.
E,c 1lihj7o RihUM.

every son of any and every nationality, the
departure from his low-land home, or from
his native hills, must be accompanied with
signing regret equal to the prospective at
taipment of wealth and fame under another
cline. lie cannot, when distant and alb
sent for years, bat revert to
g friends regretted, sccuos forever DEAR"
and dream away an evening in endeavor
ing
ITO trace the hours which never can return
We often relieve the mind from its busy
train Of business thoughts in sending ii
backward TO pick up from the bosom of the
past each glittering drop of dewy Joy and
10 drop is brighter, none sweeter to the
pleasure of imagination and memory than
that which reflects our baby home, throned
on a clear, slow flowing river, jewel in the
midst Of fertile plains, interspersed with
FrOvuipas mountains and beautiful valleys,
splendid rivulets and placid, ambient
lakes.
In all ages it has been the custom Of peo-
pie to build on high places, and the site
for churches ever received the highest. It
was on the mount of Sinai, in Arabia, near
the head Of the Red Sea, Moses received
the law amid terrific peals Of thunder and
other natural commissions made by natures
God. It was on q mount that the Tempter
showed to the Saviour of mankind the treas
ure and glory of the world, and offered him
Ill ii he would but fall down and worship.
Jerusalem was built on hills, Mount Sion
was the 'City Of David, and Mount AGRA
was called 1.-the daughter of Sion. -
Wherever we search for instances in sacred
or profane history we will find that hills
and mountains are notorious for some Of
the most striking points in the annals Of
the world. from the resting Of the Ark on
Mount Ararat down to the present time.
Rome. more than two thousand six hun
lred and twenty years ago, was enthrOned
on seven hills. Such lapse of ages has
rendered them almost undisaoyerable, so
much have the plains and valleys been fill
ed with vast quantities Of dirt and dedris
The hills are on both sides of the yellow
Tiber. Those OF Wilmington are on the
east side of the Cape Fear. You must not
conclude we intend comparison. Though
If Wilmington was as hoary with years as
the Eternal City, and like it had received
The patronage of the princes and the great
persons Of Christendom and Paganism, it
would have arisen from the low lands with
which it is surrounded, as did the other
from It's fOggy and maiariOus marshes. The
CapitOline is said TO have been inhabited
by Greeks long before Romulus traced with
two white cattle furrow round the Pafa-
tine and slew his brother for disobeying
the command IN laughingly jumping the
ditch. The Pincian mount, the Quirlnal,
the Ayentine, the Cuelian hills, and JAM
calum, have all their histories, which
fill to nick
out from the general mass. Many other
mounts, as the Vatican, &c., are mention
cd, ali very interesting, and the Campus
martins, or the old Caprea, whence some
silly folks thought Romulus was raised IN
cloud and translated to banquet with the
gods. but who was destroyed by the hands
of d malcOntent.
The old world has its beauty spots of
nature, but the new has received natures
last ana richest touch. The Fishkill noun
tains, OF the more euphonious aboriginal
name OF -GUtetru are studded with smlI-
inG hamlet8 aud Lomesteads, and are IN
surpassed by any OF whatever notoriety.-
The majestic grandeur of the hoath-cover-
ID hills of Scotlgnl impressed the minds
of their children .Oout to emigrate to
SEEK their coun terpart in a foreign land.
They viewed them With Pride, and they
mad reason. When I'll" sun chased the
1Ilck clouds Of the mornings mist it shone
IN giittering splendor on the cr&g- built
lniuarets, and the modest shrines that peer
ed from out the mountain gorges. With
such vision before them, the Highland
CTS received a lasting lesson. lttOok them
to the rolling country Of the upper Cape
Fear region, where Cross Creek crosses and
makes music in its onward flow to the river
through the town OF Fayetteville The
people who founded Wilmington in 1879,
were predOminantly English, and loving
the rosy soil of mother country, which lies
south of ChCvOit Hills, fixed upon the wave
Of highlands here to incorporate what was
destined to be Il furnishing commercial
town, full of pleasant and wholesome cheer,
and tanning "a spark of that immortal
fire % which Allah gave to men, and which
angels shared Hills were then in reality
They have left their names behind in ira
dition, and tradition is traveller, and
keeps pace with all time. It teaches that
- which books can never teach, nor ped
ants show" Sometimes it gives strange
names 20 stranger things, and blends fic-
C!On and truth IN one common whole. \
little of both is read with passing pleasure,
and affords the critic dust for a dusty
quill.
Constitution Hill is supposed to be situa-
ted now in what may be justly considered
very unconstitutional place. A little corner
there with an immense brick structure con-
tains big posters, which teach the young
negro howto shootthe ''new idea" and pro-
poses to organize the Sunny Land of Dixie
on the irrefragible, ''irrepressible" platform
Of the Reconstruction Bill" Near this
mighty mansion, around which the
8 clouds" are forever bobbing, showing
their shining ivories and their glittering
ebony faces intermixed with streaks of a
hickory color is found that committeeman,
on which the sun is said to set, throwing
over it his sheen, and inviting young men
and maidens to congregate there, and en-
Joy the sweet, innocent sports of pastime.
Passing one evening, just as old Sol was
about dipping his adieu in the waters Of
the Cape Fear, we noticed many whose age
was OF that delightful turn that makes
Cupid all smiles and his culver all full,
frohcking on the green-capped heads OF
the various knobs. We envied them their
general glee, for it recalled in brightest
vision the memory of the past, when down
the side of a pleasant daisy-bespangled
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