The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-10-15

eter, and half decayed lie along the
ground. Their ends EXHIBITS vast
cavities, where the porcupine and
opossum have taken shelter from
the cold.
My comrades-wrappd in their
blankets, and stretched upon the
dead leaves-havc gone to sleep
They lie with their feet to the fire
and their heads resting on the hol
low oftheir saddles.
The horses are standing around
tree, tel to its lower bracnhes,
seem also asleep. I am awake and
listening. The winl is high up
whistling among the twigs, and cea-
sing the long white streamer to os-
cilate it utters wild and meianchol-
ly music. There are few other
sounds, for it, is winter and the tree
fog and cicada are silent l hear
the cracking knats in the fire the
rustling of the dry leaves ''swirled''
up by stray gust-"coo-w whoo-a"
of the white owl-the bark of the
raccoon-and at intervals the dis
NAL howl of wolves. These are the
nocturnal voices of the winter for
est. They are savage sounds; yet
there is chord in my bosom that
! under their influence and my spirit
is tiDged with romance, as l lie and
! listen.
The forest in autumn-still beam
its full frondage. The leaves re-
semble flowers, SO bright are their
hues. They are red, and yellow,
and golden, and brown. The woods
are warm and glorious now: and
the birds fiutter among the laden
branches. The eye wanders de-
lightly down long vistas, and over
sunlit glades. It is by the flashing
of gaudy plumage, and golden green
Of the paroquet, the blue of the jay,
and the orange wing of the oriole.
The red bird f1utters lower down in
the cappice of green pawpaws, or
amid the amber leaflets OF the birch
en- thicket. Hundreds of tiny wings
fit through the openings, twinkling
in the sun like the glancing Of gems.
| The air is filed with music-sweet
sounds of love. The bark of the
squirrel, the coming Of mate doves,
and the constant and measured chirp
of the cicada, are all singing to-
| gether. High up, ON the topmast
twig, TIE moeking- bird pours forth
his mimic note, as though he would
shame all other songsters in silence.
am in country of brown bar
rem earth and broken outlines
There are rocks, and clefts and
patches Of sterile soil. Strange
Vegetable forms grow in the cleits
and hang over the rocks, others are
sphereridal in shape, resting upon
the surface of the parched earth,
others rise vertically to a great
height, like carved and fiuted col
u.nns. Some throw out branches,
crooked, shaggy branches, with ilir
suite oval leaves. Yet there is a
homogeniousness about all these
vegita bic forms, in their color, in
their fruit, and flowers, that pro-
claim them of one family. They
are cactus, it is forest Of the Mex
ican nopal. Another singular plant
is here, it is the agave, the far famed
mezcal-p plank of Mexico. Here and
there, mingled with the cactus, are
trees of acacia and mesquite the
denizens of the desert land. No
bright object relieves the eye; no
bird pours its melody into the ear.
The lonely owl flaps away into the
impossible thickete-the rattle snake
glides under its scanty shade-and
the coyale skulks through its silent
glades.
/ have climbed mountains after
mountains, and still behold peaks
soaring far above. l stand upon
'beetling cliffs, and look into chasms,
that yawn beneath, sleeping in the
silence of desolation. Great frag-
ments have fallen into them, and lie
piled upon one another. Others
hang threatening over, as if waiting
for some conclusion Of the atmos-
phere to hurl them from the balance
Dark precipices frown ne into fear !:
and my head reels with dizzy faint
ness. L hold to the pine tree shaft,
or the angle of the firmer rock.
Above, and below and around me,
are mountains piled on mountains in
elastic confusion. Some are bald
and bleak, others exhibit traces of
Vegetation, in the dark needles of
the pine and cedar, whose sGunted
forms half grow, halfhang from the
cliffs. There, ridge elevates its
sharp outline against the key while
along it's sides lie huge boulders of
granite, as though they had been
hurled from the hands Of Titan gi-
ants.
A fearful monster-the panther
drags his body along the high ridg
es; the carcajou squats upon the
projecting rock, waiting the deer
that must pass to the water below;
and the bighem bound from crag to
crag in search of his sky mate. A
long the the pine branch the bald
buzzard whets his filthy beak: and
the war ar-eagle, soaring over all, cuts
sharply against the blue fields of the
heavens. These are the wilds Of
Western, Texas, and such are the as
poets and scenery Of the same.
II. MORGAN.
A Detectives Experience.