Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1871-09-07


always travelled in complete armor,
and sometimes had soldier to accom-
pany me when it seemed hazardous for
me to go alone. On one occasion,
however, while j0urneying alone, l got
lost in En extensive swamp. The wat
er covered up the pathway so that l
could not keep it, and 1 wandered to
and fro in the water knee deep, until
nightfall. AS it was getting very dark
| found a great log with lrush near it,
and despairing of finding my way out
in tic gloom, 1 placed the brush across
the log and formed a bed by spreading
my saddle blanket over it; then tieing
my horse to some bushes to browse, |
laid me down to rest until morning. I
slept poorly, however, on account of
the bowling of wolves in the distance.
At length the bright morning broke on
the traveller faint and astray, and the
rising sun enabled me to find some,
hing Of my latitude and longitude in
the expanse of water, impurpled by
the suns rays, and cheered by the mu-
sic of nature made my way through
the mud and water, arriving safely at
my boarding house in Kaskaskia. But
the greater part of the country was
not thus flooded by water, and on the
10th of June l wandered forth at ear
ly dawn, to view the prairies from
high mound, where, standing aloft,
saw the sun emerging from the green
savanna; the trees skirting the
streams that meandered over the love-
ly landscape; the groves that crowned
the distant elevations; the plains
spreading far beyond the ken of vision,
adorned with flowers of every hue,
and tall grass waving in early summer
breezes the whole forming a vast
meadow of boundless beauty. Birds
of gay plumage were sailing across
the clear sky above me. Far to the
right, herd Of buffalo roamcd care
cssly over the wales; and off to the
left, the wild deer lifted his antlers to
view the rising sun. A pleasing so
lemnity came over me whilst alone WITTY
Nature and her God. The sublim:ty
all around me was strange and wild
The place seemed holy; for Nature
held communion with her Author, un-
disturbed by the device or work of
man the Divinity above giving YER
dure and beauty to the vast extended
scenery; and Nature, in return, filing
the heavens with her grateful perfume.
1 felt how the glory of mans noblest
productions is eclipsed by the grand
ure Of Gods workmanship, and l COM
pared the scene before me with the
pyramids of the Nile, whose mighty
structures seemed as if they had been
reared by some gigantic race of the
ancient world, and with the imposing
elegance of Grecian and Roman arehi
lecture that threw its brightness over
the night of ages, and with the Tower
Of Babel, lifting its proud and impious
head heavenward and then falling into
ruins under the divine displeasure
the forsaken mouldering monument
of human madness and folly. I thought
too Of the sp!endor of Sol pmon's temple
''consecrated by the visible glory and
drawing devout and admiring nations
to worship in its spacious courts, and
of the gorgeous temples of all chris
tian nations dedicated to the services
of the most high, employing the skill
and wealth of kingdoms in making
them beautiful and sublime in their
proportions their golden spires point
ing heavenward and bearing aloft the
glittering sign of the gross to the gaze
of millions. And yet 1 decided after
all that the loveliest and most magnifi-
cent temple ever beheld by mortal eyes
was one not made with hands, even the
blue ETHEREAL dome rising vast, lofty and
respondent over the sky bound prair;es,
where the freshness of natures pure
morning incense ascends from her
widespread dewy affairs. Though not
a poet or the son of poet, under some
kind of inspiration, penciled the fol
lowing lines.
Extended prairies of the West
In naturu'5 richest colors dressed,
Detain the zephyrs with their bloor-
And load their wings with sweet perfume
| Not Eden in the morn of time
| Though ElOCming in a s:nless cline
Colld show in all her bowers of bliss
A beauty much SURPRISING this.
My Sabbaths were mostly long weary
days in the new country. My Presby-
terian training keeping me from sec
ular employment and the wild sports
in which the new American settlers and
French engaged. l went several times
to the French Catholic Chapel, but as l
understood nothing scarcely that ]
heard, and as priest and people were
too much given to intemperance to
suit me, refrained from going more.
had the privilege of hearing the
first Methodist missionary that visited
the place. He requested all to assist
him in singing. lie had an excellent
voice and thought understood music
we'll The hymn and tune were IA
miiiar to me, and while 1 assisted the
i -.