The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1877-07-26
THE WEST TWENTY YEARS AGO.

THE WEST TWENTY YEARS AGO.
| 1.-THE following interesting review Of tn
works Of Col. John Lewis Peyton, recent
of England, but now resident Of this, hi
native place, was written by the celebrate
Virginia author, John. Esten Cooke, and pub
lished in the Southern Magasine:]
The extraordinary progress of the Unite,
States in material development is one of tn
great phenomena of the present age, an,
excites in the Old World unbounded aston
| ishment. The slow advance of more settle,
societies units the citizens of such for tn
imposing spectacle presented here. On tn
continent of Europe and in England, life i
a deliberate affair: here it is a rush. Ii
America nothing seems slow a restless &C
tivity in every department OF human affair
drives men headlOng, and the country seem
burnt up by fever. And this unceasne
movement effort, struggle, produces the
striking phenomenon alluded to. Cities
spring up in night like those airy fabrics
of the Arabian tales, rising like an exhala
ton at the wave of the magician's wand
To-day the wilderness stretches unbroker
for thousands of miles, with no Inhabitants
or marks of life save Indians, panthers, an(
buffalo; tomorrow, as it were, the hills are
dug down, the valleys filled UP, the noun
tains pierced, the iron rails laid, and great
highway of travel and freight spans the con.
tinent, and connects the shores of the Allan.
tic with the shores OF the Pacific. And this
is buJ the pioneer. On every hand extend
branch roads, crossing and recrossing each
other like iron network at every crossing
is town soon to be a city, and at these
junction." or termini are delivered the
teemihg harvests of a virgin soil which en-
terprise and capital make subservfent to the
wants of the Old World and the New The
same restless energy and activity display
themselves no less in politics, in all depart
nents OF manufacture, in the invention and
Redistribution OF new macn1uery for every
IMAGINABLE purpose, in "speculations -
which are scarce distinguishablc from gam
bltna, and in enterprises which impress the
spectator as insensate, bit which, failing to-
day and sbankrupting all connected with
them, succeed tomorrow and found new
class OF millionaires. Life in America thus
resembles game of cards. in which the
players have everything at stake: and they
seem meyer to look back.
10 look back is nevertheless an instructive
proceeding; and there is matter of curious
interest in the condition of the continent,
even as. little as twenty years since. The
present generation knows nothing whatever
Of that remote antiquity; and the elders, in
the iheadlong rush of all things, have forgot
ten it. We propose therefore to call the
readers attention to 4 highly interesting
volume recently published in London, in
which an animated and entertaining picture
is presented of life and society in the $ Far
West" somewhat over two decades since.
The title of the volume referred to is OUer
tile Alleghanies and Across the Proiries*
by Col. John Lewis Peyton. In The Anser,-
can Crisist Col. Peyton supplements his
sketch of life in America twenty years ago
with an interesting delineation Of the state
of the country-more particularly of Vir-
ginia-at the outbreak Of the recent war of
secession. The two works will be found to
present pictures strongly IN contrast to each
other; and we shall endcavor, without fol-
lowing any prescribed course or method, to
Gull from the pages of the author what seems
curious or entertaining, and make the reader
share the amusement which we nave derived
from both works. f't
q 1t may be as well to preface our brief COM
ments and extracts by notice of the author
and his ''point OF view (which always
counts for something. Col. John Lewis
Peyton is native of Virginia, but resident
of The Island of Guernsey, q portion of Great
Britain, and the place of refuge of Victor
Hugo for some years past. Colonel Peyton
belongs to the old and highly respectable
family Of that name in Virginia, and made
the Journey which he chronicles in /" Over
the Alleghanies =" when young man In
search of health. He subsequently, on the
agitation of the conflict for Southern INDIE
pendence Of the North, was entrusted by
the authorities of North Carolina with a
mission OF a confidential nature to England,
proceeded to that country, and was thrown
in contact there with many personages Of
historic prominence, whom he draws with q
free and graphic pencil in his " American
Crisis.p Retiring, it wouldappear, to Guern
.sey, after the termination of the American
struggle, he has since passed his time in let
tered retirement, in the tranquil pursuits Of
rural life, and in the composition of several
tics, among which are the two which W.
have selected for notice in this paper. Tha
these works possess unusual merit we feel
safe in asserting. One merit-and it is moi
in our eyes a slight one-is, that Col. Pey
ton everywhere g writes like gentleman
The age we, live in has carried its :" fast
and . slap-dash" propensities into litera
ture. Repose, simplicity, and that charm
ing saareseTve which characterizes the we'll
bred author as it characterizes the well-bret
gentleman in society, become day by aa.
more rare. Lord Herbert of Cherbury woul
find himself and his writings sadly out O
place in this headlong and bourgeois age
but we must be pardoned the expression c
some regret that writers should have aban
doned the old tone of writing-the amenity
the suavity, the easy grace Of the lteratur
preceding chat of our day-sacrificlng ia
too much for ephemeral "interest," an
aiming only at surprise "sensation " an
excitement" The style of Col. PeytOn
that of gentleman writing for persons
culture and intelligence. His description
| and comments possess great directness an
picturesqueness, mingled with a natural an
agreeable humor; and the simplicity and al
sence OF reserve in his pages-someWhs
unusual in what is called "a man OF til
world "-rendcr his volumes extremel
agreeable reading. 10 sum up our views {
the writer, we may say that his books in
press us like the animated conversation
an intelligent and philosophic traveller,
| man of cosmopolitan tastes and cathol
views-not writing SO much as talking
what he has observed, and if little diffu
and deficient in condensation, still very CT
Pertaining and instructive. tisf
With this brief notice OF the author al
the characteristics Of his style, we proceed
his picture of the great West twenty yea
ago in "Over the Alleghanies."
The tour here recorded was made in t
O*ver the A1leghamtes and Across the Proiries, P
zee s s f pavt ess one da t S
kin, Marshall s. Co.
| tIAe american Crisis, or Pages from the Note-b
L. L.