The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1848-07-18 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

AMERICAN FOREST.—I had never till this mome,,'d tiered as exhibiting what little favour in this country is anything like an adequate conception of the grandeur shown to the claims of the crown over the plea of its solemnity of an American forest. The stillness is perfe7. humblest subjects. appalling ; not a bough creaks, not a leaf stirs, not to drop falls; and when I got up a shout just now, tiace(l the effect of it, it absolutely startled myself, and in h' a sort -of presentment that the grave old trees were (1:;ii shocked at my familiarity. A young squirrel, too, Pa're, head noiselessly iron. his hole in a rotten cedar, and I garded me with an air of such unqualified disgust, t'1,14 would not dream of attempting a disturbance of the Isibe again. Many of these stately pines must have been ed growth of centuries. Some huge old fellows are reda,co to touchwood. Some, perhaps tired of their existe"ei; and bent upon suicide, have kicked up their thousandb,,eice into the air and dived head foremost into the St. 1‘136,,y) (upon a small branch of which I have unexpectedly still'ire where, in the course of time, I presume, they will el comfortably of water on the brain. Some (probal)}4 freak of the late hurricane) fave been lifted completely of their legs, and lying full length along the shouldePob half a score of their comrades, look extremely as thsvo, they were being carried away for interment. Otboeti. stripped of every branch and twig, and tapering beret to a point, protrude far over the bank of the Po and assume all the air and appearance of deserted tisP.te rods, of a girth and capacity quite suitable to the la:to and requirements of that famed angler who is said to " sat upon a rock and bobbed for whale." So closelVfor deed do they resemble the implements alluded to, ths'efs. the last few minutes I have been in momentary exP.ece tion of meeting some gentleman of correspondingly' tic proportions, sitting calmly on the bank, with eYeso. on tently fastened upon his float, and a bait-can restinpo his knees. Among the many curious and stirring: 6,.!' for this rude scramble has exhibited to me, is one wlncn,et originality and eccentricity, stands quite unrivalled., er me describe a scene so singular, if I can. A colossa'r or e the tallest and most stupendous tree I ever beheld' of tuated by some unaccountable and never-before-heartops freak, has wrenched itself, together with a few dozen sea sition earth, from the spot where it grew, and taken UP a jea sition diametrically adverse to that which nature intently it to occupy. Its world of green foliage rests ex, „uot where its roots should be, and its roots, which are a ra.'t in themselves, flourish precisely where its branches oonst to be; at an elevation, too, far out-topping the lert7ii`is twig of its most aspiring contemporary. Whether of pine has misconducted itself and been placed thus punishment, or whether the effort was a and conceit it was anxious to indulge in, and subsequentol failed to recover from, lam equally at a loss to say; _Lila,. here it is, and here it must remain, until it rots and crynto bles into powder. The question is, how did it get ore such a position, (a problem not rendered any the leaf private by way easy of solution by the fact of there not being a single, or of the surrounding trees in the slightest degree injurett discomposed) but as there is little probability of anY man foot treading these solitudes again perhaps for a.g°,l; that question is most likely to rest unanswered, and mystery mystery unelucidated, throughout all succeeding genae.rf tions. Having spent half an hour in the conternpla of this natural curiosity, I begin to move leisurely; and presently, glancing accidentally downward, catch glimpse of an enormous rat at his dinner, who, the moment' he becomes conscious of my presence, givesvin mereY a shrill and prolonged yell, that I am compelled '„," ears, to the animal, and out of consideration for MY .",,ing cirto effect as hasty and precipitate a retreat as "• cumstances render it possible for me to do.—exlci from the West. rwith delibf