I have breath'd thy name, when in my ear

Came beauty's dulcet tone;
'Twas a spell-fraught word, that name so dear,
My idol-love! my own!

I have breath'd thy name, when the midnight sea
Seem'd Heaven's star-spangled shrine;
And each thought was marshall'd back to thee,
To that glowing heart of thine!

I have breath'd thy name on the burning mount,
As if 't were life's last shield;

'Tis a mystic word, 'tis a sacred fount,

Where my love and my heart is seal'd! February, 1839.

EGERIA.

A GROWING YOUTH.

"Sic itur ad astra."

proportion of his several parts had been left to his taste, he would of course have insisted on his present shape.

Have you ever seen a cherry, reader-of the kind called "short stems"-that which bears upon its cheek so ruddy a hue, and then insensibly shades away into a fair and pure white, which the lily might envy? Such, oh reader, was the beauty of my phiz, from my earliest infancy; but, alas, as is the aforesaid fruit to the stem which sustains it, so was my head to the trunk which it adorned. Indeed, reader, take one of the aforesaid cherries, and skilfully bisect the stem of the same midway, longitudinally, and you have a most noble idea of the "cut of my corpus," perfect in every respect, even to the coloring-not that dame Nature had given me this latter hue-" by no sort of manner of means;" she had only given that turn to my fancy, which prompted me to shine out in "living green," whenever a new garment was a thing to be compassed. With this general idea of the appearance of my body, the reader will please to proceed, with me, to the sub

Reader, have you ever known what it is to grow?ject more particularly under discussion. Not as most mortals do, with that imperceptible and Until my sixteenth year, as I have already remarked, comparatively easy movement towards the stars-not my growth corresponded to that of the rest of mortalsthus, but rather as groweth a hop or a cucumber vine, but alas, since then, “horresco referens,” I tremble to think in that most growing of all weathers, yclept "muggy," of it. The first monition I had of the change going now with a leap, and now with a jerk, advancing with on in my system, was a certain dizziness in the head, that "hop-skip-and-a-jump" sort of motion, which so accompanied by a painful sort of cracking at the joints wonderfully accelerateth him that makes use of it. Time of my body-something like (to compare small things, was when I was on a par with the least of mortals—with great,) the cracking in the frozen surface of a lake yes, and so marvellous has been my growth, that methinks, that time seemeth but yesterday-but now, alas, how changed! However, I see that I am outrunning | my reader-let me commence anew, rehearsing all matters faithfully from the beginning.

I have always been a rare youth from my birth-and, doubtless, at that most interesting period of my existence, divers portents were blazing in the sky to declare my coming. However, this is mere supposition, for as, according to the best authority, I was ushered into the world at about "three o'clock i' the morning," all the star-gazers, having waxed sleepy, had drawn themselves and tubes into a "state of retiracy;" and, as for any others who chanced to be abroad at so untimely an hour, they unfortunately were in a state to see so many stars, that their assertions, however confidently made, would probably receive little credit from my unbelieving readers.

which seems at one and the same instant to proceed
from every point. My friends became alarmed—the
doctor was called—yes, and he brought with him seven
other doctors, wiser perhaps than he, though their
united wisdom, after a consultation of eight hours,
brought them, poor souls, only to the conclusion, that
there was going on a "lapeus membrorum,” in English,
a wreck of matter.
Their advice was, "" a straight
jacket, wherewith to keep the osseous system properly
disposed." My measure was taken, and one was made-
by that time, it was too small: another was made,—
and it too lacked compass. A third fitted—the second
day

-"the waistband split;
The next, I burst five buttons off,
And tumbled in a fit ;"

at least I should have done so, had I dreamt of half the misfortunes my expansion and elongation were From my birth to my sixteenth year, no peculiar about to cause me. In vain was every remedy tried. marks did I bear about me, except in my capital parts-For a fortnight I walked with a fifty-six pound weight the general outline of which was oval, slightly elongated on my head: I might as well have exchanged my straw from ear to ear, and flattened at the poles, and remark- hat for a beaver. Next, I was put into a sort of a crib ably uniform at the surface, which uniformity was bedstead, which was then screwed up my exact length: only interrupted by the indentures and excrescences ne- I woke in the morning with distinct recollections of cessary for those organs of sense which are seated in a dreaming of thunder, and found the foot-board burst man's cranium. With these trifling exceptions, a through. Every thing proved vain, and at last I was more beautiful and uniform piece of workmanship than my head-piece could scarcely be imagined. The only trouble was, it was slightly disproportioned to the rest of my figure.

Now a man's visage may have all the beauties of the rainbow displayed on it, yet unless it bear a certain proportion to the rest of his figure, the good people of this world at once pronounce it "no go;" and the poor devil is forthwith hustled off the stage, as though, if he had had the moulding of his figure, and if the

suffered to grow—yes, reader, and I did grow.

My first annoyance was from my acquaintances. I have two elder brothers, who, unfortunately, resembled me somewhat. At first I was mistaken for Thomas, and the greeting was, "How d' you do, Thomas ?" "A slight mistake, sir: it's not Thomas, but his younger brother William."

grown!"

“William, eh? why, William, how you have
Next I was exalted into Richard, and—
"How are you, Richard?" was the salutation.

"It's not Richard, sir."

"I beg pardon; I should have said Thomas." "You'd have said wrong then, for you should have said William."

a double dose of rhubarb; but alas, it was the opinion of my friends that, of the two, I grew a trifle faster than usual about that time. So the physic was soon thrown to the dogs. And now, reader, what shall I do?

"William! good Heavens! is it possible? why, The ladies all advise me to take a "tuck" or two in William, how you have grown!"

Now, reader, it's bad enough to undergo the pains that necessarily come with a man's misfortune-but then, in addition, to have it continually thrown in his teeth-I protest against it.

I pass by innumerable minor vexations, such as splitting of indispensables, bursting of suspenders, hazards incurred of strangling from forgetting to loosen my cravat every three hours, and things of the like kind. These are but trifles, and might be endured: other things, however, can not. Innumerable were the jokes at my

expense.

my frame. The idea is not a bad one, but none of them will venture in the operation farther than giving the advice. This last idea suggested another, namely, that I should tie myself up into a couple of knots or more. From a hasty calculation, I find, that one knot at the knee, and another at each waist, will about reduce me to the level of my more fortunate fellow mortals. Thus far nothing seems more easy. However, after several attempts, I find that in the practical part of the operation there are insurmountable difficulties. Besides, I doubt whether the effect on my personal appearance would be on the whole, desirable. Still, some way or other a remedy must be found. I have become tired of my towering supereminence. Doubtless it brings with it some advantages-I breathe a purer at

"Friend," observed a Quaker to me, one evening, "methinks when thee gattest up this morning, thee thrust thy legs unnecessarily far thro' thy pantaloons." "Sir!" retorted I, fiercely, “do you intend to say-"mosphere-I enjoy sunlight somewhat longer than "Oh, no offence, friend. I am a man of peace. Thou art choleric, and art growing—" "Silence, you scoundrel, I say." 'Nay, friend, grow not—”

"Sir, you're an impertinent puppy, and beneath my notice."

"Of a verity, friend, I am beneath thee;" and he walked away, leaving me to the titterings of a circle of auditors and my own reflections.

Unfortunately I have a spice of gallantry in my composition, and would fain persuade myself that I am not wholly disagreeable to the diviner sex. Certainly if smiles are a sure index of the satisfaction afforded by one's presence, I may pronounce myself happy, for my appearance seldom fails to excite them. However, I have had my suspicions of late-but I'll keep my suspicions to myself.

When in company, I cannot cross a room without thrusting the toes of my boots through the carpet, or kicking them against every article of furniture in my path-nor can I promenade the streets, without displacing every other stone on the pavement; for how in the name of all that's reasonable, reader, can a man make any certain calculations as to where he is about to step, when he carries about with him a foot or two of length at his extremities of which he is wholly unconscious?

In fine, reader, I am become a miserable and unfortunate man. Why, it was only last evening, that instead of placing my feet on the fender, at a party, I rested them on the fore-stick, and was only roused to a sense of my situation by the extravagant mirth of the company, and an overpoweringly strong savor of burnt leather.

66

Something's burning!" I cried, drawing up my heels, and overturning the fender in the operation. "There's no mistake about that," observed several, pointing to my smoking boots.

And now, reader, for the end of my case-for, you may rest assured, I have not uttered forth my complaints without some object in view-what remedy is there for my misfortune? physic's of no use. Brandreth's, Morison's, Hygeian and Tomato pills! why, reader, I actually thrive on them. Daily, for a fortnight, I swallowed

others, and I have decided advantages in making all meteorological observations. These, however, are but trifles, and gladly would I waive them all to descend and be on a level with my fellows.

Listen, reader, to the groans of an unfortunate, and if it be possible, devise me some release from my sufferings. So shall you be rewarded with the approbation of your conscience, and the friendship of one who only longs to be on an equality with you to testify his gratitude.

The tyrant came; his proud and lofty step
Brought in its sound no terror to her heart.
He came, and gazed: she lay upon the floor
As if she spurn'd in death the gilded couch.
The breeze had wander'd thro' the splendid bars
That kept her in that gorgeous prison-house,
As if in pity to her loneliness,

And swept with low sweet moans among the flowers
That climb'd along the walls, from marble vase
And costly ornament, and from her brow
It lifted up the shining locks of gold;

Her hand still grasp'd the bright and glittering steel,
Stain'd with the life-blood oozing from her heart,
As drop by drop it still stole slowly forth,
Thro' the small fingers, yet so tightly clasp'd
Upon her bosom; but upon her face
There was no trace of agony-or grief.

He came to claim his victim-death was there!
He had not deem'd before, that woman's heart
Could nerve her hand for death! He did not know
That honor was more dear to her than life.
She was a Greek--she could not be the slave,
The play-thing of a Turkish tyrant's will!
Clark's Mills, O., February, 1839.

EGERIA.

its native trees, whose lofty tops would not have obstructed the view of a fine water scene below the town. But the same miserable improvidence and destitution of taste, characterises nearly all our new settlements in America. No sooner does a settler get into a forest with his axe, than he begins to lay about him without forethought or discrimination; his only thought seeming to be to fell and destroy the ancient denizens of the forest to the utmost possible extent. Thus they have stript the banks of the western rivers of their ornament and their safeguard, against the wear and tear of the floods. After depriving themselves of the finest shade trees in the world, they build their houses and their villages in the open field; and when they feel the scorching rays of the sun, they begin to plant young trees for shade! They often carry this sylvan tyranny to such a wasteful excess, that in a few years they have made a scarcity of good building timber in the country, and have reduced to ashes and dust a valuable treasure, which nature had been 300 years in preparing for them. The same blind hostility against forest trees, has exposed our roads in summer to the full blaze of the sun, and greatly aggravated the discomfort and fatigue of travelling. If this nakedness of the roads makes them less muddy in winter and spring, the advantage is lost during the seasons when most men travel. But in fact a few trees by the way side, sufficient to mitigate the burning sunshine, would not sensibly affect the state of the roads. The practise is, however, to destroy every tree where fields approach the road, unless perchance here and there, one in some nook or neglected

corner.

From the salt works, or Charleston, the traveller has, during most of the year, the option of going by steamboat or by stage to Guyandotte. But the Kanawha was becoming too low for any but the smallest boats to navigate: so I took the route by stage; but while the river is navigable, the coach is superseded by a small steamboat, from a point twelve miles above Charleston to Coalsmouth, twelve miles below. This affords to passengers a pleasant change in their mode of travelling, and gives them a full view of the river scenery which is various and pleasant. Above Charleston no shoals occur for FROM VIRGINIA TO TENNESSEE, IN THE MONTHS twelve miles, and the river is deep and still; but below, it

NOTES OF A TOUR

OF JULY AND AUGUST, 1839.

spreads to a greater width, and the channel is obstructed by gravel bars and islands for four or five miles,

By Rev. H. Ruffner, D.D., President of Washington College, Va. when the current again becomes gentle and deep.

CHAPTER II.

From Kanawha to Louisville.

Just below the salt works, the traveller enters the most beautiful part of the Kanawha valley. The mountains sink to hills, and a wide tract of rich, level bottom opens to the eye, all highly improved and culti vated. The town of Charleston, stands in this bottom, a short distance above the mouth of Elk river, as the white settlers, with their usual lack of taste, called a large tributary of the Kanawha. The Indians called it Tiskilwah, a name which ought to be restored.

This Charleston (and who can tell the number of Charlestons?) is a handsome growing village of about 1200 inhabitants: but it would have enjoyed its beautiful situation much more, if the river bank, instead of being covered with houses, had been left adorned with

stream.

Coal river, twelve miles below Elk, is a considerable Near its mouth, it falls, within a few miles, over two ledges of rock, in all above twenty feet perpendicular, affording valuable sites for manufactories. A company from New York had contracted for the purchase of the lower falls, in order to erect extensive works. The sudden death of the late proprietor Col. Thompson, and the recent commercial distress, seem to have suspended the enterprise.

Mounting the coach again, we were driven off from the river, up a long but gradual ascent, into Teaze's valley, between the Kanawha and Guyandotte rivers.

This valley, though remote from the long vallies between the parallel ridges of the Alleghany, nevertheless conforms to them, lying in the same direction, and being crossed by streams of water as they are.

Descending by the valley of Mud river, we reached the Guyandotte at the poor village of Barbourville, VOL. V.-18

viere."

seat of justice for Cabell county. Here we diverged | Compared with ordinary rivers, the Ohio will neverthefrom the state turnpike, which goes directly to the less justify the French appellation of "La Belle Rimouth of Sandy, and descending the Guyandotte by a branch turnpike, seven miles, we reached the Ohio in the evening, two days' journey by stage from Lewisburg. The whole distance is nearly 150 miles: from Charleston, not quite fifty.

These general remarks on the Ohio, will serve for the whole distance of my voyage on the river. The towns above Cincinnati deserve little notice for size or beauty. Portsmouth, at the mouth of the Sciota, has become a flourishing town since the Ohio canal was brought to its termination there.

The village of Guyandotte, at the mouth of the river whose name it bears, is situated at a point where a stranger from the east is struck with a fine view of the Ohio, descending through its broad rich valley with a gentle current. From the Guyandotte to the Sandy, a wide bottom on the Virginia side is distinguished for its pleasantness and fertility. To an agriculturalist it offers great advantages, and will probably become, ere long, one of the best cultivated and most densely peo-guished by nothing so much as the fiery redness of its pled tracts on the Ohio.

Maysville is a flourishing place, at the foot of a hill, where travellers from above to Lexington in Kentucky, disembark and go sixty miles by stage, over an excellent McAdamized road. Forty miles above Cincinnati, we passed Augusta, the seat of a college. Pleasant hills appear behind the town; which, however, is distin

brick walls. British travellers ridicule our fondness for red brick; and they have reason, for it is really painful to the eyes to walk the streets of our towns in a cloudless summer day. I would specially warn bleareyed voyagers not to look steadfastly at the “flammantia monia" of Augusta, lest the fiery glare should "blast their eyeballs."

Six or seven miles above Cincinnati, the Little Miami comes in through an extensive plain. Just be

We had to wait twenty hours at Guyandotte, before we got a boat descending the river. A packet runs twice a week between Cincinnati and Guyandotte; but it had gone the morning before our arrival. It is rarely necessary, however, to wait more than four or five hours for a boat on the Ohio, except when navigation becomes difficult from the low state of the water. I had resolved to be very prudent in my choice of boats, after the late fatal explosions. But twenty hours of hot wea-low is a straggling village called (like some dozens of ther in a dull place, made our whole company glad to embrace the first opportunity of pursuing our way; so without asking any questions, we made signals to the first boat that approached. She proved to be the Avalanche, a boat of moderate speed and tolerable accommodations. She took us safely to Cincinnati, in about eighteen hours.

When one first stands on the lofty bank of the Ohio, and takes a view of the stream, he is ready to exclaim, "Oh, how beautiful!" When he embarks, and is wafted along in mid-channel, his admiration is increased: a broad placid current, winds gracefully between high banks, where the soil throws up a luxuriant vegetation: sometimes wide low grounds spread out on both sides, backed in the distance by woody hills; then the serpentine channel cuts the base of the hills on the one side-presently again on the other side: rivers come in with open mouths-brooks steal in through narrow umbrageous ravines-fields and farm houses, villages and towns, alternate with forest scenery, and exhibit the recent achievements of industry. When summer droughts have shrunk the volume of water, the stream is often bordered with a shelving margin of gravel, in which a great variety of beautiful pebbles is found; occasionally a broad bar will turn the channel into a sluice by the shore, or an islet will throw its beachy head and woody top between the regular banks of the

stream.

others) Columbia. Then high hills advance to the Ohio shore; their tops are finely wooded, except at intervals, where handsome houses, whose sites are evidently selected to command fine prospects, indicate the vicinity of a place where wealth and refinement have made considerable progress. As we followed the bend of the river, a thickening row of houses along the base of the hills, and presently steamboats on the stocks, and the smoke of large manufactories, showed that we were by the outskirts of the city. Winding with the stream still more to the left, we observed that the hills suddenly receded from the shore, and presented the upper end of the city to full view, with steamboats closely arrayed along the shore, and among them, lodged at the base of the great steam-mill, was the wreck of the unfortunate Moselle. When I thought of the mangled limbs and bodies of 200 men, women and children, so lately mangled and scattered in all directions, through the reckless ambition of her captain, I could have execrated his memory, if I had not heard that his head was blown off his shoulders by the first column of steam that shot from the exploding boiler. So let his awful fate excite some pity, as his rash and foolish presumption should excite indignation; and both should be a warning to steamboat captains, to beware how they expose the lives of those who entrust themselves to their care, by a criminal vanity, that will hazard every thing for a display of speed.

But with all these beauties, the Ohio will not long The landing place has a fine appearance. It is an interest the voyager. In one hour he will have seen a open space about 500 feet along the shore, extending specimen of the whole. The mind becomes wearied 300 feet back, and surrounded on three sides by handwith the constant recurrence of similar forms and ap- some buildings, Wharves or quays would not be pearances: the same serpentine curves of the chan-adapted to a port, where the water rises and falls often nel, the same banks, the same low grounds, the same hills. Some variations occur, it is true; but they are not sufficient to keep up a lively curiosity. In respect to scenery, therefore, the Ohio is not comparable to the Hudson from New York to Albany. But how few rivers can present such various scenes as the Hudson!

thirty or forty feet, and sometimes more. To make the landing convenient at all stages of the river, the bank has been cut down to a regular slope, on which drays and carriages may move in every direction, and against which, steamboats may lie at either high or low water. The surface is consolidated by a strong pavement.

swell with wonder, to think that all this scene of architectural elegance, of a thronging and busy population, and of accumulated wealth, has been created within the last thirty years. Forty years ago, this was still a station for troops to guard the frontier against the incursion of savages. A village had then grown about the fort. In 1814, when I first saw the place, the village had grown to a town of 500 houses. The rush of its after growth was then just beginning. On a subsequent visit, three years later, rafts of boards and shingles from the Alleghany river, and of timber from all the upper country, lined the shore for five miles; lumber

Landing amidst a crowd of steamboats, we ascended | city and towns that lie before you, and feel your heart the slope and entered Main street, which runs back at right angles to the river. This street, and others near it, are as well built, and have as much the sound and bustle of commerce, as the streets of our chief seaports on the Atlantic. Cincinnati is in fact one of the handsomest towns in the United States. Much taste is exhibited in the style of building. Eyes that blink at flaming red walls in the sunshine, are here relieved by the frequent occurrence of white, and of the softer colors. The public buildings are numerous, and mostly handsome, if not elegant. Among the churches, the Episcopal attracts notice by its purely Gothic style, and the second Presbyterian by its large Doric por-yards on the shore were filled a fathom deep; on every tico and high steeple. Twelve city school houses as large as churches,—all built alike,—are distributed equally among the inhabitants. A fantastic sort of structure called the Bazar, owes its erection to the notorious Mrs. Trollope; who, failing in her speculative enterprise here, betook herself to writing on the "Domestic Manners of the Americans," to raise the wind. In this new line of adventure her success has been astonishing. Mrs. Trollope is now among the popular writers of the day; she has only to take a trip and make a book, to be regularly reviewed, and to profit by the coarse and sometimes dishonest effusions of her pen! I call her a dishonest writer, because I am sure that some statements of what she pretended to have seen in America, are false. But enough of this John Bull woman.

street piles of brick and mortar obstructed the way, and walls were rising as fast as busy masons could rear them; while the sound of the plane and hammer, in buildings more advanced, was mingled with the click of trowels. I was told of surprising feats in building-such as this: that a builder contracted to begin and finish a three story brick house in thirty days, and that on the thirtieth day he delivered the keys to the owner! So much can human industry effect by division of labor; and thus it was that Cincinnati sprang up, in one third of a century, from a village in the woods, to a rich and beautiful city of 40,000 inhabitants: not like the walls of Thebes, by the sound of a lyre, but by a less melodious concert of carts, hammers, trowels, and the frequent cry from above of "mortar !" and by the same energetic industry of a free people, Cincinnati is beautifully situated, with the Ohio river did the state of Ohio grow up, in the same short pein front, and a semi-circular range of hills in the rear.riod, from a few small villages to a thriving population A narrow strip of low bottom lies next to the river; then a second bank elevates the ground about fifty feet more. Between this second bank and the hills is a level plain. Below the town, Mill creek empties into the Ohio, after flowing through a rich valley from the interior country. Below Mill creek, the hills advance again to the river bank. Beyond the Ohio, other hills in Kentucky rise behind the towns of Newport and Covington, except where they are parted by the valley of the Licking river. From Dayton and Hamilton on the Great Miami, a canal is brought by the valley of Mill creek into the higher part of the city, and passing upwards, is made to discharge its waters, by a series of locks, first into Deer creek at the head of town, and then into the Ohio. Here the water, which first feeds the canal, is made to turn a succession of mills, before it is finally discharged.

of more than a million.

Cincinnati is still increasing, but more slowly than heretofore. It must depend for its future growth chiefly on its manufactures, of which it has a greater amount now than any city in the west, except Pittsburg. Steam machinery and boats are made here largely. As a commercial emporium, this city is less advantageously situated than Louisville and St. Louis. It has a very rich back country on the two Miamis ; but on the Kentucky side, the country near the river is but partially rich, and there is less convenient access to the rich interior from Cincinnati, than from Maysville and Louisville.

I must not leave this city without noticing its literary institutions, the Cincinnati college-the Roman Catholic college-the two medical schools,-and the Lane seminary on the hills, where candidates for the Presbyterian ministry pursue their theological studies. All these institutions are sustained by a respectable number of students, and are sufficient to show that the higher branches of learning are cultivated in this new city.

The town buildings now extend on Main street quite to the base of the hills, a distance of nearly a mile and a half; two or three roads lead up the hills at several points. On arriving at the top, among the handsome One thing more, and I will close my notes on Cinhouses which crown it, you have a delightful view of cinnati. German emigrants have been pouring into the city, the Ohio and its valley for ten miles, Newport this place, mostly in the capacity of common laborers, and Covington on the Kentucky shore, and the wide till they amount to thousands-I was told 8000! By sweep of hills which bound the prospect on every side. superior economy and industry they have ousted many You are struck with the moving scene on the river, of the Irish laborers, and threaten to supplant the orand in the streets; steamboats shooting along with dinary sort of them altogether. They are more sober their trains of smoke; drays, market waggons, coaches, and orderly in their habits, and the city is benefited rushing by one another, between lines of foot pas-by the change. The Catholic population of the city sengers. Twenty steeples draw your attention to the is made up almost entirely of these foreign emigrants. public buildings; their sizes, forms and uses. After The protestant Irish are generally better educated, and looking at particular objects too tedious to mention, make better citizens, than the Catholic; though some you sweep your eye over the magnificent whole of the of them are very worthy characters.