"THOU ART HERE." BY ADRIAN BEAUTAIN. THOU art here! Even at thy presence, from my soul, As a cloud, when from the deep, All grows bright where all was gloom, Oh! methinks, I have no care, And my heart grows light as air; I could swim through seas, and find, And this rare felicity, Crowning thus the sky and sea, Thou art here! Ah! the spell which love can bring, All restoring, to the heart, What had vanish'd from its sky, GOING TO TEXAS.* PAUL JONES on his twenty-first birth-day, takes it into his head, that he cannot do better than emigrate from Louisiana to Texas; which he accordingly does. with a wife, wagon and couple of negroes: the two first of these are recent acquisitions, the last, the surplus remaining after the sale of a sugar estate, and a hundred hands, to meet his father's debts. FINALLY, daylight appeared, and we were all up before the sun; in fact, few of us had slept at all, from excitement, the latter part of the night. The horses were fed and harnessed, I shook hands all round, there was some kissing and much weeping, and then I assisted Mattié to climb up behind the wagon tilt, for the first time: Poor child, she wept in spite of my consolation and caresses as if her heart would break. Dinah was lodged in the interior, farther back, near the rear; Robin bestrode one of the horses, and I sat the mare I had exchanged 'Lightning' for, with Papa René, a bright bay, strongly made and of good bottom, although by no means showy exterior. Our parting once accomplished, we journeyed on slowly but steadily, and, after a time, Mattié's grief sufficiently moderated to allow her to take an interest in the scenery through which we passed. Sometimes the road lay in the midst of plantations, at times it passed through bottom lands irrigated by small streams, or swamps darkened with gigantic cypresses and matted vines; then it wound along slight elevations, dry, sandy and sheltered by a hardy growth of underbrush. Occasionally, we stopped to water the horses from a new tin bucket, in which the element appeared cool and clear as crystal; at mid-day, we halted in a charming grove of oaks, in the shade of which dead embers and husks of Indian corn indicated a former encampment: After we had dined, the negroes made their meal on what remained; the utensils were restored to their former places, and the horses being 'hitched up,' we again set out. When night drew near, we chose another eligible spot, upon which, as at the former, were traces of fire and fodder, and halted until the next morning. First, I assisted Robin in taking off the harness and laying it across the wagon-pole, after which we attached the horses to trees by long ropes where they were within reach of the trough, and might pick a mouthful or so of dry grass. By this time the fire had been made, and a pot of rice set on to boil, with a kettle from which Mattié now made coffee. I placed my saddle near the blaze as a seat for Mattié, and took my station on the ground close by; we drank our coffee out of pewter cups, with brown sugar and without milk. As before, the negroes ate the remnants. We sat by the fire, which the chilliness of the evening made agreeable, and discussed our future plans, recurring now and then to those we left behind. While we did so, a rustling in the woods alarmed my companion; she was afraid it was some wild animal prowling near, and I, for my part, knew not how to act, since, to seize my gun, I must leave my wife and run to the wagon some yards off. I was perplexed and mortified at my carelessness. I will never make a backwoodsman in this way I exclaimed! * From an unpublished novel. Before we had effected our retreat together to the wagon, the cause of our alarm appeared in the shape of a dog, and approached us shyly, fawning on the ground and wagging his tail. Mattié at length prevailed on him to allow her to caress and feed him with the broken bread and meat, which he devoured eagerly, wagging his tail all the while with such vehemence, that it seemed in danger of being wrenched out by the root I was glad to find this little incident terminate in nothing worse, but in future I resolved never to leave my gun behind. It soon drew near our 'bed-time,' and heaping a quantity of wood on the flame that we might find embers under the ashes in the morning, Mattié and I crept beneath the tilt, dropping the covering in front, so as to form a comfortable little chamber in which, however, we could barely sit erect. Dinah and her son, wrapped in their blankets, stretched themselves on a pile of leaves they had heaped together; and thus passed the first night of our future life. At daylight the following morning we were all stirring; Mattié and I went together to the spring not fifty yards off, where we performed our morning ablutions. When we returned, Robin had fed and rubbed down the horses; these dumb companions of our journey, already began to know us, and the mare whinnied with pleasure when Mattié approached her, as she had been frequently treated to bits of bread from her hands at home. The black horse I wished to name Mephistophiles, but my wife, who had read the great German's work (in English) objected, since it was only another name for the Evil-one; we agreed, however, to call him Faust, which the negroes presently corrupted into 'frost' and 'black-frost:' to the roan, Mattié gave the name of her father's plantation, Lucalle; as for the mare, we had transferred that of her exchange, 'Lightning,' to her. "After all," I said laughing, "how do you know but what this may be no dog at all, but only some one in that shape? You recollect what a fright he gave us, and Mephistophiles first waylaid Faust in the fields disguised as a black dog." "Oh I have no fears on that subject," replied she, patting his head,. and giving him her hand to lick. "Look how affectionate he is-he has not left my side once this morning. Besides, to meet his honest grateful eyes is enough to drive away all fear." "You are right, dear child!" cried I, folding her in my arms, and kissing her fair forehead. "What can you, who are so good and innocent, have to fear from spirits of darkness?" In fact, our visitor of the night before seemed determined to attach himself to us; we had passed no settlement on the road for a number of miles, and knew that none lay immediately ahead. I concluded,. therefore, that he had accompanied some party of wagoners or huntsmen and had got lost-his ravenous appetite showed the length of time he had been without food. We determined then to adopt him into our household, and christened him 'Runaway.' We travelled on during this day in the same manner as the day before, and so on for several succeeding. As the horses became accustomed to us, instead of fastening them to trees during the nights, VOL. II.-NO. VI. 34 we hobbled their feet, and allowed them to crop the grass wherever they could find it. We reached and passed through Nachitoches, and leaving the Sabine behind us, found ourselves within the limits of our young republic. The roads were not the best, but the weather was favorable, and we travelled more rapidly than we had designed. Occasionally, however, we were overtaken by showers of rain, and one night after a brief storm, the skies poured down such torrents, that we were obliged to make our supper on the biscuits, it being impossible to light a fire in the teeth of the wind and rain; and the negroes spread their blankets under shelter of the body of the wagon. Here and there we passed small plains covered with prairie grass, like islands in the midst of the forests around; these were merely precursers of the great prairies lying beyond, and did not interrupt our journey, it being my intention to penetrate to Beal's Grant, where I had understood the richest lands were to be found. One day, while we stopped to water the horses, Robin, who had advanced with the bucket higher up the creek in order to obtain clear water, returned quickly, telling me that a fine buck stood drinking not thirty yards off. Here was an excellent opportunity for exhibiting the skill and coolness of which I had so frequently boasted. I drew out my rifle, ready loaded, with a somewhat nervous hand, in spite of all I could do to quell the excitement of a young hunter. Sure enough, ten yards from the wagon, I caught sight of a large deer moving slowly off about twenty-five yards farther up; I levelled my piece and fired quickly, fearing that he would take fright and place himself out of reach of my bullet. When the smoke cleared away a little, I saw him with his head perfectly erect, staring at me through the branches; as he appeared rather amazed than alarmed at the report, he might have given me opportunity for another shot, but in my haste I had left my flask and pouch in the wagon, and I had the mortification of hearing him presently leaping through the bushes, terrified at last by the clamor of Runaway, who had wrenched his muzzle out of Robbin's grasp, and would have darted away in pursuit, had not the latter still clung to him by the leathern collar around his neck. I returned to the horses, not a little crestfallen. "Never mind," said Mattié, "you will do better next time. Besides, it was Runaway's fault after all, that you did not get a second shot, when I am sure you would have killed him on the spot!" 'How lonely would I be in these great forests,' I continually repeat to myself without the sympathy of my best of wives; this dear child who always has a word of consolation ready, however trifling may be my cause of annoyance!' We continued advancing steadily thus from day to day, until about a week after leaving home, we arrived at the bank of the Brazos-dedios River, which is about 160 yards broad, and with a tolerably rapid current. Heretofore I had experienced no difficulty in crossing the streams and small rivers we had encountered, the fording places being generally somewhat defined, and I using the precaution always of riding ahead and testing the depth of the water on horseback. Here, however I was completely at fault; the road, which could scarcely be called such, instead of descending to the water's edge, appeared to diverge in several directions on the summit of the bank. I rode down the declivity, however, but at the first plunge, the water reached Lightning's knees, and I was obliged to ascend once more. Hallo!' cried some one on the bank a few paces off. I looked up, and saw a man on horseback, approaching us slowly through the midst of the underbrush, the limbs of which he put aside, now with one hand and then with the other. He was tall and gaunt, with a weather-beaten but good-humored visage; on his head he wore an old hair cap, a fringed hunting shirt of jeans,' hung loosely on his body, and a blanket tied round his throat by a leathern thong, fell on the rump of his horse somewhat in the manner of a cloak. "I reckon I and you are in the same fix," said he. I've got a wagon away up here, and can't find a ford.” I eyed the man in silent surprise: while speaking, he had checked his horse close by mine, and resting the but of his rifle on his moccasined foot, stretched out his rough hand to me, with a good-humored smile; I grasped it mechanically. "Here we are, stranger," he continued, "both a emigrating, and I don't see any reason why we should'nt help each other to cross this tarnal river." "But how is it to be done?" I asked. "Look at my horse's knees— if it so deep near the bank, the wagon would float off its wheels before it reached the middle." "Well, I don't see we can do better than build a raft, and ferry the plunder over." As soon as I understood what was to be done, I dismounted and assisted Robin in taking out the horses. While Dinah built a fire, and attended to the cooking of our dinner, with the assistance of Mattié, Robin and I shouldered our axes and awaited the arrival of the emigrant. He presently appeared, followed by a wagon and four, in which, amidst a collection of miscellaneous household furniture, sat his wife, surrounded by three or four white children of various sizes, and as many black imps with knotted woolly heads. A couple of negro fellows and a stout wench walked by the side of the team, upon one of the wheel horses of which sat a hardy lad, who encouraged them by jerks of the single rein, words, and blows of his heel. Dodging Rutter, I, Robin and the two boys,' set off at once, leaving the wagons in the charge of Bill Rutter, his eldest son. In a few moments our new ally halted before a tree, threw off his hunting shirt (his blanket he had left behind) and fell to work with his axe without a word being spoken; the boys followed his example, and Robin selecting a tree was soon as busy as the rest. "I suppose I might as well cut down this piece of timber," I said, in some perplexity how exactly to set about it. "Sartain!" he returned, pausing an instant to take breath, and laying on as vigorously as ever. I made a tolerable notch by half a dozen blows, when I stopped to breathe and leant on my axe; then I began once more, and in a short while, again found myself obliged to rest; when I had cut through about one fourth of my trunk, I heard Rutter's, |