Indiana American, Volume 16, Number 2, Brookville, Franklin County, 7 January 1848 — Page 1

. , " y OUR COV5TRT-OUR COUNTRY'S INTERESTS-AD OUR COWJfTRTS FRIEXDS.

BY C. F. CLAUKSON.

A TALE, & ! OH THE HONEY DI O GERS. A OREEM MOUXTAIS TALE. In one of those rough and secluded towns, situated in the Green Mountains, Is a picturesque llttre valley, containing, perhaps, some- . thing over two thousand acres of land, formerly known in that section of country by the name of Thb Harwood Settlement, so called from the name of the original proprietor of the Valley. As If formed by some Giant hand, literally scooping out the solid mountain and moulding it into a shape and proportion, the whole valley presents the exact resemblance of an oval basin whose sides are composed of a continuous ridge of lofty hills broken only by two narrow outlets at its northerly and Boutberly extremities. The eastern part of this valley in covered by one of those transparent ponds, which are so beautifully characteristic of Vermont scenery, lying ia the form of a crescent, acd extending along beneath the closely encircling mountains on the east nearly the whole length of the interior landscape, forever mirfowlng up from Its darkly bright 6urface, faintly and vividly, as cloud or sunshine may prevail, the mst'ey group? of the sombre forest, when the more slender and softer tinted beach and msple seem struggling for a place among the rough and shaggy forms of the sturdy hemlock peeping over head, up the steeply ascending clifTs of the woody precipice, while here and there, at distant iutervaU, towering high over all, stands the princely pine, waving its majestic head in solitary grandeur, a striking but melancholy type of the aboriginal Indian still occasionally found lingering among us, the only remalnirg representative of a once powerful race, which have receded before the march of civilized men, now destined no more to flourish the lords of the plain and the mountain. This pond discharges surplus waters at its southern extremity In a pure stream of considerable size, which here, &9 if In wild glee at its escape from the embrace of its parent waters, leaps at once, from a state of the most unruffled tranquillity, over a ledgy barrier, and with noisy reverberation?, goes bounding along from cliff to cliff, in n series of romantic cascades down a deep ravije, tiH the lessening echoes are lost iti the sinuosities of the outlets of the valley. From the western shore of this sheet of water the land rises In gentle undulations, and with a gradual accent back to the foot of the mountains which here, as on every Fide, rear their ever -green summits to the clouds, standing around this vast fortress of nature, as huge, sentinels posting the lofty out-work9 to battle with the careening hurricanes that burst in fury on their unmoveabls sides, and arrest and receive on their own unscathed heads, the shafts of the lightning descending for Us vie- . tinis to the valley below, while cheerly bandy from Bide to side the voicy echoes of the thunder peal, with their mighty brethren of the opposite rampart. Nor Is the beauty of the minor features of the landscape surpassed by the hold grandeur cftha main outlines. The Interior of the valley, for miles in extent, uniformly sloping to the c tward, is checkered with beautiful alteration of town and woodland, forever richly clothed ia season with the wavy and lighter verdure of the cultivated field, or the deep tinted and exuberant foliage of the forest. While a thusand gushing rills come dancing down from the surrounding heights to meet the eastern barrier on his return from his diurnal circuit. At the period of which we are about to write, the rude dwellings of the small band of settlers, ! . ... i - .. who then inhabited tno valley, were scauereu ai different Intervals along the road, which enter- j ed from the south, wound round the western i margin of the pond and passed off through the j rnterlapln mountains towards Canada. Of i these dwellings, the larg-st and most respectable In appearance, was the one situated In the most southerly part ot tlie valley. nw oia log house of the pioneer, still standing In the hack rround surrounded bv weeds and briars, I had here given place to a new framed house of one storv. which, together with the out buildings and the well cultivate,! grounds adjoin- ; lag, betokened a considerable degree of thrift and comfort in the circumstances of the owner. . Towards night of a beautiful summer's day, I , . , . 4, f ; al Hie IIIIIO W5 UUYO CIlUSS'll lUt Hit? Impelling I our tale, a you unir man and maiden might, have . , , e ,i . been seen leav

., . ... , ... .i . 'is William Ashley, their house this oay ceases ibed, and leisurely taking their way: J .. .. ... . ,i to be your home." pasture, in a direction to intersect the. J 1 . . . r ,i t - "Oh no! not for the world! not a step, not a

hive descri across the main road at the termination of the clearing on the south. The first named of this couple, apparently of the age of twenty-five, was in the full bloom cf vigorous manhood. His hardy and robust and well formed frame . ., . , n-' r .-.:. mr u9 iiivni'rauiisr ruecw ui iwn ,mni , but to the natural operation of those very powers and qualities themselves, which only could incite them to forsake the ease and com-

, ., r t i! it. t knows," she continued, hesitating and blushwas graced with au open, frauk and highly in-i ... . ' , , , . . . ..... r Ins, as she dashed aside the tear that had gathtellectua! countenance, indicative at once or an ; " " .. . . ,. w i . i ' "ed in her eye at the recital of her wrongs, and Ingenious disposition, a light heart, and the, i u .. . i i i looked up archly to her lover, "who knows consciousness, of a time strong hand, with! ' J .' , .i. i whether I am then to have a home?

mental capacity to govern ana renaer u avaua- r .. , .;. . . , . i 'W ho knows that, .May let the tune for provb e exhibiting in his person a fine sample of! ' - r , . . fV , ing this outarrive; for by all that's true aud sathe early emigrant settlers of Vermont, who- , . , T , . , ., r i cred in honor, or in love, I swear , were a most universally men of uncommon, . .... .. ... , ,, , . v. "Oh no, no, no! ' interrupted the girl with physical powers, and generally of moral quali- . . , 1 , J . ! .... i- i returning vivacity, and with that playful tact ties which quailed at no ordinary obstacles-a - ? j

encountering hardships in a new one, endur- evergreens on t ie or uk oi a , B - lnC trlaU from which men of common mould' f-ehe final adieu n tha xwould .brink with dismav. Hi, fair compan- 'y of love the interchange of Ion was evidently quite youthful. Her persen ! P'P" t.on on the eve of sepa rat o the , , . , , , . r i iv..it sceuery of the spot was well calculated to enwas rather slightly formed, but of closely knit ' . ,, .,,,, i i hance the natural Interest of the moment and an 1 beautifully rounded proportlons.which were .... , . , ,, t-i r . . , i i. . .' hallow it to their feelings. Some 20 or 30 feet Indebted for their almost faultless symmetry to ft . . , ... below, and almost directly under their feet, the none of th crippling art of fishion, but solely " ' 1 , . . , . ! road, just emerging from the woods, wound

Ulk UI oil VIII nciuriiirui " " J "

,. ' atons: a scaniv jui, it Mini i mo uui-i, me vaney uiougni ca.iiH ui impiuicuicui. free and graceful motion, and a step as light " ,'T, ir , , rt . ; . . .i u ii a-I ag,U ., a vo,t. f.wu of the mountains " .mmed.ately beyond, formed a lofty prec- Thl9 he hal no sooner effected, than he sudden- . nm a hu-l, .'U w reared. The complex- terminating in the stream that rushed in y eft that part of the country and was heard of

.iuu v u.r.Uairu t-"'" Ion of her fic, however, was rather too dark to be dflloate, or to give full efiVct to th rich 1 1 her forehead and ' brown Ires that enc.irc .n r i . i i .).... K proudly in niuru. nnpn- t ly rr h.l tiork . And her features bIso, though seipjUr, wr rmirkhh only for th won ler-

ful vivacity of their expression; though now as

; she and her companion pursued their way from Jhe house in silence, her mind seemed absent, rW Kcrtrlww? v anme ara li a r Tftftlra ft'Arfl fill Iescent and unmeaning, and her dark blue eye seemed Bleeping in abstraction but now her lover spoke and a thousand varied emotions came flitting over her countenance a smile of peculiar Bweetness played on her lips, her cheeks were wreathed In dimples, and her eyes fairly pparkled with a light of the soul that seemed at that instant to have taken perch with them. "May," paid he, "May, my girl, do you know that I have invited you out for this little walk only to bid you adieu, and that too for a considerable season?" "No! surely !" replied the girl, pausing in her step, and looking up Into the manly featurrscf her lover with an expression of lively concern "surely you are not going on your journey so soont" "Yes, May, I have a horse In readiness at the village below, and thither I propose walking to-night, to be prepared for an early start for Massachusetts in the morning." "And how soon will you return?" "Ferhaps I may be absent nearly two months." "So very long!" ''Most probably my business Is such a3 may lead to delays but why so concerned, May ? this one more absence, and then " "Yes, ye, I know what you would say, but why is even this short absence necessary7" "It is but right that you should know, May, and I will tell you. It is now nearly a year since I contracted for the land on which I make a pitch in this settlement. The time for a payment when I am to receh-e a title has nearly arrived; and I am going to gather up the little pittance of property which I earned with my own hands, and left invested in my native state 1 , , , , , , , J when I departed for the wild woods of ermont, ' . . . ' and whicn 1 now need to cnablo me to meet this payment " "It is right, then, I presume, that you go, but yet I dread your absence." "Dread: I hardly dared to hope that my presence was so much valued, May." "How vain, now ! no, no, I did not mean that; I have other reasons for dreading your absence." "And what can they be, dearest May?" "I have often thought I would never disturb your feelings by the 6lory of my little troubles." "Troubles? and not tell me, May, you surprise and disturb me already; to whom should you confide them, if not to me?" "True, Mr. Ashley, true, if you take the Interest in. me you profess, to you, certainly, if to any one, would I confide them. And i Indeed, should any thiug happen to me in your absence, in consequence of their existence, I should wish I had apprised you of the diflicultica wnich beset me. ' "O tell me, tell, May." "I will. You already know that Mr. and Mrs. Martin, with whom I have lived from a sma'l child, are not my father and mother by relationship, and I am sorry to sny they are not so by treatment; often, too often have they made ma feel that I am the child of other parents." "Why, surely you never hinted such a thing before, and I never suspected any thing of the kind. They certainly have appeared sufficiently kind to you ia my presence." "O yes, in j'our presence; and even when you are lu the neighborhood they are more cautious in their cruelty, but as soon as you are fairly out of the settlement for any considjerable absence, I 60on am made aware of it by other means than the void in my feelings at t - i X- 1 L. i.U me loss oi your society, i ou nave ueeu ioiu of a pedlar who undertook to be my suitor the year before you came here. That was their work; and never shall I forget their meanness in trying to uuite me to that vagabond, to get me out of the country as I have often thought." "Cut what reason can they have for such treatment, and in what mnnner Is it usually exercised?" "I am not sensible of ever having given them an reason. As regards th manner, it is no Personal violence that I complain of; but It is much less painful to be insulted, dispised; than to see, to know, and bo made to feel, that I am hated " . . "2o May, no. This is Indeed news to me, J' but it must not, and shall not be; I will re 4 It Aiiiaiit o oAa Tiotii a tw? eon it ra i ... ! vou a kinder treatment, or, as sure as my name word if you love me, not a word to them of what I have told you. I would not leave them at this late period; I can bear with them a few months longer, and then and then, who ' the storm she has raised in the less versatile bosom of man; "Oh no, no, no, don't swear at me, I have enough of that at home. The lovers having arrived at the end of their walk, seated themselves amidst a cluster of low I ... i !.!. t... U "I . ... l..ir l.:n stifled murmurs down its rugged channel, deep 1 V embowered In the overhanging forest beneath. Tli cool spray stealing through the dark foliage i ..i .ni. u'.rii ui me UPiii in nuu r ii uic, " - - f . 1. I . ft .. t". I u. viri m W r. - i, grasping irie rjcRy margin ii inr "nrxm - dred f-t Wow. and whose wavy and attenated

Willi Wlll-ll n uumli ekuua wen iiuw iu ji

BROOKVILLE,

tops now seemed almost within the grasp of the hand, was visible rising athwart the bright pencils of the struggling sunbeams in glittering vibrations to the heavens, and with greatful freshness came mingling on the senses with the balmy odour of the birch and gilead. While the seemingly low encircling firmament canopiej their heads with that deep and rich Beclusion so peculiar to the woody glens of the Green Mountains; and all around and above them was breating a purity, & shedding a tranquil brightness beautifully emblematical, alike of the innocent and the unalloyed affections of their gushing hearts, and their sunny anticipations of the futu re. Their enjoyment of these happy moments, however, was soon to be interrupted. Their attention was now arrested by sounds of clattering hoofs in the road below; and turning their eyes to the spot from whence the voice proceeded they beheld a single horseman urging, with cruel applications of the whip his faltering steed up the hill towards the settlement. When nearly opposite or rather under the spot where our lovers sat concealed from view by their covert, the horse paused, staggered an instant and then fell with his rider to the ground. The poor animal after a few convulsive flounderings, feebly gasped and died on the spot. Damn the luck!' exclaimed the traveller, giving the dead carcass two or three spiteful kicks, 'dam the luck, the horse is dead! However, he continued after a short pause occupied in taking ahasty glance up and down the totndf and then over the precipice; 'however, dead horses like dead men, will tell no tales that is, if well hurried. And here's grave enough down this bottomless pit in all conscience I should think.' So saying, and hastily unlacing a small valise attached to the crupper of the somewhat ; tattered saddle, and filled apparently with clothj ing, he grappled with main strength the body ; of the horse, and rolled it off the precipice down ., , . , the steep siu , bounding th side of which it was heard heavily g tnrough briars, Dusnes, ana laiientree tops till it struck with a faint splash in the water below. With another rapid glance thrown around him, he took his valise under his arm, and proceeded leisurely towards the settlement. I am glad he is gone, and without discovering us,'half audibly exclaimed May, the first to arouse from the mute surprise with which they had witnessed the whole transaction that came and terminated like the detached scene of some panoramic exhibition, passing quickly before them, 'I can breathe again now. How strangely he talked to himself! Don't you think his conduct very singular?' Singular enough,' replied Ashley, "but he really displayed considerable cool philosophy in the death and burial of his horse, as he termed tumbling him down the gulf.' Who and what can he be?' I am puzzled to conjecture. He may be a horsethief fearful of pursuit and detection, as his words, and hi3 puins to get his dead horse out of sight might seem to imply. But I am more Inclined to believe him, some watched smuggler, who was riding for life to meet and secrete some goods he may have coming in this direction. These gentry often take this back road for their excursions, I am told.' 'It may be so, but 1 didn't like his appearance any better than his actions; how suspicious he looked around to discover if any one was in sight. And how cruel to beat his horse so, and then to kick the poor creature just as he was dying!' 'Nor did I like the appearance of the fellow at all; and I confess I am not satisfied with mv own solution of the affair; and I have no further leisure at present to bestow in useless conjecturs perhaps one or both of us may learn more hereafter that will throw light upon the subject. And now May, my dearest May, I must go, leaving you to return to the house alone. O not yet.' 'Indeed I must linger no longer; see! the sun is nearly to the mountains. But once more, May, do you love me?' 'O, too much!' 'And be true'' Forever!' Then dearest girl, may the great one above U3 preserve you farewell; farewell!' 'Farewell!' sighed the tearful girl In accents soft and broken as the dying murmur of the distant cascade with which they mingled on the air. An instant, and Ashley stood iu the road below giving the last lingering look, of parting another and he had disappeared from the sight of his sorrowful companion who slowly and pensively pursued her lonely way back to her now more than ever, dreary and joyless home at the cottage which we have already described The owner of this cottage, as the reader is already apprised was Mr. Martin, who with a few others had made, many years before, the first permanent settlement in the valley. They had purchased of one Colvin, a resident of the same village, to which allusion has before been made, situated pome six or eight miles below, in the south-easterly corner of what has now become an organized town, embracing the greatest part of this settlement within its boundaries. This man had formerly acted as agent to Harwood, the original proprietor of the whole valley, is disposing of the same lands to others which he subsequently sold to Martin and his companions as principal, the first occupants becoming sick of their bargains, or proving too poor and thriftless to pay for their farms, having abandoned and left them receiving any but defeasible titles. with their few scanty Improvements to more nhla and pnternrisinff successors. About the time of the desertion of the first settlers, or rath er squatters, perhaps they might be termed, Colviu made a journey to the sea port m ew Hampshire, where Harwood resided, and return ed with the story that he had bought out the original proprietor, and was now sole owner o the valley. He then immediately set to work i searching for purchasers, and by his unwearied exertions in this respect & the inducements neld outbv the malhess of his now reduced prices he succeeded In finding money purchasers for .. .. .. ,. : - , no more J From this time the settlement made rapid pro Tem ia improTement ; and many of the fami iea .i . . .1.. i.t.i rnntin ulilrh . nine liuw nrnimiiru n j (, 1. . ......!.. lAitatA.1 AtYlftni , ..." ..l.vl j was uiai oi iariin, wrrr, m jtiiuu vi ije. in comoaritively easy comfortable circum.

INDIANA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 1848.

stances. Martin and his wife having no children of their own, had taken May, the heroine ofonr story, when quite young, and adopted her as a daughter. Of the girl's parentage little or nothing had ever been ascertained. Her mother, it appeared, had been taken ill on the road in a neighborhood on the borders of New Hampshire, and gained admittance into a private family to remain during her confinement. The man who had attended her was not her husband, but as he stated, a person employed to convey her to herfrenda in Vermont. And pretending to give her name and residence, and leaving a sum of money with the family amply sufficient for the support of the mother and her expected infant: he immediately returned, for the purpose as he avowed, of apprising her husband of her situation. The young woman for so she seemed, in a few hours gave birth to a daughter not however without the cost of her life, for she was soon seized with fever and deli":ur, which in two or three days put an end to her existence. The infant was handed over to nurse to a married daughter of the family who resided with them, and who kindly received the little stranger to share with her own child the nourishment of which it hadjbeen deprived by the untimely death of its mother. After a few weeks had expired, no one in the mean time appearing to claim tha child, a letter was sent to the address of the supposed father, but without bringing from any one either a visit or an answer. Recourse was then had to the Post Master of the town which had been given as the residence of the husband; and in consequence information was soon received, that no person or family of that description had ever resided there. And as no other intelligence was ever afterwards received on the subject; aeither any remarks of the deceased mother during the few hours of her rationality after her arrival, nor any thing found among her effects; aTording the least clue for unraveling the mystery; the transaction was very naturally conclude! to be one of those frauds often practised to palm off as respectable, some frail fair one and her illegitimate on strangers. The little innocent mbject of these suspicious, thus left unknown ar.d unowned among entire strangers, was not neglected. Having been first whimsically terrned the May flower, and finally May, from the circumstance of her having been born on the first day of the month of that name, she received the kindest attention from the family till nearly two years of age, when becoming a pretty and promising child, she was taken by Martin, who then and for some years afterwards resided in that neighborhood froom which lie removed to his present residence in the valley. During the first year of May's adoption, and till the removal of Martin to Vermont, she was allowed summer and winter, the advantages of an excellent common school, in which she was distinguished for uncommon proficiency for her age. And the taste for reading, which she here thus clearly acquired was ever afterwards maintaned and im proved by means of a choice selection of books, which Martin inherited from his father and pre served out of respect to his memory rather than for any pleasure or profit they ever afforded him; or his still more unlettered companion. At this period also she was apparently much be loved by both Martin and his wife, and was uniformly treated by them with parental kindness and attention. But she approached to womanhood, and began to attract the esteem and admiration of all who became acquainted with her by her amiable disposition, her spright nessand beauty; this former manifestation of i .i . - r . t , r , ' indness on the part of Martin and hia wife began unaccountably to decline; and instead of , receiving, these demonstrations of esteem to wards their daughter with that pride and gratfication which real parents would feel, they seemed to sicken at the praises she received and viewed them with increasing uneasiness, giving vent to theirfeeling at last on the innocent and istressed cause of them in such bitterness of manner and expression as to render her often extremely miserable. And this treatment was the more painful and perplexing as it arose from no avowed or reasonable causes, being founded probably in a sense of growing inferiority, and a petty jealousy at the preference with which ehe was personally regarded, and the greater respect which her intellectual superiority always commanded, leaving her the most hopeless of all tasks to endeavor to conciliate those whose con duct arises from motives they are ashamed to acknowledge, and whose dislike has no other origin than in the baseness of their own hearts. A new era occurred in the life of May the era of her first love. William Ashley, an intelisieut and enterprising young man, had been employed by a gentleman in Massachusetts, owning wild lands in Vermont, to survey a tract laying west of the settlement. Making Martin's house his head-quarters and home on his stated returns from his laborious duties in the woods, became interested in May loved her, and was soon loved in return with all the purity and fervor with whieha young maiden yields up her virgin affections. The intimacy soon resulted in an engagement of marriage; and a determination on his part to purchase a farm and settle in the valley; to all of which Martin and his wife either seemed coldly Indif ferent or manifested their dislike, though, as before intimated, they had th year previous used considerable management to induce May to consent to the hasty proposals of one a thousand times less worthy. Ashley having now contracted for a farm in pursuance of his resolutions to settle In the place, his time had since been spent In alternately Improving hit new purchase, and In resuming the avocation which had been the means of Introducing him into the settlement. Having now given the reader a brLf sketch o the situation and charters of some of the per sonsges of our little story, we will return to the thread of our uarrative where we left It for this ingression. After parting from her lover, May lingered almost unconsciously sometimes in the vicinity of the romantic spot which had witnessed their adieus now listlessly stooping to pluck some favorito flower that peeped from it covert be neath her devious foot-steps, and now pauntng to trrttrh the initials of the loved one's iiame on n,' ll,. Iv.rUf nm .ol.Urv tree, while her mirh j .. .- wua rwoctly occupied with the p!oaaai.t reuiiuis

cences of the past, or indulging in those dreams and bright imaginings of tha future which love & hope are forever uniting to create in the bosom of the youthful. And It was nearly nnset before she was aroused to the necessity of a speedy return to her home. Now quickening her step, however, she soon arrived at the door, and was timidly entering under the expectation of receiving some ill-natured reprimand from Martin orhis wife, aa was their wont on her being absent from her domestic duties, when with a feeling approaching thoughtfulness, she caught a third person in the room, who she took to be some neighbor, setting with his back, towards her, thinking that his presence would protect her from the anticipatedrebuke, till the occasion should be forgotten. But this penalty she wonld have gladly suffered the next morning in the exchange for the disagreeable surprise she

encountered. For she had scarcely reached the Interior of the room before the person turned round and in him she recognised the man whose singular conduct she and Ashley had lately witnessed with so much surprise and suspi cion. She Instantly recoiled at this unexpected discovery, and stood a moment mute and abashed before the pointed scrutiny of his gaze. Why! what ails thegirl? exclaimed Mrs. Martin, a body would think she was afraid of strangers. 'Perhaps, wife," observed Martin with a ma licious smile, 'perhaps May's walk has confused her wits a little these love meetings; and love partings are terrible things to fluster one ain't they May?' There ! rejoined the former to a tone of ex ulting glee, 'there, see how the girl blushes! I guess she thinks the gentleman may have seen her and her beau in their loving rambles across the pasture. 'May be, sir, she continued, turn ing to the stranger, 'may be you witnessed the parting?' No, I saw no one after leaving the wood till Ireached the home, replied the man with evident uneasiness of manner 'Did you pass the way I came, Miss?' I have not been in the road, sir, answered May, with as much calmness as she could com mand in her fresh alarm at the tarn which the conversation now threatened to take, accompan- ! jed as the question wsb with a tone and look of! suspicion, for which she could readily account. The enquiry however, to her great relief, was pursued no further, and the conversation being now directed to other and indifferent subjects, she retired from the room to hide her blushes, and shed tears of vexation at the unfeeling and wanton manner in which the secrets of her heart had been exposed to astranger, and that stranger too, the very one of all others before whom she would have been most anxious to avoid such an exposure, coupled as it had been with her walk which had put her In possession of an unpleasant secret, as she feared it was respecting him. How unlucky, she thought. Perhaps even now she had become the object of his suspicion and dislike. She had intended, before so unexpectedly encountering him on her return, to make known the transactions she had witnessed. But how should she do so, and the affair be satisfactorily explained, she dreaded the ridicule which she probably must experience from all parties from having acted as a spy and evesdropper Bhould it lead to the detection of some villainy perhaps she would have to be called into court as a witness a consequence which she no less dreaded. She concluded therefore to keep the whole transaction a secret in her bosom. Hav ing come to this conclusion, and having by this time succeeded in allaying her disturbed feelings, and in assuming In a good degree a calm demeanorsne rejoined the company, her repugnance to the stranger being mingled with some curiosity to learn more of the character, and see whether he would mention the circumstance which had so unfavorably impressed her and I her lover, and if so in what manner he would explain it. But in this she was disappointed, as not the least allusion was then, or ever after wards, made by him to the transaction. May soon perceived, however, that the stranger had already made rapid progress with his host and hostess towards gaining the footing of a familiar acquaintance and it was with some surprise that Bhe learned that he was to become an inmate of the family. He had introduced himself, it appeared, by the name of Gow, stating that he was traveling with the view of purchasing lands; and having heard that the Hartwood settlement presented good inducements to purchasers, he had now accordingly paid it a visit for this pur pose. This avowal had led to a proffer of assistance on the part of Martin; and soon to a com pliance with the request of the latter to take up his abode in the family while he remained In the lace. Such was the ostensible object of the tranger's visit. TO BE COJTT1NCED NEXT WEEK. The Nativity. This beautiful prayer must have been breath ed from Barry Cornwall's heart while sitting at his quiet fireside, looking into the face of his sweet wife, and rocking the cardie of his "gol den-tressed Adelaide." 1 ark I'm neatly, Time Touch us gently. Time! Let us glide adown thy stream Gently as we sometimes glidd Through a quiet dream! Humble voyagers are we, Husband, wife, and children three (One is lost an angel fled To the azure overhead!) Touch us gently, Time! We've not proud or soaring wings; Our ambition, our content. Lies in simple things. Humble voyagers are we, O'er life's dim, unsounded sea, Seeking only some calm clime; Touch us gently, gentle Timet The following passionate lines are from the Knickerbocker! Was I a court-plaster, I would bo A patch upon her Hp, To spend a life lu ecsUacy, Anderp, and sip, and sip. Was I a pair of spectacles, How dearly would I priie A situstion on hernosiej To look her iu thye.

COMMUNICATION.

Corrrtpandenee of ike Indlaoa Ameriran. BooMsBoiiouaH, Kv., Deo. 20, 184. Dear Clarkson: The Immense and princely speculation entered upon by the "Transylvania Company,' of which we spoke in our last letter, was nullified by the Legislature of Virginia. The Assembly of that State, claimed that the District of Kentucky, was a part of Fincastle county, and belonged to the territory of Virginia. Hence, In October, 1779, the Legislature of the Old Dominion, passed a law, "establishing the town of BoOnsborough, In tha Cou.xtt of Kentucky" and offered lots In the town to all settlers who would "build houses on them, at least 16 feet 'square.' They also made'liberal provisions for the comfort of the Inhabitants, and the prosperity of the town, appedttting trustees to carry thera out. But strange to say, these trustees refused to act. Others were appointed but notwithstanding all the efforts made, Boonsb orough never rose to any great importance among tha towns of Kentucky. It was the first, and perhaps on that account, in the earlier period of her history, the doomed fortress, against which the savages seem to have directed their most determined efforts, and though having withstood them, through a series of years of difficulty and dangers it lost the precedence which circumstances had given to it, and sunk into comparative obscurity as the enemy disappeared, whose in cursions it had so often and so successfully re-J sisted. Time has passed with a heavy and rough tread over the consecrated spot marked as the hrst settlement of Kentucky. The "lots and streets" of Boonsborough have ceased to be k nown by their original lines and land, marks. Like Herculaneum and rompel -ehe has seen her day, and now the sun of her being and glory has set forever and the work of the pioneers, like dust of their own mortality mingles with the soil of their adopted mountains. Scarcely a vestage is now to be seen of their rudely built cabins and their public palisades. The "elm" under whose shade they worshipped and legislated, .and took counsel of each other for safety and defence, Is no longer standing like a king among the mighty trees of the forest for long since some rude hand has lev eled it to the earth, and, like him who destroyed the library at Alexandria, consumed it to ashes. But the soil, on which thev often made - that defence which would have done honor to veteran heroes, and which ofttimes drunk the blood of th brave and the true, still lien boneath us In the strength and tstillness of ma jesty. And the spring which slacked their thirst amid the heat of war and the quiet of peace still sends forth its gurgling rill at our side yea, and the river from wh'ise mountain cliffs the red man of the forest levelled hia deadly aim at the Invaders of Ids hunting ground still rolls its sweeping and peaceful current at our back. These are memorials ludexoe of nature's hand which will endure while time rolls on her resolutions and eventful years. How full of interest aro they! What scenes they awaken! What deeds of danger of excitement, and of hi man glory, do they call up from the pnge of Kentucky's bloody story. We think of Boone the keen sighted hunter the brave warrior, and adventurous backwoodsman, and his daring associates, making their way through the pathless forest with their axes, and fearing that every vibration of the pound of their axe might prove the tocsin of their Untimely doom. We think of Henderson, and Hart, and Williams the self-styled proprietors of the "new born country," confident in their deed, in fee simplh, to all the country to which they had given the sodbsiquette of "Transylvania." We think of Slaughter and Todd, of Floyd and Ilarrod and Callaway the legislators and bold defenders of the frontier. Memory calls up in holy thought, the pious Lythe, the peaceful "Minister of the Church of England" who would have even legislated for the good of his Master's Kingdom, and whose holy vocation did not even exempt him from the deadly power of the murderous tomahawk! We think of the wives and the children of these adventurous spirits, and of the many dark nignts, threatning danger and death, which have hung over them, while the war whoop of the savage was ringing in the wilderness around them. But while we stand here, moved by sad and wonderful emetions, we are reminded that not one of these wilderness pilgrims now lives to t 11 the story of their privations, or to make known the sorrows that swelled their bosoms when the death hand of the murderer thinned their ranks. Honor to their memory peace to the ashes of the first settlers of Kentucky! But there are many incidents connected with the history of Boonsborough, notwithstanding her "occupation's gone," which should be, if they are not already, Inscribed on the page of history, for the instruction, entertainment and - amusement of the present and future genera' tlons. A few of them, I will attempt to give, if it will be agreeable to tlie Editor and readers of the American. It was here, in this ix-town, where Covernor Isaac Shelby, was married, in 173.1, to a dauphter or Captain Nathaniel Hart, one or the nroprietors of Transylvania. Isaac Shelby was native of Maryland, and was born in 1750. He commenced life at a period when learning, in this country, was in Its elements and the (acilities fsr obtaining an education were butf limited hence, reading, wntimr, arith:netio aud surveying, formed the sum of his acquireraent.4 History informs us, this was about the amount of the education of Washington, Franklin aud Henry, aud many others of our couutry men, who attained to honor and distinction. ami !,hn tlfid their own personal history with tliw an nals of the nation. At the age of 20, Gov. Shelby was found a lieuteuant of a company of which his ownfu-' ! ther was commander, in the campaign of 1774, and was in the t.loody battle of Point Fleasnnt. In liti he emigrated to Kentucky, and wum sppolnted deputy surveyor to the company Transylvania. Iu 1776 he "raised a orop corn" In Kentucky. In 177'J he was a mem her of the Vlrglnit legislature. In 1780 he ted aoonspicuom part in the battle of th Kin"' mountain, anting (x-ior mm, at tim lieu-l oi his f e-jiniKiit, th- eiifiiiei of his country Throughout the war cf the rrvolutHrn, b trr-

VOL. XVI -NO. 2.

---. ......I i a .1 fd in the several capacities of eoptain of a minute company, commissary of supplies and colons of a regiment. Iu 17f3 he was a member of the Legislature of North Carolina, la the soring of I72, he removed permanently, to Kentucky, where he fcecarue identified with the perils of her infancy, and the hopes of her riper years with her honor her welfare and h.-r fame. Having married la this plc in 17KJ, he had an Interest in Kentucky, tlmt he never had before. In 1767 and 1788, he was a member of the Conventions which met at D-nvi I to consider and adjust the terms of separation from th State of Virginia. After the adoption of the Coastltutlon of 1792, he was elected the first Governor of Kentucky. IU was elevated, by the popular voice again to the same high office In lfl2, shortly after the declaration of war agaluet Great Britain. And though he wm ht C2 years ef age, yet obtaining the consent of the Legislature of the State, ho volunteered his services as the commander of the Kentucky forces, and served under General Harrison with diKtifcijuished credit to himself, and honor to bis couutry. Gen. Harrison, in making hi- report to the War Departmet, says, "I am ml a loss how to 4eak of the services of Governor Shelby. The Governor of an Independent State, greatly my superior In years, In experience, and military character, he placed himself under my command, and was not more -remark able for his trul and ucllvity, than for the promptitude and cheerfulness with which he performed my orders." Governor Shelby was offered a seat f.ii the Cabinet of President Monro, biit t!id no! choose to accept it. Iu lelH, in conjunction with GtJa. Jackson, ho accepted of a cmmiieion from the President of the United Etatvs to negotiate a troaty with the Chickasaw Iudiaun for the purchase of a large tract of country, lying within tire limits of Tennessee and Kentucky. Gov. Shelby closed hid long, brilliuirf and patriotic career, lu Lincoln Co., Ky , on the 18th of July, lb2G, in the 7Clh year of his ge. Such was the history of one wlio possessed bat an ordinary education, and who fouud and married hia wife In an iufl iu fort, which once occupied tlie spot where I now stand. It would no dHibt be a work of profit to trace th Individual history of each ploiwer wht once mad this consecrated place, his chosen home. I regret to add thut young Shelby, who. shot Horine, In Lexington, a Utile moie than a year ago, was a grandson of the Governor. Yoqnp Shelby was intoxicated at the time! He is a good' looking man-bnt intemprratel I. Kwini the ' iiu-innati Cninmrrclal. Washington, D. C. Dec. 22d, IF 17. I will inform my readers that it bus just breu fully determined hereto erect a new party, with Gen. Taylor as its head. There are a u lumber of leading members of Congress fj fa'vorof th move, and nightly conclave here, at this time, and ere long they will show their hands. Henry Clav was said to b Geo. Taylor's choic, some time since; now it is said Gn. Taylor in Henry Ci ty's r.holee! The rallying cry of tti new party will be for G n. Taylor, h-i ! what more time will show. I beg fcn renin rk, Mini Mr. Polk's veto has effectually laid him up with id! the Western people of any account ii'iw iu Washington. Tin se who have voted toFUbtainr the infiturous veto on Western prosperity -nm marked, as well as those who ukulked. Tim sympathy for the WTit, which has b n so cruelly in glectl, Is arousing, and will soon be universal. I rejoice that the time Khs arri veil when our Western people may fH hopes r.f rtc-.-lving justice. We all love the Union fight hwr buttles manfully and have heretofore been rol led to enrich the trade and people of the J'art. Our lands havve been sold, and th ITaM thi almighty Kast uloiw been enriched by the proceeds. This game has ben stopped forever, w hope and trust. The room to hold Taylor meetings was rented this day. L. G C. Iron Fences. Iron wire U now used In tli construction of fences, and the Westminister (Md) Carroltonian gives the follow Ing r'escrlption of the manner in which it is adapted to thtu purpose: "The posts ar about en half the ordinary size, planted firmly at the distdiice of tin fort apart, with nine strands of wire drawn tightly through a half-inch auger hole; the wire Is of the size of that used for the hand of the Yankee Bucket, and to combine them more firm, wire of a lighter description in wound through the middle, which prevents the hogs from separating them and creeping through. Tlie wholt expense of this fence does not exw?dl twntyfive cents pr panuel of leu feet; and for UKutniM and durability, caftLOtbo surpassed by any thiug in timber." Profession!, BfffcviTT. When Mason ws preparing the case of Ii. K. Avery, and had examined about two hundred witu'-ssss, somebody called to see him. Tha legal gentleman sent word thut he wan occupied uud could pot b interrupteil. "But the man is a witnesn, a MetLminister.- "Call him up," said JVWn.--"Wd, e,r liat cau ou 7" had vWon: lwo an"1 hilve Pl'1 A m tl.fft Ustl.ia A vrri la 4 1 , i T . "Let them be smumouod," Jd Mvu, tud resummi his work. Debtri'Ctive Toknad v A tornado pvs4 I through Perry, Tuscaloosa and Greene counties. I AVubama, on the 10th int., destroying an ini mense amount oi property, i n town oi rwa i Vfra In Green county wns rnttrely demolished. 1 livery thiug wilhm the traek ufttK tornado wi sw-ni down houses, trues and fell. Ihebheilff rvTVftry county was killed. P"t-t ArtAST the VV cst. At the last I restdeiitial eloothm the -opltt wrm told by th W higs that Mr. I oik, if WctH, would cppi.s 1 N Western Improvement. hi was pro l nouncod, by his supporton., to be a "Whig h." I He was elected, and now hj sy all such ini- - 1 proveirwnts urn uncuurtitutioiibl, and will mil figu a bill epproprintiug iyoiity to muke thm. This was too much for even so rabid a I.oco as Joh! Pkttit, and h pountvd upon the inen.t.i, , rontaiulng each tioclrute with mui-h d-'rvf d everity. Gen. Tayi n. Aftr a National Cox vitiun I Maysvillo, Ky- hs leu recommended as th of j most suitable p(j'e for the assi-uibling t-f iha ofl next Nrtionnl Wbijf Couvi ntioii. "If uch m - t Convention be h Id, we vote tor Myiille, but ac - I at the sauid time lu) ll.rro wi I Imj no sueti 1 b.Hly convened. There in no nro I i f it. t;Pn.

Taifor U the man; and no -nueii run pr-vt i, t ihb candidate; tur wwiil i V iiOii'iuuu n m Wi M hii Sfc''itj ?hrlt'y ;Kea j